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Post by Simone on Oct 8, 2021 10:08:27 GMT -8
I just bought my IMAX ticket and regular 2D tickets to see Dune twice in the same weekend including a fun evening outing with a friend. All to support Frank Herbert, Timothee, and Denis Villeneuve. The only three films that I remember ever seeing twice in the theatres were Beauty and the Beast, Titanic, and Pirates of the Caribbean when I was young. The reason I havent seen other great movies more times in the cinema is because I like to see as much diverse films as I can as there is just so much content. Therefore, seeing Dune twice in one weekend is pretty darn special for me in light of my cinematic history. I cant wait to be amazed by this experience!
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Post by Simone on Oct 9, 2021 7:38:46 GMT -8
Denis was on Colbert and as expected, it's a great but short interview. And yes, he speaks about Timmy.
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Post by Teenca on Oct 9, 2021 23:01:09 GMT -8
Thanks!
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Post by chalametthegreat on Oct 11, 2021 21:40:43 GMT -8
I said recently that I've never seen a movie more than twice in the theatre. Well, thanks to Warner Brothers and Simone who recommended two years ago that I sign up to be on their email list, I got invited to attend a local screening of Dune for free this evening. THREE times it is for the first time then!
SPOILERS!!! SPOILERS!!! SPOILERS!!!
WARNING!!! WARNING!!! WARNING!!!
YOU HAVE BEEN SO ADVISED TO STOP!!!
I am continuing to digest intellectually and emotionally what I just saw tonight. I reserve the right to change my mind or have different observations after several repeat viewings.
If you are a fan of the novel of Dune, you will absolutely love this movie. If you are not a fan of the novel, you will not enjoy this movie. Dune is one of the most faithful adaptations of a book I have even seen in the cinema. Frank Herbert should be proud and honored in Heaven. Denis Villeneuve was really the right and perhaps only modern directing choice for this book due to his passion for the material since childhood.
I dont see how Dune is not nominated at the 2022 Oscars for Best Picture, Director, Score, Visual Effects, Cinematography, Sound, and Editing. Dune is nothing short of a technical masterpiece up there with Titanic and Lord of the Rings.
The on location desert shooting is beyond stunning and shows how practical effects are sometimes more powerful than CGI even in 2021. I came out of the movie thinking Arrakis is a real planet. I felt the sand and dry harshness of the barren terrain made the story more real. AND THE SANDWORMS!!! THE SANDWORMS!!! I thought they were so well visualized that it was worth waiting decades for the technology to make it possible.
And on that point, Dune will go down as one of the best world building science fiction experiences. Besides Arrakis, Caladan as the Atreides homeworld was also magnificently shot and artistically rendered. So many great details from the book such as the Atreides bull and ring. I wanted to spend more time in this universe and future to get to know more places and people.
I certainly wanted to know more about the Bene Gesserit and the Imperium. I thought Dune only scratched the surface of the Bene Gesserit who are genuinely terrifying as genetic manipulating nuns with mental superpowers. One of my favorite scenes in the movie from the book is when Paul Atreides undergoes the Reverend Mother's gom jabbar test. So powerful and captivating is that moment that I wanted the scene to last longer with more rich dialogue.
And frankly that's my chief main complaint with Dune the movie. Even with nearly three hours of footage from only the first half of the novel, I felt like certain cool scenes and moments were edited out of the movie due to time constraints. And while I understand the editing, I was disappointed in a good way due to wanting to see more of the book being filmed by this amazing cast and crew.
For example, where was Guerney Hallack playing his infamous baliset?! I think Josh Brolin is a brilliant actor... see his Thanos ... but he was so criminally underused in this movie. We needed to see more of his friendship with Paul so that the payoff of them reuniting years later is even richer and heartwarming.
And where was the great dinner scene on Arrakis with the Atreides family, supporters, and Dr. Liet-Kynes? That book scene is so memorable to me before the betrayal and assassination scenes and explained well Dune's environemtal issues, politics and relationships among the characters. While the movie established the Atreides family and their closeness, I still think it could have even be developed further with a scene like that one.
In contrast, the scenes between Paul and Jason Momoa as Duncan Idaho were awesome and just about right in number and length. Their friendship was honest with natural chemistry that when Duncan sacrifices his life for Paul I really felt Paul's pain. The scene with Paul banging on the door in fury at the environmental station because he was desperate to fight with Duncan was so heartbreaking to me.
With respect to the acting, there was not a subpar or miscast person among the actors. The question for us Timothee Chalamet fans is not whether he was good. That's like asking whether the sun rises in the east. The question is how would you rank his performance among his growing filmography. My favorite performance is still Beautiful Boy. But out of the recent Little Women, Call Me By Your Name, and now Dune, I'm not sure which performance I would place second on my list. I need to reflect upon it.
I want to be clear though that Timothee brought Paul Atreides to life just like how I imagined him in both appearance and demeanor. It was such brilliant casting by the director. Timothee captures Paul's youth and earnestness quite well. In fact, I think it is great that four years at least will have passed by the time the second part of the book is filmed. Timothee will look more mature and seasoned as he should be when the Freman scenes are filmed. After all, Paul was among the Fremen for a number of years before exacting retribution against the Harkonnens. He will be perfect again!
