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David
Pure Phase
Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2005 7:33 am Posts: 34865 Location: Maryland
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Annihilation
Quote: Annihilation is a 2018 science fiction horror film written and directed by Alex Garland, based on the novel of the same name by Jeff VanderMeer.
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Mon Feb 26, 2018 12:28 am |
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nghtvsn
Extraordinary
Joined: Fri Mar 11, 2005 7:13 pm Posts: 11015 Location: Warren Theatre Oklahoma
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Re: Annihilation
ANNIHILATION
There are some very good moments in this film that had me glued and extremely interested. The problem here is that it is just so slow and so boring at times it put me to sleep and I watched this in the afternoon not at night. First, the beginning of the film was very slow. It took a long time to get to something that actually got my interest. There is a sequence with a bear type hybrid which was very good and very scary. That was great but the film does it's best to not have moments like that in the film. Second towards the end Portman learns the truth about her husband and faces off with a duplicate of herself or something. I'm not sure what it can be classified as really but that whole sequence was fantastic. I loved all of that and the sound was very good and powerful. I wish the film was more interesting overall but it doesn't delve into answering questions about the shimmer or the entity. I do want to see it again when it gets on Netflix though.
Grade - C
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Mon Feb 26, 2018 10:15 am |
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Caius
A very honest-hearted fellow
Joined: Mon Oct 11, 2004 8:02 pm Posts: 4767
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Re: Annihilation
Garland is definitely interesting but the film is meandering and lacks a satisfying resolution. And no, that is not because it poses thoughtful questions that it leaves the viewer to resolve. The characters are flat with their conflicts/traits literally mentioned one-by-one by one of the characters and mostly left at that.
The score is wonderful. Particularly during the lighthouse climax. I so wish it was better.
B-
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Tue Feb 27, 2018 10:10 am |
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Steve
Indiana Jones IV
Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2004 12:09 pm Posts: 1794
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Re: Annihilation
Magnus wrote: To me, it is clear in the end that both characters are their "copied" versions. How can that be? Didn't we see Portman's copy explode and burn?
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Tue Feb 27, 2018 6:02 pm |
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Jmart
Superman: The Movie
Joined: Fri Oct 22, 2004 8:47 am Posts: 21141 Location: Massachusetts
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Re: Annihilation
Obnoxious.
C
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Wed Feb 28, 2018 7:02 pm |
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thompsoncory
Rachel McAdams Fan
Joined: Sat Oct 23, 2004 11:13 am Posts: 14544 Location: LA / NYC
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Re: Annihilation
I thought this was great. Incredibly suspenseful and thought-provoking, and I loved the ending. The bear sequence is the stuff of nightmares too. The entire cast was great but I particularly loved Jennifer Jason Leigh and Gina Rodriguez. It's also just visually stunning and expertly made from a production standpoint. A-
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Thu Mar 01, 2018 12:12 am |
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Flava'd vs The World
The Kramer
Joined: Sat Oct 23, 2004 11:36 am Posts: 23695 Location: Classified
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Re: Annihilation
I really liked this too. But yes, the ending was pretty disappointing. It basically just amounted to an alien fucking around. I thought we were about to start exploring the origins of life, revealing that cancer is what actually started life as we know it. Once crazy lady goes crazy, things become pretty basic though. Staring into a shiny light isn’t provokative, it is just a shiny light. And fuck off if they are both the copies. I think Natalie just got merged or fragmented with a little Bit of the alien dna. Or maybe she is the alien itself, contented to live amongst humans as one of them now that it realizes the damage the initial experiment was causing. Anything other than two copies please. But the constant cell splitting scenes really don’t lead amywhere else. And the thriller eyes are a dead giveaway. Dammit!
So what did I like though? The atmosphere is tops. This is kind of a horror movie, but the camera and music are always trying to make you feel at peace. It fits the theme, the alien isn’t causing this malice on purpose, but in the moment it seems like a drastic contrast that somehow worked. Nobody has much of a character outside Natty, but I liked the actresses quiet resolve as they headed closer and closer to doom. The creatures, like the atmosphere, are equally beautiful and horrific (to us that is). And while I expected this movie to be a total mindfuck, it was actually pretty easy to follow along with once you accepted the rules of the world.
So this is definitely a very good movie that kind of loses itself in the climax. A lot of sci-fi horror pictures suffer from this though, and some of them improve with time and some don’t. We shall have to see where Annihilation stands in a few years.
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Thu Mar 01, 2018 1:00 pm |
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Flava'd vs The World
The Kramer
Joined: Sat Oct 23, 2004 11:36 am Posts: 23695 Location: Classified
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Re: Annihilation
So after thinking about it, there is some hope that Leena isn't a copy. The bear "absorbed" a part of the girls soul as it killed her, so maybe Natty absorbed a bit of the alien. Thus why she is so defensive of it. It wasn't here to kill. Even though it kind of was.
