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Review of A Cat’s Life

Hey, Cassipedia, what're you watching?

Tucked in the middle of these big, blockbuster movies was a little French film called A Cat’s Life, directed by Guillaume Maidatchevsky. It’s a simple story about a little girl who adopts a kitten she found in her attic and it follows her life up into the cat’s adulthood, during which the girl has to make a tough decision about her cat’s future.

Do you recommend watching it?

This was a cozy movie to watch, but I think it might not be to everyone’s taste. Being originally a French movie dubbed in English, it may take some getting used to situations where a character’s mouth doesn’t match what they’re saying. But once you get past that, it is a film that I think may be best enjoyed by younger audiences, cat lovers and, considering I saw mostly elderly couples in the theater with me, older audiences may enjoy this too.

What's the story like?

This is a movie about growing up in which the cat is a symbol of growing up too fast. Clémence, played by Capucine Sainson-Fabresse, is the little girl that adopts her kitten Lou after realizing that Lou’s mother had gone out for food but hadn’t returned for days. She manages to convince her parents to let her keep Lou, and it becomes apparent throughout the film that her parents love Clémence but have a hard time loving each other. There is no villain here, and, in a funny sort of way, the movie is more about the girl than the cat, whom simply partakes in the standard cat fare of getting up to no good, wandering off where he shouldn’t and searching for food and a cat companion. There are ways where the movie could have tightened up its focus and the first half may be hard to get through, especially as the girl starts out as not being the most responsible cat owner. However, that actually feeds into the rest of the movie, as the cat ends up reflecting her carelessness with her own childhood, desiring to grow up too fast, only to then see how quickly her kitten has turned into a full-grown cat whom may not need her anymore. The heart of this movie is the cottage out in the woods that her family vacations in, and my favorite character of the film is the neighbor to the cottage Madeleine, played by Corinne Masiero, an older woman living on her own as she talks with her humongous dog and has a wry sense of humor. She is brutally honest but has a soft spoke she won’t admit to, and she expresses trusting animals more than people, but she lives off the land and dignifies the animals she hunts by not wasting their meat. Clémence starts out mistrusting Madeleine, but the best part of the film was when Clémence ends up staying for a few days as Madeleine’s house as they tend to a deathly-sick Lou, bonding over loving animals and making art out of the junk that was illegally dumped in the woods, with Madeleine’s art pieces being incredibly similar to the elaborate toy wars back in Clémence’s own home. Though the writing and storytelling may feel simplistic, it’s all akin to a children’s storybook and with a surprisingly powerful message about appreciating youth and accepting when it’s time to let someone go.

What does the movie look like?

Have you ever marveled at the colorful clutter in I Spy books? I loved those books even more when I learned that the artist behind them individually and carefully arranged each piece for his photos. In this movie A Cat’s Life, there is always something visually interesting to look at. The dusty, crowded attic with items that are full of history yet abandoned is the perfect place for newly-orphaned kittens as they sit atop an armchair that is more torn-upholstery than it is a chair. Most of everything is down to the ground, at the cat’s eye level, giving a new perspective what would otherwise be a standard-looking living room. The majority of the movie takes place in the woods, which turns from a bustling green to winter white. My favorite point in the movie was when it settled in Madeleine’s house, for she turns junk that people carelessly dump in the woods into art, and her house is appropriately full of weird and wonderful sculptures of metal pieces and plastic cups formed into a junkyard zoo. Her hilarious sense of humor shows most through the Fox Graveyard being a living space of vicious chickens, whom have an array of knifes tied to the ceiling of their hen house for decoration. What impressed me was that all the moments with the animals were done with practical effects, either using live animals in a scene or using fairly convincing puppets for quick shots that would be difficult for a live anima. Whether or not any of it looks professional is I think irrelevant to how charming it is.

Where can I watch it?

It is currently available in Marcus Theaters, though it may not be around for too long, being a small film amidst so many bigger movies. I’ve heard Fandango is useful for finding local showings as well and the movie is likely to be available for Vudu, Apple, YouTube and Amazon. Being an international release, it may or may not be available in physical copies. It is unlikely to be available for streaming.

Final thoughts?

A Cat’s Life is a movie that caught my eye as a cat lover but I wasn’t sure what to expect. I may have found the first half cheesy, but the rest of the movie was well-worth the trip for me, as it had a genuine children’s storybook in the heart of it with an endearing bond between a little girl and her neighbor along with a sincere message. If you’d like to try something that cozy and fun, then I encourage your curiosity for this film.

#a cat's life #Guillaume Maidatchevsky #Capucine Sainson-Fabresse #Corinne Masiero #French film #cassipedia #film review #movie review #cinema #film #movies #cat #cats #cat movie

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“Wow, my own giant robot, I am now the luckiest kid in America!”

All shot practically except Giants eyes which I digitally illustrated a glow too the rest is all real.

#so cool #the iron giant #toy photography #practical effects #miniature #photographers on tumblr #original photography on tumblr #scifiart #photography #sci fi and fantasy #iron giant #miniature photography

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I was watching the Iron Giant today, and I noticed something.

In the movie it’s never explicitly said what happened to Hogarth’s dad, all we really get is this picture of him on Hogarth’s nightstand.

We see Hogarth wearing an aviator helmet too, presumably his father’s. I always took that as an implication that his dad died in the line of duty, some kind of accident, etc. Hogarth likely viewing him as a hero.

I’ve seen this movie so many times, that wasn’t new to me. But then I realized something about the end. When the Giant tells him he’s essentially leaving to die, we get the heart-wrenching moment where Hogarth says I love you a moment before he takes off.

And it occurred to me… he probably never got to say goodbye to his dad. To tell him that he loved him. And in this moment, he maybe doesn’t consciously understand it, but he had to get that final goodbye that he never got to tell his dad. To express the love he feels before he has another core figure ripped from his life. Maybe also in the line of duty protecting people.

#I'm not crying you're crying #the iron giant #iron giant #animation

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I wanted to reblog this review because some theaters like Marcus are re-releasing Migration on March 30th for Easter (I suppose because there's an association between ducks having eggs and Easter egg hunts). But hey I'm not complaining, because this is a movie that specifically works really well in theaters, so if you didn't get the chance to see it before in theaters, I really encourage it now.

Review of Migration (2023)

Hey, Cassipedia, what’re you watching?

Over the weekend, I watched the film Migration. It is an original animated film directed by Benjamin Renner and co-directed by Guylo Homsy and produced by Illumination. When I say original, I do mean it, as it is the first movie I’ve seen in a while that is not an adaption nor based on a pre-existing property.

Do you recommend watching it?

Yes, very much so! This was a surprising experience that I would hate for others to miss out on. The commercials had piqued my interest with the beautiful animation of the flying scenes and the jokes seemed harmless enough. Sometimes I am wary of Illumination films as they can be sometimes a bit too noisy or chaotic, but I’m very glad I saw the movie anyways, as it was surprisingly heartwarming, very cute and stunningly gorgeous (and, contrary to my concerns, it actually uses quiet moments better than most animated films I’ve seen recently!)

What's the story like?

This is a story about the Mallard family, ducks that live a peaceful and simple life in their pond, until a flock of migrating ducks stirs an adventurous itch in everyone except the nervous father, Mack. However, he soon comes around to the idea as he realizes how much an adventure would mean to his family and especially his wife Pam. So they start flying to Jamaica for a vacation. The trailers for the movie spoils the fact that the ducks take a wrong turn and end up in New York City, but the story is less focused on ‘duck shenanigans in an unfamiliar place’ and it instead is more of a road trip with a seamlessly integrated villain. This road trip allows the Mallard family to see different locations and meet different birds, all the while the family grows closer, trusting each other and growing braver in their own ways. There are delightful moments of silliness that are reminiscent of Looney Toons, but the movie takes seriously how much the family loves each other, giving them a reason to grow together as strong and beautifully as the trees they fly over.

What does the movie look like?

Think of how beautiful the sky is. Have you ever been on a plane and looked out at the sloping mountains and pillars of white clouds? Or perhaps, as the sun sets, you look up see how the red sun fades into golden orange blanketed by increasingly purple clouds and the approach of blue night? This movie understands how beautiful the sky is and elevates that feeling, as our bird characters soar and fly through vibrant forests, to a claustrophobic but intriguing water-logged shed, to the shiny and colossal skyscrapers of New York. The settings are gorgeous and the characters themselves are animated masterfully, so each character is incredibly expressive, with the beauty and grace of real-life birds mixed with Muppets-style comedic timing and cartoon stretchiness anchored by being able to carry heavy emotions. This all goes hand-in-hand whenever the birds take flight, as the camera seamlessly follows the birds from take-off to being air born, giving the thrill of a flying rollercoaster. There is such a sense of scale and height, and the world is from the birds’ perspective, with little details that brought me back to the creativity of early Pixar, such as having the father duck blow away a lightning bug nightlight like blowing out a candle, or how the birds will seamlessly alternate between their wings or their feet to gesture. With the movie being from the perspective of the birds, that means none of the human characters talk, being more like creatures existing alongside the bird characters, and this results in a very entertaining and interesting villain in the form of a duck chef with a Yakuza, gang member level of intimidation, whom never utters a word beyond grunts and yells paired with very well-made expressions. To give an idea of how good the animation is, even though the chef has no lines, from simply how he moves, sharpens his knives and looks at the ducks, one can see how, he’s a chef that takes his cooking very seriously, demanding high quality, but, when the ducks start interfering with his business, then he’s all too happy to start seeking revenge. And he is technically only a fun obstacle as the core of the story that this beautiful movie conveys is not about them versus a villain, but instead focused on a family.

How are the actors and actresses?

