What to Watch This Weekend: Dune, Ron's Gone Wrong, French Dispatch, Protege, Old, Hell House, Zola, Freaky

For A Spicy Sci Fi Drama: Dune (Theaters and HBO Max)
Dune is a stunning visualization of Frank Herbert's world, with a great cast, fantastic special effects, and an epic and otherworldly soundtrack that will suck you in quicker than a great sand worm. For more information, check out the review!

For An Animated Adventure: Ron's Gone Wrong (Theaters)

The film gets high marks for its animation and humor, and the ultimate story of friendship is an endearing one.  

For A Quirky Stylish Comedy: The French Dispatch (Theaters)

The French Dispatch is mangifique, with an all star cast, crisp and witty writing, and a format that allows these two to meld perfectly for a thoroughly enjoyable and unique experience.  For more information, check out the review! 

For An Enjoyable Cat And Mouse Assassin Film: The Protege (Redbox)
The Protege's great cast, fun chemistry between the lead characters, and understated but brutal action make this one assassin film that is on target.  For more information, check out the review!

For A Twisted Aging Story: Old (Redbox)

Old has a mysterious story, some very nice performances and small touches, and a trademark M. Night Shyamalan twist ending, but the quirks and odd dialogue might cast some shadows on this beach vacation.  For more information, check out the review!

For A Bizarre, Hilarious Odyssey: Zola (Showtime)

Zola is something that has to be experienced to truly understand, and the combination of bizarre characters, amazing style, and some intense performances make this film something to like and retweet.  For more information, check out the review!

For The Spooky Season: Hell House LLC (Amazon Prime)

Hell House LLC is a surprisingly good found footage horror entry with a slow build up and plenty of scares to get your Halloween screaming!

For The Spooky Season 2: Freaky (HBO Max)

Freaky is a mash up of slasher, humor, and teen drama, with enjoyable performances from Vaughn and Newton in this stylish, entertaining horror take on the body swap film.   For more information, check out our review!

Dune Review: A Brooding Dramatic Start For This Series

Release date: October 22, 2021
Running time: 155 minutes
Cast: Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Zendaya, Chang Chen, David Dastmalchian, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Charlotte Rampling, Jason Momoa, Javier Bardem
Director: Denis Villeneuve 

Oscar nominee Denis Villeneuve (“Arrival,” “Blade Runner 2049”) directs Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures’ “Dune,” the big-screen adaptation of Frank Herbert’s seminal bestseller of the same name. A mythic and emotionally charged hero’s journey, “Dune” tells the story of Paul Atreides (Chalamet), a brilliant and gifted young man born into a great destiny beyond his understanding, who must travel to the most dangerous planet in the universe to ensure the future of his family and his people. As malevolent forces explode into conflict over the planet’s exclusive supply of the most precious resource in existence—a commodity capable of unlocking humanity’s greatest potential—only those who can conquer their fear will survive. 

So I will preface this by saying that I never read the books, but what I loved most about this movie is just how unique it felt.  The film is a scifi film with interstellar travel and large space ships, yet it feels low tech at times.  The warriors fight with swords (a consequence of the shield system) and much of the training feels medieval at times.  Additionally, the technology feels well realized here, but with an otherworldly feel at times.  For example, the main fighter planes used to transport around are dragonfly like with high speed vibrating wings that give it a very visceral sense.  And the film has elements of mysticism as well, with visions and other magics at play that give this both a science fiction and high fantasy feel.  It is like some of the darker areas of the Star Wars lore, if those were actually well done in films.

And this technology is well realized with some stellar special effects.  Everything in Dune feels legitimate for the big screen.  There is not obvious CG moments, the effects are so well done that you can just suspend your disbelief and enjoy.  And some of this might also be because of the mix of high and low tech, so you don't have effects all the time.  The fights can be more low tech, and the scenes with the Fremen also have a more low tech style that can help to hide some of the computer generated aspects.  Additionally, the film has some great epic music to set up the story and the gravity of the situation.  It has both an epic and an otherworldly feel that feels right at home in this world. 

