Here, Some Fast Dune 2 Thoughts

I posted a shorter version of this on Twitter (see it here) but what the hell, I'll elaborate a bit here on MNPP proper just in case Twitter sinks into the muck eventually (slash tomorrow) and since it doesn't seem I'm writing up a review of Dune 2 anywhere else. But I'm still going to keep this brief though because I weirdly don't have a ton to say? Even though I quite liked the movie. It's as promised even more epic than the first one -- Villenueve's sense of scale is basically unmatched right now, and there are shots here that will take your breath away. We're truly blessed that someone with his visual eye has had this amount of money tossed at him -- nobody has made world building feel quite so definitive. 

Because watching Dune 2 you really and truly feel as if an entire fucking world has been built right in front of you. An entire fucking universe. And it feels so much bigger and more consequential than anything Marvel has ever accomplished because there are actual ideas at work here -- ideas about religion and politics and not just "I gots bad Daddy issues, wahhh." Although yes there's some Daddy issues too, for good measure. 

Though its Mommy Issues are more exciting, given how Rebecca Ferguson basically walks away with the entire film. Everything Villenueve is saying about religion here is absolutely vicious (and, you know, spot on) and Ferguson (and to a less seen but no less vicious extent Charlotte Rampling) relishes the shit out of it -- like she did in Doctor Sleep she's so good at being so cold-hearted and weird and cruel! I bow down, really and truly. She is the queen we demand.

As for the much touted Austin Butler as Feyd-Rautha he certainly looks very cool but I wasn't terribly impressed by him. Ferguson, Rampling, Stellan Skarsgård, Christopher Walken, hell even Dave Bautista drip with more menace -- I just didn't buy him as intimidating no matter how hard the make-up was working. He felt like a dopey kid playing dress-up. The big duel between him and Timothée is terrifically staged and choreographed, though. 

Speaking of, Timothée is good -- like he did in The King he surprises me every time he can muster a genuine sense of command; that the waif-like frailty we all know and love doesn't snap under the pressure of screaming orders at enormous crowds. That said I found it hysterically funny how big his hair got in the last act as Paul gets more powerful -- I guess Damian in Mean Girls was right. But it's a real Sigourney in Ghostbusters Gatekeeper type glow-up, volume-wise. He got a blow out. Power blow!

Okay those were more words than I anticipated rambling off. Shout out to the score too -- an absolute banger that I keep refreshing every website to see if the vinyl has been dropped yet. And needless to say the costumes astonish -- some truly Excalibur level cornball nonsense going on, but dialed up to ten thousand -- I love it. Anyway the movie is good! Better than the last one, and I liked the last one. It's annoying that it is another unfinished story -- especially with Villenueve bitching about the movies becoming television in interviews; dude, you're just giving us super-sized episodes of a Dune show here when it comes down to it. But I will keep tuning in.

Like Sandworms Through the Hourglass

If you're excited about the imminent release of Denis Villenueve's Dune sequel, smartly titled Dune 2, then perhaps you might get it inside yourself a whisper sooner with a pre-order of cinematographer Greig Fraser's resplendant photography book Dune: Exposures, which collects his set photos into a grand hardcover edition that hits stands on Valentine's Day aka Wednesday of next week. Stick it in your loved one's chocolate box! (Ewww, that sentence was too far, Jason.) That's two whole weeks before the movie hits theaters so you can just press your face against the pictures of Timmy's windswept hair and toss some sand in your face and it'll be like you're right there! Pre-order your book right here. Me, I'm seeing Dune 2 in six days! So stay tuned for my opinion... as if you wouldn't. You don't do anything unless I say so, dammit! 

And Now, The Weekend

Have to admit that in the days that have passed since I wrote a few thoughts down on here about the new Guardians of the Galaxy movie that I have been feeling as if I was a little too hard on it. The good stuff that I liked (and I do mention most of it in that review) has bubbled up, while the stuff that bugged me has fallen a little to the side. Which is to say I'm only human, y'all. Of flesh and bone am made. Human. Born to make mistakes. I think most people going to this will enjoy themselves -- the people who's de-boarded the Marvel train who'll see the same issues with it that I did are long gone by now. I do wish these movies would try to be less, but I am definitely losing that battle. 

