Topic: Movie thread.

@RR529
I would've thought that Dune would've been discussed a bit more on this board, what with it being an adaptation of a highly influential and popular sci-fi novel, but it appears not to be the case.

Lots of interesting stuff coming out this spring. For the rest of this month I might try to see Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, but will probably give priority to Godzilla X Kong, especially since our theatre is showing it in 3D.

If I don't get to Ghostbusters this month I may try it in April, but Civil War also releases that month & it looks really interesting.

In May I'll probably see Garfield (probably the only cartoon I'll see in theaters this year), and I think the new Planet of the Apes comes out then too.

@Rambler, admittedly I've never read the book(s) or saw the 80's film adaptation. Just saw the 2021 film on Netflix last autumn & really enjoyed it. I've definitely heard of the book, though I don't think I've seen it discussed nearly as much as something like Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter.

@RR529
It's sold something like 20m copies, which is a huge amount, but dwarfed by the adventures of Bingo and Mildred.

One thing it isn't, is a kids' book, so it doesn't have that childhood rush of being your first "proper" book. I loved LotR as a kid, and I would be loath to say whether that or Dune is the "better" novel, but its undeniable that Dune is more thematically rich and thought-provoking. Plus it has women in it as well, who don't have to pretend to be men.

@Rambler I've seen the David Lynch Dune and part 1 of the newer one. And while I think the story was easier to follow in the new film, and it has some nice visuals, I think I still prefer Lynch's film. It just has a quirky, surreal strangeness, that makes for a more interesting watch. A perfect example of this is the contrast between the different interpretations of Baron Harkkonen. He's just so over the top ridiculous in the Lynch version, and comparatively dull in Dune 2021. Also Dune '84 has that awesome Toto soundtrack going for it.

@OldManHermit
Part1 was good, but not great. It really felt like it was a prologue for part2. The book itself is in two parts, and the film pretty much ended at the same place as the book's first section. It's much closer to the book than Lynch's film, while being a bit more simplistic than the book. Part2 is fantastic - much much better than part1, although the ending feels a little rushed and muted.

Lynch's film, however, is just a brilliant reimagining of the book. It's just so much of itself. The Baron is just amazing. And the heart valves!! The scenery, the costumes - all brilliant. Lynch's version of Wild At Heart, while not as so removed as Dune is also very different from the book.
I can see why Lynch disowned the film - he had trouble getting a grasp on the material, and the studio cut it down loads (hence all the voice overs). Apparently he did make a start writing the script for the sequel and had a better time with that. But the film was a flop, so nothing happened. Of course that did mean he went back into his comfort zone and did Blue Velvet, so every cloud...

I so wish Jodorowsky got his $10tn budget or whatever it was for his version. That would've been incredible. But we got Alien from the fall-out of that

@Rambler Glad to hear Dune part 2 is an improvement! I will post back here with my thoughts whenever I get around to seeing it.

I do need to get around to reading the books as well. I had an old friend who would talk endlessly about them, he was a bit obsessed with Paul Atreides, his name being Paul and all haha.

I have an H.R. Giger art book, that includes a bunch of the concept art he did for the Jodorowsky version, some really incredible stuff. I can only imagine what the finished film would've been like.

Besides watching House on Haunted Hill remake on Tubi along with Cheech and Chong's Corsican Brothers movie, Im also binging through the last few episodes of Babylon 5 Season 2. the beginning of the Shadows

HYPE!

The bulk of people in the thread are mostly interested in family entertainment so a lack of lightsabers and CGI talking animals in the film means it’s not resonating with folk on here. Whilst Dune is a very serious film to be taken very seriously, I know this as when I keep pronouncing it on purpose as Done and talk about how it rips off Star Wars and Tremors people get very angry at me.

@Magician I’m really looking forward to it!

I just finished Wonka a couple days ago. SO GOOD. Its a very heartwarming movie.

Paul Atreides, the wilderness years

@jump
Tremors! The first one is brill
Yeah June is not exactly a laugh-fest, but then again the adventures of Bungo are a bit po-faced as well (so would star wars if it wasnt for Han and Leia's permenent ¿wtf? expressions).

