It's Time for DUNE!

I just finished it now.

I deeply regret not watching in the theaters. I blame you guys. You gave me FOMO.

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Everyone say ā€œthis is a theater movieā€ā€¦

penicilin helps /s

Going to see it this afternoon.

I have a feeling it will be far less David Lynch and Herbert and way more ā€œLord of the Ringsā€ in the desert with less emphasis on politics, religion and ecology. It may have subpar acting but excellent film craft.

Keeping an open mind; lol who am I kidding.

Wellā€¦I have to say, compared to David Lynch 1984 version this wasā€¦a complete let down. Really wanted to like it but everything seemed sanitized and overdrawn. One movie was the way to go.

This exactly

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Thatā€™s how I felt as well, personally I think the Lynch film is awful and this was certainly a better film technically but Lynchā€™s version had so much more style.

I havenā€™t read the books but I think Dune would be better as a series like Game of Thrones (when it was good).

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I should probably try the David Lynch movie as well. People seem to like it. But I dont really have any exposure to the original material. All i knew was there was an old movie and I am unaware of peopleā€™s sentiments about it. The novels were long into my to read list but the pandemic happened, significantly eating my free time. I also started driving, so reading during transit is something i deeply miss now.

I also have audiobook that hasnt been played yet. So there is that.

Well, it wonā€™t cost you much to watch the Lynch movie, but it is almost impossible to understand without reading the book. Style? Sure, it had Sting. But it was not very popular because it was difficult to follow even if you HAD read the book.

I donā€™t understand the people criticizing the current movie. It is better than the Lynch movie by far, and better than the TV miniseries starring William Hurt (which was also better than the Lynch movie).

Bottom line: Itā€™s just a movie. No harm in watching the others. Best results will come from reading the book. Be forewarned that the book is EASILY the most dense fiction Iā€™ve ever read. You will constantly flip from the novel to the glossary in the back just to understand the words. That said, it is a pretty good read, and it leaves a lifelong markā€¦ which is why people get so excited by the movie.

In some ways, the new Foundation series is similar. Itā€™s based on Asimovā€™s SEVEN-book series. They wisely chose to make it a series rather than attempt to cram it into one or two movies.

Oh gods, dont even start on that Foundation series. Ive given up mid season because I really dont care about the characters.

It makes me want to read the novels.

Somehow I can feel the wokeness a little bit too much and that says something because I can tolerate Netflixā€™s wokeness for some reason.

Which is too bad because the visuals and the production is just so good.

Now lets compare this Foundation to The Expanse. I dont even know how woke it is vs the books because the characters are compelling and very much likable. I really like the way The Expanse brings the inclusivity shit cleanly. If there were gender swaps or even race swaps it was done respectfully and gracefully.

ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”ā€”

Dune seems the perfect movie to do a very diverse casting. I like it. It was also done cleanly and respectfully.

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Yeah, The Expanse is maybe the best sci-fi series since Farscape or Battlestar Galactica/Caprica. The first season was slightly hard to follow, but they cleaned it up after that. The Expanse also breaks new ground in realism, which is very cool. +1

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well that didnt age well.
just watched the david lynch version and oh boy.
i remembered stings acting was bad. but i forgot how bad sean young was too :smiley: add in the sister and pretty much half the main cast of the finale didnt have the chops to pull the scene off.

the special effects. even for the day seemed poor. with obvious split mat errors. badly animated puppets, poor continuity between models and real shots.

yep i deffo had a fond memory bound, gagged and smacked over the head with a shovel, watching the original dune :frowning:

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Hearing everyoneā€™s thoughts was the worst part. I donā€™t know who thought that was a good idea or how it made it in to the final cut.

Ends saying, ā€˜this is only the beginningā€™ā€¦ then I read online that the producer has no plans to make anymoreā€¦ oops

That is quite disheartening. We shall see. If the movie garners enough positive feedback, maybe we may still see a sequel albeit with a significant decrease in budget.

Such a shame, the production and effects were top notch. Iā€™d dare even say at par or better with LOTR (or at least the Hobbit).

I have heard that is the most reliable source. :wink:

Other sources say that the plan is two movies. So it remains to be seenā€¦ profits and all.

I think the new movie falls way short in character, plot and to a lesser extent music. Damn beautiful set design though.

The dinner scene from the book is missing and it really put across how important water was to the entire society of the planet, plus it gives a chance for Paul to impress Liet. I know Iā€™m overreacting but I see the greatness that could have been.

A lot of people have said that. I feel like thats comparing a 286 to a Ryzen 7: of course one if going to be better from a technical standpoint lol.
Truthfully, I think Denis Villanueve canā€™t direct a scene to save his life unless it has something to do with framingā€¦which Lynch is a master of.

