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Ugh, they're making more? Are they trying to turn Dune into LOTR, create a whole universe across multiple films? Once I learned that the first one wasn't a standalone film, I was under the impression that it was a Part 1 and Part 2 situation. Fucking hell, man. As a film professor with students writing papers, I'll have to watch it because it's likely I'll get papers on it, but my viewings will be strictly business, and I'm not expecting much pleasure, though I'm always happy to be proven wrong with a great film.
For me, it's not about this style or that style, it's about execution case-by-case. 2001 is one of the greatest movies ever and it's a sci-fi movie that starts in prehistoric times with no dialogue for the first and last 20+ minutes. Hell, I'm also a huge fan of slow cinema, which is exactly what it sounds like. Good is good, and I just don't think that making movies by making an entire 2.5 hour movie nothing but set-up for a subsequent movie down the road is a good way to use the art of film. If you want to tell long, sprawling sagas, make a TV show. In short, it's the production model that's bugging me more than the quality of Villeneuve's filmmaking.
I wouldn't go so far as to call myself a fan, but I'm also not a hater. I still haven't seen Incendies, but I enjoyed Enemy (bonus points for ambition though it had more mood/atmosphere than psychology/philosophy and I would've liked more of the latter to fill the film out), Prisoners is a solid B+ that I warmed to more after repeat viewings (though many an SVU episode does it better, and the script was quite lacking, but Gyllenhaal turned in his most underrated performance and Jackman was solid all the way through), Sicario is also right there in B+ territory (more script problems, as the Del Toro arc was more compelling than the Blunt arc and we sort of lose track of Blunt as the film progresses, but I loved the depiction of the cartels and there were some excellent set-pieces), and Arrival is the closest that he's come to an A film but I still think that the film's time-language conceit is too goofy and deus ex machina for me to put the film in the same league as the sci-fi A team.
Blade Runner 2049 is interesting in that I'm not wild on Blade Runner, so I wasn't particularly eager to see the new one, but I literally have no memory of 2049. I remember watching it, but I don't remember anything about the plot or anything that happens in the film, nor do I remember whether I liked/loved or disliked/hated it. Nothing stuck. I'll have to rewatch that one to have an opinion. It's really just Dune that pissed me off, and again not because it's inherently bad, but because the production model of making and releasing a film that isn't a complete storytelling unit grinds my gears.
To go back to jeff's comment though in connection with yours here, it's true that I prefer Nolan's (and Cameron's) action-oriented style to Villeneuve's style. Villeneuve seems to want to combine an arthouse aesthetic with mainstream genre conventions and star power, but I don't think that he's cracked that code yet. He's not good enough with mood and atmosphere to rely on it like Kubrick or Lynch nor does he have anything particularly profound to say and so he cannot rely on conceptual interest like Tarkovsky or Cronenberg. But as I keep saying, cinematically speaking, I'll reserve judgment on Dune until I see the two films back-to-back and (hopefully) see him unfold a full, cohesive story.
I don't remember any details beyond Jason Momoa and Josh Brolin, and I remember their scenes being pretty actiony. It's certainly closer to Interstellar or Tenet than it is to 2001 or Stalker.
I wasn’t crazy about Enemy but I definitely thought it was an effective film. There is that one scene where Gyllenhaal and the doppelgänger meet and the latter starts enthusiastically barraging him with questions (what’s your birthday, etc) and Jake just has this look of regret like he knows he messed up by pursuing this curiosity. That, to me, is a real highlight of the film and strikes a sort of Hitchcockian note. Last shot of the film is cringe city. Not cringe like embarrassment- cringe like legitimately catches you off guard creepy.
A lot of his other movies I’ve really enjoyed. Prisoners had this very palpable intensity to it. Jackman’s intensity was very realistic and not really like any other performance I’ve seen from him. But Gyllenhaal stole the show. Could have easily gotten a best supporting actor nod just as Benicio probably should have for Sicario.