Annihilation

Annihilation is 2018 film from Alex Garland.  Garland had previously directed 28 days Later, and wrote and directed Ex Machina.  It was released in February and I screened it in March in a Chinatown theater in DC.  Annihilation is by far one of the best visually stunning movies that I have seen in years.  Certainly a movie made for the big screen, and not one that would have the same effect if you were to watch it at home, especially on a computer.

Annihilation's premise of the movie, centralizes, around Natalie Portman's character, a army veteran biologist.  It's sent in a dystopian type world, where her husband returns from the "Shimmer".  The Shimmer is the result of an alien asteroid hitting earth.  It expands and alters the world around it.  While the movie was based on the book of the same name, of the Southern Reach trilogy of Jeff Vandeermer.  This is where the movie was a bit shaky.  Perhaps  Garland's weaker film of his body of work.  Ex Machina was pretty well executed, and I'm not sure if it's because of his ability to write a solid script on his own.  While I haven't read the book, I can't say how true the movie is to the book, or whether or not Garland ruined the concept of the original book.  I am also not sure if the intention is to make the trilogy.  As a downfall of the movie, at times the story-line is a bit muddled and inconclusive.  It's hard to say if this was an issue, or whether or not there is going to be a follow up and finishing of the series.

Annihilation is visually stunning.  It succeeds well in pulling in and captivating the audience with it's visual effects.  Much like Blade Runner 2049 and Mad Max Fury Road, the world created in the movie was the driving force, and everything else seemed to fall by the wayside.  Unlike Blade Runner 2049 and Mad Max Fury Road, the movie's acting and storyline didn't live up to everything else.  While creating these hybrid creatures, the movie is able to stir in the tension thriller aspect I have been craving solidly all season from my thriller movies.  The CGI wasn't so overly done to make the Shimmer, creatures, or side effects odd.  They all played well and drew the viewer more so into the film.  While the team of women explore the Shimmer, the tension is laid on thick and viewers are drawn drastically into determining and learning about what the ultimate causation is, and Portman's story of working through the Shimmer.  I appreciated the woman dominated cast, especially portraying roles you don't often see women in: science, veterans. 

The acting in the film was a bit short, but I felt it wasn't the mere driving force of the movie.  You frequently forgot how the acting was poor in areas, when something visually stunning like deer with flowering antlers prance around the screen.  The story line had some holes and was a bit hard to follow at times as it jumped around in time with flashbacks.  Despite the somewhat flawed script, this is one of the films I've enjoyed the most this year.  The final 30-45 minutes of the film justified the whole movie going experience with this movie for me. 

Thoroughbreds

Thoroughbreds is a 2018 thriller centralizing around two reunited estranged teen friends.  It seems that the 2017-2018 film scene seems to be frothing at the bit for teen drama movies, thrillers, romcoms, Thoroughbreds seems to be one of the better of the crop that's been coming out recently. 

The premise behind the movie was that two friends, Lily and Amanda, whom grew up in a suburban Connecticut town, much like the Stamford ilk, rekindle their drifted friendship.  Lily is home from her elite boarding school, Amanda is working towards revamping her image.  The two hatch a plan to solve both their problems.

I found this to be one of the better thrillers I have seen of 2018, most have been an attempt at thriller, but it seems that Thoroughbreds builds more plot twists and suspense than others that I have seen recently.  I found the premise between the two friends to be believable and relatable.  While this isn't much of a movie targeted for more the teen audience, but more like Ladybird, where I think most of the audience attending the movie is going to be younger adults reflecting back on their youth.  This seems to be a driving theme in approaches to movies recently, and part of me wonders if with Thoroughbreds, the screenwriter and director perhaps wanted to hitch a plan of what they had WISHED they had done growing up.  Despite this, it seemed like the ultimate revenge bitchy stuck up teen movie, of girls with nothing better to do with their time than to hatch a plan to get back at a nasty step father.

The music added some good overall tension to the movie, and the lighting and camera angles at times where an interesting approach.  While the movie didn't really leave me on the edge of the seat, it was a creative approach to teen angst. 

Kill Me, Please

Kill Me, Please is a teenage slasher film set in the West Side of Rio De Janerio.    It was released in Brazil in 2015, and had a release in 2017 in the States.  It made it's way to the Parkway Theater in Baltimore, in 2018.  Kill Me, Please, or Mat-me por Favor is a different kind of movie, but I have been a bit underwhelmed by the Brazilian movies I have seen recently, as the grouping I have seen seems to lack a direct story line approach.  The movies tend to have a general theme, and groupings of scenes that support that theme without much plot driven concepts.  This movie seemed of the same concept, and left a lot to be desired.  It was a sex comedy thriller.  Unfortunately, the movie was two thirds of scenes of teens making out, which got overly tiresome.  I realize that most teenagers tend to be make out kings and queens, the quantity of making out scenes seemed pretty excessive. 

