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Villeneuve's DUNE


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3 minutes ago, Chen G. said:

I will say that Lawrence of Arabia isn't for everybody in today's world.

 

Except for Star Wars and Indiana Jones, the new generation doesn't like to watch old movies, so you probably won't find Lawrence in their top 10 list.

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There's that, too. But while most movies, old and new, are constantly pushing the story forward in some way throughout, Lawrence really takes one or two breaks from its own plot, purely for the sake of (glorious) travelogue-like footage. I think the way its placed in the movie, it works. But still, its something contemporary audiences wouldn't be expecting, even if they were to look past their "old movie" bias.

 

Interesting that Lean never went back to that style of semi-travelogue filmmaking: even Ryan's Daughter isn't like that.

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I'd say we're getting far afield but I'll tie it back by saying that I will absolutely be seeing Dune in the cinema. (Maybe not IMAX.)

 

I never understood Gone with the Wind at all. I mean, it was OK. But then I saw it on the big screen. Seeing The Wizard of Oz on a movie screen was a revelation. I wonder what it must have been like for people who grew up with Star Wars like it was a family member to see it in a theater for the first time?

 

I'm not sure what I would think of Lawrence if I had never seen it projected. I fell in love with LoA on a TV set over many years. But my first exposure was on the biggest non-IMAX screen I've ever been to. (It's been 24 years and I still miss that screen.)

 

(Someone recently made me realize that while a lot of people might say "I don't have to see an Anthony Hopkins character piece at a movie theater" getting to see Hopkins act 40 feet tall is still quite a thing.)

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50 minutes ago, AC1 said:

 

Except for Star Wars and Indiana Jones, the new generation doesn't like to watch old movies, so you probably won't find Lawrence in their top 10 list.

 

I think at least half of the movies in my Top Ten were made before I was born. Lawrence and Zhivago among them.

 

 

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I definitely do the old man's routine when I watch something like Apocalypse Now or Braveheart, in that I say to myself: "They sure don't make 'em like that anymore!"

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44 minutes ago, AC1 said:

Lean wanted us to see the beauty of the desert. 

 

Only two types of creature get fun in the desert: Bedouins and gods. Dune has both.

 

I don't think @Chen G. loves the desert and desolate places the way us Englishmen do.

 

 

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Oh, I love those sequences! I just don't think the casual person in the 2010s would love them as much.

 

But sure, I suppose its somewhat less spectacular to me, because its not such a remote neverland to me: Wadi Rum is a mere six hours drive away.

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Well the Scottish Highlands are a mere 8-hour drive for me, but never tire of Skyfall or Braveheart, and still think they're spectacular!

 

7 minutes ago, Chen G. said:

"They sure don't make 'em like that anymore!"

 

Well they don't.

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44 minutes ago, Nick1Ø66 said:

Well the Scottish Highlands are a mere 8-hour drive for me...

Really? I just have to look out of my bedroom window, to see them :lol:

 

 

45 minutes ago, Nick1Ø66 said:

...but never tire of Skyfall or Braveheart, and still think they're spectacular!

Yes, they are.

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Can I just say, “It begins” has to  be one of the most unimaginative tag lines in the history of cinema. And that includes Lethal Weapon IV’s “The Gang’s All Here”.

 

If you’re going to sell your movie with “It begins”, the movie better be called It. Which now that I think about it strikes me as a missed opportunity.

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5 minutes ago, Nick1Ø66 said:

Can I just say, “It begins” has to  be one of the most unimaginative tag lines in the history of cinema. And that includes Lethal Weapon IV’s “The Gang’s All Here”.

 

If you’re going to sell your movie with “It begins”, the movie better be called It. Which now that I think about it strikes me as a missed opportunity.

Curiously, the tag line for It: Chapter Two was... It ends.

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6 hours ago, Nick1Ø66 said:

Can I just say, “It begins” has to  be one of the most unimaginative tag lines in the history of cinema. And that includes Lethal Weapon IV’s “The Gang’s All Here”.

 

If you’re going to sell your movie with “It begins”, the movie better be called It. Which now that I think about it strikes me as a missed opportunity.

 

I agree. I guess they are trying to tell people they are part of the next big franchise. 

 

On a side note: I keep thinking if Frank Herbert was still alive, how he would have react to this movie. Obviously the studios would usually love to have the endorsement of the author, but Herbert had very conservative viewpoints and was very homophobic. Could the studios really make a movie that they had to distance themselves from the author? Maybe it wouldn't even be made.  

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9 hours ago, Nick1Ø66 said:

Can I just say, “It begins” has to  be one of the most unimaginative tag lines in the history of cinema. And that includes Lethal Weapon IV’s “The Gang’s All Here”.

:thumbup:

I guess they couldn't say "A world beyond your experience, beyond your imagination", because that's already been used :lol:

Seriously, though, doesn't "It begins" sum up all that's bad about modern cinema?

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10 hours ago, Nick1Ø66 said:

Can I just say, “It begins” has to  be one of the most unimaginative tag lines in the history of cinema.

 

I don't think anyone here will be saying anything new when we say the marketing for this film has thus far been pretty terrible.

 

1 hour ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

Seriously, though, doesn't "It begins" sum up all that's bad about modern cinema?

 

Its just a two-parter. They're not setting-up a 24-film behemoth like the MCU.

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6 minutes ago, Chen G. said:

Its just a two-parter. They're not setting-up a 24-film behemoth like the MCU.

