⊃∪∩⪽ | Legendary | October 22 2021 | Denis Villeneuve | Returns to IMAX on December 3

[BestPicturePlutoNash]

43 minutes ago, ViewerAnon said:

Why is it when people point to “the best director working today” it’s always someone who exclusively makes $150M+-budgeted movies?

It’s because they’ve never seen anything by PTA or international non-mainstream directors like Mike Leigh, Hamaguchi, Apichatpong Weerasethakul. And they think “big budget spectacle” = “best directing!”.

[Fox20]

1 hour ago, famicommander said:

He literally said that he intentionally makes the dialogue hard to decipher in his movies because he wants people to have to struggle, because in his mind if they have to struggle that means they're paying closer attention. He also said to "feel, not think" about his movies. Well how the hell am I supposed to "feel" any kind of way about a protagonist so thin he's literally just called protagonist?

 

He makes movies that are convoluted and nonsensical in the hopes of confusing the masses, because the masses think anything that's sufficiently confusing must be smart. But sometimes it just means the story doesn't hold up to basic logic or common sense, which is the case in most of his movies and most especially his science fiction. It genuinely disturbs me when people talk about his science fiction movies (Inception, Interstellar, Tenet) as if they're anywhere near the quality of stuff from Villenueve (Arrival, Blade Runner 2049, Dune) or Alex Garland (Dredd [uncredited director, credited writer/producer], Ex Machina, Annhiliation). 

Nolan make movies that click and connect to people, you want to watch them... Denis is great but you think any average person is even interested on watching Blade Runner?

 

You should not be "disturbed" by personal opinions that is just childish.

[Hatebox]

57 minutes ago, famicommander said:

He also said to "feel, not think" about his movies.

 

Yup, sounds like a populist movie-maker to me.

 

I'm not defending Nolan, he's been wildly hit and miss for the last decade. But he 100% thinks he's making movies aimed at as many people as possible. I personally wish he would get a bit pretentious and make an obtuse sub 50 million film, but that ship's sailed.

 

 

Edited October 22, 2021 by Hatebox

[charlie Jatinder]

 

[ThomasNicole]

This hate train on Nolan is absolutely ridiculous. He's far from greatest director alive but he does have some of the most interesting ideas today on the blockbuster industry, and all being somewhat original only help him.

 

I agreed he have some questionable habits of explaining things too much or too less this decade and pretty much all his movies would benefit with things more balanced, the same i would argue for his cold distant characters, he have a problem to develop them very well. Still, i don't think he ever fuck things up in this aspects, despite the problems his movies works well and reach the audiences without rely on sequels and SH movies.

 

Even Tenet which is the most unbalaced movie he made and works way better as an execution of interesting concepts than a movie with real motivations still manage to please overall. It gets decent reviews, solid audience reception and pretty good box office all things considered.

 

He does need some change tho, the Oppenheimer movie must bring something new and more grounded after the megalomaniac projects and the backlash because of questionable decisions and meltdowns he have during pandemic.

 

To me Villeneuve is a better director tho in a direct comparisson, i'm very excited to watch Dune in a few hours.

[Cap]

Moderation:

 

So it’s really nice to not have a dog in this fight. I’m tempted just to sit back and let the gummy kick in and eat some popcorn. But I feel like Eric would be really disappointed in me. And we don’t want to derail the thread!

 

So why doesn’t everyone agree that they’re both terrible directors we love, and move away from which one is better.

 

In the meantime, how are you all watching the movie? Are you staying at home and doing it on HBO Max? Is everyone going to see it and IMAX? 

[pepper83]

This bored me to death! People can hate Lynch's Dune all they want but at least it was colorful and memorable, 

[famicommander]

Lynch's Dune is one of the worst movies ever made. I hated it so much I waited decades longer than I should have to read the original novel.

[AJG]

5 hours ago, Liiviig 1998 said:

86% all audience . This should also come into consideration since it's on max. Should settle on high 80s or low 90s for A-/B+ CS .

 

 

All audience is unmoderated and thus absolutely meaningless. 

[Hatebox]

The way things are going in the UK I wouldn't be surprised if this is the last movie I'll (maybe) see at the cinema before covid restrictions kick in again. The government's currently in full-on denial mode but that can only last so long.

[Liiviig 1998]

25 minutes ago, AJG said:

 

All audience is unmoderated and thus absolutely meaningless. 

Those on hbo max then?. Then what abt those who watch movies on digital after the movie has left theatrical . it's absolutely meaningful. Movies before 2019 were using

 It and that doesn't invalidate them.

Just because we have had backlash issues doesn't mean it's completely dead . I guarantee if your look up most of the movies the VA and all audience don't tend to differ that much.

 

[Valonqar]

WB's most ambitious movie ever is also the studio's most different movie - a John Carter with scrubbed colors! 

Edited October 22, 2021 by Valonqar

[Elessar]

4 hours ago, ViewerAnon said:

 

The movie, probably without any prior attachment to the source material which I would go out on a limb and guess doesn’t apply to you if you’re defensive about it

 

Coming in from not having read the books, i wouldn't call Dune (and Villeneuve's movies in general) cold. Maybe he is not someone that milks scenes for all they are worth, trying to manipulate his audience (which is not a bad thing per se if the scenes are earned). Some might perceive that as cold or distant, i dunno. Personally, i cared about the protagonists, they were likeable, relatable and very well played by great actors. The movie excels at giving you a sense of place and awe, great worldbuilding. To be bored watching this - it just does not compute with me.

