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Reviews
Damsel (2024)
A paint-by-numbers misfire - more fatal than femme fatale!
Damsel, released on Netflix today is their latest partnership with actor Millie Bobbie Brown, having previously collaborated on the Enola Holmes movies (Not a fan of the first, but really liked the second) and also a relatively unknown project called Stranger Things. This latest fantasy-adventure offering yet again sees the 20 year old actor take centre stage.
Millie Bobbie Brown (engaged to Jake Bongiovi, son of rock legend Jon Bon Jovi) plays Elodie, a princess married off to save a kingdom but at the potential cost of her own life. She is the damsel, but it is we the audience that is very much in distress, this was a terrible movie.
Let's break it down
Story and Plot
This laughably predictable fantasy-adventure written by Dan Manzeau who brought us such classics as Fast X (2023) and Clash of the Titans (2012) is stuffed with "Yawn - we've seen it before" plot points that leads to the inevitable conclusion. The biggest complaint is it just didn't feel real at any stage. Talk about low stakes, this had no stakes, There is a complete lack of tension which put this movie firmly into Sand Timer territory (See 4 Types of Movies at top of homepage). Despite all of Elodie's hardships and obstacles which includes being chased around a series of caverns in scenes pretty much ripped from The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug (2013), you just know she is never really in danger, and that everything will be just fine in the end.
Cast
Millie Bobbie Brown is a very good actress as is Robin Wright and Angela Bassett is an acting legend but the clunky stilted dialogue stunts the casts performances. The great Ray Winstone is staggeringly miscast and as a result along with the rest of his peers phones in his performance. What's more I just couldn't get over the fact it looked like actors just playing dress-up, it felt I was just watching a very bad pantomime.
CGI and Look of the Movie
What added to the story not feeling real, was the way the movie looked. Set sometime in the 17th-18th Century the look is way too clean, the locales and vista's are clearly CGI, the movie was most likely shot directly on a lot with backgrounds added in post. The reported production budget was $60-70 million so once you take away the salaries of the star heavy cast, that may have left precious little for anything else.
Action
You've seen it all before, heroine in danger, heroine escapes, she get's into more danger, and oh my god she escapes again...rinse wash repeat.
Music and Score
Music was by David Fleming. It's a nice enough score but pretty run of the mill. Surprised to learn it was produced by Hans Zimmer.
A paint-by-numbers misfire for both Netflix and Millie Bobby Brown. This desultory fantasy-adventure is more fatal than femme fatale.
Spaceman (2024)
Spaceman - Adam Sandler's cosmic mis-fire
With the exception of the first Murder Mystery (2019) movie, I've never been a huge fan of Adam Sandler's comedies. His dramas however, such as Uncut Gems (2019) and especially the excellent Hustle (2022) has shown the actor in a new light, he is a bloody good actor. Marry that with the fact he is widely thought to be one of the most genuine people in Hollywood. Sandler's is a career I am now watching with interest.
Spaceman, released on Netflix today is based on the book Spaceman of Bohemia by Jaroslav Kalfar. Whilst it further demonstrates that Sandler is very well suited to dramatic roles, it is a misfire of a movie.
So essentially for the last four years there has been a mysterious purple nebulous cloud seen in the sky from Earth, so ESA send Czech astronaut Jakub (Sandler) on a one-man deep space mission to investigate what has been dubbed the Chopra cloud at the fringes of Jupiter. In doing so he leaves behind Lenka (Mulligan) his estranged heavily pregnant wife. Towards the end of his mission a benevolent alien in the form a large arachnid christened Hanus (Hanush) by Jakub (Voiced by Paul Dano), itself a lone explorer appears on board. Is he real or is he a figment of Jakub's imagination? Regardless, in striving to understand the human condition, Hanus makes Jakub relive often painful memories through a series of visually distorted flashbacks.
If this all sounds weird, you'd be right. However, my issue with the movie is not that it's weird (I've seen stranger films) it's the fact it doesn't work. Whilst Sandler is engaging to watch, it is just too much of a slow burn and the pacing is way too pedestrian for my liking. In lingering too much on Jakub's failed marriage it becomes overly melancholic and meditative. This makes the movie drag, it's not overly long at 1 hour 48 minutes, but the general sluggishness makes it feel a whole lot longer.
Carey Mulligan (Who is insanely talented, see Bradley Cooper's recent Maestro) is equally squandered and she in essence is just handed the role of the moping estranged wife regretting her marriage whilst preparing to deal with the impending birth of their baby.
I adore movies about space. One man in space survival movies such as Moon (2009) and The Martian (2015) are riveting examples of this sub-genre. Spaceman sadly is not in that club.
It's set in space and Sandler is excellent so it's not getting my "One to Miss" grade but it's a soporific movie that has a failure to launch.
