Towering ‘DUNE: PART TWO’ An Artful Masterclass in World Expansion

February 21, 2024 by Matt Oakes Posted in Most Popular, Out in Theaters Tagged Austin Butler, Charlotte Rampling, Christopher Walken, Denis Villeneuve, Dune, Dune: Part 2, Dune: Part Two, Florence Pugh, Greig Fraser, Hans Zimmer, Jacqueline West, Javier Bardem, Jon Spaights, Josh Brolin, Léa Seydoux, Patrice Vermette, Rebecca Ferguson, Shane Vieau, Stellan Skarsgård, Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya 6 Comments

Denis Villeneuve is nothing short of a living maestro. No other working director can so skillfully transmogrify a heralded text into a jaw-dropping exercise in both art and commerce, making for a sci-fi epic that’s as artistically entrancing as it is nonstop thrilling. A masterclass in world expansion, Dune: Part Two picks up where the last chapter, released simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max in the doldrums of the lingering pandemic in 2021, left off while continuing to complicate the world of Arrakis, its mythology, its peoples, and what’s at stake for the entirety of Frank Herbert’s well-drawn universe. Villeneuve’s eleventh feature film presents a triumphant middle chapter that grapples with inner darkness, ruminative notions of prophecy and destiny, romantic entanglement, and familial tragedy in what is set to be one of the great trilogies and a true modern masterwork. Read More

Sweat and Tears: Villeneuve’s Breathtaking Space Opera Epic ‘DUNE’ Rules

October 18, 2021 by Matt Oakes Posted in Most Popular, Out in Theaters Tagged Dave Bautista, Denis Villeneuve, Dune, Jacqueline West, Jaiver Bardem, Jason Momoa, Josh Brolin, Oscar Isaac, Patrice Vermette, Rebecca Ferguson, Stellan Skarsgård, Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya 4 Comments

Behold! Denis Villeneuve has adapted Frank Herbert’s iconic 1965 science-fiction novel Dune with all the might and majesty of a true maestro. A verifiable fireworks-show of audio-visual brawn and storytelling prowess, Dune as translated by Villeneuve is a rare cinematic treat that implodes on the screen, sucking audiences into a dizzying vortex of feuding empires, space zen, and chosen-one heroics, resulting in one of the most electrifying science-fiction space operas of this generation and one of the very best films of the year. The only knock against it – and it is a reasonably-sized knock – is that this first film in the planned (but not yet green-lit) two-parter only encompasses half the total story, leaving viewers desperate for a conclusion that may or may not come to fruition. Read More

Dystopian Neo-Noir Love Story ‘REMINISCENCE’ Made Me Feel Nothing

August 19, 2021 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Cliff Curtis, Hugh Jackson, Lisa Joy, Out in Theaters, Rebecca Ferguson, Reminiscence, Reviews, Thandiwe Newton 1 Comment

If it keeps on raining the levy’s going to break. As sang by Robert Plant so it goes in Reminiscence, Lisa Joy’s stodgy science fiction noir some untold years into a future devastated by climate change and war. As an increasingly uninhabitable earth grows wetter and hotter with each passing year, oceans eat away at what is left of America. The roaring heat of the daytime turns humanity into nocturnal creatures. Dry lands become the new gold standard but greedy barons snap up what they can and leave little for the masses. With populations displaced and growing civil unrest, humanity turns increasingly to memories of yesteryear. Read More

Contemplative and Dour ‘DOCTOR SLEEP’ Deserves the Patience it Requires

November 6, 2019 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Ewan McGregor, Horror, Kyliegh Curran, Mike Flanagan, Out in Theaters, Rebecca Ferguson, Reviews, Stanley Kubrick Leave a comment

39 years ago, Stanley Kubrick played a game of chicken with Stephen King’s novel “The Shining”, redefining the term “loose adaptation” as he bent the source material to his will. In the process, Kubrick created not just one of the greatest horror films of all time but one of the very best films regardless of genre. Ever an industry maverick, Kubrick swung an axe at King’s IP (“Here’s Johnny” indeed), hacking the story into one more befitting the film medium and his own vision. This meant stripping away the more abject supernatural horrors (though there’s no shortage of rotting bathers and ghost furry lifestylers) and replacing them Jack Torrence’s descent into catacombs of his own inner madness. Read More

Out in Theaters: ‘MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: FALLOUT’

July 24, 2018 by Matt Oakes Posted in Most Popular, Out in Theaters Tagged Best of 2018, Henry Cavill, Mission Impossible: Fallout, Rebecca Ferguson, Sean Harris, Simon Pegg, tom cruise, Ving Rhames 4 Comments

I have a confession to make. There’s this thing that happens to people who review movies on any kind of quasi-professional circuit. A kind of numbing of the enthusiasm gland by proxy of the inability to overlook a film’s shortcomings. The more movies one takes in, the more unavoidable it is to not diagnose lazy writing, poor story structure, bland acting, choppy VFX… The collection of pratfalls these XXL “turn your brain off” tentpole films tend to suffer. When you see 200 movies a year, the bar to dazzle becomes impossibly high. What works for general audiences who catch a movie every few months often feels flat and stale for the critic – just another coat of crisp digital paint lazily slathered on poorly recycled narrative – because we’ve already seen this exact story twice this year. Read More

Out in Theaters: ‘THE SNOWMAN’

October 19, 2017 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Charlotte Gainsbough, Hossein Amini, J.K. Simmons, Jo Nesbø, Michael Fassbender, Out in Theaters, Peter Straughan, Rebecca Ferguson, Reviews, Søren Sveistrup, The Snowman, Toby Jones, Tomas Alfredson 3 Comments

The Snowman, Tomas Alfredson’s (Let the Right One In) adaptation of Jo Nesbø’s Norwegian best-seller of the same name, is an icy cold movie. Frigid to the touch, there is no spark of life to be found in this desolate frozen tundra of a film nor is there anything resembling a mere flicker of intelligence. A detective joint that cannot stand up under the slightest bit of scrutiny, this mindless slog tries to follows in the footsteps of films like Seven or The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, what with its random explosions of grizzly violence and salty procedural backbone, though nothing of that sort ever comes to pass. Instead we’re victim to a mopey, faux-edgy, pseudo-gritty, sulking, snow-blasted post-mortem noir impersonating smarter, sexier, more engaging entries from the often beloved genre. To call it freezing cold garbage is only the icing on this frosty cake of shite. Read More

Out in Theaters: ‘THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN’

October 5, 2016 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Emily Blunt, Erin Cressida Wilson, Haley Bennett, Luke Evans, Out in Theaters, Paula Hawkins, Rebecca Ferguson, Reviews, Tate Taylor, The Girl on The Train Leave a comment

It certainly won’t work to The Girl on the Train’s advantage to be compared to David Fincher’s Gone Girl but the proximity of the two properties – both feature strong female leads, are based on best selling novels and center on soapy surburian murder mysteries – make such comparisons as unavoidable as they may be unfavorable for director Tate Taylor. Read More