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Film Previews

Film Previews

3/6/2024

“Dune: Part Two”

PG-13 | 164 minutes
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Writers: Denis Villeneuve, Jon Spaihts, Frank Herbert (source material)
Stars: Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson

“Dune: Part Two” picks up so closely on the heels of the first film that the Fremen are still transporting the body of Jamis (Babs Olusanmokun) home again after he was bested in the fight with Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet). After the massacre of House Atreides, Paul chose to go with the Fremen, much to the consternation of his mother, Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson). Thinking both Paul and Jessica were taken by the desert, and all hopped up on violence after destroying the Atreides interlopers, House Harkonnen amplifies its attack on the Fremen, leading to a few remarkably staged battles between the warriors and soldiers. More than a simple savior or chosen one story, “Dune: Part Two” is a robust piece of filmmaking, a reminder that this kind of broad-scale blockbuster can be done with artistry and flair.


“Kung Fu Panda 4”

PG | 94 minutes
Directors: Mike Mitchell, Stephanie Stine
Writers: Jonathan Aibel, Glenn Berger
Stars: Jack Black, Awkwafina, Viola Davis

The Dragon Warrior is back, and he’s about to embark to face the most threatening enemy he’s ever had to battle. A new villain, called The Chameleon, is in town, and the Dragon Warrior’s new adversary is not someone he can mess around with. What makes this new adversary particularly dangerous is its ability to summon enemies from Po’s past, which have included one of Master Shifu’s (Dustin Hoffman) previous students and a crane (Gary Oldman) that wanted to get rid of pandas once and for all. Besides dealing with the burden of facing his strongest enemy yet, Po will have to look for a replacement, as he knows he can’t be the Dragon Warrior forever.


“The American Society of Magical Negroes”

PG-13 | 104 minutes
Director/Writer: Kobi Libii
Stars: Justice Smith, David Alan Grier, Zachary Barton

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Aron Mbondo (Justice Smith) is a struggling artist in Los Angeles. He’s an emasculated figure — unconfident in his unsold yarn sculptures and submissively deferential to white people, for “reasons.” He’s so deeply internalized the widespread devaluing of Black lives that it manifests as personal timidity. But things start cooking after a kindly server named Roger (David Alan Grier) notices his penchant for deference and whisks him away to headquarters for, yes, the American Society of Magical Negroes, a centuries-old secret society that provides “client services” to white people — kindness, consideration, hackneyed wisdom, references to their wise Black grandmother — to keep Black people safe. n

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