Dune (2021)

This sci-fi saga of a young man called upon to travel to a sandy planet to protect his people is visually spectacular and has many fans, including the Academy, but I agree with Jack, who said that he could see the technical nominations but not Best Picture. This is part one and part two is slated for next year.

Timothée Chalamet, a proven talent, heads up the cast of dozens, not one of whom got an acting nomination. Some of the other talents are Oscar Isaac, Jason Momoa, Josh Brolin, Zendaya, and Charlotte Rampling.

Director Denis Villeneuve works from a script that he co-wrote with Jon Spaihts and Eric Roth, based on the 1965 novel by Frank Herbert. It's a testament to the failure of multi-tasking that I read the book during college classes and don't remember much of either.

Hans Zimmer's Oscar-winning score can be streamed on Apple Music and elsewhere. It's very good and features some newly invented instruments as well as vocals by Lisa Gerrard. The movie also won for cinematography (Greig Fraser), production design (Patrice Vermette), editing (Joe Walker), and sound and visual effects (big teams), with nominations for makeup and hair, costumes, adapted screenplay, and best picture.

Chalamet was last blogged for The French Dispatch, Isaac for The Card Counter, Brolin for Deadpool 2, Zendaya for Spider-Man: Far from Home, Rampling for The Sense of an Ending, Villeneuve for Blade Runner 2049, Spaihts for Passengers, Roth for A Star Is Born, Zimmer for Wonder Woman 1984, Gerrard for Samsara, and Fraser for Vice.

I'm not sure if I've seen any of Momoa's work, other than that cringey gag at the Oscars Sunday when Regina Hall patted down him and Brolin. (That's all I'm going to say here about the show.) I have seen plenty of Vermette's, including The Young Victoria, for which he was Oscar-nominated, Vice, Sicario, and Arrival (the latter two directed by Villeneuve and edited by Walker). Walker was Oscar-nominated for 12 Years a Slave.

Fans should read the multitude of trivia items.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics have not deserted this movie, averaging 83%, while its audiences are even sunnier at 90. We streamed it on HBO Max on March 10.