Dune

tb said:

This is true, it definitely felt like the dune for people who have never heard of it version...

I disagree. I think the goal was to create a work of art that could stand alone even if you have not read the source material, while remaining faithful to that source material.

Dune is a very fantastic and different universe.

In reply to Beer Baron :

Fair enough, the best thing about art is that different people can get different things from it.

I hope it stands the test of time well enough that we get the rest of the story soon. There was a lot to like about it and it certainly was beautiful.

tb said:

In reply to Beer Baron :

Fair enough, the best thing about art is that different people can get different things from it.

I hope it stands the test of time well enough that we get the rest of the story soon. There was a lot to like about it and it certainly was beautiful.

100%

I was ecstatic to come out of the theater thinking, "Holy E36 M3. I just experienced a work of art!" I want more of that.

Definitely a huge audio / visual experience so if you don't have a good home theater setup then go to the movies. I have a decent setup and I'm pretty sure the neighbors heard me watching it at home.

As questionable as I thought some of the decisions were, i don't want to forget to compliment the score. It had a big sounds that wasn't overpowering but felt very appropriate. 

sleepyhead the buffalo said:

I'll probably have to wait until it's available to rent on youtube, then I'll watch it

It's already available for streaming on HBO Max for no extra charge and they got the contract for all new Warner Brothers releases. You won't be seeing it on youtube or Netflix or anywhere else. Pay them now or pay them later. 

They could have increased the box office in China and here as well if they dropped in a few more battle scenes. They also could have made the Sardoukar costumes more evil and less high tech. The blood ritual scene was a good start. Watch that one carefully. 

You would have to watch both the Lynch movie and this one to understand the book. Joderowski actually wanted to make an 11 hour movie out of the first book. Along with the Brian Herbert books there is plenty of material out there for a series of movies i.e. the Star Wars Franchise.

Antihero (Forum Supporter) said:

Arrival was a great movie

It was such a great-looking well-produced movie, it bothers me to this day that underneath it all was such a terrible story, a fantastical fable about predestination dressed up as time-travel sci-fi, resulting in possibly the worst paradoxes in the history of the genre.

I've been thinking about braving the cinemas for the first time since the pandemic to see Dune, if not I'll watch it in at least 1080p on my best screen.

This is sounding more and more like those Lord of the Ring things, which require a devotion I'm not prepared to provide.  Just about the last thing I need in life is more confusion and research.

In reply to aircooled :

Excessive dynamic range: the scourge of modern movie making.

Cue Jeff Goldblum meme here.

Streetwiseguy said:

This is sounding more and more like those Lord of the Ring things, which require a devotion I'm not prepared to provide.  Just about the last thing I need in life is more confusion and research.

My wife has not read Dune, or read it so long ago that she has no memory of anything beyond, "I think I probably read that..." She really enjoyed the film. She came out of the theater amazed. So I asked her about her experience of Dune and her experience of LotR. 

Dune affected her more. She says that she went in with no expectations. She only went to see it because I wanted to. She found herself sucked in, engrossed, and amazed. She founding the ending point appropriate for a Part 1. It left her *really* wanting to see Part 2.

Lord of the Rings, she went to see because *everyone* was going to see LotR and it was this Big Deal. So she went and saw it, and it was enjoyable, but it did not really amaze her. Probably because it did not live up to the hype.

I would also say that she and I both very much enjoy Cinema. Not just movies, but films that were created expressly to be watched in a theater. I think looking for and enjoying *that* sort of experience is more important to enjoying Dune than being a fan of the novel. I also think it is meant to be experienced in a theater, and watching it at home will just not be the same. Like... watching Fury Road.

I did not see it in the theater, but I could see how just going into a theater for the cinematography alone could be worth it (e.g. Dunkirk, Fury Road).  Some of it was shot in IMAX.  You can tell those scenes (the desert stuff I believe) apparently (I did not notice) by a a change in format dimensions.

The HBO version BTW is streamed in 4K, so it is best viewed on a 4K TV and a darkened room. The audio is apparently very sophisticated, so the right theater (Dolby Atmos?) could help.  Even rather nice audio on a good home system (some pretty impressive base in some scenes).

One warning: although the original release may explain things a bit easier (voice over), be aware it is the entire story, and will spoil the second movie a bit, which I expect to do a much better and more thorough version of the original story.

NOHOME said:

DUNE has been disappointing me since the mid-70s when I first read the book. I want it to be good but it is just too big to lay out without becoming a DUNE nerd and dedicating your life to the whole thing.  Then when a second book would come out, you had lost the thread of the first one and nothing really made sense.  Almost as hard a read as James Joyce's Ulysses.

 

Interesting factoid  if I remember correctly is that the book was published by Chilton. The same Chilton that published mostly car manuals.

I hope you mean the comparison to Ulysses as hyperbole...Seriously, Ulysses is stream of consciousness writing that is one of the single most difficult books to read. I'd rank Gravity's Rainbow up there too. Every review I've read of these two books says as much.  But Dune? I'd be shocked if Dune was listed as difficult by 40% of readers. Some of the later books in the Dune universe get progressively more difficult to read and enjoy, but still not the same league as Ulysses. 

As for the movie, I tried to go see it on Friday. Skipped out of work early, booked tickets in advance. The local IMAX people couldn't get the sound to turn on and had to turn a theater full of people away. I haven't seen a movie in the theaters since 2008 when Iron Man came out and I'm irrationally put out by this setback. 

Saw it Thursday. It's gonna take one hell of a movie to unseat it from winning awards in cinematography and soundtrack.

