Dune (1984)

Note: Funny thing.. I've never seen Dune. With the new one coming out, I thought I should kind of watch it to kinda reacquaint myself with what will be in it. And I swear it, I had no idea David Lynch made this first one. I'm a... sorta... fan of David Lynch. Me and my buddies would put on Blue Velvet just to laugh our asses off at it. And I liked Twin Peaks. But still. This was no Twin Peaks. There's no secret that Roger Ebert hated it so without further ado - Roger Ebert's review of David Lynch's 'Dune'.

from Roger Ebert.com

DUNE

"*"

"It's like a dream," my friend from Hollywood was explaining. "It doesn't make any sense, and the special effects are straight from the dime store but if you give up trying to understand it, and just sit back and let it wash around in your mind, it's not bad." That was not exactly a rave review for a movie that someone paid $40 million to make, but it put me into a receptive frame of mind for "Dune," the epic based on the novels by Frank Herbert. I was even willing to forgive the special effects for not being great; after all, in an era when George Lucas' "Star Wars" has turned movies into high tech, why not a film that looks like a throwback to Flash Gordon. It might be kind of fun.

It took "Dune" about nine minutes to completely strip me of my anticipation. This movie is a real mess, an incomprehensible, ugly, unstructured, pointless excursion into the murkier realms of one of the most confusing screenplays of all time. Even the color is no good; everything is seen through a sort of dusty yellow filter, as if the film was left out in the sun too long. Yes, you might say, but the action is, after all, on a desert planet where there isn't a drop of water, and there's sand everywhere. David Lean solved that problem in "Lawrence of Arabia," where he made the desert look beautiful and mysterious, not shabby and drab.

The movie's plot will no doubt mean more to people who've read Herbert than to those who are walking in cold. It has to do with a young hero's personal quest. He leads his people against an evil baron and tries to destroy a galaxy-wide trade in spice, a drug produced on the desert planet. Spice allows you to live indefinitely while you discover you have less and less to think about. There are various theological overtones, which are best left unexplored. 

The movie has so many characters, so many unexplained or incomplete relationships, and so many parallel courses of action that it's sometimes a toss-up whether we're watching a story, or just an assembly of meditations on themes introduced by the novels (the movie is like a dream). 

Occasionally a striking image will swim into view: The alien brain floating in brine, for example, or our first glimpse of the giant sand worms plowing through the desert. If the first look is striking, however, the movie's special effects don't stand up to scrutiny. The heads of the sand worms begin to look more and more as if they came out of the same factory that produced Kermit the Frog (they have the same mouths). An evil baron floats through the air on trajectories all too obviously controlled by wires. The spaceships in the movie are so shabby, so lacking in detail or dimension, that they look almost like those student films where plastic models are shot against a tablecloth.

Nobody looks very happy in this movie. Actors stand around in ridiculous costumes, mouthing dialogue that has little or no context. They're not even given scenes that work on a self-contained basis; portentious lines of pop profundity are allowed to hang in the air unanswered, while additional characters arrive or leave on unexplained errands. "Dune" looks like a project that was seriously out of control from the start. Sets were constructed, actors were hired; no usable screenplay was ever written; everybody faked it as long as they could. Some shabby special effects were thrown into the pot, and the producers crossed their fingers and hoped that everybody who has read the books will want to see the movie. Not if the word gets out, they won't.

What did you miss? For a review of the last episode, click HERE

From Den of Geek: https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/fargo-season-4-episode-3-review-raddopiarlo/

Fargo Season 4 Episode 3:
Raddopiarlo

By Nick Harley|October 4, 2020|

Photo: FX


If Fargo’s two-episode premiere felt something like a change of pace for the series — a new setting, traditional gang conflict backdrop, and a somewhat more serious tone — “Raddopiarlo” feels like a classic Fargo installment. Between the introduction of smooth-talking U.S. Marshall Dick “Deafy” Wickware, the abundance of showy monologues, and a hilariously botched heist, this jam-packed episode managed to turn up the heat in the budding war between the Faddas and the Cannons while throwing in some interesting wrinkles. Not everything is working quite as it should, but the show is still plenty entertaining.

