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Originally posted by AURaptor:
Visually it looks interesting, but if there's no worth while story, then hard pass.

I may be jumping the gun here, but it looks kinda like Natalie Portman tries her hand at ACTING again. That might be worth a look see.

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Originally posted by ecgordon:
Ducking back in here for a brief mention of this movie, which is likely not going to be in theaters very long, considering Black Panther will bury it this week, and probably next weekend too. If you're at all interested, whether or not you've read the book, you should check it out while you can. It's recommended.

http://templetongate.net/annihilation.htm

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Hello, hope all is going well with you. Nice surprise seeing you here.


T

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Originally posted by JEWELSTAITEFAN:

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Originally posted by AURaptor:
Visually it looks interesting, but if there's no worth while story, then hard pass.

I may be jumping the gun here, but it looks kinda like Natalie Portman tries her hand at ACTING again. That might be worth a look see.

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Also with Ex Machina Director, and Oscar Isaac, and Sonoya Mizuno. Portland and JJ Leigh were not in Ex Machina.

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Select to view spoiler:

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Originally posted by ecgordon:
Ducking back in here for a brief mention of this movie, which is likely not going to be in theaters very long, considering Black Panther will bury it this week, and probably next weekend too. If you're at all interested, whether or not you've read the book, you should check it out while you can. It's recommended.

http://templetongate.net/annihilation.htm

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Originally posted by AURaptor:
Visually it looks interesting, but if there's no worth while story, then hard pass.

I may be jumping the gun here, but it looks kinda like Natalie Portman tries her hand at ACTING again. That might be worth a look see.

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Originally posted by JEWELSTAITEFAN:
This was interesting.

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Originally posted by JEWELSTAITEFAN:

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Originally posted by AURaptor:
Visually it looks interesting, but if there's no worth while story, then hard pass.

I may be jumping the gun here, but it looks kinda like Natalie Portman tries her hand at ACTING again. That might be worth a look see.

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Also with Ex Machina Director, and Oscar Isaac, and Sonoya Mizuno. Portland and JJ Leigh were not in Ex Machina.

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If you can avoid thinking too much for the first third of the film, Annihilation can be engrossing. I wasn't sure how the title applied to the subject and storyline in the way the ads and clips let on, but it does end up making sense, like Arrival really was an appropriate description.
With Isaac and Director from Ex Machina, I really felt these two films can appear matching bookends in a certain light. Interesting that Vikander is not in this one, but Portman is - striking to realize they have similar caliber of capability. Although Portman and Isaac are both Star Wars alum, she was about 60 years older than he, but here they are a couple.
Portman, Isaac are dead on, and Leigh, Thompson hold up. I haven't seen Tuva Novotny before, she does quite well here.

I just realized now that I didn't detect any overt political statements other than unbalanced gender leads - all female, without any valid logic (among piles of unviable logic).
That's the good.


Now the less good.
The sound was either grating or obscured at times. The last few years in film this trend of indecipherable dialogue is growing, but I still assume it is error instead of intentional.

IIRC the cinematography in EM was fine, clear. But here the experimentation with dark, shadow, silhouette is just unclear and confusing.

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The logical plot holes and tissue-thin foundation are as bad as Gravity, but if you can remain ignorant enough to gloss over the setup, the guts of the story can distract you enough to remain engrossed.

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Originally posted by JEWELSTAITEFAN:
I'm going with Ex Machina as the best comparison.

Like others mostly just superficially.

SGG, did you catch where the location was? It was left coast, right?

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Originally posted by SHINYGOODGUY:
Yes, I got the impression it was the West Coast.

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Originally posted by ecgordon:

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Originally posted by SHINYGOODGUY:
Yes, I got the impression it was the West Coast.

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It's not specified in book or film, but the agency investigating the phenomena is called the SOUTHERN REACH Institute. It was inspired by the author's hikes in the Apalachicola National Forest in the Florida panhandle.

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Originally posted by ecgordon:

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Originally posted by SHINYGOODGUY:
Yes, I got the impression it was the West Coast.

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Originally posted by JEWELSTAITEFAN:

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Originally posted by ecgordon:

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Originally posted by SHINYGOODGUY:
Yes, I got the impression it was the West Coast.

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It's not specified in book or film, but the agency investigating the phenomena is called the SOUTHERN REACH Institute. It was inspired by the author's hikes in the Apalachicola National Forest in the Florida panhandle.

