Review Roundup - Scraps and Leftovers

2023 SCI-FI CATCH-UP

Time to take a look at a few random bits and pieces that I've either forgotten to consider at an earlier stage, or forgot were actually the big thing for fifteen minutes last year. As someone wise once said this can be catalogued under the heading 'too late nobody cares'. But there are always more expensive looking blockbusters to talk about, many filled with robots, creatures and animated wizardry. When some of them forget to include basic elements like well written stories or charming protagonists it starts to become exhausting. Do I really want to look at yet more movies based on 1980s toys? Has Gareth Edwards learned from his mistakes? Let's look what's on offer...

Review Roundup - Riders on the Storm

DUNE: PART TWO (2024)

In my retrospective for David Lynch's Dune I noted that the whole thing is oddly truncated and lacks scale. Not in the sense that the ships and sets were never large enough, but the way that the passage of time is too short and the scope of the conspiracy is too shallow. It's something that in a few ways is rectified by a fan edit of the film known as the 'spicediver' edition that you can see quite easily. It's something I recommend because, in spite of the varying film sources, it's more rewarding than the official cut. Which brings us to the Denis Villeneuve iteration which when combined is more than five hours long. Does it have the depth, the grandeur, and the cast necessary to fill so much time?