I’m never going to say no to Timothy Olyphant as a cocky, brash lawman, and he certainly doesn’t disappoint in his first appearance this season as Deafy. Deafy is quick to establish his Mormon faith and his get-shit-done attitude. As a Mormon, Deafy is another “Other” in this American tale, as it was technically illegal to be a Mormon in the state of Missouri after the 1838 Mormon War. A state executive order said you could kill Mormons in the state of Missouri until 1976, but chomping on carrots with a cool confidence, Deafy doesn’t seem too afraid. Like others in the story, he then goes on to make disparaging remarks about the Italians and others, not realizing that they’re all in the same boat.





Deafy is in town to look for Zelmare and Swanee after their escape from prison, as inmates reported Zelmare talking about her sister and the trouble she was in prior to her escape. He’s assigned to work with Odis, who is annoyed he can’t stay on the socialite murder case and protect the Faddas, but when the pair make a surprise visit to the Smutny home, they aren’t able to locate the hiding fugitives. Deafy’s presence is sure to shake things up, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he finds himself in the middle of the Fadda-Cannon conflict at some point.

Speaking of that conflict, the family consiglieres Doctor Senator and Ebal Violante meet up at a diner to discuss the disagreement over the slaughterhouses. Despite some more clunky, repetitive dialogue about what it means to be American, this is great scene due to Glynn Turman’s measured yet powerful performance. Ebal knows that Donatello didn’t grant permission for the Cannon’s to take the slaughterhouse, and Doctor Senator knows that he knows, yet both men understand the realities of the situation and realize that they’re helpless to fight over the same opportunities they can afford to grab.

Meanwhile, Gaetano creates unnecessary chaos in the Fadda family home. After quickly placing a scare on Rabbi and Satchel as Rabbi explains his history to the Cannon boy, Gaetano runs into his brother and criticizes his strength and ability to lead the family. Gaetano is close to being over the top with his menacing, borderline psychotic behavior, but it’s so much fun to watch. Not content to allow the Cannons to get a leg up on his family, Gaetano makes a plan to take out Loy’s son Lemuel, against Josto’s wishes for no killing. After witnessing Rabbi earlier in the episode, he insists Constant take Rabbi with him on the job to prove his loyalty to the family.

In the episode’s tensest section, Rabbi realizes while in route to the hit what he’s being asked to do and immediately questions whether it was Josto’s orders. Urged by his morals and his understanding that he should not be acting against the actual boss’ wishes, he purposely botches the hit and tells Constant that he plans on letting Josto know that he’s taking orders from Gaetano. It’s gripping television and Ben Wishaw continues to make Rabbi the season’s most compelling POV character.

Speaking of hits gone poorly, Zelmare and Swanee decide to try to rob the Cannon safehouse, thinking that it will aid Dibrell with her debt. Unfortunately for the outlaws, Swanee digs into the pie left by Oraetta right before they leave on their mission. Like clockwork, the two women bust into the Cannon safehouse and Swanee immediately starts getting sick. Swanee’s vomiting and Zelmare’s lack of focus causes some of the Cannon men to try to fight back, which causes bullets to fly and Zelmare and Swanee to escape with less than anticipated. This season felt the most like Fargo’s past, as it’s clear this unrelated heist will be blamed on the Faddas and have massive implications in their escalating feud. My only critique is that this section could have had more chaos and carnage.

Finally, in what feels like a completely unrelated show, Oraetta lands a job at Dr. Harvard’s hospital, schmoozing and sweet talking the vain man with ease. Outside the hospital, Josto is doing his regular stakeout, just waiting to take his chance to off Dr. Harvard, and Oraetta spots him again assuming that he’s interested in her. The two share some more drugs and a very odd moment of intimacy. It’s clear Oraetta has eyes for Josto, and Josto seems pretty drawn in by Oraetta’s unique energy. I like Oraetta’s brand of evil, I’m just not quite sure how it fits with the series moving forward, especially when it seems that more relevant characters like Ethelrida, Satchel, Zero, and others are getting short shrift.

