Dune (Denis Villeneuve)

Discussion in 'Random Thoughts' started by purr1n, Oct 22, 2021.

  1. AdvanTech

    AdvanTech Friend

    Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    May 13, 2016
    Likes Received:
    1,667
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    NYC
    There were scenes that were deliberately dark, but also scenes where it was deliberately bright. If you don't think it ever got bright at times you could probably blame the theater.
     
  2. Merrick

    Merrick A lidless ear

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Jan 6, 2016
    Likes Received:
    12,568
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Portland, OR
    It was shot with high dynamic range, and I presume they graded it correctly for non-HDR presentations (it looked fine on my TV which is not HDR). It's also possible the local theater is reducing the brightness on the projector to save lamp hours. You'd be surprised how many theaters regularly do this, especially for non-peak showtimes.
     
  3. oldschool

    oldschool Acquaintance

    Joined:
    Sep 3, 2016
    Likes Received:
    38
    Trophy Points:
    18
    Location:
    Bulgaria
    Early telltales for me were the Hollywood-style trailer and the godawful poster.

    See it on OLED TV, definitely the better experience.
     
  4. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

    Staff Member Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2015
    Likes Received:
    89,771
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Padre Island CC TX
    ^ This.

    Also could be that the film was graded on a laser projector or OLED. Looked great on my brighter 8K screen (didn't get it for the 8K but rather brighter off angle viewing). Not so good on the Sony 43" with older LED tech.

    --

    And of course Spiderman's girlfriend. Gotta see it because of Zendaya.
    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Oct 26, 2021
  5. BarnBurner

    BarnBurner Acquaintance

    Joined:
    May 24, 2021
    Likes Received:
    53
    Trophy Points:
    18
    Location:
    New England, USA
    Opinions are certainly very strong on both sides.

    There's the rub. Hard to accept that it's a classic movie, just lacks good acting and is uneven in everything else. Where we differ is the weight we give those attributes. As just one example, to me, voiceover out of the box can be OK (LOTR pulls it off), but doing that throughout the whole movie is a glaring sign the screenplay is badly screwed up.
     
  6. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

    Staff Member Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2015
    Likes Received:
    89,771
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Padre Island CC TX
    There, fixed it for you.
     
  7. roshambo123

    roshambo123 Friend

    Pyrate Contributor
    Joined:
    May 26, 2018
    Likes Received:
    2,763
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    Los Angeles
    You can have a fine screenplay and simply adding VO will ruin the atmosphere, re: Bladerunner original cut with Deckard giving pulp detective novel commentary

    As a counterpoint, it's enjoyable in movies that are already ridiculous and probably have no plot like Fear and Loathing.
     
  8. Merrick

    Merrick A lidless ear

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Jan 6, 2016
    Likes Received:
    12,568
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Portland, OR
    Voiceover is a tool. If executed well, it will work well. The issue with the VO in Blade Runner isn’t that it exists, it’s that Ford was opposed to it so he read it as blandly as possible. But it’s straight out of the noirs that inspired the film and no one complains that the classic film noirs aren’t cinematic enough because they have voiceovers.
     
  9. Merrick

    Merrick A lidless ear

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Jan 6, 2016
    Likes Received:
    12,568
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Portland, OR
    Here’s a take on Dune’s set and vehicle design that I genuinely had not considered:

    https://twitter.com/dynamicsymmetry/status/1454986905930637318?s=21

    I can’t say for sure if this was what the filmmakers intended but it does work with those themes that are in the book and can at least make me appreciate that aspect of it more intellectually.
     
  10. roshambo123

    roshambo123 Friend

    Pyrate Contributor
    Joined:
    May 26, 2018
    Likes Received:
    2,763
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    Los Angeles
    I don't agree. Even if read with feeling having Deckard give narration is at odds with the mystery of Deckard as a replicant. We are external to him, looking and wondering, as Deckard looks through the Voight-Kampff machine at Sean Young's retina, wondering what makes someone human. By putting us inside his head you shatter the whole thing. It's a bad decision, period, homage or not.
     
  11. Merrick

    Merrick A lidless ear

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Jan 6, 2016
    Likes Received:
    12,568
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Portland, OR
    I prefer BR without the VO, but I still enjoy it with the VO.
     
  12. yotacowboy

    yotacowboy McRibs Kind of Guy

    Pyrate Contributor
    Joined:
    Feb 23, 2016
    Likes Received:
    10,687
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    NOVA
    Home Page:
    So its production design is essentially Brutalist?
     
  13. Psalmanazar

    Psalmanazar Most improved member; A+

    Pyrate Slaytanic Cliff Clavin
    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2015
    Likes Received:
    5,345
    Trophy Points:
    113
    He won’t even show us what Paul sees in his visions. A pile of bodies? Nope. He saw nuclear firestorms consume the atmospheres of entire planets in a world where nobody knows what nukes do.

    zendaya? What? A future where guys throw their arms up in the air like you won the Super Bowl?




    Spoilers




    Herbert modeled the Bene Gesserit emphasizing Islamic eschatology on Arrakis like the Saudis spreading fundamentalism in the Muslim world, the Madhi of Sudan, and medieval crusade preachers convincing crusaders to make the Book of Revelation physical reality to horrifying results. Paul does exactly what the Madhi of Sudan did: order that everyone who doesn’t accept him as the Madhi be killed.

    Honestly Khartoum is a much better movie with a much better script. Yeah it’s hammy but it’s as much fun as a movie about religious fanatics slaughtering people can be. Charlton Heston and Laurence Olivier chew scenery like crazy.
     
