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nickkubat
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Annihilation (2018)
The Best Film of 2018
As of writing this, I've seen over 50 films from 2018. While a lot of them were great, Annihilation was the best one I've seen. It was terribly overlooked and became one of my favorite films almost instantly. It was a larger budget Sci-Fi movie that had things to say, but still let the audience come to their own conclusions.
Alex Garland is one of the best Sci-Fi writers of the 21st century, having written great films like 28 Days Later, Sunshine, and Never Let Me Go and his directorial debut, Ex Machina is one of the leaders in the new era of high concept Sci-Fi.
I'll start with the acting. Natalie Portman has her best performance since Black Swan here, with a lot of alone time on screen. While a lot of people have a problem with Jennifer Jason Leigh's performance, I think it made sense in the context of the film. The rest of the supporting cast was great, particularly Tessa Thompson and Gina Rodriguez.
The technical aspects here were amazing. The special effects, especially the scene where Oscar Issac cuts that dude open is great as well as the effect of Lena's clone. The mix of CGI and set designs were interesting and cool and the score was phenomenal, especially during the climax of the movie.
Finally I have to phrase the general atmosphere and themes of the movie. A sense of dread starts almost immediately here, and really intensifies as it goes. The bear scene is deservingly being praised as one of the most stress inducing scenes in a long time but watching everything that takes place in the lighthouse is also mesmerizing. With that amazing score blaring it's impossible to turn away from the stunning sight on the screen.
There are a lot of themes that are discussed in this movie, from the subjects of cancer, genetic change, starting over, paranoia, and the one I mostly take away from it, moving on from your past. Anyone who watches this film will come away with a new or different understand of what the film is trying to say.
This movie isn't perfect. Others have mentioned little plot holes which can be explained as them going crazy in the shimmer and Sheppard's death is ruined since your told she is dead 5 minutes into the movie (on it's own not bad but the fact that her fate is a mystery for a small portion of the movie, there was a lot of tension taken out of it.) But it's not hard to overlook the few flaws this film has and see it as a great, original, interesting Sci-Fi movie that I think will go down as a cult classic, and is the best movie of 2018 IMO.
No Country for Old Men (2007)
My favorite movie
This is my favorite movie. There is no flaws in it, and the one movie that can always successfully put me in the mood it demands. Where to start? Javier Bardem creates an amazing, scary, realistic villain in Anton Chigough that takes your breath away at every turn. Josh Brolin, Tommy Lee Jones, and the other actors also have great performances and set realistic characters with real motivations.
Now I have to get into the stuff with the Coen Brothers. These guys are experts in trusting their audience to build suspense. Both the gas station scene and the hotel shootout are perhaps the two most tense and interesting scenes in cinema. The fact that there is no score really does help to build tension to them in a way that's different than most. Not only that but the editing here is top notch, and obviously Rodger Deakins's cinematography is really well done. You can't really have no complaints.
To top it all off you really have an interesting, engaging plot that is hard to get a hand on. Every time you start to get a grip on where the story is going, and realize what is about to happen, the Coen's switch it up and keep you guessing while also still making sense from a character's perspective. All this on top of a relevant, interesting subtext that stays with you after the film.
No film is truly perfect, including this one (the part with Woody Harrison in the Mexican hospital is not quite up to par with the rest of the film) but NCFOM is the closest I've seen.