Hancock was alright... The only thing I didn't really like about it was how it started getting all serious towards the end. But I have that problem with a lot of comedy. Like, seriously, I just wanted to see Rocky and Bullwinkle be wacky. Why did they have to get all emotional with Piper Perabo?
Maybe the best way is to follow Monty Python and just not have an end?
@Aidan_: Normally, I think I end up in the hate-camp (I want more out of nerd culture, not less), but I'm with you. This movie was great. Good point, though. Folks love to gripe it up here, and maybe at every blog that isn't about cats jumping into boxes.
@Kpibca: Basically, Will Smith is some sort of ancient race whose powers don't work when he's in the vicinity of his soulmate. That's all you need to know, really.
@Pessimipposaurus: heartplugs are an idiotic invention of David Lynch that have no place within the Dune universe
Now I realize that, similar to a Duckling imprinting on a hog, David Lynch's Dune in 1984 was the first time many saw "moving pictures associated with the Dune story"...and this made a cult following
But similar to how the 1980's Flash Gordon movie doesn't do the original series justice whatsoever....indeed, mores than that...
...David Lynch's Dune is a godawful adaptation. The most anyone says is "it had such a distinct look!"....which was actually unsubstantiated by the books
further...MOST of the film felt like someone reading off a direct quotation of the first 100 pages of the book, then simply slapping on the last dozen pages really fast at the end
(and while the sandworm effects may have been interesting in 1984, they're pretty lousy today.....that, and *sandworms don't make lightning*)
In short: your song...is ending. David Lynch's Dune is now universally decried as the living example of a "bad adaptation"
@CodenameV: I dunno, the movie kind of grew on me. It's got the personality and visual style of the book down pat, but I'll give you credit for the sonic weapons (not needed, made Fremen look weak) and the mindfuck rain storm at the end.
The miniseries followed the story faithfully, but it just didn't look right (or sound right... Czech central casting...).
In short, you can't have one without the other, or just stick with the book.
@CodenameV: I held off on reading the book until I saw the movie so when I saw it I enjoyed it. I read it right after and I could see what people were talking about when they said it had parts that were way different then the book but I can still enjoy the movie because I went in without expectations.
@CodenameV: I thought the heartplugs were scary/creepy/horrifying/cool. And the voice controlled weirding modules were badass. I want one. :P
But I get why people who've read the books think the films were gawdawful. Film versions of books rarely/never get the story right. As someone who did not really enjoy reading the Dune books (read: I read half of the first book, sighed loudly and clapped it shut) I thought the FIRST film was inventive, if not terribly corny and fragmented. The Sci Fi miniseries sucked against the Lynch model, IMO. But overall, I enjoy Lynch's Dune. It's in my list of Good Cheese Flicks.
@CodenameV: I agree completely. It was like there was some quota for hiring mush-mouthed Italian actors and second-raters with funky facial hair so Kyle McLaughlin would seem like a competant actor (although, to be fair, he did come across as a completely credible 13-year-old Paul Atreides). But seriously ... Sting in a plastic bikini?
Not a bad adaptation, if you just read the script, just a really, really bad movie, and you can stick that in your wierding module and smoke it.
So, I'll start on shaky ground. Loved Lynch's Dune. Saw it before I read the book. Looked amazing to me. Very different from the other sci-fi going around at that time. Read the books...wierding module wuh? But man I was hooked. Read them a dozen times over. And by them, I mean the original 6 books. Which btw, people, go read the last three again. The Golden Path is just fascinating. Definitely not a 'muscle-y' book though. But then the last two with all the twisted BT genetics and the BG's missionaria. Stuff is inspired. Read the finale books by Brian. Meh. Good to have a wrap-up, but not so much a bang as a fizzle.
Back to movies. Liked that SciFi (Syfy wtf) tried to do something more true, but utter fail in converting an epic book to visual form. I mean, was I the only one that noticed that Stilgar was seriously "water-fat." Gurney was just not believable (or understandable at times). Duncan was ok. Lady Jessica!? Seriously, she was supposed to be beautiful. There were lots of choices for that. I think Lynch's Dune was a better visual experience, but agree that you shouldn't mess around that much with a masterpiece.
No possible way to cram the book into a single movie. All in all, I'm not looking for the story to be right. That's false hope. Just looking for something that will provide some visually appealing view of the Dune universe. Something it's fun to have some visualize it for you. But film is only 2-D. The depth is in the book. So go read them if you haven't.
@trampas: I loved Lynch's visual style. Truly visionary. I really don't care if it wasn't accurate. As for SciFi's representation meh. I DID like the remastered Lynch version.
For me suspension of disbelief in some of the things that seem frankly rather ridiculous taken on their own in the Dune series is somehow easier in the books than I found them in the film (which I nonetheless rather enjoyed) or the miniseries. I think this could continue to be a problem in future adaptations.
