Films Recently Watched

[Lada Laika]

 

Annihilation

 

I haven’t seen anything as visually stunning as this movie’s climax since the star gate sequence from 2001. Holy shit. Too bad the studio ripped it away from all international theaters except US and China. Very heady stuff, can’t stop thinking about it. 10/10

lol what? this movie was awful. bad cg, bad acting and totally incoherent non story

 

black panther was typical boring marvel stuff with bad african accents.

If there was no story how could it be incoherent?

[auxien]

 

Annihilation

 

I haven’t seen anything as visually stunning as this movie’s climax since the star gate sequence from 2001. Holy shit. Too bad the studio ripped it away from all international theaters except US and China. Very heady stuff, can’t stop thinking about it. 10/10

lol what? this movie was awful. bad cg, bad acting and totally incoherent non story

 

black panther was typical boring marvel stuff with bad african accents. 

 

Glad it wasn't just me re: Annihilation. First RLM had a positive review then I pop on here and two or three folks are just enamored with it (not saying those things are connected at all, just saying I'm hearing all this praise at once) and I thought it was pretty bad. I'll say I thought the story was coherent enough, just it wasn't very well put together...but I liked the book. Acting was mostly okay imo (except the younger physicist? she was bad, and JJL was kinda bad too). I blabbed on about it a few pages ago though so I'll shut up :)

[zaphod]

i don't care about story

[cwmbrancity]

my drugs do

[juiceciuj]

 

 

Annihilation

 

I haven’t seen anything as visually stunning as this movie’s climax since the star gate sequence from 2001. Holy shit. Too bad the studio ripped it away from all international theaters except US and China. Very heady stuff, can’t stop thinking about it. 10/10

lol what? this movie was awful. bad cg, bad acting and totally incoherent non story

 

black panther was typical boring marvel stuff with bad african accents.

If there was no story how could it be incoherent?

i googled a plot analysis after seeing it to see if anyone had any idea what was going on or if they just didn't finish making the movie. couldn't find anything coherent just a bunch of half baked theories of what people thought various things in the movie could've maybe meant maybe

 

checked rt and saw mostly positive reviews but of the negative ones i think this guy basically nailed it:

 

"Making movies steeped in vagueness these days is proving to be an excellent way to earn critical praise, but being artfully ambiguous strikes me as a way to cover for not being able to finish the job."

 

and it was a visual mess probably because it was done with no budget and tried to mask it with heavy handed soft focus and lens flare

[Squee]

 

and it was a visual mess probably because it was done with no budget and tried to mask it with heavy handed soft focus and lens flare

 

 

HAHAHAHA!

 

I thought it was beautifully made though. But I'm not quite sure I need to watch it again any time soon.

[zaphod]

i thought they did a good job with what they had. it would have worked better as a mini series adapting all three books. i don't think it was hard to understand at all, in fact it's significantly easier to comprehend than the book. i don't really understand this obsession with plot and story as the end all in movies. annihilation was more about instilling a sense of dread. if it didn't work for you that's fine, but it was far from awful. 

[Lada Laika]

i thought they did a good job with what they had. it would have worked better as a mini series adapting all three books. i don't think it was hard to understand at all, in fact it's significantly easier to comprehend than the book. i don't really understand this obsession with plot and story as the end all in movies. annihilation was more about instilling a sense of dread. if it didn't work for you that's fine, but it was far from awful.

Intelligent art is typically divisive

 

It’s like the Twin Peaks thread redux in here

[pcock]

story is the most important thing for me. 

although il take a book over a film 19 times out of 20. still, story all the way.

[cruising for burgers]

exactly, if you want a good story, read a book... it's not by chance that it's called moving pictures... hating movies because they don't have a story is the same as hating books because they don't have pictures...

[pcock]

anyway i dont really enjoy horror films any more because they tend to trigger my anxiety, but im looking forward to checking out the book. i had noticed it in the bookshop but picked up something else instead. 

