padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
Is Villeneuve any good? I know the stuff he's done, but I've never seen any of it.
he's basically a visual stylist, he can make things look interesting and he can execute a good script OK but I don't think he can elevate a bad one

that's why I had (very) tentative high hopes for the aesthetic sensibility of Blade Runner 2049 etc applied to Frank Herbert

not that 2049 lived up to the original at all, but it wasn't an embarrassing effort and it looked pretty cool

that was a best-case scenario. this looks more like, yeah, a bunch of kewl fighting and explosions.

the Lynch via Jodorowsky version, despite its problems really does impart a sense of mystery, grandeur, truly strange otherworldliness

albeit at the price of almost total incoherence, but if you're adapting Dune incoherent striving is a much better look than just kewl fighting etc

tho probably a much tougher sell to the producers than a generic space opera blockbuster
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
Jason Momoa as Duncan Idaho is inspired casting, I will say, even if it looks like they're totally gonna fuck up his character arc

cutting out Feyd-Rautha (Sting) is a bewildering decision tho, he's one of the best things in the book and every other adaptation

Paul's lithe, sexually ambiguous, smirking alter ego

Dave Bautista is a surprisingly decent actor but it ain't the same relationship between the characters
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
you know what that trailer reminded me of was another mediocre recent adaptation of a beloved sci-novel - Ender's Game

a very strange book in different ways but, similar visual style, similar dumbing down into generic blockbuster
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
There was a series of Dune right? I bought a box set from a charity shop but I lost it without watching it. I guess if it was good we would know about it though.
 

version

Well-known member
I still want to see Jupiter Ascending and Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. They both look nuts. I'm expecting spectacular visuals and appalling acting and writing.


 

borzoi

Well-known member
idk what affection people have for him as a director. its nice that he somehow can keep sweet talking hollywood into giving him 100 million dollars to make a non superhero movie but he doesn't have much of a style or identity. hes a total journeyman so all his movies have been "pretty good". this looks boring and grey af for a movie about doing space acid and riding on a giant worm.
 

version

Well-known member
That greyness is something which really bothers me. There's a certain sheen and blandness to a lot of stuff these days that makes it look like a glossy car ad.
 

version

Well-known member
Nolan's the main culprit, imo. Tenet looks crushingly bland. His brother does Westworld and it's got that look too.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
he's basically a visual stylist, he can make things look interesting and he can execute a good script OK but I don't think he can elevate a bad one
That's my feeling... he aint got that zingor whatever.
I still want to see Jupiter Ascending and Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. They both look nuts. I'm expecting spectacular visuals and appalling acting and writing.


Did he do them? Both bad. I had it in my head the Valerian one was Besson.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
Nolan's the main culprit, imo. Tenet looks crushingly bland. His brother does Westworld and it's got that look too.
Nolan definitely tries to make good films.
I want to go to the cinema soon... might try Tenet even though everyonewho has seen it says it's terrible.
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
There was a series of Dune right?
yeah the Sci-Fi Channel (or as it's now called - sighs - Syfy) did a miniseries around the turn of the millennium

it's pretty good for what it is, a miniseries made for basic cable

unsurprisingly a much more faithful, straightforward adaptation than the Lynch version
 

version

Well-known member
yeah the Sci-Fi Channel (or as it's now called - sighs - Syfy) did a miniseries around the turn of the millennium

it's pretty good for what it is, a miniseries made for basic cable

unsurprisingly a much more faithful, straightforward adaptation than the Lynch version
They're doing a new Dune series too -- Dune: The Sisterhood,

"TV series set in the 'Dune' universe which centers on the lives of the Bene Gesserit."
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
Jupiter Ascending
I mean it's pretty terrible. I wasn't really impressed with the visuals but the terrible acting is there in spades.

I do concede it has a a kind of deranged loopiness and I always want to support people taking big, ambitious swings with original material

but it's not even bad in an interesting way
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
yeah the Sci-Fi Channel (or as it's now called - sighs - Syfy) did a miniseries around the turn of the millennium

it's pretty good for what it is, a miniseries made for basic cable

unsurprisingly a much more faithful, straightforward adaptation than the Lynch version
I wish I'd watched it.
I think you're right about JV, he doesn't seem to have much spark but his things look good.
 
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