Joey Magidson
Welcome back to my Home Movies! Today, we have Dune: Part Two coming home to blow people away yet again. It’s easily the top pick this week, though there are other worthy options like One Life to consider. Read on for more…
Dune: Part Two
It’s no secret that I was skeptical about Dune. Of course, I was wrong, so I went into Dune: Part Two open minded, though not quite as pumped as most. So, of course I was blown away again, proving that Denis Villeneuve really is at his best with this franchise. I spoke to production designer Patrice Vermette here about bringing Villeneuve’s vision to life. In my rave review here, I had the following to say:
What a difference a few years makes. I went into Dune (reviewed out of TIFF here) with trepidation, wondering if this would just be another grandly ambitious misfire. I walked out of that festival screening turned around on the property and actually excited to see what was next. At the same time, I did have a bit of worry in the back of my mind about the second part. Could it maintain momentum and work as well as the first one? Or, would having a little over five hours to tell Frank Herbert‘s book in total lead to bloat and perhaps even too much of a good thing? Well, I’m here to report that Dune: Part Two is none of those things. Filmmaker Denis Villeneuve has managed to improve on every aspect of Dune, which is saying something. The first part was just a great setup for a grand science fiction tale that’s also Villeneuve’s epic war film. I once again stand corrected, as my fears and worries were for nothing.
Dune: Part Two manages to complete the novel’s story while raising the stakes in all regards. The action is bigger, the scale is incredible, and the actual ideas of the novel, as well as the complicated themes of religious fanaticism, come across with crystal clarity. Even if I won’t go quite as far as to call this The Empire Strikes Back for our time, those who are saying it are not completely speaking in hyperbole.
Also Available This Week
The American Society of Magical Negroes
Dune: 2-Film Collection (4K)
Imaginary
Magic Mike (4K)
Peeping Tom
From The Criterion Collection: “Having brought British cinema into exalted realms of fantasy and imagination, Michael Powell took a dark detour into obsession, voyeurism, and violence with this groundbreaking metacinematic investigation into the mechanics of fear. Armed with his killer camera, photographer and filmmaker Mark Lewis (Carl Boehm) unleashes the traumas of his childhood by murdering women and recording their deaths—until he falls for his downstairs neighbor, and finds himself struggling against his dark compulsions. Received with revulsion upon its release only to be reclaimed as a masterpiece, the endlessly analyzed, still-shocking Peeping Tom dares viewers to confront their own relationship to the violence on-screen.”
Stay tuned for more next week…
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