That said if you have to go see a movie this weekend what I recommend is you go see The Eight Mountains, which I reviewed right here yesterday. That movie is as of today, May 5th 2023, my favorite movie of 2023. There's still a lot to come out this year obviously, and I will not be surprised if it things shift around -- tis their way to do just that. But this will be one of the films of the year, have no doubt about that, so see it as soon as you can. What it says about the ways which we change over the years, the way we stay the same, and the way all of that weathers on friendship in particular, felt deeply profound to me. That movie is a gift! So give yourselves a gift! And have a great weekend!

One Giant Beep Beep Honk Honk For Mankind

"Did I look cool?" That's the question on the Star-lord nee Peter Quill's lips as he suffers the consequences of another mind-boggingly stupid action toward the end of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. (And "mind-bogglingly stupid" comes so naturally to Chris Pratt, doesn't it?) And that question might as well be branded into this franchise's rear-end, so guiding a mantra it's proven -- looking-coolness above all else! I mean who doesn't want to see cool shit, right? Well at some point around the middle of this movie, even before Pratt uttered that line, perhaps around the ninetieth needle drop give or take, I'd found myself so sick to death of manic clawing for "cool" that I wished I'd never suffer it again.

I want you to think back upon Mad Max Fury Road for a moment -- now, we all know the Herculean effort that went into Fury Road (and if not go read our pal Kyle's book). I can in no way claim that what that film does was effortless. But that film feels effortlessly cool, anyway -- coolness just explodes out of it in every frame, and George Miller makes all of the wires invisible that somehow hold the insane contraption of it up. It's rare alchemy, real magic.

But Guardians 3 is just such a goddamned try-hard. Perhaps, we could make the argument, that this is in keeping with the rag-tag bunch of losers who the films have given these three grand adventures. Like with Star-lord's line of dialogue these people very much want to come off as cool, but they keep tripping over themselves in the trying. I personally don't think James Gunn & Co meant to go that meta -- they spent an awful lot of money to keep tripping over themselves, if so.

But there are pleasures to be had. The film's best joke comes via its best actress (that'd be Elizabeth Debicki) but that's approximately one second long. There's a hallway fight scene that calls back to that time the Avengers first fought together in New York that legitimately reaches coolness. Visually Gunn gives us some fantastic scenery and spaces -- this is (for the most part) nowhere near as dreary and eye-pokingly ugly as the last Ant-Man movie was. And I do have great affection for several of these characters by now -- I would watch ten hours of a Drax & Mantis series in a split second. Also Will Poulter proves immediately endearing and I welcome his Adam Warlock into the fold.

Best of all the horror-loving Gunn's tendencies toward the squishy and horrific are on full display, and those will always make me giddy -- this thing has some deeply disturbing imagery waiting in store to give wee ones looking for Talking Raccoon Adventure Time the sort of life-long nightmares that Watership Down or Poltergeist gave to those of us who came of age in previous ages. I always have affection for those kind of stealth nightmare-makers!

But when you manage to get the number one Radiohead fan in all the world -- that would be me -- to think to themselves, "Really -- you're going to play the entire Radiohead song? The whole thing, from start to finish?" Well then you know that you're maybe trying too hard. And that it's gotten a little exhausting to watch. These characters are exhausted, I was exhausted -- when the time for the space sabbatical comes I was all in. Just stuff me into a sleep-chamber and let us all rest already, Marvel. We all need a break.

Pics of the Day

Actor and sexual being Benjamin Aldridge shared some fun set photos for Knock at the Cabin over the weekend via Insta -- one of them I had previously posted but the above snap, with Jonathan Groff feeling up Ben's knee in front of some bookshelves...

