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Review – Annihilation (2018)

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by Old King Clancy

As a writer, Alex Garland has had a hand in some of the best sci-fi of the 21st Century with 28 Days Later, Sunshine, and Dredd under his belt. He continued that trend into his directorial debut, Ex_Machina, which ended up as my top film for that year. When his latest film, Annihilation, got in the news for being considering too ‘smart’ for the average audience and sent straight to Netflix everywhere except the US, Canada, and China, you couldn’t help but wonder exactly how smart Garland had made his film. Especially, when you factor in that both Garland and one of the producers refused to bow into the studio demands to dumb the movie down.

Having now finally seen it, I’m glad Garland stuck to his guns because Annihilation is one of the most unapologetic cases of Hard Sci-Fi I’ve seen for a while.

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Review – The Cloverfield Paradox (2018)

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A Big Hit at the Superbowl but a Misfire for the Movie

by Nile Fortner

What made the first Cloverfield so fascinating was that they took something we’ve seen before like a giant monster in the city and they found a way to give it a new a new perspective. The 2008 Cloverfield film gave a new perspective that allowed audiences to see the death and the destruction of a monster in the city in the form of a found footage film. Even 2016’s surprise sequel and spin-off, 10 Cloverfield Lane, was a bold new take on a familiar story setup, and I actually loved this film, and would consider it an improvement over the first movie.

The trailer for The Cloverfield Paradox dropped at Superbowl 52 (Go Eagles). After the trailer was over, it said the movie was now showing on Netflix. After the Superbowl was over, I knew I was definitely going to check it out. I dusted the Dorito’s off my gut, almost spilled my beer, telling people at the Superbowl After-Party, “Move, I have to get home to see that new Cloverfield!”

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