Verdict: It's Fine.
Dune: Part Two (2024)
Dune 2 - A science fiction master piece
Dune: Part One was my favourite movie of 2021. Originally slated to be released in November of last year, this second instalment was delayed due to the SAG-AFTRA strike. So it was with bated breath that I saw it last night in IMAX.
Dune 2 is a masterpiece.
It has been a very long time since a movie has left me speechless.
It is Denis Villeneuve's magnum opus. Very much like how Christopher Nolan crowned his career with Oppenheimer last year, this is Villeneuve's greatest ever movie.
Similar to Peter Jackson's, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003), Dune 2 represents another evolution of cinema as an art form. I don't use that word lightly.
This is the true definition of a vice movie (see 4 Types of Movies tab at the top of homepage). The story locks you in from the opening frame and at just 15 minutes shy of 3 hours, this movie absolutely flies by, not once during it's runtime was I bored.
The only downside is my cinema going adventure's of 2024 has peaked with Dune: Part Two, nothing will compare to this movie for the rest of the year.
Let's have a Catch up...
The story picks up literally in the same frame as part one ended. Dune: Part One and Dune: Part Two have to be seen as one movie split into two, this is not a sequel. If part one was the starter, this is the main course. It makes the first movie better.
Paul Atreides (Chalamet) cements his position on Arrakis. He along with his mother Jessica (Ferguson) who herself becomes the Revered Mother start to foresee a prophecy that Paul or to give him is Fremen name Usul will become the saviour of the planet. To reflect this Paul gives himself the name of Muad'Dib, a powerful name on Arrakis.
Meanwhile, after Baron Harkonnen continues to lose his grip on Arrakis thanks to the losses at the hands of those "Rats" the Freman and the incompetence of his unstable nephew Beast Rabben (Batista), the Baron calls his beloved other nephew Feyd-Rautha (Butler) up to the plate to re-take the planet in his families name and setting the scene for war.
So, the best way to review this movie because of it's immensity is to break it down, here goes..
Cinematography
Every aspect of how this movie looks is frankly staggering. DP Greig Fraser not only makes each frame look like a stunning photograph, his use of camera angles, lighting and the natural environment is amazing. The battle scenes are jaw dropping and the sense of scale, especially the sand worms in IMAX is eye watering. I had spine tingles for most of the movie.
Sound and Score
The sound is incredible, as I saw it in IMAX (which I implore you to do if able) leaves you shaken in your seat. You will never forget where and when you first saw and heard those sand worms. The score by the legendary composer Hans Zimmer is equally superb and is used to amazing effect.
Cast
As for the cast, each member of the star studied line-up absolutely bring their A game to the table. This movie makes Timothée Chalamet a man. Gone is the petulant son of Duke Leto Atreides (Oscar Isaac). I think Chalamet is fast becoming this generation's DiCaprio. Zendaya was equally superb as his partner Chiani, as she continues to show that she is one of the leading actresses of her geneartion.
After his breakout role in Elvis (2022) and Apple TV+ series Masters of the Air (2024) Austin Butler is a revelation as the psychopathic Feyd-Rautha, beloved nephew to Baron Harkonnen.
No Country for Old Men alum Josh Brolin and Javier Bardem resume their respective roles as Gurney Halleck and Stilgar offering gravitas and wise council to the younger cast who take centre stage.
Florence Pugh as the emperors daughter Princess Irulan is excellent as is the great veteran actor Christopher Walken (In a small but pivotal role) as the Emperor.
My only "complaint" as such is that Dave Batista's character Beast Rabben felt under served and was reduced to a bit of a one note character screaming out orders whilst slipping further out of the good graces of his uncle. On that subject, Baron Harkonnen (Skarsgard) himself so central to the original film is also somewhat side lined in this second part of the movie.
Action
Whilst I in no way shared this sentiment, there were some people who said Dune: Part One was boring and lacked action. The same cannot be said for this continuing instalment.
The action in this movie is breathtakingly shot and choreographed. Whether it was wide scale battles or hand to hand combat it felt exhilarating, organic and primal.
Special Effects
A seamless blend of top drawer CGI and jaw dropping practical effects. Effortlessly combined with filming on location in Abu Dhabi.
Impact on Cinema
Dune: Part One and Dune: Part Two, is this generations Star Wars. It however goes further than that, it is Star Wars for grown-ups. There is nothing Disney has done with Star Wars to rival or even come close to Villeneuve's incredible movie. It makes the recent MCU and DC movies look what they are, light weight tensionless candy floss poop.
What Villeneuve has achieved here is simply staggering.
It reminds you of why the medium of cinema exists.
It is a science fiction masterpiece.
Denis Villeneuve and team deserve all the adulation, box office success and awards they can get.
Verdict - Unmissable.