"Annihilation," draws comparisons with Kubrick, Aronofsky, Cronenberg, Tarkovsky, ...etc.

[kelpzoidzl]

The hype is growing on "Annihilation."

http://www.indiewire.com/2018/02/annihilation-critics-stanley-kubrick-aronofsky-cronenberg-1201931113/

[kelpzoidzl]

Trailer:

Might be good, but "comparisons to Kubrick" is usually ridiculous marketing hype.

By the trailer I don't see any comparison to Kubrick. I always hope these comparisons are correct.

I refused to see "Mother!" Because it sounded sickening and political. I did watch it on Amazon and thought it was excellent and the opposite political POV I expected.

I saw Ex Machina, same director as Annihilation, but don't even remember it, it made no impression on me.

[Don Stockbauer]

As far as Ex Machina, what struck me was that when Ava gets back to the general population how long is it
going to take for her to be found out? Maybe five minutes?

[kelpzoidzl]

I think I slept through parts of it. It just seemed lame and redundant pop sci- fi.

Annihilation looks like it has one visually interesting segment, reviews are mixed. I'll try to keep an open mind till I see it.

Mother was a retelling of Dr. Suess's "Thidwick, the Big Hearted Moose." (Watch it on youtube.)

[kelpzoidzl]

Watch the Norweigian film, "Thelma" bought it on Amazon video. It was terrific.

[Don Stockbauer]

Owl try to get around to them.

[s***@hotmail.com]

Post by kelpzoidzl
The hype is growing on "Annihilation."

Saw it last night. Big plot logic gap where the alien "shimmer" didn't obscure the sky, and video recording can happen within it, so rovers or drones could have probed, recorded and returned from the exposed area without risking human expeditions (carrying radios!). Many actors were directed to speak in the same measured, heady tempo for cerebral expository, draining tension and the required character empathy.

Also, plenty of nail-on-the head religious symbolism; with a showdown at "the lighthouse" (an abyss-like hole, surrounded by a Kabbalistic tree of life in bas-relief), Portman's character having an infinity tattoo on her arm, and Isaac's character being named Kane — giving Aronofsky's "mother!" a run for its money. The main characters in the source novel don't even have names, apparently.

With production companies like "DNA Productions," and "Lighthouse Films," I wondered where the money for "Annihilation" came from, as I left the theatre feeling like I went through a CIA MK Ultra session, not a film by a Kubrickian auteur. From what I gather, it may be a long-gestated 2016 production, and is already on Netflix in certain countries:

https://actors.mandy.com/uk/films/132763/annihilation

http://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/annihilation-netflix-uk-review

Regards,

Steve

[kelpzoidzl]

Hmmm. Well I can wait till it's free. Looks like a higher budget...what was that Stephen King piece of nonsense miniseries about the dome town? That was pretty terrible. Can't even remember the name of it.

On a brighter side, I was blown away a couple nights ago renting on cable and watching the new Woody Allen movie, "Wonder Wheel." Elements of filmic beautiful not seen since EWS. Shot on Sony digitals...but gorgeous. And the writing and acting was classic. I don't think I've ever seen a better Allen film. It's not a comedy, but funny anyway. And Kate Winslet was astounding. Should have won 9 Oscars by my calculation...in a normal world.

And check out Thelma....the Best "Foreign" Film.

The Oscars need to be redone.

[s***@hotmail.com]

On Friday, March 9, 2018 at 5:54:00 PM UTC-5, kelpzoidzl wrote:

Elements of filmic beautiful not seen since EWS. Shot on Sony digitals...but gorgeous.

With his "Café society," Woody Allen started working with Vittorio Storaro (or vice versa).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Univisium

Steve

[kelpzoidzl]

Post by kelpzoidzl
Elements of filmic beautiful not seen since EWS. Shot on Sony digitals...but gorgeous.
With his "Café society," Woody Allen started working with Vittorio Storaro (or vice versa).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Univisium
Steve
Elements of filmic beautiful not seen since EWS. Shot on Sony digitals...but gorgeous.
With his "Café society," Woody Allen started working with Vittorio Storaro (or vice versa).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Univisium
Steve

Definately Storaro is qualified to advocate his format. His work has been excellent. I would love to know what Woody Allens input to him was on "Wonder Wheel" I found this one to have a special look. With this latest film this current Amazon deal has apparently been taken seriously by Allen. He really outdid himself in writing and the film's look and emotionalism.