You might be surprised. Itā€™s not nearly as bad as some online pundits say. Itā€™s good. Not amazing, not bag, but more than competently done.

Also, the Baron Harkonnen and his people are portrayed in a much different light than in the new film. A light that I found to be ultra boring and not interesting. There is an infamous scene in the '84 Dune where the Baron is heavily involved but I can barely think of a single thing the Baron did throughout the '21 movie other than talk and gut pulled up on rope and pulley.

Here is the TL;DR version from someone who liked the Lynch version but very much dislikes the Villanueve version

  • Bad casting for the new film
  • Bad writing; many characters donā€™t fit their station compared to the Lynch film
  • Poor use of plot devices which lead to a nebulous plot
  • Villanueveā€™s directing style
  • Scenes that go on for far too long which have little impact on the plot. i.e. some of the dragonfly ships scenes; the insurgency from the Harkonnens.

Thereā€™s more Iā€™m sure, but maybe that can give you a taste of why some folks really donā€™t like it. Truthfully, I felt like they took a David Lynch movie (I get it, itā€™s a book, but weā€™re talking about movies here) and turned it into Star Wars.

I laughed when I saw Dr. Wellington Yueh was cast as a Chinese guy who literally spoke Chinese for almost 10 seconds in the year 10xxx. I think they made him Chinese because Yueh sounds chinese. I donā€™t know but I actually laughed in the theatre because it was so weird to see that when youā€™re familiar with Dean Stockwell.

Youā€™ll remember Sting far longer than you will anyone in this film. At least he was memorable.

Iā€™m not talking about technology like effects or CGI or whatever, I mean that the new one is a better made film, but the old one is more memorable. There are plenty of old movies, even from the dawn of cinema that are better made films than modern multi million dollar CGI shit shows.

Couldnā€™t agree more, but everyone in the new one was dull.

Yeah I know. When I hear people talk about the technical aspects or technique of film making, Iā€™m thinking not just the tech they use in the movie but how they do it and how those techniques have improved over the years. That encompasses everything: cinematography, plot design, writing styles, visual effects, practical effects, casting, acting, set design, costume design, makeup design, getting actors to do what you want them to do (directing? lol) etc.

I think the 84 was more solid in overall in most areas of film making despite using older techniques. Iā€™ve read some things that Lynch was upset because he didnā€™t get final cut and he had shot nearly 5 hours of film that the studio refused to approve unless it got cut down to around two hours. I donā€™t know if Lynch wanted a 5 hour movie but some folks are making it out to be that way.

My take away after seeing Dune 21 was that the studio was probably right, 5 hours would have been far too much for one film. Half of the Lynch movie was not enough for 2.5 hours or so of Dune 21 and it really felt like it.

I thought it was messy, I mean having to hear every characterā€™s internal voice to explain what theyā€™re thinking is just bad. Thereā€™s a lot I like about it but the novelty wears off for me and it turns in to a slog, not that this new one is much better in that regard.

5 hours is way too long but it could have maybe used another 30 minutes to flesh out the really rushed parts towards the end. I donā€™t know if youā€™ve seen the documentary Jodoroskyā€™s Dune but in that he says that his version would have been as long as it needed to be to tell his story, even if it was 24 hours long. Canā€™t imagine why no studio would touch it.

Doing it in two parts makes sense and at least itā€™s not a trilogy but even though this new one is only half the story I donā€™t understand why it felt more rushed, there was a lot that I donā€™t think I would have picked up if I wasnā€™t already familiar with the story.

This is probably the most common criticism I see of the 84 version. There really was a lot of reliance on inner monologue. Certainly, too much to the point where it was used as an exposition crutch. However, the new movie decided on dialog dumps.

Keep in mind, as far as I can recall (I rewatched the 84 version the night before I saw the movie) the only inner monologues from the 84 version are from those who are Bene Gesserits who have Truthsay and our titular space jesus (Jessica, Reverend Mothers, Paul, probably the Navigatorsā€¦ and I think thatā€™s it.) Mind reading and acute powers of observation are tough to portray on the silver screen and I think it was a challenge accepted moment for Lynch where he has some success and leaned on it too much.

In the current film though, they really put all that to the side and did exposition dumps probably just as often as the original did monologues. Both were used far too much but I found the frequent monologues to be more revealing of the character their abilities than the frequent expositions dialog.

Also, maybe a new observation to the thread, did anyone feel like Spice was really downplayed in the new version? Whatever was in the books is one thing, but Iā€™m focusing from one film to the other.