Review: ‘Dune’ is a vast, beautiful film that loses sight of its emotional core

Dune

Expectation, thy name is Dune. Years in the making and then delayed for an entire year thanks to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Dune has the weight of expectations hanging over it. Director Denis Villeneuve is an accomplished visionary with a clear eye for details and world-building alike, but how can the story of Dune –a famously dense work– be adapted into a movie?

Continue reading “Review: ‘Dune’ is a vast, beautiful film that loses sight of its emotional core”

Awesome Friday Movie Podcast Episode 4: ‘Vivo’ & ‘The Suicide Squad’

Awesome Friday Podcast Vivo & The Suicide Squad

Greetings programs, it’s Awesome Friday on a Sunday, which means we’re back with another episode of the Awesome Friday Movie Podcast!

Join us this week as we discuss two new movies. First up is the new Sony Pictures Animation film Vivo, which features the voice, and songs, of Lin-Manuel Miranda and was released to Netflix this week. Second up is James Gunn’s triumphant return to superhero movies; the Warner Brothers and DC released The Suicide Squad, now in theatres (and on HBO Max in the United States).

Continue reading “Awesome Friday Movie Podcast Episode 4: ‘Vivo’ & ‘The Suicide Squad’”

Review: ‘The Suicide Squad’ is wacky, juvenile, committed, fun, and familiar

The Suicide Squad

James Gunn has a distinctive voice. It’s always been there, from his days at Troma through writing the Scooby-Doo films and the Dawn of the Dead remake, and from his early directorial efforts like Slither and Super all the way to the Guardians of the Galaxy and now, the Suicide Squad. That voice is juvenile, a little dark, and also –and this is most important– fun.

I say this because The Suicide Squad, the movie he signed on to make while briefly exiled from Marvel Studios, is a juvenile movie. And it’s a little dark. And it’s pretty fun. But while its R-rated excesses are probably the logical extension of his voice as a storyteller, it is also cobbled together from his greatest hits from other projects. Your mileage may vary on whether it feels repetitive or merely familiar, but it’s also enough fun that that probably doesn’t matter.

Continue reading “Review: ‘The Suicide Squad’ is wacky, juvenile, committed, fun, and familiar”

Review: ‘Ant-Man & The Wasp’ delivers big with small stakes

The first **Ant-Man** is a good film. Immediately following **Avengers: Age of Ultron** is was light, funny, full of great performances, and had refreshingly small, personal stakes. **Ant-Man & The Wasp** continues these traditions: it’s a light, funny movie with some great performances, smaller, more personal stakes, and it immediately followed **Avengers: Infinity War** which had literal end-of-the-entire-universe stakes. Is this new entry in the Marvel experiment good though? Yes, yes it is! Is it better than the last one? Well… maybe?

Continue reading “Review: ‘Ant-Man & The Wasp’ delivers big with small stakes”