The movie, set in Barra de Tijuana in the richer outer parts of Rio De Janerio, a city that is home to a gaggle of usually bored youths full of hormones and living a sheltered life until a serial killer turns up in the neighborhood.  Young Bia, becomes fascinated by the killings, more so, when she and her clique of mean girls, find one of the girls in a bush, just prior to her life runs out.  Bia, is also equally obsessed with her friends, sex, and her cute boyfriend, Paulo.  The two frequently hook up in a variety of settings, however, Paulo is trying to redirect her attentions to the more religious groups at school. 

The movie has a solid soundtrack, and decent thriller scenes when they get beyond the takeout scenes, however, the minimal scenes of the thrillers didn't hold my interest, or build enough suspense.  While, the movie eventually draws on ideas on how Bia's brother is connected, it ended without really answering any possible questions.  While I realize most good movies creates more questions that it answers, this movie doesn't answer any.  It just seems to try to mix drama thriller and horror with comedy.  With other Brazilian movies I've seen this year, the writer and director, Anita Rocha da Silveria has created a movie similar to other Brazilian movies I've seen this year.  She also, mentioned that she drew inspiration on David Lynch, Dario Argento, Brian De Palma, and Claire Dennis.  This is evident in some scenes, but overall I wish I had taken a by on this film. 

Werewolves

Werewolf is a 2016 film directed by Ashley McKenzie.  It had originally premiered in Baltimore, in 2017 with the Maryland Film Festival.  I screened it however, in March, 2018, when it had more of a theatrical release, and when it came back to the Parkway Theater.  I feel like that this movie has a bit of a misnomer for a title.  I had originally had avoided this with the film festival, merely based on the title, thinking it was going to be something more like Twilight.  Despite this notion, the title can be illusionist of the concept of changing into someone or something new.

Werewolf is a movie that follows Blaise and Nessa, a young homeless outcast couple in a small town.  They relationship is the classic codependent addict relationship.  They go door to door, begging to cut people's lawns in the small town, frequently resorting to a run-down bus on the outskirts of town to live out of.  TThey are using their earnings to work towards methadone treatments.  Nessa, the stronger, and younger of the two, creates a plan to get better and out of the small town.  She slowly tries to chip away at her dream to leave the small town, as Blaise spirals back on the brink of addictions.  He starts to hinder Nessa's progress, and you can't help but wonder, if she will break the addiction cycle.

While most movies circulating the drug addictions, I feel like most build on notions of platitudes or a variety of judgement in one field or another.  Werewolf was refreshing in the sense, as you watch this couple struggle, and the viewer can only hopes that Nessa is able to continue towards her path of betterment.  It's a film that centralizes around the ideas and themes of there being no right answers or development in the area.  The balance between the vulture who circulates around bad habits, and those that reach several road blocks, was refreshing and different than many other drug abuse films.  I appreciated the struggle between the two, and the nature of their relationship.  Not being a drug addict, the movie gave me a different appreciation for those that are struggling to get their lives together. 

The movie lags at times, and I felt that McKenzie drew out some scenes a bit more than I cared for, but overall, I appreciated the smaller approach.  The codependency of the relationship I think is something that is not explored as much.  The length was short, and I'm sure a challenge to really work on developing certain themes or story-lines more.  I would have liked to have seen more of Nessa's development or progression that would have gotten her started or mixed in with Blaise's concepts.  There were some differences in characters, which I'd like to think were a driving attraction to the two starting.  Despite this, I would have liked more of a frame of mind of a bit before or after the projected story line.  The movie was apparently filmed just under a month, and was loosely based on an actual couple's life.  I think McKenzie was able to really capture the small town feel,  and the struggle to overcome addictions well.  The storyline I found interesting, and I'd be interested to see  what McKenzie develops later. 

A Wrinkle in Time

I was really torn going into seeing this movie.  I had to read the book in middle school one summer for summer reading.  It was a dark time, where I wasn't too keen on reading, but for some reason, this book spoke to me.  I think it was the Sci-fi concept, the weird shunned nerdy science based type characters.  For some reason the whole concept of Christian themes were lost on my 12 year old brain.  I was also lost on this concept with the Narnia books as well.  Despite my strong liking for this book, I never reread it, and was hesitant going into the movie.  Honestly, I probably would have opted out of it had I not had MoviePass. 

One of the first issues that I had with the movie, was the fact that the director for the movie, does not have much of a science fiction background.  While in some circumstances, this may not matter, but it leaves a lot to be desired.  While it wasn't a complete flop like Dune, it just did not seem to live up to the current standings of the genre.  Ex Machina had set the bar of recent scify thrillers for me, so the family type approach to sci-fy wasn't as well developed as I would have liked. 

I like the concept of wanting to take the whole idea of an absent father movie, I just don't think that this story classic was the time or the place.  While it can be nice to have a refresher of a classic book, I don't know how these two could have melded as much on two different planes than this movie.  This movie is just so different than the book, that I am almost wonder if they would have been better to do something with titles and character names.

I appreciated the whole concept of the sibling relationships and the family dynamic of the movie.  I also really enjoyed the idea of creating a movie around the idea self worth and development.  I just don't know if I like the alterations of approach or refresher for this book in particular.  I don't know if I was too keen on the Mean Girls type approach to this movie and middle school drama, as it wasn't much of a developed theme in the book. 


