Just watched DUNE...

[NaffNaffBobFace]

My fiancee and I have agreed to watch all the films in our collection we have never watched. Most of them are still in their cellophane, many of them bought over 5 years ago...

...Just watched all 2 hours 10 minutes of the movie DUNE.

After the last credit rolled, she turned to me, gazed imploringly in to my eyes and asked, delicately "Did anything just happen there?"

I gazed back and whispered on a faint breath: "I just don't fucking know."

The most annoying part was the constant inner monologues.

Best bit was whenever Patrick Stewart was kicking arse in particular when he was carrying a pug into battle, that was the good ladies favorite part. And recognising the line "Walk without rhythm and you won't attract the worm" to which I completed the FatboySlim lyric "If you walk without rhythm, huh, you never learn" which the soon to be wife looked at me blankly not recognising at all.

Anyone seen this all the way through?

The other half wants to know what TEST Squadron made of the part when Sting comes out of the sauna with a car-ornament stuck to his shreaddies?

 

[Ammorn]

First!

I watched Dune first 10 years ago. It's like an onion, there's a bit going on and layers of plot that aren't spoon fed to you, so you have to peel through the layers to get to the heart of it and figure it out.

 

[Ammorn]

Like I said it's not spoon fed to you, Star Wars took the same approach, not everything is explained in some way. It's portrayed more like a window into another reality. All the characters know how the common things there work or the history of some things, so they'll reference it or use it, but not explain it to a character that should know better. You learn about things from context and seeing it function, and subtle references in context to the situation. This creates more of an immersion and better flow to me, since the protagonist isn't having common knowledge of tech or history explained all the time so it's more natural.

 

[Schmunkel]

That Dune is amazing! If want to blow you mind, check out this documentary on another Dune that was almost made:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1935156/

 

[Floating Cloud]

Best film ever (well, ok, in the top 10).

 

[Shadow Reaper]

The most annoying part was the constant inner monologues.]

In film, the cardinal rule is "show, don't tell". This is why narration during a film is always considered bad form, and the sign of poor screen writing. Technically you should not even do the setup through narration, but there are a few notable exceptions where that and nothing else is really acceptable. Most narration even at the beginning of the movie, intended to set the scene, is considered very poor screenwriting. (I know. I won a Remi at Worldfest back in 2007.)

Some authors of books, like Stephen King; describe each scene visually, and avoid the inner narrative most people find in the limited omniscient viewpoint most common in most modern literature. Most modern books use that inner voice quite extensively, and the art of writing a script from a book is therefore in taking out all that internal narrative and somehow replacing it. Often this requires creating entire scenes from nothing in the text. Uneducated critics of film will often complain about these creations of the screenwriter, but they are necessary for most conversions from book to film.

What you are complaining about is truly poor screenwriting and it is a terrible shame, because that story and that production were both excellent save they were marred by the very thing you note. That could have been a classic and instead, it is the film people usually miss. C'est domage.

 

[Han Burgundy]

Classic example of a story that is told better in a book than on-screen. Inner momolagues are hard to stomach in movies.

 

[mindfart]

The books are amazing, for real. (all 6 ;p) And -IMHO- the best TV adaptation is the Children of Dune mini series.

 

[Printimus]

Classic example of a story that is told better in a book than on-screen. Inner momolagues are hard to stomach in movies.

agreed

 

[Heinlein]

My fiancee and I have agreed to watch all the films in our collection we have never watched. Most of them are still in their cellophane, many of them bought over 5 years ago...

...Just watched all 2 hours 10 minutes of the movie DUNE.

After the last credit rolled, she turned to me, gazed imploringly in to my eyes and asked, delicately "Did anything just happen there?"

I gazed back and whispered on a faint breath: "I just don't fucking know."

The most annoying part was the constant inner monologues.

This movie needs to be seen more than once to pick up on all that is going on. Its actually a great movie. You have to consider the time period it was made.

A lot of good quotes from that movie too.

Definitely a classic Sci Fi movie.

 

[Phantomoftruth]

I remember when Dune came out. I didn't get to see it, so I read the book. The book has an appendix specifically to clear up terms and such. The Movie, I believe, assumed too much of the Audience.

 

[NaffNaffBobFace]

Many thanks for all responses, the other half says:

"Thanks very much for the context, 6 books makes a bit more sense perhaps they could have done with making more than one movie out of it like they did with harry potter, imagine squeezing all that in to the one movie and you'd probably have the same problem... Condensing what probably should have been 15 hours of film jammed in to 2..."

 

[Thalstan]

1) read the book. You don't have to read all of them, but at least read Dune
2) watch the mini-series next. Much better (and longer). Still, it leaves stuff out. Names are pronounced differently, so there will be an adjustment. Not everything will line up...
3) enjoy the movie for itself, the book for itself.

 

[Miasmic]

Gonna need to rewatch this now. Its been over a decade since I watched it last.

 

[Carlos Spicyweiner]

The movie is okay, but I could get lost for hours in the books!

 

[Radegast74]

The movie is okay, but I could get lost for hours in the books!

He who controls the spiceyweiners, controls the universe!

Er, I read the books a long time ago, something like that...

The books were *awesome* -- I learned a long time ago that if I love a book, don't watch the movie, it ruins how I pictured everything.

That first book, Dune, is just plain perfect. The others...well, it was hard to match up to the first, which was the best!

 

[CosmicTrader]

I watched Dune when it first hit the theatres.
That was enough......

 

[Gabgrave]

I got the Bluray last year, and remember having fond memories watching when I was young. Now that I watched it 25 years later, me and my brother couldn't stop laughing at the space nazis and space commies trying to be the next top drug lord XD.

I still really love the vehicles and sandworms though. They set a precedence for so many things later on. Them sandworms show up in that star citizen trailer too, they get everywhere.

Really fond memories of Dune II as well, first RTS game I recall playing. So many games after that too lol, not to mention Dune being the first RPG game I tried.

 

[DirectorGunner]

I don't remember watching Dune.. I worked as a teen in Blockbuster and later hollywood video, forgotten as much as I've watched. But it's on my bucket list of movie classics to watch. Though I'd prefer watching a proper reboot.. you know.. that one that was supposed to have been made.

 

[Tealwraith]

My favorite scene in David Lynch's Dune was at the start where the emperor gets a visit from the 3rd stage guild navigator. I can't wait to show up in Pyro and say to the port officer, "I've just folded space from Nyx."