Cafe Society was one of those Allen films where the lead actor is poorly delivering Allen character dialogue, that no one but Allen can really do. Jesse Einsenberg just doesn't have the timing. I think that was the Second Amazon film and had annoyed me because it just did not spend enough money to actually look like the 30's, in Hollywood or NYC scenes and the costumes and decor was not believable, so it bugged me. Kristen Stewart although cute and capable, was too shallow a character and there was not much chemistry. Not one of Allen's best. It should have stuck to comedy, but Eisenberg imitating Allen fell way short.

Wonder Wheel throws around names of play-writes O'Neil and Checkov and Allen really made a classic here and that look of the film is still in my mind.

[kelpzoidzl]

https://www.fdtimes.com/2017/12/02/color-wheel-vittorio-storaro-asc-aic-on-wonder-wheel/

Storaro on Wonder Wheel. Good article.

[kelpzoidzl]

I think objectivity when applied to film lighting and photography, the self contained beauty of Eyes Wide Shut, leads to a conclusion that intangible things about his movies have more heft then even the grandiose, forced imagery of Malick, because of it's extreme naturalism and clarity.

However great a film FMJ is, though it didn't knock Apocalypse Now off the top of my list of Vietnam war films and favorite films. Coppola couldn't ever top the films he already made and I have no idea what he's working on now. I was one of those few people who loved One From the Heart.

Color played a huge role in Coppola's films, My favorite part of Apocylpse Now is the very beginning, with the Door's singing "The End" in multichannel stereo. I saw it at the Cinerama Dome and those fields of napalm being layed down while Jim Morrison was singing was mindblowing. Even Kubrick never went that far with a scene that incredible. (Probably money realities.)

Perfect writing, perfect lighting, and sound, clarity of the image. Extreme filmmaking. So rare.

[kelpzoidzl]

Post by s***@hotmail.com

Post by kelpzoidzl
The hype is growing on "Annihilation."

Saw it last night. Big plot logic gap where the alien "shimmer" didn't obscure the sky, and video recording can happen within it, so rovers or drones could have probed, recorded and returned from the exposed area without risking human expeditions (carrying radios!). Many actors were directed to speak in the same measured, heady tempo for cerebral expository, draining tension and the required character empathy.
Also, plenty of nail-on-the head religious symbolism; with a showdown at "the lighthouse" (an abyss-like hole, surrounded by a Kabbalistic tree of life in bas-relief), Portman's character having an infinity tattoo on her arm, and Isaac's character being named Kane — giving Aronofsky's "mother!" a run for its money. The main characters in the source novel don't even have names, apparently.
https://actors.mandy.com/uk/films/132763/annihilation
http://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/annihilation-netflix-uk-review
Regards,
Steve

Post by kelpzoidzl
The hype is growing on "Annihilation."

Saw it last night. Big plot logic gap where the alien "shimmer" didn't obscure the sky, and video recording can happen within it, so rovers or drones could have probed, recorded and returned from the exposed area without risking human expeditions (carrying radios!). Many actors were directed to speak in the same measured, heady tempo for cerebral expository, draining tension and the required character empathy.
Also, plenty of nail-on-the head religious symbolism; with a showdown at "the lighthouse" (an abyss-like hole, surrounded by a Kabbalistic tree of life in bas-relief), Portman's character having an infinity tattoo on her arm, and Isaac's character being named Kane — giving Aronofsky's "mother!" a run for its money. The main characters in the source novel don't even have names, apparently.
https://actors.mandy.com/uk/films/132763/annihilation
http://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/annihilation-netflix-uk-review
Regards,
Steve

You are still peaking my interest about Annihilation, and it sounds like you are react to it like I would, where you have to do a cleasing ritual and take a shower after leaving the theater.

I'll check thise Netflix links but I think Ill have to wait..

[kelpzoidzl]

So who did financed this Brainwashing session? Are there going to be subliminal images?

The heresy of heresies....

[kelpzoidzl]

Your second link.."People are going to become obsessed with Garland’s latest. 2001: A Space Odyssey obsessed. It will be a film that launches a thousand think pieces, and a thousand imitations, and it is interesting, really, that we have come to the end of this piece and I haven’t yet mentioned how this visually extraordinary movie is only on Netflix in the UK. That is annoying, sure. It deserves a huge audience and a huge screen, but I don’t think it matters. A film this meticulous and poignant will have a life of its own, because it is about life itself. It offers something few other releases do these days, which is confusion plus contentment. Annihilation will destroy you, but only so it can build you up again."

Hmmmmmmmm.