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On the panhandle the coast would be to the south, right?
I got the impression on film that in the morning when looking at the shimmer, Sun was behind them. When evening the Sun was beyond the shimmer. This would indicate water on the west boundary, which was within the shimmer (centered on a Lighthouse, presumably near a coastline).
I was a little confused that their navigational plan was to get to the coast and then turn south. But then when the shore was reached, a left turn followed on the beach.



ECG, did you feel this and Ex Machina were matching bookends of the same deeper concept?

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Originally posted by SHINYGOODGUY:
I was going by them saying how they were headed to the coast. Plus when Portman's character reached the beach, the sun was setting in the horizon she was facing - which gave the impression she was facing the west coast of the country.

She was facing west, but it was in the west coast of the peninsula in Florida. Clever dudes those film people, to take away the notion of direction so as to create the sense of discovery and adventure. The more I think about it, the more I like this movie.


SGG

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Originally posted by JEWELSTAITEFAN:

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Originally posted by ecgordon:

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Originally posted by SHINYGOODGUY:
Yes, I got the impression it was the West Coast.

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It's not specified in book or film, but the agency investigating the phenomena is called the SOUTHERN REACH Institute. It was inspired by the author's hikes in the Apalachicola National Forest in the Florida panhandle.

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On the panhandle the coast would be to the south, right?
I got the impression on film that in the morning when looking at the shimmer, Sun was behind them. When evening the Sun was beyond the shimmer. This would indicate water on the west boundary, which was within the shimmer (centered on a Lighthouse, presumably near a coastline).
I was a little confused that their navigational plan was to get to the coast and then turn south. But then when the shore was reached, a left turn followed on the beach.



ECG, did you feel this and Ex Machina were matching bookends of the same deeper concept?

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Originally posted by ecgordon:
Oddly enough, it was filmed in England. A lot of the vegetation was not natural to that location, most of it brought it for filming, or faked by CGI. There is a lot of time dilation going on inside the shimmer, they were there a lot longer than it might have seemed based only on the scenes we see. That was also mentioned early when her husband (or whatever) returned. He said he had only been gone a short while, but it had been nearly a year. I don't think you can rely on where the sun was to determine what coast it was supposed to be, nor can we be sure they were correct about it being either morning or evening. Also, when you have time to look at a map, note there are definitely west-facing beaches on the Florida panhandle, particularly west of Apalachicola.

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Originally posted by ecgordon:
It's already on Netflix in England, Europe, maybe other places. The studio had no idea how to market it, had pushed the premiere back from the original Sept. '17 date, didn't even want to try to open it in foreign theaters. It hasn't done well in theaters here, it will likely be available on disc and digital very soon. But it's worth a look as soon as you get the chance.

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Originally posted by ecgordon:
It's already on Netflix in England, Europe, maybe other places. The studio had no idea how to market it, had pushed the premiere back from the original Sept. '17 date, didn't even want to try to open it in foreign theaters. It hasn't done well in theaters here, it will likely be available on disc and digital very soon. But it's worth a look as soon as you get the chance.

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Select to view spoiler:

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Originally posted by second:

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Originally posted by ecgordon:
It's already on Netflix in England, Europe, maybe other places. The studio had no idea how to market it, had pushed the premiere back from the original Sept. '17 date, didn't even want to try to open it in foreign theaters. It hasn't done well in theaters here, it will likely be available on disc and digital very soon. But it's worth a look as soon as you get the chance.

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If ever a film were saved by its concluding half hour, it is “Annihilation”. At this late point, the film comes close to matching the slithery body horror of “Alien” and the cosmic trippiness of “2001: A Space Odyssey”. Until the last half hour it was tightrope-walking the fine line between open-ended, mind-expanding mystery and lethargic, pretentious twaddle.
www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2018/03/predator-pretensions

Depending on your point of view, Netflix has established itself either as a haven for intelligent, challenging science-fiction drama, or as a dumping ground for follies which were too obviously flawed to merit a theatrical release. First, the streaming giant surprised subscribers by adding “The Cloverfield Paradox” to its catalogue with almost no advance warning. Then came “Mute”, a future-noir thriller directed by Duncan Jones (“Moon”, “Source Code”). Both films offer sci-fi devotees a welcome change from superhero blockbusters and “Star Wars” episodes. Unfortunately, both films are also dreadful: they have 17% and 12% critical ratings on Rotten Tomatoes respectively. (87% for Annihilation. www.rottentomatoes.com/m/annihilation )

