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).

Color me shocked, Love, Simon is actually coming to my hometown cinema this weekend! I wonder if local fundies will form a protest?

I wondered if this was any good.

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.

This was exactly me. Though in my case it also made me want to set up a game night with msbelle and her brother along with Noise Design and Pix just to see who would come out alive.

I will sheepishly confess that I enjoyed Love, Simon much, much more than Call Me by Your Name, and found it considerably more moving, even if the acting wasn't up to the same standard. I wish there had been movies like this when I was a teenager.

When did they repeal the law that required Molly Ringwald to play the protagonist of every poignant teen romance, anyway?

Statute of limitations.

Just got back from A Wrinkle in Time. I loved the books as a kid and reread them at some point as an adult, but that was at least a decade ago, so I wasn't going into it with a lot of memories about specific details or plot points.

I liked it a lot. The casting was great, every scene was gorgeous, and some emotional moments really got me. (The scene where Meg finally finds her dad on Camazotz? Don't mind me, I'll just be over here in the corner with tears rolling down my face, heaving silent sobs. Both Chris Pine and Storm Reid won my heart completely in that moment. So good.) I found some of the dialogue and acting kind of stilted, but not enough to wreck the movie's spell. I do think the book is more truly weird and magical, at least as far as I can recall (and now I want to reread it again), which probably has to do with the relative merits of using CGI vs. one's own imagination for visuals.

Also, did anyone else catch the very brief mention of Aunt Beast? There's a part where Meg is seeing what happened to her dad when he disappeared, and following the path he took, and it briefly flashes on a planet with woolly mammoth-esque creatures walking across a plain, and someone says something like, "Look, it's Aunt Beast!" Then it's gone. I can't remember who's talking -- probably one of the Mrs. (Mrs.s?) -- but I did at least cheer to see her on screen, if only for a second.