I Just Watched (Films)

[Hatredsheart]

Is Dune the first book to start. Is there a prequel I need to read first?

https://www.howtoread.me/dune-reading-order/

[Rusty]

Is Dune the first book to start. Is there a prequel I need to read first

As someone who has also read Dune multiple times I can say that yes Dune is the first one to read. There are a myriad of other ones, but Dune is the daddy of them all.
Actually, I've just realised that I've never read Frank's son (Brian) continuation of the series. Apparently Frank left copious notes on how stuff played out.

[Sly Boots]

Saw "No Time to Die" last Sunday, and got HBO Max just so I could watch "Dune" - and I'll go to see it in IMAX tomorrow. Easily one of my favorite movies ever. Not hard to imagine, since it's my favorite book as well, read it five times and counting.

Your post has persuaded me to read this next after I complete my current book. As someone who grew up with SF and having read almost all Clarke and a lot of Asimov, I never read Dune. I know next to nothing of this franchise except for Lynch's film (which I confess I enjoy). Is Dune the first book to start. Is there a prequel I need to read first?

I see that you can pick up the Dune books for cheap at HMV's 2 books for £6. I already own it on Kindle, but I fancy a paper version.

I'd go further, Dune is the only book absolutely worth reading in the series (with the possible exception of Dune Messiah, the second book). I read them all back in the day and Dune is the only one I've ever reread, plotwise it goes a bit nuts after Messiah imho.

However, I did quite enjoy the prequel series written by his son Brian. I'd say you could safely read those and understand everything having read books 1&2.

[Sly Boots]

Is Dune the first book to start. Is there a prequel I need to read first

As someone who has also read Dune multiple times I can say that yes Dune is the first one to read. There are a myriad of other ones, but Dune is the daddy of them all.
Actually, I've just realised that I've never read Frank's son (Brian) continuation of the series. Apparently Frank left copious notes on how stuff played out.

Yeah, as mentioned in my last post, Brian's stuff is pretty good in fact, and well worth a read.

[Animalmother]

I'm going to be that wanker that has to disagree with everyone about the Dune books. I read the first 3 and was very underwhelmed and found them tedious if I'm honest. I just don't think they've aged very well.

Really looking forward to seeing the film though

[Solitaire]

I'm going to be that wanker that has to disagree with everyone about the Dune books. I read the first 3 and was very underwhelmed and found them tedious if I'm honest. I just don't think they've aged very well.

Really looking forward to seeing the film though

I couldn't make it through the third book, back in the day. I was so invested in the original characters of "Dune" that I couldn't muster up the courage to learn about an entirely new set of people. The first book gets better after every re-reading of it, in my opinion. There's so much depth, so much going on, from politics to technology to characters... Being confronted with so many novel ideas along with a complex narrative is overwhelming. I can see how it might feel tedious, of one isn't drawn into the world-building and the characters. For myself, it's precisely the immense undertaking, of fleshing out so many details, that draws me back again and again.

[Wrathbone]

Anatomy of a Murder

I enjoy a good courtroom drama, so it's strange that this one has escaped me until now. It lives up to its reputation as one of the all-time greats, with James Stewart's commanding yet folksy performance as good as I've ever seen him. I love how it doesn't suggest (let alone force) any moral or legal stance on the case at all, leaving you to make your own judgements as to whether justice was served. Since rape is a major factor of the case, there are some staggeringly awful attitudes of the time thrown about with zero care, respect or humanity by modern standards, but of course you have to take it as a product of its time.

At the same time, I struggle to call it a drama. It's a bizarre film in that regard as there isn't really any character development, and yet it's undeniably gripping and powerful and has something to say. If anything, I'm the one who changed - it almost feels like it drags you in as the collective character of the jury and makes you part of the story, begging the question of what constitutes justice. I've never seen a film quite like it.

10/10

[Alan]

Glass Bottomed Boat
Silly and adorable.


Alien3 Assembly Cut
I've only seen this once before, back when it was a new thing and I couldnt actually remember much about it. Its kind of meh and I think the original cut was better. There are things from this cut that would enhance the theatrical, especially the Ox stuff but all that extra CG looks terrible, that whole trapping bit was such a waste of time and the finale without the chestbusting was perhaps less ridiculous but also much more anticlimactic. Ive never been as down on the theatrical as most people seemed to be but I remember a lot of people saying how this cut redeems it but nah. Its still better than 4 and still the worst of the original trilogy. 1=2>3>4>>>>>>Covenant=Prometheus

[Achtung Englander]

Anatomy of a Murder

I enjoy a good courtroom drama, so it's strange that this one has escaped me until now. It lives up to its reputation as one of the all-time greats, with James Stewart's commanding yet folksy performance as good as I've ever seen him. I love how it doesn't suggest (let alone force) any moral or legal stance on the case at all, leaving you to make your own judgements as to whether justice was served. Since rape is a major factor of the case, there are some staggeringly awful attitudes of the time thrown about with zero care, respect or humanity by modern standards, but of course you have to take it as a product of its time.