Every voice perfectly fit their characters, and the animations did excellent in having it where I could feel the characters talking, watching how their beaks formed the words with little flashes of their pointed, bird tongues. The father Mack Mallard was voiced by Kumail Nanjiani and did excellent as an anxious father who could get silly and serious, (and whose manner of speaking fittingly reminded me of a more grounded Daffy Duck). Elizabeth Banks voiced Pam Mallard and delivered as a mother with energy and eagerness paired by a snappy quick wit and a genuineness in each word. One of the cores of this movie is seeing and hearing how Mack and Pam fall back in love with each other over the course of the film, and I believe these voice actors delivered. The rest of the family cannot be overlooked, as Caspar Jennings as Dax Mallard provides a great performance as a courageous young boy who is itching for adventure. Dax is full of bravery but lacks the knowhow on how to protect himself along with others, whereas his father Mack is an excellent survivor but needs to be urged out of his comfort zone to truly become brave. The lesson between them is not simply one is right and the other is wrong, but it is a sharing of perspectives, in which the boy’s bravery inspires the father, and the father’s wisdom equips the boy against their obstacles. I was most concerned of the family member Uncle Dan, voiced by Danny DeVito, as to if he would be an unpleasant tagalong as sometimes happens in these movies, but he quickly established himself as someone who, though he makes quips and seems to lean on his self-interest, he never, ever hesitates to dote on and play with his darling niece, the youngest Mallard, Gwen, who is voiced adorably by Tresi Gazal. Notably, the film makes a point to show that the family already loves one another at the start, but their trip lets them appreciate each other and push their boundaries and discover more of themselves. The other voice talent are more than just recognizable celebrity names and each fit their characters, providing a distinct and colorful cast as one would hope from a road trip type movie. The Herons were my favorites in setting the tone of characters not always being what they seemed in an intriguing way, but each played a role in furthering the family’s journey and usually closed their loop on their own personal journey. The only group of these characters that may feel underexplored are the migrating ducks that inspire the Mallards on their journey in the first place, but I think it is due to the other characters simply having more screentime, as I’ve no doubt these characters would have been just as entertaining as the rest of the cast if they had been given more time.

Is the music worth talking about?

This is not a musical, but the score is absolutely a big part in why the scenery and so many of the moments in this movie sticks out in my mind so vividly. If you listen carefully, you will hear how the music changes depending on the setting. While the Mallards are in the forest, there is an emphasis on using a whimsical choir, adding to the lighthearted feeling, and as they enter the city, unsure of what it even is at first, the music takes on an ethereal, almost dream-like quality that one isn’t quite sure what to make of, until the ducks pass through the smog and nearly run into a steel beam and suddenly you got energetic and chaotic brass instruments banging in as the Mallards are caught in a whirlwind of New York City hustle and bustle. My words really can’t do it justice. And it is worth noting, there is only one distinct instance of a pop song being used in the movie and it is incorporated quite well as a band in a scene plays that song, resulting in a surprisingly beautiful display of ducks engaged in a Salsa dance. The movie is very smart with its music, as it furthers the immersion of seeing this colorful world through these cartoon ducks’ eyes. There are also great moments of quiet and silence, as the movie will also let the atmosphere talk for itself, really letting you sink into it (though it is worth noting that, for the opening of the Universal and Illumination logos, these are the complete opposite and are the noisiest parts of the entire film as the Minion characters from Despicable Me introduce the logos with kazoos. And if you are watching the film in theaters, you may find yourself sitting a surprisingly long time watching a short film based in the Despicable Me universe called ‘Mooned’ but rest assured, you did not walk in on the wrong movie and I very much encourage you not to leave your seat as I overheard many others in the theater seats next to me nearly did.)

Who would like this movie most?

If you are someone that likes birds or the sensation of being high up in the air or on a rollercoaster, I very much urge you to check out this movie. It is also a film that I think would be very enjoyed by those whom are interested in animation and illustration, to see an excellent example of how colors and movement can truly be blended to dazzle in a movie format. The story and characters are well-written and compelling for any age, though I think this movie would be well-received by families, especially as this film strives to show how a family grows closer together. There is a clever, timelessness to the jokes that focus more on the situation on hand and when you have animal characters reflecting on human habits, such as when one of the birds refers to a chef as ‘a predator that hunts prey and serves it to much lazier predators.’ During one of my viewings of the film, I had the pleasure of a family of a broad range from the parents, to their parents to young boys all sitting near me, and it caught my ear that each generation consistently laughed throughout the course of the film.

Where can I watch it?

This film is available in theaters for only a little bit longer at the time of writing this, but I heavily recommend seeing it in theaters at least once. Not only so you can really soak in the colors and the scope of the heights as the birds fly, but also so you can better feel the thrusting of wings as the birds take to the sky and the wind rushes through their feathers. It is an incredible experience. Considering it is an animated movie, it is possible it may re-appear in theaters for kids movie special offers as theaters like the Marcus Theaters sometimes provide. Otherwise, if this review reaches you too late, the film is available for streaming on Peacock for the first four months of being released, then will move to Netflix for the next ten, and then will return to Peacock for the remaining four, so I recommend checking between those streaming services of Peacock and Netflix. Otherwise, it doesn’t hurt to keep an eye out for a physical copy.

Final thoughts?

Migration is a beautiful film that I think can very easily fit in as a classic film, one that focuses on bringing a family together through a fun and colorful adventure. At the very least, it was a pleasure to watch in theaters as a visual rollercoaster, especially for the bird lover in me, and I hope, after its theatrical release that it will make its way into homes as it made its way into my heart. If you’re up for an adventure, then I completely encourage taking the dive.

#migration #migration 2023 #illumination #duck movie #animated film #film review #movie review #Kumail Nanjiani #Elizabeth Banks #Caspar Jennings #Danny DeVito #Tresi Gazal #cassipedia #Easter

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Heath Ledger - May 2000 - by Bruce Weber.

#heath ledger #a knight's tale #film #2000s #movies #cinema #knight #medieval #bruce weber #geoffrey chaucer #the canterbury tales

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Review of Cabrini (2024)

Hey, Cassipedia, what're you watching?

My first viewing of Cabrini was during National Women's Day, as the story is a dramatic retelling of the Catholic missionary Francesca Cabrini as she travels from Italy to America in 1889 to help impoverished and suffering, Italian orphan children while living in the depths of a dangerous city of poor working conditions and cutthroat criminals, and an ambivalent upper class.

Do you recommend watching it?

It’s absolutely a recommended watch. It has beautiful visuals and immersing acting that handles this dark topic with respectful seriousness and dignity. It also stirred my heart in desiring to further bridging the gap between people.

What's the story like?

It is based on a real-life figure and series of events, but it is told as a story rather than a biography. It is 1889 and we are introduced to Mother Cabrini, a woman who suffered from a severe lung disease and was told as a young girl that she would be bedridden, only for her to grow up, very much able to walk and make a journey to the Vatican to have her proposal for orphanages in China to be turned down by a cardinal. But her persistence brings her an audience with the Pope, whom recognizes her zeal and provides a counter-offer; he approves her missionary work, but only if she starts in New York, where it’s apparent that Italian immigrants are suffering, ignored by the higher classes and those whom had not learned their language. She is faced with challenges of a grim reality of giving an abused orphan and taste of lovingly-made food, a safe place to sleep and hope only to hear news of that same child’s life being claimed due to the violent and unstable conditions of the surrounding community. It is a story of unrelenting love and determination under immense pressure. This movie does not shy away from showing the darkness and danger of the world, in all its intensities, and it’s all the more gratifying when a glimmer of hope begins to come through.

What does the movie look like?

It's gorgeous, even painting a masterful but tragic picture of poverty. I recall the way that rays of sunlight practically glowed like white gold when they filtered into rooms choked by dust as rats scattered across the floors. The nighttime was black oily, glinting with barely contained fire in metal barrels and the flashes of moonlight and pocket knives. The sewers below were dingy and people scurried like rodents yet it had a floor of water that created a mirror world of those passing through, with a surreal beauty despite the horrible situation. There was darkness in the quiet, early morning, easing into purple then broken open by a silent yet brilliant orange-golden sunrise. The nuns and their black habits and capes gave them an unmistakable silhouette in every scene, as if they were a mysterious ghost. It was beautiful and memorable from the cheery and hopeful scenes to even the tragic and uncertain times.

How are the actors and actresses?

It’s safe to say that the actors and actresses did exceedingly well. Cristiana Dell'Anna as Francesca Cabrini was very compelling in her strength and dignity, as well as displaying her caged anger. Yet she frightened me terribly when the movie went silent and all you see and hear were Cabrini’s wheezing, pained coughs of her lung disease, leaving me wondering if this burning fire of determination was going to snuff out, alone in her room. At the core of this story, it is not a battle against starvation or neglect, but a battle of the heart, to stir the residents of New York whose hearts have gone cold and blackened, ignoring the cries of orphans while their parents die of sickness in their arms. Federico Ielapi as Paolo and Rolando Villazón as DiSalvo were amazing as these children in need, not just there to be objects of suffering, but active individuals, as lost children desperately reaching out for comfort in their broken ways. But we see how the presence of Cabrini and her sisters starts to change hearts, especially in the case of Romana Maggiora Vergano as Vittoria, a prostitute who slowly finds herself hoping for better and wanting change while the oily hands of her old life reach out and threaten to drag her back. We see the hearts stirred of the Italian immigrants, whom had grown hopeless and complacent to their situation. And one of the many powerful scenes in the movie was when Jeremy Bobb as New York Times reporter Theodore Calloway narrated a chilling news story after Cabrini opened his eyes to the suffering of his neighbors, right beneath his feet. I enjoyed also clever touches, like how the characters switch between speaking Italian and English, and they generally switch to English as a sign of commitment to Cabrini and her sisters from her order choosing to stay, despite everyone else trying to repel them from making any changes. This movie is rife with thoughtful decisions.

Who would like this movie most?

Though I am no history buff nor anything close of an expert, I think it is a kind of movie that those whom are fascinated by the era of the early 1900’s and depiction of the trials of the Industrial Revolution era would be interested in. It is not a film for younger audiences with the heavy topics it tackles, but it is a good movie for young adults and up.

Where can I watch it?

Cabrini is still available in some theaters and it is definitely worth the watch on the big screen. It is likely set to be available for streaming afterwards on places like Roku.

Final thoughts?

It remains in my memory. It was released on National Women’s Day, but I don’t think it would be fair to limit it to simply women, as that I think would defeat the point of its message. It’s a homage to how a particular person in time changed history in a way we still feel. It is a movie that doesn’t shy away from darkness in order to shed light on it and reflect that onto ourselves and ask, “What will you do now?” It's a good movie for those looking for something that challenges you to examine your heart towards others, like it did for me.

