'Dune [UK Import]' - High-Def Digest Review

[Attebery]

Josh's love of 'Dune' is well-known. He's just reviewed the 'Dune [UK Import].' As always, you've gotta check it out!

Full review here:
http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/7483/dune_uk.html

[Feydaway]

Nice to see they used a quality soundtrack here. Josh's love of Dune's visuals are unparaleled, but I think this is one of the best sounding films of all time. From Toto's eerie, dreamlike soundtrack to the amazing cast of voices on display!! You have some of the greatest voice actors of all time here: Jose Ferrer, Francesca Annis, Linda Hunt (doing Batman before Bale ever did), Patrick Stewart, Brad Dourif, Freddie Jones, Richard Jordan, Sian Phillips, Jurgen Prochnow, Everett McGill, and Sting! Close your eyes and feast upon the voices in this film.

[Naiera]

I really love the 'cheap-jack' tv mini-series. Both of them. I also really love the film, and I just bought this UK release. If the US release is better then I have no problem spending the money on that too, though

[webdev511]

HD DVD player still running strong. No reason to rebuy at this time.

[Doctorossi]

I really love the 'cheap-jack' tv mini-series.

What does "cheap-jack" mean?

[ambientcafe]

I had been hoping for a review of this U.K. release that's been out for a little while now to see if it was worth pulling the trigger on. Shame about the PQ....guess I'll hang on to my HD-DVD as well. And Josh, I salute your awe-inspiring and wondrous knowledge of this film. Btw, does anyone else think that Francesca Annis was impossibly hot in this?

[Naiera]

What does "cheap-jack" mean?

I don't know. I just adopted the word Josh used in the review.

My only real problem with the movie is that gun, or whatever it is, they implemented. There's nothing like that in the books.

[Josh Z]

What does "cheap-jack" mean?

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cheapjack

1: being inferior, cheap, or worthless <cheapjack movie companies>

Examples of CHEAPJACK
<a cheapjack little watch that I wear on camping trips>

Synonyms: bad, bargain-basement, bum, cheap, cheesy, coarse, common, crappy [slang], cut-rate, el cheapo, execrable, gimcrack, inferior, junky, lousy, low-grade, low-rent, mediocre, miserable, poor, rotten, rubbishy, schlock (or schlocky also shlock or shlocky), second-rate, shoddy, sleazy, terrible, trashy, trumpery, wretched

[Doctorossi]

Thanks, Josh!

[Thulsadoom]

The completist in me almost wants a copy for the extra Golda Oppenheim interview, but difficult to justify, considering I've already got the UK special edition DVD and my HD DVD (which I suspect is the same as the US Blur Ray?) and the TV edit(for curiosity value, due to it effectively being a source for deleted scenes) So I've got just about all the extras going.

[Josh Z]

The completist in me almost wants a copy for the extra Golda Oppenheim interview, but difficult to justify, considering I've already got the UK special edition DVD and my HD DVD (which I suspect is the same as the US Blur Ray?)

The U.S. Blu-ray adds lossless audio, but is otherwise a direct port of the HD DVD (which had high bit rate DD+, so there's not much difference there).

and the TV edit(for curiosity value, due to it effectively being a source for deleted scenes) So I've got just about all the extras going.

Different video editions in different territories have added unique supplements. For example, the French DVD has a vintage interview that Lynch gave in France during the theatrical release. Mostly, these aren't a big deal.

[WeaselSniff]

I don't know. I just adopted the word Josh used in the review.

My only real problem with the movie is that gun, or whatever it is, they implemented. There's nothing like that in the books.

Yeah, Josh's line about this film being mostly accurate to the book made me shake my head and snicker. The Weirding Voice Gun or whatever the hell they called it was just dumb dumb dumb. God, that was so dumb. Why even go through all the trouble to make such a dumb weapon when guns are so much more plentiful in the movie?

Josh has said something similar about how a bunch of guys karate-chopping each other in the desert would have been equally as dumb. I beg to differ, given the explanations given in both the original work and in the so-called "cheap-jack" miniseries. Those latter series may not have had the visual extravagance that the 84 film had, but I'll take them any day of the week over this movie.

