SF's movie roundup.
Was recently chatting with longdeadturkey, who apparently saw people handing out promos for an indy movie at Union Square named... Darkon. If you check out their website, you see that they're brave enough to use the award laurels around really lame awards like "Official Selection." Anyway, definitely watch the trailer. It has moments of Epic Awesome, like Random Dude Swinging a Foam Bat in his Lawn.
While on a movie note... also recently watched the 1985 Dune movie (David Lynch), except the Extended Edition which is supposed to make more sense. It was definitely on and off, but it definitely had its high points. For one thing, they nailed Alia, with the creepy 2-year old intimidating the Emperor. Jessica was also basically alright, as was Dr. Yueh (though WTF to casting a white guy as someone named "Yueh?") On the other hand, there was a fair amount of repetition, which would be fair enough for the more complex plot points... except they repeat simple obvious things like "Arrakis... Dune... Desert planet." And of course the usual 80's datedness, with Sting as Feyd-Rautha & Beast Rabban entering into ominous electric guitar strummin'. (They didn't really bother to separate these two personality wise, they were just the villains). They also needed to play up Paul's messianism, I think. Paul is kind of a bland character otherwise, so you need to play the "I'm the Chosen One, I know it, I've seen the future, I'm going to win, you've already lost" to the hilt, which can be creepy yet compelling if the actor is charismatic enough. Apparently, the Sci-Fi miniseries, despite its other faults, got this right (haven't seen it myself), but the movie, not really; Paul is just bland.
That said, even if you don't like Dune that much, be glad it was this and not something else. Longdeadturkey also linked me to http://www.duneinfo.com/unseen/jodorowsky.asp , in which you get to see a horrifying nightmare surrealist version of Dune that might well have been produced.
In my version of Dune, the Emperor of the galaxy is insane. He lives on an artificial gold planet, in a gold palace built according to not-laws of antilogical. He lives in symbiosis with a robot identical to him.
When Jessica becomes the supreme Mother of the Fremen, and must pass through ceremonies of initiation, learn medicine from the wizards and contact other dimensions of reality, I knew the magic medicine of gypsies through Paul Derlon, already deceased... And the ceremonial of the mushrooms hallucinogens and miraculous operations by the Pachita witch, a being who had much more capacities than so-called Filipinos surgeons.
...and so on. Salvador Dali as the Emperor? (Though I'll admit that Orson Welles as Baron Harkonnen would have worked).
Also, Stardust is a solid entry in the "Lad goes to magical realm, fights evil, gets girl" genre. 3 stars. Shame that the marketing campaign for it was awful. Also, I think they needlessly made the movie slightly less suitable for kids with... Captain Shakespeare's little dancing cross-dressing scene. Before, Shakespeare's odd... proclivities were a wink and a nod to the older members of the audience, a cute subtle touch. Then they decided to go slapstick. Eh, not really my preferred style; the barely-concealed subtext would have been better.
While on a movie note... also recently watched the 1985 Dune movie (David Lynch), except the Extended Edition which is supposed to make more sense. It was definitely on and off, but it definitely had its high points. For one thing, they nailed Alia, with the creepy 2-year old intimidating the Emperor. Jessica was also basically alright, as was Dr. Yueh (though WTF to casting a white guy as someone named "Yueh?") On the other hand, there was a fair amount of repetition, which would be fair enough for the more complex plot points... except they repeat simple obvious things like "Arrakis... Dune... Desert planet." And of course the usual 80's datedness, with Sting as Feyd-Rautha & Beast Rabban entering into ominous electric guitar strummin'. (They didn't really bother to separate these two personality wise, they were just the villains). They also needed to play up Paul's messianism, I think. Paul is kind of a bland character otherwise, so you need to play the "I'm the Chosen One, I know it, I've seen the future, I'm going to win, you've already lost" to the hilt, which can be creepy yet compelling if the actor is charismatic enough. Apparently, the Sci-Fi miniseries, despite its other faults, got this right (haven't seen it myself), but the movie, not really; Paul is just bland.
That said, even if you don't like Dune that much, be glad it was this and not something else. Longdeadturkey also linked me to http://www.duneinfo.com/unseen/jodorowsky.asp , in which you get to see a horrifying nightmare surrealist version of Dune that might well have been produced.
In my version of Dune, the Emperor of the galaxy is insane. He lives on an artificial gold planet, in a gold palace built according to not-laws of antilogical. He lives in symbiosis with a robot identical to him.
When Jessica becomes the supreme Mother of the Fremen, and must pass through ceremonies of initiation, learn medicine from the wizards and contact other dimensions of reality, I knew the magic medicine of gypsies through Paul Derlon, already deceased... And the ceremonial of the mushrooms hallucinogens and miraculous operations by the Pachita witch, a being who had much more capacities than so-called Filipinos surgeons.
...and so on. Salvador Dali as the Emperor? (Though I'll admit that Orson Welles as Baron Harkonnen would have worked).
Also, Stardust is a solid entry in the "Lad goes to magical realm, fights evil, gets girl" genre. 3 stars. Shame that the marketing campaign for it was awful. Also, I think they needlessly made the movie slightly less suitable for kids with... Captain Shakespeare's little dancing cross-dressing scene. Before, Shakespeare's odd... proclivities were a wink and a nod to the older members of the audience, a cute subtle touch. Then they decided to go slapstick. Eh, not really my preferred style; the barely-concealed subtext would have been better.