While not flawless, this episode was absolutely stuffed with compelling action, even if we can do with a little less speechifying. While I enjoyed Chris Rock in the premiere, I feel like he’s pulling his natural charisma back a little too far in this episode. Jason Schwartzman appears to have the opposite problem, being just a tad too anachronistic to the point of seeming miscast. However, I’m still onboard with the latest season of Fargo and I’m curious to see how the Cannon’s respond to the threats, real or perceived, as well as how Josto will deal with the power grab that’s being attempted by his brother.

Immortal Hulk #36-40: The Keeper of the Door

IMMORTAL HULK #36-40

Follow the Leader! The Hulk's archenemy has set his sights on infiltrating the green behemoth's friend group in preparation to enact his nefarious, long-fomenting plans. But can the Leader push the immortal Hulk beyond his breaking point? Meanwhile, when Bruce Banner first came to Shadow Base, he was cut up into pieces and stored in jars — but he was only the second test subject. The first subject has just been freed! Plus: Some time ago, an outside force entered Bruce Banner's system. The Devil Hulk says it's the Green Scar. The Green Scar says it's the Devil Hulk. They might both be wrong! But now, deep in Banner's mind, something is reaching through the Green Door — and it wants to hurt Banner badly. And the Devil Hulk takes that personally. Al Ewing's best-selling, Eisner Award–nominated story continues!

What did you miss? For a review of the last episode, click HERE

Black Monday S3 Ep 9: Two

Original Air Date: Jul 25, 2021

Mo tries to make his own bachelor party happenin’. A killer is still on the loose and they’ve chosen to celebrate in a cabin…in the woods. Keith enjoys his social status upgrade until someone unexpected returns. Yassir learns all about what he should have seen in Home Alone and finally, Lenny Leighman comes back from the dead.

The Expanse S2 Ep 13: Caliban's War

What did you miss? For a review of the last episode, click HERE

from syfy.com: https://www.syfy.com/the-expanse/episodes/season/2/episode/13/calibans-war

The Expanse S2 Ep 13: Caliban's War





On Jules-Pierre Mao's ship, his guards have been ordered to get rid of Avasarala, and they end up in a shootout with Cotyar and Bobbie. Cotyar gets shot in the midst of the gunfire.

Naomi and Amos return to the Rocinante and reunite with Holden, who apologizes for his maniacal fervor in trying to kill the Protomolecule hybrid. As Prax tends to Amos' wounds, he is haunted by the fact that the hybrid they have been hunting was once an innocent child.

As the Roci crew discuss plans to repair their damaged ship, they spot the hybrid in the cargo bay on the monitors. Naomi says, "We don't have any choice this time. We have to kill it." Ignoring Prax's pleas to let him communicate with the creature, Holden, Amos, and Alex go after the hybrid, after it removes an implant from its chest and throws it out of the ship. It throws a magnetic crate at the men, and it pins Holden to the wall. Alex and Amos are forced to retreat, as the bullets in the hybrid heal themselves. Strangely, the hybrid ignores the trapped Holden and starts digging into the ship's bulkhead. They realize it's going after the ship's radiation source, for food. If it reaches the ship's reactor, they're all dead.

Back at the shootout on Mao's ship, Avasarala, Cotyar, and Bobbie are in trouble, though they've reached a stalemate. They spot an air vent, and Cotyar tells Bobbie to escape through the elevator shaft, retrieve her battle armor, and come back to save them.

As the hybrid continues to dig, the Roci crew needs to figure out a plan before Holden's injuries become life-threatening. Amos speaks up with a plan to depressurize the cargo bay and shoot the hybrid out into space. But won't that plan tear Holden apart? "Maybe not," says Amos.

On the Arboghast, hovering over Venus, Dr. Iturbi says there is no doubt that the Eros crater is active, and he convinces Janus to descend to get a better reading.

On the Roci, Naomi gets Amos alone and apologizes for getting rough with him on the Somnabulist. He's angry at himself for making her. He says he's been making all the wrong choices. Naomi intuits that Amos was lying when he said Holden could survive the de-pressurization plan. She tells him he's not to blow the doors on that hatch until she finds another way. With the hybrid still digging, Alex turns off the ship's reactor. But once the hybrid can't sense the radiation anymore, it turns its attentions to Holden and begins advancing on him. Bad news. So Alex powers up again, and the creature resumes digging.

