Tuesday, March 5, 2024

Does ‘Dune: Part Two’ Live Up to the Hype?


Um. Yeah. Pretty much.

Much is being said about Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two, the latter half of his epic adaptation of Frank Herbert’s Dune, which began in 2021. The performances! The scale! The popcorn bucket! Like sand in the Arrakis desert, excitement around the Dune saga is everywhere … and rightfully so!

But I’ll come right out and say it: I was never a Dune fan. The original, MASSIVE book felt impenetrable to me and there wasn’t a lot drawing me to the David Lynch Dune earlier in life, what with its cat milking and battle pugs. Of course, as the first film neared release, I scooped up a copy of the book in the summer of 2021 to ride the hype train like a Fremen atop a sandworm.  I made it about 40 pages in. I was lost. It sat on my nightstand for two years.

I have since seen Dune: Part 1 at least three times, and I enjoy it overall! Villeneuve transformed a tome that was for half a century considered to be unfilmable into a beautiful and raw piece of cinema. Sure, it’s a tad slow and heavy on the worldbuilding. And sure, the movie ends just when the story starts to get really good. But that first installment proved to general audiences – and perhaps most importantly, to Warner Bros. Discovery – that Dune was a blockbuster franchise. Now, nearly three years later, we’ve got our conclusion. Or, at least, the middle chapter of a Dune trilogy given how it ends.

Picking up right where the first film left off, we catch up with Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) and his mother, Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), embedded with Arrakis’ native Fremen, a group that includes the faithful Stilgar (Javier Bardem) and the skeptical Chani (Zendaya). After the Atreides family was decimated by the nefarious Harkonnens in the first film, Paul seeks seek to strike back against the cruel and revolting Baron Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgård), whose nephews Glossu Rabban (Dave Bautista) and Feyd-Rautha (Austin Butler) are hardly lacking in cruelty of their own. Meanwhile, the calculating Emperor Shaddam IV (Christopher Walken) and his daughter, Princess Irulan (Florence Pugh), look on with great interest as the conflict over Arrakis’ spice – one of the most powerful substances in the universe – continues to escalate. Perhaps that’s all thanks to their own machinations. But you didn’t hear that from them.

Of course, there is much knife fighting, worm riding, and Ornithoptering throughout the film’s 2 hours and 46-minute running time, but what truly propels this film is the performances. From Chalamet’s simmering malevolence to Butler’s unhinged menace to Skarsgård’s literal and figurative sliminess, everyone is at the top of their game. Zendaya in particular elevates Chani as the story takes her character on a journey that’s slightly different from the Chani of the book, and I can’t wait to see where she goes next.

And speaking of where Dune goes next, this is where media literacy comes in or, perhaps, our collective lack of it. It’s startling to see how many people on social media have completely misinterpreted Paul’s messianic ascent, viewing him as a heroic conqueror by the end of the film despite Villeneuve’s dedication to Herbert’s original intent. If they don’t get why the end of this movie means very bad things for the universe, they’ll understand completely when Villeneuve’s Dune: Messiah rolls around … I hope.

Dune: Part Two is already being considered one of the greatest genre sequels of all time – up there with The Dark Knight, Aliens and Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. I’m not sure I agree just yet, but I will say that Dune: Part Two is one of the best films I’ve seen lately, and it deserves to be seen on the biggest screen possible. As for the popcorn buckets, hey, I won’t judge.  Don’t be afraid to buy one. As they say, “Fear is the mind-killer.” 


Thursday, February 15, 2024

SNIKT! ‘X-Men ‘97’ Trailer Hints at Suitably Epic Return for Classic Cartoon

 


Wait … did Gambit just charge up Wolverine’s CLAWS?

Wait … is Jean Grey PREGNANT?

Wait … did that Daily Bugle headline mention the HELLFIRE GALA?

Wait … is Magneto now in charge of the X-MEN?!

These were the questions I asked myself when I first laid eyes on the debut trailer for Marvel Animation’s X-Men ’97, arriving on Disney+ March 20. The new series picks up where the original 1990s X-Men cartoon – arguably one of the best children’s animated series of all time – left off nearly three decades ago. With Professor Xavier gone, Cyclops assumes leadership of the team, which is tasked with continuing his fight for mutant equality … while also scrapping with some giant purple-and-pink robots while they’re at it.

The animation is updated, the character designs are tweaked, some of the voices have changed and the animation has a more modern and almost anime style, but this trailer affirms my hope that the new series will be more than worth the wait based on the, well, waits I listed above. 

Speaking of the trailer, watch it below, bub!

Wednesday, February 14, 2024

Marvel Studios Reveals ‘Fantastic Four’ Cast, Release Date

 


Marvel loves us. Clearly.

Just days after the Deadpool & Wolverine trailer sent fans into a foaming frenzy, Marvel Studios celebrated Valentine’s Day with a big, sloppy kiss to fans in the form of a Fantastic Four movie cast reveal.

Following months of speculation, Marvel finally confirmed who will be playing Marvel’s First Family in the anticipated film.

·        Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian, The Last of Us) – Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic

·        Vanessa Kirby (Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, Napoleon) – Sue Storm/The Invisible Woman

·        Ebon Moss-Bachrach (The Bear, Andor) – Ben Grimm/The Thing

·        Joseph Quinn (Stranger Things) – Johnny Storm/The Human Torch

I have no notes. There’s a lot riding on this film – aside from the X-Men, this is the team that we’ve all been waiting for to make its debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That being said, we haven’t really gotten a great or arguably a good Fantastic Four film yet, so the pressure is on for this one to deliver. But based on the cast, we’re off to a tremendous, nay, a FANTASTIC start.

Marvel Studios also revealed the Fantastic Four release date: July 25, 2025.