Denis Villeneuve’s Dune

Wibbs · 28-10-2021 10:50pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118087134#Comment_118087134

TBH I liked it for its wacky risk taking in costume and production design. Even with a tiny budget it didn't look like anything else at the time, or ever really. And though stilted in parts it told the story. The story is the thing. Like music in many ways. You could reduce Beethoven's symphonies to a single well played piano and it'll still grab you by the hairy parts, other many orchestral pieces that sound like art, but try the same trick and you get little back. Take John William's film scores. Bloody brilliant, but with the brilliance of simplicity in the tune. For those of us that have seen this new Dune flic, can you hum one of the tunes off the top of your head? If I said Star Wars you've likely got at least one if not two tunes in your head.

Now I dig art movies, but too often it can become artifice, a little too up its own arse. If you remove the flashy(though often empty for the wrong reasons IMHO) backgrounds what would you be left with? Could you tell that tale around a campfire and have the audience enthralled? Now tell the Dune tale from the first book.

I did like it, but I would have liked it more if an hour had ended up on the cutting room floor, or these days the trash can of a final cut pro workstation. 😁

cnocbui · 29-10-2021 1:44am

I was delightfully surprised. I wasn't expecting it to be that good., though it feels too short. Weird to think I read this in '77 and still have that copy, though the pages have yellowed a bit.

breezy1985 · 29-10-2021 9:37am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118087908#Comment_118087908

Idea say you are about the only person ever said that a Dune adaptation needed time cut from the show

Prefect_1998 · 29-10-2021 9:53am

saw this last night, never read the book or seen any of the other versions,

looked and sounded great but was lost in the plot and also lost interest after an hour

did anyone notice the cinema print was soft, lacking sharpness of clarity in the picture ?

saw it on an isence screen.

Sad Professor · 29-10-2021 10:39am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118088757#Comment_118088757

Did they have the overhead lights on? Alternatively they may have left the 3D lens/filter on. That's a big thing in Vue, not sure if Odeon do it as well.

Prefect_1998 · 29-10-2021 10:40am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118088949#Comment_118088949

no it was dark, no idea what the setup was, but felt it was like watching a dvd, maybe it was the style of the film?

Damien360 · 29-10-2021 10:59am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118088757#Comment_118088757

I saw it on a isense screen in blanchardstown screen 1. Didn’t notice any lack of sharpness.

i read the book and saw the previous film. Both myself and my wife thought if you hadn’t seen the last film, the plot of the current one missed loads of important details of who is who and their significance, particularly Jessica and the Bene Gesserit sect.

I have read the books but found them incomprehensible at times. The original film with all its very obvious faults does it better.

The new film does the Harkonnen’s justice. The Baron and his nephew are fantastic. Doctor Yeuh gets a tiny role. Duncan and Gurney both get characters they deserve and are both brilliant. The reverend mother is a truly scary woman this time. Paul comes across as clueless but I think that’s intentional as he doesn’t know his true power yet. The emperor keeps getting a nod but we never know his role until the Harkonnen’s attack. The Sarduker troops had menace but it’s a copy of Star Wars storm troopers. We missed the very obvious difference between Arrakis and Caladan. Something the original movie was at pains to show. Yes he dipped his hand in the water before leaving but if you didn’t know the background, it made no sense.

I still liked it but god it missed so much lore.

Wibbs · 29-10-2021 11:17am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118088693#Comment_118088693

😮😂 You're not wrong.

Wibbs · 29-10-2021 11:51am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118087227#Comment_118087227

Just a bit, though on the other hand... The most feared soldiers in Europe in the 16th century were German and Swiss mercenaries(the Pope still has the Swiss Guards). Considered so bloodthirsty, dangerous and evil that it was said when they died the devil was afraid to let them into hell. And they looked like this

1920px-Geschichte_des_Kostüms_(1905)_(14761439186).jpg

I got the impression the costume designer was going for a space medieval vibe for that series.

DoctorEdgeWild · 29-10-2021 12:05pm

Going to see this for a second time this weekend. Really happy to hear it's done well at the box office. Good timing to come out between big superhero releases.

I thought audiences would have had their tastes dulled by the Marvel conveyor belt, but happy to see there is still space for something different.

mrcheez · 29-10-2021 12:32pm

Has anyone seen the 3D 4DX version in Cineworld?

Any comments on how well it works in 3D and what the 4DX aspect brings to the experience?

cnocbui · 29-10-2021 12:35pm

Looking at the IMDB chart, it's taken about as much ($40m) as the next four films combined, which is good to see, because I want more.

breezy1985 · 29-10-2021 2:54pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118089290#Comment_118089290

😁.

banie01 · 29-10-2021 4:44pm

I had my 2nd viewing of this last night in the Maxx screen at Limerick Omniplex.

Enjoyed the 2nd viewing even more than the 1st and apart from some Tenet style voice obfuscation in the tent scene? It carried me enrapt again for the entirety of its runtime.

So much lore and fan service that I missed on the 1st viewing.

I've also long been following the secrets of dune Twitter and they've being sharing some stills from deleted scenes, that honestly make me crave a director's cut 🤣

I am an exceedingly contented fan, but the cutting room floor looks very interesting.

A version of the dinner party.

