Movie review - "Dune Part 2" (2024) ***

 I wondered if there was enough story in this for a whole movie. There wasn't. This reall should have been included in the first. You could deal with it in half an hour - Paul rides the worm, leads the Fremen, beats Feyd in a duel, the end.

This gets by on its visuals and the excellent actors especially Florence Pugh and Zendaya giving the piece real heart. The villlains are so monotnous, constantly killing random people and their own men. They couldn't give them som nuance?

The battles are done in that modern dull way - lots of CGi and leading characters fighting from the front instead of being sensible and standing back.

Movie review - "The Greatest Showman" (2017) ***1/2

 All set to be a big turkey - an original musical! - but it was, delightfully, a hit. It has one big established star, Hugh, a newer star, Zac, and exciting newbie, Zendaya, some wonderfully stirring songs, Michelle Williams being good in a nothing part, and I liked the theme. Why not make money out of it?

Movie review - "Malcolm and Marie" (2021) **

 Ah, indie movie. Female lead on toilet for realism? Check. Every second word "fuck" for realism? Check. Feels like a first draft? Check. Indulgent monologues? Check. Badly veiled autobiography? Check. Living in Oblivion.

Still, why shouldn't black actors get the chance to appear in these sort of indulgent films and at least it has two film stars, especially Zendaya. Beautifully shot. I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought it would.

Movie review - "Spider Man: No Way Home" (2021) ****1/2 (warning: spoilers)

 Wonderful movie - thrilling action, cleverness, heart, all that. Splendid acknowledgement of history - though part of me was disappointed Nicholas Hammond didn't appear. Hard not to cheer when Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire appear. A lot of second tier villains but Albert Molina and Willem Dafoe are solid (Jamie Foxx, Thomas Haden Church and Rhy Ifans are wet). Zendaya has a captivating screen presence, they Obi Wan Marissa Tomei. Benedict Cumberbatch is entertaining though the fake hairlines of him, and Tom Holland and all the Marvel leading men is beginning to be annoying.

I don't get why making everyone forget Peter Parker helped at the end but provided great stakes and emotion. Grand entertainment.

Movie review - "Dune" (2021) ***

 Great visuals. Sound. Production design. Better than the 1984 version.

It takes it's time, that's for sure. Doesn't cover the whole book. They could've gotten through it too. Lots of padding here - vehicles taking off, sandstorms. Duncan arrives, says I'm going to leave with the Fremen, then he turns up having lived with the Fremen - you could've cut that first scene. A lot of repeated dialogue.

Misses some tension and excitement from the book - mainly the "who is the traitor" plot. Why cut that? Why not get some excitement? No one seems like a real person. Needed some warmth and humour. Jason Momoa is probably best at that. And Zendaya is beautiful even if she's mostly a vision on this one.

It's a great emotional yarn but the treatment is distant. Cold. 

Occasionally it comes alive - like when Paul and his mother escape and the death of Leo. Gorgeous to look at.

Movie review - "Spiderman: Homecoming" (2018) ****1/2

I really loved this movie. Part of Marvel's success has been their ability to reinvent themselves and with this Spiderman film they did what in hindsight seems obviously but is rarely actually done - quietened down, went back to the source material, went back to character.

Tom Holland's Peter Parker is the first one who actually genuinely seems like a high school student. They make him 15 and he seems young - he acts young, he wants to impress "dad" (Tony Stark), and is constantly and annoyingly enthusiastic, gets distracted by school and the girl he likes. It's very well done.

The girl in the film is a dream girl - she's not even a manic pixie, just a dream - but she's at least smart and diverse. It's brilliant how baddy Michael Keaton is her dad and he's a fantastic villain - very scary, and given decent motivation (a working class guy who's entitled - a Trump voter). I liked the alternate girl and Peter's best friend who gets to achieve his dream of being "the guy in the chair" (this was lovely screenwriting set up and pay off)

Robert Downey Jr and Jon Favreau had a lot of spice, the action scenes are done with Marvel's typical expertise but the strength of this is in the character work and the depiction of the world. It's a shame Marisa Tomei didn't have more to do.