 

If everything goes well, we might be looking at 12 movies (6 books and every book a two-part movie). ;)

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6 hours ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

I guess they couldn't say "A world beyond your experience, beyond your imagination", because that's already been used 

 

Ironically, "A world beyond your experience, beyond your imagination" is as hyperbolic as "It Begins" is understated. Clearly opposite approaches to the promoting the subject matter. :lol: Though in both instances, the studio is making promises they might not be able to keep.

 

8 hours ago, Mephariel said:

On a side note: I keep thinking if Frank Herbert was still alive, how he would have react to this movie. Obviously the studios would usually love to have the endorsement of the author, but Herbert had very conservative viewpoints and was very homophobic. Could the studios really make a movie that they had to distance themselves from the author?

 

I guess we'll find out when the next Fantastic Beasts movie comes out.

 

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Reviews are in. This is just one of them (and it's great news for our wizards here):
 

Quote

 

Dune is science fiction at its best. Denis Villeneuve has created one of the best fantasy features since Peter Jackson’s journey into Middle Earth. The performances are inspired, with Chalamet, Ferguson, Bautista, Skarsgard, Isaac, and especially Jason Momoa all as standouts. The marriage between a fantastic script and visually sumptuous imagery help give this first of two-part feature a richness that you rarely see in a major summer release. When the effects are this detailed and stunning, it’s easy to lose sight of everything else. However, Dune is a modern masterclass in filmmaking. While I’d easily recommend giving this a rewatch on HBO Max, I’d highly recommend for the first viewing that you seek this out in IMAX, as you’re unlikely to see anything this jaw-droppingly stunning and brilliantly creative in theatres again anytime soon. 10/10

 

 

 

 

https://www.joblo.com/denis-villeneuve-dune-review/

 

 

Some quick excepts from other reviewers:

 

 

- Blockbuster cinema at its dizzying, dazzling best. - The Guardian

 

- Denis Villeneuve’s Dune is a bombastic, impersonal imperial space tragedy. C+ -The Film Stage :o

 

This perfectly describes Villeneuve for me:

 

- Not for the first time, his craft seems to exist mainly for its own sake; it’s the hallmark of a filmmaker who’s more logistician than thinker, more technician than artist. As a visual and visceral experience, “Dune” is undeniably transporting. As a spectacle for the mind and heart, it never quite leaves Earth behind. - Los Angeles Times

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1 minute ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

@Thor, do you mean "vapid", or "tepid"?

 

Oops. I guess both could be applied, though.

 

1 minute ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

I hate to ask, but, er...how does it compare to Lynch's version?

 

Completely different ballpark. I like Lynch's version better than most, but this has far more grit and substance. I did miss the majestic Toto music at times, though (I played the theme in my head during the sandworm scenes).

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2 hours ago, Thor said:

People weaned on Marvel and tapid blockbusters will no doubt find it dour and depressive, and call for the "fun" of it all, but I'm oh so thankful it doesn't have anything of that, and takes itself very seriously.

 

That's great, but are there no lighter moments to speak of? Even very serious films are often seasoned with a fair bit of humour throughout: done right, its very refreshing, there being a difference between a movie being serious (which is good) and being humourless (which is bad).

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1 minute ago, Chen G. said:

 

That's great, but are there no lighter moments to speak of? Even very serious films are often seasoned with a fair bit of humour throughout: done right, its very refreshing, there being a difference between a movie being serious (which is good) and being humourless (which is bad).

 

Yeah, there are at least two scenes that I can think of right off the bat that offer a bit of humour.

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52 minutes ago, Thor said:

 

Yeah, there are at least two scenes that I can think of right off the bat that offer a bit of humour.

That should be enough to win over the kids raised on Marvel films 😉Haha. Regardless. Sooo excited to finally see this!

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1 hour ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

He looks about as bloated as Kenneth MacMillan, in 1984, minus, of course, the pustules ("your skin, love to me. Your diseases lovingly care for, for all eternity"), and the David Bowie circa DIAMOND DOGS lookalike :)

 

He wasn't fat enough either. He's supposed to be so huge that he has to be carried by anti gravity devices or he couldn't walk. Both here and in the 1984 film he just looks big and he flies. 

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DUNE - A Review by Jurassic Shark

 

(Just came back from the cinema)

 

Sand


Spices

 

Partially shot in Norway

 

Impressive CGI


Monumental


Large structures floating up and down


Aquaman


Floating fat Skarsgård


Rebecca Ferguson wasted

 

Predictable

 

Much ado about nothing


Sound designy music


Film rating: 3/5

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I was invited by a friend.* As you see, I rate the film above average, and I wouldn't mind watching part 2. Regarding the score, it often blended with the sound design, to the point where I couldn't distinguish between music and sounds, and sometimes the music was outright consumed by the sound effects. Nothing new under the sun.

 

*Although what kind of friend invites you to a HanZ-scored movie...

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8 hours ago, badbu said:

back from Cinema :worship:

what a film!!! Mind-Blowing! And the score was absolutely amazing! 10/10! 
Rebeccas Performance was Oscar like! Wow, wow, wow!

I saw it last night too! One of my best cinema experiences! What an amazing film and the score is fantastic! What massive piece of work! I think that I’ll buy tickets for a screening next week as well haha! I can’t wait to see part 2. It has to happen!

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8 minutes ago, Mr. Who said:

I saw it last night too! One of my best cinema experiences! What an amazing film and the score is fantastic! What massive piece of work! I think that I’ll buy tickets for a screening next week as well haha! I can’t wait to see part 2. It has to happen!

100%!!!

i almost forgot to breathe. it was really an experiences i never forget! And how good was Rebecca? Jesus Christ! 

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