A thread about the Denis Villeneuve-helmed reboot of DUNE

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"?

If I haven’t read the book – but keep meaning to! - would you consider it okay to see the film, given that it’s only half the story? Like, if I enjoyed the movie, I could pick up the book and (reading from the start) still have a lot of new stuff to discover. I’ve gotten about 100 pages in, on a previous read – enjoyed it but didn’t have the resources for such a long book at the time.

it's definitely ok by me

I watched this last night (SOBER) and thought it was really great. The trailers made me think it was gunna be overly slow and portentous, and well yeah, it was slow and portentous but entirely appropriately. Perfect director choice for the material. Great cast doing the best work of their career, Momoa's general presence used perfectly, OI found his natural zone, Chalamet is obviously a very pretty young man but could be quite wan, oh yeah here's him leaning into that and the character overcomes it and ACTING along the way, no kidding he was great in his Emoting

I was planning to rewatch Lynch today but Football, could do it now but I have some other stuff planned, maybe tomorrow evening

Haven't read the book, haven't seen the Lynch film, and don't see many science-fiction films, so I have no idea what I thought I'd get out of this...I liked Arrival okay, so I guess that was the draw. Didn't work; I just sat there waiting for it end. (Knowing it was Part 1, and that the ending could come at any time, was a helpful carrot.) One thing I do tend to think on the rare occasion I see films like these is that having a sense of humour must be outlawed in the future.

having a sense of humour must be outlawed in the future

Seriously. Alien and Aliens are the last far-future SF movies in which I can remember characters laughing and joking with each other, and acting like co-workers or even people who met each other before that morning.

how many sandworms does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

can't help but think there was a scene between chalamet and momoa that delivered the exact thing you're complaining about it missing

"you're growing some muscle!"
"I am?"
"no"

That might have done the trick if either Chalamet or Momoa were capable of impersonating human beings on camera.

I enjoyed this, it conveniently ended pretty much where I stopped reading the book 4 years ago

btw im putting out a dunecore album under the name Beacon, it’s called spice in the tent

That might have done the trick if either Chalamet or Momoa were capable of impersonating human beings on camera.

― but also fuck you (unperson), Sunday, October 24, 2021 1:53 PM (one minute ago) bookmarkflaglink

they both deliver really good performances in this movie

I remember that exchange, plus one or two other times someone said something intended to make someone else (or us) laugh...in a 150-minute film.

correct amount of jokes imo