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‘Annihilation’: That’s a Beautiful Way to Kill Me!

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6 years ago

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Imagine for a moment, you’re a military spouse. No kids thank goodness, but hey, your other half went freaking missing on a super-secret expedition nearly a year ago, and just now managed to show back up. SPOILERS AHEAD!

The spouse is apparently suffering all sorts of abnormalities, including severe memory loss, and the only reasonable thing to do is to send them back to their military’s medical unit, for extensive testing. Which is, more or less, exactly how the movie begins and we’re introduced to Lena (Natalie Portman) and her tiny selfish world that’s about to get a whole lot bigger.

Lena used to be a soldier herself, as we discover, but she left some years ago to pursue a career in, get this, biology and medical science. So just like the Amidala echoes that will never quite leave her, Portman as Lena is an odd mix of strengths and vulnerabilities.

Lena insists, after ensconcing her husband with the doctors and researchers, that she herself go on the same mission her missing husband did, and right away, which finally leads us to the real garden of the story.

So way off in this super secret location out in the middle of nowhere, this anomaly has occurred, and those studying the anomaly have simply named it the Shimmer. All sorts of expeditions have been led into the Shimmer, and Lena’s husband Kane (Oscar Isaac) was the first person to make it back more or less alive and intact. However next to nothing can be gleaned from Kane’s walkabout, so Lena demands in all her quiet badassery to be in on the very next expedition going into the Shimmer herself.

Leading the expedition is Dr. Ventress (Jennifer Jason Leigh), the only one who knows that Kane is Lena’s husband, and rounding out the rest of all-girl group is physicist Josie Radeck (Tessa Thompson), anthropologist Cass Sheppard (Tuva Novotny), and paramedic Anya Thorensen (Gina Rodriguez). Each has their own motivations and personal secrets they’re toting along on the mission into the Shimmer, to find the lighthouse where purportedly the Shimmer first appeared.

Inside the Shimmer itself, time moves clearly very different, and the distorted and refracted lights coming through, combined with who knows what else is going on inside the prismatic doohickey, make for vegetation and animal-life literally never before seen on Earth. It’s with these visuals, of the beautifully mutated flowers and psychotically changed combined animals, that ‘Annihilation’ truly shines and dazzles the audience.

Which is a good thing, because sadly the rest of the film is plagued with vague storylines and unrecognizable twists, stuttered pacing that alternates interminably slowwwww with breathless action-disaster scenes, and an ending that frankly, made little sense and could have been shaved off more than 10 minutes of weird unnecessary visuals.

The very end bit, after Lena’s interrogation was finally over, was a tad predictable and could have easily been told a different way, but perhaps it’s closer to the book series the film is based on, ‘The Southern Reach’ series by Jeff VanderMeer. As there are three books in the series, perhaps there will also be sequel films as well.

Like many things in this zany modern world, ‘Annihilation’ is a visual feast for the eyes, but in plucking and trying to understand that mutated flower now with extra-sharp teeth, the act of trying to fully comprehend the thing is what kills it. Watch it at least once anyway, for the crocodile-shark hybrid if nothing else

Get yourself mutated with Annihilation, in theaters now!

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Paramount+ Reveals Official Main Title Sequence for the Upcoming Series TALES OF THE TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES

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13 hours ago

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July 26, 2024

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During the TALES OF THE TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES panel earlier today at San Diego Comic Con, Paramount+ revealed the official main title sequence for the series. The sequence is composed by EMMY® nominee, Matt Mahaffey, known for his work on Sanjay and Craig, Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie and much more. 

From the studios of the Mutant Mayhem film, the all-new Paramount+ original series TALES OF THE TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES explores the adventures of everyone’s favorite pizza-loving heroes as they emerge from the sewers onto the streets of NYC. Leo, Raph, Donnie and Mikey are faced with new threats and team up with old allies to survive both teenage life and villains lurking in the shadows of the Big Apple. The series is produced by Nickelodeon Animation and Point Grey Pictures.

TALES OF THE TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES is executive produced by Chris Yost (The Mandalorian, Thor: Ragnarok) and Alan Wan (Blue Eye Samurai, Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles [2012 Series]). Production is overseen for Nickelodeon by Claudia Spinelli, Senior Vice President, TV Series Animation, Nickelodeon, and Nikki Price, Director of Development and Executive in Charge of Production.

In addition to the upcoming new series, stream all things Turtles on Paramount+.

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Comic-Con 2024: Those About to Die Activation

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16 hours ago

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July 26, 2024

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DISNEY+ CASTS DANIEL DIEMER AS FAN-FAVORITE ‘TYSON’IN SEASON TWO OF “PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS”

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16 hours ago

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July 26, 2024

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 in Hall H at San Diego Comic-Con, Rick Riordan and Disney+ revealed that Daniel Diemer (“Under the Bridge”) will star as fan-favorite cyclops “Tyson” in the epic adventure series “Percy Jackson and the Olympians.” Diemer joins Walker Scobell (Percy Jackson), Leah Sava Jeffries (Annabeth Chase) and Aryan Simhadri (Grover Underwood) as a series regular. The Disney+ Original series from Disney Branded Television and 20th Television will start filming its second season next week in Vancouver.

Season two of “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” is based on the second installment of Disney Hyperion’s best-selling book series titled “The Sea of Monsters” by award-winning author Rick Riordan. In the new season, Percy Jackson returns to Camp Half-Blood one year later to find his world turned upside down. His friendship with Annabeth is changing, he learns he has a cyclops for a brother, Grover has gone missing, and camp is under siege from the forces of Kronos. Percy’s journey to set things right will take him off the map and into the deadly Sea of Monsters, where a secret fate awaits the son of Poseidon.

Diemer stars as Tyson – a young Cyclops who grew up all alone on the streets, and finds it difficult to survive in the human world.  Shy and awkward, with a heart almost as big as he is, Tyson soon discovers that Poseidon is his father, which means Percy Jackson is his half-brother… and that Tyson may have finally found a home. 

Diemer recently starred in the Hulu limited series “Under the Bridge” based off the critically acclaimed book of the same name and a tragic true story of a missing teen girl in Vancouver in 1997. He will next star in the indie “Thug” opposite Liam Neeson and Ron Perlman for director Hans Petter Moland. Daniel was recently seen as the lead in the indie “Supercell” opposite Alec Baldwin and Skeet Ulrich and the lead in the film “Little Brother” opposite Phil Ettinger and JK Simmons. Daniel can also be seen in the Netflix series “The Midnight Club” and recently starred as the male lead in the breakout hit Netflix feature “The Half Of It” from producer Anthony Bregman and director Alice Wu. He is a graduate of Victoria Academy of Dramatic Arts in Vancouver.

Created by Rick Riordan and Jonathan E. Steinberg, season two of “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” is executive produced by Steinberg and Dan Shotz alongside Rick Riordan, Rebecca Riordan, Craig Silverstein, The Gotham Group’s Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, Bert Salke, The Gotham Group’s Jeremy Bell and D.J. Goldberg, James Bobin, Jim Rowe, Albert Kim, Jason Ensler and Sarah Watson.

The first season of “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” is available on Disney+

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