I’ll go first. Mine is that I can’t stand the Deadpool movies. They are self aware and self referential to an obnoxious degree. It’s like being continually reminded that I am in a movie. I swear the success of that movie has directly lead to every blockbuster having to have a joke every 30 seconds
I love the first Dune book, and I love the goofy 80’s Dune movie, which was pretty close to the book in terms of getting a lot of the internal dialog in place. But I hated the new Dune movie. I didn’t like how sterile and empty they made the palace, or the weird anus mouth design of the sand worms. Or the silly use of balloons to help lift harvesters. I very much didn’t like how they made Lady Jessica an emotional mess, instead of being in control of her outward emotions, as she was trained to do.
They also screwed up the personal defense shields REAL BAD. The idea that the shields react to kinetic energy, so a fast moving project from a firearm would get stopped, but a slow moving blade would pass through. The fight near the end had people being killed by fast sword strikes by hitting the shields, it was just so jarring and lazy. They also completely misrepresented who and what the Sardukar are. Based on how many people loved the movie, I have an unpopular opinion. Though I found that most people who absolutely loved the movie hadn’t seen the original movie, or read the first book, so they didn’t know anything to color their impression.
It bothered me that the scale was barely conveyed. For example, I don’t think it becomes clear how massive the troop movement is when the Atreides take control of Arrakis. I think that would have been fairly easy to illustrate visually by doing a better wide angle shot of Arrakis in space with thousands and thousands of ships heading towards it. I mean, the scene with the ships emerging from the sea as the Atreides leave Caladan is nice, but it seems like it’s just the ruling family and their court moving - not a gigantic force that can permanently occupy an entire planet. But maybe I just don’t remember it correctly.
That bothered me a ton too. The movie gave the impression that JUST the Atreides and their entourage moved to Arrakis, the palace was so empty, it definitely lacked the grandiose scale the original story had.
The 80s Dune movie has a stellar cast and amazing art direction.
Agreed. The whole movie felt sterile, without any emotional involvement. I’ve read the books, saw the OG movie, the TV series, and all of them did the revolt against atriedes right. This movie plodded along so slowly, that I forgot they were fleeing for their lives. Also, Zendaya. I don’t understand her popularity. She’s got this weird squashed face so having her portray the love interest, Chani, is weird. I don’t get her as MJ in Spiderman for the same reason.
Do you recommend all the books (even the one his son wrote)? I read the 1st one but didn’t love it
If you didn’t love the first one, I doubt you’ll like the others. I haven’t read all of them yet, but everyone I know who has read them all always started by enjoying the world of the first one first.
What’s more is the movie is relentlessly gut wrenchingly tear-inducingly boring.
I’ve tried watching it three times I just can’t get through it.
Villeneuve has been really disappointing. He was good with smaller, more gritty stuff but isn’t a good epic director.
Can confirm. I haven’t read the book or watched the old movie and I absolutely loved the new one.
Agreed. That’s the director’s aesthetic: giant empty sets that look like giant empty sets.
I also feel like because the movie didn’t explain as much as the book or original movie did, people just assumed the new movie was profound and deep, and loved it because of it. I asked a friend who loved it but hadn’t read the book or watched the 80’s movie, who the Sardukar are. He answered that they were a religious order who were good fighters. Again, the new movie just doesn’t give enough context or answers to stuff.
I also can’t express how much I didn’t care for the new Worm design.
Heck, did I write this in my sleep? 100% my impressions as well. The ‘pretty but soul-less’ feel, the Lady Jessica constantly looking about to burst into tears, the glossing over things… A personal peeve was the conversation Leto had with Paul back on Caladan; don’t even remember what it was about, but remember grumbling out loud in the cinema because it was just so… one-dimensional. Something like ‘I know how you feel because I felt exactly the same way back in the day!’ Oooohhh buggerrrr ooffffffff! Where are the deep complicated powerful characters, the complex politics, the strong relationships and love? Nah, we’ll just blah blah…