This is my first attempt at writing a Printhouse article which was inspired by the monthly book reviews of Elisa and Eddie. This will follow roughly the same concept as their reviews, but obviously with movies. I will be looking back over my Kino Night in Kanada reviews and reevaluating them, adding any new thoughts I have about these movies since watching them, or anything else I forgot to add in the reviews. I only watched 4 different movies this month, but since I re-watched Dune: Part Two three times after my first watch, I have had a busy month for movie watching in my estimation. With this in mind, I’m going to start with my retrospective on Dune. If I feel like it, I might change my rating of each film I watched here, but I’ll try to stick to mostly just putting down my thoughts. With that out of the way, on with the reviews!
DUNE (2021):
As I’ve said before, I’m a huge Dunehead, I’ve read the six books written by Frank Herbert and I’m currently re-reading Dune with some of the people from CMC. This movie is perhaps one of my favourites of all time, with my re-watch of it this month marking my eighth viewing. I adore everything about this movie, it’s such a beautiful spectacle of filmmaking, everything feels so grand and operatic and larger than life, I’m always grinning when I watch Dune. I won’t say it’s a perfect movie objectively, but it’s a perfect movie to me. I’ve listened to the soundtrack a few times and I’m always blown away with Hans Zimmer’s score, the cinematography by Greig Fraiser deserves the Oscar it won, and the design by Patrice Vermette works beautifully to help the setting. These three aspects of the film are the strongest, helping show the incredible vision Denis Villeneuve had for the film.
Since I loved the three aforementioned aspects of the film so much, I’ll give an example from each that I really liked. From the OST, the track “Arrakeen” is a great one, playing during the arrival of the Atreides family to Arrakis. It starts of with this strange high drone, and the ever-present drum hits that form part of the core musical theme in the movie, it works to highlight the strange and perilous journey that the main characters have just undertaken. The discomfort is represented by the droning notes, while the drums represent Arrakis itself. For the cinematography, there’s a shot late in the movie, the main characters are on the run from a safe house under attack and one of them has just died. Paul and Jessica run through a very tight corridor cut into the rock itself and the camera takes a point of view perspective from the two characters and executes a dolly zoom of the hallway coming up to meet them. It’s a disorientating shot that shows the panicked, grief-stricken moment for Paul and Jessica, as a friend of theirs’ has just died to save them while they run for their own.
What I thought was notable about the design was how the city of Arrakeen was envisioned. It’s a sandstone brutalism that I thought was quite interesting, the whole city and the governor’s palace look like one big bunker, protecting the human inhabitants from the sun and the elements. It makes the place come off as so alien and unwelcoming from the exterior, but inside the palace, its relatively comfortable, with high airy rooms with lots of natural light from narrow windows.
The editing of the film is something that I have admittedly not paid close attention to in my eight viewings, but it is quite good, it won an Oscar after all. There are a few scenes from the book that I know were filmed but ended up being cut, which is a shame, but is understandable, nonetheless. The dinner scene from the books is so iconic and I wish it could have been included but since it is a chapter with such interiority, with most of the chapter happening in the minds and thoughts of the characters that I understood the difficulty in translating that to the screen. If you want a good dive into an analysis of Dune’s editing, the YouTube video “Why Dune’s Editing Feels Different” by Thomas Flight is a good place to start. My promise to myself now is to watch Dune again, but this time focus on the editing to draw some deeper conclusions from it for myself.
I’m going to now touch on the writing quickly, probably more quickly than it deserves. I confess that I have more of a familiarity with the workings of score, cinematography, and design than I do with writing so my review and analysis of the writing here is likely going to be quite shallow.
The script itself is lifted largely from the book, there are some scenes that are created for the movie, I think that Leto being made into a more loving and caring father who does not seem as concerned for the continuation of his house, giving Paul an ‘out’ so to speak of being Duke is interesting. In the book the duke is a quite likable character, but he is a bit more Machiavellian. Since the movie must work on a shorter time scale, pretty much all characters either get elided to a degree or significantly less attention, which is just a normal part of the adaptational process. Returning to my point on Leto, he still is shown to be a loving father to Paul in the book, but he is more stiff, aristocratic, and formal than is shown in the movie, and I can’t imagine the book Leto saying it is alright if Paul chooses not to become the duke. Since I don’t want this review to be overly long, I’ll only talk about one more character’s writing before moving on.
