A thread about the Denis Villeneuve-helmed reboot of DUNE

I watched this at home and enjoyed shouting out lines to the screen with no shame.

I also did not know that imax movies cost 25 bucks, goddamn.

I have no allegiance to the source material, which I may have read once as a kid, but I liked this fine, with some reservations. Obviously George Lucas borrowed a ton from "Dune," but this was like Villeneuve took his "faster, more intense!" maxim and flipped it on its head. "Slower! More solemn!"

Speaking of Villeneuve (who seems to be the king of hard sci-fi updates of existing properties that demand a pretty deep understanding of the material), did he really orchestrate this epic spectacle with only the *potential* of a sequel? I thought making more than one movie at a time was the way people do franchises these days.

using the movie as an excuse to post this glorious old classic meme

It’s opening week. Shout out to my favorite Dune meme. pic.twitter.com/DHLhOI0L1G

— Kaitlin Pike (@kcpike) October 23, 2021

nevertheless

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FCblWK8WYAA5lOQ?format=jpg&name=small

Can't wait for DUNE 2: THE CLONES OF DUNCAN FUNKENSTEIN

dune movies rankings go lynch, dune 2 pc game intro movie, late 90s sy fy channel, this two hour whooooompfest

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tC32ZIYXlE

really enjoyed this, wish i wouldn’t have to wait three years for part two

i’ve never read the book and have only seen lynch’s dune

zimmer score was crazy good

casting was also excellent, momoa as duncan idaho!!!

i did not think i would like this or even finish it tbh but alas i did, its pretty sick

This might be the first movie shot at 24fps but written at 60fps.

FWIW, I took my teen, who literally knew nothing about it except that Timothee Chalamet was in it, and Zendaya was barely in it. But she said she liked it, understood (most of) it, and is looking forward to part two. Which, yeah, again, that just seems a weird strategy, to release this spectacular but spectacularly inert epic and make people wait so long for a sequel that may or may not but probably will but still maybe won't happen. Lord of the Rings movies were bam bam bam, one year after the next, and for all their aracane nerdery those movies were (by design) a lot more exciting and accessible than this one. Even this one's cliffhanger ending barely generates enough momentum to get it over the hump.

timothee chalamet called out zendaya for her relationship with tom tolland, and it’s peak bestie

BTW, is there a reason everyone uses swords and knives in this but not guns? Is that because of the body shields?

I think the lasers plus shield cause a nuclear reaction or something like that

"the slow blade penetrates the shield"

if you shoot a gun or whatever it just bounces off that shit, one thing i have learned about dune since watching it yesterday is if you have any questions you can just google them and theres a lot of info online because of the books, i read up about the politics which lead oscar isaacs people to the spice planet, was pretty good

the action set pieces in this movie were really well served by how much breathing room there was around them

xpost Yeah, I did google it, actually, but it didn't really explain why bullets wouldn't pierce the shields but blades would. Doesn't matter, of course, the body shields looked cool and it was nice to see a movie with no shooting in it for once.

Was I the only one that got such thick Marlon Brando in "Apocalypse Now" vibes from Stellan Skarsgård that I figured it was intentional? No idea why he'd refer to that, though, other than the character being bald and fat. It was the only thing that took me out of the movie, tbh.

the bullets dont penetrate the shield because theyre going too fast

The problem with the whole shield thing is, of course, that all the fight scenes looked like they were happening in slow motion, or like the actors were rehearsing them ("I'll go like this, then you duck down and go like this") before shooting the actual take. It was like a Robert Ashley version of a fight scene.

In "Dune," even the fighting is slow. I really liked the shots of those white-armored mercenaries just sort of floating to the ground.

made me wonder how Paul could possibly survive a fight without shields where fast swipes were suddenly very deadly. It goes against his whole style of combat

Good thing that one dude spent more time yelling at him than attacking!

Well, he was mad.

But yeah, not being versed in this stuff, how do the Freman fare so well against enemies with body shields that do best against fast attacks? Is it the special worm-tooth knives?

Was I the only one that got such thick Marlon Brando in "Apocalypse Now" vibes from Stellan Skarsgård that I figured it was intentional?

Nope, and indeed I know at least one person who immediately reacted to that first scene in particular where he draws his hand over his head as being a clear nod.

haha same thought

princess irulan turns up in a hawaiian shirt and festooned with cameras

or bandana and green jean-jacket, same thing

xxpost yep, Mr Veg said the same thing

So the question is: why? The characters have nothing in common, and a blatant pop-culture nod in the midst of an otherwise immersive, serious sci-fi film seems like something Villeneuve would have poo-pooed. "Great! Now that you've done that, let's try a take where you are not imitating Marlon Brando and are instead playing a different corpulent bad guy in a world where there is no Brando or 'Apocalypse Now.'"

is it really that upsetting

The year's most OK movie. I'm not enamored with Villeneuve; there's a lack of spontaneity to his compositions I can't get over, like he's photographing a space calendar.

otoh I wasn't bored, which given this project's history is big shit.

i love how good he is at HUGE BUILDINGS in space

his movies always have good scale & things feel like real places you could go to but also otherworldly

OK so the big question: Is the experience of seeing this on the big screen sufficiently bedazzling to justify the $80-plus it will cost for our whole family to go (probably more like $100 once you factor in popcorn etc), or should we content ourselves with watching on our 55-inch TV at home for free? ("Free" meaning we already pay for HBO Max.)

I'm leaning toward couch viewing but am open to persuasion.

The biggest plus for me was the scale and sound. Otherwise .... $80 is pretty steep. And the movie is pretty slow, so couch could be appealing.

is it really that upsetting

Yes.

i love how good he is at HUGE BUILDINGS in space

his movies always have good scale & things feel like real places you could go to but also otherworldly

― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, October 24, 2021 9:36 AM (nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

otm

this is the movie that confirmed for me: villanueve good (i adore blade runner 2049)

i am genuinely glad i saw this in a theater

"playing a different corpulent bad guy in a world where there is no Brando or Apocalypse Now"

no evidence of this, dune in set in the year 10,191 i.e. 8212 years after brando's performance in apocalypse now, so baron harkonnen could easily have watched it. he seems like a guy who'd watch old movies abt monstrous ppl like himself (bald)

his movies always have good scale & things feel like real places you could go to but also otherworldly

this is otm and what I took away from his Jake double movie.

I watched on TV and now very much want to see in a theater

Some of the huge city sets in this reminded me of the first blade runner. Do any of you know how much he uses models and miniatures versus CGI?

Did a first viewing in theater and it was well worth it

As is frequently the case, my daughter and I sometimes struggled to hear the dialogue over the noise, but we don't know if that's the theater, the mix, the fact that we were struggled to understand terms we didn't know ...

yeah this is definitely a movie to see on the biggest screen possible, if just to be overwhelmed by the experience etc

otoh I wasn't bored, which given this project's history is big shit.

― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, October 24, 2021 12:33 PM (fifty-seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

feel like this was notably less boring and dumb than the rest of his movies

i watched on computer and i wish i had seen it on the big screen baby going to the movies is nice

“Stop initiating a holy war” ummmm I’m literally neurodivergent and a minor…lol pic.twitter.com/wtvo8fYw8H

— 🐈‍⬛Autumn Leaves & Bloody Trees🐈‍⬛ (@mayzierita) October 23, 2021

Glad I saw this at home for the subtitles

how did it render "gom jabbar"?