... now supplants that one as my fave. Hell it supplants photos of my childhood and family and best friends as a fave. Not sure why he's sharing these now -- it's not out on blu-ray until May (you can pre-order it right here though) but whatever, it presents a good excuse to link to my piece about what the film had to say about gay trauma right here at Mashable. In case you missed it! Anyway there are a few more photos, including lots of hot hugging man-action with Dave Bautista, hit the jump for it...

Good Morning, World

M. Night Shyamalan's new movie Knock at the Cabin is out in theaters today -- it stars Jonathan Groff (that's his butt and other bits above on our beloved Looking) and the beautiful and talented Ben Aldridge as a gay couple with a little daughter who must fight off home invaders (including Dave Bautista) who are convinced it's the end of the world. Here is the trailer if you missed it. Anyway I might have had a mixed reaction to the movie (see my tweet at this post's bottom for a brief thought) but it's actually I think a fascinating failure with a whole lot to talk about. I have a piece coming out at some point on some of that over at Mashable (probably Monday because it's spoilery) but as much as I think the movie's let down by its construction I still recommend seeing it. For one...

Ben Aldridge, real deal pic.twitter.com/G8dx5aYu41

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) February 3, 2023

... the actors are all terrific. Ben Aldridge specifically knocked me out -- after killing it in both this and in Spoiler Alert (review here) I am very much Team Ben at this moment in time. For another, and I don't really get into this in my Mashable piece so I can get into it a little here, it's an incredibly smart movie on the COVID pandemic without actually being about that. What it is about is a family trapped inside a house while everyone outside goes crazy with conspiracy theories and the only way they have of keeping abreast of the world is the television and they start becoming convinced themselves of Fake News and Crisis Actors and without pushing any of this directly it is very much about the past few years in ways that impressed me. So ultimately I don't think it fully works as the thriller that it's supposed to be, but as a collection of ideas and ruminations on Our Moment? It's interesting. It's definitely interesting. But we'll talk more next week once my piece is out. (No not that piece, you pervs. That's Groff's job.)

I had EXTREMELY mixed feelings about #KnockAtTheCabin which takes a shit-ton of interesting ideas (and good perfs) & drops them in a really frustrating container. It somehow feels simultaneously over-stuffed & half-baked. I didn't buy it but I also can't stop thinking about it pic.twitter.com/yow85pHs6E

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) February 1, 2023

Knock Knock, Gays There

Getting to this late because of a screening this morning but lo behold we have gotten the first trailer for Knock at the Cabin, the new thriller from M. Night Shyamalan. Now you might be saying to yourselves -- "But Jason! You're of the mind that M. Night hasn't been at the top of his game for a very long time! Why dost thou care?" And first off I don't know why you suddenly went all Shakespearean there at the end but I like it; you should keep that cool shit up. Secondly -- I actually mostly liked Night's last film Old. Until he went as he's wont to do and crawled up his own ass with his complications having complications, anyway. But Old was goofy fun! Most importantly though, Knock at the Cabin stars Jonathan Groff and Fleabag out-gay Ben Aldridge as a pair of Daddys, so obviously I'm gonna talk about this movie. Come on. What am I doing here if not exactly that? They play dads to a little girl who all go to a cabin in the woods when, wham, a group of nogoodniks (including Dave Bautista and Rupert Grint) comes a'knockin. But don't let me describe it poorly, just watch the damn trailer:

Knock at the Cabin is out on February 3rd. What do we think?

You Can Point That Thing This Way, Dave Bautista

The first teaser trailer for the Knives Out sequel titled Glass Onion is here and it's chockablock with recognizable actors in fancy dress being ridiculous in an exotic location -- basically it's what we're asking for from another Knives Out movie, up to and including Dave Bautista looking like the beefcake-iest Bond Girl in an eensy little speedo with a gun attached. (We love love love Dave Bautista round these parts, ever since he came out swinging for gay rights letting the world know he was raised by two moms.) The movie is about to premiere at TIFF and it doesn't come out on Netflix until Christmas -- they say there's a theatrical release in between there but they're not coughing up a date yet. I would think Thanksgiving, right? It's gonna be Thanksgiving. Anyway watch:

What do we think? I think it looks fun but I will admit that

I kinda miss Chris Evans and his white sweater already.