#cabrini #cabrini film #historical drama #period drama #Francesca Cabrini #Mother Cabrini #Cristiana Dell'Anna #Federico Ielapi #Rolando Villazón #Romana Maggiora Vergano #Jeremy Bobb #cassipedia #film review #movie review #cinema #film #movies

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#true and hilarious

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Review of Dune: Part Two

Hey, Cassipedia, what're you watching?

Recently, I watched the premiere of Dune: Part Two, which is the sequel of the latest Dune film series. It was delayed from its original release date, and this film is meant to show what happened after Paul Atreides and his mother escaped the Harkonnens and fled to join forces with the Fremen in the deserts of Arrakis. We are also shown more of the twisted and cruel daily life of the Harkonnen empire and just how involved the Emperor and his family are in the twisted machinations of everything, all the while the Bene Gesserit are only focused on creating their perfect human mind through any means necessary.

Do you recommend watching it?

To my great surprise, I didn't enjoy the movie as much as I hoped I would. For general audiences that aren’t familiar with Dune, this film is perfectly serviceable and is a fine sci-fi experience, though I think it could have done more to differentiate itself and make its story clearer. For those who liked the film Dune: Part One, this movie technically follows up on threads introduced in the first film, but it is very much the opposite of the first movie in terms of its themes and tone, which I found jarring and a bit unpleasant. On the other hand, I hesitate to recommend the film for those who enjoy the original Dune novel as Dune: Part Two makes many deviations and omissions to the story that go completely against the original novel. This was disorienting for me, as I immensely enjoyed and admired the first film, and I’ve tried to reconcile with my disappointment with the sequel for the past few days. I’ll do my best to lay out my thoughts, but the best way I can sum this up in a few sentences is: It is technically well-written but, to me, it lacked the magnitude and intentionality of the first film, so it felt somewhat rushed and like it wanted to focus more on violence than its story.

I’m going to break from my usual format in my reviews and instead go into detail of the three angles I tried to view this film through; a standalone film, a sequel and an adaptation. So, I’ll be discussing the story, music and visuals separately, I’ll bring them up as they relate to each of these angles.

How is this movie as a standalone film?

On its own, Dune: Part Two is a film about space politics, divided into three sides of the story. There is Paul Atreides, the exiled son of a duke, whom he seeks to avenge while his mother works to turn the local Fremen they are hiding amongst into Paul’s fanatic followers. There is a plot thread here of Paul growing closer to the Fremen and being torn about leading them into bloody battle, especially as he develops a bond with Chani, one of the Fremen who mistrusts him at first but whom he gains enough respect of for her to teach him their ways. However, this plot competes with the second plot thread of the Harkonnens trying to regain their control over Arrakis and failing due to Paul’s efforts, along with the introduction of the Baron’s nephew Feyd-Rautha, whom the film starts to set up as a foil and obstacle to Paul. And in-between all of this is the third plot thread that shows the introduction of the Emperor and his daughters, though it largely focuses on how cold and calculating the Bene Gesserit are in trying to manipulate bloodlines through the Emperor’s family and treating everyone around them like animals to breed. The film has a lot it is trying to juggle at once, and I think it could have benefited from focusing more on the central thread of Paul and perhaps reducing the time spent in the Bene Gesserit plot thread to also introduce Feyd-Rautha sooner. He is introduced midway through the film and he then dies by the end of it in a fight to the death with Paul. It’s all a lot to keep up with and with no time skips.

The music and the visuals add to this cluttered feeling throughout the film. Without many quiet moments, there was hardly time to soak in the atmosphere. The music almost felt intrusive at points, and it added to this feeling that the movie was in a sprint, trying to get through everything as fast as it could. In terms of the visuals, I remember many instances of sun-bleached sand on Arrakis, with near-indistinguishable dunes broken up by dim caverns of the Fremen’s home. In between were flashes of darkly-colored marble and uniform green gardens that were surprisingly un-extravagant in the Emperor’s palace, and all the black-and-white neon of the monochrome world of the Harkonnen planet, which seemed reminiscent of a post-modern, art film. They are impressive visuals, but I found myself being awfully reminded of Star Wars from the visuals, as they weren’t bad but were less distinct than I expected, with the exception of a few scenes. Overall, as a standalone film, I think it is fine and may be enjoyable, but it could’ve been more.

How is this movie as a sequel?

To me, this movie felt like a formality rather than a follow up. The heart of the first movie was the war of ideals between the Atreides' honorable nature and the Harkonnen’s army of bloodthirsty greed, while the Fremen observed and tested the Atreides to see if they were truly any different than their former oppressors. The sequel technically follows up on plot threads introduced in the first film. Paul does gain leadership over the Fremen, acquiring the desert-power his father hoped to, and he leads the Fremen to battle that ends in the death of their old ruler, the Harkonnen Baron. But he does so by taking advantage of the cultish fanaticism that his mother and her order planted, despite Paul disagreeing with it earlier in the film, and, when Paul and his mother discovers they are actually related to the Baron, he declares they will fight like Harkonnens, despite not wanting that earlier. I felt like I missed a scene, as if the sequel changed Paul's character midway through the film. At the risk of grossly simplifying the scene in the film, the reason Paul made this change of heart seemed to be from dying and being revived after being somewhat socially pressured into drinking sand worm poison according to a prophecy that the Bene Gesserit may or may not have planted. It has more nuance than that in the actual context but it felt more like how I described with how the movie paced and framed it. The sequel bounced between characters and could have been more condensed and focused. It also ended on a kind of cliffhanger in which the other ruling houses threaten war against Paul after he forced the Emperor to give him the princess's hand in marriage and he may have lost the trust of his Fremen lover Chani, which felt more like the ending to a TV show episode than a movie. There was also not the same kind of dignity as with the first film, feeling frantic and trying to keep the viewers' attention with almost gratuitous violence, instead of using the fights as means to tell a story. At the risk of sounding overly critical, I felt the visuals and costumes were not to the same level of the first film. The sequel I think gave us less time to take in the atmosphere and to the feel the weight of the universe. I did appreciate and admire the otherworldly visuals in the strange black fireworks of the Harkonnen planet and of how the princess's diary entry was laser-carved onto a metal cylinder, yet the outfits of the Emperor’s daughter and those of the dark figures in the Harkonnen arena with Feyd-Rautha felt too much to me like something that felt like costumes or people dressing up. The sequel technically delivers on what the first movie promised, but there was an inconsistent feeling and something that felt unfinished in its production. It may be worth at least one viewing but more out of obligation to the story.

How is this movie as an adaption?

There are moments that feel straight out of the novel, like with Paul riding his first sandworm. But for the most part, the film makes significant changes and deviations from the novel, many of which, I believe go against the original intent of the Dune story. There are three large changes that movie makes that I feel detract from the film. The smallest of these three changes is that there is far less emphasis on exploring the Fremen culture in-depth. An example of this is how much the film reduced the scene of the funeral of Jarvis. In the film, we see the Paul being yelled at and begrudgingly accepted by the Fremen as the body of Jarvis is brought and we see a well-shot scene of the water being extracted from the body, then Stilgar shows Jessica a ceremonial pool that the water of Jarvis is placed in, among the water of other dead Fremen. In the novel, Paul had to accept the water taken from Jarvis’s body as was his right and declare himself as a friend of Jarvis according to Fremen culture because Paul defeated Jarvis in battle out in desert heat. Paul was wrought with guilt and openly wept, shocking the Fremen that he would shed his own body’s water for the dead, which stirred the Fremen’s hearts. The scenes from the movie are technically not bad, but they completely change the context and miss the opportunity the book presented. The film version of Paul wasn’t nearly as involved in the funeral process as the book version, and this detracts from the sense that Paul is entering into the Fremen culture and ways, taking away his growing connection to the Fremen people and thus lessened the viewer’s human connection to Paul. The book's scene also frames the Fremen as being a practical people, whom seem cold-hearted yet are fair-minded, setting aside personal grudges to give Paul the water they believed he earned, but the film chooses to portray the Fremen as more hateful. It is fine in the context of the movie, but makes the film’s version of the Fremen feel less like the Fremen from Dune as if the movie wasn’t fully interested in the Fremen.

The second, more massive change that the film makes to the original story is condense what was supposed to be years of Paul and Jessica living with the Fremen to what may have been a few months or more. I’m not certain why they chose to make this change rather than have a time skip, especially since condensing the timeline makes significant alterations. For one, Paul’s sister Alia isn’t born and remains in Jessica, speaking telepathically from the womb due to Jessica drinking sandworm poison, called the Water of Life, as part of the process of becoming the Fremen’s Reverend Mother. This means that Paul has one less human connection in the film. In addition, I had personally been looking forward to the scene of Reverend Mother Gaius being defeated by Alia, but it is Paul that does that instead, and Paul is also the one who kills the Baron rather than Alia. Technically speaking, the change works as a dramatic irony since Mother Gaius and the Baron both underestimated Paul, so it is not bad writing, but it makes Paul feel more like his mother’s tool of vengeance and detracts from her motivation shown in the first film to strengthen Paul to protect himself because she loves him. Shortening the years to months also I think takes away from the sensation that Paul has learned the ways of the Fremen and lived among them, fighting alongside them, straining the suspension of disbelief and making Paul leading the Fremen into battle feel more like a spit-second decision rather than a long-coming fight for their freedom and more like Paul is just using them.

The third massive change, which I think is partly affected by the condensing of the timeline, is the depth of the relationship between Paul and Chani. I enjoyed the moments in the film as we see Chani learning to trust Paul and her in turn showing him how to live like a Fremen, but I wished we got to see more of it. The film cuts out Paul and Chani getting married and having a son, whom is then lost in a Harkonnen attack, and, in turn, the film cuts out years of trust and love built between Paul and Chani. This has a significant impact on how the final scene plays out in the film, compared to how it was in the book. At this point, the Baron is dead, the Reverend Mother Gaius is overpowered and Paul has the Emperor on the ropes. Paul offers the Emperor an ultimatum, to offer his daughter to Paul in political marriage. In the film, just before this moment, Paul tells Chani that she will always be first in his heart, and when he gives his ultimatum, Chani storms off and the film ends with her preparing to ride off on a sandworm, with betrayal and anger in her eyes. This is the complete opposite of how this played out in the book.

