Annihilation is cerebral sci-fi modern art that's leaving audiences with mixed feelings

Movie Title:     Annihilation

Grade:   B

Rating: R, 1 hour 55 minutes

In a Nutshell: 
Based on the first book in Area X: The Southern Reach Trilogy: Annihilation; Authority; Acceptance , Director Alex Garland decided not to make the film an adaptation, but a “dream of the book.”  

Like most dreams, this film feels incomplete and somewhat unsatisfying in the end.

Critics seem to be falling all over themselves with this movie, but the audience I sat with hated it.  Some people saw that I was writing notes for a review, so when we walked out, they asked me what I thought.  More importantly, I asked THEM what THEY thought.  One guy shouted, “It sucked!”  Several admitted they were disappointed and felt they had just wasted 2 hours of their lives.  They were mostly guys looking for a sci-fi action flick like Alien.  The good thing was that audience members wanted to TALK about it.  I love that.

The best description I’ve heard of this film is “sci-fi modern art.”  It's one of those polarizing movies that some people will love and others will hate.

                                                  

Tips for parents: 

• Some bloody, gory, disgusting deaths.
• Tons of F-bombs and profanity.
• Twice you see the naked back side of Natalie Portman while she’s having sex.  
• Marital infidelity.
• Creepy skeletons.

Uplifting theme: 

• Humanity
• Resistance to change
• Trust

                                                   

Things I liked:

• I adore Natalie Portman.  She is both beauty and brains.
• There is a similar scene in this movie that made Sigourney Weaver famous in Alien, where she is side-by-side with a sharp-toothed monster.  Viewers who are expecting the entire movie to be another Alien will be disappointed.
• It was good to see Jennifer Jason Leigh in something again, although it annoyed me that she was always playing with something between her fingers in the first half of the movie.
• There are mostly women in the movie and they all do a great job. 
• Director Alex Garland also did Ex Machina, so people were really expecting elevated material from him.  He is great at providing social commentary and getting audiences to think.
• Beautiful, delicate, colorful images.  The "shimmer" is beautiful to look at and definitely creates that dream-like feeling that the director was going for.  The environments are an interesting hybrid of heaven and hell.
• I have really enjoyed Gina Rodriguez in Jane the Virgin: Season 1 and she does a great job in this film.  What I didn’t enjoy is that she drops F-bombs almost every time she opens her mouth.  We get it…you’re tough now.
• Surprisingly, this movie is going to be released on Netflix outside of the USA shortly after the USA theater release.
• The musical score is noticeably good.   
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Things I didn’t like:

• It is no Arrival.  I loved that movie for so many reasons.  That's a movie that was expertly crafted to REALLY make you think.  You can read my movie review of Arrival here.
• There were moments when I was actually bored.  It’s a slow burn for sure.
• Extremely cliched, disappointing ending.
• I felt like I was watching a frustrating episode of Lost - The Complete First Season where a lot of questions are presented with no answers.
• The film goes back and forth in time, which could be confusing and frustrating for some people.
• When are people ever going to learn that it’s not wise to go off alone in a hostile, unknown territory?
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Interesting lines:

• “It’s destroying everything.” – Dr. Ventress (Jennifer Jason Leigh)

“It’s not destroying.  It’s making something new.” – Lena (Natalie Portman)

• “God doesn’t make mistakes.  It’s pretty much key to the whole God thing.” – Kane (Oscar Isaac)
• “Soldier scientist.  You can fight.  You can learn.  You can save him.” – Dr. Ventress
• “Almost none of us commits suicide.  Almost all of us self-destruct in some way or another.” – Dr. Ventress

                                          @trinaboice

Want to read the books that this movie was based on?

   

Passengers explores outer space and the inner heart

Movie Title:   Passengers

Grade:   B

Rating:   PG-13, 116 minutes

In a Nutshell:  While some movie critics have argued that this film is tedious and boring, I would contend that the film intentionally captures a little bit of what it must feel like to be stranded alone on a spaceship like that.  That’s the point.  We need each other.  Life is meaningless, unless we have someone to share it with. 

I enjoyed the movie and tried to imagine myself in the same situations, wondering what I would do when faced with the same decisions.  It’s a movie less about discovering the great spaces in the universe, but more about humanity and what we find inside our heart.

Uplifting theme: 

• “We all have dreams.  We plan our futures like we’re captains of our fate, but we’re passengers.  We go where fate takes us.” - Aurora
• “You don’t have to do something amazing to be happy.” – Aurora’s best friend.  (The actress’ real name is Aurora!)
• You can’t get hung up on where you’d rather be that you don’t appreciate where you are.
• “Take a break from what you can’t control.” – Arthur (Michael Sheen)
• Humanity, companionship, sacrifice, love.

Things I liked:

• Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence are two of the most popular actors in Hollywood right now and I liked them together. They’re both extremely talented and charismatic.
• Incredible views of space.  The CGI and real life are blended very well.
• I wish I had that body scanner/repair machine!  I’d also like one of those Roomba-type floor vacuum robots!
• Jim eats dragon fruit for breakfast.  It’s that super alien-looking pink fruit cut in a square that is white on the inside with black polka dots on the inside.  Try some!
• It’s really good in 3D and on the big screen.
• I loved that swimming pool with a view!  It was pretty crazy when the anti-gravity kicked in.
• Directed by Morten Tyldum, the same guy who did The Imitation Game which I loved.
• The spaceship design is pretty cool-looking.
• Aurora is a writer, which always catches my attention (my 21^st book was just hit store shelves this month!)