While Cotyar tries to negotiate with Mao's men, Bobbie moves through the elevator shaft. Despite a close call, she makes it out.

Holden's vital signs are fading, and Naomi hasn't been able to figure out an alternative to Amos' plan. So Holden wants to have a talk. Naomi refuses to let him say goodbye, but he presses on. He tells her that if he dies, let him go and find a place to hide out.

Cotyar is passed out from his wound, until Avasarala PRESSES ON IT to wake him up. They're still trapped, but Mao's men offer Cotyar a deal: give up Avasarala and he can walk. To Avasarala's shock, he's considering it. Why should they die for their boss' conflicts, Mao's guy asks. Avasarala tells Cotyar that if he is going to turn on her, he must take up her cause. Someone has to stop Errinwright.

Prax gets an idea: the hybrid is moving towards the energy source like a plant to sunlight. If they could offer it a new energy source, they could lure it outside the ship with a nuke and then blow it up.

Meanwhile, the only thing standing between Bobbie and her supplies is a dweeby electrician. He threatens to push a button and initiate a lockdown, but she calls his bluff. They strike up the same bargain being offered to Cotyar: why should they sacrifice themselves for Mao and Errinwright? Or Earth and Mars, for that matter? The electrician lets Bobbie pass, though he asks that she rough him up to make a good show of it.

As Prax and Naomi walk the outside of the Roci, preparing to toss the nuke, Holden makes Amos promise to blow the hatch in case the plan doesn't work. "You were always trying to be a good man," Amos tells Holden. "Not everybody does. Thank you." Alex shuts off the power source again, but this time as the hybrid moves towards Holden, Prax and Naomi expose the core of the warhead. The hybrid senses it and follows it outside the ship. It looks for a second like Prax will lose his nerve, but he doesn't. He tosses the warhead, he and Naomi run, and Alex is able to roast the hybrid and the nuke with the Roci's afterburners.

Just as Mao's men are about to shoot Avasarala, Bobbie, armed with her battle suit, arrives to take them out.

The Arboghast descends to the surface of Venus and the Eros crater when suddenly, the sensors go crazy. The crater is moving! The Martian ship completely disappears, and we soon see why, as the Arboghast is surrounded by Protomolecules and then suddenly pulled apart.

Safe on the Roci, Naomi tends to Holden. She tells him they can't have any more secrets between them, so she tells him the truth about the piece of Protomolecule she said she shot into the sun. Only she didn't. She tells Holden that there's no going back: the Protomolecule is a weapon they'll all have to deal with. Earth has it; Mars has it; she needed to make sure the Belt had it. So she gave the Protomolecule to Fred Johnson.

Meanwhile, we see Dr. Strickland sealing up Mei — very much alive and not a hybrid — in a pod and telling her, "Sweet dreams."

What did you miss? For a review of the last episode, click HERE

from ew.com:https://ew.com/tv/recaps/billions-season-5-episode-8-copenhagen/

Billions S5 Ep 8: Copenhagen

Billions recap: Chuck and Axe are at each other's throats again as season 5 returns

With Axe trying to find a way to get his charter bank approved, Chuck attempts to make strides toward being a better person.
By Kyle Fowle
September 05, 2021 at 10:00 PM EDT

Billions is finally back! Season 5 was interrupted by COVID-related work stoppages last year, depriving all of us of the back half of what has so far been a really solid season. A quick recap, since it's been so long: Axe is trying to get in the business of running a charter bank so he can, you know, have even more money than usual. Chuck, as attorney general, is doing everything he can to stop that from happening, while also trying to finally find something to take down Axe and Axe Capital for good. Meanwhile, Mike Prince (Corey Stoll) has arrived as another rival for Axe, the seemingly do-good entrepreneur representing everything Axe despises — namely good intentions, real philanthropy, and making money without exploitation.

