Category Archives: Movies & TV

Movies & TV

Movie Review: Dune

Note: This article was written for and first appeared on the Imperium News Network (INN), a news website dedicated to the space combat video game EVE Online. During the two years after I started contributing in the Spring of 2020, writing for INN was an enjoyable hobby that reminded me of writing for my college newspaper. During that time I wrote more than 40 articles, most covering various space battles and drama in the game. This article was one of the few not directly related to the game. I permanently quit playing EVE and contributing to INN in May, 2022. (DL, June 7, 2023).

I’ll begin with the TL;DR:

The movie Dune is one of the greatest novel adaptations I’ve ever seen and also a magnificent sci-fi epic in its own right. If you like EVE, you’ll probably love this movie. If you haven’t already, go see it in the theater, and soon.

What I Wanted in Dune

This first section is background on what I look for in movies. Skip to the next section if you want to get straight to Dune.

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Movies & TV

My Beef with Captain America: Civil War

Note: A high-school classmate regularly posts fun-to-read comments and threads on Facebook about the MCU. His “best of” lists and rankings are constantly being updated as each new title comes out. In 2018 he posted his then favorite six movies from the MCU. That led to an extended comment from me in response. (DL, Sept. 13, 2021)

Your top six [Avengers, Black Panther, CA:CW, GoG, Iron Man, SM:Homecoming] is the same as mine with the exception of Civil War. My beef with CW isn’t the convoluted plot-forcing (although as you note, it’s pretty bad). My problem is the way it handles the core moral motivations in the movie.

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Movies & TV

Why You Should go See Avatar as Soon as Possible

Note: I wrote this Facebook Note in the first flush of excitement and awe after having seen James Cameron’s Avatar, which I still regard as one of my top two or three favorite movies ever. It quite effectively captures the passionate certainty that used to define my Christian worldview and the way I read the world through that lens. I think the analysis of the various kinds of fiction and why they’re written is still accurate, but I myself have much less certainty about my own worldview. I’m still as opinionated though. (DL, Sept. 7, 2021)

*This note is unfinished, but I’m posting it now because you can see where my thoughts trend. I may or may not get to finish it.*

Avatar is the best movie I’ve ever seen.
As far as I’m concerned, it’s the best movie that’s ever been made.

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