Image (Credit): Scene from Dune: Part Two. (Warner Bros.)
It was a classy move by the Canadian filmmaker who gave us of this year’s most anticipated movie, Dune: Part Two.
A dying man in northern Quebec had one last wish before he died – he wanted to see the second installment of Denis Villeneuve’s Dune. Once the request appeared on social media, the film team went into action, even offering to fly the man to the film’s premiere in Montreal. But that was two month’s away, and the man could not wait that long nor was the medical team able to move him to another location.
So the film was flown up to Quebec on Villeneuve’s computer laptop for a private showing. The man watched the film and died a few days later.
Asked about this gesture, Villeneuve’s comment was, ““It’s for him, it’s for that man that we make films.”
Image (Credit): Noomi Rapace in episode 1 of Constellation. (Apple TV+)
Apple TV+ has a new space station-related drama called Constellation premiering February 21. It sounds pretty eery, but at least this trauma is more at the personal level rather than the planetary level, compared to other recent space station stories.
Constellation” stars Noomi Rapace as Jo — an astronaut who returns to Earth after a disaster in space — only to discover that key pieces of her life seem to be missing. The action-packed space adventure is an exploration of the dark edges of human psychology, and one woman’s desperate quest to expose the truth about the hidden history of space travel and recover all that she has lost.
You may remember Ms. Rapace from the film Prometheus, which was its own dark warning about the risks of leaving Earth. This may be just as dark. Watch the trailer as well and then decide for yourself.
It certainly is not a recruitment film for NASA, and space travel seems to be more of a device than the main plot, but I have been happy with Apple TV+ series in the past. So I will be watching this one.
Note: The Roger Ebert site has a lot more detail on the plot if you are interested. The site concludes:
Fans of the many quality science-fiction offerings on Apple TV+ will likely be satisfied by “Constellation.” It’s an interesting space drama with standout performances from its cast…But despite these moving performances, “Constellation” spends too much time floating aimlessly. The show likes to believe it’s clever, but the reality is that it often falls flat.
Image (Credit): Movie advertisement for Rebel Moon. (Nexflix)
In an earlier post, I mentioned those movies you don’t need to see until they come to your television. What is even easier is when they start on the television, as is the case with Netflix’sRebel Moon.
Released in mid-December, and labeled as “Part One: A Child of Fire,” you may be witnessing the start of an interesting new series or the creation of content for it’s own sake. I have yet to decide myself.
Here is the trailer, which tells you a good part of the story. That, and this teaser from Netflix:
When the ruthless forces of the Motherworld threaten a quiet farming village on a distant moon, a mysterious outsider becomes its best hope for survival.
The movie has some decent special effects to go along with the usual well-worn tropes:
An empire with troublesome planets at the edges, similar to Star Wars and Foundation? Check.
Desert planet hosting an individual important to the empire, similar to Star Wars? Check.
Desert planet with wild saloons where you battle bounty hunters and hire rogue ships and pilots, similar to Star Wars? Check.
Confused robot not sure about its path, similar to Lost in Space? Check.
Ragtag band fighting evil, similar to Guardians of the Galaxy? Check.
The list could go on and on, with elements of Conan the Barbarian, Star Trek’s Borg Queen, Vikings: Valhalla, and Firefly thrown in as well. Oh yeah, and an evil empire where the officers where Nazi SS uniforms and are followed by masked religious figures similar to the ones you see in Dune.
The only redeeming portion of this film comes after the first half when the battle scenes and reincarnation of a key character provide some interesting twists. It may not save the entire effort, but it did add to the fun.
Part Two: The Scargiver will be released on April 19th. It is supposed to be the second and final episode of Rebel Moon.
Will I watch it? Probably. Am I recommending you watch it yourself? Not really, unless you need to kill a few hours. It can be interesting, if only to create your own list of well-worn tropes.
Image (Credit): Dune: Part Two movie poster. (Warner Bros.)
While Dune: Part Two might have been delayed, I expect it will be more than worth the wait. In the meantime, check out the official movie site and latest trailer. I have also dropped in a few of the gallery photos below.
“The current budget environment has significant implications for mission and safety risk. NASA has a very full mission plate. To the extent that their budget request is not fully funded, the leadership will need to acknowledge and make critical decisions with respect to program content or schedules, which will need to be adjusted to meet fiscal realities. Attempting to do all planned efforts on expected timelines will introduce unacceptable and unmanaged risk. The Agency will need to rely on its developed strategic vision, objectives, and architecture to establish well-defined priorities to ground its endeavors in reality – taking fully into account the risk-benefit tradeoffs.”
-Statement in the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel’s 2023 Annual Report regarding NASA’s operating environment. One particular area of risk relates to Artemis III, which entails a crewed landing on the Moon. The report states:
In addition, prior to the Artemis III mission, NASA will need to address whatever issues arise from the Artemis II mission, including the possibilities of hardware (HW) and software (SW) changes to both the Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion. Orion flight time on Artemis III will exceed previous durations. Given that it is a new rocket, a new human capsule, and a new human spaceflight environment for this generation of NASA workers, it is not unreasonable to think that NASA will still have a great deal of discovery to do with every Artemis mission for the foreseeable future, and that both schedules and workloads will need to expand accordingly.
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