Good Morning, World

Does anybody else absolutely adore Dave Bautista? I really can't explain it -- I'm not really attracted to him so it's not that; I don't watch wrestling and I haven't seen him in very much save the Guardians movies (which he's admittedly my favorite character in). But I totally adore him. He just seems like a genuinely good guy? I think it was that time he talked about being raised by two moms that gave me that impression, but it abides, and if you've heard otherwise please do not take this irrational thing from me. I only have so much to hold onto. Anyway here's a photo he shared on his Instagram yesterday where he says he's gaining weight for a role and griping about it, but I actually think this might be the best he's ever looked? Maybe keep the side of beef, my man. There's a whole teddy bear vibe that I do not hate.

As Good As Dead

I don't know if you were privy to my inflamed reaction to the entire Justice League Snyder Cut bullshit debacle -- think I said more, or should I say "shrieked more," about it on twitter than I did here on the site proper. But I found the entire spectacle distasteful -- the fact that so much money got tossed at it on a poisonous flotilla of toxic fanboy behavior; the fact that a terrible film got turned into a four-hour terrible film; the fact that anyone with eyes and ears tried to say it was any better on the ass-end of the experience and not just hours and hours more shit. Anyway in my ever so humble opinion that was a gross experience for all parties involved! 

That said the devil help me I am definitely feeling myself suckered in to Mr. Snyder's next movie, the zombie-heist flick Army of the Dead. It recalls the good part of Snyder's career -- aka the start, with his Dawn of the Dead remake. And it's truly got a super cast. Who can argue with Dave Bautista? He's so goddamned likable. You add Hiroyuki Sanada, Garret Dillahunt, Matthias Schweighöfer, Raúl Castillo, Omari Hardwick (seen above, strapping it on), and a zombie tiger? A zombie tiger! And I am pretty sure I saw a horde of Chippendales dancer zombies at one point? I can't fight this, you guys. Here's the just-dropped trailer:

We'll find out soon anyway, since Army of the Dead is hitting Netflix in a little over a month on May 21st. That said this is definitely one I'm a little annoyed I won't be able to see on a big screen. Right? It is screaming out for a great big screen.

You and and Me and Whose Army

I didn't post the poster for Zack Snyder's forthcoming Zombies-in-Vegas movie Army of the Dead last week because I haven't quite decided where I stand on the movie -- Zack Snyder's 2004 Dawn of the Dead remake was far better than it had any right to be and I was his fan for a good long while after it, but diminishing cinematic returns (and his professed love of Ayn Rand, barf) eventually snuffed out that flame. But this thing has got a cast!

The film, which hits Netflix on May 21st, stars Dave Bautista, exhibitionist-Deutsche -twunk Matthias Schweighöfer (see plenty more of him here), the great Hiroyuki Sanada (we love him very much), the great Raúl Castillo (with an admittedly godawful hair-do), the great Garret Dillahunt, and many many more. There are even girls, I suspect!

Anyway I have clearly caved and am posting about the movie today because they released a trailer and it looks like a heap of big dumb Zombies-in-Vegas fun. I spotted both a Liberace and an Elvis in the mix -- it's a shame Zack couldn't get Celine Dion to play herself, but who knows what surprises he's got in store. Watch the trailer yourselves, here and now, and give me your thoughts in the comments:

Muad'Dib We Call Instructor-of-Boys

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I was looking to illustrate this post with a real gratuitous shot of Dave Bautista and his gargantuan muscles - perhaps one of those speedo shots he's known so well for - but as soon as I stumbled upon the above, well, obviously I had to go with that. Beards and books and Bautista? I'm beside myself. Anyway we're here because Dave just got cast this week in Denis Villeneuve's reboot of Frank Herbert's Dune - yes the one that's going to star Timmy Chalamet as the Kwisatz Haderach himself Paul Atreides...
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I was really hoping Timmy would feel more House Harkonnen than Atreides tonight, but maybe he's saving that for the Oscars pic.twitter.com/EbH1PgAUVX

