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Dune (2021)
Villeneuve's Abridged "Dune 1: Impressions of Dune" Cut
So heavily edited (cut to pieces) that it is in many ways like a potentially delicious meal which contains no salt nor any other seasonings, and which has had 1/3 of the dishes removed before you can taste them. Visually stunning, yes, at least the peeks & glimpses we do get of the actually much deeper, more complex and nuanced story that is there to be told (shown).
A number of important characters are (at least so far) left out entirely, others are there but remain unnamed, and still others that play a much deeper role in the original story are are passed over as nearly inconsequential, pushed aside as if an afterthought.
In an age when people spend a day, or a whole weekend binge-watching complete series non-stop there is little reason to assume viewers would balk at a longer film that does the rich tapestry of the original book(s) full justice & helps the viewer to understand "Hey, there's actually a lot more going on here, and a lot of tantalizing questions hinted at that I definitely want to find the answers to!" Instead so much is cut away that the uninitiated won't even know that those tantalizing questions are there to be answered further along in the story, whether by way of film(s) or just reading the books. Not to mention how much More visually stunning and visually rich the film would be if all the wonderful little details that flesh out the larger story and season it (as well as raise some deliciously tantalizing questions) were not cut away to satisfy "the flow" Villeneuve and/or the studio/producers think they want, or to satisfy some preconceived notions of "film formula" time constraints.
It's still a good film, watch it if you haven't, but it leaves a terrible lot to be desired for those that know the story well, and feels like those that don't know the story well are being short-changed and having their intelligence insulted. It feels rushed.
I'd also point out that the style of English dialogue used in many cases (and perhaps just overall) does not fit the epic style or atmospherics of the story. These characters and groups are people steeped in tradition and formality, an ancient noble family, and cultures many thousands of years older than any culture has ever lasted in our own known history. That is for the most part lost in this rendition in regards some of the more casual stylings of the English dialogue. It's as if a bit of Disney Channel crept in with phrases like "Good to go!" and "Are you good?" among other bits that don't seem to quite fit the type of story "trying" to be told here. I'd like to give it more stars but just can't. It should have been better in a number of ways. Longer, meatier, richer...More of the epic, complex tale that this story really is. Consider this film the Villeneuve, Dune 1: "Impressions of Dune" abridged version.
Raven's Hollow (2022)
Horrifyingly Tedious
Very slow, conceptually silly for the most part, while at times pretentious and overly self conscious of the Poe angle present in the film. Bad combination.
Overall a pretty much artless affair that one might expect from first or second year film school students who got a decent sized grant or monetary backing from wealthy parents or the like (seems to have been a fairly decent budget), but the quality of the story-telling falls far short of whatever was spent on production. Took several hours to watch, as I kept pausing to do other things. It's that boring and silly. I would not recommend wasting the time it takes to slog through this. Find something more engaging in which to invest your time and brain power.
The Cured (2017)
A series of impressions...
There is a great concept here that should be explored, but poor editing, just poor story-telling overall, leaves us with a series of clips slapped together, almost like a machinema effort (cut-scenes from a video game) but slapped together much more poorly than so many talented amateurs manage to pull off & post on youtube. The idea is well worth exploring. The execution is truly like poorly edited game cut-scenes slapped together randomly. A series of impressions of events & ideas, yet not a cohesive story. Ideas that deserved so much more. Interesting, yet painful to watch knowing what it could have been., Then the cavalier use of the Irish troubles as random film fodder. Nope...
Moonhaven (2022)
Better Than Other Reviews Let On. It Does Meander A Bit But...
...It Is A Detective Mystery After All, (essentially), and an interesting one at that, despite the pacing. Visually it's very well done. The acting is average, has a few high points, but not great. Oddly enough, although unintentional, it works very well in many ways (or could) as a "Deep-Past/Deep-History" prequel to Raised By Wolves. All of the kernel elements are there. Despite it not being a prequel to that very odd, interesting (& dark) but foolishly canceled series, thinking of it on some level as just that has made Moonhaven slightly more enjoyable for me than it otherwise would have been. For that reason I've given it a couple of xtra stars. Either way, it's not as terrible as some reviews make it out to be. Just quirky, and as mentioned, meanders a bit like many detective stories tend to do as they flesh out & find their footing.