brad@looking.UUCP (Brad Templeton) (12/16/84)
I am shocked to see positive reviews of Dune here on the net. I went with a large group of people, some fans who had read all 5 books (like me) and some who had read non. Yet every single person was certain that the movie was (except for fx) very badly done. Since then I have talked to more people and they have all said, "terrible movie." So what is it that people can like? Are there people who haven't read the book yet are clever enough to get the story out of this movie anyway, and are thus impressed with the basic theme, background and story of the book? Or are people just tremendously less critical than all the people around here? I've seen movies that there is controversy over before, but I have never seen it over a movie that is this obviously bad as judged by a large number of viewers. -- Brad Templeton, Looking Glass Software Ltd. - Waterloo, Ontario 519/884-7473
chuqui@nsc.UUCP (Chuqui[The Time Traveller]) (12/17/84)
Siskel and Ebert reviewed Dune last night. As usual, they disagreed on the
movie. Siskel wanted it to be skunk of the week, and Ebert simply called
it a glorious failure to be held up to future movie makers as a way to
blow it with the best of intentions, or some such drivel. Both hated it.
Now, it is RARE when those two agree to this extent-- I think Dune (which
I haven't seen yet) has some severe problems. Remember, Gene likes
Halloween III...
chuq
--
From behind the bar at Callahan's: Chuq Von Rospach
{allegra,cbosgd,decwrl,hplabs,ihnp4,seismo}!nsc!chuqui nsc!chuqui@decwrl.ARPA
The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their
bones. So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus hath told you Caesar was
ambitious... And Brutus is an honorable mangadfly@ihu1m.UUCP (Gadfly) (12/21/84)
--
Good question. What a dud, in the sense of some great sets
going to waste because of a cast that, as they say in the biz,
"phoned in their lines." In the few love scenes there were,
the actors seemed totally bored. And all those extras for the
storming of the palace--several just stared off into space for
most of the sequence. Nice worms though.
I can see how people can enjoy Dune--it brings the book to life.
But if you liked the movie, you can't have had your imagination
in very high gear when reading the book. I place Dune, along
with Catch-22, in the catagory of novels too well crafted, too
intricate, to defile with celluloid. I purposely avoided Catch-22,
and now more than ever hope I never see it.
--
*** ***
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..ihnp4!iwsl8!ken *** ***robert@nmtvax.UUCP (01/17/85)
I think the movie in itself was good. The only problem I see is that they
cheated us by using the characters, locations and actions that we knew too
well.
Robert Kenyon
...lanl!nmtvax!robertjpm@ptsfc.UUCP (Jim Moore) (01/23/85)
>I think the movie in itself was good. The only problem I see is that they >cheated us by using the characters, locations and actions that we knew too >well. > Robert Kenyon I also thought that the movie was visually well done. The [3gbattle between Gurney and Paul early on using their personal shields was very convincing. The members of the Spacing Guild were fantastic, even if they weren't what one might have pictured from the book's description. The first time (or two) that we see the Makers was truly awesome. If the acting was bad, let's blame it on the pacing of the film and the direction. The actors, after a few glimpses, seemed to appear as the book might have described them, with the possible exception of Feyd Rautha. But you can not take a book that requires you to - read between the lines on practically every page, picture (in your mind) an entirely different Universe, and spend a sizeable amount of time just reading it - and make a classic motion picture. Not in the 2+ hours *they* tried to do it in. Maybe it would have been better as a (gulp) T.V. maxi-series. We may yet find out. I *enjoyed* the movie, but didn't *live* it with the characters like some of (all of) the great ones. Heck, in Cassablanca I felt as though I was standing at the airport with Rick and Ilsa and Victor. Aaaaaah! "Louie, this could be the start of a beautiful friendship!" Oh, well... The movie DUNE has few (no?) memorable lines. Sad. -- Jim Moore dual!ptsfa!ptsfc!jpm Pacific Bell REMEMBER - "Things are only as bad as they are and can only get worse if they do!" - James P. Moore
boris@mit-athena.ARPA (Boris N Goldowsky) (01/28/85)
No, there was one memorable line: ``I am the Shadat Mapes... the *House Keeper*.'' I'll never get over the drama, suspense, and silliness in the utterance of that single line. --Boris Goldowsky