Dune reviews

[Reza]

Will have to see this to get excited. The Lynch version was absolutely atrocious.

[Okri]

Well, that has me more excited.

[Mister Tee]

Thanks to a surprise free ticket offer, I saw this last night at the NY Film Festival.

Those who've come to know me over the years will understand this is not my genre. I never had the slightest temptation to read the book -- just like I never read The Lord of the Rings or Stranger in a Strange Land. (I navigated a different nerd-lane.) I did see the Lynch film, but on TV, and all I remember of it is the sand worms. So, you're hearing from a non-aficionado; I didn't squeal with glee when the lights dimmed, as many did, even here in this uber-art-film setting.

For the first half-hour or so -- an economical, lucid, but somewhat prosaic exposition of the various tribes and planets -- I was thinking, looks fine, but this is just another Star Wars movie. (The friend I went with later opined that George Lucas, by stealing so many elements from works like this, and playing them at old-time-serial level, has made such stories hard to take seriously anymore.) But that slowly changed: the deeper we got into the story, the more I invested in the characters. Villeneuve is doggedly serious about believing in this fantasy world, and his conviction takes hold. Though there are clearly action-film aspects to the film, the underlying story has some Shakespearean tones to it, and they give the film heft -- I'm not comparing the two films, but to some degree the way familial succession worked for The Godfather. The people I know who read the book -- as far back as early high school -- took it VERY seriously. I think they'll be quite happy with what Villeneuve has done here; he's made the version of Dune that honors their feeling for the book, not unlike the way Jackson finally pleased Tolkien-ites with his initial trilogy.

It helps to have good actors aboard, and this is a very strong cast. Chalamet is a good choice for the central role -- his physical wispy-ness makes him someone people would underestimate, but his core strength emerges as he speaks and takes command. Rebecca Ferguson, as the mother it's hard to know whether to trust, makes a strong impression, as well (though I have to admit I found some of her dialogue difficult to hear). And actors like Oscar Isaac, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Javier Bardem, and, especially, Sharon Duncan-Brewster bring real class and talent to the project.

But I'm burying the lede, here, because the clear star of the show is Villeneuve. At about the film's half-hour mark, the Atreides ship is evacuating just prior to an area being overrun by sand-worms; there's a final image of the ship rising, Chalamet and Josh Brolin on the open dock, while, below, the just-evacuated ship is sucked down into the sand. It's such a striking image, I wanted it frozen and framed. Coincidence or no, from that point on, I became more and more aware of Villeneuve's visuals. Partly this is because the film's canvas becomes bigger -- there are larger set pieces, moments when the screen seems to burst with life. But even during what might have been, in another film, routine action scenes, his poet's eye finds a way to infuse the proceedings with feeling. The audience never bursts into applause the way they would at a similar juncture in a super-hero move; that would defile the moment. There's too much grace to the images to evoke such a reaction. Likewise the use of special effects, which become overwhelming at certain points: I never felt they were there for a whiz-bang reaction; as in his Blade Runner, Villeneuve uses them for beauty, not for kinetic satisfaction. This is a major visual filmmaker at work.

There are flaws with the film. Despite Villeneuve's best efforts, sometimes a sword fight is just a sword fight, and we've seen too many of them to be much engaged. I also think the film overstays its welcome just a bit. I came in knowing the film was going to break off at some self-imposed mid-point, and felt ready for that at least two times shortly prior to the actual break. Scenes that followed felt as if they would have better fit in part two (and one, a close-in knife fight just before, seems way too trivial to essentially be a climax). But I was ready, as the film ended, to see Intermission come up, rather than end credits; I'd like to see the rest of this story right now.

And I'll tell you flat-out: if you don't see this on a big theatre screen, you're wasting the best of it. (Anyone who watches on HBO MAX and turns their nose up at it, I will disregard your opinion.) Perhaps the greatest joy of this film is how it revives the epic experience of movies -- an especially-missed thing now, with everyone limited to home-viewing for so long, but also something that has for too long been in the hands of filmmakers catering to adolescents. This is a sci-fi/fantasy movie, no doubt, but it fills the screen in the way some classic epics have. Whatever flaws and limitations of genre, this is a movie that evokes the primal love of movies in me.