Allow me to pull an excerpt from Dune, pg. 604:

                Chani moved up on Paul’s other side, said: “Do you wish me to leave, Maud’Dib?”

                He glanced at her. “Leave? You’ll never again leave my side.”

                “There’s nothing binding between us,” Chani said.

                Paul looked down at her for a silent moment, then: “Speak only truth with me, my Sihaya.” As she started to reply, he silenced her with a finger to her lips. “That which binds us cannot be loosened,” he said. “Now, watch these matters closely for I wish to see this room later through your wisdom.”

Paul silences her doubts with his love. She is first in his heart. He trusts her beyond anyone. This was how he saw his father love his mother, and he too found someone to love and trust completely. If this had been in the film, it would have been an excellent way to show the kind of leader and man that Paul was set to become, that his father believed he would be, and it would have given a satisfying conclusion to the plot thread of Chani not trusting Paul while still allowing everything else to remain open with future installments, as Paul would still have the obstacles of all the political enemies he’s made.

With all of these changes, on top of odd, little additions like giving Feyd-Rautha cannibalistic servant girls and the increased emphasis on gore and murder than was already in the book, it gives the impression that the movie is trying to make the story of Dune: Part Two darker, more ‘adult' and more violent. This may be guessing on my part, for I have only read the original Dune novel and none of its sequels, but I have heard that, as time goes on, the story does turn darker, so perhaps these changes in the film are meant to be a way of fast-forwarding to that end result. Whether that be the case or not, the changes still leave the film feeling rushed and desperate for violence when comparing it to the original story.

Was there anything that you liked about the film?

Yes, as mentioned, this film is not poorly written and there are scenes that remain in my mind and heart. My favorite scene was when Paul rode his first worm. It had an excellent build up, of Stilgar the Fremen leader advising Paul and discreetly trying to hide his pride and worry for Paul as he tells him not to do anything fancy. The Fremen watch as Paul prepares to call the worm, waiting to see the moment if Paul is truly like one of them and many of them almost seeming hopeful for his success, followed by the sense of one’s gut-dropping as Paul calls a worm much larger than even the Fremen have ever seen, causing the usually stoic Fremen look afraid. I felt again the awe from the first movie. Of feeling humbled. Of Paul being challenged to throw all that he has and more into riding this worm, casting aside his fear and his old life and understanding how to ride with the desert. Funnily enough, the scene is almost exactly how it was in the novel, but it was extremely gratifying to see it on film. I also loved when Gurney was reintroduced. How effective he was at fighting off the attack of the Fremen at first on the scavenger ship, showing just how incredible of a fighter that he is and, by extension, how incredible of an army that House Atreides and Paul's father had cultivated. I especially loved how much joy and love was in Paul’s words “I recognized your footsteps” after seeing Gurney, who he believed was dead. How Gurney responded in a joyous, breathless voice on the verge of tears, “Young pup! Young pup!” It is a short scene but it communicates so much so well. As I mentioned earlier in my review, scenes of Paul and Chani’s growing trust between each other were also well-done. Like her showing Paul how to properly sand walk, and it is quiet moment where they move in sync, like in a dance. The one-on-one fights were also very good, just as they were in the first film, especially any fight involving Freyd. At the beginning of the film, there was a beautiful and surreal visual of Arrakis with an eclipse and it was a moment of silence. There was another striking visual of Freyd walking down a dark hall on his home planet while colorless fireworks flash like lightning. I wanted to see more of these. I list all these things separately because I want to highlight the amazing things I think this movie's team is capable of and what I would have liked to have seen more of from them.

Where can I watch it?

As of writing this, it is currently in theaters. Though it is likely to be released digitally on platforms like Netflix just like with the first film.

Who would enjoy this film?

This is perfectly fine movie for those whom enjoy sci-fi, though I would recommend Dune: Part One over Dune: Part Two. If you are into the Dune franchise, then you may consider watching this film once, but it isn’t one I would personally re-watch. As far as films that explore the conflict between cultures and people trying to oppress others whom they think are lesser, I would instead recommend the movie Cabrini. Though it is not a sci-fi, it demonstrates the deadly and horrifying struggles of Italian immigrants in 1890’s America in a way that I had wished the Fremen's struggles against the Harkonnens had been explored.

Final thoughts?

If you loved the first movie and the first Dune book in the same way that I did, then I hesitate to recommend watching Dune: Part Two more than once because of my mixed feelings on the story, visuals and odd additions and changes to the plot. I still give great praise to the first film and I hope the best for those working on this series. I don’t know if what I felt in Dune: Part One can be recreated so perhaps it was unfair to Part Two, but I still hold out hope for a future movie to fill me with awe, whether it be in the Dune franchise or elsewhere.

#dune part two #dune part 2 #dune 2024 #timothée chalamet #dune #dune movie #dune 2 #film review #movie review #cinema #film #movies #cassipedia

[cassipedia]

Review of Dune: Part One

Hey, Cassipedia, what're you watching?

Recently I re-watched Dune: Part One which is based on the first half of the sci-fi novel Dune by Frank Herbert from 1965. It is referred to as a sci-fi ‘epic’ because of the length and scope of the story, at the center of which is Paul Atreides, the son of a duke of a ruling family that was recently granted ownership of a dangerous desert planet called Arrakis in order to mine ‘Spice,’ a material necessary for space travel, the mining for which has caused unrest among the people of the Fremen who live there already. As jealous former rulers of the planet close in from above, and unfathomably massive sandworms lurk below, all the while a centuries-old plot lies within in veins—his bloodline—this first movie centers around Paul learning to understand what it means to ‘answer the call.’

Do you recommend watching it?

Absolutely. This is an unforgettable experience of a movie, and it’s honestly a bit hard to explain why. It feels like stepping into an alien planet, where there is much that is unfamiliar and that you don’t understand, but the more that you venture in, the more you start to find and compare things to what you do recognize. There is also a straight-forward story at the heart of it, of a young man being thrust into a dangerous world, trying to figure out his purpose and what exactly he’s surviving for, but it connects to these larger questions and uses such unforgettable, almost dream-like visuals that might be possible in the far-future, all accompanied by haunting music and actors who took their roles seriously.

What's the story like?

The two words I would use to describe this movie are these “dignity” and “majesty.” There is size and weight to everything, and the sense that all that is unfolding in the movie is the result of many centuries, far beyond our time and on the edge of our understanding. It takes place in the inconceivably distant future and centers around a dangerous desert planet known as Arrakis, as control of the planet is fought for due to its highly valuable Spice that is used in space travel. The ruling family put in charge by the Emperor of the Imperium to control the Arrakis is House Atreides must fend off the jealous former rulers of the planet, the Harkonnens, all the while simply trying to survive the planet’s killing heat and massive sandworms. The natives to the planet, the Fremen, who’ve been oppressed by the Harkonnens, watch the struggle, waiting to see whether or not House Atreides is the same as their cruel, former-rulers or if the desert will swallow them whole. At the center of it all is the son of the Duke of House Atreides, Paul, whom is uncertain if he will be able to take up the responsibility of eventually taking over for his father. He also carries the burden of a second legacy through his mother, who originates from a secretive order known as the Bene Gesserit, and through Paul, there is an ancient plot to create “a mind that can bridge time and space” to attempt to create a man-made messiah to bring hope to all. He has dreams and visions of the future, and he may have the potential to not only befriend the elusive and mysterious Fremen, but also make way for their improbable dream of turning the deadly Arrakis into a place with flourish plants and water. This may sound complicated, but the story essentially boils down to Paul trying to answer the  question of, why does he want to survive? At the core of this story, past all the layers of history and characters struggling against one another, this movie and its story encapsulates the awe-inspiring and humbling situation that is living in an unforgiving environment. I remember watching the short film Nanook of the North as Eskimos staved off the threat of starvation and killing cold and wondering, why are they still living there in such a dangerous place? Is it because it is where they were born? Is it pride? Or something much more than that? I see the Fremen on Arrakis in a very similar way, a people whom have made a home of a deathtrap of a landscape and are doing more than just surviving; they thrive. Just as I asked these questions of Nanook, Paul asks these questions of the Fremen. And in a strange way, when all safety and the comforts and certainties of the old life is stripped away and left with few resources in a nightmarish desert, that seems to be when the true value of life can be best seen.

How are the actors and actresses?

In order for a movie like this to even work, every aspect of it needs to be of its upmost quality. Dune is not an easy story to adapt and its characters are just as heavy with history and layers as its world. I am thrilled to say then that I admire how well the actors portrayed these characters. I think it says something that I did not recognize most of these actors and actresses upon my first viewing, and I only afterwards started to note familiar faces after my viewings of the film afterwards. It is evidence to me that the characters came first before the actors behind the faces ever did. But that isn’t to say that the actors and actresses weren’t fitting for their roles.

Paul Atreides is portrayed by Timothée Chalamet. From the start of the film, he is introduced as someone, though young and restless, is very aware of the responsibility of the burdens on his shoulders and is constantly inquiring and trying to understand, and over the course of the film, he increasingly realizes just how much bigger matters are than he thought. He is thoughtful and empathetic. Just before leaving his home planet into the dangerous unknown of Arrakis, while all the others prepare for the trip, Paul’s preparations are to sit in the grass and to place his hand the water from the beach, as if saying goodbye to simple sights that he may have taken for granted before and is now realizing he might not see again for a long, long time. His heart is in the right place, wanting to help others, but there is much he has yet to learn. This is evidenced when, after finally arriving at his family’s new home base on Arrakis, he talks with a groundskeeper who is watering palm trees and Paul asks if they should remove the trees so the spare water can be given to the people, to which the groundskeeper declines and states, “Old dream.” Paul senses this dream for a better future and he may even have the potential to bring it forth, but the question will be if he can truly bear the immense, crushing weight that is the hopes of an entire planet.

