Dune

 Year of Release:  2021

Director:  Denis Villeneuve

Screenplay:  Jon Spaihts, Denis Villeneuve and Eric Roth, based on the novel Dune by Frank Herbert

Starring:  Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, Zendaya, Chang Chen, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Charlotte Rampling, Jason Momoa, Javier Bardem

Running Time:  156 minutes

Genre:  Science-fiction

In the far future, the most valuable substance in the universe is the "Spice" which makes interstellar travel possible.  The only place where Spice can be found is on the desert planet Arrakis (nicknamed "Dune").  for the past 80 years, the brutal House Harkonnen have held the monopoly on Spice mining on Arrakis.  The Emperor Shaddam IV transfers the rights to Arrakis to the Harkonnen's arch-rivals, the noble House Atreides.  Despite his suspicions, Duke Leto Atreides (Isaac) accepts the assignment.  Meanwhile, his son Paul (Chalamet) has been having strange, mystical dreams of Arrakis, and is on his way to his own destiny.

Franks Herbert's classic 1965 science-fiction novel Dune has baffled and stymied many a filmmaker to the extent that it has been considered "unfilmable".  Cult Chilean director Alejandro Jodorowsky planned an adaptation starring Salvador Dalí, Orson Welles, Gloria Swanson and Mick Jagger, with production design by H. R. Giger and comics artist Jean Girard (Moebius), and music by Pink Floyd, was aborted due to the planned 14 hour running time and rapidly ballooning budget.  Ridley Scott planned an adaptation, but abandoned it in favour of Blade Runner (1982).  David Lynch finally brought the novel to the screen with Dune (1984), which has had what politely could be termed a mixed reception from critics and fans, although personally I enjoyed it.  The Sci-Fi channel made a three part miniseries based on the book in 2000.    The problem for filmmakers for the book is that it is long, complex and sprawling with a complicated backstory, that is portrayed in the book through footnotes and appendices, but is difficult to portray on screen.  The first thing to be aware of with Denis Villeneuve's film is that it is properly titled Dune: Part One, and it only adapts the first half of the novel, which means that it just stops with no conclusion,  whether or not we get a Part Two depends (at the time of this writing) as to how well this does commercially. This is really a kind of mainstream art film.  It looks beautiful, with Arrakis ranging from bleached vistas, to red-gold deserts, riddled with deadly sandworms, mouths bristling with delicate, filament-like teeth; the chilly grey, Northern landscapes of the Atreides' homeward of Caladan, and the shadowy world of Geidi Prime, home of the Harkonnens, lit boy shafts of light slicing through the gloom.  Denis Villeneuve is a master of beautiful science-fiction, sometimes focussing on visual splendour at the expense of character.  The film creates this richly detailed imaginative universe, with some spectacular action scenes.  This also has some great performances, with Timothée Chalamet in particular impressive as Paul moving from sulky teen to courageous warrior, and Rebecca Ferguson as Paul's mother, Lady Jessica, a member of the mystical Bene Gesserit order, who breaks the most sacred rules of her order for love.  As it stands, this is probably the best possible adaptation of Herbert's prose in to film, if the second part gets made, it could be one of the highpoint of science-fiction in cinema.   

Rebecca Ferguson, Zendaya, Javier Bardem and Timothée Chalamet in Dune

Avengers: Endgame

Year of Release:  2019
Directors: Anthony Russo and Joe Russo
Screenplay:  Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, based on the comic book The Avengers created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Starring:  Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johnasson, Jeremy Renner, Don Cheadle, Paul Rudd, Brie Larson, Karen Gillan, Danai Gurai, Bradley Cooper, Josh Brolin
Running Time:  181 minutes
Genre: Science-fiction, action, superhero

This film is the 22nd entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film series, which began with Iron Man (2008) and is pretty much the culmination of the whole series, and more directly concludes the story that began in Avengers: Infinity War (2018).  Note:  In reviewing this there will be spoilers for Infinity War, so consider yourself warned.  I would also definitely advise that you see Infinity War before you see this.

Alien superbeing Thanos (Brolin) has wiped out half of all life in the universe.  When he is confronted by the surviving Avengers, Thanos reveals that he has destroyed the Infinity Stones, which were key to the genocide, and the only things that could undo what he had done.  Five years later, Scott Lang, aka Ant-Man, (Rudd) escapes after being trapped in the Quantum Realm for five years.  He believes that the Quantum Realm could be used to travel in time.  The Avengers decide to travel to various points in time and space and retrieve the Infinity Stones, before Thanos can get his massive purple paws on them.

