Wednesday, October 24, 2018

Annihilation

Annihilation is a 2018 science fiction film (you'll hear some describe it as science fiction/horror, but it's not horror in any meaningful sense of the word) based on the first book in Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach trilogy. I read the book when it came out and was excited when I heard it was going to get a film adaptation. It is every bit as good as I'd hoped. If you liked the book, you'll like the film. And it's absolutely gorgeous to watch!

trailer:



Screen Rant calls it "an emotionally compelling and exciting film" and "an exciting, beautiful, and thought-provoking adaptation of VanderMeer's novel". The Guardian calls it "unnerving" and says, "it will shock, fascinate and haunt audiences".

Roger Ebert's site closes with this:
“Annihilation” is not an easy film to discuss. It’s a movie that will have a different meaning to different viewers who are willing to engage with it. It’s about self-destruction, evolution, biology, co-dependence, and that which scares us the most—that we can no longer trust our own bodies. It's meant to linger in your mind and haunt your dreams. In this recent wave of sci-fi films, it's one of the best.
Empire Online concludes, "Drawing on mythology and body horror, Annihilation is an intelligent film that asks big questions and refuses to provide easy answers. Sci-fi at its best." Rotten Tomatoes has a critics score of 87%.

15 comments:

  1. ... ah ... I have enough nightmares & hauntings already (col). I like Natalie Portman, so maybe in daylight early in the day!

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    1. I hope you like it. It's one of those movies where I think they did justice to the book. It's much like I pictured it while I was reading.

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  2. I like sci fi, but not so much horror. But I can't see Natalie Portman acting in a cheesy movie.

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    1. This can be seen as not horror at all though that's the label I kept seeing, and "horror" is such a broad genre. This is definitely not cheesy.

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    2. I've edited my post to add some clarity. I'm not sure why the word "horror" makes people think of a single, particular type of film, and I tend to use the word very broadly without thinking how wrong an impression I might be giving.

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  3. Because of Natalie Portman this was already in my Netflix queue. ;)

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    1. Let me know what you think of it. The books were so good that I was expecting to be disappointed, but I loved this movie. It was visually stunning!

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  4. I found the film good and scary! Have a great day, Valerie

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    1. I hope they adapt the rest of the books :)

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  5. If this is on Netflix, I'll see it the next time I'm with Scott.

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  6. I bet this film's plot captures the imagination and gets you thinking of what could be - scary and haunting! Happy Friday! J 😊 x

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    1. Yes, I love new concepts, and this provided it. I'm soooo tired of re-makes and re-hashings of the same old thing. This is good!

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