Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (1984)

It has been a thousand years since the Seven Days of Fire that destroyed the world.  A toxic jungle now spans the earth and encroaches on the remaining lands where humans still live.  Princess Nausicaa (Alison Lohman) lives in a peaceful valley and explores the lands on her glider.  She regularly searches the toxic jungle for anything that might be of use.  Returning from her most recent exploration, she spots a man fleeing from an Ohm!  An Ohm is an immense insect, like a battleship that crawls at superspeed.  Using a variety of devices and her flying talents, Nausicaa calmed the infuriated Ohm and sent it back to the toxic jungle.  The fleeing man proves to be Lord Yupa, a famed swordsman who travels among the kingdoms.  Yupa (Patrick Stewart) tells how more towns have been consumed by the toxic jungle.  Happily, the idyllic Valley of the Wind is protected from the toxic jungle thanks to the winds that keep away the spores that spread the jungle plants.  However, an airship appears in the sky and soon crashes in the valley.  In its hold was one of the giant warriors from the Seven Days of Fire as well as samples of the toxic jungle!  Not only must the valley residents hunt for spores that may have spread from the crash, the Tolmekian Army arrives to take charge of the giant warrior.  Kushana (Uma Thurman) leads the Tolmekians and she will crush any who interfere.

The setting is amazingly well-realized and the characters have more depth than should be expected.  The art is outstanding.  Though this predates the founding of Studio Ghibli, it is the first original work by Hayao Miyazaki.  The story is substantial, the action is plentiful, and the voice acting is excellent.

Great popcorn fun and highly recommended!

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)

Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) is running through a bizarre plane of existence where the wreckage of some ancient structure swirls about in a gravity-optional kaleidoscope.  Running beside him is a girl with unstated powers that she cannot control.  Chasing them is a demonic creature that appears to be nothing but a vast coil of flaming strands.  It is trying to steal America's powers.  Before Strange can prevent that by taking her powers for himself, he is killed.

Strange awakens from the nightmare!  He dresses, using his magic to tie his tie.  He attends the wedding of his love interest, Christine Palmer (Rachel McAdams).  After the ceremony, he sees a disturbance and jumps into action.  He finds a one-eyed tentacle beast attacking... the girl from his nightmare!  After defeating this beast with the aid of Sorcerer Supreme Wong (Benedict Wong), they take hold of the girl and discover her name is America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez) and her power, which she cannot control, is the ability to travel between the various realities of the multiverse.  Strange intends to protect her better than his other version did.  Their opponent proves immensely powerful, forcing Strange and America to flee across the multiverse in search of an ancient book.  On the way, more alternate versions of Strange, his enemies, and his allies are met in alternate realities.

Generally fun, but not without some glaring issues.  At one point, the villain is faced by several other reality 'Avengers.'  The male superheroes are eliminated with a barely any effort, hardly a wave of the hand.  The female superheroes prove formidable, but why?  Why couldn't they be as easily disintegrated as Mr. Fantastic or mutilated like Black Bolt?  Perhaps, with the villain being female, it was thought that brawling among women would be better accepted.  Rather than a sequel to Doctor Strange, this is more of a sequel to WandaVision, which I did not see.  For a second-tier character throughout the MCU, Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) is suddenly an immensely powerful character.  Maybe she always was and I just didn't notice?

America is mostly just a victim, a wandering McGuffin.  Other than a desire to eat pizza and to run in terror from the latest monster, she has no character.  Based on her backstory, her mode of dress and name don't make sense.  She has this American flag motif in her clothes and her name is America, but she's from some alternate reality where she had two mothers.  And her portals between realities are star-shaped.  Huh?

This is Sam Raimi's first movie in 8 years and marks his return to the superhero genre.  Sam brought along Bruce Campbell for a cameo as Pizza Papa.  I would have preferred him as Ash, especially since the undead arrive in the finale.  Indeed, something similar to the necronomicon also plays a major role.

Good popcorn fun.

Dune (1984)

The story opens with exposition about the universe in the year 10191.  The Emperor (Jose Ferrer) is confronted by members of the Spacing Guild.  The Guild is unhappy with his political machinations that appear to threaten the flow of spice, the life blood of the Guild.  He explains that he is seeking to undermine House Atreides and that House Harkonnen will resume control of spice mining soon after.  Before they leave, the Guild demands that Paul Atreides, the son and heir of the current Duke, be killed.

