fmalover

RicOlie_2 said:

Oh OK. I can understand being annoyed by her showing up, since she’s not really one of the original Star Wars characters. Personally, I don’t mind it, since I think she’s a good character. I was far more annoyed that Jar Jar constantly showed up in the Clone Wars.

I was never bothered by Jar Jar when he was first introduced in TPM, but he really got on my nerves whenever he appeared in TCW, and I’m 100% sure that one episode where he’s the centerpiece was George’s final fuck you to all those who don’t like him.

There’s this obscure anime from the 1980s called Akū Daisakusen Srungle that I really want to watch. I vividly recall seeing a handful of episodes on a regional TV channel, but about twenty years later I googled with some trial and error, and found out not all episodes were dubbed for the Latin American broadcast, and furthermore those few episodes were heavily edited due to its violent content and occasional female nudity, thus leaving Latin American audiences with an incomprehensible mess.

A YouTube channel uploaded the entire series but it was taken down (copyright claim, I guess), but even then it wasn’t very helpful as all episodes were in its original Japanese language with no English subtitles.

I really wish I could find the whole series with English subtitles. It’s probably a crappy anime, but still, I would like to see whole thing all the way through.

JackNapier said:

The film Red Notice is a fantastic buddy comedy that has proven to me that Dwane The Rock Johnson can act.

Pain & Gain marks the first time Dwayne Johnson proved he can act. He was very believable as the gullible pushover who’s easily manipulated and taken advantage of.

jedi_bendu said:

Makes you think what it would be like to live amongst the royal family with all their stifling, maddening customs.

I’m pretty sure that even Queen Elizabeth herself would like to just go out and do regular people stuff like shopping, eating at a restaurant and so on every once in a while.

When I was 11 years old I had the original version of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, the one that had the original Fire Temple music with the Islamic chanting and Ganondorf coughing red blood, but it was lost when we moved and my father bought the game once again but it was version 1.2. Considering how rare that cartridge is I lament its loss.

On a related note I also wish I had Majora’s Mask, because for whatever reason it was never added to my N64 collection. I only borrowed it twice and beat the game 100%. Recently I looked up how much would it cost me to buy an original cartridge, and at $35 give or take I find it rather pricey.

Somewhere else someone has pointed out one aspect of Yueh’s treason that breaks suspension of disbelief and makes the Atreides forces, one of the best in the Imperium, look inept in retrospect.

Did Yueh really disable the entire Arrakis defence grid all by himself?

I feel like they severely short-changed Doctor Yueh.

Does Jennifer Beals ever age? Same goes for Ming-Na When.

I agree with Villeneuve’s decision to make Chani the protagonist in part 2, because in the book Paul’s prolonged exposure to the unrefined spice further unlocks his mental capabilities, and IIRC both Jessica and Chani notice that he’s becoming increasingly aloof, and audiences need a grounded, relatable character.

I guess I’ll just crank up the colour saturation on my TV settings when the movie comes out on Blu-ray.

jedi_bendu said:

fmalover said:

I also hate how Kynes is often condescending towards outsiders which greatly contrasts with book Kynes who is very deferential to avoid suspicion.

Kynes in the book is repeatedly warned by Gurney for not being respectful enough to the Duke. He is never quite condescending, but speaks with an air of authority and often in a cold and judgemental manner. This is exactly the same with Sharon Duncan-Brewster’s version of Kynes.

I suppose you mean Kynes’ pregnancy would be obvious to the Imperium but I don’t believe she’s regularly reporting to the Emperor in person. It’s clear she has spent much time among the fremen and likely spent her pregnancy with them as well. Of course, it’s not even confirmed yet that Kynes is Chani’s mother in the new movies. Even if that’s carried over from the novel and she is, this is a very minor nitpick.

I didn’t get the sense the performance was wooden at all. I think you’re making a much bigger deal out of something which really makes no difference to the character. And besides, diversity is indeed important, no matter what some people say.

On the subject of diversity, a lot of online articles are popping up about how despite borrowing heavily from MENA culture, Villeneuve’s adaptation is practically devoid of MENA people, and I kinda agree. For instance, I always imagine Chani as looking very middle eastern and much prettier than Zendaya, whom I don’t consider to be the least bit attractive.

On second viewing I must confess that I thoroughly dislike gender-swapped Liet Kynes. Sharon Duncan-Brewster delivered her lines as if she was just reading them out loud, thus giving a very wooden performance. I also hate how Kynes is often condescending towards outsiders which greatly contrasts with book Kynes who is very deferential to avoid suspicion. And for those insisting the gender swap doesn’t matter, well since she’s the Imperial ecologist and is thus under the Imperium’s supervision, wouldn’t conceiving a Fremen child raise a lot of suspicion from someone who is pretending to not be a Fremen? Male Kynes would have no such problem concealing the fact that he’s fathered Fremen children from the Imperium.