Jennifer Jason Leigh agrees. One of the better uses of a title within a movie. Annihilation!!!!!!!!
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Sat Mar 03, 2018 1:49 am |
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MGKC
---------
Joined: Tue Oct 12, 2004 10:42 pm Posts: 11808 Location: Kansas City, Kansas
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Re: Annihilation
The bear monster stuff is pretty great - almost exclusively due to its terrifying yell.
Natalie Portman, Gina Rodriguez, and Jennifer Jason Leigh are all great - particularly Gina, but I am probably biased there.
It is kind of dream-like movie with no actual dream sequences. I thought it was solid overall.
Ending is a little disappointing as it plays it like a twist, but we don't even really know what the aliens want for it to mean anything.
B+
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Sun Mar 04, 2018 12:35 pm |
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Dil
Forum General
Joined: Wed Oct 28, 2009 9:48 pm Posts: 8942 Location: Houston, Texas
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Re: Annihilation
Its a bit of a slow burn, but I did end up really enjoying it. Once they got into the Shimmer I was hooked. That world was so damn creepy, and ominous to be in yet the cinematography was absolutely stunning. I also loved the bits of horror in this, especially the bear scene and that one nasty sequence with the guy having moving intestines. I think the biggest flaw with this film though is definitely the characters, because while the performances are solid across the board I just didn't really feel emotionally connected to anybody even Portman's character. That ending was kind of weak too.
B+
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Wed Mar 14, 2018 2:00 pm |
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Algren
now we know
Joined: Tue Oct 19, 2004 9:31 pm Posts: 67000
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Annihilation
This is not a very good film. It has some cool concepts and a visually hypnotic ending, but overall it is a tedious watch. The story fails to captivate with the "action sequences" failing to excite. I think science-fiction is done. It should take a break for a decade with only one or two small films being made per year, like westerns. It is all the same.
C
Last edited by Algren on Sat Mar 24, 2018 3:52 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Sat Mar 24, 2018 3:46 am |
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Algren
now we know
Joined: Tue Oct 19, 2004 9:31 pm Posts: 67000
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Re: Annihilation
Flava'd vs The World wrote: So after thinking about it, there is some hope that Leena isn't a copy. She isn't. The copy died. But her DNA is affected, ever-moving. Kane is a copy, though.
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Sat Mar 24, 2018 3:48 am |
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Jack Sparrow
KJ's Leading Idiot
Joined: Thu Dec 31, 2009 8:15 pm Posts: 36915
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Re: Annihilation
There are some really cool concepts in this movie but just not tidied well enough. The atmosphere is great thanks to production design in the forest/shimmer and at times (specially the end) the score is aces. But overall I don't understand why this had to be given an arthouse movie treatment. The overall concept of the movie (the secret behind the shimmer) keeps this interesting but after the bear scene almost everything feels lesser to some extent. Neither Kane or Lena are built enough as characters to root for them.
5/10
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Sat Mar 24, 2018 2:22 pm |
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stuffp
Keeping it Light
Joined: Wed Apr 08, 2015 8:06 am Posts: 11185 Location: Bright Falls
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Re: Annihilation
Very good film. It's not as fine tuned as Ex Machina, which I didn't love either, but Annihilation is more ambitious and has some nice gripping sequences in it, while it mesmerizes a bit too. The score is a winner and I just really enjoy the mind of Alex Garland in either written or visual form. Natalie Portman was not that convincing for me too, I like her, but I've seen her in better roles and maybe feels a bit miscast even. Actually most of the characters were just not very likeable, so that perhaps held this film back a bit too. I enjoyed the heck out of the story though.
B+
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Sat Nov 30, 2019 3:28 am |
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Shack
Devil's Advocate
Joined: Sun Jul 31, 2005 2:30 am Posts: 37886
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Re: Annihilation
This is pretty dense. I assume some things flew over my head. After reading some interpretations, I feel this movie is a metaphor for self destructive people and making the choice to leave your version of the Shimmer and try to become a better person instead of letting it annihilate you. If they made Lena an alcoholic instead of a cheater the metaphor would have been a lot more obvious (though maybe too much so). Portman was great, of course, one of her best roles in a while. But the other actor who really stood out was Gina Rodriguez. If being outed as a racist doesn't get in the way (and being weirdly old, I didn't realize she was 30 when JtV started) I think she can go far.
I like Ex Machina more, but this was another strong sci-fi effort by Alex Garland, and belongs in the convo with the other strong sci fi films last decade like Arrival
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Thu Feb 20, 2020 1:32 am |
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