Kevin's Watch

+JMJ+

Avatar wrote:[...]

Anyway, meh...I have little to no faith...Lynch's version sucked, the Sci-Fi version was barely better, and really only inasmuch as they didn't butcher it the way he did.

[...]

Strange how opinions differ. My first thought was whether it was even possible to top Lynch's version. Though the strong showing of BR 2049 gives me hope.

More news.

Stellan Skarsgard has been cast as iBaron Harkonnen.

The director is Denis Villeneuve, who shot Blade Runner 2049, Arrival, Sicario.

Also, they are filming in the Middle East (Jordan). This spring.

Good or bad, this movie has Names. And it's going Places. Which means it has Money. Which means there is Faith. That's not a lock for a good movie, but it's pointing positive. If they can [finally] make LOTR, then they can make Dune.

I don't honestly get the hatred of the Lynch version. I am FAAAAAAAAARRRR from a Lynch fan, but I've always said he made two good movies: Elephant Man and Dune. And neither are particularly entertaining. I remember seeing Dune in the movie theater, and they handed us a sheet of paper to make sense of the story, which was not a good sign. I felt like I was getting a history lesson over something that didn't exist. I hadn't read the book, but had a copy of it that I could never get through. It has massive pacing problems, and takes itself maybe a little too serious, but after reading the book after watching the movie a million times on HBO or whatever, I feel it is pretty slavish to the book, and that pacing problems and such are more the fault of the text.
I've never seen the miniseries because I knew I would probably not be interested. But I'd probably see the new movie version. I expect it won't do it for me, but for some reason, once the Lynch version got going and they introduced the Fremen and the stillsuits and the sand worms, it got pretty interesting. I've not read anything else by Frank Herbert, but didn't really connect with his writing, but I found several of his ideas intriguing.

Cagliostro wrote:I don't honestly get the hatred of the Lynch version.

Mainly, it's this:



Or, more diplomatically: Lynch added a lot of really stupid things. Why does the Baron have a disease on his face? Why does Thufir have such huge eyebrows? And: Heart Plug WTF?!?! It turned a very serious story into a campy nightmare.

Lynch didn't believe the audience would accept the story as it was written.

Cagliostro wrote:I don't honestly get the hatred of the Lynch version. I am FAAAAAAAAARRRR from a Lynch fan, but I've always said he made two good movies: Elephant Man and Dune. And neither are particularly entertaining. I remember seeing Dune in the movie theater, and they handed us a sheet of paper to make sense of the story, which was not a good sign. I felt like I was getting a history lesson over something that didn't exist. I hadn't read the book, but had a copy of it that I could never get through. It has massive pacing problems, and takes itself maybe a little too serious, but after reading the book after watching the movie a million times on HBO or whatever, I feel it is pretty slavish to the book, and that pacing problems and such are more the fault of the text.
I've never seen the miniseries because I knew I would probably not be interested. But I'd probably see the new movie version. I expect it won't do it for me, but for some reason, once the Lynch version got going and they introduced the Fremen and the stillsuits and the sand worms, it got pretty interesting. I've not read anything else by Frank Herbert, but didn't really connect with his writing, but I found several of his ideas intriguing.

The problem is that it's not a very good book. It's an interesting idea, but Herbert's not a good enough writer to flesh out the interesting idea. So any adaptation has to address the horrible pacing of the book and make it more palatable.

Actually thats a fair assessment. I enjoyed the Dune series but translating it to the screen would require some dot connecting.

wayfriend wrote:

Cagliostro wrote:I don't honestly get the hatred of the Lynch version.

Mainly, it's this:

And this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U86aorxbBRY

--A

Agree.

David Lynch's Dune is What You Get When You Build a Science Fictional World With No Interest in Science Fiction

Dune wants to be phantasmagorical and it wants to be offensive to your senses, and those things can work in cinema, as Lynch's career communicates incredibly well. But this film does not carry off that off-kilter creepiness as anything more than a parlor trick. It fails to be authentic because these cues are not entrenched in the universe projected on screen. They are there to shock the viewer, to disgust them, but they don't mean anything. The Guild member floating in its chamber of gas is strange and otherworldly and grotesque, but communicates nothing besides that. It is not integrated into its setting, its surroundings. It exists to be gawked at, to unsettle us, and then it disappears from view and we go back to the part of the narrative that needs to hold our attention.

Believe it or not, this gives me hope. Because someone who is actually interested in science fiction can could create something much more intellectually pleasing.

That, plus now we have CGI.

very true Wayfriend ..

You know its kinda odd to me that youd make a sci fi movie like Dune and not be in to sci fi but I guess its just a business venture.

Well, hope springs eternal, what?

--A

I tried watching the Lynch movie last night.

Oh my god, is it bad. It's oh-my-god-bad. There's like, literally, no acting in it. Everything is so fake it's literally shaking like it's made out of cardboard.

It has a lot of the sensibilities of Flash Gordon (1980) and Conan (1982). Except it cannot lift itself off the ground due to the weight of the exposition that's always grinding away.

+JMJ+

wayfriend wrote:I tried watching the Lynch movie last night.

Oh my god, is it bad. It's oh-my-god-bad. There's like, literally, no acting in it. Everything is so fake it's literally shaking like it's made out of cardboard.

[...]

Opinions do differ, I s'pose.

Here's an, IMO, very fair review ...

Oliver Harper's Retrospectives and Reviews: Dune [Video: < 14 min]

In that movie, Patrick Steward as Gurney Halleck charges into battle.

With a Pug.

I kid you not.

Patrick Stewart going into battle with a battle pug

I think any further comments are excessively redundant.

wayfriend wrote:It has a lot of the sensibilities of Flash Gordon (1980) and Conan (1982). Except it cannot lift itself off the ground due to the weight of the exposition that's always grinding away.

Yeah, that's two fair comparisons, actually. I like/don't like both of those movies as well. Flash Gordon mostly for the soundtrack and several pretty faces that pulled me through puberty. And Conan, because it was dumb but fun, when the pacing wasn't crushingly slow.

But I would like to counter with the Sting scene, "I WILL KILL HIM!!!"

Hahaha Cags

And Wayfriend literally laughed out loud .. I honestly dont think I could sit through it a second time.

Though I was significantly younger when I first saw it .. I appreciate the good cgi, special effects available today. Wouldnt be that hard for a remake to do better.

Sting in Dune is exactly why stunt-casting doesn't work.

It's real. Filming has begun. [link]

The assembled talent seems pretty impressive.

The cast of the new Dune films continues to grow with Timothee Chalamet cast as Paul Atreides, Rebecca Ferguson as Lady Jessica, Stellan Skarsgard as Baron Harkonnen, David Dastmalchian is Harkonnen's advisor Piter De Vries, and Charlotte Rampling as Reverend Mother Mohiam. Also onboard is Jason Momoa as Duncan Idaho, Dave Bautista is Glossu 'Beast' Rabban, Josh Brolin as Warmaster and mentor Gurney Halleck, Oscar Isaac as Duke Leto Atreides (Paul's Father), Javier Bardem as the Fremen leader Stilgar, Chang Chen as Dr. Wellington Yueh, and Zendaya as Chani (Paul's sweetheart).

Also, composer Hans Zimmer has been chosen to write the score of the film.

I'm up for Hans Zimmer having any job he wants to after giving us the music in Pirates of the Carribean.

Oooh exciting

+JMJ+