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Annihilation Trailer #1 (Dir. Alex Garland (Ex Machina); Natalie Portman)

Everyday I pray Andy Stott will be doing the soundtrack.

I read the book while listening to Faith in Strangers and they are perfectly linked in my mind.
 

Spuck-uk

Banned
Great director and one of the best modern weird science/science fiction authors out there.

I'd kill for an adaptation of Finch, that book was amazingly good/unsettling.
 
Looks good. Absolutely love Ex Machina, one of my all time favorites, so the director gets my attention instantly. And I love Natalie Portman too. So double win.
 

faridmon

Member
Did Jackie and Black Swan suddenly cease to exist? Natalie Portman can be incredible.

As much as I loved Black Swan, few few movies do not prove one is a good actor, and to be fair, her acting was pretty much elevated by the incredible direction of Aronofsky, and i believe that many other actress would even do a better job than her in that movie.

I have not watch Jackie.

She had what now, 20+ years career and the amount of good performances is far and few in between.

I do not like her at all, but I trust Garland.
 
As much as I loved Black Swan, few few movies do not prove one is a good actor, and to be fair, her acting was pretty much elevated by the incredible direction of Aronofsky, and i believe that many other actress would even do a better job than her in that movie.

I have not watch Jackie.

She had what now, 20+ years career and the amount of good performances is far and few in between.

I do not like her at all, but I trust Garland.

As a book reader, I'm loving this apprehension about Portman. Literally the perfect performer for this role lmao.

Also, unsurprised at the total disinterest in supernova Gina Rodriguez, but I'm sure when she gets Best Supporting next year, everyone here will be like "Oh yeah, I saw that coming." lmao
 
Intelligent sci-fi is hard to find in movies so I'll take what I can. No idea what it's about but I am certainly intrigued. That said it does look good regardless.
 

Switch Back 9

a lot of my threads involve me fucking up somehow. Perhaps I'm a moron?
Read Annihilation, it's a great book. Then pretend there are no other books in the series.

I support this comment 100%. The first book is brilliant and stands on its own fine without the other two, which suck.
 

RDreamer

Member
I support this comment 100%. The first book is brilliant and stands on its own fine without the other two, which suck.

Whoa, the other two don't suck. They're a bit different, and the 2nd one was kind of slower to get through for me but I thought int he end all three were a pretty great trilogy. The sequels really don't go for the same sort of thing as the first one, though and I think people should be warned about that.
 

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
Enjoyed all the books. Garland seems like a good fit.
 

HStallion

Now what's the next step in your master plan?
Whoa, the other two don't suck. They're a bit different, and the 2nd one was kind of slower to get through for me but I thought int he end all three were a pretty great trilogy. The sequels really don't go for the same sort of thing as the first one, though and I think people should be warned about that.

Personally I think all three books are nothing to write home about. I was extremely let down by the first after all the praise and comparison to other authors and stories I loved. I actually hope Garland takes some sere liberties with the story.
 
Personally I think all three books are nothing to write home about. I was extremely let down by the first after all the praise and comparison to other authors and stories I loved. I actually hope Garland takes some sere liberties with the story.

Garland has already said he pretty much had to. So much of the book is based around interiority and misinformation (both the company's and the character's). He'd have an impossible task adapting the book if he didn't change things.


I'm loving the imagery and the tie-dye colors though. Good stuff.

edit: I quite liked the second book. Found no love for the third. I need to read it again . . . or maybe just read the different narrator's sections removed from the book. I couldn't really stand the back and forth of the different narrator POVs.
 

Busty

Banned
Has Paramount always been this risky? Mother and Annihilation seem like some pretty unusual movies for a studio to back

Well they released Alexander Payne's Nebraska (a black and white film), albeit on a platform release, a few years ago.

It may have been done cynically to try and bag an Oscar but it still counts.
 

El Topo

Member
I have read the first book my sentence didn't make sense haha.

I meant the book after :) is it good?

I understood that, but lazy as I am I tried to frame my answer more generally, sorry.
I don't think the other two books are necessarily bad. I think they are very interesting actually (with the second book focusing on the organization that supervises the expedition), I just didn't enjoy them much. Really didn't like the last book and its narrative in particular.
 
Looks a bit too artsy for my tastes, and has that "love is part of the laws of nature" vibe you get from movies sometimes, which I really don't like. Hoping I'm wrong and its a bit more on the side of Arrival or Interstellar than Passengers or Mother!

I did love Ex Machina so hoping the director delivers.
 
Looks amazing. The visual style is perfect for adapting the books and making them more film friendly. Garland definitely seems to be using bits of all three books and I'm guessing he's going to add a fair amount of his own stuff in there which I'm okay with.

I didn't actually hate the last two (the final book in particular helped answer a fair amount of questions which appreciated) so I'm excited to see how he weaves the plots together.
 
Great director and one of the best modern weird science/science fiction authors out there.

I'd kill for an adaptation of Finch, that book was amazingly good/unsettling.

Shriek and Finch are my two favorite Vandermeer novels.

I thought Finch did an excellent job of closing out the plots running through the Ambergris series, but then showing and hinting that there is so much more at play behind all that.

Gave the reader satisfying answers while still keeping the magic and mystery largely intact of that world.
 

Ahgod

Neo Member
Extremely excited for this one. Ex Machina was one of my favorites from that year and I really likes this book as well. That said, I echo some other comments here about the second and third books, I made it halfway through 2 and gave up I felt it that bad. I never quit in a series that short but I just hated what was happening there. Hopefully Garland ends his work on the adaptation here, successful or not.
 

gabbo

Member
Shriek and Finch are my two favorite Vandermeer novels.

I thought Finch did an excellent job of closing out the plots running through the Ambergris series, but then showing and hinting that there is so much more at play behind all that.

Gave the reader satisfying answers while still keeping the magic and mystery largely intact of that world.
How many books are in the Ambergris cannon? Ive only read City of Saints and Madmen, i wasn't aware there were more.
 

Mr. Hyde

Member
Great director and one of the best modern weird science/science fiction authors out there.

I'd kill for an adaptation of Finch, that book was amazingly good/unsettling.


I love Finch so much. I love his book on writing. He discusses and dissects parts of it.

I cannot wait for this! Great book and awesome trailer
 

Donos

Member
At least it seems to have atmosphere, which is most of what made the books great (2 was meh and third okay).
 
First book, yes

Seems like they're pulling elements from the 2nd book with those interview/interrogation scenes. Was that supposed to be Control talking to her?

Overall this looks great to me. I think they really nailed the "look" of Area X.
 
Looks interesting. According to a source I know, it's much different then the trailer would let you on to be. Paramount's selling it as an Arrival type film, when it's really nothing like that.

The February release dates makes me doubt its quality, but with Garland involved and the cast, I'm sold.
 
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