My only complaint is with how the the movie didn't have Baron Harkonnen speak as much, to play up fears about him. In doing so it's left (in my view) one behavior muddy, and undercut his very political mind.

tb said:

I will watch it again, but it sadly left me feeling kinda disappointed. Especially at the fact that it dragged horribly at points while only telling a fraction of the story. Does everything need to be a decade of sequels now?

As a fan of the books and the original movie I was excited for this but it ultimately didn't feel like it is living up to its legacy. 

it's in a hard place... if it did everything in one 3 hour movie, fans would complain that it left a lot out. By making it cover more than one movie, it can remain faithful to the source material but then people complain that it's too long and why did it have to run across sequels?

For me, it was about perfect. It explains/covers enough that you don't have to have read the book to know what's going on, but if you have, you won't be dissappointed in the adaptation. I loved the book when I was younger (though Dune Messiah and Children of Dune got a little too religious for my taste) And this one seems to get the characters and environment more accurate.

I do agree with the previous statement that the dialogue was often too quiet. Why whisper and then hit the huge loud bass? I don't have Atmos, so the 5.1 surround was working hard to deliver bass and voice at reasonable levels. Maybe it was better in the theaters.

I watched it yesterday via HBOmax. Took me about 5 hours. I think I liked it. The Missus hated it. She complained that the internal dialog  portrayed as whispers seemed cheesy. She had never read the book, I last read it 30 years ago.

And yeah.... Having to have the volume all the way up to hear dialog only to end up plugging your ears seconds later over and over through the whole movie was annoying. If I were to watch it again I would just turn on subtitles.

I have not seen it yet.  My brother who is really into Dune saw it and said it is worth seeing but that he wa a little disappointed in some of the dialog, we will probably go tomorrow when movies are $5 and you get free popcorn.

GIRTHQUAKE said:

Saw it Thursday. It's gonna take one hell of a movie to unseat it from winning awards in cinematography and soundtrack.

My only complaint is with how the the movie didn't have Baron Harkonnen speak as much, to play up fears about him. In doing so it's left (in my view) one behavior muddy, and undercut his very political mind.

They didn't have much on the Harkonnens and the Emperor who started the who thing didn't show up at all. Only one scene with the Sadaukar to hint at what was unleashed on the Atreides and what is to come in the second movie. The Lynch film spilled the plot in the first scene, explained history of the Dune universe in the prelude and left you with a confusing amount of information before the movie even gets up to speed. Villeneuve starts the movie focusing on House Atreides and slowly pulls the camera back to show the much larger universe that they reside in and how different pieces interact. We will have to wait for Part 2 to understand what just went down in Part 1 of the movie as the camera pulls back further. A much better technique of storytelling. 

As every beginning creative writing teacher will explain, show, don't tell. 

I liked it. Visually excellent. I think I got more out of it since I read the book just a couple years ago and listened to a couple comedians talk through the book series to hype the movie. The wife played on her phone the whole time since we watched it at home.

https://open.spotify.com/show/0A3IirSc3Qi2MSFJcz2unj?si=0ZA7FMqHS42UIxmdH-6gJQ&utm_source=copy-link

If you dont want to read the book, listen to the first couple pod cast for a fun cliffnote's version.

I am waiting for part 2 of the movie for the full payout if the first movie. In reality, this should have been a 10 part Netflix series.

I guess i was disappointed that even in the multi movie format it seemed like there was already a lot left out and instead it was overstuffed with long, heavy handed shots of moody nothingness over and over again. Artsy, sure, but frustrating, too. I wouldn't be upset about it if the rest had already been filmed and the next two dropped for Thanksgiving and Christmas but I don't want years to be able to enjoy the complete story. It IS a lot of story to cover and a big universe to explain;  a very good start but I was hoping for a little better.

Honestly I embrace the dynamic range of the sound editing and really enjoy the booming bass and huge sounds of it all. The score really was excellent and more than once it was reminiscent of the Toto score and almost as epic. If you don't have a excellent home setup I definitely recommend going to a theater and soaking in the experience. 

I am going to enjoy it again and again. Some things are hard to get though, like how Rebecca Ferguson was so great and well casted but Jason momma was so bad and felt all wrong for a character central to the arc of the later books. 

GameboyRMH said:

Antihero (Forum Supporter) said:

Arrival was a great movie

It was such a great-looking well-produced movie, it bothers me to this day that underneath it all was such a terrible story, a fantastical fable about predestination dressed up as time-travel sci-fi, resulting in possibly the worst paradoxes in the history of the genre.

I've been thinking about braving the cinemas for the first time since the pandemic to see Dune, if not I'll watch it in at least 1080p on my best screen.

I didn't think it was a terrible time travel story, it's no Predestination but it isn't bad at all.

Overall though I enjoyed it

Everybody is calling this Villeneuve release the New Dune.

That makes the David Lynch version Old Spice.

Beer Baron said:

Please go watch the Dune movie. I need them to greenlight Part 2.

It has now. it will be a 2 year wait. 

‘Dune’ Sequel Greenlighted By Legendary & Warner Bros; Pic Will Get Theatrical Window In October 2023

Or was that a prequel?  Watched it last night, I was entertained.

Went and saw it last night with my 13 year old son and wow.  As everyone is saying the sound track and visuals are top notch, also I felt less confused at the end of this one than I did at the end of the 80's one.  I was a little worried that my son would be bored, but he was engaged the whole time and can't wait for the second movie to come out.  Go see it, very much worth it.

In reply to Jerry :

I will embarrassingly admit that 5 years ago in an illness induced fever fog I started watching spice world because I thought it had to be some sort of Dune spinoff.

In reply to Trent :

How far in did you get before you realized your mistake?