Tag: Timothée Chalamet

Dune: Part Two

GoMovieReviews Rating: ★★★★1/2Dune: Part Two

Directed by: Denis Villeneuve

Based on the Novel by: Frank Herbert

Screenplay Written by: Denis Villeneuve, Jon Spaihts

Produced by: Mary Parent, Cale Boyter, Denis Villeneuve, Tanya Lapointe and Patrick McCormick

Executive Producers: Joshua Grode, Jon Spaihts, Thomas Tull, Herbert W. Gains, Brian Herbert, Byron Merritt, Kim Herbert, Richard P. Rubinstein and John Harrison.

Starring: Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Josh Brolin, Austin Butler, Florence Pugh, Dave Bautista, Christopher Walken, Léa Seydoux, Souheila Yacoub, Stellan Skarsgård and Javier Bardem.

‘Power over spice is power over all.’

This is the mantra of the Harkonnens and the basis of the political intrigue in the Dune series.

It’s now the year 10,091.

Princess Irulan (Florence Pugh), the daughter of The Emperor (Christopher Walken) creates a voice memo, introducing Dune: Part Two, where the entire House of Atreides have been wiped out over-night. No warning, no survivors.  Except a few.

The Harkonnens now control the harvesting of spice with the ever-present influence of the Bene Gesserit.

The extent of the Bene Gesserits’ power becoming more apparent as the prophecy of the son, known by the Fremens as Lisan al Gaib, gains momentum.

It’s Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) they believe to be the Bene Gesserit’s son, the Mahdi of the Fremen whom they believe will lead them to paradise.

An ideal originally conjured by the Bene Gesserit and encouraged by Paul Atreides’ mother, Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) as her pregnancy continues and her daughter grows in her belly.

Paul doesn’t fail in his fulfillment as he adapts to the desert and Fremen way of life with the help of Chani (Zendaya).

Even though he’s an outsider, Chani grows to love him – he’s different to the other outsiders.  He’s sincere.

My initial thought at the end of Dune: Part One of, I hope it doesn’t get cheesy, was unwarranted because despite the glimmers of light between Paul and Chani, this is a dark journey filled with moments like the sucking of water out of the dead and… Almost dead.

The Harkonnens’ are particularly brutal, the young nephew of The Baron (Stellan Skarsgård), Feyd-Rautha (Austin Butler), is known by the Bene Gesserit as psychotic but manageable.

It’s a fight for survival as the Fremans sabotage the spice harvesters with the help of Paul, each success building his reputation as the Lisan al Gaib, confirming Stilgar’s (Javier Bardem) faith.  Stilagar gives him his Freman name, Paul Muad’Dib.

The build of belief catches fire, fierce stories spread about Lisan al Gaib, ‘Our resources are limited.’  Paul explains.  ‘Fear is all we have.’

Nothing can live down south without faith.  And now, instead of friends, Paul has followers.

There’s A LOT to unpack here, but at its foundation, Dune: Part Two has a heavy layer of religion and how religion is used to gain power – the ultimate power: to control the harvest of spice.

Parts of the story were glossed over, like the return of Gurney Halleck (Josh Brolin).  And it’s easy to get lost in the intricacies of the story and characters, but there is absolutely never a dull moment in this film (editor: Joe Walker).

This is a vastly entertaining journey, ‘you will see the beauty and the horror,’ all in the dance of shadows over rock, the disappearance of a mother’s face into shadow after seeing her son forever changed – there’s black and white film used to portray the stark and evil of the Harkonnens alongside the red desert and solar eclipse (director of photography: Greig Fraser), flying black suits and pit fighters with black horns like insidious devils (costume designer: Jacqueline West).

All to the beat of a thumper that blends the desert and call of the worms with the beat of intrigue and violence in the capital (composer: Hans Zimmer).

This is a brutally entertaining film that lives up to the hype and is absolutely worth seeing on the big screen.

Better than Part One which is a big call because Part One was brilliant (winning six Academy Awards) and I’m guessing everyone will walk out of the cinema asking, when’s the release of Part Three?

 

Wonka

GoMovieReview Rating: ★★★★Wonka

Rated: PG

Directed by: Paul King

Screenplay Written by: Paul King, Simon Famaby

Story by: Paul King

Based on the Character Created by: Roald Dahl

Produced by: David Heyman, Alexandra Derbyshire, Luke Kelly

Starring: Timothée Chalamet, Calah Lane, Keegan-Michael Key, Paterson Joseph, Matt Lucas, Mathew Baynton, Sally Hawkins, Rowan Atkinson, Jim Carter, Tom Davis, Olivia Colman, Hugh Grant.

‘A place to escape to.’

The origin story of Willy Wonka (Timothée Chalamet) is delightful with attention to detail and a wry humour that is the trademark of director and writer, Paul King (creator of Paddington (2014) and Paddington 2 (2017)).

The story of Wonka follows Willy as he disembarks from aboard a ship to land in England to create and sell his amazing chocolates, a skill he learned to love from his mother (Sally Hawkins).

Whistling is heard before the singing begins as Willy stands atop the ship’s mast, ready to embrace the world while brandishing his hat full of dreams.

