Annihilation - from Ex Machina writer/director Alex Garland

[terry78]

That's pretty ****ing high praise.

 

[CELTICPRED]

Don't wait for Netflix, see this on a big screen, you'll thank yourself for the visuals and sound design.

 

[Lasirius]

Seeing this later tonight. Can't wait.

 

[redhawk23]

Saw this earlier tonight. Very good. This movie is like everything I wanted out of the book given its premise. I can respect the book wanting to be more ambiguous, Lovecraftian etc but ultimately it just came off as a lack of conviction for the most part.

The film sells the same mood while going The Thing route of just pulling out some craziness to pay off the tension.

If any director or writer wants to show nothing while pulling the line "what you don't see and can think of is better than what we can show you" just means they're working with the wrong designers and don't know how to show it to you.

Thankfully Garland knows what he's doing.

 

[LvtLeeTDK]

Haven't seen it yet but I'm confused.

So this film is released in cinema only in USA and China right ? In other countries it must be watched through Netflix ?

Can it compete for Oscar 2019 if it's not an international cinema released film ?

 

[Fallen Angel]

Yes release theatrically in North American and China. Rest of us is NETFLIX.

And yes it can compete at the 2019 Oscars as it's a been released in US theatre's.

 

[LvtLeeTDK]

What the **** did they have in mind when making a movie with 55 million budget just to release it on Netflix Can anyone explain for me ?

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

The nearest showing of the movie is about 40 miles away from me. The three nearest theaters aren't showing it. I think I read it's only getting half the theaters domestically that a typical movie does.

 

[Spider-Fan]

It's playing at my local theater. Because WOM in here is strong, I may go tonight

 

[Boom]

Seeing it tonight. Cannot wait.

Hail, Garland.

 

[harlequinade]

What the **** did they have in mind when making a movie with 55 million budget just to release it on Netflix Can anyone explain for me ?

The Netflix thing happened after the movie was already made.

 

[The Shape]

Finally saw it last night.

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

 

[Blitzkrieg]

What the **** did they have in mind when making a movie with 55 million budget just to release it on Netflix Can anyone explain for me ?

55 million is the gross Prod. budget. The net production budget is 40 million.

The movie is a hard sell. It's a high concept, cerebral, sci-fi movie that doesn't look very appealing for the general public. The circumstances are probably even worse for GA outside North America. Look at some similar movies (Her, Under the Skin, Children of Men, Chappie or Cloud Atlas) and you'll see that they didn't do well in Int'l markets (with or without budget in mind). So Paramount did well to cover their bases and get amortized. At the end of the day it's a smart business decision by the studio.

Edit: Arrival was also a cerebral and slow paced sci-fi with a female protagonist by the same studio but it had considerable hype from the beginning. Plus Arrival also got Award season boost and it benefited from the inflated holiday business at the DBO. The situation of Annihilation is rather dire so I think it's understandable why Paramount resorted to Netflix.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

Freed of Danny Boyle? Like 28 Days Later and Sunshine were worthless huh? I think you can praise one guy without bringing down another considering the quality of the directing in those two films.

'Annihilation' could very well turn out to be better than 'Sunshine' & '28 Days Later' to me but I'll refrain from commenting on the quality of these movies since I haven't seen the latest from Garland. But I do agree that it is possible to enthuse over a new movie without making snide remarks about what came before. There is no need discredit another person to prop up something new.

BTDubz, this is an excerpt from the review of 'Annihilation' by the Playlist guy:

Screenwriter turned writer/director Alex Garland (“Ex Machina“) pulls off a phenomenal, biochemical magic trick in the luminescent “Annihilation.” In his lab, the ingenious filmmaker trickles eyedropper notions of the molecular, the psychological, the metaphysical and the celestial into a dish, swirls his finger into this ribonucleic soup and produces a dazzling and disorienting mindbender of the highest order. Garland’s latest — a measured, but mesmerizing dramatic sci-fi thriller about self-imposed devastation — cements his status a modern auteur and a virtuoso of forming vivid, visceral and out-of-body experiences. Sweating with an ethereal pulse and a looming corporeal dread, if Stanley Kubrick and David Cronenberg teamed up to make a cerebral “weird nature” horror movie, it might look a little bit like “Annihilation.”

Unnervingly dream-like and unknowable, with a sinister undertow at its essence, “Annihilation” is some haunting, next level s**t and a thoughtful meditation on the objective and subjective qualities of self-destruction. No disrespect to Danny Boyle, who directed the Garland-penned, modern sci-fi classics like “Sunshine” and “28 Days Later” — those efforts seem pedestrian in comparison.

 

[Spider-Fan]

Yeah, no need for that. Danny Boyle is an excellent director in his own right.

 

[The Shape]

Now that I've had the chance to pick up my jaw from the floor...Annihilation was awesome. At times beautiful, but constantly unsettling, it is a film I found to be gripping, thought-provoking, and extremely satisfying. The sequence at the center of the film's climax was some of the most visually arresting imagery and filmmaking I've seen in a awhile, especially when combined with that musical score.

I'm looking forward to dissecting this one with the rest of you guys and gals. There is a lot to unpack.

 

[scarlet-witch]

Double Toasted reviewed it!
[YT]8fO5JBYtYjk[/YT]

 

[The Shape]

Be wary of any/all spoilers.

 

[jmc]

I can’t find any concrete information about when this comes to Netflix. Anyone know?

 

[harlequinade]

I can’t find any concrete information about when this comes to Netflix. Anyone know?

12th March for all the countries where it's not in cinemas. For USA, Canada and China they didn't give Netflix release date yet

 

[redhawk23]

http://www.vulture.com/2018/02/how-..._campaign=vulture&utm_source=tw&utm_medium=s1
In depth interview with the production designer.

MAXIMUM SPOILERS for everything in the movie.

 

[jmc]

Reviews have been crazy good for this yet someone the test screenings were bad enough for Paramount to sell it to Netflix internationally. What a weird situation this is.

 

[Web-Head]

Reviews have been crazy good for this yet someone the test screenings were bad enough for Paramount to sell it to Netflix internationally. What a weird situation this is.

A couple, probably in their 60's walked out 2/3 through my showing so I can see that.

 

[terry78]

It's gonna be one of those things you either get or you don't. And I hate saying stuff like that.

 

[redhawk23]

https://www.theringer.com/2018/2/23...ina-and-alex-garland-disturbing-sci-fi-vision

Podcast interview with Garland. He mostly talks about his process for writing and his approach to directing and kind of just letting individual departments do their own thing. Mild spoilers maybe? Not much though.