BFG Podcast #142: 'Dune 2' and 'Shogun'

One pop-culture phenomenon blots out the sun over Arrakis this week, and Stephen Garrett joins Neal Pollack on the podcast to talk about Denis Villennueve's 'Dune 2'. Not surprisingly, Stephen likes 'Dune 2' much more than Neal does, though Neal grudgingly admits that you're not going to get a better adaptation of Frank Herbert's 'Dune' novels than this. It is a monumental achievement of pop culture and is the best sci-fi epic of our time. That doesn't mean it's not pretentious and boring in places. Neal likes Léa Seydoux's cameo as a witch-spy, and Austin Butler as a charismatically weird bald antagonist. Stephen makes apologies for Timothée Chalamet's stiff performance, Neal has no time for that. Regardless, the spice is flowing, the worms are zooming through the sand, the interstellar political intrigues are intriguing.

Bonus: Neal complains at great length about the eating habits of the woman who sat next to him at the Alamo Drafthouse during his screening!

Finally this week, Michael Washburn enters the podcast dome to school Neal on the historical realities behind the excellent FX miniseries remake of Shōgun, currently running. The series, to its credit, doesn't shy away from some of the more ethnocentric aspects of feudal Japanese culture, and paints both its Asian and Western protagonists as complicated and flawed. For straightforward historical drama, you don't get much better than this. It's an epic saga of the world on the brink of modernity, and it's well worth your hours.

Enjoy the podcast!