In the face of such a daunting task, one of Paul’s invaluable resources are the loving teachings of his father, Duke Leto Atreides, portrayed by Oscar Isaac. He is the head of House Atreides, and it is very clear from the moment that he first appears on screen that he is a man whom carries himself with dignity and honor, always putting first the wellbeing of others. He has no patience for unnecessary ceremony when it gets in the way of practicality, and he asks nothing of others that he wouldn’t do himself. It is clear that those he holds great expectation for Paul and wishes to see him succeed, Duke Leto remains proud of his son. Duke Leto creates a legacy of honor and grace for Paul to use, to take that next step to his destiny. There is another half to Paul’s resources, and that is through his mother, Lady Jessica, portrayed by Rebecca Ferguson. She is cautious and clever. Being trained by the order of the Bene Gesserit, she is able to command others through a mysterious and powerful technique called ‘The Voice,’ the techniques of which she trains Paul in, preparing him for a destiny of bringing a new hope to all through near unfathomable powers. But there is a clear struggle within her, as all that she does is in the name of protecting her son, and yet, there is a question of if she’s truly given him the means to protect himself or if she’s accidentally given him a way to destroy himself and more, should he fail to rise to the call.

But Paul’s main challenges come from not just the deadly environment of Arrakis or even its inhabitants. The foil to the House of Atreides is that of the House of Harkonnen, under the rule of Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, portrayed by Stellan Skarsgård. Perhaps he was human a long, long time ago. He almost looks human, and a small part of him may still be. At first glance, he appears to simply be an overweight figure, so pale he looks like a corpse. But there is something unearthly monstrous about him, of how he appears to have some kind of cybernetic augmentation that lets his overweight body move like a serpent, and we never fully see the mechanics of it, so our imaginations are left to fill in the blanks. It would almost be less horrifying if he had been born a nightmare, if the way he moved were somehow natural, but it isn’t. There’s an implication that, whatever he did to twist his body into the thing that it is, it was a willing choice. His wants are simple; Arrakis once belonged to him and he wants it back. Whereas Duke Leto keeps every promise, the Baron breaks every promise he makes, always opting into his own self-interest. Though there are so many layers to the story, at the core of it, Dune: Part One is a simple story of good and evil. The moment when the Baron and Duke Leto finally come face-to-face in the film is my absolute favorite moment of the film. I dare not spoil it, but it demonstrates how, for all of the Baron’s hideous power, all it takes for Duke Leto to strike fear into him is but a single word, for while the Baron desperately and jealousy clings to his materialistic empire, Duke Leto is willing to destroy it all and give up everything to protect what is good.

The supporting cast are equally memorable as the main characters. I admired how the movie established the deep connection that Paul had with his weapons master and his father’s war master, Duncan Idaho, portrayed by Jason Momoa, and Gurney Halleck, portrayed by Josh Brolin. Duncan is a full-bred warrior who willingly leaps into danger and his willingness to adapt and never surrender was what made him best suited to try seeking out negotiations with the mysterious Fremen who were not keen on outsiders. He has an amazing scene that demonstrates his incredible fighting spirit, which is driven by his great love for House Atreides and especially Paul, whom he refers to as “my boy” throughout the film. Jason Momoa did an amazing job bring this character to life and channeling his energy into an honorable and relentless warrior. As a kind of foil to Duncan, Gurney Halleck is the loyal and unyielding sword to Duke Leto, hardened by horrific battles, yet he has devoted everything to House Atreides, which includes to Paul, whom is one of the few characters whom he smiles at. He is rigid and follows protocol somewhat to a fault as it makes it difficult for him to adapt to the strange ways of Arrakis and the Fremen, but his faith in his purpose is certain and he never gives less than all he has. The way that these characters feel like extended family members to Duke Leto and his actual family speaks volumes on what kind of rule that the duke has led and how it further contrasts with the detached Harkonnens.

There are many other notable characters and factions, but the one most important to mention is of course the Fremen. People of the desert of Arrakis, whom have become a part of it, and all that they do and how they think and act is shaped by the desert. They are hardened, not necessarily out of cruelty, but rather because they do not waste their energy on frivolous gestures, lest they use up the scarce water in their bodies. A good example of how the Fremen is through Stilgar, portrayed by Javier Bardem. He moves quickly and talks in few, straight-forward words, but each word is with a purpose, carefully and quickly chosen. He does not trust Duke Leto, yet he is willing to hear the man out to let him prove himself that he is different from the former oppressors of his planet. Admittedly, it was surprising how small a role that there was for the Fremen girl Chani, portrayed by Zendaya Maree Stoermer Coleman, in comparison to the others, but I think her role serves more as a teaser of what is to come for the sequel, as the story of Dune had been split in half between movies to fit it all in. And her narration over the opening scene was very well-done and incredibly haunting to me. But this film is at least able to get across the main idea behind the Fremen. They are survivors, completely and utterly. They may seem ruthless in comparison to those of House Atreides, but they are different from the Harkonnens that sacrifice others to save themselves; the Fremen test others, like pushing someone into a pool to make them learn to swim, for in a harsh place like Arrakis, if one is not willing to learn quickly and adapt, then their life is already forfeit. But they are not cold or heartless, they have dreams, dreams of a planet that is no longer a desert, and once their trust is properly earned, it is a bond that cannot ever be broken. Even with the actors and actresses that I haven’t mentioned here, there is no word wasted and no action taken without purpose.

What does the movie look like?

It is a vivid and continuous dream. It is not flashy; it is not marketable. It is taking our understanding of how we see the world and how we imagine the future and stretching it so far forward it starts to become something alien, near unrecognizable, yet, deep down, you know somewhere that it originated from something familiar long, long ago. I had a hard time telling the difference between practical effects and CGI. So many times, I stared at characters standing in elaborate outfits on intricate tiles all the while an abstract pillar of a spaceship casts its shadow, and I couldn’t fathom that what I was seeing doesn’t physically exist; it looked too real not to believe.

The movie talks to the viewer through its visuals, and it is up to the viewer to pay attention. There is no scrolling text or unnatural exposition of characters of things they have grown up with. The characters live their lives as normal and the world of the film exists as it has every day for the past thousands of years, so the deeper understanding of how it works must be visually understood. Allow me to describe an example. Several times throughout the movie, we are told that there is space travel between planets. We see a character announce that a character from another planet is on their way, then it cuts to a shot of a view of the planet from space, while a strange and almost ominous, massive tube floats in space with dozens of small shapes like gnats leaving it, and the following scene then shows a group of ships landing on the planet, indicating that space travel occurred. It wasn’t until the next time that this happened, with showing the same massive tube in outer space with slightly different smaller shapes coming out of it did I finally put together that, whatever that tube was, it was acting as the gateway through which space travel occurred. The film never gives this tube a name, and it never explains how space travel works through it aside from ‘Spice from Arrakis is necessary for space travel.’ A part of me wishes to know, but I realized that I don’t need to know, not that, since it still communicates so much more, such as just how much mining of Spice probably has occur to power that thing, if Spice works as a power source in the way that I assume it does. With only a few scenes and no words directly spoken to me, I find myself a little intimidated by the mystery of the space travel tube, but also in awe of its scope and itching to understand it. All of the machines and settings are like this, with abstract yet distinguishable shapes that visually communicate their purpose but explain little else, almost making them seem more like living beasts than anything.

With how the film explains the necessary minimum, colors are incredibly important in this movie. The soothing grey blue of Paul’s home planet of Caladan, the harsh and neon whites and blacks of the Harkonnen home planet, and the sun-drowned oranges and browns of Arrakis. You always know exactly where you are from simply the colors of the scenery. It further burns the image of everything into my mind, like a dream I can’t forget even after waking up. The scenery is alive. In every scene, there is something being visually communicated, some additional detail about the world to learn if you dig deeper. There is an abstract, futuristic regality to Caladan, like something so far in the future it has somehow reached around to a medieval majesty. In contrast, the planet of the Harkonnens is dark and only lit by colorless white, neon, where all is a more modern abstract, where everything feels expertly and artificially made, something barely human and pretending to be. But at the heart of it all, where these two conflicting visuals are pit against one another is in Arrakis. One of the main themes of the original story of Dune is the indomitable and inescapable presence of nature, where anyone who thinks they can conqueror the sands of Arrakis through brute force shall be another speck swallowed up in its dunes their bodies will never see the light of day, and it is only those whom recognize their powerlessness and accepts it, shall they be able to learn to listen and follow the flow of the sands. Arrakis dares those who dwell on it to learn its ways or risk death. Somehow, this film managed to capture this near-living creature of a planet.

Anything notable about the music?

It is largely ambient. There is a heavy emphasis on using a choir largely consisting of female voices that let out wails in a Persian scale that haunts and drowns out thoughts. There are rusted drums like something skittering across the sand. Orchestral instruments imitate the wails, just as intense but they sound like machines in comparison, getting under your skin in a more invasive way. When I researched the movie afterwards, there were apparently hybrid instruments specifically created for this movie to add to its surreal and otherworldly desert sounds.

If it’s based on a book, should I read that first?

Reading the book first isn’t required. I never heard of Dune prior to this film, and it was the movie that led me to grabbing the book. And it floored me just how much the movie was able to capture. The book of Dune is rich with details and nuance that are difficult to explain in normal conversation much like transfer to visual media in a coherent way. There had been many attempts to adapt the movie in the past. The 2021 version that I’ve been detailing in this review is the one that I was introduced to the series by, though I did afterwards check out the 1984 Dune movie directed by David Lynch, and I personally had trouble finishing the 1984 adaptation. In part, I think the 1984 version interpreted the book as more of a sci-fi psychedelic trip and it also attempted to fit in the dense entirety of the first book of Dune into one movie, which then meant not delving into the moments of the story much. The 2021 version instead only covers the first-half of the Dune first book, which is why the 2021 film is tilted Dune: Part One, and I think the film is much better for that. It is able to dwell and give each important moment the time it needs, though that it’s to say that Dune: Part One wastes any time. Each scene and word spoken offers something useful for the viewer, and it tried to touch upon all of the important elements and themes of the original novel. This film of course couldn’t capture everything from the book, but, considering the abstract nature of some parts, I felt it was understandable and their efforts were still admirable. A good example of changes was the death of the character Dr. Kynes. In the original story, he was a man whom died due to collapsing from exhaustion while a sand bubble of trapped water slowly expanded beneath him and would then explode with the force of dynamite, all the while he talks to an illusion of his deceased father about the ecology of Arrakis due to the hallucinogenic Spice he’s breathing in. In the film, Dr. Kynes was a woman who acted as a distraction for invading forces that were pursuing Paul and she ultimately sacrificed herself in the name of her dream for a better Arrakis. These are widely different in many senses, yet it still captured the heart of the character and scene, which was the character’s passion for ecology being rooted in a desire to see Arrakis no longer simply be a dune, but something greater, something that sounded impossible yet believing in it anyways. The actress Sharon Duncan-Brewster did well in bringing the core essence of the character to life and the scene of her character’s death is another memorable moment in the film. Though I watched the film before reading the book, after the fact, I feel that the movie was very respectful to the original source material and did all it could to bring the surreal majesty to life.

