Post
by Raid » Sun Oct 31, 2021 10:45 pm
Do it. My thoughts are identical to Wrath's - it's a phenomenal film. What I would say is try to watch it without distractions if you ever get chance; it's an atmospheric masterpiece and one to really lose yourself in. And speaking of Denis Villeneuve sci-fi...
Dune
Yeah, this one's pretty special too. It really is an epic in the traditional sense rather than the watered down synonym for "good". It has the scale, the stakes, the somewhat slow pacing that I found totally absorbing. The acting's great and the soundtrack is almost perfect, and who knew that Jason Momoa actually had a chin under all of that beard? A special mention goes to the sound work used for The Voice, which honestly sent a chill down my spine every time it was used.
I said back when I watched the 80s version that I loved the fiction but hated everything about the production, and this holds true now that I've seen a more competent version. I can understand why this was once said to be unfilmable - this wouldn't have had half the majesty even ten or fifteen years ago, and the digital effects work is sublime.
However it wasn't without its faults, and I'm not sure whether they were down to the film or the cinema I watched it in. I had real trouble hearing some of the dialogue as the mixing seemed off, with the music too loud in places where someone's muttering something quietly. Some scenes are so dark that you can barely make out more than the characters silhouettes, although this does have the effect of absolutely blinding the viewer when the characters step out into the Arrakis sun, which is so fitting I have to assume it was entirely intentional.
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And that leads me on to a bit of a sad realisation - I just don't enjoy going to the cinema anymore. It used to be that I wanted to see the really big films on the big screen, but I don't think that's the case any more. Now that I have a decent home-theatre audio setup (and don't get me wrong, I know I'm privileged to be able to afford the £1500 it cost me), I just don't see the advantage of going to a cinema. The audience in that showing were perfectly polite; I maybe heard the odd utterance from the person sat in the seat directly next to me, but it's not as if people were checking their phones or throwing popcorn all the way through. But the rustling of a sweet packet in the quiet bits, the ear-piercing volume in the not-quiet bits, the visible marks on the projection screen that are distracting in brightly lit shots, the fact that it's now a 40 minute walk for me to get there... it just doesn't feel worth the effort any more. I think if streaming services bring their premier pricing down to below £20 or so, I'll just watch new releases at home instead.