[Elessar]

26 minutes ago, Valonqar said:

a John Carter with scrubbed colors! 

 

That is doing the movie a disservice because John Carter is not nearly as good.

[sabrecmc]

That was okay.  Felt like a precursor for the actual story to come, which was a bit meh.  But it was beautiful and the actors were trying with what they had. It didn’t really quite get there, but I didn’t hate it?  Idk, kind of just there.  Maybe the sequel will make it feel more complete and epic instead of a lot of build up to a mostly nothingburger.

[Valonqar]

OK, not gonna let you stew for more than 3 sec. Loved this! I honestly think this is the best adaptation we could get given the constrains of film as a medium and need to be approachable to non-initiated while staying true to the spirit of the book. I think Dune Pt 1 achieved all that.

 

Strengths:

 

really good pacing. the movie was neither too busy nor too slow, it moved at brisk pace and something always happened. I think a lot of people mistake action for happening. Dune isn't big on action in traditional sense as in drop everything to have a big wiz bang scene that may (not) move the plot forwards. While there's wiz bang too, events forward the plot. I honestly wouldn't cut anything.

 

Less exposition heavy than you would think. The more the movie settles into the universe the less characters explain what's happening and you just understand from what's going on.

 

Chalamet, Ferguson and Momoa (who is an absolute badass holy shit!) give strong performance. The rest is fine - no one is bad - but don't have much to do to stand out. More about that in Weaknesses.

 

Beautiful cinematography. I know that some people are no fans of the scrubbed (color desaturated) look but I loved it and though it worked so well within this universe. 

 

The money shot (it's in the trailer so not a spoiler). I loved that they didn't go overboard with showing Shai Hulud but we saw him in full only once and the scene is absolutely magnificent. You are in awe just like the characters. But anyway, when we hot 2 semi-clear looks at Shai Hulud, you can see how he influenced Sarlaac in ROTJ.

 

Chakobsa and other secret languages. I live for this shit and there's a number of scenes with subtitles cause characters speak "alien" languages.

 

Weaknesses

 

It does suffer from being part 1 because they had to pick the cutting point. And, IMO, it didn't really make the movie feel contained (which FOTR, for example, was because the book ended at the logical point for the story told in Pt 1/3). For example, there's number of things that the movie focused on that never got any payoff (adorable muad'dib - desert mouse - being a big one). Then there are vanishing characters whose fate was never even hinted at. They just didn't show up during or after a big action scene. 

 

World building. This was a mixed bag. It went for visual distinction between worlds but cut some finer cultural points. In particular, 2 scenes that were my favorites in the book are too abbreviated in the movie and that misses the big point of each. Also, don't expect much from mentats and Suk.

 

overbearing score. Have to join the chorus but tone it down Hans. 

 

Chani visions. At the start of the movie, it was a vision every 10 minutes. Then there was a welcome respite. The problem here is that they are repetitive and only the later ones are symbolical of what happens to Paul. 

 

Fun trivia:

 

The bagpipe guy! So Atreides are Scottish now?  I loved him. I don't know how the fuck he ended up where but I was giddy.

 

Trailer lines not in the movie: "lets fight like demons", Mohiam and Paul debate about learning to rule and what planets Duke would keep/lose. 

 

I had trouble hearing parts of the dialog too but from what I could hear, "spice must flow" and "the sleeper must awaken" weren't in the movie. Litany against fear is. 

 

Crysknife is more of a mini sword than a knife and also, for some, reason it isn't curved even though it's derived from krys/kris knife which is curved/asymmetric dagger. I also thought it was too big since Fremen canonically kept it to their chest not at the hip. 

 

For @Eric Atreides there are 2 shitless Tim's - front shirtless and back shirtless. You can also see Oscar's chest. 

Edited October 22, 2021 by Valonqar

[Valonqar]

13 minutes ago, Elessar said:

 

That is doing the movie a disservice because John Carter is not nearly as good.

 

It was a joke. @Menor and I made an "ambitious" pact yesterday so I honored it with that mini review. 

[exomassey]

Visually stunning but something was off here for me. 

I’m going to read the book and maybe I will connect to it more. 

 
 
 

[Elessar]

5 minutes ago, sabrecmc said:

Felt like a precursor for the actual story to come, which was a bit meh. [...] Maybe the sequel will make it feel more complete and epic instead of a lot of build up to a mostly nothingburger.

 

This i can relate to. Thematically the ending kind of works, Paul basically growing up and (literally) taking steps into the next chapter in his life. But in terms of spectacle or emotional payoff it is lacking. Unlike you, however, i greatly enjoyed the journey to the nothingburger.

[Valonqar]

6 minutes ago, Elessar said:

 

This i can relate to. Thematically the ending kind of works, Paul basically growing up and (literally) taking steps into the next chapter in his life. But in terms of spectacle or emotional payoff it is lacking. Unlike you, however, i greatly enjoyed the journey to the nothingburger.

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