233 - dune 2 others as they be dune 2 you 🏜️
Hey there, !
I really liked Dune 2! And Dune 1 for that matter, but since they're part of the same book, technically, so technically I should just say "I really liked Dune!".
Anyway.
Here's a few thoughts on it on reflection after a few weeks:
-
IMAX is the only way guys - Denis Villeneuve understands how to make the BEST use of the format (maybe second to Christopher Nolan?) and show you some GORGEOUS shots. It makes everything look so amazing - the shots are so brilliant and so well designed. Ah-MAZING. The only thing I would say as a con is that there is a significant amount of shots that are close-ups of people's faces reacting to things, or thinking about things, or brooding, and I was kinda like 'okay like...I know Zendaya is perfect I don't need to see her this close?' but that's fine.
-
GIEDI PRIME was designed SO WELL. Austin Butler has a STANDOUT performance as the unhinged Feyd-Rautha (what a name) as the unleashed lion chomping at the bit to prove himself while under the thumb of Baron Harkonnen. I loved the black and white design of Giedi Prime, I loved the inky fireworks, I loved the scene showing Baron Harkonnen still in control by not drugging one of the Atreides fighters - great GREAT storytelling and what a goddamn VIBE.
-
Stilgar was a much more comedic factor in this movie, and his slow conversion to fanatic follower had some great moments (LISAN AL GAIB). I think the compression of the 'training montage' for Paul made this seem a little bit rushed (especially why the Fedaykin decide to follow him), but that's fine - you gotta change things for movies sometimes.
- Watching Paul ride a sandworm for the first time - such beautiful and tight editing WE LOVE IT.
-
On that note, the refusal to go south was a good change to the books (in the books this wasn't really a thing), because it gave a bit more of a symbolic moment in the movie to say 'hey, Paul is Making A Decision' and for laymen to understand what it would mean. It was smacking of the Game of Thrones Jon Snow 'I dunwant it' for a bit, but finally moving helped explain the character change much better.
-
The whole Water of Life storyline about Jessica becoming the new Reverend Mother and then forcefully using their religion to survive, but then turn the tables on the rest of the Galaxy - fantastic; utterly fantastic. The slow adoption of their ways, and turning into the Arrakis version of a Reverend Mother was excellent. As a note from the books becuase I'm a nerd - this is called the 'Missionaria Protectiva', where the Bene Gesserit sent missionaries to seed these prophecies all over the galaxy IN CASE a Bene Gesserit was stranded on an planet somewhere and needed to seamlessly incorporate themselves there to survive.
- Even better was that there was the younger characters who literally called this out as religion being used to control the Fremen - fantastic addition by Denis Villeneuve since the conversion of the non-believers made it a greater win!
-
On that note of book -> movie things, it's not very well shown / explained in the movie, but the reason that Paul can withstand the Water of Life is because he has been Bene Gesserit trained to change the poison in his body to a harmless substance. Also, I don't think it was really well shown that the reason why having a Kwisatz Haderach is good is that Paul can access both the Reverend Mother's shared knowledge, but also all the male ancestors shared knowledge in his past (there was quick flashback in the movie on this if I remember correctly). I think that it should also be noted that his mentat training under Thufir Hawat (one of the greatest mentats ever) meant that he could better 'crunch the numbers' and work out how to choose the best future / take the minimum actions to achieve a desired future. It wasn't gonna work for everyone - see Feyd-Rautha, for example! And then even FURTHER to that is that being trained by Duncan Idaho and Gurney Halleck meant he was a great fighter that could stand on his own with the Fedaykin and win their trust. Frank Herbert was always very conscious to make sure that all of these things could be explained - not just a 'prophecy' and a 'Chosen One' - there was a confluence of circumstances that meant they could take hold of a desert population and exploit it.
-
Anya Taylor Joy / Alia Atriedes was a weird addition that I don't think was handled perfectly - she's a really important character (and will be in the next movie) but without having the weirdling vibe to put people off, we don't see the set up for the tension in the next movie. I'm most interested to see how this is handled!
I got so many more thoughts on the rest of it - Princess Irulan / Florence Pugh, the visions of the future interspersed between things, the War Council scene, the Emperor - it's all fantastic. Too much for this specific piece, but ask me if you want to know more.
What are your thoughts!? Did we love it? Hate it? Meh it?
Chat soon :)
Let me know if you have any feedback for the newsletter!
✔️Real Life Recommendations
-
The Bear - finally finished Season 1 on the plane, so I could actually provide a real recommendation - it's not as crazy through the rest of the season as I thought! There were some slower, relationship-building and character moments, some overarching 'projects' that the characters are working on throughout, and they get to some good conclusions at the end, even if they aren't perfect. It's a fantastic series - I'm cracking on to Season 2 as soon as I can! Highly recommended.
-
Welcome to Wrexham - sport has such GREAT storytelling, and this one is essentially Ted Lasso come to life. Same as before, I finally finished Season 1 so I could provide an updated recommendation - which is the same as before. GO WATCH IT. It tells some wonderful side stories on not just the progress of the competition, but about what sports means to communities, to people, to the specific characters in the story...who are real people. Lovely production - looking forward to Season 2.
🚌 Adventures on the Information Super-Highway
-
‘Lavender’: The AI machine directing Israel’s bombing spree in Gaza - this was the most horrifying, fascinating, interesting, and logical endpoint of what AI would be used for, and is a really good read. Essentially, the Israeli army was using AI to scan for targets and bomb them. However, the AI threw way more false positives, and identified MANY more people than it should have. The Israeli army then just took those recommendations at face value and ordered bombing, killing many innocent civilians. Long, but really good read.
-
3Blue1Brown - But what is a GPT? - a great start to a series on what GPT actually is - and why I've always been saying that it's probably not 'thinking' the way that people keep alluding to it! Will be following along with this as the eps come out :D
-
xkcd - Machine - Randall Munroe makes some extremely fun things on the internet - take a look!