Skip to main content

Annihilation

 

What I liked: I liked the crystal trees and the creepy people plants. The multi colored lichen and flowers were cool too. I liked how disorienting the loss of time and flashbacks were, they did a good job of maintaining the disquiet and suspense. I liked that they remembered that mutation and evolution has no goal, it's just a thing that happens with all kinds of side effects. I liked their little boat trip in giant crocodile infested swamp. I'm not sure if I loved the silver skin suit but I can't deny that it was interesting. 

What I didn't: The heroes are all scientists who go on a mission to find out what is going on inside the "shimmer". For being all scientists they don't draw very well on their test one variable at a time training. If nothing has ever come out of the shimmer, try sticking a stick in and see if you can pull it out. Step inside with a harness on so if you don't come back they can try and pull you back. Walk in a little ways and then come back. Fly over the top of it and drop robots programmed to come back out and bring you samples. There are a lot of things to test before you run head first into the middle with no way of getting your findings back out. And why was no one taking notes? Sure you might be losing memory as you go along, all the more reason to write more things down! One of the main reasons Lena is an asset on the mission is she has military training. She proceeds to not use that training. When you set up camp in a perfectly good, defenesable watch tower and you even have the foresight to set a watch, why would you keep watch- from not the watch tower. Oh no, lets definitely sleep somewhere super secure but set up our sentry in a tiny accessible shack surrounded by tall grass near the breached perimeter fence a good 200 feet from the tower. And then lets all go traipsing back and forth in the dark. If one of your friends gets dragged off by a monster and you are carrying a gun, maybe you should use your training to shoot the monster instead of just wait for a more opportune time later when you can show off. Note to self: if you ever suspect your intestines have turned into pythons and want to carve a window to check and see, the window probably doesn't have to be made when you are still alive. I have a number of questions about the bear. None of them will ever be answered but I wish they were. They seem to play pretty fast and loose with containment. If someone is in bioisolation and everyone going in and out is wearing full hazmat suits, you probably should be too. And if you decide not to you should probably stay in that isolation area. For the record, force of will does not trump powerful mutagen and you probably can't walk off a bite from an alligator with a mouth as big as you. 

Who should watch this? People who like kind of creepy suspenseful movies. People who are not yet worried about their intestines turning into pythons without warning. People on the fence about a phosphorous grenade purchase. 

Would I watch it again? I was glad I finally watched it, like most thriller/mysteries I think the rewatchability is limited but I enjoyed it. 

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ready Player One Review

What I liked: I bet all of the developers loved making this film, I saw so many video game and movie references in the background of scenes. I bet all the developers just inserted their favorites like the ninja turtles, a whole platoon of halo soldiers, and orcs. That it was a video game made it possible and exciting to have all kinds of absolutely random physics and logic defying things happen. Obviously, I loved the T. Rex and who would not enjoy seeing Mechagodzilla or a cyborg orc driving a monster truck? Early in the movie they made good use of the video game architecture in a way that reminded me a bit of secret rooms in super mario. The characters visit the world of the Shining, which was amazing and hilarious. I loved the variety of characters, vehicles and weapons that we get to see and it is more fun (at least for me) that they draw from more than strictly the 1980's. I also really liked the music, for the most part the selections were great for the scenes. The book was...
3 comments
Read more

Solo Reveiw

What I liked: The architecture of a heist movie has 4 stages: stage 1 explain how hard the job is, stage 2 come up with a ridiculously elaborate plan to accomplish the job and acquire hard to find equipment, stage 3 execute the plan but something goes terribly wrong, stage 4 sneaky twist and huge pay off. The Solo movie takes the bold move of streamlining the first two and a half steps, picking up with stage 3.5 "Something goes terribly wrong". This saves everyone the slow wind up to the actual action. This saved time translates into a movie with not one but all the heists. We have grand theft, customs evasion, train robbery, vault robbery, the classic hustle, and of course smuggling. I guess they may have tried to crowd too a little much in because they also almost always skip stage 4. This stage skipping also means that we don't know if the things they are doing are actually hard or they are just incompetent. I'm surprised more heist movies don't explore this ...
2 comments
Read more

Wrinkle in Time Review

What I liked: I liked Charles Wallace, that kid was funny. I liked that the ladies in crazy dresses were warriors and that the kids were warriors too. You know me I'm all about a good action movie with awesome fighting, but I liked that at least in this universe the defining characteristics of warriors were compassion, kindness, and love. Similarly, I liked that the bad guys weren't launching a massive military conquest of the universe, I mean everyone is doing that these days. Surprisingly, I liked the Mrs's dresses. They were crazy and over the top but it was fun that they changed with every teleportation and that they were completely absurd. The outfits were rather like the Mrs's wearing them, over the top and fantastical. Knowing all of them from other shows I may have had some unfulfilled expectations. At no point did anyone say "You get a wrinkle, and you get a wrinkle, Everyone gets a wrinkle!" which I must admit was a little disappointing. I also think...
2 comments
Read more