Movie Nights #1
No Time to Die, Dune, The French Dispatch.
A few thoughts on the movies I’ve seen recently. Happy to hear what you thought below.
No Time to Die
My first time in an actual cinema in over a year and a half (and I used to be a twice a week guy). So, I was excited, and disposed to like whatever was put in front of me, and more interested in entertainment than art. Having made all those caveats, I’ll also say that I enjoyed the film hugely, and didn’t even mind that it was three hours long. I’ve not been the biggest Bond fan in recent years, I haven’t rushed to the cinema to see the Daniel Craig incarnation, but this won me over. I liked the new-style action-hero Bond women, it was great to look at, and wow, that ending. How will they follow that?
Dune
Well, I didn’t love it, I’m sorry. It looked astonishing, but is looking good all we need now? It almost (I said almost) made me nostalgic for the David Lynch version, which at least was genuinely oddball and, well, strange. This felt conventional, and, at approximately the same length as the Bond, felt much longer. Dune fans, don’t hate me. Your disagreements below.
The French Dispatch
And this was a complete delight. Wes Anderson has made his own world by now, in which deadpan humor mingles with a hyper-detailed visual universe that approaches high camp but is somehow more elegant and makes you want to see the film again at once, and star actors come and go while you blink. (Did anyone see Edward Norton?) Interesting that Anderson insists it was based on the early days of The New Yorker, because I thought a lot of the early days of The Paris Review was in there too, Bill Murray as editor seemed as much TPR’s Plimpton as TNY’s Ross or Shawn. But who cares. It’s a film to surrender to, because its purpose is the creation of joy, and goodness knows, we need some joy right now.
I agree with you about Dune. I remember liking the Lynch version. This new one just didn’t do anything for me.
I've only seen "No Time to Die" out of these three, and it's the only Bond movie (I've seen them all) that made me cry at the end. I know! It is going to be a bit difficult to go back to another Bond adventure with that ending, but perhaps thinking of the rest as flashbacks might help me, at least. Before watching this, I spent a weekend watching the Connery incarnations, and thinking yes, we can also appreciate those, but I appreciate the recent ones so much more. This was the first time I've watched a Bond movie in a cinema since "Octopussy" and it was a great experience!
I'm not inclined to watch "Dune." The preview didn't impress me much, and I confess to never having read the Dune series so I wouldn't have been able to compare anyway. I've heard raves about the miniseries though.