A Seattle moviegoing lifestyle magazine
We start up where Part One left us as Paul (Timothée Chalamet) and Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) Atreides have found the mistrusting Fremen that they must win over not only to survive but to thrive as both Paul and Jessica have foreseen. Each has their own path in what will become the fight for the freedom of these people and themselves. The latter must manipulate the religious fervor for the coming messiah while the former must lead the people, even if it’s not what he wants for himself.
I love a movie that lets us watch an artist at work (see also, Showing Up) especially when it’s a craftsman of a job I’ve never considered.
Benoît Magimel is the Napoleon of French cuisine. Juliette Binoche is his cook, apprentice, and lover. Over twenty-plus years together, they’ve built an astonishing culinary and emotional partnership together at a stunning country estate. It’s the late 1800s in France, the Age of Escoffier is dawning, and the preparation, appreciation, and invention of food is serious business.
An NYPD EMT, Cassie Web (Dakota Johnson), has a lonesome existence, but she’s more than happy with the way things are while her partner Ben forces her out of her shell and into socializing. A life and death experience brings out a new power laying dormant within her brought on by her mother’s time in the Peruvian Amazon. As her mother lay dying during child birth, locals save Cassie’s life with the help of a rare spider that supposedly offers supernatural powers. Double crossed by her supposed protection Ezekiel Sims (Tahar Rahim), she clung to life just long enough for the birth of her daughter.
Part of the routine when attending preview screenings as a press member requires us to give a brief opinion after the movie to one of the PR representatives. The answer I gave after Argylle was “dumb but harmless.” A couple of days later, I still can’t think of anything better.