There were some scenes that were worth seeing on the big screen.  Mainly the best scene on the big screen was the fields of flowers and the flying scenes, but some of the CGI was just a bit overly done, that it became distracting.  This was also true with some of the costumes, mostly with Oprah's.  I'm torn with the movie, mostly because it was trying too hard in many areas, but had some smaller noteworthy concepts.  I think I would have enjoyed the movie more, had they selected a director that had a scify background.  I think I would have enjoyed it more, if the visuals had matched most well done scify movies as well.  I'd be interested in seeing more of what she does in the non-sci-fy movie sector

Black Panther

Black Panther is a 2018 Marvel superhero film directed by Ryan Coogler.  The film commences with T'Challa returning to his African home of Wakanda, to take the throne after his father's death.  When there is a rise of a powerful enemy, T'Challa must lead Wakanda to rise up against the challenge.


Black Panther is an entity in itself.  It is well worth seeing on the big screen, merely for the African landscapes.  While it fits into the typical realm of action studded Marvel scenes, it takes on more of a Bond or Batman approach of science and technology based enhancements.  It is, however, one of the more approachable of the comic book movies, and has a lot of what ifs and sociological jabs that most Marvel or comic book movies don't seem to breech.  There was more of a human and almost mythological approach to the movie, I haven't seen in most Marvel type movies.

The movie takes approaches on "what could have been" with Africa, it's a bit of a swirl of throwing the term colonizer out, and Wakanda's hesitation of wanting to open themselves with the rest of the world.  There is a futurism within Wakanda that is enticing.  Their connections with local tribes, but not much further out can be drawn to the country first aspects seen in some of the current countries with the largest colonizing histories (US, Britain) . 

While most comic movies tend to cater more towards a younger and a comic nerd crowd, there are many "onion" layers to Black Panther.  While current politics maybe considered these countries in Africa as "shit hole" you can't be short of amazed of the levels of what Wakanda as a nation achieved despite being more based on much of the traditional approaches, while also embracing the powers of technology. 

The strong build on science and technology is refreshing.  There aren't many films that draw or build on the basis of including science and incorporating technology as domineering and driving force of a nation.  Most films will look at science and technology in terms of medical fields, healing powers, science fiction, and biopics of certain techno hubs, and not as much of the driving force of what is the potential of country and it's next generations.

The movie takes on a tone of black power, without it being overbearing or extreme in presentations.  I was curious about the idea of the title or base of the culture of Black Panthers in the 50's and 60's in the states.  The history itself in the US is a strong group of people looking to be a driving force for their people in their neighborhoods and nation. 

The tour de force of women and their abilities to be the advisers, and the main reasons the society as a whole was able to succeed was an interesting approach and empowering in a different way.  The feel good forces of this Marvel movie were far more deep seeded than your average Spider-Man, Avengers, and the ilk.  While it seems to stay true to the concepts of most comic book approaches and developments, there are much more of a modern take and historical contexts that make this movie far more of approach.  I am looking forward to similar takes on this type of approach, or threads in the series.

The Insult

The Insult is a 2017 French and Lebanese film directed by Ziad Doueir.  It was released in most US theaters in 2018.  The film is set in present day Beirut, when a contractor and his crew is going through a neighborhood to update buildings to code.  Unbeknownst at the start of the movie, the contractor is a Palestinian refugee.  While checking the neighborhood, his crew realizes that there was one house that had some illegal gutters and drains.  While trying to convince the home owner to allow him to fix it, the two get heated, leading the contractor to then insult the homeowner, a Lebanese Christian. 

The insult then leads to a series of events, ultimately bringing the two to court.  The media centralizes around the build of the trial, creating a social explosion between both extreme sides.  The two, Tony and Yasser, the original people involved are forced to reflect on their values and troubled past, which jades their values.  Some of the revelations the two face during the trial, allow both parties to begin to understand where each other is coming from.

The Insult is a movie that raises questions not only on Beirut's approach to the refugee crisis as well as what other countries take on with their approaches.  At times, especially towards the end of the trial, it seems to be taking on a bit of the Law and Order style, of trying to look and dig deeper into different approaches to the trial, however, unlike Into the Fade, which picked up the Golden Globe nomination, it broached far more topical questions of refuges, the roles media can play in high profile cases.  It also looks at a nation's idea of a more turbulent past. 

There are no easy answers or solutions to this trial, and the movie takes a sweeping approach to the two extreme views in both, and tries to bring forth a middle ground.  The added bonus, is that the movie exceeds in presenting many of the gray areas that create and promote challenges and speed bumps in the process, and at times, there may be no good answer, other than a simple apology.

While the movie is high in it's political charge, the questions it raises, and histories it presents, one of the well achieved aspects, is that in many circumstances and scenes, the movie is not super pushy in presenting one side as the correct side.  It certainly makes the movie far more relateable and relevant.  There may not be any good, better, or fully right or fully wrong presented approaches.  There are a lot of grey areas when it comes to many of the differences, and it raises valid points in the prejudices that we me bring to the table/