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Last movie watched...

Started by SmallBlueThing, 04 February, 2011, 12:40:44 PM

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edgeworthy

Quote from: JamesC on 08 March, 2018, 09:37:49 AM
Jason Statham went to my High School (a few years before me - I think it was probably still the Grammar School then).
His dad is a singer and still performs in pubs around town as Barry Wild (Yarmouth's own Tom Jones).
And I went to the same University as Liam Neeson, which is not a specific reason to watch any film he is in.

But works as an excuse since he's good in anything.

dweezil2

#11986
Annihilation was every bit as good as I'd hoped for and possibly even better than anticipated.

No spoilers, but it was visually sumptuous, with excellent performances all round.

Horrifyingly and equally beautiful, with elements of Arrival, The Thing, Alien, Under The Skin with some Cronenberg body horror thrown in for good measure, but combining all these elements into an original vision-no mean feat!

Another triumph from Alex Garlend, who is fast becoming one of the most interesting filmmakers to watch today.

Savalas Seed Bandcamp: https://savalasseed1.bandcamp.com/releases

"He's The Law 45th anniversary music video"
https://youtu.be/qllbagBOIAo

Mattofthespurs

I went to the same school as Boris Karloff...At different times...I hope that's obvious.

Keef Monkey

Annihilation. Absolutely incredible, loved it. Exactly the kind of atmospheric sci-fi that I can see myself watching many, many times because just the feel of it is something I need to get my fix of again and again.

I read the book last week and having it so fresh in my mind might have been a small mistake, because the film is so vastly different to the book in a lot of ways (not thematically, just in terms of events themselves) and I sometimes found the differences a little distracting on a first watch. Not in a disappointed 'this isn't as good as the book' sort of way, more in that expectation that certain things were still to happen and a curiosity about how they were going to pull off certain things. That hung over it a bit and I did have tiny pangs of disappointment here and there whenever I realized another thing I loved in the book had been jettisoned, but there's another part of me that knows that's a very silly complaint because what the film does do is amazing in its own right. Definitely a really, really minor quibble and one that I know won't be a factor on re-watches. Most of that stuff probably got nixed for being impossible to translate to film anyway.

One of my favourite things about the story is the atmosphere that's created by treating the phenomenon as something so alien that it's impossible to comprehend in traditional ways, that tip-of-the-brain understanding that's almost like a weird dream logic. My wife read the book before me and described it as like those moments when you start to fall asleep and your thoughts stray into odd places that don't make sense moments later when you acknowledge it happened, but that seemed perfectly normal in the moment. I think she kind of nailed something there which I would really struggle to describe! The film captures that brilliantly, it just has to go about it in a different way, and that's great. The meat and potatoes events of the book are less important than the overall sensation of the thing I reckon.

Looks and sounds amazing, colour plays such a huge part in the movie so if you can watch it in HDR then do because it's eye-poppingly gorgeous. The soundtrack is perfect too, organic and comfortingly familiar when it needs to be, disturbingly alien when that's called for.

I've heard that people are having quite hostile reactions to it because they don't feel like enough is explained, which I really don't get. It's all up there, if anything it makes some things a little more explicitly clear than I might have preferred. Saying that, there are still plenty of things that are open to interpretation and it was really fun to talk about our takes on certain things afterwards (I was really glad Bea had also picked up on [spoiler]the thing with the arm and the accent change, because once I noticed that I spent a bunch of the movie looking for more confirmation of it and wondering if I'd imagined it entirely. It's possible we both did though...)[/spoiler].

Anyway, I'll shut up now. Loved it so damn much, want to see it again ASAP and I know it's a new classic that I'll be watching for years and that will be swimming around in my brain for a very long time after every viewing.

TordelBack

Deadpool. A really solid and original first hour, let down a bit by some rare misfires in the humour, then a dull and unfocused third act where people hit each other for what seems like ages while Morena Baccarin looks decidedly uncomfortable hanging about in suspenders.  It was certainly a lot better than I expected, particularly the structure of the opening, and Reynolds and Baccarin were both great, but for me it just sort of petered out into incoherence, complete with a cop-out ending. I did like the Ferris Bueller gag in the end-credits (as much as for 'so that's what it reminds me of!' as anything else), and I'd certainly be on to give the second one a try.

GrudgeJohnDeed

Quote from: Keef Monkey on 13 March, 2018, 09:58:44 AM
Annihilation. Absolutely incredible, loved it. Exactly the kind of atmospheric sci-fi that I can see myself watching many, many times because just the feel of it is something I need to get my fix of again and again.

