MOVIE - Annihilation

R (1:55)

Wide 2/23/18 On video 5/29/18
Viewed March 1, 2018
IMDb: 6.9

RT Critic: 87   Audience:  66
Critic's Consensus:  Annihilationbacks up its sci-fi visual wonders and visceral genre thrills with an impressively ambitious -- and surprisingly strange -- exploration of challenging themes that should leave audiences pondering long after the end credits roll

Cag:  4 -Creepy (good!)s SciFi

Directed by Alex Garland

Paramount Pictures

Based on the book by Jeff VanderMeer

Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gina Rodriguez

My comments:  A mesmerizing sci-fi movie that left me with many questions, and I've spent a bit of time mulling them over.  Now that I think I've figured out what the ending meant, I don't feel a unsettled as I did when I walked out of the theater.  I really do enjoy sci-fi, and this one had a bit of horror attached, which was pretty cool actually.  I love it when you have to think and think to put things together and wonder why things happened, and wait for the explanation.  It's when there's no explanation that I have trouble - especially in sci-fi, because it doesn't always have to make sense.  I'm pretty sure that this was based on a book, I'll have to check that out.  

RT/ IMDb Summary:  A biologist's husband disappears. She puts her name forward for an expedition into an environmental disaster zone, but does not find what she's expecting. The expedition team is made up of the biologist, an anthropologist, a psychologist, a surveyor, and a linguist.            
 It's been already twelve months since his last covert operation, and the rugged military, Kane, is still missing in action, presumed dead. With his wife--the successful academic biology professor, Lena--still grieving him, an unprecedented phenomenon in the swamplands of Florida will soon have her following in Kane's footsteps, as a member of a strong all-women team. So many theories try to explain the mysterious ever-expanding iridescent membrane which swallows the area; however, none was able to yield facts. What kind of startling biological transmutations lurk behind this bright and colourful kaleidoscope of horrors? In the end, what did Kane see?

MOVIE - Jane Got a Gun

R (1:37)
Wide release 1/29/16 (on DVD in April)

Viewed on Netflix 11/16/16

RT Critic:  40  Audience:  38

Cag:  4.5  Liked it a whole lot

Directed by Gavin O'Connor

Relativity Media
Joel Edgerton is credited as one of the three writers

Natalie Portman, Joel Edgerton

My comments:  I don't add movies I didn't see on the "big screen" on the blog, but am making an exception for this one.  It's a pretty current movie and I really liked it a lot, so I want to keep track of it.  It's a rich story, and although there's a lot of killing, the gun battles aren't quite as long and drawn out as in the other westerns I've seen recently.  A gang of outlaws vs. three people protecting a small home, one of whom is totally incapacitated.  Natalie Portman and Joel Edgerton make a believable couple, and as their story unfolds as the movie progresses, it really tugs on the heart strings.

RT/ IMDb Summary:  Jane Hammond has built a new life with her husband Bill "Ham" Hammond after being tormented by the ultra-violent Bishop Boys outlaw gang. She finds herself in the gang's cross-hairs once again when Ham stumbles home riddled with bullets after dueling with the Boys and their relentless mastermind Colin. With the vengeful crew hot on Ham's trail, Jane has nowhere to turn but to her former fiancé Dan Frost for help in defending her family against certain destruction. Haunted by old memories, Jane's past meets the present in a heart-stopping battle for survival.

MOVIE - Thor: The Dark World

PG-13 (1:52)

Wide Release 11/8/2013

Viewed 11/11/2013

RT Critic:66  Audience: 85

Cag: 4.5 Totally enjoyed it

Directed by Alan Taylor

Walt Disney Pictures

Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tim Hiddleston

My comments"  Good One!  Very enjoyable with lots of chuckles.Chris Hemsworth is such a hunk, I love, love, love Loki (Tom Hiddleston), Stellan Skarsgard running around without his pants on was a HOOT, and the kooky side-kick, Darcy (Kat Dennings) is the really funny one on 2 Broke Girls. I always enjoy Natalie Portman, but I wouldn't consider this one of her stronger roles.  Just plain fun, the perfect movie to be totally outside of your own body for a couple of hours.  Two really fun things to look forward to - a quick, really brief sighting of Captain America in the middle of the film, and the little "addition" at the very tail end of the credits..... (And what on earth did what happened up on the throne at the end of the movie mean???)

Rotten Tomatoes Summary:  Marvel's "Thor: The Dark World" continues the big-screen adventures of Thor, the Mighty Avenger, as he battles to save Earth and all the Nine Realms from a shadowy enemy that predates the universe itself. In the aftermath of Marvel's "Thor" and "Marvel's The Avengers," Thor fights to restore order across the cosmos...but an ancient race led by the vengeful Malekith returns to plunge the universe back into darkness. Faced with an enemy that even Odin and Asgard cannot withstand, Thor must embarkon his most perilous and personal journey yet, one that will reunite him with Jane Foster and force him to sacrifice everything to save us all.

MOVIE - No Strings Attached

Just delightful
Released 1-21-11 DVD 5-10-11
R (1:50)
Sat. 3-26-2011 at Kolb Cheap Theater...alone
RT; 49% cag 91%
Director: Ivan Reitman
Ashton Kutcher, Natalie Portman, Kevin Kline

Okay, I laughed out loud, I giggled, I grinned, and I rarely wiggled in my seat. This movie was a charmer. Okay, you know how it's gonna end -- and you're happy to be on the ride that gets you there. The perfect movie to cheer up an otherwise sad day.

Emma and Adam met at camp when they were 14 and kept bumping into each other for then fifteen years. Now Emma (Portman) is training to be a doctor and Adam (Kutcher) works on a Glee-like television production and after an unexpected one-morning-stand decide to be "friends with benefits." That's as far as it goes, no commitments.

These two have great charisma. They enjoy each other, their eyes sparkle, they make a really wonderful pair. So as she pushes him away and he pines for her, as they jump each other's bones and deal with his charming actor-father (Kline) who is now dating Adam's ex, as their various friends deem to give advice - well, just sit back, grin, and enjoy. It's just plain fun. Not deep. Not particularly thought-provoking. Pure entertainment. Hurray!

MOVIE - Black Swan

A bit too much ballet, but otherwise an intriguing psychological story.
Limited release 12/3/10
R (1:48)
Viewed 12/20/10 at the AMC Theater at Pacific Place, downtown Seattle
RT: 88 Flixter: 91 cag: 85
Director: Darren Aronofsky

Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis

Natalie Portman is an obsessed ballerina in NYC, having just been chosen for the part of the Swan Queen in Swan Lake. Her entire life has been ballet. She has no friends. She lives with her mother, who is a piece of work herself. She has kept her her daughter completely under her wing, making sure she gets the dance opportunities she herself lost when she got pregnant. Nina's bedroom is still pink and babyish and full of stuffed animals. Her mother falls asleep watching her.

Slowly we realize that Nina's at war within herself. She sees a twin of herself in strange places- a disappearing flash that we soon realize is in her head. We discover that she scratches herself and picks at the skin around her cuticles bloody when she's stressed. She wants to be the perfect dancer. That's all she lives for, all she thinks about and dreams about.

Enter another ballerina, played by Mila Kunis, who is after Nina's role. She starts playing with Nina's head, encouraging her to try things she has never tried before. She begins messing with Nina's already messed-up,uptight, frigid world. And then it really starts getting interesting. The first half was slow. The second half was really good. She can dance the part of the white swan beautifully, but will she ever be able to dance the part of the black swan?

Natalie Portman was really, really good. She did all the dancing. She's a terrific actress, she portrayed this obsessed, lost girl beautifully. And what an ending!