Last movie watched...

[abelardsnazz]

I loved Annihilation. Intelligent, thought-provoking sci-fi. It's such a shame it didn't get a release at UK cinemas, as it's no less a film than Blade Runner 2049, although that did have an audience of interested people already. Maybe this is the shape of things to come.

[radiator]

I loved Annihilation. Intelligent, thought-provoking sci-fi. It's such a shame it didn't get a release at UK cinemas, as it's no less a film than Blade Runner 2049, although that did have an audience of interested people already. Maybe this is the shape of things to come.

I don't think there's any doubt about that - the cinema is increasingly becoming the place where you go to watch the latest Marvel/Star Wars/Fast and the Furious film, whereas pretty much everything else gets watched at home. Annihilation getting unceremoniously dumped on Netflix is proof that studios just don't have any faith that a film like that can be profitable in the current market.

Can't pretend I'm not a little gutted about this - no matter how good your home cinema setup is, it just cannot replicate the feeling and sense of immersion you get from seeing a movie at the cinema, not least because it's simply so easy to get distracted when you watch something in your living room. Personally, these days I'm trying to prioritise seeing more independent or original films over the big blockbusters when i go to the cinema - eg opting to see Annihilation (I live in the US) over Black Panther.

[Mattofthespurs]

Can't pretend I'm not a little gutted about this - no matter how good your home cinema setup is, it just cannot replicate the feeling and sense of immersion you get from seeing a movie at the cinema, not least because it's simply so easy to get distracted when you watch something in your living room.

You've not been to my local Cineworld then.

So far this year I've seen films that were too quiet, too loud, shown in the wrong ratio, that have been blurry. And as for distractions at home... I find a room of 150 people all constantly munching and slurping far more distracting than anything in my own home.

I'm lucky in that I have a projector and a room that is completely pitch black and a 7.1 amp that can put my Cineworld's sound system to shame (although probably not if they used it correctly).

Whilst I do love watching movies on the big, big screen sometimes it's just not worth the time and money spent watching it with idiots who are bored by the time the trailers come on.

[Keef Monkey]

Yeah that was the boon about the Netflix release for me too, the lack of distractions. I might be hypersensitive to this stuff or something (or maybe I have terrible luck with audiences) but people's lack of manners in the cinema really distract and pull me out of the experience more than anything in my living room could. I went to The Shape of Water a couple of nights later - fantastic film but one couple had a wee chat about each scene whenever one ended and a row of teenagers got the snorting giggles anytime anything sexual was referenced. I walked away from that looking forward to a better second viewing at home, such is a feeling I leave the cinema with often. The picture size isn't even that important to me, I don't have a projector but I've got a large 4k TV in a fairly small living room so I still get that sense of scale, and the colours and picture quality are better than my local cinema (and Annihilation makes fantastic use of the 4k/HDR).

The one thing I wish I could see it in the cinema for is the volume. I've got a decent surround speakers setup with Atmos etc. so the surround effect is great but living in a flat I just can't crank it up to the levels that something like Annihilation needs. Plus, Netflix seem to have squashed all the dynamics out of the sound mix with this one. I keep seeing people talk about how loud the finale was in the cinema, but the sound feels very flat and compressed on the Netflix version. I'm sure I saw the composer complaining on twitter that the score had been dropped by 5db in the transfer, which is a shame.

For that reason I really hope they put it out on 4k Blu-ray at some point with a properly cinematic audio mix and Atmos support. Then we just need to move somewhere remote where we can turn it up to eleven!

[Mattofthespurs]

Plus, Netflix seem to have squashed all the dynamics out of the sound mix with this one. I keep seeing people talk about how loud the finale was in the cinema, but the sound feels very flat and compressed on the Netflix version.

Interesting to see you noted this too.
For me it was variable from scene to scene with some sounding superb and other scenes sounding very flat. So much so that on first viewing I had to check my rear speakers were still working twice.

[Mattofthespurs]

For that reason I really hope they put it out on 4k Blu-ray at some point with a properly cinematic audio mix and Atmos support. Then we just need to move somewhere remote where we can turn it up to eleven!