Jessica in the movie was a bit of a surprise for me, when the movie came out, there were descriptors like “weepy” and “hysterical” being used by people who didn’t like her portrayal in the film. I will admit that I leaned in that direction after my first viewing, but with this review I am taking the whole performance into context here with a quick look at the book. Jessica only seems ‘overly emotional’ to me in scenes that are appropriate for it, and she mostly breaks down when she is alone. During the Gom Jabbar scene, she is crying while reciting the Bene Gesserit ‘Litany against Fear’ (I must not fear, fear is the mind-killer) precisely because she knows that she very well may have killed her own son, her only child, and she rightly fears for his life. In the book, Paul picks up on her fear before he undergoes the Gom Jabbar, and the book tells us that she quickly hides the minute signals that let Paul know her state of mind. In the movie when Jessica is summoned back into the room with Paul and the Reverend Mother, she opens the door quickly and anxiously, but has no visible signs of the emotions she was just experiencing. She breaks down again after the Reverend Mother and the other Bene Gesserit depart from Caladan, thinking she is alone after being scolded by her old mentor for almost getting her son killed and warned of the lethal danger on Arrakis. This is not a scene from the book, but it again shows Jessica’s state of mind, and when she is interrupted by Paul, she composes herself again quite quickly. To me these scenes show Jessica as a human, mother, and a Bene Gesserit with a mastery over herself. There are a few more instances I could give as examples, but this section has gotten so long already.
My final section will be a brief look at the acting, which unlike the last section I promise will be shorter. For range of emotion, Rebecca Ferguson as Jessica did perhaps the heaviest lifting, being the most present parent to Paul, teaching him Bene Gesserit skills that males are not allowed to learn. Oscar Isaac as Duke Leto Atreides plays his role well as both a warm but not totally there father to Paul, as well as a duke and leader. Timothee Chalamet, I think did fine in his role, to me it was serviceable, nothing that jumped out at me. I think every other character that appears in this movie does not get enough screen time (unfortunately) to really give a super deep dive into the performance, I will say the acting done by everyone in the movie is at its baseline, competent. This isn’t to say it was mediocre, but that it was professional and convincing, but not a lot of standout performances that wowed me. That part was largely done by the technical aspects of the film.
With that, I’ll end my review of Dune with a strong recommendation, obviously I think the optimal viewing for this film is in theatres on IMAX, as that is what the movie was shot in. It is such a technically impressive film, a real spectacle, and it has a special place in my heart.
Dune: Part Two (2024)
In my original review of Dune: Part Two I said I was not taken with the movie as much as I was the first. That was only my first impression of it though. Since then, I have seen Dune: Part Two an additional 3 times, twice more in regular theatres and once in IMAX. The movie is much more impressive in IMAX, like Dune, Dune: Part Two is shot in IMAX so the shots are taller, there’s more to shots that are cropped in a regular screening, and the sound quality is more intense in IMAX, I know that the movie’s theatrical run is almost done, but if you can, I highly recommend watching it in IMAX. Both Dune movies are incredible spectacles, and IMAX only enhances that.
One of the main differences between the two movies for me is vibes-based. The first one seems to be a bit weightier and more confident in being a more unconventional and at times slower movie, it feels like the movie is saying ‘we’re doing something new and different, and we know it’s good.” The new Dune is a bit more action-y and a bit lighter then the first, they acknowledged people complaining that the first Dune was “humourless”, criticisms of which I despised. I think that quippy Marvel dialogue had predisposed people to expect that sort of thing in movies, but it was stupid in my eyes.
