Reviews

If there was one word I would use to describe Annihilation, it would be inconsistent. There are so many things in this film that make it stand out, and sometimes where I was amazed at what I was watching. This film seems to have this gimmick that the longer into the movie's runtime we get, the more interesting and thought-provoking stuff happens. Unfortunately, that gimmick seems to stick it's nose early into the film and incredibly harms the first act, which I'll get into during spoiler talk.

The inconsistency is everywhere in this film. Sometimes, I'm completely drawn into what I am watching, and other times I am bored out of my mind and uninterested with what I'm looking at. I think the biggest issue is in the acting. These are all very talented actors, Natalie Portman and Tessa Thompson especially, but for some reason here they have absolutely no range and react to everything in the most unrealistic way possible, and a lot the dialogue in this film is just poorly written and lame. Early in the film, they get attacked by a pretty out of the ordinary creature, and they keep looking at it like I look at the container of my chocolate chip muffins in the morning, like it's something I'm used to and it's just in my way. Sure they get spooky scared when the jump scare scenes pop in, but besides those and few notable other scenes, they just have very little expression and range. And yes, the dialogue certainly didn't help, but again I'll get into spoiler talk for more details on that.

Can't really get into more details about this film before the spoiler section, but I really don't want to come off like I hate this film. The 5/10 I'm giving is a very good 5. The stuff in this film that is great, is great. Everything in the last 30 minutes is certainly worth it, with very creative visuals and tense moments that will stick with you when you leave the theater.

(SPOILERS) So I really wanted to go into detail about how awful the first 30 minutes as compared to the last 30 minutes. The connection between all our main characters was incredibly rushed. Natalie Portman meets them at the table, they say "we are going in" and she just kinda joins them. Sure we learn more about them as the adventure goes on, but we only seem to learn more about them moments before they die. It seems like the writers wanted to make really cool death scene moments, but forgot to actually add characters to them. All of these girls personalities are pretty copy and paste. Also, I really hope I wasn't rolling my eyes at how they tried to connect Natalie's character and her husband. Again, what they did with them at the end was not only unique but made you care about their connection. What didn't connect me was them tickling each other in bed and then saying something corny about the stars. I can't stand when movie writers do this because I feel like it's a lazy way to make you see a character as a good person. You can't make a character out of bootleg bible verses. Also the completely unnecessary scenes with her affair. Not only was it weird for the pacing but it added nothing to the story. Also, it just added another character that felt like a prop.

Again, there were fantastic things in the film. The visuals, CGI, and practical effects were very consistent in their quality, the ending was trippy and thought-provoking in all the best ways. That screaming bear was awesome, and I can't wait to watch that scene specifically again. Most of the horror and gore is done in a way that doesn't feel cheap, and the soundtrack was phenomenal, with a theme that is in the trailer that I was really happy to see how they used it in the film. I do recommend seeing this film, but I promise there is nothing wrong with being a little late to it.

I was genuinely surprised by Game Night. While it is by no means anything spectacular, the film brings more to the table for the comedy genre during these days where really great directed comedies seem to be difficult to come by. This is easily John Francis's best-directed film yet, with a clear effort in making sure that this will be a comedy that can be not phrased or hailed, but remembered. This movie easily could've just been another "Horrible Bosses" or "Why Him?" but the direction and effort show that the John wanted more from it than that. The film was very good at keeping its tone consistent, and it's helped by all these really cool shots that make the real world look like a board game. Tracking shots are used consistently, long choreographed scenes that have one take are used consistently, and CGI is used very fluidly to improve how all these shots work.

But as great as the cinematography and direction is, not all of the jokes in the films are bullseyes. While most of the film is genuinely funny, especially from Rachel McAdams character, the film really likes to use "drag on" jokes, jokes that are only funny to the people that are fans of "The Office" style of humor. As much as the dollar bill bit was killing my sides, any of these jokes that involved Jason Bateman, not so much. I enjoyed his performance but he is much better suited for the quick and witty kind of role. But how funny a movie is will always be up to an individual, and this individual thinks there were a lot funnier jokes than unfunny, so it was worth it to me.

SPOILER TALK: I think some people might feel cheated if they watched the trailers, hoping that the film carries the joke that the characters believe its a game throughout the whole movie. This plot/joke is pretty much dropped before the halfway point. But it didn't bother me as I think the joke would've gotten stale after awhile. It's a very funny and clever way to set up the events to follow in the film. Now I wasn't the biggest fan of the double switcharoo at the end, but that's only because it was rather predictable.

I recommend checking this out,. It's not amazing, but it's certainly one of the better comedies to come out in the last year or so, being carried by the all the artistic choices made in the direction.