I freely admit I’m not a fan of musicals, so I was bracing myself.

But I liked this one.

I was grinning all the way through this movie; the particular brand of Paul King humour had me laughing out loud, the timing and facial expressions and ‘surprisingly good form,’ of these unique characters added to the delight of this movie as Willy makes chocolates that don’t just taste good but have the added bonus of flight or the feeling of a night out or creating a choreographed day like being in a cabaret.

But for Willy to sell his chocolates, he must first get past the establishment of the Chocolate Cartel: Arthur Slugworth (Paterson Joseph), Prodnose (Matt Lucas) honest to the point of being obnoxious (and then incredibly funny), and Fickelgruber (Matthew Baynton) who can’t say, ‘poor’ without becoming nauseous.

The cartel manages to keep their position as the top purveyors in town by paying off officials with chocolate, including the Chief-of-Police (Keegan-Michael Key) who’s girth continues to expand the more bribes he consumes.

Willy also manages to find himself trapped working in a washhouse, run by, Mrs. Scrubbit (Olivia Colman), after signing a contract without reading the fine print.

Trapped but not down, Willy meets his fellow inmates, Noodle (Calah Lane), an orphan and cynic with a mysterious past who tells Willy that his belief in the kindness of strangers landed him in a room in the staff quarters (where the sink is also the toilet).

Then there’s ex-account Abacus Crunch (Jim Carter), the never-speaks Miss Bon Bon (Freya Parker), Piper Benz who knows the underground (Natasha Rothwell), and aspiring comedian, Larry Chucklesworth (Rich Fulcher) who can speak like he’s underwater.

A rag-tag team, a kid wanting to make chocolate and singing does not sound like my cup of tea, but there’s an irresistible charm here, think Rowan Atkinson as a chocoholic priest.  Then High Grant as an Oompa-Loompa, described by Willy as a small orange man who’s green hair shines in the moonlight.

But what really got me giggling was the villainous Bleacher (Tom Davis) in his dungarees made to show a bit of thigh.

The aspiring comedian character should not have been funny with his try-hard jokes, but the detail and facial expressions like a small poke of the tongue just before cutting to the next scene added that surprising bit extra and that’s what made this movie such a delight to watch.

Instead of a tired re-wash, Wonka is a refresh of Roald Dahl’s classic character: it’s magical and all very sweet (excuse the pun), and gets away with that sweetness because it’s just so funny.

 

Bones and All

Rated: MA15+Bones and All

Directed by: Luca Guadagnino

Screenplay by: David Kajganich

Based on: Bones & All by Camille DeAngelis

Produced by: Luca Guadagnino, Theresa Park, Marco Morabito, David Kajganich

Cinematography: Arseni Khachaturan

Starring: Timothée Chalamet, Taylor Russell, Mark Rylance, Chloë Sevigny, Michael Stuhlbarg, Madeleine Hall, David Gordon Green and André Holland.

‘I didn’t mean to scare you.’

Bones and All is more drama than horror, where the focus is on the ordinary to make the monsters more believable.

Maren (Taylor Russell) is like any other teenager: she makes friends at school, plays piano, her dad (André Holland) sets a curfew.  He locks her in at night.

That’s the first clue that something’s not quite right.

Then at a girls-night-in, Maren tears the flesh from the finger of her new friend.  And it’s time to move on.  Again.

Maren is an eater.

She’s pretty good at being on her own.  When she goes in search of her mother (Chloë Sevigny), she finds out there’re other eaters out there.  And they can smell if there’s another one around.

That’s when she meets Sully (Mark Rylance).  With a matchstick in his mouth and a feather in his hat, he’s hard to miss.

Lee (Timothée Chalamet) is also an eater.  But he doesn’t eat human flesh in his y-fronts like Sully.  He dosses around, eats because he has to; and the rest of the time, he tries to be his normal self.

Lee’s the friend Maren never knew she could have.

They’re kinda sweet together.  In between the eating.

There’s a strange poetry to the filming of Bones and All (cinematographer, Arseni Khachaturan), with shots like a tableau to illustrate moments of Lee and Maren’s journey:  shots of blood, daisies in a glass jar, the empty rooms of a sanitised house, a beaded necklace left under a bed.

It’s quiet to make those moments poignant but also makes the journey slow and dry at times.

This is offset with the layering of Maren’s father, Frank’s voice on a cassette, telling her story; added together with flashbacks to nightmares as Maren and Lee struggle to be who they are, to be eaters.  To eat people to live or the only other alternatives, suicide or being locked up.

Maybe love will save them.

It’s a point of difference, director Luca Guadagnino (some of his previous films: A Bigger Splash (2015) – loved it, Call Me by Your Name (2017) – award winning, and Suspiria (2018) – which I also enjoyed) giving the film a tone of normality; making the story about love, about the journey, about the ordinary, about the monsters.

With all the different threads and strangely quiet tone, it just didn’t quite pull together for me.

All the story’s there, but the tone didn’t hit quite right.

I enjoyed hearing the tapes from Maren’s father talking about her backstory, her origin more than the drama of it.

The film was made to make the eaters more human with a love story and family drama.  They just happened to eat people – ‘how dare you make this harder.’

And we never find out why.

 

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