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) January 7, 2019

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Man I was proud of that nerd joke. Anyway there's no word on who Dave's playing but I imagine it's, you know, a character with muscles. Or perhaps he's going against type! He's already proven he can sit on a pile of books, so who knows? Also joining the cast this week, showing this thing's full-steam ahead at this point, is "Papa" Stellan Skarsgård as the greasy big bad Baron Harkonnen, so memorably rendered by Kenneth McMillan in David Lynch's original flop.

That's a big harness to fill but Stellan's a trooper, I have faith in him. And hell maybe they could reunite him on-screen with his real life son Alexander taking on the Sting role of the Baron's own bad boy Feyd-Rautha! I'd pay good money, great money, excellent money, to see Alex in that infamous metallic winged bikini...

I swear one of these days I will do a Dune post 

without mentioning that outfit, but today is not that day.

Time To Feel Weird About Your Drax Crush Again

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The new trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 2

has arrived -- and how does that make you feel?

Like caressing the iridescent texture of Dave Bautista's nipples?

What a coincidence, me too. Watch:

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I feel as if the Summer Movie Season is hurtling towards us at light-speed now - Guardians 2 is out on May 5th, which is only eight weeks away. There's only so much time and so many magazine covers that Chris Pratt can flash his big butt on between now and then, so he better get moving. 

Good Morning, World

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A happy 48th birthday to wrestler turned actor Dave Bautista today - did you know he's half-Filipino? I did not. Anyway what I learned this morning is you should never read the IMDb biography of someone who's in the WWE because it will be paragraphs upon paragraphs of like accomplishments like:

"In 2009, Batista shocked the world when he blamed Rey Mysterio for a loss to Undertaker, then attacked his former tag team partner."

Indeed, the world was shocked! Shocked I say! I remember the day well. I was walking to my office and there were all these people standing in the streets crying, pointing towards Lower Manhattan... oh wait, that was something else. Nevermind. ANYWAY I liked Dave in the Guardians movie a lot and not just because the red alien make-up somehow makes him cuddly.

He and Chris Pratt have great chemistry and I hope we get a lot more of it in the sequel - thankfully judging by the trailer they released they know this, and will be giving it to us. So a happy birthday to him today and here's a picture of him and Daniel Craig behind the scenes of Spectre giving us some firm, elaborate ideas...

Let's All Pound On James Bond Together

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Spectre is out today! I have some reservations on the film, which I detailed in my review, but if you're gonna see it - and let's face it, most of you are gonna see it - then you should see it on a big screen with a great sound-system because it looks great and the action scenes are big and loud and well-done. 

Oh and Daniel Craig's suits, like usual, are exxxtraordinarily tight, so tight they're nearly more obscene than if he were totally nude, and that's worth seeing on a big screen too. But I'm not here for Danny for once -- I feel bad I made no mention of Dave Bautista in my review, and he's a solid opponent for Bond, emphasis on solid. Man do you feel his punches. So let's love up on him!

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All Hands On Bond

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This new picture from Spectre is finally giving me a sliver of what I want, aka Daniel Craig in the hands of a big fella (this one being Guardians of the Galaxy star Dave Bautista) who knows just how to handle him, rough and tumble like. I'm still waiting for a hint of Bond skin to arrive - if they really fail to deliver another speedo scene like Casino Royale's I might have to personally fly to London and personally slap Sam Mendes silly.

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I Am Link

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--- Double Oh Doubles - The terrific Léa Seydoux, recently violently smacking girl-buns in Blue is the Warmest Color and stroking Vincent Cassel's fur in that new version of Beauty and the Beast, is apparently the "femme fatale" in the new Bond movie with Daniel Craig. She a bad Bond Girl, in other words. And Guardians of the Galaxy's Dave Bautista is apparently one of the evil henchmen. Naturally I'm more inspired by the latter, and hope it's he and Craig who do the majority of the wrestling around in the movie.