  14. Psalmanazar

    Psalmanazar Most improved member; A+

    Pyrate Slaytanic Cliff Clavin
    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2015
    Likes Received:
    5,345
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Good directors and actors can make a watchable movie from a bad screenplay. Gladiator’s script sucks yet it’s a watchable movie.

    Braveheart is fun with so many do bad they’re funny moments that Mel Gibson plays semi-straight for max camp while letting the actors chew through it.

    Robert Zdar in Samurai Cop shows better acting than anyone in Dune 2021. He says the turd lines with conviction. He should’ve been in the Star Wars prequels.
     
  15. M3NTAL

    M3NTAL Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2015
    Likes Received:
    1,697
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Arizona
    I didn't think I would see a Samurai Cop reference in a Dune thread, but I accept. Zdar is the Auqaman we can't have. ;)
     
  16. wbass

    wbass Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Feb 10, 2019
    Likes Received:
    1,542
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    London, UK

    It's an interesting idea, and I've seen it elsewhere on the web. I guess you could kind of say the same thing about the way Kubrick frames his shots (lots of wide angle, etc.). Yet, with Kubrick, it seems so much more purposeful and striking. I'm still being asked to engage, even if everything is chilly and rigid in its presentation. Weirdly, with Villeneuve, I feel frozen out of the frame, like everything is hermetically sealed, and I'm not being invited into the world (even if the world is, if you will, uninviting). Also, I would argue that there's a fair amount of intense and mystical and highly subjective stuff in the books that's really missing in Dune 2021. Even if the future is going to steamroll everyone, the characters all feel strongly about their actions and reactions and schemes. Dr. Yeuh would be a good example. The decisions he makes in the book are agonizing to him. In Dune 2021, he merely passes through a few scenes.

    Again, I don't think Dune 2021 is bad per se, just curiously flat. And not deliberately flat. This isn't a David Mamet play.
     
  17. Merrick

    Merrick A lidless ear

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Jan 6, 2016
    Likes Received:
    12,568
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Portland, OR
    Yes, definitely.
     
  18. Phantaminum

    Phantaminum Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Mar 13, 2018
    Likes Received:
    1,976
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    Dallas, TX
    I personally like the set pieces, the buildings, and how sharp corners were used in the movie. Made looking down hallways jarring almost like watching an Aliens movie. I felt it fit the movie. I just thought that if the Harkonnen's where living in in the main building it would as least show how ostentatious they are by decorations, ribbons, Atreides pinatas hanging from the ceiling etc..

    They really needed to flesh out the characters more. There were scenes where the prince said things I would of never expect royalty to say. For example, when they crash land the Thopter he just looks at his mom and says, "You ok?" Instead of, "Are you hurt anywhere?". Make it believable that the prince not sound so flat. Imagine the writers for the first season of Game of Thrones being involved with the script. The scene that made me laugh was when they deboarded the ship and it was pitch black inside. No lights in the future?

    It's fine as it's getting people to start reading the book. My wife started it and I laughed when I explained that the book just throws words at you like you're supposed to know what they mean. Explanations come as the book progresses but she was like, "It's as if someone threw up the Oxford dictionary and a NASA manual on you".
     
  19. philipmorgan

    philipmorgan Member of the month

    Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Sep 28, 2015
    Likes Received:
    3,790
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    In the wind, so to speak
    Home Page:
    I gave Dune 2021 a watch yesterday. I'm not a hard-core Dunephile (haven't read the books; have seen bits and pieces of Lynch's Dune; have read the critique and reactions on this thread).

    Like an iPad Pro, it found Dune 2021 a frustrating combination of elements.

    Casting: I know Hollywood is in a tough spot with a movie like this. They want good actors but also NAME actors to try draw the uncommitted and make the financials work. But for a movie that's supposed to feel strange and alien, name actors kinda ruin it.

    Consistency: Maybe I'm missing some nuance from the books which again I haven't read, but the Bedouins who "fight like demons" taking Aquaman to within an inch of his life *and* fold like a wet noodle in the octagon against a kid 2/3rds their weight? I get that writers will make villains that are invincible when it suits them and also weaklings when the plot needs to move on to the next thing, but I don't get this particular inconsistency. Also, golden child's mom is sometimes stoic and strong and other times on the verge of a tearful nervous breakdown. Why? Some detail from the book that got carried into the movie without enough supporting context to explain it?

    Marvelization: As far as I can tell, the goal with movies these days seems to be enough complexity and kaboom to be interesting, but anything that interferes with a home viewer's ability to consume their Instagram feed *and* watch the movie at the same time must be eliminated. Bye-bye nuance, complexity, and delightful WTF moments, I guess?

    Despite these flaws, I did want to finish the movie. Partly so I could enjoy y'all's comments about the film, and partly because the Marvelization kinda works on me I guess?

    Looking forward to giving the Lynch Dune a proper watch.

    Random question: What are the space rings that ships always seem to pass through? They suggest wormhole endpoints, but don't behave that way in the movie. What are they?
     
  20. oldschool

    oldschool Acquaintance

    Joined:
    Sep 3, 2016
    Likes Received:
    38
    Trophy Points:
    18
    Location:
    Bulgaria
    Because he is a military-trained duke's son, and also trained by his mother in the Weirding Way (this is not explained well in the movie). In fact, Paul gets to lead and train the fremen in the same Weirding Way techniques, which we will likely see in Part 2, and they will turn into an unstoppable force thrashing both Harkonnen and Imperial sardaukar.

    These are Space Guild Heighliners. They fold space and are huge in size, fitting other craft and equipment. I don't think it is explained much else besides that in the book, and the design is also up to anyone's imagination. I think though they are supposed to be spherical as per canon.
     

Share This Page