This is a truly epic film, epic in scale and in length, with a large cast of characters, that takes in almost all of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  It's funny, exciting, spectacular and surprisingly emotional.  It's a fitting conclusion to this incredible eleven year project.  It's easy to dismiss and be pretty cynical about the Marvel films, due to their immense popularity, as well as how many of them there have been, but it is an amazing achievement and one of the few really successful shared universes in cinema, tying in so many disparate characters and storylines.  This film manages to balance a huge cast, and multiple plotlines, working in numerous fan-pleasing references.  For the most part it works well, even if the final battle feels a little confusing due to the sheer number of characters in play.  The performances are good, with each of the main cast having their time to shine, and Josh Brolin managing to find depths to Thanos beneath the prosthetics and CGI.   If you have never seen any of the Marvel films before, this is not the one to start with, and, of course, if your a fan already you wont need me to recommend it to you.

The Avengers assemble for the Endgame       

          

Sicario

Year of Release:  2015
Director:  Denis Villeneuve
Screenplay:  Taylor Sheridan
Starring:  Emily Blunt, Benicio del Toro, Josh Brolin, Daniel Kaluuya, Victor Garber
Running Time:  121 minutes
Genre:  crime, drama, action, thriller

This is a powerful crime thriller.  Following a raid on a suspected Mexican drug cartel's safehouse, young FBI agent Kate Marcer (Blunt) is recommended for a task force led by CIA agent Matt Graver (Brolin) and involving the ruthless and mysterious Alejandro (del Toro).  The task force's mission is to bring down the powerful cartel which owned the safehouse.  However, as the operation progresses, Kate becomes increasingly concerned about the task force's brutal tactics, and dubious morality.

There has been no shortage of gritty thrillers about drugs and guns on the Mexican-American border, but this is certainly one of the better ones.  It's a complex story that deals with the moral questions of the "War on Drugs", and how it has the potential to corrupt the very people whose job it is to protect, and the lines between the good guys and the bad guys are completely blurred here.  The title, "sicario", is Mexican for "hitman", and that applies both to the cartels and the task force assigned to bring them down.  

In the lead role Emily Blunt has too little to do, initially she is the audience surrogate, as the new person on the team she is there to get the situation and the mission explained to her/us.  However, she becomes the heart of the film.  She provides the film's humanity and moral compass, along with Daniel Kaluuya as Kate's protective partner and friend.  Benicio del Toro shines as the quietly terrifying Alejandro who is mostly quietly in the background until he snaps into action in truly shocking ways.

The pacing flags at times, and the story is a little shapeless, but this is well above the typical crime thriller and provides much food for thought.  The action scenes are well handled  and exciting.  It's a fascinating, and at times gripping thriller, and by the end it is devastating.

      Emily Blunt in Sicario

True Grit

Year: 2010
Director: Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
Screenplay: Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, based on the novel True Grit by Charles Portis
Starring: Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, Hailee Steinfeld, Barry Pepper, Domhnall Gleeson
Running Time: 110 minutes
Genre: Western, adventure

Summary: Arkansas, 1878: While collecting the body of her murdered father and settling his business affairs, fourteen year old Mattie Ross (Steinfeld) decides to hire a US Marshall to track down her father's killer, a hired hand named Tom Chaney (Brolin). Searching for a man with "true grit" Mattie decides to hire Rueben "Rooster" Cogburn (Bridges), an alcoholic who nevertheless has a reputation of being the toughest and most ruthless Marshall around. Eventually Cogburn reluctantly agrees to be hired by Mattie, however he is much less agreeable to her condition that she accompany him on the trail. However, she follows Cogburn anyway, and discovers that he has formed an uneasy partnership with a Texas Ranger, LaBoeuf (Damon), who is also on the hunt for Chaney, who is wanted in Texas for killing a Senator. The three embark on the dangerous trail through wild hostile terrain on the hunt for Chaney, who has joined up with a gang of violent armed robbers.

Summary: True Grit was previously made into a film in 1969 with John Wayne playing "Rooster" Cogburn (a performance for which Wayne won the only Academy Award of his career) and has since become a staple of Sunday afternoon television.
The new version is certainly more intense and violent than the earlier film, but it also has more heart. It has a witty and intelligent script and makes good use of wintery New Mexico and Texan locations. It also boasts a strong cast with Jeff Bridges perfectly cast as the mean, tough, but fundamentally decent Cogburn, and newcomer Hailee Steinfeld (who was 13 years old at the time of filming) delivering a superb performance as the intelligent and determined Mattie. The movie also boasts a strong soundtrack, primarily consisting of 19th Century Church music which works perfectly with the film's time and location.
Joel and Ethan Coen, who wrote and directed the film, are among the best film-makers working today, and the film has a genuine stately grandeur in both it's powerful visuals and soundtrack, and also delivers in the all-important action sequences with some brilliant shootouts.
This film is a great return to the classic Western, which is a must-see for fans of the genre as well as delivering enough action and humour to appeal to those who ordinarily would never watch a Western.



Hailee Steinfeld and Jeff Bridges hit the trail in True Grit