[kelpzoidzl]

How to watch UK Netflix in the US.....

https://www.countryvpn.com/how-to-watch-netflix-uk-in-us/

[kelpzoidzl]

I see that YOUTUBE has lots of spoiler reviews of Annihilation....I guess I avoid those. They claim to explain the ending etc.

[s***@hotmail.com]

Post by kelpzoidzl
I see that YOUTUBE has lots of spoiler reviews of Annihilation....I guess I avoid those. They claim to explain the ending etc.

Cellular biology professor mutated into a new form of life after a drop of her blood enters an alien entity/doppelganger, along with her husband, as an "evolved" Adam and Eve. Nothing new there.

Post by kelpzoidzl
So who did financed this Brainwashing session? Are there going to be subliminal images?

No subliminal images, just heavy-handed religious symbology and visual metaphor; such as showing Portman and Issac holding hands through the distortion of a glass of water (which she later, conspicuously, takes a drink from so that her earlier words on cell division can be hammered home).

The MKUltra/CIA torture feel mostly in the music (loud warped harmonics) and sound design (fusing human and animal screams). You can read one article where someone who heard just a clip of the score can't get it out of their head.

"Q. I’m obsessed with a particular musical cue from the Annihilation trailer, and as it turns out, I’m not alone."

"A. You’re not the only one, actually. It seems to have weirdly grabbed people."

https://slate.com/culture/2018/02/annihilation-co-composer-ben-salisbury-explains-the-musical-cue-from-the-alien.html

Steve

[kelpzoidzl]

Sounds pretty atrocious. Apparently the film bombed financially

http://www.indiewire.com/2018/02/annihilation-netflix-paramount-deal-streaming-1201932550/

[kelpzoidzl]

Post by kelpzoidzl
I see that YOUTUBE has lots of spoiler reviews of Annihilation....I guess I avoid those. They claim to explain the ending

Post by s***@hotmail.com
The MKUltra/CIA torture feel mostly in the music (loud warped harmonics) and sound design (fusing human and animal screams). You can read one article where someone who heard just a clip of the score can't get it out of their head.

"Q. I’m obsessed with a particular musical cue from the Annihilation trailer, and as it turns out, I’m not alone."

"A. You’re not the only one, actually. It seems to have weirdly grabbed people."

https://slate.com/culture/2018/02/annihilation-co-composer-ben-salisbury-explains-the-musical-cue-from-the-alien.html

Steve >>>>>>>

Couldn't be any weirder then some of my own creations, done spontaneously. This Annihilation sound they are using, sounds like a Synthesizer using a Tibetan Horn effect, blown out to sound like a blown speaker.

What percentage of the audience are going to the theater after dropping acid? This should tweak out a few people,
I will keep checking Netflix for it.

I keep thinking about the concidences of simultaneous passing of SK at essentially the same date as the sudden passing of Dr.Sidney Cohen.

[kelpzoidzl]

That sound in Annihilation sounds like a synthisizer set to Tibetan Horn, blown out by a blown speaker plugin.

[kelpzoidzl]

Just watched a youtube interview with Garland, "I think capitalism is more dangerous then global warming." "I'm a liberal" ie. (Communist) Typical.

I'll wajt till it's free on Netflix.

[kelpzoidzl]

Got a copy of the film given to me.

Overall it wasn't a bad film, even though it has no basis to the hapoenings. Some of the film becomes typical horror sci fi that felt like filler. The ending was clever and fun, but doesn't have any deep meaning. I liked the sounds and some of imagery . I'll wait a few days and watch it again. It did have a Tarkovsky "Stalker" aspect to it. Weird for weirdness sake.

One imbd reviewer had said, "when I see people compare it to 2001 I want to throttle them." I agree with that sentiment, but the film is not terrible.

[kelpzoidzl]

Post by kelpzoidzl
I see that YOUTUBE has lots of spoiler reviews of Annihilation....I guess I avoid those. They claim to explain the ending etc.
So who did financed this Brainwashing session? Are there going to be subliminal images

The MKUltra/CIA torture feel mostly in the music (loud warped harmonics) and sound design (fusing human and animal screams). You can read one article where someone who heard just a clip of the score can't get it out of their head.

"Q. I’m obsessed with a particular musical cue from the Annihilation trailer, and as it turns out, I’m not alone."

"A. You’re not the only one, actually. It seems to have weirdly grabbed people."

https://slate.com/culture/2018/02/annihilation-co-composer-ben-salisbury-explains-the-musical-cue-from-the-alien.html

Steve >>>>>>>>>

It couldn't be anymore weird then some of my own creations

I keep thinking about the strange "coincidence," that Dr. Sidney Gottlieb passed away on the same date as SK.