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 Annihilation is an upcoming Science Fiction movie starring Natalie Portman. It is based on the 2014 novel by the same name by Jeff Vandermeen, which followed the ill-fated 12th exploration into Area X, an area in an unnamed country that begins to exhibit unusual environmental changes following an undescribed military experiment 30 years prior to the events of the book. The movie appears to have changed the expedition from the twelfth into the second, though as the reader learns in the novel, there have been possibly dozens of teams sent into Area X, all of whom have died or vanished. The characters in the novel (and apparently the film) come from a range of backgrounds and refer to each other by their role on the team (ex. Natalie Portman is the Biologist). The novel is pretty low key, with very little action, though the film appears to add some horror action scenes in the form of a zombie bear. I'd like to discuss the novel in this thread, as I just finished it this afternoon (it's a short read, more of a novella), but appreciate that people like to go into films unspoiled, so let's use SPOILER TAGS!
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Dec 23, 2017 02:21
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Doesn't look like the book and it looks dumb I'm dumb
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Dec 23, 2017 03:26
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I also think it doesn't look like the book but it also looks really weird and cool and it doesn't look dumb. So I'm excited. And I'm dumb too but in different ways I suspect 
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Dec 23, 2017 05:53
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Also, due to a dispute between the producers (one of them thought it was too thinky and wanted it dumbed down, the other refused), the movie will only get a theatrical release in North America. All other territories will get a March release on Netflix. Too loving thinky.
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Dec 23, 2017 06:49
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It's also directed by Alex "The Beach" Garland. Who also directed some movie called Sex Machina.
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Dec 23, 2017 06:52
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According to wikipedia and other stuff I've read, the clash between the two producers is based on test screenings being terrible and one of them was refusing to even take notes from those test screenings (never a good sign). I'm still curious enough to see it, but my expectations are really low. From the trailers I've assumed the movie's head would be up its rear end by about halfway through; I guess it's more like a quarter. MisterBibs fucked around with this message at 07:38 on Dec 23, 2017 |
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Dec 23, 2017 07:32
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Is this basically The Mist meets Avatar? The trailer was mildly interesting but prob not enough to actually see.
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Dec 23, 2017 07:40
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More like Stalker meets HP Lovecraft (at least the book is) Also lol at the production issues. That doesn’t inspire confidence.
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Dec 23, 2017 12:11
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It’s getting a UK theatrical release too thankfully. But yeah Garland is not happy about the Netflix thing. Honestly it really does just sound like the bad producer was entirely focused on “why isn’t this a crowd-pleaser” and requesting lovely changes to make it more mainstream. Luckily that dude didn’t have final cut.
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Dec 23, 2017 13:44
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I put a hold on the second book before I finished the first one, but by the end of the novel I wasn't super enthusiastic about jumping right back in after "the reveal": So the "creature" in Area X is obsessed with replicating everything it encounters? And some of the local animals, such as the river dolphins, are possibly expedition members who breathed in the spores? I'm guessing that they'll make the bear into the moaning marsh monster that the Biologist runs past after visiting the light house, which is heavily implied to be a member of the 11th who is literally losing their humanity, with parts of their skin dropping off on the ground. At least that's what I interpreted the "mask" to be 
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Dec 23, 2017 13:58
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Professor Shark posted:I put a hold on the second book before I finished the first one, but by the end of the novel I wasn't super enthusiastic about jumping right back in after "the reveal": Yeah I mean that's the broad strokes. The series kind of starts out as Weird fiction and by the end of the third book is more sci-fi. Certainly in the first book you're not meant to know what's going on, and although a lot is revealed later on, you never get the full picture. VanderMeer is coming from a place that's less Lovecraft and more Algernon Blackwood, so it's kind of weird to say it's "obsessed," it's more like a force of nature that the characters are struggling to understand. That sucks about the production stuff though. I did read somewhere that VanderMeer liked it, but he might just like the check he's going to get so I don't know. I disagree that it looks that a lot different from the book, since the book was mostly about the strange atmosphere. I don't really care if they change what the creatures look like. Right now I'm optimistic but who knows, I guess.
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Dec 23, 2017 15:08
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You know I've always wondered what the deal with Natalie Portman is. She's a fantastic actress but bar a few roles like in Closer she seems to never get good work, or much work at all really.