• Aurora says, “Give me a cup of coffee and a view of the Chrysler building and I can write all day.” Jim provides that for her in a way which I thought was so sweet.  It’s those simple acts of kindness and thoughtfulness for another person that is the essence of love.

Things I didn’t like:

• What you see in the trailer is what you get.
• Some movie critics have said the film looks like it’s on auto-pilot. 
• If they told this story in a different order, it could have been even more interesting.
• The “thing” that happens in the third act is super brief.  I wish it had been explored more.
• SPOILER ALERT: I thought it was odd to cast Andy Garcia, because he didn’t even have a line in the movie; any Extra could have done as good a job in that spot.
• This movie script sat for a long time before anyone picked it up, making you wonder what other directors could have done with it.

Interesting lines:

• “No!  You die, I die!” – Aurora  (Sounds like a line from the The Hunger Games)
• “I think we tell each other stories to know we’re not alone, to make contact.”  - Aurora
• “Can’t slogans be true?” – Jim
• “You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.  You kill me.” – Jim
• “Jim and I live in accidental happiness.” – Aurora

Funny lines:

• “Jim, these are not robot questions.” – Arthur
• “Jim, I’m not just a bartender.  I’m a gentleman.” – Arthur
• “You went shopping.” – Aurora

“I went shoplifting.” – Jim

• “I was giving you space.” – Jim

“Space – the one thing that I don’t need more of.” – Aurora

• “Ladies love the dress blues.” – Gus Mancuso (Laurence Fishburne)

Tips for parents:   

• There are a few moments of Aurora and Jim getting “romantic”, as well as a scene where you see hazy naked figures.
• Some profanity.

Transcendence weighs humanity vs. technology

Movie Title:   Transcendence

PG-13, 1 hour 59 minutes

Grade:  B

In a Nutshell:  This was a really interesting movie about awareness: both computers’ ability to become self-aware, as well as humans’ struggle to truly understand what’s inside each other’s hearts. 

Dr. Will Castor (Johnny Depp) explains in the beginning of the movie at a technology conference: “For one hundred and thirty thousand years, our capacity to reason has remained unchanged.  The combined intellect of the neuroscientists, mathematicians and engineers pales in comparison to the most basic A. I.  Once online, a sentient machine will quickly overcome the limits of biology; in a short time, its analytic power will become greater than the collective intelligence of every person born in the history of the world.  Some scientists refer to this as the Singularity.  I call it Transcendence.”

The film addresses the haunting “unavoidable collision between mankind and technology.” The overall feeling of the movie is, ironically, a bit artificial, but I still enjoyed it.  This is the first directorial effort from Wally Pfister, who is receiving some negative reviews for a few of the film’s clunky issues, but his cinematography experience (The Dark Knight trilogy) shows through and elevates the movie.

Uplifting theme:  The movie tries to preach two simultaneous, yet opposing messages:  Humanity is more important than technology; technology can help us heal the world.  What role should artificial intelligence play in our lives?

Things I liked:

• I adore Paul Bettany in any movie and who can’t say the same thing about Johnny Depp?   My kids laugh that Morgan Freeman is in every movie ever made; sure enough, he’s in this one too. 
• I loved the small twist at the end.  (No spoiler alert) The entire spark that sets off this artificial intelligence conundrum is the perfect love between two imperfect humans.

Things I didn’t like:

• Some of the scenes are ridiculous with plenty of holes and uninspiring dialogue.

Things to notice:

• Preppers will get a kick out of seeing the items listed as being in demand on the store door after all the power goes off the grid. Non-preppers should ask themselves what might happen if there were an EMP or some other trigger that knocked all of our power out and sent us back to the stone age.  What would you do?  How would you live?  What would you value?
• Someone hangs a computer motherboard of sorts on to a dream catcher.

Interesting lines:

• An audience member listening to Dr. Castor’s presentation asks him “You want to create a god?  Your own god?”   Dr. Castor answers “That’s a very good question.  Isn’t that what man has always done?”
• “I don’t want to change the world.  I just want to understand it.”  - Dr. Castor
• They’re short on logic, but there’s no shortage of irony.”  - Dr. Castor
• “The internet was supposed to make the world a smaller place.  It feels smaller without it.”  - Max
• “Artificial intelligence is an unnatural abomination and threat to humanity.” – R.I.F.T.
• Evelyn asks her husband “Where are you going?”  He answers “Everywhere.”
• Dr. Caster says to Evelyn “I can upload you.  I can protect you from them.”  A suspicious Evelyn replies: “I’m not afraid of…them.”
• Evelyn worries about one of her employees who has become “transcended” and asks the anti-technology fanatics who beat him up “What did you do?”  Max responds “We gave him back his mortality.”
• “Human emotion…it can contain illogical conflict.”  - Max

Tips for parents:   

Any parent who has watched their kids get sucked into their cell phones or other electronic devices will question how well technology is serving humanity.  The film has very little bad language, but some violence.  Young children may get bored, but older children could be guided into an interesting conversation about the role technology should play in their lives.  Check out this movie clip to get you started.

Another movie your kids and you might enjoy on this topic is: