Movie Reviews

Dune: Part One

  • Title: Dune (2021)
  • IMDb: link

More coherent, but less complete, than David Lynch‘s bizarre 1984 film, director Denis Villeneuve‘s adaptation of the first half of Frank Herbert’s Dune is rich and elaborate storytelling. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still Dune, meaning the story is still complex and bizarre, but, despite only giving us half the story, offers a more satisfying movie experience.

Breaking the film into two halves allows this Dune to spend more time with character, worldbuilding, and setting the stage for a hero’s emergence which won’t fully be explored until the next movie. Gone are the emperor, who is referred to but never seen, the odd space traveling creatures of Lynch’s film, the sound-based weapons which will play such a pivotal role in the second-half of the story, and the narration of the emperor’s daughter which helped explain the story and the large gaps necessary for Lynch to fit the entire tale into a single film.

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Venom: Let There Be Carnage

  • Title: Venom: Let There Be Carnage
  • IMDb: link

I wasn’t the biggest fan of 2018’s Venom which reimagined the comic book villain as a standalone horror flick hero. The new sequel, Venom: Let There Be Carnage has many of the first film’s issues, but when it embraces its craziness it can, at times, be fun. Sadly, as with the first film, one of the big failings of the sequel is the writing which takes forever to get the plot moving and, for some inexplicable reason, even abandons its most successful aspect of the series by separating Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) and the symbiote for an extended period this time around.

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No Time to Die

  • Title: No Time to Die
  • IMDb: link

Daniel Craig‘s tenure as British Secret Agent James Bond comes to an end as the troubled No Time to Die (first delayed by a director swap then by COVID) finally makes it into theaters. More than Craig’s last film, the four writers credited to the film set out to make it Bond’s last film creating a scenario where Craig both begins (Casino Royale) and ends Bond’s legacy. For those agree that Craig is the definitive Bond, the choice may be easier to swallow than those of us who believe, at best, he ranks third or fourth in a franchise spanning nearly 60 years.

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Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

  • Title: Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
  • IMDb: link

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings movie reviewWith Marvel rebuilding its Cinematic Universe following Avengers: Endgame, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings proves to be an unexpected delight (especially for a studio who steadfastly refused to create a female-driven movie for a decade). We’re given an Asian cast and director (Destin Daniel Cretton), and a focus in a new direction. Based on the lesser-known character Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings isn’t an origin story nor does it feel forcibly tied down to the rest of the MCU in any way. Instead, the film feels like a breath of fresh air where anything is possible.

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The Protégé

  • Title: The Protégé
  • IMDb: link

The Protégé movie reviewFor having a single writer and no directorial or production upheaval, The Protégé is one hell of a schizophrenic film. I don’t know if director Martin Campbell and screenwriter Richard Wenk had conflicting takes on what the film should be or if The Protégé is simply an example of the final result being far less than the sum of its parts. The action-thriller stars Maggie Q as a bookshop owner/assassin saved as a child from violence in Vietnam by a professional killer (Samuel L. Jackson) who raised and trained her to be his, wait for it, protégé.

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