@disatess: Actually the the very first director attached to Dune was Alexandro Jodorowsky, the Argentinian director of such classic head films as El Topo and Santa Sangre. His vision was far more surreal and psychedelic than either David Lynch's version of the scifi channel mini-series. He didn't intend to respect the novel but to recreate it. [www.duneinfo.com]
as I said before , I think Boom studios should get ahold of the rights of dune (the original). And do a wonderful comic series , just as they done with Dicks Androids book . No rewriting it , just keep as and add art . That way you get what the book offers .
As someone who watched the 1984 film, the two sci-fi miniseries and read the first three books, I think the film gets a bad rap.
Ok, so it's not a literal translation, but it hits the key beats: noble child survives slaughter of his family, becomes messiah to indigenous people and ends up defeating those who engineered his slaughter. On top of that looked fantastic and it had a wonderful wrongness to it.
Compared to the more literal, but less inspired SciFi Miniseries, it's made of awesome.
Sadly the movie was financed and marketed by people who thought they were getting the next Star Wars. Queue bad audience reaction and an undeserved stigma.
09/10/09
Maybe the best way is to follow Monty Python and just not have an end?
09/10/09
09/10/09
More Hancock plz!
09/10/09
09/11/09
09/11/09
09/11/09
09/10/09
09/10/09
09/10/09
09/10/09
09/10/09
It's like being forced to choose between broccoli and cauliflower.
09/10/09
09/10/09
09/10/09
09/10/09
we're now at the point where sequels and remakes are fighting it out for greenlights
09/10/09
09/10/09
09/10/09
09/10/09
09/10/09
Now I realize that, similar to a Duckling imprinting on a hog, David Lynch's Dune in 1984 was the first time many saw "moving pictures associated with the Dune story"...and this made a cult following
But similar to how the 1980's Flash Gordon movie doesn't do the original series justice whatsoever....indeed, mores than that...
...David Lynch's Dune is a godawful adaptation. The most anyone says is "it had such a distinct look!"....which was actually unsubstantiated by the books
further...MOST of the film felt like someone reading off a direct quotation of the first 100 pages of the book, then simply slapping on the last dozen pages really fast at the end
(and while the sandworm effects may have been interesting in 1984, they're pretty lousy today.....that, and *sandworms don't make lightning*)
In short: your song...is ending. David Lynch's Dune is now universally decried as the living example of a "bad adaptation"
09/10/09
The miniseries followed the story faithfully, but it just didn't look right (or sound right... Czech central casting...).
In short, you can't have one without the other, or just stick with the book.
09/10/09
09/10/09
But I get why people who've read the books think the films were gawdawful. Film versions of books rarely/never get the story right. As someone who did not really enjoy reading the Dune books (read: I read half of the first book, sighed loudly and clapped it shut) I thought the FIRST film was inventive, if not terribly corny and fragmented. The Sci Fi miniseries sucked against the Lynch model, IMO. But overall, I enjoy Lynch's Dune. It's in my list of Good Cheese Flicks.
09/10/09
Still can't believe they made toys from the thing...
09/11/09
The eyebrows...the eyebrows
09/11/09
Not a bad adaptation, if you just read the script, just a really, really bad movie, and you can stick that in your wierding module and smoke it.
08/07/09
Back to movies. Liked that SciFi (Syfy wtf) tried to do something more true, but utter fail in converting an epic book to visual form. I mean, was I the only one that noticed that Stilgar was seriously "water-fat." Gurney was just not believable (or understandable at times). Duncan was ok. Lady Jessica!? Seriously, she was supposed to be beautiful. There were lots of choices for that. I think Lynch's Dune was a better visual experience, but agree that you shouldn't mess around that much with a masterpiece.
No possible way to cram the book into a single movie. All in all, I'm not looking for the story to be right. That's false hope. Just looking for something that will provide some visually appealing view of the Dune universe. Something it's fun to have some visualize it for you. But film is only 2-D. The depth is in the book. So go read them if you haven't.
08/09/09
08/07/09
Aren't there a MILLION other fantastic Sci-Fi's out there to adapt?
08/07/09
08/07/09
08/07/09
08/07/09
08/07/09
[www.duneinfo.com]
08/07/09
08/07/09
Ok, so it's not a literal translation, but it hits the key beats: noble child survives slaughter of his family, becomes messiah to indigenous people and ends up defeating those who engineered his slaughter. On top of that looked fantastic and it had a wonderful wrongness to it.
Compared to the more literal, but less inspired SciFi Miniseries, it's made of awesome.
Sadly the movie was financed and marketed by people who thought they were getting the next Star Wars. Queue bad audience reaction and an undeserved stigma.