Dune Part Two

Okay. I can dig it.

Obviously this isn't a case of is the sequel better because well it's just the second half of a movie, but a very good one regardless. The plot is a bit more streamlined in terms of synopsis with Paul and the Fremen waging guerilla warfare against the Harkonnens and pretty soon the Emperor himself, but the film does not rush let me tell you. Pushing 3 hours with credits it takes it's time in divulging all these plot pieces on the board, from expanding on the Harkonnens with a new adversary Feyd-Rautha, Paul's mom Jessica is pretty much starting a cult and raising the legend of the Kwisatz Haderach, the machinations of the Empire, and the romance between Paul and Chani. You know for a movie that was marketed heavily on the romance angle, even TV spots didn't excise it, it's about as rushed and did just as much for me like in the Lynch movie which was....not at all. Totally not bashing Timothèe or Zendaya, frankly the acting across the board is good yet nothing to write home about, but man the romance was just not built for me. I would be remiss not to shoutout Christopher Walken as the Emperor, which is quite possibly the strangest casting I've run across. But then again, Sting. Also Austin Butler, man have you got range cause you honestly weirded the shit outta me and beautifully so! Just to be upfront and honest I truthfully feel there is more subtitled dialogue than actual english dialogue here, which first and foremost round of applause for these actors to learn this dialect and be able to emote well on top of that and second that's not a turn off for me but some folks can't do subtitles so I get it. The film certainly hasn't lost a bit of it's cinematic edge, I dare say it even doubles down on it making it even bigger and grander than the first! Dune will probably never look better, at least in my lifetime. However I think people's biggest issue with the film will be the ending, yet once again I actually didn't mind it. It truthfully made me want to pick up Dune Messiah and I haven't even read the first damn book, and even if they didn't adapt any of the future novels I wouldn't give a rat's ass that's how open I am now to dive into these books. Because you have to remember this isn't just one novel this is a series so they absolutely can tease a continuation should they feel so inclined. I liked it just fine, more than willing to watch the full cut of the movie in the future and honestly rewatch the Lynch version again, not for everybody but I can recommend it if for nothing else than visual appeal. I give it 3 stars, 7.5/10 with room to grow in the future. And of course we'll wrap up this week tomorrow with a look at a doomed but fantastical sounding Dune iteration.

Dune (2021)

I think it might have had the same impact on me as the Lynch version.

That's not even a slam against this movie, but I think it's because they're splitting it rightfully so into two movies, it feels hard to talk about it when you haven't truly seen the whole thing. I'm fairly certain when I did Deathly Hallows I treated it as one cohesive whole and not two seperate entities, so I feel this review is more a formality until I can experience the whole thing. It's real good though. This was a dream project for Denis to direct and you feel that passion and love in every frame, he wants to make this as good as possible while not holding the audiences hand very much like Blade Runner 2049, he just goes there consequences be damned. And I'm fairly certain I was the most informed person in that theater about the universe of Dune, so I probably got more out of it than most other people did. The story is just the same as the Lynch version with deviations throughout and all of it worked well. Once again I thought the cast was really damn good with obvious love going to Oscar and Jason, but I felt Timothee Chalamet was greatly cast for Paul. Oscar was awesome and handsome as ever, Jason got to kick ass and hold the honor of being Duncan Idaho (which is either the most silly or most amazing sci-fi name ever), Rebecca Ferguson and Zendaya didn't do that much for me but still played it real well, even Josh Brolin was a strong presence for a relatively small role. I don't know why but as I was watching Stellan Skarsgard play the Baron all I could think of was, "You know who would fit this role? Marlon Brando later on in his career." Why? I...don't know. The visuals as expected were a feast to the eyes, I mean Denis just knows how to make sweet love to your eyeballs with his camera, the landscapes, color grading, movement, just overall excellent cinematography. Hell when you first see the great Shai-Halud rise from the sands, it genuinely made my jaw drop, like no horeshit Jack real talk here, it really got me despite seeing it in the trailer. It just goes to show what a sound system and giant screen can achieve, and you bet your ass I was sitting (like I always do) dead center of the screen as close as I can without having to break my neck. It wasn't this grand, magnificent, masterpiece of cinema but I very much hope it succeeds at the box office to warrant the second part. I very much liked it, and even if it is the only Dune book to be adapted I will be okay with that. 4 stars, solid 8/10, that's all folks! See you next week.

Space Jam A New Legacy

Alright, that was interesting.

