Dune: Part Two (2024)

Wow, when was the last time a new movie had this much up-front popularity? Going by both IMDb and general social circles, I'd say 2003, with The Return of the King. Of course, it's been released only a week in the states, so I don't assume lasting momentum. But between its initial reception and my appreciation of the first part, I saw fit to check it out almost ASAP.

In keeping with where we left off, young adult Duke Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) now walks among the desert-dwelling Fremen, with his clan's killers initially uncertain whether Paul still lives. He and the Fremen are warring to stop House Harkonnen from taking over spice operations on Planet Arrakis. His mom, Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), and Fremen leader Stilgar (Javier Bardem) look forward to Paul awakening as the prophesied messianic Kwisatz Haderach, but most Fremen don't believe it. And Paul hopes to avoid it, because his own spice-induced visions appear to foretell consequent mass devastation more than salvation.

Dune (2021)

When I selected this as my first viewing on a long plane ride, I knew it was pretty popular, but I had no idea it would be nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. That's impressive considering past attempts to do justice to the Frank Herbert novel. And having read the book myself, I was aware of features that could make a screen adaptation difficult.

When humans have an intergalactic empire, desert planet Arrakis becomes noted for three things: an invaluable spice, giant sandworms, and primitive but dangerous locals called Fremen. Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet), son of Duke Leto (Oscar Isaac) and Bene Gesserit religious acolyte Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), can't help but get caught up in the rampant jockeying for power among imperial elites. It becomes increasingly evident that his skills and temperament are key to forming a Fremen alliance against the forces of Baron Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgård), who will stop at nothing to control spice traffic. Paul even shows signs of being the superpowered messiah long awaited by the Bene Gesserit, called the Kwisatz Haderach, tho he doesn't exactly see eye to eye with them.

Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

My past experience of Blade Runner (1982) consisted of watching the Director's Cut with my dad in 2003 and the Final Cut at AFI in 2015, the latter serving only to enhance my already great appreciation. I'd also read the loose literary basis, Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, in between, helping me understand a couple aspects that hadn't gotten much explanation on screen. Thus Dad and I independently got the idea to see the sequel in a theater before long. I can't speak for his optimism, but mine was cautious, noting that (1) long waits usually mean big differences, (2) people were saying nine years ago that Harrison Ford was getting too old to reprise his action roles, (3) Ridley Scott ceded the director's chair to Denis Villeneuve, and (4) Rutger Hauer's Roy Batty couldn't appear in it.

Thirty years after the events of BR, uncannily humanoid organic robots, called "replicants," have become common and mostly legal on Earth, albeit subject to rampant bigotry. Older models, which don't all have the limited lifespan from BR are less cooperative as slaves and thus marked for death at the hands of special forces inexplicably called "blade runners," who are at least typically replicants themselves. LAPD Officer KD6-3.7 (Ryan Gosling), usually going by "K," shows no desire to rebel -- until after the site of one of his hits reveals the fossils of a once-pregnant replicant. Since news of this possibility interferes with the public narrative that replicants are too distinct for human rights, K's boss (Robin Wright) orders him to hunt down and kill the now-adult child. His subsequent detective work continues to blow fuses in his head, metaphorically speaking; and the closer he gets, the more that certain parties try to remove him from the picture....

Arrival (2016)

My poor dad wasn't feeling well enough to come watch this with me. I suppose I could've waited another week for him, but I've been getting antsy to see the most talked-about Academy Award nominees and hadn't given much thought to Lion yet. In retrospect, La La Land, which he's already seen, would've been a better choice, but I keep feeling reluctant: Ryan Gosling hasn't been in many movies I like, and Damien Chazelle is best known for something that disturbs me. Had I noticed that Arrival was directed by the ever-disturbing Denis Villeneuve, the latter reason wouldn't have worked for me.

Giant alien ships land at twelve seemingly random points far apart on Earth. U.S. Army Col. Weber (Forest Whitaker) invites renowned language professor Louise Banks (Amy Adams) to translate messages from the two known aliens at the U.S. landing site. Unable to work remotely, she comes to meet them face to...face?...and slowly learn their reason for visiting -- hopefully before someone in power jumps to the wrong conclusion. Her biggest help in the endeavor is Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner), who's more partial to science than language, but that doesn't stop the obvious signs of a budding romance.

Prisoners (2013)

At one time, I would have refused to see this. It seemed to me that revenge flicks were largely just an excuse to have a "hero" behaving more nastily than usual. But I have discovered my taste for them, whether we're supposed to root for the protagonist or recognize that he's in the wrong. In this case, I knew it was bigger on drama than action.

Keller Dover (Hugh Jackman) and Frank Birch (Terrence Howard) are friends through their first-grade daughters -- who go missing at the same time. Laconic, low-IQ Alex Jones (Paul Dano) is soon apprehended as a suspected kidnapper, but the evidence is too circumstantial to hold him for long; and despite the request of Detective Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal), the chief lets him go totally free. Having slightly more evidence to convince him, however inadmissible in court, Keller kidnaps Alex and enlists Frank's reluctant help in trying to torture their daughters' whereabouts out of him, keeping this secret from their respective wives, Grace (Maria Bello) and Nancy (Viola Davis). Meanwhile, Loki continues to look for the girls and Alex -- sometimes following Keller.

Incendies (2010)

Ever watch a movie simply because it's on IMDb' top 250? I have many times, with mixed results. In all likelihood, I would not have watched this Denis Villeneuve piece otherwise, except maybe if a group invited me. I've grown wary (and weary) of dramas set in the modern Middle East.

The film, like the Wajdi Mouawad play on which it's based, actually never clarifies where in the Middle East it is. Shooting took place in Jordan, but the warring between Muslims and Christians, combined with the timeline, suggests Mouawad's homeland of Lebanon. At any rate, the first scene is clearly in Canada, where Christian immigrant Nawal has just died and her adult twin children, whose names have been assimilated to Jeanne and Simon, are surprised at her last wishes: They must deliver letters to their biological father, whom they'd heard had died before they were born; and their half-brother, whom they never heard of. Simon is inclined to dismiss his mother as crazy -- she did go catatonic for a while -- but Jeanne drags him into a fairly dangerous search in the old country, with help from the notary.