No Sudden Move (2021) **

 

Steven Soderbergh's directing career has been all over the place since he wrote and directed 1989's groundbreaking “Sex, Lies, and Videotape.” He did “Out of Sight,” “Erin Brockovich,” "Contagion," the soulless "Ocean's" franchise, and, inexplicably, the goofy-but-fun "Magic Mike."  Now, into this movie-starved pandemic year comes Soderbergh's latest, the crime caper “No Sudden Move,” and boy, are critics falling all over themselves to praise this movie! Me, I'm not so impressed.

Don Cheadle and Benicio Del Toro play Curt and Ronald, a couple of low level crooks in the 1950's hired to hold a family hostage while a 3^rd crook (Kieran Culkin) takes the man of the family to retrieve industrial secrets from the car company where he works. The job is inherently threatening, but the plan is for no one to get hurt. Things don't work out that way, and Curt and Ronald find themselves on the run from multiple criminal gangs as well as the police. They decide to get proactive and sell the industrial secrets themselves, a process that involves multiple double crosses as they parley with different parties while trying to figure out how much they can trust each other.

“No Sudden Move” is very stylish, beautifully-filmed, and well-acted. The pacing is good, and the movie reminded me for a while of the Coen brothers' classic, “Miller's Crossing.” The difference is that where the Coens bring everything together in the end for a satisfying conclusion, Soderbergh's story turns into a mess. Near the end, when Curt and Ronald meet the character known as Mr. Big (Matt Damon), Big goes into this long, scenery-chewing monologue that makes no sense in a film otherwise full of cool characters who spend their words wisely. There's also a big reveal about Ronald's past that adds nothing to the tale. Then, too, Curt's machinations give the impression, for a while, that he is always a step ahead of everyone else, but his schemes seem like nonsense by the end.

If you skip the last 20 minutes or so, “No Sudden Move” is a pretty solid crime thriller. Unfortunately, as with wine, a sour finish is unforgivable in a film. In the end, I found this film to represent a waste of a lot of talent on a half-baked story. I'm in the minority here, as most critics seem to love the movie, but I wonder if that's a symptom of how few movies have come out in the past year.

2 stars out of 5

Dune (2021) *****

 

I'm having visions of the future, visions of Oscar gold for Denis Villeneuve's “Dune.” I'm predicting Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Director, and so many technical awards that the next Oscars is liable to get a bit monotonous. “Dune” is simply the most beautifully-filmed, most gripping, new movie I have seen in ages.

Most people are at least vaguely familiar with the existence of Frank Herbert's 1965 novel, Dune, the first book in what is one of the most popular and influential sci-fi series of all time. In 1984, director David Lynch took a stab at adapting the story to film. The result was cheesy, stilted, campy, unintentionally funny, and actually kind of awesome in a cult-classic kind of way. It was not even close to worthy of the novel. And so, fans waited. The Sci-Fi Channel aired a 3-part Dune Miniseries in 2000, which was successful by Sci-Fi Channel standards, but it didn't leave any lasting impression in the desert sands. Now, director Denis Villeneuve ("Blade Runner 2049") has given us the Dune adaptation we have been waiting for.

Timothee Chalamet plays Paul Atreides, son of Duke Leto Atreides (Oscar Isaac), who rules over the planet Caladan. Across the way a bit, Leto's sworn enemy, Baron Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgard) controls the planet Arrakis, a dry, desert world that is valuable for one thing, Spice. Within the sands of Arrakis is an addictive substance that extends life in small doses. In larger doses, Spice enhances clairvoyance in some, allowing starship pilots to navigate the galaxy at warp speeds. Spice makes interstellar travel possible, making it the most valuable substance in the universe. The Harkonnens have become obscenely rich from Spice mining, but now, the galactic Emperor has decided to transfer Arrakis and its riches to the Atreides family. It is a perilous gift for Duke Leto, as it means uprooting his House from their Caladan stronghold. Meanwhile, Paul is coming of age and coming into the powers taught him by his mother, Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson). Jessica is a member of the Bene Gesserit, a guild of women with such refined mental powers that they are essentially witches.