--- Jenny's Hate -  I'm surprised I haven't heard more about this news across the internet but maybe I was too steeped in Comic-Con when it dropped - Jennifer Jason Leigh has landed the lead female role in Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight. Although "Leading Female Role" is kind of a misnomer - I believe it should read "Only Female Role," from what I've heard about the script. Anyway I hope JJL's gotten her business together since a couple of years ago when she seemed Xanax'd out to a flat-line on Revenge.

--- Prison Bound - I feel like I've been writing about movies about the Stanford Prison Experiment for all my life - it's all Moritz Bleibtreu's fault for getting naked all over Das Experiment back in the day; now I look to these movies as good excuses for gratuity instead of, you know, allegories about humanity's innate violence, blah blah blah. There's a new one being made right now that I've told you about, it already has Ezra Miller, Michael Angarano, James Wolk and Billy Crudup... and now they just added Tye Sheridan and James Frecheville to the "exploit me!" list.

--- Scary Mary - Because all the dude-bros making the V/H/S movies can't be bothered to deal with women unless they're filming rape fantasies (alright, I'm being somewhat harsh, but still) a bunch of female horror directors (including Mary Harron!) have decided to make their own anthology series - it'll be called XX; we already told you about it before but Magnet just financed it. Good for Magnet. (thanks Mac)
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--- Van Dame - Dame Maggie (do I really need to add the "Smith" at this point?) is starring in a movie version of The Lady in the Van, which I guess is a play she did to much acclaim in the UK. (Dame Maggie's dusty farts are met with much acclaim.) It's about an old lady who parks her van in some dude's driveway for 15 years. History Boys and good buds James Corden and Dominic Cooper are co-starring.

--- Speaking Of British farts, the C4 has decided not to renew my new favorite show Utopia for a third season. BOO! My boyfriend says that David Fincher (who's making the American remake for HBO his next pet project) is to blame and I think he's right. Fincher wants to own the property; I've no doubt that's why it hasn't gotten any proper release here in the US. And now it's done! BOO. I haven't watched the second season finale yet, I have been saving it because I feared this might happen. I am afraid to watch it now that that's it. (thanks Bill)

--- Air America - Robert Downey Jr. is spreading his stank outwards from the Iron Man movies and the Avengers movies to the third Captain America movie - just when I figured out how to avoid him as best as possible, he decides to come between me and my Chris Evans' beefcake. I hate you, Robert Downey Jr.
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--- Scully Busting - I haven't read through all of this Reddit AMA with Gillian Anderson (I really find the format impossible, with my old-man eyes, to sort) but supposedly she says the party-line on a third X-Files movie (wait and see!) and she gets very very excited about a female-led Ghostbusters movie, basically begging for a role. I looooooooooove that idea.

--- No Game - I like Benedict Cumberbatch and I very much want to see the Alan Turing bio-pic The Imitation Game but Benny needs to shut his yap on the absence of gay sex in the movie, he is really cramming his foot in it - we don't need heterosexuals to tell us who and what we can claim as our "martyrs" any time or anywhere, good sir, so kindly stuff it. I am generally worried over what I hear about the movie, but we'll see.

Who Wore It Best?

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A piece of early concept art for Guardians of the Galaxy was dropped yesterday (left, click to embiggen) that showed what Jason Momoa might've looked like if he'd played Drax in the movie, as was an early possibility. The role ended up going to Dave Bautista of course, and he was terrific. But that doesn't answer the question.

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poll by twiigs.com

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Drax Gets Juiced

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Is it weird that all I can stare at in this picture Dave Bautista instagrammed oh himself in a unitard is that slimy green juice he's holding? Blecch.

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If Once You'd Have Told Me...

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... that I'd be more turned on by the Guardians of the Galaxy poster of Dave Bautista as Drax the Destroyer than by the Guardians of the Galaxy poster of Chris Pratt as Star-Lord, I'd have... probably agreed it was possible. I'm pretty easy like that. (via)