What was the last film you watched?

[andrewc]

Dune !   Ortnithopters !  Good ornithopters !  Sandworms !  Fremen !  Deserts !  Sandstorms! Heighliners!  Visually impressive.  Gets a lot of stuff right. 

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But too much of the book chopped out. Important characters & ideas not explained, important scenes missing.  An overly bombastic soundtrack.   




Ah well.  Maybe there will be a Directors cut.

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I'd hoped they would make it into a series of 3-hour films à la LOTR.  Just the first book, that is - the rest of Dune Industries Inc's productions I didn't much care for.

I saw it in Imax this morning. I would add that whilst it's definitely not the book, is is a good film of the book, and the sound (vox Vs M&E) balance seemed much better in the Imax than in my local Vue, but that may be an Imax thing as I've heard that said before.
Yes some stuff's missing, and like the LOTR adaptation some expected words end up in unexpected mouths, but overall I'd say it's a good adaptation.

I wouldn't mind seeing the 5-hour version, and if they do  LOTR-style extended disc I'll no doubt buy it.

In the end though, the pictures in the book are always going to be better!

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They've cut out the Jessica as alleged Harkonnen spy subplot, which removes the confrontations with Duncan & Thufir.  They've not included the formal banquet which is a good scene,  There has been no explanation of the role of Mentats, or the fact that Paul has also been trained as one.  Thufir & Pieter appear but don't do very much.  The important revelation that Jessica is the Baron's daughter is also omitted.  The close combat stuff is good, but why in a culture where reliable personal shields are the norm is everyone wearing armour ?   And I don't fancy the way they make Spice coffee very much !

[redshift]

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All true, but as a mainstream film most of those nuances can only go in an extended version for fans. c.f. Saruman in LOTR.  You have to make some parts accessible, or you're reliant on pleasing only the people who've already read the book. You can get bogged down in exposition, (and there are moments when I thought it might) or you can do page-on-screen fan service. The mainstream needs to be somewhere in the middle.

As for splitting it into multiple films, it was first published as two serial stories anyway. My edition of the novel is 500+ pages, and is itself split into 3 'books' so I'd quite happily have accepted a 3-parter, even without thinking of doing Dune Messiah or Children of Dune.

[woollypigs]

Oh god, there's a part 2.

This should be banned. You have one movie. Just fucking do it in one movie.

Part 2, 3 etc and a TV series too. Milk it for what it's worth, just look at the space family feud that's been going on for years. Remember that there is money to be maid in that celluloid and not to forget the merch \o/

[ian]

I did read the book, it was OK, and I'm going to buck the trend and say there was enough material for a single film. Did we not learn anything? The following books were rapidly diminishing returns.

It doesn't have to replicate the book. Annoy the nerds, it's a fun sport.

Anyway, I'm off to see it at the weekend, though I'm not so sure my wife will like that kind of stuff. Which means I'll have to see Dear Evan Hansen in return. It's almost like she doesn't know that musicals make you gay.

[Kim]

I reckon a musical version of Dune could work.  Doesn't really matter if it's low-budget student theatre or Bollywood epic, as long as it has worms and chorus lines.

[woollypigs]

and sand lots of sand

[mrcharly-YHT]

I reckon a musical version of Dune could work.  Doesn't really matter if it's low-budget student theatre or Bollywood epic, as long as it has worms and chorus lines.

Singing worms.

I like that idea.

[graculus]

Isn't 'a jump to the left and then a step to the right' how you avoid attracting worms when out on the desert?

[Croft]

Oh god, there's a part 2.

This should be banned. You have one movie. Just fucking do it in one movie.

Lest we forget, one word: Sting.

[Kim]

Lest we forget, one word: Sting.

This will also be a compulsory feature of the musical version.

[Beardy]

I’ve skipped over the above posts because I’m going to see it next week with a Meerkat Movies ticket and wish to avoid any accidental spoilers¹. I read the books back in the day and really looked forward to the last film. Like many, I was bitterly disappointed with it both as an adaptation and as a film in its own right. I’m probably going to reread the books after I’ve seen this one.

1. Given that I’ve read the books and seen the pervious film, spoilers would be difficult, but hey, why risk it 

[ian]

Venom whatever this one is, like the last one, it's basically a mismatched buddy cop-style movie, but doesn't really make it, that only works if there's sparky dialogue and it doesn't really spark as much as lightly tingle.

Oh, entertaining enough in a splody fashion and you get Woody Harrelson hamming it up in yet another fright wig, which is always good value, but like the first one, it felt a bit like an opportunity missed.

[StuAff]

I reckon a musical version of Dune could work.  Doesn't really matter if it's low-budget student theatre or Bollywood epic, as long as it has worms and chorus lines.