Axe has been desperate to undermine Prince's assertion that he's one of the good billionaires, and Wags thinks he may have finally found a way to get some dirt on him. He's found out that Prince's right-hand man, Scooter (the Wags to Prince's Axe, if you will), has been placing all sorts of gigantic sports bets, and that there's no way a man of his means is managing to keep his head above water. So Wags corners Scooter in a coffee shop and gives him an ultimatum: show up at Axe Cap and give them some dirt on Prince, or Axe and Wags ruin his life with this gambling information.

Meanwhile, Chuck is dealing with a scandal of his own. He's been anonymously emailed a picture of him in his college days, setting fire to a bathtub full of student election ballots. Chuck explains the context to Ira, that this was part of a movement to get the university to divest from companies upholding apartheid in South Africa, and that Chuck needed to beat his opponent for moral reasons. But Chuck also knows this looks bad and could tarnish his whole career.

The email comes with a call for him to resign his teaching position, and Chuck is pretty sure he knows who the message is from. He calls a meeting with one of the students who walked out on him when Chuck asked them to unethically look into Todd Krakow earlier this season, and what follows is a fun, prickly conversation in which Chuck tries to warn the young man about starting out his career with blackmail. The student responds by sticking to his convictions and telling Chuck to resign.

Luckily for Chuck, the student eventually has a change of mind and tells the dean of Yale that he attempted to blackmail Chuck, and that the matter should be dropped. Of course, the dean isn't too eager to keep Chuck on as a teacher with this in his past threatening to surface at any point, so she forces him to resign his post, though he gets to keep the photo away from the public for now.

Getting back to Axe, Wags lets him know that Scooter has agreed to come in, and that means it's only a matter of time before they get something good on Prince. But then Prince shows up alongside Scooter and explains that the bets were all Prince's, and that they're all accounted for and all taxes are paid on any wins. In other words, Axe still has nothing.

Eventually, because of a supposed "tell" in the language Prince used during their meeting, Axe directs his team to dive into Prince's past — something has to be there. Indeed, Dollar Bill eventually stumbles across something. Prince's deceased partner, David Fells, owned shares in their first company together, and because he was a founder, these shares come with 10-1 voting power. David's mother should still have the shares, so Dollar Bill sets up a meeting between her and Axe.

Axe makes his intentions clear. He's ready to pay her anything she wants for those shares. The thing is, she doesn't have them, Prince does. But she has something else: She tells Axe the story of what really happened with the sale of their first company. Essentially, when David started drinking and getting dependent on drugs, Prince offered him $200,000 for control of the company, telling him to go off and get healthy, and that when he was sober and strong enough they'd start another company together and keep growing. The shady part? Prince knew an offer for the company was coming from Microsoft, so that $200,000 was nothing compared to what David should have made. The betrayal led to more drinking, more drugs, and a car accident that killed him a month later.

All this gets aired on national television, during the feature that Prince has been waiting to see and is expecting to paint him as a saint, as David's mother sits down for an exclusive interview to tell the whole story. It's a big win for Axe, but not the only one of the episode. He also manages to swindle Chuck into investigating a payday loan company called Plaintiff-ful, essentially ruining the company and making them worthless. Once the investigation is underway, Axe buys up the company for cheap. Why? Because it has an asset he wants: a charter bank. That's two huge moves for Axe in this episode, putting both Prince and Chuck behind the eight ball. Still, a lot can happen in these last few episodes. This isn't over yet. 

What did you miss? For a review of the last episode, click HERE

From Vulture: https://www.vulture.com/2018/09/the-sinner-recap-season-2-episode-7-part-vii.html

The Sinner S2 Ep 7

The Sinner Recap: No Reservations
By Kenny Herzog


Photo: USA Network/Peter Kramer/USA Network

Up until now, The Sinner’s second season had been operating in good faith. That ended with the rather nonchalant reveal that it was random suicide victim Britt Jacob’s decomposing body at the bottom of Purple Lake — not Marin’s. Not that anyone was rooting for Marin’s demise (though if so, they’d get their wish soon enough), but the bait and switch was a bit half-assed, a fairly unsophisticated way of keeping viewers guessing without giving back to series lore. But, now we know that it was indeed Marin waiting for Julian in that storage container north of the border. Ditto for who’s been stalking the poor kid in his bedroom, eventually stealing him away from his foster home for some belated mother-son bonding.