And in a very important piece of religious imagery, Yueh gifting Paul a copy of the O.C Bible before the crossing to Arrakis.

pixelburp · 29-10-2021 4:45pm

Literally just out and first, raw thoughts were a case of wow. The best epics in Hollywood take the viewer to places you've never been or never imagined and just for that, this was a spectacular success. The visuals and scale alone made it a treat (the Sardukar planet was surreal and terrifying, as brief as the visit was).

Give Villeneuve all the money WB amd let him make as many of these as he wants.

breezy1985 · 29-10-2021 6:32pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118090850#Comment_118090850

Such an interesting name "Orange Catholic bible". Obviously some people have speculated that it comes from Northern Ireland but the conflict would have been fairly unknown in the early 60s.

Herbert does show through the Fremen that he had a stronger grasp of Islam than most for his time too so maybe it's something he is into

L'prof · 29-10-2021 6:54pm

Really enjoyed that. Went very quick considering the runtime. On a side note does anybody have a picture of the defaced poster changed to Doon do bheal?

Dufflecoat Fanny · 29-10-2021 8:19pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118091446#Comment_118091446

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZM8arM7ay/

pixelburp · 30-10-2021 5:29pm

A brutalist, spectacular epic that fulfilled that lost promise of the Hollywood epic; to bring you to places unimagined and awe inspiring. Maybe the sombre emotional register alienated those looking for a stronger pulse; but against those various colossal backdrops and vistas, dwarfing the humans within, it seemed apt everyone carried all that weight of their respective worlds.

It was an adaptation that made the right choices in condensing a famously dense novel; keeping the thrust of things intact without sacrificing either comprehension - or losing the intricate details of this particular far, far future. It was a blockbuster that trusted the audience to understand things; it's only when presented with something like Dune we are reminded just how infantilised mainstream entertainment had become.

Yeah it was a shame certain elements like Doctor Yueh's story was severely abridged (with the effect that its culmination had no effect), or the complete sidestep of the Mentats lore, but something had to give - and ultimately these things were not what the story was about. Perhaps we'll see this via an Extended Cut sometime.

But this was spectacle at its purest, most vivid and intense. And a reminder what blockbuster cinema can show us.

mrcheez · 30-10-2021 7:14pm

surprised no one here saw the 3D version to comment

breezy1985 · 30-10-2021 7:34pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118095340#Comment_118095340

I see 3D as a gimmick. Fine for a slasher horror or kids movie but not for anything where the story should come first

johnny_ultimate · 30-10-2021 7:48pm

The death of 3D is one of the few good things to happen to mainstream cinema in the last 10 years. Surprised this even has a 3D version tbh.

Effects · 30-10-2021 7:50pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118089498#Comment_118089498

I went to see it in the 4DX version. It was a bit of fun. A lot of effects that add to the feel of what's happening on screen. And a couple for extra effects in the chair that I wasn't expecting.

But having it in 3D is a bit of a waste in my opinion. I also watched it in 4K at home and I preferred the picture quality.

Arghus · 30-10-2021 7:59pm

Visually spectacular, refreshingly grown up, unusually esoteric -

But it bored the arse off me.

For all of its qualities, I didn't really enjoy it and found it particularly hard to care about anything happening on screen.

Slydice · 30-10-2021 8:31pm

I think Marvels Eternals is opening on the Big Screens on Friday coming.

So probably just 5 days left to check this film out in the biggest screens if anyone was thinking of waiting a bit.

After Friday, it'll probably be Eternals for a while and then other films after.

breezy1985 · 30-10-2021 8:40pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118095637#Comment_118095637

Didn't realize it was so soon. I remember a lot of talk when the cast was announced but it went pretty dead after that (especially by Marvel standards) unless I am just looking in the wrong places.

Post Endgame stuff not involving the big characters just feels like those reformed bands minus "dead guys" to me

Thargor · 30-10-2021 9:41pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118090850#Comment_118090850

Saw it in the same place, that Maxx screen is not a bad theatre at all tbh, pretty spectacular actually, Row E gives unlimited legroom at perfect distance, couldn't fault the screen or sound, very happy to have that as my new local for future blockbusters. It wa a bit cold though, I put my jacket back on half way through.

mrcheez · 30-10-2021 10:06pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118095502#Comment_118095502

Interesting.. I've never been to a 4DX so curious what it's like. Do you get sprayed with water, or is it just like air blowing on you etc?

I didn't even know there was a 3D option, but based on how spectacular Villeneuve's other 3D outing was in Blade Runner 2049 I'm intrigued

The 3D rendition does seem to rate well on cinemablend: https://www.cinemablend.com/3d/to-3d-or-not-to-3d-buy-the-right-dune-ticket

Beechwoodspark · 31-10-2021 12:11pm

for what it’s worth whatsapp from friend who saw it last night - they are prob the biggest movie fan I would know btw

“weak plot. Shallow characters. boring aul slog of a movie.”

cnocbui · 31-10-2021 1:09pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118091368#Comment_118091368

The Science fiction authors of his generation were extraordinary. Robert Heinlein seemed to have some doubts about the Cold War picture being spun about Russia and it's capabilities, so he went there on 'holiday' to see for himself, where he travelled widely, observed and did some back of the envelope calculations to conclude that the CIA were lying and exagerating. It's been a while since I read the account, but I seem to recall he concluded the population of Russia was significantly less than the US was being told by the liars in charge, at the time. He was of course right.

Denis Villeneuve’s Dune

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