Feast of Chalamet
FIVE STARS: OSCAR NOMINEE’S OFFERINGS ENJOYABLE His perfomances in both films show he’s a man of many talents.
Once in a while, an incredibly talented actor who kills each role he takes and, just can’t seem to put a set wrong comes along and gets audiences intrigued.
Already an Oscar nominee for the 2018 Call Me by Your Name, 28-year-old Timothée Chalamet is a man of many talents.
This year he received a well-deserved nomination for his role as Willy Wonka in the movie, Wonka.
Cinema-goers can enjoy a current feat of Chalamet’s strong performances.
Currently on release are Wonka and Dune: Part Two. As a cinema lover, I can state that I thoroughly enjoyed both offerings.
With the strong supporting cast of Rowan Atkinson, Olivia Coleman, the delightful young Calah Lane, ever funny Hugh Grant, and a special mention to the Chief of police character Keegan-Micheal Key, Willy Wonka sets out to build his chocolate dreams while building friendships.
The whole movie is beautiful to watch with many lessons for children and viewers; there’s nothing about it that I didn’t enjoy.
Not to be compared with Jonny Depp’s Wonka in the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), which was slightly darker, Depp gave it a twisted spin but left audiences of that era confused.
My favourite part was Chalamet breaking into a reworked version of the classic Pure Imagination featuring Grant.
Originally made popular by the first Wonka, Gene Wilder. Whoever thought Grant could play an Oompa Loompah?
This is a great watch for the entire family. Grandmother and the grandkids will agree it deserves full five stars.
The very successful part one of the trilogy, released in 2021, garnered a cult following from lovers of the science fiction genre, myself included.
The purity of cinematography, the beauty of a vicious sandy desert, and a deep plot set the scene for this action and drama-filled flick.
Always ending on a cliffhanger as a prelude to the next movie, the new movie continues where the last one left off.
In Dune: Part Two, the tale continues with the powerful cast of returning stars Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar nominees Charlotte Rampling, Josh Brolin and Austin Butler, Dave Bautista, Stellan Skarsgård and Oscar winner Javier Bardem.
This highly awaited sequel to 2021’s six-time Academy Award-winning film delves into Paul Atreides’ (Chamalet) mythological adventure as he joins forces with Chani and the Fremen on a quest for vengeance against the conspirators who slaughtered his family.
Denis Villeneuve, an award-winning director, embarks on the second chapter of Frank Herbert’s classic novel Dune. Newcomers Oscar candidate Florence Pugh, who can do no wrong, not to mention her amazing performance in Oppenheimer, Oscar winner Christopher Walken, Léa Seydoux, and Souheila Yacoub round out the cast. Chalamet received a Critics Choice Award nomination for Best Actor for Dune Part One.
Chani (Zendaya) is the girl and warrior of his dreams he’s been dreaming about since he was a young boy with prophetic vision. Paul finally gets to spend time with the lady he’s loved his entire life in his visions and prophecies while learning to realise and accept that he is the Messiah, a title he battles to embrace until he is forced to go through various warrior and life tests.
He works to avoid a horrific future that only he can predict while having to choose between the love of his life and the fate of the known universe.
Dune: Part Two is a marvel to watch and Chalamet delivers a deeply emotional character who comes of age in front of the viewer’s eyes.
Villeneuve describes one of the iconic scenes in this epic saga as follows: “There’s a shot where Paul finally rides on the worm. It’s a shot that we see his foot and finally, he stands up and finds his balance on the worm for the very first time.
“It’s a bit like where he becomes a Fremen, where he becomes an adult. It’s barely described in the book, and I had to imagine the technique. How he will be physically able to jump onto a worm, making that look real, dangerous, and edgy?
“It required a tremendous amount of time, research and development, and it was by far the most complex sequence I have ever done in my life. I am reluctant to dive too much into the technicality of it because I love to keep the magic…”.
But unlike Wonka, the ending may leave you extremely upset and wanting for more. Another five-star movie that sits perfectly in its genre.