However, my award for favorite Dune movie performance goes to Rebecca Ferguson as Lady Jessica. She displays such range by wonderfully emoting the inner turmoil between motherhood and Bene Gesserit loyalties. Some of my favorite scenes are with her and Paul as they are in the book including in the tent on the run in the desert and the thropter when they use the voice to subdue their captors. Lady Jessica has to be one of science fictions best female characters.
My award for surprise best guest performance goes to Sharon Duncan Brewster as Dr. Liet-Kynes. I'll admit that I dont like when filmmakers change the sexes or backgrounds of characters when they already worked in the book. My position is always to create new characters. But I found myself wanting to know so much more about Dr. Liet-Kynes in the movie due to the actress's solid performance. Her death scene was very moving. And casting a woman in the role was brilliant to give another strong feminine voice among a cast of mostly male voices and make the audience care and identify with the Freman.
The problems that I have with the film are the problems I have with the novel. For example, I find the Harkonnen villains in the book somewhat weak and uninspiring, because they are portrayed as too cartoonish and two-dimensional. The best villains in my opinion are ones that are common or beautiful on the outside but ugly and immoral within. See Hunchback of Notre Dame as a good example of what I'm talking about.
The movie definitely adheres closely to the book by making the Harkonnens so outwardly grotesque in appearance as to say look these people are evil because they look evil. I just hope when Denis casts Feyd-Rautha he selects a sexy and charasmatic actor to counter the Harkonnen narrative that I am describing. On a positive note, the acting of the Harkonnens is superb.
Now that the world building has been successfully accomplished and the pieces on the chessboard set, I hope Denis has more time to develop the relationships and emotions of the remaining main and supporting characters. We better see more of Guerney with Paul and his baliset before the battle for Arrakis! And I think Princess Irulan needs to be added as another key female character to balance out the men and see the inner workings of the Emperor and court through her eyes. There should also be some moments of levity added to the dramatic proceedings to counter some of the darker tones.
I cannot wait for the sequel, because we know some of the more out of this world, supernatural, and science fiction elements appear in the second half of Dune. I actually think the second movie could potentially blow people's minds more than this first movie. Dune comes to an abrupt ending in exactly the spot I thought with the Jamis and Paul fight scene. It is downright criminal if we don't get to see Denis's complete cinematic vision for Dune!
FINALLY, PLEASE SEE DUNE IN A THEATRE ON THE BIGGEST SCREEN POSSIBLE! I can't imagine having the same out of world experience sitting on my couch at home. Trust me as you will never regret it!
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Post by Simone on Oct 12, 2021 8:39:11 GMT -8
I'm so glad you enjoyed it Anthony!! Wow, and you got an email invite from WB? How did that happen? You can write me privately on that.
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Post by Simone on Oct 13, 2021 8:33:13 GMT -8
Dune promotions continue, now with digital covers for the multiple covers of Entertainment Weekly!
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Post by Simone on Oct 16, 2021 6:42:55 GMT -8
If you don't have a tiktok account, now is the time to create one
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Post by Teenca on Oct 16, 2021 23:24:27 GMT -8
Thanks! It's 6.45 pm in Central Europe.
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Post by chalametthegreat on Oct 17, 2021 23:02:55 GMT -8
Simone, I saw your Club Chalamet Twitter feed and how you gave some good advice to fans about being patient and standing for hours early if they want a chance to see Timothee at the premiere in Londom.
On a positive note of encouragement to fans, I just got back from Walt Disney World where I stood in line one day for 6 hours in a swarm of humanity for 3 rides on what felt like the surface of the sun. To fellow fans in London, I would say you got this!!! I would stand many hours for Timothee ... maybe not overnight as I need my beauty sleep. And I am so jealous, because I want my Timothee big movie American Hollywood premiere #^#%!!! Dune Part Two hopefully .... !!!
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Post by Teenca on Oct 18, 2021 12:36:48 GMT -8
I got my ticket!!! IMAX, Oct 21, 16.00 It was a nightmare to buy it, the website of the theater broke down. Too many people at the same time want to buy their tickets to the IMAX version. It's great!!!
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Post by chalametthegreat on Oct 18, 2021 16:52:11 GMT -8
So happy for you!!! The movie is quite an experience in the big theatre. I still think about what I saw a week later. Good movies do that!
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Post by Simone on Oct 20, 2021 7:49:10 GMT -8
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Post by chalametthegreat on Oct 20, 2021 9:31:51 GMT -8
When does everyone predict the sequel to be announced? I would personally do it on Friday to drum up box office sales, because more people will be encouraged to see Part One knowing that they will get Part Two. In the alternative, I would do it on Monday after a successful opening weekend in the United States in order to keep the momentum going. In any event, I bet we will know by Halloween whether a sequel gets greenlit.
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Post by Simone on Oct 20, 2021 15:22:59 GMT -8
When does everyone predict the sequel to be announced? I would personally do it on Friday to drum up box office sales, because more people will be encouraged to see Part One knowing that they will get Part Two. In the alternative, I would do it on Monday after a successful opening weekend in the United States in order to keep the momentum going. In any event, I bet we will know by Halloween whether a sequel gets greenlit. This would be a great topic to discuss on next Tuesday's Club Chalamet Twitter Spaces discussion. I think they'll make the announcement before Thanksgiving.
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Post by chalametthegreat on Oct 20, 2021 19:01:04 GMT -8
I'm 36 years old and a lot of my friends are in that baby or small kid stage. I have been telling them if there is one movie they need to see on the largest screen possible this year it is Dune. I advised them to please hire a babysitter! I dont think they will regret it!
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