The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry: I am a sucker for book- and book-shop-based stories, and the film’s title naturally caught my interest. Netflix didn’t provide a trailer, so I didn’t entirely know what I was getting into. On the plus side, the movie had some well-portrayed, likeable characters (a book-shop owner living on an out-of-the-way island and a traveling salesperson for a book publisher). But it was also a manipulative tearjerker that left me questioning, at the end, what even is the point of life. I would have skipped the movie if I’d known more of what it was about.
Dune: Part Two : Among the pros are the evocative setting, special effects, riveting faces, and costuming. That is to say, it’s a good-looking film with good-looking actors. Among the cons are poor pacing, bad guys struggling so hard to be menacing that they seem silly instead, and a portrayal of religion that entirely spoils any magic and mysticism that’s in the story. My least favorite thing was the heavy-handed framing of the Fremen as Arabs. Science fiction is all about metaphor. Half the point of reading and/or viewing it is to discover the metaphors for oneself. The other half is enjoying a respite from reality. So, to hang a lantern on the metaphors is both to destroy any intellectual enjoyment one might find in the tale while also turning one’s mind back to real life, where real people fight long and bloody wars over things like oil, which is just depressing. TLDR: I didn’t like the movie. I’m in the minority there, but what else is new?