GLENN BURGESS suggests that, despite his record in Spain, Orwell’s enduring commitment to socialist revolution underpins his late novels
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Film round-up: February 29, 2024
Rebel messiahs, radicalised daughters, talking spiders, and troublesome mothers: The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE reviews Dune: Part Two (★★★★), Four Daughters (★★★), Spaceman (★★★), and Driving Mum (★★★)
FAMILY EPIC: Dune: Part Two; Driving Mum
[IMDb] 
CHRISTOPHER POLLARD explains how and why neoliberalism adopted the racist agenda common to the populist right of today
SYLVIA HIKINS recommends a sweeping survey of the world's biggest desert and the people who live there
GUILLERMO THOMAS is persuaded by a scathing critique of the Church of England and its embeddedness in imperialism
MARIA DUARTE and ANGUS REID review Materialists, Unmoored, Together, and Bambi: A Tale of Life in The Woods
TONY BURKE revels in the publication of previously unreleased tracks by the great US folksinger
GORDON PARSONS endures heavy rock punctuated by Shakespeare, and a delighted audience
Dune: Part Two (12A)
Directed by Denis Villeneuve
★★★★
FOUR months later than expected, due to the actors’ strike, Denis Villeneuve’s continuation of this epic saga is on an even grander scale than before, with breathtaking visuals, hair raising action scenes, a bigger and star-studded international cast, and chock-full of political intrigue and machinations.
Based on the second half of Frank Herbert’s novel Dune, this film picks up exactly where the first one ended. It follows Paul Atreides (Timothee Chalamet) as he unites with Chani (Zendaya) and the Fremen led by Stilgar (a sublime Javier Bardem) while seeking revenge against the conspirators who destroyed his family. It shows his transformation from earnest young man into rebel Messiah, in which he forsakes the love of his life for political triumph and mythic destiny.
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