"Their love grew."

[Josh Z]

Yeah, Josh's line about this film being mostly accurate to the book made me shake my head and snicker. The Weirding Voice Gun or whatever the hell they called it was just dumb dumb dumb. God, that was so dumb. Why even go through all the trouble to make such a dumb weapon when guns are so much more plentiful in the movie?

Josh has said something similar about how a bunch of guys karate-chopping each other in the desert would have been equally as dumb. I beg to differ, given the explanations given in both the original work and in the so-called "cheap-jack" miniseries. Those latter series may not have had the visual extravagance that the 84 film had, but I'll take them any day of the week over this movie.

How is it dumb? Because it's different than the book? What is "dumb" about it?

The point of that storyline in the novel is that the Atreides have a military advantage over the Harkonnens that they can teach the Fremen, thus uniting the Fremen behind their cause and helping them to take control of the planet. Whether that military advantage is a special form of kung-fu or a weapon is just a semantic difference. They both accomplish the same goal.

And yes, I think that the kung-fu was silly in the book. You complain that the Weirding Modules are dumb because guns are already plentiful on the planet. How is it less dumb to have a bunch of guys running through the desert to karate chop enemies who have those guns and can shoot them from a distance?

The Fremen did not have guns prior to Paul and Jessica arriving. They only had hand-to-hand combat, which is why they were losing. The Weirding Modules level the playing field, because now they can take out major Harkonnen vehicles, weapons and infrastructure that they were helpless against before. (Karate chopping a tank doesn't accomplish much.) That, combined with the Fremens' superior tactical and fighting skills, put them over the top and allowed them to win.

Adding the Weirding Modules was a smart adaptation decision, and frankly an improvement over one of the weak points in the book.

[Feydaway]

The Fremen did not have guns prior to Paul and Jessica arriving. They only had hand-to-hand combat, which is why they were losing. The Weirding Modules level the playing field, because now they can take out major Harkonnen vehicles, weapons and infrastructure that they were helpless against before. (Karate chopping a tank doesn't accomplish much.) That, combined with the Fremens' superior tactical and fighting skills, put them over the top and allowed them to win.

Adding the Weirding Modules was a smart adaptation decision, and frankly an improvement over one of the weak points in the book.

I beg to differ. I've read the books at least 2 dozen times.

Fremen absolutely had and used guns when it suited them. They could even use stolen lasguns off dead Harkonnen, but had access to Maula pistols more often. They typically fought HTH because it allowed them to attack stealthily, directly, and...personally.

They were also NOT "losing" in any way, shape, or form. They simply did not wish to fight the Harkonnen openly. They had their deal with the Guild and they were patiently 'rebuilding' their planet in the vision of Liet Kynes.

Liet realized Paul would be the leader to take them into direct battle, and so he did.

I wouldn't say the 'kung-fu' of the Fremen was 'kung-fu' so much as they were just badass motherfuckers. Paul and his mother didn't bring them anything they didn't already have except for superior leadership and a united cause. Well...and the ability to see/know the future, so that is nice.

That said, the weirding modules were a good way to illustrate two things Lynch needed to illustrate: 1) why the Emperor would betray House Atreides, and 2) How/why the Fremen could annihilate the seemingly badass Sardaukar. The "toughness" of the Fremen over Sardaukar in the novels is not a weakness...it just doesn't lend itself well to a visual medium. So, the weirding modules were a good idea. I just think Lynch failed to really show how/why they were a distinct advantage over Sardaukar. The movie makes it seem more like using sandworms was a bigger deal (and it was a big deal).

The "stupidest" thing Lynch does? Making it rain at the end.

[Spader]

So is the HD DVD still the disc to get? Also, are all HD DVD versions the same?

Any chance of reviewing 'My Son My Son What Have Thy Done?' ? Although it's more Herzog, it's got a lot of Lynchian touches. While on the subject, a BD of Herzog's latest doc 'Into The Abyss' came out fairly recently.