When I got my new amp just over a year ago I did check with my sole neighbours a couple of times about the sound level as I like mine cranked up quiet high.

The only thing they noticed was the low hum of the LFE but it did not bother them but the house we live in has pretty thick walls.

[Steve Green]

I'm wondering if this is a general Netflix thing, I've noticed a few things sounding off, but wasn't sure if it was my setup or the mix.

But yeah, another one living in a flat so I'd never be able to crank it up anyway...

[Magnetica]

Watched Annihilation after the comments on here. Maybe it's me but it didn't really do it for me.

I find with a lot of flims or TV series where they are all about "what's going on" are actually a let down, as the answer is often disappointing. X-Files, Lost, I'm thinking of you.

So with Annihilation [spoiler]it's an extra terrestrial thing that is changing the world and the creatures within it. Yeah ok, but is that it? Shouldn't there be more?[/spoiler].

[JOE SOAP]

[spoiler]As previously mentioned it has a The Thing, Cronenberg, Kubrick vibe going on throughout but at no time did I think derivative. Haven't read the books but after viewing I've ordered all three.[/spoiler]

It echoes some familiar horror scenes but the films it is closest to are Andrei Tarkovsky's atmospheric excursions into the unknown and the uncanny Solaris and Stalker – it has the same set-up and premise as Stalker right down to the creation of The Zone (Area X in Annihilation) being caused by [spoiler]an object crashing to earth from space and altering the landscape into a kind of psychological trap where souls who wander into it face their personal demons. The alien sea in Solaris serves a similar function as a metaphysical mirror that can recreate mental and physical forms.[/spoiler]

[JOE SOAP]

So with Annihilation [spoiler]it's an extra terrestrial thing that is changing the world and the creatures within it. Yeah ok, but is that it? Shouldn't there be more?[/spoiler].

I assume the whole film is the more bit, as in [spoiler]it's the journey of discovery for Lena about her relationship with her husband and ultimately the discovery for us as to what happened both. The alien stuff is the device to hang the themes of destruction and creation in nature on, and to show the mechanics of both in a colourful, arty way.
[/spoiler]
[spoiler]By the end of the film both are reborn, which seems like an intentional nod to the end of Andrzej Żuławski's Possession – a surreal horror film about a very destructive marriage where both partners end up replaced by doppelgängers with different coloured eyes.[/spoiler]

[JOE SOAP]

Annihilation getting unceremoniously dumped on Netflix is proof that studios just don't have any faith that a film like that can be profitable in the current market.

I can't blame the studios, it's rare a film like this makes any money after all the promotional/distribution cost is factored in. Ex Machina was fortunate in that it cost a third of Annihilation so it could be platformed in fewer cinemas and expanded after favourable returns. Annihilation would have to compete with the general fare of blockbusters and rom-coms because of its cost. Without Netflix, a film like Mute would never have been made [spoiler]– many might wish it hadn't.[/spoiler]

[abelardsnazz]

I watched Mute last night and it's a bit of a muddle. Some good ideas get lost in a contrived missing person plot. I enjoyed Moon and Source Code but haven't seen Warcraft. Hopefully Duncan Jones can return to the quality of his previous films next time.

[TordelBack]

Warcraft is surprisingly entertaining.  There's only so much you can do with the awful designs and derivative setup of the source material, but Jones does a good job with the material he's handed.

IIRC it actually worked out as the most financially successful of the game-adaptations, which seems hard to believe.

[Steve Green]

Yeah games to films are always going to be a mixed bag at best and a poisoned chalice at worst.

The games from that era tended to be knock-offs/inspired by other media in the first place.

With Doom taking a bit of Aliens and Evil Dead, Warcraft with LOTR and D&D - it's already recycled by the time it makes the transition to the screen.

Add to that designs tailored for top down RTS games, and already having lost the interactivity, it seems like it would be more suited in something like Wreck-it Ralph than taken seriously.

Some might argue the same for novels or comics being adapted for screen I guess.

[JOE SOAP]

Rampage will break 'the curse' and be a hit.