“Annihilation” (Adventure/Science-Fiction: 1 hour, 55 minutes)

Starring: Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tessa Thompson and Oscar Isaac

Director: Alex Garland

Rated: R (Violence, bloody images, profanity and sexuality)

 

Movie Review: “Annihilation” is a science-fiction, cerebral photoplay based on Jeff VanderMeer book. It plays with audiences’ minds as much as its characters’ minds, too. It is a visual treat that will leave many moviegoers with plenty of questions afterward.

Lena is a professor of cellular biology and a former United States soldier. A government organization quarantines and debriefs her about “The Shimmer,” a mysterious zone that is full of mutating landscapes and creatures. 

Lena agrees to enter the rainbow-like “Shimmer” as part of a five-woman team led by Dr. Ventress (Leigh), an administrator in charge of overseeing operations involving “The Shimmer.” Lena has an incentive. Her husband, Kane (Isaac), a soldier, was a part of the first team to enter the anomaly more than a year ago. Lena wants to know what happened to him. She carries this movie.

Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tessa Thompson and several other women are unique in this mysterious adventure. They provide intense moments. And Oscar Isaac is a nice addition as Portman’s husband.

Helmed by director-writer Alex Garland (“Ex Machina,” 2014), “Annihilation” also provides a nice mystery and good visual moments in which the cast exists. The mystery carries viewers on a visual treat. That mystery keeps one invested while eye candy sweetens the experience. 

The problem is in the end a few questions remain unanswered. Audiences are left to ponder what happened and why. Some may feel their time did not render an expected answer. However, the movie is an engaging artistic mystery, so does it matter?

Grade: B- (In this case, not an end game.)

“Every Day” (Romance/Fantasy: 1 hour, 37 minutes)

Starring: Angourie Rice, Justice Smith and Ian Alexander

Director: Michael Sucsy

Rated: PG-13 (Thematic elements, sexuality, suggestive material and profanity, drinking and smoking)

 

Movie Review: When humans love, many love with conditions. “Every Day” goes beyond typical concepts of love for this unusual romance. 

It is intriguingly original, even if it only scratches the surface of a complex subject matter based on David Levithan’s novel.

Angourie Rice stars as Rhiannon a young woman in a lacking relationship with Justin (Smith). One day, she encounters A, an entity that jumps from one young person to another daily. Angourie and A form a relationship, despite A’s jumping from one body to the next every day. Their relationship is not an easy one as each A may be anyone, any young male or female.

Michael Sucsy (“The Vow,” 2012) directs the adaptation written by Jesse Andrews. “Every Day” is an original movie. It provides thoughtful moments and nice turns by a youthful cast, but it moves too quickly to be convincing. 

Grade: C+ (Originality not fully explored.)

“Game Night” (Comedy/Crime: 1 hour, 40 minutes)

Starring: Jason Bateman, Rachel McAdams, Billy Magnussen and Kyle Chandler

Directors: John Francis Daley, Jonathan Goldstein

Rated: R (Profanity, sexual innuendo and violence)

 

Movie Review: While laughs are present, the comedy consists of many silly one-liners and overly goofy characters who are not persuasive. Like many American comedies, the adult characters act as adolescents.

Alex and Annie (Bateman and McAdams) invite several friends to their house for their usual game night. The group dynamics change when Alex’s brother, Brooks (Chandler), has everyone meet at his ostentatious home. Brooks plans to create the ultimate game night, one in which one of the players is the victim of kidnapping and the others have to solve the mystery. However, nothing goes as planned.

Lately, Jason Bateman has played in many comically overboard movies. “Office Christmas Party” (2016), “Horrible Bosses 2” (2014) and “Bad Words” (2013) are the notables. Often, the movies are drollery. “Game Night” is similar. The laughs are present, but antics of characters are of a juvenile nature. 

Grade: C+ (A good game goes ridiculously way out.)

“Beast of Burden” (Crime: 1 hour, 29 minutes)

Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Grace Gummer and Pablo Schreiber

Director: Jesper Ganslandt

Rated: R (Profanity and violence)

 

Movie Review: Mayday. Mayday, this plane is going down. “Beast of Burden” features Daniel Radcliffe in a small airplane’s cockpit for most of the movie. Neither he nor this script is compelling movie making.

Radcliffe plays Sean Haggerty, a former Air Force pilot. Haggerty delivers his final cargo as a drug smuggler using a Cessna. His last trip across the border is a troubled one. While flying, he receives calls from Drug Enforcement Administration Agent Bloom (Schreiber), cartel representative Mallory (Robert Wisdom), his wife, Jen (Grummer), and an obnoxious insurance collector.

The movie is short; it never has enough time to develop its characters. The inept script is directed by Jesper Ganslandt (“The Ape,” 2009). Adam Hoelzel, writing his first major full-length screenplay, tries to develop its characters through flashbacks. 

The series of flashbacks interfere with the story and add little. They detail how Radcliffe’s Haggerty gets into this situation, but they do little to develop characters and a weak plot.

Grade: D- (The greatest burden is placed on audiences.)