Review in Brief: Dune: Part Two (2024)

That’s how it’s done. After joining the nomadic Fremen and taking his place as their reluctant messiah to tap into new powers drawn from the planet Arrakis itself, Paul Atreides (Timothee Chalamet) takes the fight to the murderous Harkonnens and the paranoid Emperor (Christopher Walken) who engineered his family’s downfall. Book purists might decry the omission of some characters and scenes but Denis Villeneuve delivers on all the moments that matter and then some. He also packs his spice-rich world with satisfying little details like the lengths to which the Fremen will go to preserve water and the cultural differences between the Great Houses of the Imperium. It’s all impeccably performed, meticulously crafted and, credit to masterful cinematographer Greig Fraser, even more visually stunning than the first film, with Paul’s sandworm-riding trial and the introduction to the depraved Feyd-Rautha (Austin Butler) in the Harkonnen arena shot entirely with infrared cameras being particular highlights. SSP

Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver (2024) Review

https://www.thefilmagazine.com/rebel-moon-part-two-the-scargiver-2024-review/ SSP

Alex Garland Directed Films Ranked

https://www.thefilmagazine.com/alex-garland-directed-films-ranked/ SSP

Review in Brief: Orion and the Dark (2024)

Charlie Kaufman’s latest exploration of existential dread is, unexpectedly, a kids’ animation from Dreamworks and director Sean Charmatz. Highly neurotic eleven-year-old Orion (Jacob Tremblay) is swept off on an adventure by the anthropomorphic personifications of night, lead by Dark (Paul Walter Hauser). Will Orion learn to look at the scary wide world differently and overcome his fears, and just who is really telling his story? Despite the cutesy character designs and goofy humour, the themes and emotions of ORION AND THE DARK still makes this of a piece with Kaufman’s other work (as does its slightly convoluted meta levels later on), and also means this is another family animation much like INSIDE OUT that may well be appreciated more by the adults watching than their children. Funny, thoughtful, big-hearted stuff. SSP

Review in Brief: All of Us Strangers (2023)

Andrew Haigh’s ALL OF US STRANGERS opens with one of the most beautiful shots I have ever seen and doesn’t let up from there. Lonely writer Adam (Andrew Scott) living in a near-deserted tower block in London simultaneously begins a passionate relationship with neighbour Harry (Paul Mescal) and meets the time-displaced ghosts of his parents (Claire Foy and Jamie Bell) while visiting his childhood home. As well-honed as all four performances are and as emotionally intelligent as the script is, what really makes All of Us Strangers hit as hard as it does are the questions it prompts. If you were gifted more time with someone you loved and lost, how would you use it? What would you ask them and what would they ask you, no matter how difficult the question? This is one of the most moving films of the year, one that subverts expectations in fascinating ways and speaks to all the quiet outcasts out there on a particularly profound level. SSP

Civil War (2024) Review

https://www.thefilmagazine.com/civil-war-2024-review/ SSP

‘Hellboy’ at 20 – Review

https://www.thefilmagazine.com/hellboy-at-20-review/ SSP

10 Best Godzilla Franchise Monsters

https://www.thefilmagazine.com/10-best-godzilla-monsters/ SSP

Monster (2023) Review

https://www.thefilmagazine.com/monster-2023-movie-review/ SSP

Dead Ringers (1988) Review

https://www.thefilmagazine.com/dead-ringers-1988-review/ SSP