[zaphod]

not much of a story in the book either

[eugene]

just seen it. felt very sharply divided to 2/3 and a 1/3, and i thought the first two thirds were a poorly conceived. despite having a bit of an off kilter feel which i liked, it mostly seemed like it just had some tasks to fulfill. some exposition, some important lines of dialogue, a few cool scenes, a bunch of tropey horror/thriller scenes, a bunch of annoying, inter-cutting flash backs to reveal  portman's character some more. all of it just didn't amount to some kind of enveloping, cinematic experience that i think was called for. maybe it was overly compressed or something because i'm sure there's much more to other characters in the book than what they are in the film. their journey in the shimmer is probably much more detailed and developed and doesn't feel like jumping from one highlight to another.

but the last third is just hands down stunning and completely disarms any criticism. the accompanying score is equally amazing, especially during the part with the alien blob expanding/evolving. from the music i know i think only autechre sometimes approach that level of complete otherworldliness. so thanks to the strength of that last third it did leave me quite impressed overall, there's a strange aftertaste after you've done with it.

[zaphod]

eugene's seen it, that means a torrent is up

[bendish]

The evolving shape Reece bass is NOT in the soundtrack...wtf

[bendish]

 

Guess I'll give Moderat another try. 

[juiceciuj]

the music during the alien thing was really good but that was in the trailer. you know about as much about the movie watching the trailer as you do watching the two hour movie.

 

 

i thought they did a good job with what they had. it would have worked better as a mini series adapting all three books. i don't think it was hard to understand at all, in fact it's significantly easier to comprehend than the book. i don't really understand this obsession with plot and story as the end all in movies. annihilation was more about instilling a sense of dread. if it didn't work for you that's fine, but it was far from awful.

Intelligent art is typically divisive

,,,oh jeeze...

 

exactly, if you want a good story, read a book... it's not by chance that it's called moving pictures... hating movies because they don't have a story is the same as hating books because they don't have pictures...

no

 

if you want to read a good story you read a good book. not just any book. if you want to watch a movie with a good story you watch a good movie. if you're watching "moving pictures" with no story you're just watching visual art

 

under the skin was 10x better than this and 10x more subtle.

 

sorry but it wasn't just a bad story, it was bad acting, and bad visuals. there's not much else to a movie. it's not like the worst thing i've ever seen but i wouldn't watch it again and i wouldn't recommend it to anybody

[Lada Laika]

it’s OK you’re allowed to be incorrect

[zaphod]

 

under the skin was 10x better than this and 10x more subtle.

 

you just fucked up

[juiceciuj]

i'm sorry but jumper is 20x better than annihilation and 200x more subtle

[bendish]

The plot doesn't need to be spelled out in neon. Vagueness is fine. The book is equally vexing. It's more about feel for me. The film did have some standard tropes but was well done in a low key way. The S/T shows how Barrow has just got better and better over his career.

 

http://www.filmmusicmag.com/?p=18575

Edited March 13, 2018 by bendish

[cruising for burgers]

eugene's seen it, that means a torrent is up

hahahaha

[cruising for burgers]

 

exactly, if you want a good story, read a book... it's not by chance that it's called moving pictures... hating movies because they don't have a story is the same as hating books because they don't have pictures...

no

if you want to read a good story you read a good book. not just any book. if you want to watch a movie with a good story you watch a good movie. if you're watching "moving pictures" with no story you're just watching visual art

 

it's ok dude, you're entitled to call it whatever you want to... it's not a question of yes or no, ones and zeroes... to me what counts the most in a movie is the mood and atmosphere transmitted trough visual and sounds... it's the way you use images to tell a story, the story might even be shitty but the way you tell it makes it interesting... the first moving pictures were not stories, they were e.g. a train arriving into a station and everyone on the theatre was scared shittless with the chance that said train could run them over...

 

that said, i didn't watch annihilation yet, but from what i've seen (i skimmed through some scenes) i believe i'll be disappointed, because it indeed looked like a 90's video like the one you posted...

Edited March 13, 2018 by THIS IS MICHAEL JACKSON

[cruising for burgers]

at the same time, one of the most entertaining things i've ever seen was the man from earth, which is aesthetically horrendous. that leads me to the conclusion that i shouldn't rely on a film to tell me a good story, i could have simply have read the script instead and the effect would be the same or even better, because that way the disappointment cause by the shitty cinematography wouldn't be present...

[hello spiral]

annihilation was more about instilling a sense of dread.

^

 

Just seen't it. Loved it. Very much gave me that unique feeling of dread that comes from when an acid trip goes bad.

Will grab the book(s) today. I think you can get all three in one volume now?

Soundtrack was lush also. Lots of Hafler-y drone tones and ae moments yeah.