Once again, I adored the cinematography, Greig Fraser returned in his role as cinematographer, and he knocked it out of the park. I will mention a few points that stood out to me. The opening sequence of the film takes place during a solar eclipse, making for a sumptuous viewing experience. This obviously was the result of many different moving parts, with praise for the editor (Joe Walker returning as) and the visual effects team and the set designers as well. The whole sequence gets cast in an orange glow from the eclipse, the sky itself is an orange colour for most of it. It’s such an interesting way to dive right back into the story from where we left off, with action, spectacle, and a cool factor all perfectly blending. During this sequence there are two shots that I loved. The first one is of the desert dune stretching into the horizon, with the sky and sands the same colour of orange, meeting together in this totally alien image. It reminds me of some of the shots from Dune 1984, and I think it’s an homage to that.
The second sequence I want to bring up is the sequence that introduced Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen (played excellently by Austin Butler). Honestly, the decision to have an extended sequence in the middle of the film to introduce a new and important character can be a gamble, but it paid off big time. It was such a great sequence that by the time it ended I was a little sad. The exterior scenes of Giedi Prime are shot in Infrared, giving everything a washed out, black and white palette. This effect heights the sense of Harkonnen brutality and emotion, making you feel their almost alien qualities.
The third shot that I adored is towards the end of the film, the emperor’s (played by Christopher Walken) ship is arriving on Arrakis, it is a chrome plated circle, massive in scale, and as it flies over Arrakeen it looms over you in the shot and you can see the city reflected on the ship as it passes over. It was one of the most interesting shots I’ve seen. After awe, my first thought was “how did they do that?” Obviously it was through visual effects, but how they achieved a mirror effect on a CGI spaceship was something I was fascinated by.
Also, the sequence of Paul and Feyd-Rautha’s duel was something I loved, there’s no music, minimal cuts, and great choreography, the shot of the two with poised to fight with Arrakis in the background is another winner from this movie. A final point I will mention is how much I enjoyed the way they depicted Paul’s visions in this movie, there’s always these bursts of orange and blue, hinting at the effects of the Spice on Paul, before they show fragmented shots and information, before Paul makes a fateful decision that renders them clear (praise to Joe Walker again for his creative editing here).
The score has a lot of the same tracks and leitmotifs as the first, but with a few new ones. Specifically, a theme for Feyd-Rautha that was great, it combined the some of the Harkonnen theme from the first movie with a new composition that includes these high-pitched and blaring industrial noises. To me it really helped show what kind of character Feyd-Rautha is in this movie. Since there was a lot of carry over from the first Dune in the soundtrack, it was not as impactful in its totality as it was in the first movie. Still, Hans Zimmer created a great soundtrack that was used excellently.
The performances were stepped up a notch in this movie. Rebecca Ferguson still kills as Jessica, but a few of the main characters undergo a radical shift in this film, one of whom is Jessica. Ferguson handles this well, becoming something more sinister and scheming than what she was in the first movie. Timothee Chalamet gets a whole lot more to work with here, and really starts to shine, his character also undergoes a radical shift that he plays well. Here he gets to have more of a range to express Paul. I think that this is one of Chalemet’s best performances, a true achievement on his part.
Zendaya also is a standout here, in the first movie, she has very minimal screentime, and that is wholly made up for it here. She becomes an almost second protagonist, highlighting the contradictions and tensions in the story as Chani in a way she didn’t in the book. These two leads did great work together and separately in the film and I found myself more engaged with her character then I ever was in the book. As I mentioned above, Austin Butler is great as Feyd-Rautha, Paul’s dark mirror. He plays him as this young man who swings between rage and mirth. In a set of movies where the Harkonnens are much more serious and maybe even dull compared to their book counterparts, Butler brings some of that playfulness that one got to see in the book. Despite it being a more disturbed levity on Feyd-Rautha’s part, I loved how half the time he seemed on the verge of laughter, the corner of his mouth twitching up into a half smile.
Javier Bardem’s portrayal of Stilgar here is also more fleshed out, both from the first movie and from the book. He at times serves as a comic relief of sorts, even if Stilgar doesn’t think so himself. When I watched the movie for the second time with Spencer and Nick, Spencer said that he found that the humour slowly faded away as the movie got more serious. This was something I had not consciously noticed but think was dead on, it happens in the lighter moments and doesn’t ruin the tone of a scene at all. Bardem does a good job of threading change from levity to seriousness as the movie progress, like all the actors.