Me too! Watched it last night, blew my socks off and I couldn't really articulate it better than Keef. [spoiler]They loved it but I saw RLM criticise the film for having a 'twist ending' with natalie portman being a changed person, but I didn't think of it as a twist ending, because we already knew she'd been roundly refracted by the shimmer. I had been waiting for more symptoms for a while![/spoiler]

[spoiler]Their other small niggle was the framing device of Natalie in the hospital being interviewed, undermining the tension regarding her survival, but I've got to say to me it wasn't exactly a traditional horror film where the body count, the variety of deaths and the guessing game of who will survive are the draw. With her surviving and being interrogated, perhaps more chance I might get to see the mystery of the shimmer explained![/spoiler]

Keef Monkey

Quote from: GrudgeJohnDeed on 13 March, 2018, 12:49:36 PM
Quote from: Keef Monkey on 13 March, 2018, 09:58:44 AM
Annihilation. Absolutely incredible, loved it. Exactly the kind of atmospheric sci-fi that I can see myself watching many, many times because just the feel of it is something I need to get my fix of again and again.

Me too! Watched it last night, blew my socks off and I couldn't really articulate it better than Keef. [spoiler]They loved it but I saw RLM criticise the film for having a 'twist ending' with natalie portman being a changed person, but I didn't think of it as a twist ending, because we already knew she'd been roundly refracted by the shimmer. I had been waiting for more symptoms for a while![/spoiler]

[spoiler]Their other small niggle was the framing device of Natalie in the hospital being interviewed, undermining the tension regarding her survival, but I've got to say to me it wasn't exactly a traditional horror film where the body count, the variety of deaths and the guessing game of who will survive are the draw. With her surviving and being interrogated, perhaps more chance I might get to see the mystery of the shimmer explained![/spoiler]

Yeah, totally agree with you there! [spoiler]For me the tension came from what she might have seen or experienced while she was there, rather than from who did or didn't survive. I wanted to find out what happened but at the same time dreaded it because the sense that it's going to be something really disturbingly odd and alien keeps building.

Plus the suspicion that whatever happened has changed her so she's come back different is there really early on I think. Obviously having read the book colors that impression but it's handled very differently in the book and the film, and I'd imagine the point where she draws attention to the tattoo during the interrogation would be a bit of a tipping point for that.[/spoiler]

Such a good movie, been thinking about it all day!

GrudgeJohnDeed

Quote from: Keef Monkey on 13 March, 2018, 02:29:46 PM
Yeah, totally agree with you there! [spoiler]For me the tension came from what she might have seen or experienced while she was there, rather than from who did or didn't survive. I wanted to find out what happened but at the same time dreaded it because the sense that it's going to be something really disturbingly odd and alien keeps building.

Plus the suspicion that whatever happened has changed her so she's come back different is there really early on I think. Obviously having read the book colors that impression but it's handled very differently in the book and the film, and I'd imagine the point where she draws attention to the tattoo during the interrogation would be a bit of a tipping point for that.[/spoiler]

Such a good movie, been thinking about it all day!

[spoiler]That's a great way to put it yeah, there was so much interesting going on in the film, mysteries and phenomena and group dynamics. it wasn't really about who survives to me.

Yah she even tests her blood at one point and finds she's 'infected' as it were.

Here's a question regarding that awesome talking bear scene, do you think the bear had mutated to mimic its prey, or in the act of eating Cass (in particular ripping her throat out maybe, as you see on the mutilated corpse) had absorbed some of her genetics to become a Bear/Cass hybrid?[/spoiler]


Steve Green

[spoiler]I thought the end bit with the eyes was a bit redundant, and the interpretative dance with the alien/clone/mirror image went on a bit (I also thought it could have looked a bit more unearthly), but liked it overall.

The grade on Kane's video at the end seemed to wander around a bit, but that was a minor thing.

Did I miss something or was Jennifer Jason Leigh's character mentioned or seen at all afterwards? She just wandered off but I don't recall seeing any sign of her.

Interestingly Matt (Johnny Alpha from our SD film) filmed some stuff as a special ops soldier, but didn't make the cut - I guess it was probably in that memory card sequence...

[/spoiler]

GrudgeJohnDeed

Quote from: Steve Green on 13 March, 2018, 04:27:34 PM
[spoiler]
Did I miss something or was Jennifer Jason Leigh's character mentioned or seen at all afterwards? She just wandered off but I don't recall seeing any sign of her.
[/spoiler]

[spoiler]That was her in the lighthouse, she exploded with energy and 'gave birth' to that floating cyclops alien entity.[/spoiler]

Keef Monkey

Quote from: GrudgeJohnDeed on 13 March, 2018, 03:30:22 PM
[spoiler]
Here's a question regarding that awesome talking bear scene, do you think the bear had mutated to mimic its prey, or in the act of eating Cass (in particular ripping her throat out maybe, as you see on the mutilated corpse) had absorbed some of her genetics to become a Bear/Cass hybrid?[/spoiler]

[spoiler]Yeah I wasn't sure what to make of the bear thing at first, because I couldn't tell if its face had rotted away to the bone or if that was like 'extra' skull and a mutation, and I do like the idea that it's absorbing and combining with its victims, or that the shimmer itself has mashed them together. I'm convinced that Portman's character has her DNA combined with the other team members on the way to the lighthouse (hence the tattoo), so that would fit that. I'm not sure (I need to rewatch this so bad!) but it seemed Kane had a different accent in his final 'phospher grenade' video, which makes me think the same thing happened to his team - he made it to the lighthouse and absorbed his team mates along the way. Or I just imagined that and jumped on it because it supports the absorbing theory![/spoiler]

Quote from: Steve Green on 13 March, 2018, 04:27:34 PM
[spoiler]I thought the end bit with the eyes was a bit redundant, and the interpretative dance with the alien/clone/mirror image went on a bit (I also thought it could have looked a bit more unearthly), but liked it overall.

