Dune: Part Two (2024)

Almost ridiculously epic and far too long, this second part of the Frank Herbert sci-fi adaptation is again directed by Denis Villeneuve.

Paul Atreides unites with the Fremen people of Arrakis to wage war on House Harkonnen. 

There are too many shots of Zendaya scowling at Timothée Chalamet.

It’s visually stunning but also quite ponderous in places.

Dune: Part One (2021)

Denis Villeneuve’s remake of the Frank Herbert novel previously filmed by David Lynch. It’s certainly more coherent than the Lynch version, but some of the wild imaginative magic of that film has been lost. Instead, everything looks great, and is incredibly epic, but it comes across as rather ponderous. Every word or sentence uttered seems intended to carry great gravitas, and sometimes you wish there was a little more life in the drama. That said, the spectacle is remarkable and the vast planetscapes are undeniably impressive.

Timothée Chalamet seems oddly weedy as Paul Atreides, but that’s presumably the point. He’s young and naive but carrying the potential of greatness, and he grows in stature as the film progresses. Better is Rebecca Ferguson as his mother and Oscar Isaacson as his father. Josh Brolin and Charlotte Rampling have small, but important parts, but seem somewhat underused. 

The second part will be released in 2024.

Lady Bird (2017)

Greta Gerwig’s sweet and compassionate drama about a teenage girl’s coming of age in Sacramento, California. 

Saoirse Ronan plays Christine, a.k.a. Lady Bird, who has a complicated relationship with her mother (Laurie Metcalf) and indeed with herself. It’s beautifully observed, with moments of comedy and pathos. I was reminded of Woody Allen at his best. 

Beanie Feldstein is especially likeable as Lady Bird’s best friend Julie. 

The mother/daughter topic somehow recalls the Susan Sarandon/Natalie Portman pair-up in Anywhere but Here (1999), although this is a more nuanced and subtle treatment of that subject matter.