[Sabin]

OscarGuy wrote
Sound Editing is no more, so it's below-the-line haul could follow Mad Max's minus the Sound Editing.

You’re right. Although we don’t know the extend to which makeup is featured

[OscarGuy]

Sound Editing is no more, so it's below-the-line haul could follow Mad Max's minus the Sound Editing.

[Sabin]

Some younger journos seem to like it more. Maybe it does have some connecting appeal.

[Reza]

I had to look up Blade Runner 2049's tally:
Best Cinematography
Best Production Design
Best Sound Mixing
Best Sound Editing
Best Visual Effects

I'd imagine that Best Original Score or Costume Design weren't far off either. Dune probably has all those seven in the bag.

The Academy is tilting nerdier and nerdier every year that goes by. They're more open to honoring fantasy/sci-fi. But they still want to feel something emotionally. I'm not getting that from this reception. But you're right, if they're already marking it down for seven...

On the other hand, as I'm reading these reviews, the Academy is going to find movies to nominate. They always do.

Hasn't the Academy abolished the Sound Editing award?

[Sonic Youth]

Anyone else entertained by Mister Tee's and Reza's diametrically opposed responses posted at nearly the same time?

[Sabin]

Mister Tee wrote
I'd amend that to "below the line is certain" (probably everything Blade Runner 2049 got), but, depending on how vociferous the positive critics are compared to the dissenters (there are some emphatic raves in there), and, crucially, how it plays out in the marketplace (by the lowered-expectations standards of 2021), film/director nominations are quite possible.

Despite the 5-rather-than-10 limitations of the directing category, it in fact sounds like a film that could more easily get into directing than best film. (In the old days, it might have been a classic lone-director.) Villeneuve has already scored once with the directors, and, in recent years, they've been partial to visionary films (which even detractors seem to think this is).

Of course, it also depends on how bountiful the rest of the year is...something that remains quite murky at this point.

I had to look up Blade Runner 2049's tally:
Best Cinematography
Best Production Design
Best Sound Mixing
Best Sound Editing
Best Visual Effects

I'd imagine that Best Original Score or Costume Design weren't far off either. Dune probably has all those seven in the bag.

The Academy is tilting nerdier and nerdier every year that goes by. They're more open to honoring fantasy/sci-fi. But they still want to feel something emotionally. I'm not getting that from this reception. But you're right, if they're already marking it down for seven...

On the other hand, as I'm reading these reviews, the Academy is going to find movies to nominate. They always do.

[Reza]

It was absurd to even imagine that this was going to prominently figure in the top Oscar categories. It's been attempted twice before and neither version was a success. This remake was being treated like the Second Coming from the get go. Well at least all that hype comes to a close at last and the pundits can now omit it from their lists - best picture/director.

I do feel sorry for the fanboys though.

I remember seeing the Lynch version on the big screen in Indiana when it first came out. Have no recollection of it so I do want to revisit it. And I will check out the new version as well if only to see what Charlotte Rampling is doing in this.

[Mister Tee]

So... this is a below the line thing.

I'd amend that to "below the line is certain" (probably everything Blade Runner 2049 got), but, depending on how vociferous the positive critics are compared to the dissenters (there are some emphatic raves in there), and, crucially, how it plays out in the marketplace (by the lowered-expectations standards of 2021), film/director nominations are quite possible.

Despite the 5-rather-than-10 limitations of the directing category, it in fact sounds like a film that could more easily get into directing than best film. (In the old days, it might have been a classic lone-director.) Villeneuve has already scored once with the directors, and, in recent years, they've been partial to visionary films (which even detractors seem to think this is).

Of course, it also depends on how bountiful the rest of the year is...something that remains quite murky at this point.

[Sabin]

Um. Mixed. And by mixed, I mean some really like it, some really don't.

‘Dune’ Review: Spectacular and Engrossing…Until It Isn’t

Denis Villeneuve's adaptation has a majestic vastness, and most of it actually makes sense, but it's an act of world-building that runs out of storytelling steam.

https://variety.com/2021/film/reviews/d ... 235051928/


https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/s ... m-festival

https://deadline.com/video/dune-movie-r ... illeneuve/

https://www.indiewire.com/2021/09/dune- ... 234660459/

https://www.thewrap.com/dune-film-revie ... -chalamet/


So... this is a below the line thing.