On this day in movie (2018) and book history (2014 - 2024) - Annihilation

Annihilation

directed and written by Alex Garland,

based on the novel by Jeff VanderMeer,

was released in the United States on February 23, 2018.

Music by Ben Salisbury and Geoff Barrow.

Cast:

Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gina Rodriguez, Tessa Thompson, Tuva Novotny, Oscar Isaac, Benedict Wong, Sonoya Mizuno, David Gyasi, Sammy Hayman, Josh Danford.

Recommended reading:

Annihilation

The Southern Reach Series, 1.

by Jeff VanderMeer.

Introduced by Karen Joy Fowler.

Published by MCD x FSG Originals.

First published 2014.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0374537151

ISBN-13: 978-0374537159

Description:

Area X has been cut off from the rest of the continent for decades. Nature has reclaimed the last vestiges of human civilization. The first expedition returned with reports of a pristine, Edenic landscape; the second expedition ended in mass suicide; the third expedition in a hail of gunfire as its members turned on one another. The members of the eleventh expedition returned as shadows of their former selves, and within weeks, all had died of cancer. In Annihilation, we join the twelfth expedition.

The group is made up of four women: an anthropologist; a surveyor; a psychologist, the de facto leader; and our narrator, a biologist. Their mission is to map the terrain, record all observations of their surroundings and of one another, and, above all, avoid being contaminated by Area X itself.

They arrive expecting the unexpected, and Area X delivers – they discover a massive topographic anomaly and life forms that surpass understanding – but it's the surprises that came across the border with them and the secrets the expedition members are keeping from one another that change everything.

Authority

The Southern Reach Series, 2.

by Jeff VanderMeer.

Introduced by N. K. Jemisin.

Published by Picador.

Published 2014.

ISBN-10: 1250824052

ISBN-13: 978-1250824059

Description:

After thirty years, the only human engagement with Area X―a seemingly malevolent landscape surrounded by an invisible border and mysteriously wiped clean of all signs of civilization―has been a series of expeditions overseen by a government agency so secret it has almost been forgotten: the Southern Reach. Following the tumultuous twelfth expedition chronicled in Annihilation, the agency is in complete disarray.

John Rodriguez (aka “Control”) is the Southern Reach’s newly appointed head. Working with a distrustful but desperate team, a series of frustrating interrogations, a cache of hidden notes, and hours of profoundly troubling video footage, Control begins to penetrate the secrets of Area X. But with each discovery he must confront disturbing truths about himself and the agency he’s pledged to serve.

In Authority, the second volume of Jeff VanderMeer’s Southern Reach Trilogy, Area X’s most disturbing questions are answered . . . but the answers are far from reassuring.

 

Acceptance

The Southern Reach Series, 3.

by Jeff VanderMeer.

Introduced by Helen Macdonald.

Published by Picador.

Published 2014.

ISBN-10: 1250824060

ISBN-13: 978-1250824066

Description:

It is winter in Area X, the mysterious wilderness that has defied explanation for thirty years, rebuffing expedition after expedition, refusing to reveal its secrets. As Area X expands, the agency tasked with investigating and overseeing it – the Southern Reach – has collapsed in on itself in confusion. Now one last, desperate team crosses the border, determined to reach a remote island that may hold the answers they’ve been seeking. If they fail, the outer world is in peril.

Meanwhile, Acceptance tunnels ever deeper into the circumstances surrounding the creation of Area X – what initiated this unnatural upheaval? Among the many who have tried, who has gotten close to understanding Area X – and who may have been corrupted by it? In this last installment of Jeff VanderMeer’s Southern Reach Trilogy, the mysteries of Area X may be solved, but their consequences and implications are no less profound – or terrifying.

 

Absolution

The Southern Reach Series, 4.

by Jeff VanderMeer.

Introduced by Julia Armfield.

Published by Picador.

Published 2024.

ISBN-10: 1250397804

ISBN-13: 978-1250397805

Description:

Absolution opens decades before Area X forms, with a science expedition whose mysterious end suggests terrifying consequences for the future – and marks the Forgotten Coast as a high priority for Central, the shadowy federal agency that monitors extraordinary threats.

Many years later, the Forgotten Coast files wind up in the hands of a washed-up Central operative, Old Jim. He starts pulling a thread that reveals a long, troubling record of government agents meddling with forces they clearly cannot comprehend.