The story of Dune is slowly paced, but that gives you a good chance to spend time in this world.  The world building is phenomenal, and the slow pace lets you really get to know these characters.  However, Dune is very much a part one.  Despite it not having that in the name on any advertisements, Dune's splash screen calls it "Dune Part One."  The film spends most of its time building up the world and previewing what is to come, only to then end right when a big revelation happens.  It very much builds up for a second film, and possibly more, and I honestly can't wait to see where it goes. 

Dune is a stunning visualization of Frank Herbert's world, with a great cast, fantastic special effects, and an epic and otherworldly soundtrack that will suck you in quicker than a great sand worm. 

Watch it.

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Dune is in theaters and on HBO Max on October 22, 2021.  For showtimes, click here.

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Screening: See Dune in IMAX Early and Free

We have partnered with Warner Bros. for an early screening of the the scifi epic Dune!  The film is coming to theaters and HBO Max on October 22, 2021, but you can see it early and free!!  Details and entry form are below!

Dune

Release date: October 22, 2021
Running time: 155 minutes
Cast: Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Zendaya, Chang Chen, David Dastmalchian, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Charlotte Rampling, Jason Momoa, Javier Bardem
Director: Denis Villeneuve

Synopsis: 

Oscar nominee Denis Villeneuve (“Arrival,” “Blade Runner 2049”) directs Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures’ “Dune,” the big-screen adaptation of Frank Herbert’s seminal bestseller of the same name. A mythic and emotionally charged hero’s journey, “Dune” tells the story of Paul Atreides (Chalamet), a brilliant and gifted young man born into a great destiny beyond his understanding, who must travel to the most dangerous planet in the universe to ensure the future of his family and his people. As malevolent forces explode into conflict over the planet’s exclusive supply of the most precious resource in existence—a commodity capable of unlocking humanity’s greatest potential—only those who can conquer their fear will survive. 

 Screening Info:

DUNE
Tuesday, October 19
7:00 pm

Regal Majestic

900 Ellsworth Drive, Silver Spring, MD

Screening Link!

News: Warner Brothers ENTIRE 2021 Movie Slate To Debut On HBO Max Alongside Theaters

In a huge shift for a movie studio, Warner Brothers announced that it is debuting its entire 2021 movie slate, not just Wonder Woman 1984, on HBO Max.  The films will have a one month window on HBO Max to view before they leave the service for traditional distribution times (meaning finishing theatrical, then digital purchase, then disc, and eventually back on the service).  This is a huge shift and a calculated bet that Warner is making that the COVID-19 vaccine will not be as widely distributed as some think or that even with a vaccine, consumers might not return to theaters quickly.

And what a movie slate you will get if you have HBO Max.  This makes the service a no brainer if you were planning on seeing even one of these movies in theaters during 2021.  The films you will see include Wonder Woman 1984, Denzel Washington’s The Little Things, Judas and the Black Messiah, Tom & Jerry, Godzilla vs. Kong, Mortal Kombat, Those Who Wish Me Dead, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, In The Heights, Space Jam: A New Legacy, The Suicide Squad, Reminiscence, Malignant, Dune, The Many Saints of Newark, King Richard, Cry Macho and Matrix 4.

We will wait to see if this bet pays off but one thing is certain, 2021 is going to be a very interesting year as movie studios and theaters try to convince consumers to come back to the movies!

News: Dune Trailer and Cast Q&A

The trailer and a cast Q&A featuring Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Timothée Chalamet, Jason Momoa, Josh Brolin, Oscar Isaac, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Javier Bardem, and director Denis Villeneuve, and led by Stephen Colbert has just dropped.  This highly anticipated remake has a lot of hype but appears to be living up to it all.  Dune is expected to drop Holiday 2020.  

Trailer

Someone once said, “he who controls the spice controls when the Dune trailer drops.” We control the spice.

This is the EXCLUSIVE look at the #DuneMovie trailer. pic.twitter.com/38TcAtWnAp

— Twitter Movies (@TwitterMovies) September 9, 2020

Cast Q&A

 

Timothée. Rebecca. Oscar. Josh. Zendaya. Sharon. Jason. Javier. Denis. DUNE TRAILER FIRST LOOK. 👀 https://t.co/ePHY6aGem4

— Twitter Movies (@TwitterMovies) September 9, 2020

New Images