Archive - Gary Paul Varner

Alien: Romulus (2024): Parting Thoughts on the Movie, Franchise

The Alien franchise can still be saved if future writers will at least maintain this latest addition’s quality

Dec 10 •

Dune, Part Two: At Last, Feyd-Rautha Becomes Relevant

The treatment of Feyd in this version is more satisfactory than in any previous one. We are prepared for Paul’s confrontation with him

Dec 5 •

Alien: Romulus News Flash: Ripley Didn’t Kill Her First Alien

We learn that the aliens usually don’t intend to eat their prey but to use them to incubate facehugger embryos.

Dec 3 •

November 2024

Dune, Part Two: Paul Becomes a Hero — Very Reluctantly

Some departures from the book work better than others. The “reluctant hero” trope simplifies a complex political situation but at a cost

Nov 28 •

Alien: Romulus: Andy Turns Bad — Thanks to an Old Friend

Ash reappears in the story, a nice touch which reconnects the film to the original

Nov 26 •

Dune Part Two Succeeds Brilliantly — But Dooms Plans for Part III

The difficulty is that the changes made for the film have warped the core story so much that it’s going to be nearly impossible to follow the source…

Nov 21 •

Alien: Romulus (2024) Wait! This Movie is Actually Good?

A new character, Rain, tries to escape the Weyland Corporation mine in which her parents were killed but the xenomorphs have infiltrated the space…

Nov 19 •

Dune 1984 Offers A Strong Finish to a Unique Adaptation

I’d go as far as to say that, while not all of David Lynch’s adaptations worked, the film is, overall, better than the book

Nov 14 •

Alien Covenant (2017) Could’ve Worked. Here’s How

I am going to boldly go and propose changes to the script so as to make the characters' decisions more natural and plausible

Nov 12 •

Dune (1984) vs the Classic Sci-Fi Novel: What Worked, What Didn’t

For some scenes, the film was an improvement on the book; for others, writer David Lynch might better have stuck with the original

Nov 7 •

Alien: Covenant (2017): All’s Well That Ends Well for the Embryos

Or is it? We find out why David needs to sneak aboard the ship disguised as Walter — but it’s not what we might suspect.

Nov 5 •

October 2024

Where Did Dune 1984 Succeed? Where Did It Fail?

Let’s have another look at the 1984 version

Oct 31 •

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