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Dec 23, 2017 21:49
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Book was cool but the 2nd trailer for this looked like poo poo.
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Dec 23, 2017 21:51
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precision posted:You know I've always wondered what the deal with Natalie Portman is. She's a fantastic actress but bar a few roles like in Closer she seems to never get good work, or much work at all really. Richer than God thanks to the prequels.
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Dec 23, 2017 23:23
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I can't see this going beyond the first book in the series since the movie looks so much more generic. The books themselves get pretty murky and are full of incomprehensible Lost-level poo poo so idk how they're gonna spin this, or if they'll change the stuff about the tower and the past.
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Dec 23, 2017 23:38
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Mean Bean Machine posted:Book was cool but the 2nd trailer for this looked like poo poo. Yeah this movie doesn’t look super great and neither is this thread, it doesn’t even have a tag line. Real shoddy work, op
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Dec 24, 2017 14:15
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Professor Shark posted:Yeah this movie doesn’t look super great and neither is this thread, it doesn’t even have a tag line. Real shoddy work, op  Looking over Garland’s previous films, I think I’ll enjoy this movie based on his track record alone.
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Dec 24, 2017 19:02
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I got the book because the back said "like a modern lovecraft" or somesuch but the book is way too cold and objective to be lovecraft. Its from the point of view of a scientist and in that regard it does very well, but it doesn't have anything to do with lovecraft beyond there being semi-cosmic mystery but even then it breaks from lovecraft in that it kind of solves the mystery and is way too hopeful
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Dec 24, 2017 20:09
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This movie is the equivalent of that one character in Street Fighter who was a blank guy in mummy bandages whose every line was ???????? and whose background was ??????????????
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Dec 25, 2017 09:39
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Phi230 posted:I got the book because the back said "like a modern lovecraft" or somesuch but the book is way too cold and objective to be lovecraft. Its from the point of view of a scientist and in that regard it does very well, but it doesn't have anything to do with lovecraft beyond there being semi-cosmic mystery but even then it breaks from lovecraft in that it kind of solves the mystery and is way too hopeful "Like Lovecraft" just gets tacked onto modern weird fiction writers the way "Like Tolkien" gets applied to fantasy writers. I agree that the tone of the book is cold and odd, but as you point out the Biologist is just a cold and odd person. But I disagree that the book is hopeful, because the impression I get is that humanity is pretty well hosed and we'll never fully know why or how, but that might be the other books influencing my opinions.
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Dec 25, 2017 16:46
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Drunkboxer posted:"Like Lovecraft" just gets tacked onto modern weird fiction writers the way "Like Tolkien" gets applied to fantasy writers. I agree that the tone of the book is cold and odd, but as you point out the Biologist is just a cold and odd person. But I disagree that the book is hopeful, because the impression I get is that humanity is pretty well hosed and we'll never fully know why or how, but that might be the other books influencing my opinions. Hopeful in the sense that the protagonist sees every mystery as a science problem to be solved rather than an unknowable horror that will drive you insane like the pile of books for example. The biologist just sees it and goes "time to investigate!" and dives right in. In lovecraft the protagonist would've had a minor meltdown and been afraid and it would've been really dark.
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Dec 25, 2017 19:21
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I haven't read the book but that's definitely something that can still come off as hopeless, even more so if the character doesn't realize it.
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Dec 25, 2017 19:26
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It looks like they’ve already changed the ending, based on the trailer
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Dec 25, 2017 19:43
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Professor Shark posted:It looks like they’ve already changed the ending, based on the trailer How? It's been awhile since I read it, but memory is that the first book didn't really have much of an ending.
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Dec 25, 2017 22:29
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Phi230 posted:Hopeful in the sense that the protagonist sees every mystery as a science problem to be solved rather than an unknowable horror that will drive you insane
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Dec 28, 2017 06:06
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Drunkboxer posted:How? It's been awhile since I read it, but memory is that the first book didn't really have much of an ending. It appears that she is being debriefed about her experience in the area, unless I'm remembering wrong and they're asking about her husband. In the book she goes to the island that her husband said he was going to try to get to and she doesn't return.
