Cinema Toast: ‘Annihilation,’ ‘Game Night,’ and more

Gil Mansergh reviews the latest movies|

Annihilation (R)

Starring: Natalie Portman, Oscar Isaac, Tessa Thompson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gina Rodriguez, Sonoya Mizuno

Directed by: Alex Garland

Inspired by Jeff Vandermeek’s best-selling book, this is the tale of a female soldier-?scientist whose husband disappears inside the mysterious “Shimmer.” She recruits an all-female team made up of a medic, physicist, geothermal expert, and psychologist to join her quest for answers inside a bizarre yet beautiful, jungle-?like landscape very similar to the ones found in “Avatar.” Stealing plot devices from other films - devices like found-video footage, members of the rescue team possibly going crazy, and the wife reliving her husband’s past memories - the audience finally discovers that despite the familiar “X-Files” mantra, the answer isn’t “out there” - it’s within.

3 pieces of ‘Well-made sci-fi’ toast

Game Night (R)

Starring: Jason Bateman, Rachel McAdams, Billy Magnussen, Sharon Horgan, Lamone Morris, Danny Huston, Michael C. Hall, Kyle Chandler

Directed by: John Francis Daley, Jonathan M.Goldstein

The “meet cute” opening is set in a bar trivia contest where a couple (Bateman and McAdams) fall for each other because they both answer “Tinky-Winky” to a Teletubbies question. After marriage, they host a weekly Game Night for their friends until the guy’s venture-capitalist brother suddenly appears intent on upstaging his little brother. When the older brother invites everyone to a murder-mystery party at the mansion he is renting, a couple of real-life criminals arrive and “realistically” kidnap the host. Every other guest gets involved, alternately acting heroic, squeamish, terrified, or crazy on cue. The R-rating comes from the de-rigueur double entendres, sexual situations, and non-life threatening (but still copiously bleeding) gunshot wounds. The result is more successful than the moribund game-based 1985 movie “Clue,” but miles away from the astoundingly entertaining blockbuster “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.”

21/2 pieces of ‘As much fun as an 80’s Trivial Pursuit contest’ toast

A Fantastic Woman (Una Mujer Fantastica) (R)

Starring: Daniela Vega, Francisco Reyes, Luis Gnecco, Aline Kuppenheim, Nicolas Saavedra, Amparo Noguero

Directed by: Sebastien Leilo

It would be easy to pigeonhole Chile’s Foreign-Language Oscar nominee as a tale of Marina, a transgender woman coping with societal prejudice after her lover dies. Doing so, however, limits appreciation of the intelligence, creativity, and artfulness of this film. Daniella Vega shines in the starring role as she first acquiesces to authority figures who talk to her using masculine pronouns. But when oth-ers infringe on Marina’s self-identity and sense of worth - barring her from the funeral, evicting her from her apartment, and even taking her dog, she - and the magical realism projected on the movie screen itself - react with determination, fire and raw emotion.

4 pieces of ‘Fantastic, must-see’ toast.

Every Day (PG-13)

Starring: Angourie Rice, Justice Smith, Debby Ryan, Maria Bello, Jacob Batalon

Directed by: Michael Sucsy

Redesigning the “Quantum Leap” body-swap idea for today’s teens’ more-inclusive mind-set, Michael Sucsy’s “Every Day” opens with a 16-year-old Baltimore girl named Rhianon (Angourie Rice) falling in love with a jerk of a bi-racial football player who has a “kindly soul” deep inside. Every morning that follows, Rhiannon has similar feelings for whatever person happens to be inhabited by that moveable “kindly soul.” These include a younger girl student; a dance-obsessed boy, a bookstore girl, a bald, overweight boy; and even Rhianna herself. The opportunities for this to devolve into a smarmy sex comedy are skillfully avoided by creating a distinct PG-13 “Afterschool Special” feel. That’s not a bad thing, especially with all the positive role-model messages included along the way.

21/2 pieces of ‘Teenage transmogrification’ toast

(To view trailers from the above films, visit Cinema Toast in the A&E section of Petaluma360.com; Comments? E-mail gilmansergh@comcast.net)

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