(Thanks, MovieClips Classic Trailers!)
Recently, someone who hadn’t seen it yet asked me “Is DUNE a great movie or not?” My answer was (and has always been) “Well, it depends…” I certainly didn’t hate it when I first saw it, but having not read the massive sci-fi novel it was based on at that time, my brain had to hold onto the inside of my head for dear life a few times during the more heady moments of mass exposition. I actually liked that David Lynch brought his trademark visual style to the film and some of the ickier visual effects (the alien navigator in the glass case, for example) were there to show this wasn’t yet another budget Star Wars clone.
Granted, the big, loud battle scenes were a big, loud mess and some of the “special” effects were reused too many times (for example, that same enemy ship swooping over the battlefield on Arrakis became a running gag to some friends I saw the flick with). Nevertheless, I liked the production design and facts that the different alien cultures were well portrayed thanks to some solid casting and it was a “pay attention” flick that demanded more of viewers than almost any other American sci-fi film of that period. Of course, it’s no Blade Runner by a long shot, but that’s another post for another random week… Continue reading