Old Jim’s investigation culminates in the first Central expedition into what has now been labeled Area X. A border has come down, and a full team has been assembled to find Area X’s “off switch” somewhere in the volatile, dangerous terrain that has defied all attempts to be explored, mapped, or controlled.

Absolution converges the past, present, and future in unnerving, ecstatic, and mind-bending ways. It is the final word on one of the most provocative and popular speculative fiction series of our time.

On this day in movie history - Drive (2011)

Drive

directed by Nicolas Winding Refn,

written by Hossein Amini, and based on the novel by James Sallis,

was released in the United States on September 16, 2011.

Music by Cliff Martinez.

Cast:

Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Albert Brooks, Oscar Isaac, Christina Hendricks, Ron Perlman, Kaden Leos, James Biberi, Jeff Wolfe, Russ Tamblyn, Andy San Dimas, Joe Bucaro III, Tiara Parker, Tim Trella, Jimmy Hart, Tina Huang, John Pyper-Ferguson, Craig Baxley Jr., Kenny Richards, Joe Pingue, Dieter Busch, Chris Muto, Rachel Dik, Cesar Garcia, Steve Knoll, Mara LaFontaine, Teonee Thrash, Ralph Lawler, Rio Ahn, DB Albert, Paula Alvarez, Laurene Landon, Caitlin Litzinger, Adela Paez, Claude Stuart.

On this day in movie history - The Card Counter (2021)

The Card Counter

directed and written by Paul Schrader,

was released in the United States on September 10, 2021.

Music by Robert Levon Been and Giancarlo Vulcano.

Cast:

Oscar Isaac, Tiffany Haddish, Tye Sheridan, Willem Dafoe, Alexander Babara, Bobby C. King, Ekaterina Baker, Bryan Truong, Dylan Flashner, Adrienne Lau, Joel Michaely, Rachel Michiko Whitney, Muhsin Fliah, Joseph Singletary, Kirill Sheynerman, Amia Edwards, Britton Webb, Amye Gousset, Dior Choi, Billy Slaughter, Shane LeCocq, Olivia Peck, Rob Eubanks, April Alsbury, Mike Aston, Lucky Belcamino, William Buster Benefield, Michael Biss, Jayden Braddock, John Ceallach, Danny Chung, Luca De Massis, Douglas DeLisle, Craig Deroche, Marlon Hayes, Jeremy Howard, Hassel Kromer, Don Lay, Lamar Lott, Alireza Mirmontazeri, Skylar Neale, Sherri Piper, Nita Procell, Fran Robertson, Brittney Souther, Joey Traywick, Alfonzo Walker, Marcus Wayne, Kate Lyn Whitaker, Calvin Williams.

On this day in movie history - Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)

 

Inside Llewyn Davis

directed and written by Ethan Coen and Joel Coen,

was released at the Cannes Film Festival in France on May 19, 2013.

Music by T Bone Burnett, Todd Kasow, Jen Monnar,

Marcus Mumford, Mike Piersante, Chris Robertson, Ivy Skoff.

 

Cast:

Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, Justin Timberlake, Ethan Phillips, Robin Bartlett, Max Casella, Jerry Grayson, Jeanine Serralles, Adam Driver, Stark Sands, John Goodman, Garrett Hedlund, Alex Karpovsky, Helen Hong, Bradley Mott, Michael Rosner, Bonnie Rose, Jack O'Connell, Ricardo Cordero, Sylvia Kauders, Ian Jarvis, Diane J. Findlay, Ian Blackman, Steve Routman, Susan Blommaert, Amelia McClain, James Colby, Charlotte Booker, Mike Houston, Sam Haft, F. Murray Abraham, Jason Shelton, Frank Ridley, John Ahlin, Jake Ryan, Declan Bennett, Erik Hayden, Daniel Everidge, Jeff Takacs, Nancy Blake, Stephen Payne, Roberto Lopez, Ben Pike, Genevieve Adams, Paul Rocco Amato, Ricardo Bailey, Logan Bennett, David Boston, Jonny Brennan, Kristoffe Brodeur, Caitlin Brodnick, Joel Brody, Laura Butler, Stan Carp, Jason Cicardo, Jason Daunno, Nick Diamantis, Jared Evan, Melanie Hearn, Danny Hoch, Rosemary Howard, George Katt, Samantha Kelly, Phillip X Levine, Lerubi Lopez, Ellery McKinney, Antonio E. Moreno, Marcus Mumford, Etienne Navarre, Tara Steinberg, Matt Strickland, Bill Weeden, Steven Weisz, Brittany White.