It does have CGI talking animals - the sandworms go, "grrrrrrnnnnnnnnn"

Watched The Casagrandes Movie on Netflix tonight. Never watched the show, but I do remember seeing clips of it, and decided to give the movie a chance. To my surprise, I really enjoyed this one.

I saw Ghostbusters 4 Frozen Empire at the downtown theater earlier today. I enjoyed it. Nice to see the return of Slimer and Mayor Peck.

These VAs would voice my own Inside Out emotions:

Joy: Tracey Moore (aka Princess Toadstool)
Sadness: Hynden Walch (aka Starfire)
Fear: Grey DeLisle (aka Daphne Blake)
Disgust: Tara Strong (aka Ingrid Third)
Anger: Ashleigh Ball (aka Applejack)

I gotta add Anxiety, Envy, Ennui and Embarrassment eventually.

My Inside Out voice cast for my emotions would be;

Brian Blessed as Excited Anger
Patrick Stewart as Intellectually Annoyed Anger
Nicolas Cage as Cartoony Anger
Joe Pesci as Sweary Anger
(young) Al Pacino as Quiet Anger
Michael Shannon as Raging Anger

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (Cinema) - Maybe it's just because I wasn't expecting much from it, but I actually enjoyed this a bit. It does seem a tad bit moodier than previous outings, but it's still very much comedy first, horror second. Now, a lot of the comedy comes in the form of standard "sitcom family" jokes amongst the core cast/family & nostalgic call backs to the classic films (& it appears they've decided that the mini Stay Puft marshmallow men from the last one are a permanent fixture, taking on the role similar to Despicable Me's minions, goofing around the lab(s)), so the quality in that department is up for debate, but my theatre seemed to be into it. Without getting into spoilers, the thing that seemed most out of place to me was the subplot involving a friendly ghost who just acted like a regular person.

the Departed (Blu-Ray) - a young cop with a troubled past becomes a police informant embedding himself amongst the Boston Mob (with the boss being Jack Nicholson), but things aren't as easy as first seemed because an all star cop amongst the force is himself a mole in service of the Mob, and both are soon in a race to find out who the other rat is. Picked this up thrifting, and it ended up being a pretty fantastic movie. Really gripping.

Otaku no Video (Blu-Ray) - Really interesting insight into Otaku culture of the 80's & 90's. It follows a young college student who falls in with a crowd of otaku & you can see how becoming a shut in affects his personal life & relationships (of course, being an anime film targeted directly at the otaku audience, things end up much happier for him, as he gets the last laugh against society). Still, it seems like there is some truth to it's depiction of otaku culture of the era, given that it's very loosely based on how Studio Gainax (it's animation studio) was founded. Also had fake live action "interviews" with former/closeted Otaku which made me a bit self conscious about my anime figure collection, lol.

Summer School Teachers (Tubi) - 70's B-comedy that follows a trio of aspiring Midwestern teachers who head out to California for a shot at education careers out on the coast, but these free spirited young women are going to have to win over their conservative/old timey colleagues in order to make it. Pretty poorly made & had a few tonal inconsistencies (the science teacher's storyline felt more serious & drama-ish compared to the comedic tones of the other two stories), but it had a charm to it & had a few laughs.

@RR529

I thought that The Departed was on par with Shutter's Island as him just doing a high-class thriller (and Markey Mark was really annoying), but it was lots of fun. Infernal Affairs - the film it is based upon - is brilliant though.

yeah the whole thing with Pheobe and her weird non gay friendship with Melody the matchstick ghost girl was getting boring when I watched the movie at the theater. I was expecting them to kiss or something

I watched the Double Dragon movie last night, yes I have a bad habit of watching terrible 90s vhs tapes I find at thrift stores. I knew it was bad, but dare I say it's even worse than the Van Damme Street Fighter movie. I was surprised to see that Paul Dini, of Batman the Animated Series fame had a writing credit. I guess this was before he hit his stride as a writer, haha. There was an unintentionally funny scene that was trying to make Abobo a sympathetic villain, that reminded me of some of the stuff he did with Batman's villains in the animated series.