The film is perfectly enjoyable without having read the book, though said book does also have a recommendation from me as well. It is also worth reading if you are wanting a deeper dive into the innerworkings of the world, though I must warn you, the book, similar to the movie, is not going to unnaturally explain things to you. It treats itself as a history book that was pulled from the far future, and it leaves it up to you to follow along.

Who would like this movie most?

I would say that this film may be best enjoyed by young adults and up, or, really for anyone whom would be interested in a movie that wants to challenge you in a meaningful way. It is not trying to market itself to you, but rather earn your respect and your attention. For those who enjoy science fiction, it is so unlike any other sci-fi film that I’ve seen that I would very much recommend it to those also interested in the genre. I think for those whom also enjoy war movies may find this film enjoyable as well since it poses very interesting questions regarding human life that gave me that same sensation that I’ve felt in films based on wartime. Most of all, if you have a passion for film, I very much recommend this because of all the care and effort that went into it, brimming to the seams with techniques to admire. Personally, I also think this film is best to watch with a friend or others, as it helps to have someone to converse about the movie with afterwards to sort your thoughts, and I’ve always had plenty to think and talk over after each viewing. Most lately, I had the pleasure of attending the theater with a friend while a group from the treatment and recovery center MN Adult and Teen Challenge watched the film too. It was mostly a group of adult men, whom kindly paid for my friend’s movie ticket, and, as we were all watching, it amazed me to witness how such an energetic and lively group suddenly became very hushed and focused on the movie, just as enraptured as we were.

Where can I watch it?

Since this film was released back in 2021, it is currently only available for either physical copies in DVD or Blue-ray, or through online streaming. I own a physical copy but lack a DVD player, so I had rewatched the film on Netflix, but it will likely be leaving Netflix soon as Dune: Part Two will be premiering this Thursday, Feb. 27 as of the time of writing this. The other places where the film can be seen are DIRECTV, and TNT, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu and Amazon Prime. In preparation of Part Two, Part One also had a brief re-release in theaters which is currently ended.

I had originally missed out on seeing Dune: Part One in theaters during the time of release, and I was introduced to the movie through Amazon Prime in the living room of my aunt and uncle’s home. I was glad to get the experience of seeing it in theaters, and I hope to attend the opening for Dune: Part Two. However, when comparing the experiences, I do think the film is very enjoyable, at home in a place where you are able to better control the noise. There are many quiet moments in this film and the silence is just as distinct as the soundtrack. If you are able to watch Part One at home and you find that you’ve enjoyed it, then I encourage getting to theaters to see Part Two, to determine if you would like that sequel at home as well.

Final thoughts?

This is a film that will stay with me for a long time and one that’s so rich with detail, I plan on watching it many more times just to soak everything in. This film had challenged me to really consider how I’m spending my time and what I’m applying myself to, to pursue a meaningful creativity and admiration for surviving in harsh conditions and living with purpose. I encourage you to venture out into these treacherous sands of Dune: Part One, and to see just what the you end up learning about yourself.

#dune #dune part one #dune part 1 #dune film #paul atreides #timothée chalamet #duke leto atreides #oscar isaac #lady jessica #rebecca ferguson #baron vladimir harkonnen #stellan skarsgard #duncan idaho #jason momoa #gurney halleck #josh brolin #stilgar #javier bardem #sharon duncan brewster #dr. kynes #cassipedia #film review #movie review #cinema #film #movies

[cassipedia]

Review of The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023)

Hey, Cassipedia, what're you watching?

Not that long ago, I started watching the film The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, which is based on the novel of the same name. It is a prequel to the first The Hunger Games story, meant to show the origin of the villain of the trilogy, Coriolanus Snow during a time when the titular Hunger Games were fairly new and he must sponsor a contestant to help her survive the games, all the while he strives to reclaim the status and fortune that his family had lost. Snow finds himself at odds between his society’s cruel, authoritarian entertainment system and finding a humanizing connection with the contestant that he is meant to detest.

Do you recommend watching it?

I think this film is fine on its own, but it had not met the expectations I had for it. What the movie did accomplish in terms of its story, challenging questions and characters I personally felt could be better seen in other films. I don’t think this is a movie to avoid if you are interested, but, if you have limited free time, then there are other movies that I would recommend instead.

What's the story like?

This is meant to be a story about individuals being forced into horrible situations and attempting to find common ground, of how terrible humans can be to one another and exploring the reasons why, all the while showing the origins of the main villain of The Hunger Games trilogy. The story focuses on Coriolanus Snow, a young man who came from a rich family but has fallen onto hard times due to his father getting murdered by rebels and thus losing their fortune. He seeks to excel in his studies so that he may restore his family’s name and prestige and ensure a comfortable life for his grandmother and cousin. As a result, Snow is assigned to sponsor a contestant named Lucy Gray Baird, who comes from a group of traveling musicians that were forced to settle in District 12, and his goal is to keep her alive. Snow attempts to accomplish this by using her musical talents to increase her popularity and also discreetly cheat in the Games. Some of the ways that he cheats resulted in the death of an innocent other contestant while other methods save Lucy’s life but result in Snow being forced to work as a lowly Peacekeeper in District 12. The main villain of this story is Dr. Volumnia Gaul, a woman who oversees the Games and appears to be using the excuse of enforcing totalitarian law and order to punish and torment the Districts in cruel and unusual ways. She is the main force that Snow and Lucy are technically up against, as she perpetuates the violence of the Games. The core of the story is meant to be Snow, struggling against fulfilling the help-oneself mentality that his society is built on while wrestling over the empathetic viewpoints of his cousin and his best friend, and at the same time falling in love with the contestant he is only supposed to be keeping alive for his own gain. With this being a prequel film all about a villain, there is an understanding that Snow is going to lose this battle of morality by the end of the movie, and so the film’s goal is to then reveal the depths behind the reasons why he becomes the villain that he does.

How are the actors and actresses?

Before I give my overall thoughts on the actors and actresses, I would like to first commend the actor whom I believe had the best scene from what I saw of the film. This would be Dimitri Abold portraying Reaper Ash from District 11. The scene I’m referring to is from in the middle of the movie, during the Hungers Games tournament. The character Reaper prior to this point was shown to be very threatening, having been rumored to gotten away with killing a Peacekeeper enforcer and making no secret of wanting to vengefully hurt Snow and his fellow Capitol residents. But then we see Reaper attempting to protect one of the other contestants, a sickly girl named Dill, even to the point of passing up on killing other Tributes. But she ends up dying accidentally due to water that had secretly been poisoned. Rather than going on a murderous rampage as I had expected, Reaper started gathering the bodies of the other contestants, enemy and ally alike. He lined them up in the center of the arena, all neatly positioned, then he pulled down one of the large, garish banners of the Capitol, the symbol of the oppressors that put them into these Games in the first place. He draped the flag over the bodies, giving them an honorable send off as you would for brave soldiers. Once he was finished, Reaper looked directly at the camera that the Capitol and all its residents spectated from. It was this that pushed Dr. Gaul to demand the release of her instant-killing, rainbow snakes, forgoing the Games to attempt to kill all of the contestants. But the implications of this are clear: No matter how many Hunger Games, how much oppression and ways of devaluing human life that the Capitol makes, it will never, ever snuff out the fighting spirit of those seeking freedom. It is a powerful moment that still sticks with me. It reminds me of why I enjoyed The Hunger Games story.

The scene, however, is only less than ten minutes out of the entire film. It also, has very little to do with the main characters of the film. Technically, Snow and Lucy’s contribution to that scene was the death of the innocent contestant, as Snow had snuck the poison into the arena so Lucy could cheat and survive, but when Lucy attempted to use it on the dangerous contestants, Dill drank it instead. Afterwards, when Dr. Gual releases her snakes, Reaper is consumed by the snakes but he remains glaring at the Capitol’s camera down to his final moments. Lucy is the only one that survives because Snow had secretly snuck into Dr. Gual’s lab and tampered with the snakes. Lucy technically won the Game, but it was Reaper that won the real battle. In context, it makes sense for this to be set up in this way, as it is a heroic moment in technically a villain’s movie. But I admit to having trouble recalling if Snow and Lucy showed significant reactions to Reaper’s act of defiance, which I feel was a missed opportunity to further tie the scene into the movie’s overall narrative.

Rachel Zegler portrayed Lucy Gray Baird, and I think she was a good actress, as I could always tell when Lucy was afraid or desperate, and her singing voice was powerful, so I think my problem with being able to connect with Lucy comes from how the film presented Lucy to me. At the start, we see Lucy is an outsider with no one there to help her, as she is on bad terms with the mayor’s daughter due to Lucy’s ex-boyfriend cheating on her, and Lucy is introduced to us by sneaking a snake into the girl’s dress and she responds to be called as tribute by singing a song related to rebellion. She is shown throughout the movie to care for others and she even saves Snow from a fatal injury. I was hoping that the movie would show me more of who she is and where she comes from, but, for most of the movie, Lucy shares very little about herself, aside from the fact that she comes from a group of traveling musicians. I don’t recall the names of any of her family members or fellow musicians. Lucy gets close to Snow over the course of the film and learns to trust him, but, without her driving backstory, I felt like her interactions leaned more towards simply trying to survive rather than forming a deep connection. I felt like I never got to see what it was that Lucy was truly willing to fight and die for, and I would’ve liked to see a clearer moment of her willingness to give her life for something that was her decision. After the fact of watching the movie, I learned through a ScreenRant article that apparently Lucy Gray Baird had a much more reduced role in the movie than she did in the book, with much of her backstory and other scenes being cut. Though I haven’t read the book, I can’t help wondering if part of my feelings of dissatisfaction could be because the gaps that those removed scenes left behind were not as cleanly patched up as it could have been.