Meanwhile on Caladan, homeworld of House Atreides, Paul (Kyle MacLachlan) demonstrates his skills.  He has keen senses to know who is approaching simply by the sound of their gait, adept in knife combat, and in use of the sonic weapon of the weirding way.  Next, he is tested by the Reverend Mother of the Bene Gesserit.  The Bene Gesserit are a sisterhood with the power to bend others to their will, not unlike the Jedi Mindtrick.  After surviving the ordeal, Paul joins his father, Leto (Jurgen Prochnow) and the notables of House Atreides in instantaneous travel to Arrakis, the planet of spice.

On Geidi Prime, Baron Vladimir Harkonnen (Kenneth McMillan) plots the destruction of House Atreides.  Among his retinue is Feyd-Rautha (Sting), the heir of House Harkonnen.  The Harkonnens are wildly outlandish.  The baron shrieks and yells, just about his only form of communication.  One might say he has a short fuse, but he doesn't seem to have any fuse at all.  He's a series of emotionally-charged outbursts.  Rabban (Paul Smith) and Feyd-Rautha stand around with wicked grins while the baron berates everyone.  Only Piter De Vries (Brad Dourif) appears to possess a coherent thought.  As a whole, the Harkonnens are portrayed as comically evil.

As the source material is extensive and time is short, the movie is densely packed with exposition and the voice-over inner thoughts of the various characters.  Then there are Paul's enigmatic visions with more narrated thoughts.  Some characters who are obviously important feel tacked on.  Duncan Idaho (Richard Jordan) is greeted warmly by Paul, intimating a strong bond.  Duncan is a great warrior, but, when the Harkonnens attack, he dies after the briefest encounter.  I guess he wasn't that great.  Clearly, he was important in the book but he could easily have been removed from the movie.  Then there was Shadout Mapes (Linda Hunt), a Dune native who serves as housekeeper.  As with Duncan, it feels as if there was more to the character in the novel.

Gurney Halleck (Patrick Stewart) is bizarre.  He is introduced with a musical instrument over his shoulder and called a troubador-warrior.  He even offers some music to the Atreides principals before they travel to Arrakis.  He offers a melodramatic oration after Paul survives an assassination attempt.  During the Harkonnen attack, he charges to battle with a dog tucked in his jacket.  What the heck?  This may have seemed really cool in the book, but he looks like a crackpot here.  It is amazing that Gene Roddenberry cast him in Star Trek after this performance.

The constant reference to prophecy gives the eventual conclusion of the film the feel of inevitability.  Look, Paul has met this part of the prophecy.  Hey, there is yet another sign of prophecy.  The introduction of his younger sister in the climax doesn't fly.  There needed to be a lot more streamlining and editing to fit this much story into 3 hours.

Not terrible but far from good.  Most of the special effects have not aged well, especially the personal shields that make the characters look like Minecraft characters.  The fish-like navigator swimming around to fold space was entirely unnecessary.  However, it is worth seeing now to compare with the Denis Villeneuve version that is currently in release. 

Logan

Logan (Hugh Jackman) doesn't look good.  His healing factor is failing him and his adamantium bones are now poisoning him to death.  He is making a living as a chauffer in El Paso.  South of the border, he has a place where he is hiding Professor Xavier (Patrick Stewart).  Charles is suffering from dementia and causes considerable harm to those around him during his less lucid moments.  Serving as nurse when Logan is away is Caliban (Stephen Merchant), an albino mutant with a gift for tracking mutants.  Enter Laura (Dafne Keen), an 11 year-old genetically-engineered mutant who has abilities nearly identical to Wolverine.  Hmm.  She is being tracked by Pierce (Boyd Holbrook) and his band of cyborgs.  Logan wants to walk away but Charles believes they must aide Laura.  Let the chase begin!

 

This is very somber and dark for a superhero movie.  There is no shortage of killing and much of it is very graphic.  Logan's failing health leads to him having some impressive scars and even what should be fatal open wounds.  On the other side, there are moments that are very sweet.  The brief time when Logan introduces himself as Charles' son and indicates that Laura is his daughter was quite fitting.  I've never thought of Professor X as a father-figure for Logan but it works quite well here.  'Chuck' provides a conscience that Logan wants to ignore.

 

Poignant and sad, it reminds me a bit of Watchman.  All the exciting heroics are in the past which itself is a bygone era.  In a different genre, the performances by Jackman and Stewart are the sort that would be Academy Award material.  Definitely one to see and a great finish for Jackman and Stewart in the X-Men series.