“Dune” is successful in part because it is forward-looking and old-fashioned at once. Democracy is apparently a flash in the pan, and future worlds are run by a familiar-looking, feudal aristocracy. Technology has created personal shields that render bullets useless, as the shield can only be defeated by the slow, steady pressure of a blade. Combat in this world is mainly hand-to-hand fighting with swords and knives.

Forewarning to the uninitiated: “Dune,” despite its swashbuckling ways, is not “Star Wars.” This is considerably darker sci-fi, and some might call it bleak.

But I'm telling you things that you will learn soon enough by watching the film, and you absolutely must! It's been a while since I saw a new movie that didn't disappoint me in some way, but “Dune” is just perfect. The screenplay honors the book without trying to stick with the source novel so much as to become plodding. The cast represents an impressive collection of talent, including Skarsgard, Isaac, Josh Brolin, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, and Jason Momoa. I admit to being skeptical about Timothee Chalamet. He has such a punchable face that I couldn't imagine him as the hero, but I have to admit that he is the perfect Paul Atreides. The music and cinematography also deserve special mention. “Dune” is truly a feast for the eyes and the ears. You will want to watch this on the big screen or on a good, high-definition TV. This is not one to watch on your phone.

Dune, the novel, is cool and fun, full of philosophy and swashbuckling adventure. “Dune,” the movie, skimps on the philosophy in favor of keeping the story going, which is clearly necessary given how much story there is. Even with a 2 ½ hour run-time (which feels much shorter), “Dune” only covers the first half of the book. Believe it or not, the studio only committed to this first movie, but given how well this turned out, it is hard to imagine that Villeneuve will not get to make the second half. I can't wait!

5 stars out of 5

The Thing (2011) ***

 

Prequels are, by nature, highly constrained. A sequel may have to start with what happened in the past, but it is free to take any path it wants into the future. A prequel to a movie, on the other hand, has to make sure that everything that occurs leads (hopefully logically) to what we know takes place in the original film. Despite these limitations, producers Marc Abraham and Eric Newman made the right decision when they chose to update John Carpenter's 1982 classic "The Thing" by making a prequel. First, it would have been a travesty to remake the original, which is perfect as it is. Second, this is not a movie that demanded a sequel. The ending was perfect, and while it is possible to imagine a sequel, I cannot imagine one being anything other than a blight on the legacy of the original. The real untold story here, as Abraham and Newman realized, is, “What happened with that Norwegian team that found the Thing before it wandered into Kurt Russell's camp.” With writer Eric Heisserer and director Matthijs van Heijningen Jr, they managed to fill in that backstory in a way that mostly works, and which certainly does not sully the original.

If you are a fan of John Carpenter's film (and you should be), you may recall that it starts with a husky running through the snow, chased by a helicopter bearing the Norwegian flag. 2011's “The Thing” rewinds the clock to tell us how a couple of Norwegians wound up trying to murder a dog, and how their camp got into the state in which Kurt Russell's character finds it.

With a team of Danish and Norwegian actors, van Heijningen portrays a scientific team that discovers a flying saucer buried in the ice, and nearby, also frozen, they find something that might have been the pilot! They recruit some American researchers, including paleontologist Kate Lloyd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), to help them excavate the creature, which turns out to have some surprises for them.

John Carpenter's “The Thing” is a masterpiece of dread, perfectly-paced, and punctuated by a thrumming score by Ennio Morricone. There is no way van Heijningen's film was going to top that, and it does not have to. All it has to do is entertainingly tell the story of the Norwegian camp, which it ably does. This film lacks the humor of the original, and I would say that scenes in this film sometimes seem to be tracking similar scenes from the original. All in all, though, this is a serviceable prequel. Now the big question, one that is very familiar to Star Wars fans, is this: Now that a prequel exists, how should new viewers approach the franchise: in chronological order or in order of release? In this case, there is no question. A new viewer should watch John Carpenter's “The Thing” first, then 2011's “The Thing.” John Carpenter's film introduces the horror incrementally, slowly revealing what is going on as the characters learn it, and you do not want to rob yourself of that experience.