At the same time, I struggle to call it a drama. It's a bizarre film in that regard as there isn't really any character development, and yet it's undeniably gripping and powerful and has something to say. If anything, I'm the one who changed - it almost feels like it drags you in as the collective character of the jury and makes you part of the story, begging the question of what constitutes justice. I've never seen a film quite like it.

10/10

Great recommendation

[Achtung Englander]

Halloween (1978)

This is my first time viewing. Hmm - to be honest I was bored. I cannot understand why this film has gone into horror cannon. Is it because it was one of the first slasher / undefeated villain films? One of the positive aspects of the film was Donald Pleasence. I will watch anything my man Donald is in. A lot of the film was pretty ropey. The acting was borderline amateurish. Is that the appeal? I was surprised by how unscary the whole thing is. It did not age well given films like The Witch can really induce fear with practically no CGI. In addition the music (I presume by John Carpenter) got annoying pretty fast.

As a TV cameo of the 50s The Thing, it was nice to see he already thinking about making that when he was making this.

This is not a film I will want to see twice only because I would rather spend the time seeing something else. I am happy some people love this film, but I just don't get the appeal.

5/10

As a post script it is interesting to see this franchise get seriously fucked as well. I understand the 2018 sequel, also called Halloween, ignores all the other sequels that followed this film. So basically this franchise has done a Terminator or Aliens or Predator whereby the sequels have ruined the continuity of the universe. Not that I care, I just find it interesting that Hollywood keeps on fucking it up.

post post script - I saw this on UHD. Some of the scenes were stunning to behold. We are pretty luckily to finally get cinema like resolution now.

[arqueturus]

Halloween (1978)

This is my first time viewing. Hmm - to be honest I was bored. I cannot understand why this film has gone into horror cannon. Is it because it was one of the first slasher / undefeated villain films? One of the positive aspects of the film was Donald Pleasence. I will watch anything my man Donald is in. A lot of the film was pretty ropey. The acting was borderline amateurish. Is that the appeal? I was surprised by how unscary the whole thing is. It did not age well given films like The Witch can really induce fear with practically no CGI. In addition the music (I presume by John Carpenter) got annoying pretty fast.

As a TV cameo of the 50s The Thing, it was nice to see he already thinking about making that when he was making this.

This is not a film I will want to see twice only because I would rather spend the time seeing something else. I am happy some people love this film, but I just don't get the appeal.

5/10

As a post script it is interesting to see this franchise get seriously fucked as well. I understand the 2018 sequel, also called Halloween, ignores all the other sequels that followed this film. So basically this franchise has done a Terminator or Aliens or Predator whereby the sequels have ruined the continuity of the universe. Not that I care, I just find it interesting that Hollywood keeps on fucking it up.

post post script - I saw this on UHD. Some of the scenes were stunning to behold. We are pretty luckily to finally get cinema like resolution now.

It's bot so much aged as it's the original first draft/sketch of the this sort of horror movie. The formula has been polished to perfection now, so much so it's impossible to understand the impact that Halloween had when it was released. The music is also well regarded for similar reasons.

I'm not sure how old you are but I remember watching this (and Alien) and they scared the living shit out of me and my older brother as there was so little like it before hand.

[Achtung Englander]

48

[arqueturus]

48

Ha! same here

I was lucky enough to see them very early on though.

[Achtung Englander]

Halloween 2018

As a direct sequel its not bad. The universe does come with a lot of baggage and coincidences from the first film, but that should be expected. Still not scary, but better kills, some on the borderline of funny.

OK I am done with Halloween, glad I saw 2 of the movies, I can move on now.

6/10

[Alan]

Well that frees you up time to watch all 11 Friday The 13th movies! I’ve always thought Halloween was a bit of a rubbish series to the point of thinking the Rob Zombie reboot was the best one. Not his sequel to that that, that was real bad.

X - The Man With The X-ray Eyes 1963
Doctor creates eye drops that give him X-ray vision. This was much better than I was expecting. For the era and the theme its surprisingly well written, acted and the effects are good.

The Wasp Woman 1959
A chap extracts a reverse aging drug from a Queen wasp. Partners with an aging beauty tycoon (I mean she must be as old as her mid 30s!) who tests it out on herself and becomes a warewasp. Its surprisingly quite good! The end is incredibly rushed like they ran out of money or ideas but I was surprised at how much I liked the rest!