A few quickfire mentions of performances before I move on. Florence Pugh as Princess Irulan was a good one, she was in many ways a sort of audience character. Her scenes helped to illuminate the goings on in the background and to catch us up to speed on what happened in the last movie. Charlotte Rampling returned as the Reverand Mother Gaius Helen Mohaim, she had more to do in this film like pretty much everyone else. She plays the part of a grand puppet master well, and her interactions with Irulan help give some good scenes outside of Arrakis and Giedi Prime. Finally, David Bautista as Glossu Rabban Harkonnen gets a bit more screentime. His character remains the same overall from both movies, but Bautista plays him well, Rabban has a lot of big emotion that can be a bit much, but that’s more on the character writing. Still, he plays the part of this nasty and violent guy well.
Because Dune: Part Two is slightly longer than the first Dune, but adapts less material, the filmmakers had more room to bring something new to the film. As I mentioned, Chani is much more fleshed out and different here than in the book. Denis Villeneuve is a Dune fan and hopes to make a third film by adapting the book Dune: Messiah. A book that was written by Frank Herbert in reaction to people finding Paul a straightforward hero. Villeneuve takes this opportunity to cast Chani in a more prominent role, actively questioning Paul’s role and intentions, while still depicting a convincing relationship between the two. There is also a fleshing out of the Fremen and a creation of internal differences between the Fremen in this movie. A cultural divide between Fremen living in the north and the south of Arrakis was depicted which was not present in the books. I was onboard with this choice, and many of the others as well. I thought they were done with sincere care for the source material and a desire to either improve on aspects that were lacking, or to highlight themes that Frank Herbert wanted people to pick up on.
After all these viewings I can say that I love Dune: Part Two as much as I love Dune, it was such a great time and I once again highly recommend it.
Amadeus (1984):
Thinking back on Amadeus, I realize I perhaps undersold it in my original review. This is such a beauty of a film. Its scenes are so luxurious and full of life, it really is a great period piece. The music and the sets really make it such a treasure to dive into. I said before that the rivalry between Salieri and Mozart was the best part and I still maintain that but with an aside that the music and sets and costumes are a close second best.
The fact that Salieri is seething with resentment and jealousy throughout the whole film makes it such a delicious drama. We are forced into his perspective because of how the movie is structured, with Mozart’s point of view only secondary. This lets the viewer ride along with Salieri’s emotions, to witness the anger when slighted by Mozart, intentionally or not, or his awe when witnessing Mozart’s work.
I watched the Director’s Cut, which did have one scene that went on for too long, in which Mozart is watching a play with his family, and I think it could’ve been cut by perhaps 2 or 3 minutes. Other than this I have no complaints about the movie.
The use of diegetic music was an inspired choice that really made it feel like you’re watching Salieri’s memories instead of a movie, and how he is haunted by Mozart’s genius through his entire life. My favourite part is still the scene in Mozart’s apartment where he and Salieri are working together, and I still think that there was some intention on Salieri’s part to harm Mozart by pushing him to work harder. Perhaps not a murderous intention, but a sinister one, nonetheless. I don’t have much more to say here, I mostly wanted to make it clearer that this was a good movie which is well worth the watch.
Starship Troopers (1997)
Starship Troopers is such a fun watch, guys. It has the glossy, sweaty sheen of 80s and 90s action flicks, with all the schlocky goodness that comes with it. Its satirical subtext is not so obscure that you would miss it on a casual viewing, so it’s not like it’s that dense of a movie. I don’t have much more to say that I haven’t already said in my Kino Night in Kanada review, other than to recommend that you watch this movie as soon as possible, preferably with friends and some beers.
The End: For Now
Since this is my first Monthly Movie Review, things will probably change as I go, reflecting any changes I think would make these reviews better. I also would like to hear from you, the readers. Please let me know if you have any suggestions for structure, style, and content. Future Monthly Movie Reviews will not cover all the movies I watched in a month, only the ones that I might have more to say on. Since I saw a small number of movies this month, I decided to write a bit about each of them to have some more substance to this article.
Thank you for reading.