Blasphemy, I say, blasphemy! 

For my part, it's one of a small trio of movies I went to see three times upon initial release, and the other two were back when I was an enthusiastic kid.

I have rarely been so emotionally moved by a movie's visuals, sound and music working their alchemy in such perfect unison. Several of the scenes had me shaking in sheer awe.

As they say, we all have different tastes... but I'll be darned if this one wasn't exactly suited to mine!

I realize my opinion is in the minority, and I could go into detail the many ways I thing the movie missed. But I won't. I don't want to convince anyone who enjoyed it that it was bad.Which would be fruitless anyway.

Yeah, the casting, though still a weak point for me personally, wasn't as bad as I'd feared it would be: I was really afraid it was going to ruin the movie for me altogether, but I could put up with it, for the most part. OTOH, the visuals weren't quite as mind-blowing as I'd hoped they'd be - again, just my personal reaction. So in the end it all sort of balanced out into a good but not great viewing experience for me.

I'll probably re-read the book in a few years, as I progress from the late 50s through the 60s in my SF-reading, and then I'll see how much f my menta pictures of the characters and setting derived from Herbert's descriptions and how much was just from my own imagination. For example, I had a picture of Thufir Hawat as a lean type, physically, but I can't remember where it came from.

I'm also curious to be reminded of how the plot was structured in the novel, because I had an idea that if they had done three movies instead of two, it might have been a good idea to spend more time on the court machinations and imperial politics, with the Atreides' taking on the governance of Arrakis and their experience there getting a slower build-up - how they gain the trust of the Fremen to a degree and of their workers, for example (I remember this as being the point of the spice-harvester rescue scene in the novel but it seemed to be glossed over a bit in the movie). But again, I can't remember if this is just my own preference and interest in those aspects of the story, or if the book actually does spend significantly more time on it.

And yes, agreed about the Sardaukar intro: we never actually see Salusa Secundus in the novel, that I recall, so that was a bold move by Villeneuve and he pulled it off pretty well.

I also liked the secret sign-langauge employed by Jessica and Paul - that was done really effectively.

Saw the new Ridley Scott movie, The Last Duel: a film with a lot of flaws, but still one of the most compelling new movies I've seen the last few years.

The title refers to a real even, the last judicial trial by combat in France (or all of Europe? not sure), which took place in the late 14th century. It isn't giving away any spoilers to let you know that it concerns an accusation of rape and has a Rashoman structure in which the same story or incidents are told from three different perspectives: the husband of the victim, the accused, and finally the victim herself - or rather, "The Truth", as so that segment is titled. Then the fourth and final segment is the duel itself - one of the best extended combat scenes in film history, I'll go out on a limb and declare. I haven't had chance yet to read up about it but I wonder if some of the details were taken from contemporary accounts, because it really felt authentic - as far as I can judge from my sheltered 21st century perspective. At any rate, I felt it got across more efectively than anything I can think of at the moment, not only the adrenalin rush that violent combat scenes do at their best, but also something of the randomness and brutality and sheer horror (for the spectator, I mean) that I think this kind of fighting must have involved.

When I read things like the Iliad, I often feel that if anyone were to attempt a faithful film version, one of the things they'd have to do would be to treat some of the battle scenes more in the style of a visceral horror movie than an action or period drama. I don't want to over-state the matter for fear of creating unrealistic expectations, but Scott's Last Duel probably comes closer to the kind of thing I've envisaged than anything else I can recall at the moment.

The film also did a pretty good job at presenting 14-th century era politics and socio-economic conditions, though mainly from the perspective of the feudal lords and their vassals. The details of the disputes between or amongst the various characters were complex and involved all those aspects - war, politics, social relations, economic demands, I almost wished they had gone into all that even more thoroughly, but realistically Scott was probably pushing his luck with audiences as it is. Perhaps I'll have to read the book it was based on to get into those details (The Last Duel, by Eric Jager).

The main actors were Matt Damon, Adam Driver, Jodie Comer, and Ben Affleck. As usual, I had a bit of a problem with the US actors in this European historical drama, but they were all pretty good - or rather, to be more fair, or more specific, they were all really good in most respects - e.g. appearance, demeanour, body language, screen presence - but less effective, or less consistent in their speech. In that, Comer really stood out and she at the least matched the rest of the cast in every other way, so for me she was the standout performer of the film. But I don't want to downplay the others. I've never been a great fan of Affleck, Damon, or Driver, though I don't actively dislike any of them either, but I thought they were all very good, apart from some (not all) of the dialogue. And you could see they pt a lot of work into it. On the whole, I came away from the movie thinking better of them than I had previously - not that I ever had any great distaste for them.

Oscar nominations this morning. Dune was nominated for Best Picture, Best Cinematography, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score and a few others. Nothing for best director or any of the acting Oscars. It's the only film nominated for any of the major Academy Awards I have seen.

-M

Can't comment on the new Nightmare Alley (though I don't how it could hold a candle to the 1947 version), but I applaud your appetite for vapidity for getting twice as far into Power of the Dog as I did. 

Insert your Snoopy going "BLEEAHH!"