moviemunchies

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Timothy Omundson as Carlton Lassiter in PSYCH (2006—2014)

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1917 (2019) ↳ dir. SAM MENDES

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woe, my gosling be upon ye

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So if you care to find me, look to the western sky..

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"I wish the ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened." | "So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in this world Frodo, besides the will of evil. Bilbo was meant to find the Ring. In which case, you were also meant to have it. And that is an encouraging thought." The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) dir. Peter Jackson

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Deadpool 2 (2018)

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By Frank, they did it! They made an excellent follow-up to Dune: Part One!

We’re going to have a couple of minor spoilers in this review; be aware.

After the events of the first movie, Paul Atreides has joined the Fremen in their fight with the Harkonnens. He becomes a leader among them, and even finds love in Chani, one of the lead freedom fighters. But his role as leader stirs some to think he’s their prophesied messiah. That’s a role he doesn’t want to take, because he’s foreseen how much violence it will lead to across the galaxy, and Chani (correctly) sees the prophecy as a method the Bene Gesserit use to manipulate and colonize. As the conflict goes on, however, Paul finds himself wondering if he has to use this image of himself as a messiah; not helping, his mother has started pushing his cult among the Fremen.

Gosh, this movie was great. The first movie and this one reminded me of what it was like to watch an epic film series, a sequence of stories told cinematically in a fantastical setting that build on each other, and together tell a coherent, complete story. Do you remember when everyone was trying to do that? I’m not talking about comic book films, obviously. A lot of films didn’t succeed, to be sure, but then teen romance films became A Thing, and then dystopian films became a thing, and then comic book films, and so most studios didn’t even try to do these kinds of epics anymore. So I was very happy to see Dune managing it.

I am bummed that we’re not going to receive an extended edition, like we did with Lord of the Rings. I know that these movies are already very long, but the director admitted that he cut a lot of things to make it all fit

The changes to the narrative are noticeable, to those who have read the book, but I think they work. A lot of people came away from the original Dune novel thinking that it’s a straightforward Hero’s Journey, and that the following books are a departure from that, even though there are hints throughout that book that Paul becoming a messiah figure is A Very Bad Thing. These movies maybe beat you over the head with that, though I think it ultimately works because, yeah, it’s a very bad thing, and it all goes south incredibly quickly.

Making Chani the main voice of the, “Wow, this messiah business is some BS, huh?” opinion is an interesting choice. It is a bit heavy-handed in how it gives you the intent of the messiah storyline to the audience; it is also good that someone has this view in the movie, because yes, the prophecy was invented to do what Chani says it was–manipulate a populace. I’m curious as to how the third movie, if it happens, will go with her, as the version in the book is fine with the messiah role. She has a large part in Dune: Messiah, and I don’t know how it will fit in with the version of Chani that’s in this movie. 

We should also talk about the Bene Gesserit? They’re interesting, but there is one part of the film that doesn’t quite work for me. Slight spoiler, but in this movie, it’s revealed that they’re the architects of the plan to wipe out House Atreides. That doesn’t make any goshdarn sense, given that they wanted Jessica and Paul to survive in the last movie, and it’s unclear what they would get out of this. It makes more sense the idea as it is in the books–that the Emperor wiped them out because he saw it as a threat to his power without direct action, but also a way to weaken House Harkonnen.

There are some creative choices in the direction of the way things look? Mostly I’m thinking of the Harkonnen homeworld in this film, which is a really fun change of pace. The way it looks is completely different from both Arrakis and the Atreides homeworld. It not only shows you what’s it like for a world under Harkonnen control, and the entire sequence develops their family. And it’s a great introduction to Feyd-Rautha, a key character in the proceedings of the story’s climax.

It’s a fantastic film. It’s an excellent sequel to the first one, and it displays just how much the director understands what he’s doing in telling a visual story. I love this and I want to see more of it. Not just in the sense of wanting to see the sequel (which I do), but I want to see more of these kinds of movies. The big epics, the ones that are telling big stories with epic battles in multiple parts, told by directors who know how to make them memorable instead of copying what’s already been made popular.

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Batman Mask of the Phantasm (1993) dir. Bruce Timm & Eric Radomski

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Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010) dir. Edgar Wright

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Jurassic World Rebirth dir. Gareth Edwards | 2025

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The Terminator (1984) dir. James Cameron Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) dir. James Cameron

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Outlaw King tells the story of Robert the Bruce, one of the national heroes of Scotland that fought against the English for Scottish independence. If you know anything about Scottish history, you know who he is; if you walk around in any major city in Scotland you’ll see a statue or two in honor of this guy. So yeah, it’s natural that there are a few movies about him.

Keep reading

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GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY dir. James Gunn, 2014

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Back to the Future (1985) dir. Robert Zemeckis

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Wicked (2024) dir. Jon M. Chu

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Adam West as Batman - UK Road Safety TV commercial (1967)

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WILLEM DAFOE as ALBIN EBERHART VON FRANZ in NOSFERATU (2024), dir. Robert Eggers