I must admit I have a strange kind of admiration for this movie, it goes big and it goes wild and fully commits to the scenes it is doing despite the absurdity of the scenario. Okay so let me relay this as coherently as possible, LeBron James and his son get digitized Tron style into the WB server where all the properties of the film studio reside and what a shock a basketball game with a wager occurs leading to basically the same movie. If you've seen Space Jam you've seen a good portion of this movie, but what I liked so much about it is like I said the commitment to their craft. The Looney Tunes are really good, it still has those moments of classic comedy and the animation style both 2D and 3D looks good, the voice cast is spot on, I had a great time when the movie went to that 2D animation. It fits the Looney Tunes perfectly and a good chunk of the movie is like that, and while it did give me momentary whiplash going from CG everything to classic drawings I appreciated that they did that. Sure they 3D'd the characters but only at the end, but screw it I saw traditional animation in a feature film in 2021. Awesome. The film goes for the dramatic family moments, and while they did fall flat, never once was it played for a laugh or or felt like padding. The movie is very easy to read and predict yet truthfully it didn't tamper with my entertainment. And boy howdy did I have a time and a half catching all the background characters at the climax. Hannah-Barbera classics, Batman characters ranging from the 60s to Burton to Schumacher, The Iron Giant, the friggin' droogs from A Clockwork Orange, it's a wild trip. And yeahhh, this really was kind of a whoring out movie for WB. I'm sorry man, it's just so hard not to say because it's true. Now did I have a bit of fun with it and still appreciate some of the jokes they did? Absolutely. Was there stuff I despised? Tiny bit. But the big question is do I like it better than Space Jam? Well if you read my review for that, the answer of course is yes. Merit to merit, A New Legacy brought so much to the table and I enjoyed a great deal of it despite it's obvious flaws. The soundtrack was garbage though, so fair dues to the first movie. 3 stars, 7/10, I kinda expected it to be garbage but it turned out okay so I will take this minor victory and we shall see what next week has in store for us.

Spider-Man: Homecoming

Guys this was the pickup that I needed.

This was like having a delicious meal after swirling bleach in my mouth. Guardians 2 was a pile of ass. But we have better things to talk about! Spider-Man Homecoming is a mighty fine movie in the series, may possibly be the 2nd or 3rd best Marvel movie I've seen. Tom Holland probably stole a lot of people's hearts in Civil War and seeing him in his own solo movie is every bit wonderful as you think it is, I know a lot of people hold Tobey Maguire near and dear to their hearts and he ain't bad but I would say Tom is my favorite. His energy, line delivery, and personality is incredibly spot on and it's gonna be great seeing him again. I like the story, it's a very sort of back to basics film where the stakes aren't incredibly high and it's more about the hero's arc than the conflict showcased in the film with teenage Peter Parker after being recruited by Tony in Civil War is trying to prove his mettle to be a part of the Avenger's while still doing his everyday teenage things. It's very simple but it works very well. Finally some good f***ing villain material, and who else gets that honor except Michael Keaton? No joke I was considering watching this movie in theaters solely because of Michael Keaton being in it, and he did not disappoint! I find it cool that they brought a more crazy villain like Vulture and gave it a somewhat believable retooling, I think the costume design is great and his motivation mainly being to provide for his family by selling experimental weapons is an interesting one. Granted I could severly argue how anybody knows how to make such advanced tech, but whatever I'm just happy to see him in the movie. I find it kind of odd though how they handled Spider-Man, did he get bitten by a radioactive spider or not? Cause he's super strong, can take hits that would smash people's bones into jelly, can do really impressive acrobatic movements, but he doesn't have the spidey sense or the organic web. Make up your mind movie, you can't have it both ways! You can't have him doing these impossible feats but still have him be a normal kid who makes the webshooters. It doesn't make a lick of sense! Those were really the two biggest problems I had with the movie, was the tech. Yes, Peter's best friend is kind of annoying but he genuinely got me to laugh a few times so I'll give you points for making him feel like an actual teenage friend. Yes, it follows a few too many high school movie tropes and cliches. Yes the love interest was meaningless, but I liked Michelle better or as I affectionately called her in the movie Best Girl, she's just a cool kid who didn't spout any bullshit and was way more interesting. We better get more of her. It's certainly one of the more funny movies but when the action needs to hit they do a good job, still doing a lot of things for real and not always having a CG Spidey jumping around. And was I the only one who was kinda uncomfortable with how they did Aunt May? Now do not get me wrong, I do not think Aunt May always has to be this silver haired elderly lady, and Marisa Tomei really and truly was an emotional highlight of the film but when I first heard and only heard about her it all boiled down to, "This chick is hawt, MILF alert!" and I just figured that's the internet being it's usual pervy self but no! Everybody is hitting on May and I'm just like, Jesus H. Christ people Marisa Tomei is undoubtedly a very beautiful lady but can you calm your raging erections for five lousy minutes? It just bothered me. But honestly, I very much enjoyed the film. There was one point where I kinda screamed, partly due to shock and partly due to me being a fanboy, if you know the twist scene you know what I'm talking about. I had no idea it was going to happen and I flipped. I can't even recall the last movie that had that effect on me, this really did put me in a good mood and I friggin' needed it. Bad. I'm not fully sure if Tom is completely onboard over at Disney, because I felt it was such a shitty massive c*** move from Sony to put this guy through so much when he genuinely wanted to keep doing this role, so I really hope all is well and he can keep doing what he loves to do, that should be a given right to any actor. But this was a fun, very entertaining movie. 3 stars from me, 7.5/10! And tomorrow, I guess I get Cate Blanchette being a total goddess (as always) and more Hulk. Groovy.