Much of what I explained with Lucy above, I think may be applicable for Snow’s character as well, whom was portrayed by Tom Blyth. As with before, I do believe the actors were doing their upmost, and I think they could convey emotions very well. I could see Snow’s determination to pull his family out of poverty by his own hard work and his desperation to win by any means necessary. But I found myself also having trouble with connecting with Snow. There was much of his backstory that felt like it was simply missing. I wanted to see what it was that he once had, so I could better understand why he was fighting so hard. Perhaps that is part of the point, not showing his past wealth because it is evidenced by the current wealth of others, but I felt like I was missing part of his journey, an important part; the start. In a sense, that is what I wanted from a prequel. The story behind his character is technically solid, showing how he is completely a product of a society that is built around de-humanizing a lower class and winning by any means necessary, but I had yet to see why I needed to sit down and watch this movie. With how the film portrayed Snow to me, all I saw was a young man surviving in the only way his cruel world had taught him. I had not read the book The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes but I found myself starting to predict who was going to die, who he was going to betray and so on. It was because of this, I chose to leave my seat in the theater around the point when Snow became a Peacekeeper and I realized he was going to betray his colleague Sejanus Plinth, whom he had been at moral odds with since the start of the movie. It was expected that Snow was going to betray him and I researched after the fact that Snow does in indeed out his friend as a rebel and lets him be executed for treason. It is a solid tragedy and the story is consistent, but I feel the lack of engagement and moments of characters’ histories started to pull down the movie’s good qualities.

 Among the other cast, they are useful parts of the story, but many come and go very quickly, playing their part and the story moves on. The reason that Reaper stuck out to me among the supporting cast, and out of the entire film, was because Reaper did something unexpected. He acted against the expectation of his cruel world. That is what brought out such a strong reaction from Gaul. That is what I was hoping to get a moment of from perhaps Lucy or Snow. There was even a moment where I wondered why Casca Highbottom, the dean of Snow’s academy hated Snow so much. He claimed he hated Snow’s father, whom is a faceless character we never meet in the movie. I waited for the movie to show me why Casca hated Snow’s father, but it did not. As a result, the crime that Casca held against Snow’s father remained invisible in my mind, just as Snow’s father and Snow himself. There was a lot of potential in this cast, whom delivered a suitable performance, but I believe they could have been allowed to go a step farther to really connect with the audience.

What does the movie look like?

There are only two primary colors used in this movie; gray of imposing concrete buildings and ashes, and bronze from gaudy structures and muted sunsets. It is fitting for the dystopian setting and was very detailed, as well as would have been great on posters or to be framed. The only drawback was what seemed to be not as much visual variety as it was difficult for me to distinguish between when a scene was outside of Snow’s school versus inside the arena or even in the impoverished Distinct 12. I faintly remember green trees and grass when Snow reunited with Lucy in Distinct 12, which was visually a nice touch of a fresh breath of air, like freedom from the monotonous colors of the rest of the movie. However, I think the moment was a bit too brief and there weren’t many set pieces that stuck out in my mind aside from the tank of rainbow snakes in Dr. Gaul’s lab. Even the arena of the titular Games felt oddly empty in its appearance, as it was another detailed, yet grey-and-bronze set piece, much like many other places in the movie.

Anything notable about the music?

I admit that I do not recall much of the soundtrack, though I think there may have been motif callbacks to the first Hunger Games film, but I may be incorrect with that. There was more emphasis on music due to the character Lucy using her musical talents as a means to endear herself to her audience. It had a kind of folk country style, and many of her songs were catchy. Although, I think the music was a bit similar to the visuals in being polished, but each song was difficult to distinguish from the other and weren’t quite personable enough to stay in my head.

If it's a prequel, should I watch or read anything beforehand?

I’d like to not I had not read the book Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes and so I can’t personally speak to if it would or wouldn’t be recommended for someone who has. What I have read is the first two Hunger Games novels and watched the first Hunger Games film. Much of my pain points with this movie could largely be due to my biases of how I enjoyed those initial books and movies. I doubtlessly compared Snow and Lucy to Katniss, because I remembered how I understood everything I needed to know about Katniss from the moment that she stated ‘I volunteer as tribute’ and I wanted to follow her to see how far she was going to go to commit to that, what lengths she would take to protect her sister. I doubtlessly compared the colors of this film to The Hunger Games because I remember the glassy, ethereal buildings of the Capitol and their manufactured glory and how they dueled with the lush, vibrant green forests, which were both fruitful yet could be full of lurking danger. Perhaps because of these biases, I might consider recommended that those whom are not familiar with The Hunger Games might enjoy it more.

Who would like this movie most?

Considering the significant changes between the book and the movie, I am uncertain if one who is a fan of the books would then enjoy this film. However, for someone who is not watching this film because they watch to watch something related to The Hunger Games, and perhaps they want to watch a movie of a dystopian sci-fi that provides thought-provoking questions about our humanity and the consequences of manipulation, then I would first recommend the film Ender’s Game. If one is looking for a film that displays terrible yet compelling violence, then I would first recommend most war films, but especially those of 1917 and Hacksaw Ridge. These are examples of characters who are not only surviving, but they are trying to survive for their ideals, for others, for the memory of something important.

Where can I watch it?

The film is available in theaters as of writing this. It is also available in multiple online services from Youtube, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Apple TV and Amazon Prime Video. I had a feeling this might also be one of those movies that ends up in the movie selection on airplanes.

Final thoughts?

I whole-heartedly admit that there may be much of this story in which I am missing the point. As mentioned above, I got introduced to The Hunger Games through the first book and film, so all I knew was Katniss, and a film about her villain would naturally be a very different experience. Even still, when setting those expectations aside, I still feel that there was more the movie could have done to engage me through its characters and their backstories, which could have then given more weight to the hard questions that the movie presented. This is a well-polished film, but it is not one that I would personally consider a must-see.

#cassipedia #film review #movie review #cinema #film #movies #lucy gray baird #coriolanus snow #tom blyth #rachel zegler #The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes #Hunger Games #Hunger Games Movie

[cassipedia]

Review of Migration (2023)

Hey, Cassipedia, what’re you watching?

Over the weekend, I watched the film Migration. It is an original animated film directed by Benjamin Renner and co-directed by Guylo Homsy and produced by Illumination. When I say original, I do mean it, as it is the first movie I’ve seen in a while that is not an adaption nor based on a pre-existing property.

Do you recommend watching it?

Yes, very much so! This was a surprising experience that I would hate for others to miss out on. The commercials had piqued my interest with the beautiful animation of the flying scenes and the jokes seemed harmless enough. Sometimes I am wary of Illumination films as they can be sometimes a bit too noisy or chaotic, but I’m very glad I saw the movie anyways, as it was surprisingly heartwarming, very cute and stunningly gorgeous (and, contrary to my concerns, it actually uses quiet moments better than most animated films I’ve seen recently!)

What's the story like?

This is a story about the Mallard family, ducks that live a peaceful and simple life in their pond, until a flock of migrating ducks stirs an adventurous itch in everyone except the nervous father, Mack. However, he soon comes around to the idea as he realizes how much an adventure would mean to his family and especially his wife Pam. So they start flying to Jamaica for a vacation. The trailers for the movie spoils the fact that the ducks take a wrong turn and end up in New York City, but the story is less focused on ‘duck shenanigans in an unfamiliar place’ and it instead is more of a road trip with a seamlessly integrated villain. This road trip allows the Mallard family to see different locations and meet different birds, all the while the family grows closer, trusting each other and growing braver in their own ways. There are delightful moments of silliness that are reminiscent of Looney Toons, but the movie takes seriously how much the family loves each other, giving them a reason to grow together as strong and beautifully as the trees they fly over.

What does the movie look like?

Think of how beautiful the sky is. Have you ever been on a plane and looked out at the sloping mountains and pillars of white clouds? Or perhaps, as the sun sets, you look up see how the red sun fades into golden orange blanketed by increasingly purple clouds and the approach of blue night? This movie understands how beautiful the sky is and elevates that feeling, as our bird characters soar and fly through vibrant forests, to a claustrophobic but intriguing water-logged shed, to the shiny and colossal skyscrapers of New York. The settings are gorgeous and the characters themselves are animated masterfully, so each character is incredibly expressive, with the beauty and grace of real-life birds mixed with Muppets-style comedic timing and cartoon stretchiness anchored by being able to carry heavy emotions. This all goes hand-in-hand whenever the birds take flight, as the camera seamlessly follows the birds from take-off to being air born, giving the thrill of a flying rollercoaster. There is such a sense of scale and height, and the world is from the birds’ perspective, with little details that brought me back to the creativity of early Pixar, such as having the father duck blow away a lightning bug nightlight like blowing out a candle, or how the birds will seamlessly alternate between their wings or their feet to gesture. With the movie being from the perspective of the birds, that means none of the human characters talk, being more like creatures existing alongside the bird characters, and this results in a very entertaining and interesting villain in the form of a duck chef with a Yakuza, gang member level of intimidation, whom never utters a word beyond grunts and yells paired with very well-made expressions. To give an idea of how good the animation is, even though the chef has no lines, from simply how he moves, sharpens his knives and looks at the ducks, one can see how, he’s a chef that takes his cooking very seriously, demanding high quality, but, when the ducks start interfering with his business, then he’s all too happy to start seeking revenge. And he is technically only a fun obstacle as the core of the story that this beautiful movie conveys is not about them versus a villain, but instead focused on a family.

How are the actors and actresses?

