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Movie Poster for the Science Fiction alien film Annihilation staring Natalie Portman and Jennifer Jason Leigh

I should have dropped Acid before watching Annihilation

Posted on February 24, 2018November 29, 2019 By Ray Hanania No Comments on I should have dropped Acid before watching Annihilation
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Should have dropped Acid before watching Annihilation

Movie review: The movie theater was packed with people for the premiere of Annihilation, the Science Fiction story about an alien life form that slams into Earth and expands into what scientists call a “shimmer”. The movie not only had some great stars like Natalie Portman and Jennifer Jason Leigh, among others, but it also had some mind-blowing, psychedelic-like CGI (computer generated imagery). I should have dropped some LSD beforehand. It would have been a better movie experience.

By Ray Hanania

The movie theater was packed with people I think because this past year has been terrible for Hollywood movie releases. A lot of this year’s movies really sucked. This year’s Hollywood movie crop was just OK, so any halfway decent mediocre film did well, because some people will pay to see anything, much like voting for anyone at election time.

The movie not only had some great stars like Natalie Portman and Jennifer Jason Leigh, among others, but it also had some mind-blowing, psychedelic-like CGI (computer generated imagery). I should have dropped some LSD beforehand. It would have been a better movie experience.

Annihilation is a Science Fiction story about an alien life form that slams into Earth like a small meteor, and then expands itself into a steadily expanding psychedelic fog what scientists call a “shimmer” that slowly appears to be blanketing the world.

Movie Poster for the Science Fiction alien film Annihilation staring Natalie Portman and Jennifer Jason Leigh
Movie Poster for the Science Fiction alien film Annihilation staring Natalie Portman and Jennifer Jason Leigh

And if you time the Acid right, you’ll patiently sit through the credits at the end of the movie because the background offers some of the best psychedelic color swirls since Jimi Hendrix rocked Chicago’s Auditorium in August 1968.

Based on Jeff VanderMeer’s best-selling Southern Reach Trilogy, Annihilation stars Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gina Rodriguez, Tessa Thompson, Tuva Novotny and Oscar Isaac. It was written and directed by Alex Garland (Ex Machina, 28 Days Later).

The movie has a decent plot but this SciFi thriller is a thinker, dealing with some unusual, never before explored concepts like mass “prismic” assimilation and absorption. Of course, that means it is a little slow and drags at times. The scenes are erratic bouncing from the present to the past, weaving in personal stories and problems.

Whatever the client force is, though, Annihilation absorbs your being creating unusual monsters, “mirrors” and even assimilated combinations of life that include your voice expressions.

English: Natalie Portman at the premiere of Bl...
English: Natalie Portman at the premiere of Black Swan, directed by Darren Aronofsky, during the Toronto International Film Festival, 2010. Français : Natalie Portman à la première de Black Swan réalisé par Darren Aronofsky, pendant le Festival international du film de Toronto en 2010. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It’s bloody and violent at times, but what movie in America isn’t? And people are complaining about the lack of gun law restrictions as being the cause of the recent gun violence we have seen. We sell out children video games and movies that promote violence and drugs. Don’t pretend that you didn’t let your youngster play Grand Theft Auto on the Xbox, because I just won’t believe most of you. Add sugar and caffeine to the diet and you have little monsters practicing on the road to be psychotic killers.

The only thing that it was missing was the sex, but there is some light moments. Sex is better dress dup than completely nude!

Despite some slow bumps, and the deep physics and biology concepts in the film, I liked it. Of course, I love any Science Fiction movie. I mark their premieres on my Google Calendar so I don’t miss any.

The movie centers around Portman’s character.

The paramount film features a great cast:

Natalie Portman as Lena, a biologist and former soldier
Jennifer Jason Leigh as Dr. Ventress, a psychologist and the leader of the expedition
Gina Rodriguez as Anya Thorensen, a paramedic
Tessa Thompson as Josie Radek, a physicist
Tuva Novotny as Cass Sheppard, an anthropologist
Oscar Isaac as Kane, Lena’s husband, a soldier in a previous expedition
Benedict Wong as Lomax
Sonoya Mizuno as Katie (Mizuno also portrays a Humanoid)
David Gyasi as Daniel

I’ll give it Five UFO’s!

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Ray Hanania
Ray Hanania
Ray Hanania is an award-winning opinion columnist, author & former Chicago City Hall reporter (1977-1992). A veteran who served during the Vietnam War and the recipient of four SPJ Peter Lisagor Awards for column writing, Hanania writes weekly opinion columns on mainstream American & Chicagoland topics for the Southwest News-Herald, Des Plaines Valley News, the Regional News, The Reporter Newspapers, and Suburban Chicagoland.  

His award winning columns can be found at www.HANANIA.COM Subscribe FREE today

Hanania also writes about Middle East issues for the Arab News, and The Arab Daily News criticizing government policies in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Hanania was named "Best Ethnic American Columnist" by the New America Media in November 2007, and is the 2009 recipient of the SPJ National Sigma Delta Chi Award for column writing.

Email Ray Hanania at [email protected].

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Baby Boomers, Blogger, Commentary, Editors Pick, Entertainment, Features, Movies, Opinion, rayhanania, Technology Tags:Aliens, Annihilation, Benedict Wong, David Gyasi, Gina Rodriguez, Hollywood Movie, Jennifer Jason Leigh, movie review, Natalie Portman, Oscar Isaac, Paramount Pictures, Science fiction, shimmer, Sonoya Mizuno, Tessa Thompson, Tuva Novotny

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