Annihilation

POSTED BY: ecgordon
UPDATED: Friday, April 6, 2018 10:55
VIEWED: 13518
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SHINYGOODGUY

Thursday, March 15, 2018 2:43 PM

I got the impression that the studio wasn't very supportive of this film, judging by it's marketing, but it is an excellent sci-fi film in the vein of Arrival. Of course, I had a couple of minor picadillos with the "sex scenes" but other than that, it proved to be quite good.

This film also suffered because of the success of Black Panther. I think it would have been an excellent summer movie. Oh well.

SGG

Quote:
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.

SECOND

Friday, March 16, 2018 7:33 PM

Quote:
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.

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.

Select to view spoiler:

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.

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

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.media

JEWELSTAITEFAN

Friday, March 16, 2018 11:49 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by second:
Quote:
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.
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.
Select to view spoiler:
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.
More at www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2018/03/predator-pretensions

You did not post a single original word, r

SECOND

Saturday, March 17, 2018 2:36 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by JEWELSTAITEFAN:

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

It is easy enough to find the lighthouse from the movie: https://goo.gl/maps/HvZ2NRvrqhr

In the real world, The Shimmer has already surrounded St. Marks Lighthouse. The public is being told that the lighthouse is under "restoration": https://goo.gl/jRB8th Could it be a real life government conspiracy to hide the mind-bending and horrendous truth?

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

SHINYGOODGUY

Sunday, March 18, 2018 2:50 PM

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

SGG

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

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.

JEWELSTAITEFAN

Sunday, March 18, 2018 2:52 PM

Quote:
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

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

Funny??

SECOND

Sunday, March 18, 2018 6:59 PM

The movie is very loosely based on the book. Once you have seen the movie, read the book's ending (Jeff VanderMeer - Southern Reach Trilogy 01- Annihilation) :

Select to view spoiler:

From base camp, no sign of life. From the beach below, there is not even a boot left of the psychologist, as if she has melted into the sand. Every night, the moaning creature has let me know that it retains dominion over its kingdom of reeds.

Observing all of this has quelled the last ashes of the burning compulsion I had to know everything … anything … and in its place remains the knowledge that the brightness is not done with me. It is just beginning, and the thought of continually doing harm to myself to remain human seems somehow pathetic. I will not be here when the thirteenth expedition reaches base camp. (Have they seen me yet, or are they about to? Will I melt into this landscape, or look up from a stand of reeds or the waters of the canal to see some other explorer staring down in disbelief? Will I be aware that anything is wrong or out of place?)

I plan to continue on into Area X, to go as far as I can before it is too late. I will follow my husband up the coast, up past the island, even. I don’t believe I’ll find him—I don’t need to find him—but I want to see what he saw. I want to feel him close, as if he is in the room. And, if I’m honest, I can’t shake the sense that he is still here, somewhere, even if utterly transformed—in the eye of a dolphin, in the touch of an uprising of moss, anywhere and everywhere. Perhaps I’ll even find a boat abandoned on a deserted beach, if I’m lucky, and some sign of what happened next. I could be content with just that, even knowing what I know.

This part I will do alone, leaving you behind. Don’t follow. I’m well beyond you now, and traveling very fast.

Has there always been someone like me to bury the bodies, to have regrets, to carry on after everyone else was dead?

I am the last casualty of both the eleventh and the twelfth expeditions. I am not returning home.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

6IXSTRINGJACK

Thursday, April 5, 2018 6:00 PM

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. :)

JEWELSTAITEFAN

Thursday, April 5, 2018 10:10 PM

Quote:
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. :)

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.

6IXSTRINGJACK

Friday, April 6, 2018 10:55 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by JEWELSTAITEFAN:
Quote:
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. :)
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.

My whole point was the insane story around Ghostbusters 2016. Sony execs, the actresses and the director were coming out and saying if you didn't see the movie it was because you were a misogynist. The women in that movie were supposed to be intelligent and educated and empowering figures to girls, but they just made a bunch of low brow humor jokes and there was so much ad-libbing that you wonder if there was ever a script. You couldn't get away from the coverage and bad press that movie generated for about a year. Even Hillary Clinton went on the Ellen show with the 4 actresses, dressed like a Ghostbuster with a proton pack and everything.

Then there's a movie like Annihilation sporting an all female cast, two of which I believe are black women, and most of them are highly educated in Stem disciplines and nobody goes to see it. A lot of people to this day don't even know the movie exists.

Where's Meryl Streep right now? Too busy with her MeToo movement to promote a movie that supposedly has everything she says she wants in Hollywood?

You hit on the two key points with your questions.

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

No reason, really. Most women don't have interest in Stem field work. Nor do they flock to sci-fi of this dark variety in droves either. There's always exceptions to the rule, but stereotypes exist for a reason.

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

If you want to draw men to your all-female cast sci-fi movie, you need to have eye candy at least. Men are going to relate to an all female cast as much as somebody should expect women to relate to an all male cast.

Would it have worked? I don't know. Natalie Portman might have gotten more men in the seats 10 years ago, but not in 2018.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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