Did I miss something or was Jennifer Jason Leigh's character mentioned or seen at all afterwards? She just wandered off but I don't recall seeing any sign of her.

[/spoiler]

[spoiler]I wasn't keen on the eyes either, it pushed a point that was heavily implied anyway. Just those shots facing the camera without any CG trickery to the eyes would have been way more effective for me. It's weird, despite a lot of people disliking the film because it's too ambiguous and doesn't offer enough answers, that moment left me thinking the opposite, that it was confirming something that would have been better left to hang in the air a bit.

Oh, and do you mean Jennifer Jason Leigh not being seen after she heads off on her own? She was in the lighthouse when Portman arrives there, she's in the hole and they have a short chat and then she kind of...spores everywhere.

She has a lot more to do in the book, and we both commented that it would have been great to see that as it's one of the most interesting parts of it I think. They hint that they're going to go down that route in the film (when they can't remember setting up camp you get a little shot of her looking a bit suspicious) but they never really follow that plot through. Maybe Garland decided it would be better left hanging to add a bit of mystery, it was just one of those things I kept waiting for them to follow up on![/spoiler]

Steve Green

Quote from: GrudgeJohnDeed on 13 March, 2018, 04:51:19 PM
Quote from: Steve Green on 13 March, 2018, 04:27:34 PM
[spoiler]
Did I miss something or was Jennifer Jason Leigh's character mentioned or seen at all afterwards? She just wandered off but I don't recall seeing any sign of her.
[/spoiler]

[spoiler]That was her in the lighthouse, she exploded with energy and 'gave birth' to that floating cyclops alien entity.[/spoiler]



Cheers, must be losing it...

GrudgeJohnDeed

Quote from: Keef Monkey on 13 March, 2018, 05:07:47 PM
[spoiler]Yeah I wasn't sure what to make of the bear thing at first, because I couldn't tell if its face had rotted away to the bone or if that was like 'extra' skull and a mutation, and I do like the idea that it's absorbing and combining with its victims, or that the shimmer itself has mashed them together. I'm convinced that Portman's character has her DNA combined with the other team members on the way to the lighthouse (hence the tattoo), so that would fit that. I'm not sure (I need to rewatch this so bad!) but it seemed Kane had a different accent in his final 'phospher grenade' video, which makes me think the same thing happened to his team - he made it to the lighthouse and absorbed his team mates along the way. Or I just imagined that and jumped on it because it supports the absorbing theory![/spoiler]

[spoiler]At first I thought it had blended genetically with an animal that mimics its prey and was mimicking Cass's distress to hunt the others, because why would it only imitate the distress call of Cass if it had merged with her genetically, but I'm probably overthinking it. Genetic blending of some sort for sure!

Kane's accent definitely changed when he was making the lighthouse video, I heard it too. Sounded a bit southern USA to me. I didn't think of a good reason why though, that's a cool idea that he had absorbed traits of his team. Would be interesting to see if any of his team mates in the earlier video had a similar accent. [/spoiler]

radiator

Haha, feel like we need a spoiler thread for this one! So much to discuss.

What I loved about Annihilation was that 1) for a sci fi/horror piece it had some truly fresh and original visual design (hard to do in this day and age - I truly feel that the [spoiler]'nightmare bear'[/spoiler] will become iconic in time and 2) it really stuck with me afterwards (unlike most blockbuster type movies which  tend to slide right off my brain immediately after viewing).

And Steve - about that end scene 'going on a bit'... I think that's possibly a consequence of not viewing it as intended (on the big screen with the sound cranked up to maximum). I generally have a very short attention span for that sort of thing, but in this case I was totally transfixed throughout, and didn't even realise until it was pointed out to me that there's basically a 15-20 minute sequence that's purely visual with almost no dialogue at all.

Agree about the 'dream logic' kind of feel. Little things like no one wearing any kind of breathing apparatus would generally bother me in a movie (as it did in Prometheus) but weirdly didn't in this case. It actually struck me that Annihilation on the whole is the exact kind of movie that Prometheus was trying to be, but it's executed far, far better.

Steve Green

Well I did watch it projected, although the sound wasn't particularly high because of neighbours.

Geoff Barrow mentioned on twitter that the score had been mixed -5db in one mix.

I think it was just that specific [spoiler]Mirroring/dance that went on a bit for me and I didn't go much on the design of it [/spoiler]