Thoughts on Dune: Part Two (2024)

Building on his excellent cinematic grammar of prophecy, Denis Villeneuve uses Dune: Part Two (2024), cowritten with Jon Spaihts, to examine the experience of being set before the prophecy, knowing you’re its intended subject. Not to take the whole messiah thing literally, but this narrative structure is famously hinted at in the Gospels.

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Thoughts on Monolith (2022)

The jump scare is a curious thing. It has to be sudden, but suddenness alone just creates disorientation. You can add loud discordant notes, but that’s like your friend “scaring” you by punching you—a purely biological reaction devoid of cinematic interest. No, a good jump scare depends on expectation: The viewer must expect  something to happen, but not know when. And as viewers grow savvy to horror beats, the not knowing gets ever harder. Which brings us to Monolith (2022).

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