Film; or The Silver Screen

Miscellaneous Blather
#601

I am not much of a movie critic and I also don’t see many movies but I have to say I quite enjoyed Dune. I saw it on the big screen and found it very faithful to the book, at least as far as movie adaptations go.

I have two complaints. The first is that this is only part one. I think I could have watched for another 2.5 hours.

The second is that the movie may be hard to follow for those who do not know the source material. I’ve read the book 3 times, the most recently this summer, so I know what most of the terms mean. That said, you’ve got many strange terms - benne geserit, gom jabbar, kwazitch haderatch, harkonen, sadukar, fremen, etc. - a few different spoken languages between the harkonen, empire, fremen, and even Yueh, and all the Fremen prophecy terms (although, I didn’t hear the full muahadib yet, just mahdi). On top of that, there is plenty of whispering, muttering, and Harkonen gravel-voice. I tried to watch the movie while considering if my wife would like it or understand it and I’m not sure.

But I’m a fan.

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#602

benne geserit,

You mean the Spice Girls?

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#603

Ahahahaha. Perfect.

#604

Dunes not out here until December for some unknown reason.

I’ve read the book many times, and I do wonder whether reading the book or watching the film, if it’s part of the experience to not understand what’s going on the first time. I know Hollywood has learnt to spoon feed us exposition, I can only imagine how painful it would be if they tried to describe dune in character in real time

#605

In a way, you’re kind of along for the ride with Paul in the movie and in a sense it is thematic to not understand everything that is going on. You reach a point where Paul’s prescience becomes Paul’s present and I can imagine the intent is, in a way, for the audience to struggle through some of it with Paul. Maybe.

#606

Also, any Baron H. that doesn’t have James Earl Jones’s voice is just wrong.

The are some MAJOR issues with the audiobook but the sections where James Earl Jones is reading Vlad is pure audio gold.

#607

This should help fill in the details:
TO TAME A LAND - IRON MAIDEN with lyrics - YouTube

1 Like
#608

Dune oozes style as you would expect from a Denis Villenueve film. Slow and beautiful sweeping shots, great costumes, great score. But like others have said unless you’re familiar with the book or Lynch’s movie, you’re probably going to get lost. There’s just not a lot of dialogue which is surprising for a 2.5 hr movie. Most of Chalamet’s performance consists of moody looks. Zendaya has a line or two of dialogue outside of Paul’s dream sequences. Dr. Yueh has about 3 lines of dialogue so you have no sense of his motivations for his actions and is emotionally hollow. You don’t feel the enmity between the two great houses and the Emperor is never seen (just his entourage for a brief scene). Also the fight choreography and battle scenes were not very exciting but neither were they great in the original movie. The movie ends abruptly but this is part 1 (and would be a shame if part 2 doesn’t get made). I really enjoyed Rebecca Ferguson’s performance as Lady Jessica and Stellan Skaarsgard as the Baron. The CGI for the worms is great.

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#609
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#610

I hope we will get a part two…really…also more of the Sandworms, please.
I am one of the 7 people out there who still think Lynch’s Dune holds up to this day…especially in the Worm department…I really liked the worms pack then…granted they were upped two to three levels in badassery just through the sound works they used for them…

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#611

Confession of Murder. I thought I was getting a relatively grounded film about a hunt for a killer, following an opening featuring a nasty little fight and an intense foot chase. Instead it gets happily batshit and even features the odd moment of slapstick, complete with attempts at murder by snake. Gleefully mad in places, which undercuts the rest of it a little? Very enjoyable though. High-pitched melodrama towards the end. Some great practical stunts and some terrible CGI.

#612

I am a member of this club as well, sir.

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#613

My wife and kids were out of the house last night, so I took the opportunity to finally watch John Wick. It’s been a while since I watched an action flick, since the wife doesn’t much care for them and we don’t watch that many movies to begin with, so I quite enjoyed shutting off my brain and watching a bunch of violence.

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#614

It’s the best of the Wick movies, but the others aren’t awful y any means, despite what some reviews will say.

Better than all of them, though, is Atomic Blonde.

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#615

John Wick continually improves its action scenes, not always consistently, but the party escape shootout in 2 and the kasbah assault in 3 are superb. The plots are rickety as fuck, but I’ve yet to see a film do cinematic CQB better. Even Halle Berry in 3 is really good in her action scenes.

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#616

Few lines of dialogue from Paul and Yueh? Uh-oh.

#617

That 8 minute single shot (mostly) fight down the stairwell in Atomic Blonde was one of the best action sequences ever.

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#618

Just weighing in on Dune; haven’t read the book in about twenty years or so but remembered enough of it to understand the movie. Really enjoyed the movie overall and looking forward to part 2; agreed with @Mirefox in that I could’ve watched another 3 hours.

Off to reread the books, obv.

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#619

When I saw it I thought it might interest some of the Dune-aficionados here

http://kck.st/310mIRT

#620

My wife and I watched Dune Saturday night. I have read Dune 3-4 times and did the audio book twice over the past 5-6 years. I have also read Dune Messiah and Children of Dune once each, and the Audio Books twice.

My wife read the book once about 25 years ago.

Eye candy for sure.

I did enjoy the movie, and enjoyed giving my wife more background on what was going on.

I do think there was a missed opportunity though, in that this was a 2 1/2 hour movie, more than enough time to really establish the deep politics of what is going on. The balance between the Imperial House, the Great Houses and the Guild. How the Bene Gesserit was trying to also manipulate everything into place as they foresaw.

There is a lot of political maneuvering discussions by Duke Leto. The Bene Gesserit actually wanted Paul to be a girl mostly to marry a Harkonnen and bring peace for a time.

This could have been true to the source material AND been more Game of Thrones.

That said, I hope there is a 2nd movie.

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