Every voice perfectly fit their characters, and the animations did excellent in having it where I could feel the characters talking, watching how their beaks formed the words with little flashes of their pointed, bird tongues. The father Mack Mallard was voiced by Kumail Nanjiani and did excellent as an anxious father who could get silly and serious, (and whose manner of speaking fittingly reminded me of a more grounded Daffy Duck). Elizabeth Banks voiced Pam Mallard and delivered as a mother with energy and eagerness paired by a snappy quick wit and a genuineness in each word. One of the cores of this movie is seeing and hearing how Mack and Pam fall back in love with each other over the course of the film, and I believe these voice actors delivered. The rest of the family cannot be overlooked, as Caspar Jennings as Dax Mallard provides a great performance as a courageous young boy who is itching for adventure. Dax is full of bravery but lacks the knowhow on how to protect himself along with others, whereas his father Mack is an excellent survivor but needs to be urged out of his comfort zone to truly become brave. The lesson between them is not simply one is right and the other is wrong, but it is a sharing of perspectives, in which the boy’s bravery inspires the father, and the father’s wisdom equips the boy against their obstacles. I was most concerned of the family member Uncle Dan, voiced by Danny DeVito, as to if he would be an unpleasant tagalong as sometimes happens in these movies, but he quickly established himself as someone who, though he makes quips and seems to lean on his self-interest, he never, ever hesitates to dote on and play with his darling niece, the youngest Mallard, Gwen, who is voiced adorably by Tresi Gazal. Notably, the film makes a point to show that the family already loves one another at the start, but their trip lets them appreciate each other and push their boundaries and discover more of themselves. The other voice talent are more than just recognizable celebrity names and each fit their characters, providing a distinct and colorful cast as one would hope from a road trip type movie. The Herons were my favorites in setting the tone of characters not always being what they seemed in an intriguing way, but each played a role in furthering the family’s journey and usually closed their loop on their own personal journey. The only group of these characters that may feel underexplored are the migrating ducks that inspire the Mallards on their journey in the first place, but I think it is due to the other characters simply having more screentime, as I’ve no doubt these characters would have been just as entertaining as the rest of the cast if they had been given more time.

Is the music worth talking about?

This is not a musical, but the score is absolutely a big part in why the scenery and so many of the moments in this movie sticks out in my mind so vividly. If you listen carefully, you will hear how the music changes depending on the setting. While the Mallards are in the forest, there is an emphasis on using a whimsical choir, adding to the lighthearted feeling, and as they enter the city, unsure of what it even is at first, the music takes on an ethereal, almost dream-like quality that one isn’t quite sure what to make of, until the ducks pass through the smog and nearly run into a steel beam and suddenly you got energetic and chaotic brass instruments banging in as the Mallards are caught in a whirlwind of New York City hustle and bustle. My words really can’t do it justice. And it is worth noting, there is only one distinct instance of a pop song being used in the movie and it is incorporated quite well as a band in a scene plays that song, resulting in a surprisingly beautiful display of ducks engaged in a Salsa dance. The movie is very smart with its music, as it furthers the immersion of seeing this colorful world through these cartoon ducks’ eyes. There are also great moments of quiet and silence, as the movie will also let the atmosphere talk for itself, really letting you sink into it (though it is worth noting that, for the opening of the Universal and Illumination logos, these are the complete opposite and are the noisiest parts of the entire film as the Minion characters from Despicable Me introduce the logos with kazoos. And if you are watching the film in theaters, you may find yourself sitting a surprisingly long time watching a short film based in the Despicable Me universe called ‘Mooned’ but rest assured, you did not walk in on the wrong movie and I very much encourage you not to leave your seat as I overheard many others in the theater seats next to me nearly did.)

Who would like this movie most?

If you are someone that likes birds or the sensation of being high up in the air or on a rollercoaster, I very much urge you to check out this movie. It is also a film that I think would be very enjoyed by those whom are interested in animation and illustration, to see an excellent example of how colors and movement can truly be blended to dazzle in a movie format. The story and characters are well-written and compelling for any age, though I think this movie would be well-received by families, especially as this film strives to show how a family grows closer together. There is a clever, timelessness to the jokes that focus more on the situation on hand and when you have animal characters reflecting on human habits, such as when one of the birds refers to a chef as ‘a predator that hunts prey and serves it to much lazier predators.’ During one of my viewings of the film, I had the pleasure of a family of a broad range from the parents, to their parents to young boys all sitting near me, and it caught my ear that each generation consistently laughed throughout the course of the film.

Where can I watch it?

This film is available in theaters for only a little bit longer at the time of writing this, but I heavily recommend seeing it in theaters at least once. Not only so you can really soak in the colors and the scope of the heights as the birds fly, but also so you can better feel the thrusting of wings as the birds take to the sky and the wind rushes through their feathers. It is an incredible experience. Considering it is an animated movie, it is possible it may re-appear in theaters for kids movie special offers as theaters like the Marcus Theaters sometimes provide. Otherwise, if this review reaches you too late, the film is available for streaming on Peacock for the first four months of being released, then will move to Netflix for the next ten, and then will return to Peacock for the remaining four, so I recommend checking between those streaming services of Peacock and Netflix. Otherwise, it doesn’t hurt to keep an eye out for a physical copy.

Final thoughts?

Migration is a beautiful film that I think can very easily fit in as a classic film, one that focuses on bringing a family together through a fun and colorful adventure. At the very least, it was a pleasure to watch in theaters as a visual rollercoaster, especially for the bird lover in me, and I hope, after its theatrical release that it will make its way into homes as it made its way into my heart. If you’re up for an adventure, then I completely encourage taking the dive.

#migration #migration 2023 #illumination #duck movie #animated film #film review #movie review #Kumail Nanjiani #Elizabeth Banks #Caspar Jennings #Danny DeVito #Tresi Gazal #cassipedia

[cassipedia]

Review of Wonka (2023)

Hey, Cassipedia, what're you watching?

Just earlier this week, I watched Wonka (2023). It is a prequel film directed by Paul King based on Roald Dahl's novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory meant to show a young version of Willy Wonka and the start of his career as a chocolatier, before his famous Chocolate Factory. It is also a musical.

Do you recommend watching it?

With emphasis, yes! I nearly missed out on watching this movie because I saw the trailers and automatically assumed it was a modern, cash-grab reboot just like so many others. I think I had grown too jaded as a movie-watcher. I was going to skip it! Thankfully, a friend much smarter than I convinced me to go to a showing with her, and I was dazzled.

What's the story like?

This is a story about how Wonka's heartfelt pursuit of a dream to provide never-before-seen chocolates changes the lives of those around him. The setting is a somewhat fantastical and cartoonish world with the true-to-life troubles in which the greedy preys upon the good-hearted and chocolate is used as a form of bribery. But Wonka rolls into town, desiring to share affordable chocolates so anyone who eats them may feed their inner-child they've neglected, and also, to actual children who've been neglected. It's incredibly ironic too considering how the film about Wonka bringing some hope along with his chocolates had restored much of my faith in modern movies. Every major plot thread is woven back in, and even little threads I wasn’t expecting to come back did, all to form a loving tapestry of a story. There was only one or two minor characters who help Wonka that may have felt like their ‘gimmick' was underutilized but it's almost unnoticeable as those characters are still involved in the major plot points. It's all the charm and whimsy of a fairytale with the heartfelt weight of a motion picture.

What does the movie look like?

Imagine the prettiest candy shop that you've ever walked into. You know the ones, with glass jars of shiny reds, striped blues and glistening orange, all formed into amazing shapes and swirls. Even the ‘mundane’ scenes of the town and slums that Wonka spends much of his time in during the film have creative contraptions and such memorable set-dressing, like how a cartoon is an exaggerated form of reality.

How are the actors and actresses?

Every actor and actress perfectly fit their roles. I had first doubted that the lead actor could portray a good Willy Wonka when I saw the trailer, as I was worried the character was being turned into a youthful pretty boy, but in the film, I saw Wonka as a passionate chocolate-maker with the unrelenting and unconditional desire to bring smiles to those around him. I offer my kudos and apologies for underestimating Timothée Chalamet. At the heart of it, Wonka forms a friendship with an orphan girl whom grew up believing only the greedy ever won, and it was a joy to see Wonka’s efforts to give her hope for better, in part due to the endearing performance of Calah Lane. Much of the acting of all involved, especially in the case of the villains, was like a cartoon brought to life with how expressive and animated it was.

Wait, if it's a musical, how are the songs?

The scenes for the songs are very creative visually with a dream-like quality and where the bulk of the whimsical charm comes to life. But the songs are not simply one and done. I encourage you to listen closely over the course of the film, as your ear may catch the various motifs throughout. The music is an active participant in the film and the story, with just as much personality and expression as the actors and the setting. This movie also contains the cleverest usage of Gregorian chant I’ve ever seen.

If it's a prequel, should I watch or read anything beforehand?

This is a film that stands well on its own. There are homages to the 1971 film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory but it will not be a distraction for anyone unfamiliar with that film. In terms of the book, though I had not read the original 1964 novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, I did grow up reading Roald Dahl's other works The BFG and The Witches. During my time watching Wonka, I felt some part of me deep down stir from childhood memories, as I believe this film did capture Roald's style of creating worlds that were fantastical, with horrible beasts and incorrigible villains and the unkillable nature of child-like wonder. So, reading the book wouldn’t be a requirement, but I believe one whom has will have plenty to enjoy.

Who would like this movie most?

It’s a bit like asking ‘who likes eating dessert?’ This is a film that I think most would enjoy, regardless of age. Children would likely enjoy watching the monstrous, child-hating villains being bamboozled and getting their just desserts amidst the wonderous visuals, and adults of any age can easily enjoy the craftmanship of the finer details, while reminiscing on that childish wonder. This is a film that respects childhood, delighting in the silly moments but still managing to treat its audience from young to not-so-young with dignity and a straightforward message like a well-placed arrow.

Where can I watch it?

The film is available in theaters as of writing this and not for streaming, though I would frankly have recommended the theater experience anyways. The visuals and music are best enjoyed on a big screen! (But when it does eventually release in streaming or physical copies, I’m likely to also snag it then, as it will doubtlessly be a very cozy and enjoyable film to watch with family at home.)

Final thoughts?

Wonka is a film I underestimated and I highly recommend as a finely-polished and creative experience that did much to feed that movie-lover in my heart. Just as if being faced with that strange yet beautiful-looking chocolate you've never tried before, I encourage you to take at least one bite. Just like me, you might end up finding your new favorite movie.

#wonka 2023 #wonka movie #willy wonka #timothée chalamet #cinema #film #movies #movie review #film review #movie recommendation #cassipedia

[cassipedia]

Daniel Warren Johnson: Iron Giant

#daniel warren johnson #iron giant #art #fan art #commission #animated movie #SO COOL