Part 2 officially confirmed.

I think Abrams should stick to being a producer.

Villeneuve has stated that he wants to make three Dune movies at the most. I assume he wants to adapt the story all the way to Children of Dune, which is where Paul’s story ends. I hope he gets his wish.

NeverarGreat said:

I for one really liked the Liet Kynes from the new movie, since her character was so much more active than either the Lynch version or the book version. Her death brilliantly used the threat and majesty of the desert power established with her first scene of the spice harvest and gave the sense of a person truly in thrall to and calling upon the religion of Shai Hulud.

I had the opposite reaction to her death, which is I didn’t like it at all. Kynes’s death in the book is one of my favourite moments because it illustrated that he’s a scientist to the core, left to die in the desert without his stillsuit and he spent his last moments reflecting on the planetary ecosystem and having an imaginary conversation with his father, very fitting for a scientist. The movie on the other hand felt like they were shoving down my throat how much of a badass she is by how they portrayed her death.

Yeah, throughout the book we are only told about Rabban’s brutal rule of Arrakis, and he appears in person only once. He’s even killed offscreen, figuratively speaking.

My main picks for Emperor Shaddam IV are Michael Fassbender and Damian Lewis. In the book the Emperor is in his early 70s but looks no older than 35, however previous adaptations have cast old actors (Jose Ferrer and Giancarlo Giannini) which has always irritated me.

My picks for Princess Irulan are Elizabeth Debicki and McKenzie Davis.

jedi_bendu said:

fmalover said:

As for gender-swapping Kynes, I just couldn’t get behind it. I didn’t like it when they announced it and I don’t like it in the movie. Period.

Of course I’m not saying you have to like it, but why not? I’m curious why it makes so much difference to some. Maybe if it was Paul I wouldn’t like it either, but Kynes isn’t a huge character in the book or the film anyway.

Like I said, I just couldn’t get behind it.

Two changes I did like were Paul’s visions of possible future where Jamis becomes his mentor in the Fremen ways and friend, it greatly improved the scene where he sheds tears for a man he barely knew.

The other change I liked was making the crysknives longer. In the book crysknives are described as being 20 cm in blade length, but the movie added at least another 10 cm, which I approve of because 20 cm isn’t cinematically impressive.

jedi_bendu said:

I like the colours, they’re a lot more authentic to what a real desert looks like. It’s not like the colours were actually toned down, that’s really how they look in real life and I’m fine with that.

I don’t get what’s so bad about Kynes being gender swapped. As long as they keep the personality and role of Kynes, which they did, gender and race are superficial details which do however make large portions of the audience feel more included.

I’ll make my own fan-edit where I will crank up the colour saturation to my liking.

As for gender-swapping Kynes, I just couldn’t get behind it. I didn’t like it when they announced it and I don’t like it in the movie. Period.

Just finished watching the movie.

Overall I liked it save for two things: the desaturated colour timing which makes the movie look lifeless and gender-swapped Doctor Kynes who stuck out like a sore thumb.

If there’s one thing that we will never see in any adaptation ever it’s the Sietch orgy.

Ronster said:

Arrakis as I previously stated needed to be more colorful too.

That has been my biggest complaint from the start. The desaturated colour timing makes the movie look lifeless.

Unfortunately I won’t be able to see the movie in the cinema, due to cinemas still being closed, so I guess I’ll have to settle for watching it on HBO Max.

It’s like Eddie Murphy’s jokes about homosexuals in the 1980s, which even in those days came off as mean-spirited.

My biggest issue with the Disney era Star Wars is how we as viewers are constantly being hit over the head about how they must stand against the bad guys, it comes off as preachy, patronizing and a bit sanctimonious, though I would argue TCW set the trend through its depiction of Padmé. Thankfully The Mandalorian has largely avoided this and sure, they come into conflict with what’s left of the Empire, but there’s no preachy speeches which have become so commonplace during the Disney era.

Look at the OT. The Empire is evil and must be fought, but at no point do we have preachy lectures.

I’m sorry but I find such overt preachiness to be a real turn-off and they make me feel like I’m being talked down to.

BedeHistory731 said:

Heck, Luke’s re-introduction in The Mandalorian commits the same sin and those same people cling to it

What truly soured the scene for me were all the online comments throwing shade at Rian Johnson about how this is the Luke Skywalker we wanted to see in TLJ.

I mean, grow the fuck up.

As many have posted previously, it’s weird that people cheer on Vader slaughtering a bunch of frightened rebels who are clearly no match for him. It’s like people cheering on an authoritarian government enforcer gunning down innocent civilians.