Alas, Marin — who’d recovered from addiction, spent some time in a Canadian convent, and returned to Mosswood, where her appeals to Vera for a reunion with Julian led to further exile — doesn’t make it farther than the Five Nations Motel. And unless the corpse of Britt Jacob reanimated and took her out, it appears Julian has claimed his third fatality in self-defense. Though, it’s highly suspect that this anxious 13-year-old could fire a steady shot to his biological mom’s gut, even if he was rightly alarmed by her fidgety, extreme behavior. No, odds are Vera’s a reliable gunslinger, and thanks to ponytail man’s reconnaissance work at Grey Daughters, she knew exactly where Marin was hiding out.

If there’s one truly important piece of information gathered during “Part VII,” it’s that Vera will do anything to keep Julian close. Rearing him has not only given her purpose, but it’s helped her rationalize all those terrible things she let happen when Lionel was lording over the commune. Take Julian away and it’s all meaningless guilt. She’d rather have brainwashed Julian into absolute obedience, sabotaged Bess and Adam, and sent Marin to the hereafter (it’s all for you, Julian!) to fulfill what had become an obsessive, almost divine maternal duty, than head back to East Texas having been suckered into subservient faith by an egomaniacal psycho (that’d be the Beacon). Julian’s whole life had been a kind of kidnapping, really.

It follows, then, that Vera was projecting a tad when lecturing Harry about how saving Julian wouldn’t amount to saving himself. She’s not off the mark either (we still don’t know exactly what he confessed to her in his delirium at the cabin). What separates them is that Harry’s been out in the world since he left Keller, immersed almost wholly in what makes others tick, to the detriment of his personal life and sense of self. All the while, Vera’s been cocooned within Mosswood, persuading followers to conform to her fantasy of a singular path to peace, quieting any dissent in her own head or from outside their sanctuary about the damage done. Harry and Vera are very much two sides of the same coin, but “Part VII” reminds us who the show’s protagonist really is.

Marin herself is arguably this season’s biggest mystery, and just as arguably its biggest missed opportunity. Hannah Gross, so good here and in Mindhunter, becomes a tragic and clichéd figure as she gets lost amid Mosswood, nearly finds religion, and collects herself to come for Julian. She’s an inherently sympathetic figure who spends all of her screen time from pregnancy on floundering and erratic, a bridge Harry and Vera have to cross to reach whatever intersection they’re approaching that determines Julian’s fate. It’s very possible that she was placing Julian in harm’s way, maybe even calculatedly (after all, if that body was Britt’s, then we still haven’t confirmed Lionel’s in la-la land), but whatever her intentions or state of mind, she was also the only character who fundamentally got that you can’t fix a broken past. Perhaps we’ll least still find out what she had planned for the future.

What the show has in mind for Julian in his coming years is The Sinner’s most pressing TBD. Yes, we’d all like to wrap up how Vera, Jack, Glenn, the police department, Heather, Heather’s mom, Marin’s mom, etc. were or weren’t culpable in Bess and Adam and now Marin’s deaths. It’ll be duly satisfying to discover whether Lionel lost his life to a cup of jimson tea or is still waiting somewhere by Niagara Falls to sacrifice Julian to the alpha gods. And one supposes it can’t hurt for Harry to get some closure on his whole “I almost killed my mom and then watched her rot in a mental institution” malaise. But let’s hear it for Julian (and a great Elisha Henig), our head-scratching, shadow-selfing, manslaughtering young teen. He’s been ripped from the arms of one mother, and then another, and then seen the other die; and in between, poisoned two innocent (we think) people (RIP Bess and Adam) and did some hard time in juvie. This kid doesn’t stand a chance, but like Harry, hopefully he’ll at least get the hell out of Keller.

Apart From All That

• One more time for Burl Ives.

• Who knew Harry was learned in augury?

• You might recognize Sister Joanna a.k.a. Marceline Hugot as a particularly intense cult member (how apropos) Gladys in The Leftovers.

• Looks like Vera’s about to make the ultimate sacrifice, whether it’s how she scripted it or not, and swap her freedom for Julian’s.