Dune... is bad.

[colker]

Dialogue may work w/ 11 yr old boys. Maybe. Why does Hwood insist w/ this book?

[Saab2000]

Dialogue may work w/ 11 yr old boys. Maybe. Why does Hwood insist w/ this book?

It’s a very interesting story that is virtually unfilmable in a watchable amount of time. Lord of the Rings is similar in its scope but has a larger potential audience. Dune’s audience isn’t large to start with. Sci Fi isn’t mainstream.

I assume with CGI anything can be technically done now and can even be nearly indistinguishable from live action but that story requires prior knowledge, unlike say, Star Wars, which isn’t that complicated. Dune kind of is. Or at least that’s my recollection from having read it. But I read it 25+ years ago…. I’d love for it to be good. Sad it’s not.

[theflashunc]

It's a phenomenal movie. Villeneuve nailed it.

[Mabouya]

I thought it was getting mostly positive reviews.

I have no interest in seeing it (read the book years ago) but from what I've read the "critics" are not trashing it.

[Scott G.]

When the David Lynch Dune came out, the theater gave you glossary
of terms so you could attempt to understand what was going on.
At least the new movie is only half of the book, the Lynch movie was the whole
thing.

If you want to see the comprehensible version of Dune, try 'Lawrence of Arabia'

[BBB]

It is getting great reviews, save some of the acting is said to be a bit wooden.

Villeneuve is a great film maker.

I will go and see it when it hits Australian shores in early December.

[colker]

I thought it was getting mostly positive reviews.

I have no interest in seeing it (read the book years ago) but from what I've read the "critics" are not trashing it.

Dialogues are ridiculous. Story line is predictable. Emotionally weak.

[colker]

When the David Lynch Dune came out, the theater gave you glossary
of terms so you could attempt to understand what was going on.
At least the new movie is only half of the book, the Lynch movie was the whole
thing.

If you want to see the comprehensible version of Dune, try 'Lawrence of Arabia'

Lawrence of Arabia is a good movie.

[colker]

Villeneuve is a great film maker.

HIs movie "Sicario" is absolutely brilliant. I have seen it 4 or 5 times already. Tense, beautifull, great acting, great story, great script.. I like most of his other stuff except this one and the Blade Runner remake.

[Bob Ross]

How could it not be?

[jimcav]

I thought it was good--an improvement to how I remember the book: a slow going sci fi story with a fairly classic arc of main character micro-survival situations set against a back-drop of competing emperor-oligarch-religious powers.

I enjoyed the books mainly because I sort of skimmed through the long sections of various descriptive stuff, which allowed me to keep interest for the action/main plot-line. I still found the movie slow, but better paced than when I read it years ago, and my teenage boys liked it.

[j44ke]

I am a teenage boy when I go to the movies. Sounds like I am going to like it.

[72gmc]

Still a fan of the book. Re-read it and the second book just a few years ago, then hit the wall on book 3 (is that God Children of Dune?)

Dune has to be a really hard universe to establish within a movie-length time frame. LOTR has lots of familiar elements (wizards, goblins, trolls, swords) that help an unfamiliar viewer get the idea. Frank Herbert’s style of world creation makes things harder to recognize.

[bironi]

I'm just not a fan of epic boy fantasy.
I like mine in one take, not film after film.
I have a short attention span and memory.

[vertical_doug]

Like 'The Expanse', Dune will work as a story told over a full season.

Bezos needs to step up to the plate again.

[sk_tle]

It is rarely done that way because Hollywood is about buying and recycling ideas from other more than creating new stories but movies are usually better seen before reading the books. Otherwise your movie experiene is clashing with all the imagery you already created on your mind.

As with all sci-fi and fantasy things, it is also almost always better seen with a kids heart as Jorn says. Star wars was total crap by looking at it with adult eyes, but a great story for kids. Adults need more cynicism and parallels with their real life struggles.

[EDS]

Like 'The Expanse', Dune will work as a story told over a full season.

Bezos needs to step up to the plate again.

Will be interesting to see what they do with Wheel of Time (at least I think that is Amazon).

[Scott G.]

Dialogue may work w/ 11 yr old boys. Maybe. Why does Hwood insist w/ this book?

Paul Krugman thinks the book is for 14 year olds

The blogger John Rogers once noted that there are two novels that can shape the lives of bookish 14-year-olds:
“Atlas Shrugged” and “The Lord of the Rings.”
One of these novels, he asserted, is a childish fantasy that can leave you emotionally stunted;
the other involves orcs.


https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/26/o...on-series.html

[j44ke]

I think Arrival was Villeneuve's best to date. And in re: book versus movie - I thought Villeneuve's achievement was making a movie that honored the original story (it was taken from a short story titled "Story of Your Life" by Ted Chiang - brilliant short story) and creating a movie that was its own telling and not just a transfer to different media. So they were different but related. And arrival felt so much in the present moment. Not like the future. Like tomorrow. Or even later this afternoon. Which was part of the concept of time in both the story and the movie, and after reading the story or watching the movie, in the reader/viewer.

I can see why Villeneuve would logically progress from there to doing Dune.

[BBB]

I think Arrival was Villeneuve's best to date. And in re: book versus movie - I thought Villeneuve's achievement was making a movie that honored the original story (it was taken from a short story titled "Story of Your Life" by Ted Chiang - brilliant short story) and creating a movie that was its own telling and not just a transfer to different media. So they were different but related. And arrival felt so much in the present moment. Not like the future. Like tomorrow. Or even later this afternoon. Which was part of the concept of time in both the story and the movie, and after reading the story or watching the movie, in the reader/viewer.

I can see why Villeneuve would logically progress from there to doing Dune.

Well, he progressed from Arrival to the Blade Runner sequel and then to Dune.

A sequel to Blade Runner was brave, but he pulled it off. While I thought it was a bit overblown in parts, the film stood on its own and as a sequel. Which is a rare achievement in Hollywood. James Cameron with Terminator and T2 and then Aliens are comparable examples.

I think the logical flow here is from Blade Runner 2049 to Dune. While Arrival and Dune have more complex story lines, the Blade Runner sequel showed what he could do with a broad canvas, which is what is needed (imo) for Dune.