All I remember is that I read A Swiftly Tilting Planet first, because I didn't know any better, and OH BOY was I confused.

Maybe I should reread, but I also don't want to be annoyed about book vs. movie so...maybe later?

He is the ACTUAL WORST.

I remember reading a synopsis where Polly decides she and Zachary shouldn't see each other after he tried to lure her into being a human sacrifice for a tribe of early Native Americans and thinking "Let's not be too hasty, Polly, are you SURE that's a dealbreaker?"

Yeah, no, that actually happens. He is garbage.

Maybe I should reread, but I also don't want to be annoyed about book vs. movie so...maybe later?

Based on my totally nonscientific observations of Film Twitter, I think you will have a better chance of enjoying the movie on its own terms if you're not super-familiar with the book. (You may also be baffled by some of the dialogue, which is lifted out of the book but just out of context enough to be awkward and random.)

I think you will have a better chance of enjoying the movie on its own terms if you're not super-familiar with the book.

Yes. Honestly, I wish I hadn't re-read it so recently. Because every place the film diverged from the book (which was A LOT of places, because the book was published over 50 years ago, so it needed to be modernized) was really jarring to me. If I had more distance from the source material, I wouldn't have been so struck by "Hey, wait, that's not how [thing] happens!" or "I don't remember there being a fucking BEACH on Camazotz, what the hell, movie."

I liked the movie. I just wish I had been able to let it stand on its own more. Even so, there's a lot about it that's fantastic. Storm Reid is fantastic as Meg. And Chris Pine is WAY too hot as Aggressively Bearded Science Daddy.

I think this movie may be one of those where I need to watch it 2-3 times before it can be its own thing without my nerdbrain jumping in every ten seconds to say "HEY WAIT!"

Really dug Annihilation. It didn't hit me at my emotional core like Arrival did, but the visuals were great and there is lots to mull over (although I found it in no way confusing). Glad I saw it in a theater and on a big screen.

Happily surprised to see that my local theaters still list Annihilation playing this weekend. Maybe there is some words-of-mouth action going on?

One of the composers for the score for the film is Geoff Barrow, formerly of Portishead. That seems super apropos. I've been listening to this piece of music from the final act of the movie quite a bit: [link]

On non-Annihilation front, I went to see Game Night the other day and had a rollicking good time. It's a slight fare, but fun, is full of jokes that land, with good-natured performances all around. Particular shout-out to Jesse Plemons as the neighborhood cop, who takes creepy awkwardness to a stratospheric level. (Kinda weird to see him and Kyle Chandler in the movie together as semi-contemporaries after Friday Night Lights). And seeing Kylie Bunbury on my screen again made me miss Pitch all over again. Gosh, I loved that show.

I went to see Game Night the other day and had a rollicking good time.

I wondered if this was any good. The trailer ran so often during the Olympics that I started to hate the movie just from overexposure.

I went in without much expectation and was pleasantly surprised! It moves swiftly, and Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams as the lead couple have nice chemistry together. Nothing earth-shattering, but a very pleasant way to spend an hour and a half.

(The MoviePass people are probably evil, but there is no doubt that I've been going to local multiplex more often since I joined. Otherwise I might have waited for this one to come out on home video, where it would work just as well).