3 stars out of 5

(John Carpenter's “The Thing” earned 5 stars)

30 Days of Night (2007) **1/2

 

It's fair to say that vampires are hardly under-represented in Hollywood lore. Since 1922's “Nosferatu,” the blood-sucking undead have been a Hollywood staple. We've seen vampires in every flavor you can imagine: scary, funny, sexy, ugly, you name it. So what innovation does “30 Days of Night” bring to the table? Well, in most vampire movies, the characters just have to survive the night. If they can make it to morning, the sun will rise, the vampires will be forced into hiding, and the good guys get a chance to regroup. But what about the arctic, the Land of the Midnight Sun, the flip side of which is mid-day darkness in winter?

“30 Days of Night” is set in Barrow, now called Utquiagvik, the most northerly town in Alaska. The town is preparing for the darkest part of winter, when the sun doesn't rise for weeks. Sheriff Eben Oleson (Josh Hartnett) starts getting a lot of strange calls. Someone has sabotaged the town's communications and helicopter, leaving everyone stuck there incommunicado during a period when no one generally is able to enter or leave. Soon, the dark city is beset by vampires, and with sunrise weeks away, the townsfolk have no choice but to hide or fight.

This film does some things right, but it also gets a lot wrong. For one thing, it isn't just 30 days. The sun sets in Utquiagvik around November 18^th each year and does not rise again until January 22^nd. I guess “64 Days of Night” didn't have the same ring to it. I'll give them artistic license on that. The bigger complaint is that the way the film is put together, you really get little sense of the whole vampire reign of terror lasting even a month. One scene hops right to the next, and it really feels like the film takes place in one night. That's a missed opportunity, as this film's one original idea is the whole endless night situation.

All that said, this is not actually all that bad a horror film. The vampires are truly scary, and they speak a cool, Eastern-European sounding vampire language. The acting is decent for this type of film, and I generally enjoyed the movie, which is based on a comic series. It might be interesting to watch this back-to-back with Christopher Nolan's 2002 film, “Insomnia,” which is set during the Alaskan summer.

2.5 stars out of 5

The Empty Man (2020) **

 

The story of this film's creation is almost more interesting, and scarier, than the actual movie. Based on a graphic novel, the film was adapted and directed by David Prior, who started shooting back in 2016. Production was delayed a number of times, due to things like weather and studio politics. Around the time Prior was ready to finish the film, 20^th Century Fox got bought out by Disney, and Prior went through a couple of cycles of being rushed by the studio, then being ignored. He had to rush out a version for a test screening, which went horribly, then the studio tried to edit together their own version of the film before handing it back to Prior. Finally completed, the film sat on the shelf for a couple of years. Disney ultimately released it during the pandemic, and it screened for mostly empty theaters. Audiences and critics alike hated it, and the film seemed destined to die in obscurity. In a year when there just aren't many new movies available, however, the film found an audience on streaming services, and it has become something of a cult movie.

The story is about a detective who discovers a secret cult who worship an entity they call “the Empty Man.” The Empty Man can be summoned by blowing on a bottle near a bridge, and he may be the explanation for the deaths of several local teens. But before all that, there's a piece about some hikers in the Himalayas, who stumble upon a deadly curse.

The problem with “The Empty Man” is that it is really 3 movies, and they don't fit together very well. The first half hour, in the Himalayas, is actually a pretty cool, horror short all on its own. Then they abruptly shift to the story of the detective, and it's a pretty typical, derivative horror flick about teens daring each other to summon a murderous entity. Then it segues into the final section, about a secret cult. This is the most intriguing part, as it delves some into the warped-Buddhist, nihilistic philosophy of the cult, and there's an interesting twist to the story. Unfortunately, these 3 story lines are not knitted together well, and they amount to a run time of 2 hours 17 minutes, which is just way more of my life than this film deserves. I feel like there is a good movie in there somewhere, and director David Prior was never given the chance to piece it together. If he were given the opportunity to come back in and edit this thing, separate the wheat from the chaff, and get it down to about 100 minutes, he might come up with a movie that would leave me feeling less, well, empty.

2 stars out of 5