Now Netflix is releasing “Annihilation”, which is written and directed by Alex Garland, the novelist-turned-screenwriter who scripted “28 Days Later” (2002) and “Sunshine” (2007) before making his directorial debut with “Ex Machina” in 2014. It was set to be distributed by Paramount, but when test audiences were nonplussed, and Mr Garland refused to compromise his vision, the studio offloaded “Annihilation” onto Netflix. The film has now been released in American and Chinese cinemas, but elsewhere in the world you will have to watch it at home on your laptop. Some British journalists have lamented that original science-fiction is being pushed out of cinemas by mainstream mega-franchises. But it is hard to watch “Annihilation” without having some sympathy for those Paramount executives who wanted rid of it.

Adapting the award-winning novel by Jeff VanderMeer, Mr Garland has taken a 1980s soldiers-vs-aliens premise and presented as if it were a profound philosophical treatise: he has remade “Predator”, but he imagines it to be Tarkovksy’s “Stalker”. The scenario is pure pulp fiction.

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Three years after a meteorite crashed into the base of a Florida lighthouse, the surrounding few miles of landscape are enveloped in a beautiful iridescent force field which looks as if it is made out of carwash bubbles. The area has been designated “The Shimmer”, as if were a lip-gloss brand, and yet everyone manages to use this nickname without laughing.

No one knows what is hiding inside The Shimmer. Nobody who has ventured through the force field’s soapy membrane has come out alive, the sole exception being a soldier (Oscar Isaac) who has been mentally and physically shattered by his experiences. This, you might assume, would be enough to keep his wife, Lina (Natalie Portman), as far away from it as possible, but she immediately volunteers to join the next reconnaissance team (luckily, she is a biology professor and an army veteran). The other members of her all-female task force, played by Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tessa Thompson, Gina Rodriguez and Tuva Novotny, are similarly well-qualified. But despite their expertise and experience, it doesn’t occur to any of them that it might be wise to wear a hazmat suit, a helmet, or any other form of protective clothing.

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More at www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2018/03/predator-pretensions

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Originally posted by JEWELSTAITEFAN:

Your spoiler includes one of the pile of logic failures, which were highly annoying.

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Originally posted by ecgordon:

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Originally posted by SHINYGOODGUY:
Yes, I got the impression it was the West Coast.

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Originally posted by SHINYGOODGUY:
Thanks EC, I hope you weren't taking my response as being hostile. It was my attempt at being funny.

SGG

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Originally posted by ecgordon:

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Originally posted by SHINYGOODGUY:
Yes, I got the impression it was the West Coast.

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It's not specified in book or film, but the agency investigating the phenomena is called the SOUTHERN REACH Institute. It was inspired by the author's hikes in the Apalachicola National Forest in the Florida panhandle.

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
I just saw a spoiler-free review of this movie the other day and it looks pretty damn good. I can't figure out why they chose to release it in theaters in America but not in the EU. What were they thinking???

The average American movie goer is an idiot. This movie seems way to smart for them. If anything, it should have been a Netflix release in the states and put in the theaters in the EU.

What I find really hilarious is that THIS is the movie that encompasses Female Power that nobody cared about. Put a bunch of intelligent, highly educated, independent women in a movie with no men and nobody went to see it?

What's wrong, America? Not worth watching unless there's a queef joke in it?

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Originally posted by JEWELSTAITEFAN:

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
I just saw a spoiler-free review of this movie the other day and it looks pretty damn good. I can't figure out why they chose to release it in theaters in America but not in the EU. What were they thinking???

The average American movie goer is an idiot. This movie seems way to smart for them. If anything, it should have been a Netflix release in the states and put in the theaters in the EU.

What I find really hilarious is that THIS is the movie that encompasses Female Power that nobody cared about. Put a bunch of intelligent, highly educated, independent women in a movie with no men and nobody went to see it?

What's wrong, America? Not worth watching unless there's a queef joke in it?

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Let us know when you have seen the film.
Have you already seen Ex Machina?

Intelligent women, debatable. The implied premise is that they are, sure.
But this is not a Rom-Com, so why should women choose to flock to this offering?
To draw more men, perhaps more hottie content could have worked. Playmates can be smart too, right? Actresses known for their Rom-Com work are less known to male viewers. Viewers searching for their fix of SCI Fi are less willing to suffer the plot logic worse that Gravity.

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But this is not a Rom-Com, so why should women choose to flock to this offering?

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To draw more men, perhaps more hottie content could have worked.

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