It Is By Will Alone I Set My Mind In Motion
Just finished watching the David Lynch version of Dune. I'd forgotten how sweet it was, mostly because of the following factors, as outlined by Sam Walker on one long bus ride to school in about 4th grade:
-"There's this evil dude in like a float suit, and he flies around all over the place. Then at the end he gets like his plug pulled, and he flies out of a building and gets eaten by a worm."
-"So there are these gigantic worms, and when you want to ride one you have to run up to it and pry up one of its scales, so it will start to roll over and lift you up. Then you stick these hooks into the nostrils or whatever on top use them as reins."
-"They have these sound guns, and there are certain words that when you say them they get focused and you can fire them off. And at one point someone tries to say this guy's name and it activates his sound gun and it accidentally fires."
(After all this, I informed Sam, truthfully, that during his entire description of the movie I had been picturing all of the characters as monkeys, like planet of the apes. Odd, to say the least.)
ANYWAYS, my other reasons for liking the Lynch version include:
-Sting being a total badass.
-The "Prophecy Theme" by Brian Eno dropping in at the high-points with a rousing electric guitar riff.-Spotting Virginia Madsen (aka Maya from Sideways) in a very early role as the Emperor's daughter.
-Sting stepping out of the steam in a ridiculous space-speedo.
-Patrick Stewart (as Gurney Halleck) running down the steps of the palace with a machine gun in one hand and a pug in the other.
-Sting getting fucking smashed into the floor by Paul after the final knife fight.
I'm not saying it doesn't have lots of shortcomings: the women are non-people, the acting can be pretty bad, and it really doesn't cover much of the actual book, which is a shame because it's such a sweet story.
Fond memory: eating hamburgers at Rick Walker's house, watching the first half of Dune before my dad came to pick me up. Rick commented on the intricate set-dressing and attributed it to the Italian producer.
P.S.: SAT IIs tommorow. Wish me luck.
Labels: bread
posted by constant_k @ 10:11 PM
9 comments
9 Comments:
Good luck, Max.
Remeber what I said in Physics yesterday: I trust Maxwell.
By the way, which subject tests are you taking?
little late on the luck wishing there tirth
chem math II and lit
how went?
love the space speedo
I have no recollection of that bus-ride conversation, nor your visit to my house for that matter. When did we even share a long bus-ride to school in 4th grade? I lived nowhere near you until later than that, and even at that point we didn't have a long bus ride together. Also, I don't think my father was even aware of the fact that there was an italian producer. Or was he just commenting on the name in the credits?
I've recently come to the conclusion that Dune is the greatest film ever. It gets better each time I watch it.
"the women are non-people"?? You mean the characters don't have depth? I would argue they have just as much depth as the male characters, if not more so. The original Reverend Mother is one of the best characters, including best-acted. The only character who you could legitimately make that statement about is Jessica Atreides, which I would argue is at least partially part of her character, though I think she is also not adequately acted.
If you simply mean the women are treated as non-people in the context of the story, that's just part of the depiction of the ure.
um, ure, not ure.
Sam:
We rode the bus together for at least one year. Maybe it was after elementary school, but you definitely described this to me on a bus ride. Maybe it was a field trip or something.
And the producer's name is Dino De Laurentiis, so your dad probably just guessed from there.
And sam, dune is a fun, campy movie, but it is far from the "greatest film ever." In fact, many rated it as the "worst film of 1984" back when it was made, and I can see why. It looks great and I love the special effects, but as far as, you know, telling a story, with characters and stuff, it's reeeealy bad. The dialouge is stilted and repetitve and the acting is atrocious.
As far as the female characters are concerned, the Reverend Mother is okay, and Jessica has her moments, but Chani? She barely appears at all. And the emporer's daughter is reduced to fuckin' scenery.
I know there's no way you're going to listen to logic here, but Sam, go watch the Dune sci-fi miniseries. Watch Chani and Jessica and Princess Irulan and you'll see what strong female characters act like.
You'll also see what strong acting and realistic dialouge sound like, but let's take this one step at a time here.
okay so i wrote that last post on a computer in a hotel lobby which apparently had some sort of bullshit swear-blocker program, which changed "culture" into "ure." Apparently "cult" is on the swear-block list for some insane reason?
I have an indignant response brewing max, but just wait.
Jeeze sam you'd better be quick about it or I might have to consider this ponit conceded.
Oh The Forum, where are you when we need you?
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