'Sand!!!', featuring the classics 'I'm So Thirsty I Could Kill You For The Water', 'If the Stillsuit Fits (Wear It Or Die)', 'Oh Blimey That's A Big Worm', 'Keep Your Hand In The Box', and 'Nick Nack Paddywack Kwisatz Haderach'.

[T42]

Couple of episodes of Lupin, which isn't bad at all for that sort of thing.

[Jakob]

"The Last Duel". I knew it had received mixed reviews, but still wasn't expecting it to be this boring.
The colour grading was a crime against humanity (or at least a declaration of war against greens), along with underexposed lifted blacks.
Story was interesting, I suppose, but way too long and a little gimmicky. Sure, nice nod to "Me Too", but even that was a bit weak.
I then got thinking, that maybe Ridley Scott isn't all that great. Sure, due to Blade Runner,The Duelist & Alien, he's always been high on my list but of 56 director credits, there's only 13 I think that's worthwhile...and there's some real stinkers in there too.

[Vernon]

and sand lots of sand

... and the starry skies above.
Don't fence me in....

[ian]

"The Last Duel". I knew it had received mixed reviews, but still wasn't expecting it to be this boring.
The colour grading was a crime against humanity (or at least a declaration of war against greens), along with underexposed lifted blacks.
Story was interesting, I suppose, but way too long and a little gimmicky. Sure, nice nod to "Me Too", but even that was a bit weak.
I then got thinking, that maybe Ridley Scott isn't all that great. Sure, due to Blade Runner,The Duelist & Alien, he's always been high on my list but of 56 director credits, there's only 13 I think that's worthwhile...and there's some real stinkers in there too.

Did you see Prometheus and whatever the forgettable follow-up was? My cat could make better movies than those.

[Peter]

Dracula, the 1974 TV version with Jack Palance.  Shot in England, it even mentions St.Ockton-on-Tees and Darlington by name, though I'm pretty sure the "relevant" shots are of somewhere else!  It's a worthy companion to Christopher Lee's and Gary Oldman's versions.  Anything with JP in is worth watching for the face alone.  The train that hit it was a complete write-off.

[redshift]

Ridley Scott's output is very patchy.
Whilst Alien and Blade Runner are very good, most of the rest are very variable: Gladiator's ok, Robin Hood is very average, the Martian quite good.  I laughed like a drain at Prometheus, which means I enjoyed it, but not for any of the good reasons, and I didn't bother with the one after that.  I saw the one about the French vinyard, and the only thing I remember about it is that there's an off screen miaow from a cat which sent mine absolutely ballistic looking for it.

Looking at the IMDB list, I've seen most of them and in some cases thought they were directed by someone else, and have left a more or less indelible blank.  I thought Black Rain was by his late brother!

It would appear that 2 decent films in a short period cements your reputation for eternity.

[Peter]

If the 2 decent films were Odd Man Out and The Third Man that would be justified!  (Carol Reed did much more than that, fortunately.)

[ian]

Dune. I mostly remember the earlier version which I don't remember as being too bad, Sting-apart, so I'm not sure what this version brought to the table.

My wife's snoring told me what she thought about it, it's not a date-night movie. Long and a bit dull unless you like extended, panning shots of deserts - it's the same guy who did the Bladerunner reprise isn't it? - replace smog with sand. The story did always suffer by killing off most of the interesting characters early on and never really replacing them with anyone memorable. I always never really understood in an age where people can zip between the stars in giant spaceships why they fight battle hand-to-hand with knives. I'm sure there's a reason, but I doubt it's a very good one.

Maybe it's intentional, I don't know, but there's nothing otherworldly about the setting, it's just a desert like the ones on Earth, I expect a bit more extreme from my an alien planet than what looks like a package holiday to Tunisia. It was so hot that they had to close giant shields, but the rest of the time they wandered around without bothering with even factor-15.

Yes, it's a two-parter, knowledge which I came to late. I'm not sure I'll bother with the second, it's a bit of a nerd-tickler. Unless it's a musical.

[FifeingEejit]

Currentpy watching Human Traffic, not sure how it's taken so long, unless I was far too pished at the time I did see it to remember...

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[StuAff]

I'll probably watch 2021 Dune on TV at some point (haven't been to the cinema in years) but TBH I think it looks like a misfire, overall. Lynch's version was a bonkers mess, but it was a gorgeous looking bonkers mess with some spot-on casting. This one…hmm. Kyle MacLachlan seems a far better fit as Paul than Mr Chalamet. Rebecca Ferguson's too young to be his mum.

[Jaded]

BondJamesBond.

Didn't think it was long.

[FifeingEejit]

Currentpy watching Human Traffic, not sure how it's taken so long, unless I was far too pished at the time I did see it to remember...

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What surprized me is how much younger Danny dyre was than the rest of the cast, looked it too.


Need to get 24hr party people watched before I cancel prime in a few days...

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