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Dec 28, 2017 12:08
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the director has admitted he's changed the ending. he also didn't read the other books, and envisioned this as a self-contained story. also says he's made a bunch of other changes.
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Dec 28, 2017 23:29
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Mean Bean Machine posted:the director has admitted he's changed the ending. he also didn't read the other books, and envisioned this as a self-contained story. also says he's made a bunch of other changes. It's hard to imagine he wasn't familiar with the other books when there scenes/plot beats from them in the trailer
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Dec 28, 2017 23:35
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http://collider.com/alex-garland-annihilation-interview/quote:The book is fairly open-ended. Does the movie answer any of the questions the book raises?
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Dec 29, 2017 00:04
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Megasabin posted:It's hard to imagine he wasn't familiar with the other books when there scenes/plot beats from them in the trailer Yeah I read that interview as well but the trailer even seems to have characters from the second and third novels. Considering how the books were published it'd be really weird if the next books didn't have any influence on it.
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Dec 29, 2017 00:27
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Professor Shark posted:It appears that she is being debriefed about her experience in the area, unless I'm remembering wrong and they're asking about her husband. In the book she goes to the island that her husband said he was going to try to get to and she doesn't return. I'm guessing you haven't read the second book because this is answered in that. That said, from the new trailer (saw it during star wars) it seemed to deviate enough from the books that your comment about changing the ending could still be correct. Zachack fucked around with this message at 01:55 on Dec 29, 2017 |
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Dec 29, 2017 01:49
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IMO the biggest giveaway that major changes were made is this weird mention of “the shimmer” in the trailer. That isn’t anything, not even remotely, from the books. I was blown away by the trilogy and enjoyed Ex Machina quite a bit so I’m hopeful, but that line struck me as extremely goofy. Hoping it’s still good!
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Dec 29, 2017 02:15
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Zachack posted:I'm guessing you haven't read the second book because this is answered in that. I should have the second book in at the library in a couple weeks
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Dec 29, 2017 04:14
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Prefer the first Mortal Kombat film, personally.
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Dec 30, 2017 00:26
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I've seen two different trailers for this. One before The Shape of Water last week which emphasized an angle of mutated life forms/there's something out there hunting us and went for sort of actiony horror editing. We saw The Last Jedi today and saw a different cut of the trailer with all of the action imagery and horror editing stuff removed and it focused more on it being a story about going to a weird place and solving a mystery. Like I know there are variations of trailers but it was a very noticeable difference. Posts here make me want to check the book out though so I'll be doing that even if I never get around to seeing the movie.
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Dec 30, 2017 04:48
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Neo Rasa posted:I've seen two different trailers for this. One before The Shape of Water last week which emphasized an angle of mutated life forms/there's something out there hunting us and went for sort of actiony horror editing. We saw The Last Jedi today and saw a different cut of the trailer with all of the action imagery and horror editing stuff removed and it focused more on it being a story about going to a weird place and solving a mystery. Like I know there are variations of trailers but it was a very noticeable difference. Honestly I'd be down with either one of those movies, I just hope it eithers picks one and settles on an identity or (less likely) manages to combine them elegantly.
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Dec 30, 2017 17:28
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I trust Garland on this one and think this is probably more of a case of the producers / trailers wanting to go for mass appeal vs Garland's headier vision. A bit concerned because it does seem they're quashing the whole trilogy into one story and imagine this will end up as a "both are good but their own separate thing" kind of compromise. also unfortunate they're going with a zombie bear instead of a lurking slug monster Canadian Surf Club fucked around with this message at 19:09 on Dec 30, 2017 |
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Dec 30, 2017 19:03
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poo poo I hope this is good, the books are absolutely fantastic. I dont want to watch the second trailer, sounds like it will just bum me out. I do think the movie should be its own story though, since the only way to make a faithful adaptation would be something like Stalker and no way is that happening with a big budget.
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Dec 30, 2017 19:18
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They should have gone with a story about a group sneaking into the cordoned off zone, lead by an experienced guide who is changed from repeated exposure to find a mcguffin but one person has brought a bomb to blow it up.
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Dec 30, 2017 22:16
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I'm still holding out hope that it's a huge success so studios can go looking for similar works. I'm still waiting for a Darwinia movie.
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Dec 31, 2017 16:46
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