Tag Archives: dune

Mar 05 2024
4 Comments
Movies

Movie Review – Dune: Part Two (2024)

3.5 readers, I’m going to make this review short.

I like Dune but I don’t understand it.

Dune, to me, is like dating a really hot woman. I like being in her presence but honestly, it’s so much work to please her that eventually I just zone out and stare at all the pretty shapes and forget about making sense of it all.

I had no idea what was going on in Dune: Part One and have even less idea what’s happening in Dune: Part Two. There are space politics afoot. The fighting involves space business. Space romance blooms and space religion intersects with space magic and space powers. All I know for sure is George Lucas definitely bogarted some of this shit and if I represented the late Frank Herbert’s estate, I’d demand some money. Then again, George’s defense would be that he took all of Frank’s heady shit and dumbed it down for us general movie going slack jawed yokels.

So, the good news is that the movie is really good and if you understand what is going on, more power to you. I did not but I enjoyed it anyway. I admit I could have enjoyed it had I felt like expending the mental energy to care about the space politics, space religion and space business and so on, but I don’t. I can barely figure out my life so I don’t have time to figure out the lives of people in a fictional space saga.

Have you ever since that Amadeus movie from the 1980s? I’m like Salieri. I can tell you this movie is good. I just can’t tell you why it is good. Or maybe Salieri could tell you why music was good. He just could not write music as well as Mozart could and it drove him mad. I wish I could write something as good as Dune but then again, it seems a bit busy. But it’s good. I swear its good.

If anything else, go see it on the big screen for the part where they ride the sandworms.

“BQB what is the plot?”

My best attempt at an explanation is Paul Atreides (Timothee Chalamet), the hero from the first film, is on the run from the villainous Harkonnen Clan. He is recognized as a prophet by the desert dwelling Fremen but maybe he’ll take this newfound power too far his girlfriend Zendaya’s liking. I’m sorry. I don’t remember Zendaya’s character’s name.

Christopher Walken is in it, so that’s cool.

That’s about it. It’s Star Wars for intellectuals, basically. Enjoy, unless you’re stupid, then you probably won’t, because you’re too stupid, unless you’re like me, and be just smart enough to know you’re too stupid to get this but its ok because its still fun.

Tagged , , ,
Nov 04 2021
3 Comments
Movies

Movie Review – Dune (2021)

A desert planet! Space wizards!

No, I’m not talking about Star Wars….I’m talking about Dune.

BQB here with a review.

I tried to watch the 1980s Dune movie once. It starts immediately with some floating space broad giving a full on, fact filled lecture, like I’m expected to take notes and prepare for an exam on space politics and space economies. Eff that. Hasn’t that floating space broad ever heard about show, don’t tell? Needless to say, I turned it off posthaste.

There is a little bit of an up front exposition dump in this new version as well, but it’s small and overall it’s a good film, if not cumbersome with deets on space politics, space money, space mining, space geopolitical intrigue and so on.

The plot? Paul Atreides, some sort of space prince, is gifted with space mind control powers, a genetic trait passed down to him by his space whore mother (Rebecca Ferguson and I’m sorry, space concubine is the preferred term.)

When House Atreides is called upon to take over spice mining operations on a desert planet, House Harkonnen, comprised largely of fugly bald dudes, is pissed, for that planet was theirs.

Blah blah blah, chaos ensues…we must discover if Paul will be able to save the day and use his mind control powers in doing so.

I gotta be honest. I didn’t dig too deep into understanding the weeds of this picture. It’s pretty. Lots of fancy colors and special effects. Enjoyable…though I have to be honest, I wonder if two of my favorite franchises, Star Wars and Game of Thrones, might have stolen from it heavily.

Star Wars – desert planet. Space wizards and space magic. Space worms. All happened in Dune first.

Game of Thrones – Royal families fighting each other for money and control. Well, I guess Dune stole that idea from the world if anything.

STATUS: Shelf-worthy but I’ll be honest, not my fave. The royal families, the space economy, the space politics, the space magic, the space worms – it feels like it tries to do too much and maybe Star Wars took some of these aspects and boiled it into something simpler and more watchable. To that end, Dune has long deserved more credit than it gets.

Tagged , , ,