Despite the certain confusion and naivete, difficulties in scripting the Frank Herbert's book, and all the technical flaws, mostly in editing and post-production, this version of Dune remains an aesthetical experience overall superior to the technically perfect modern versions. The sentences that Lynch chooses make this version of Dune movie more philosophical and poetical, and the other details like how the actors are instructed to act, the shots (of water, of foetus, etc.), the camera angles, the costumes, the colors, Muad'Dib's sister Alia, reverent mother... Lynchian mystery in science fiction! It would be lovely to see his adaptation of another sci fi novel with crazy set designs and perhaps some modern CGI possibilities. The main love couple is also more suitable and charismatic for the roles than Villeneuve's cheesy cute kids (the impeccability of the Villeneuve's version aside), with Sting in supporting role. Too bad that there's no director's cut (yet)
...Probably future versions of Dune will bi AI generated combination of best parts of all versions:)
Reviews
23 Reviews
Dune: Part Two
(2024)
Hollywood clichés
9 March 2024
I don't understand why Lynch was so ashamed of his version, it's far more artsy than this. I watched Part two on screenX, and it's technically perfect, also a great movie in so many ways. But I just CAN'T STAND Hollywood's obsession with explosions, weapons, murders anymore. Like, can't you show the war in some more subtle ways? War? Cool, let's fly with crafts and drop as many bombs as possible - too much similarity with real world USA engagement, especially in this story where many things are inspired by Middle East. Can't escape the feeling that Hollywood serves as the main brainwashing tool.
Weird Science
(1985)
Nothing like famous 80's sci fi comedies...
7 May 2023
I am a fan of sci fi comedies, newer and older like 'Brazil' or 'Back to the Future', so I was expecting something fun. Not necessarily a masterpiece but rather watchable.
But here you'll se a lot of bad acting and bad directing which make its sexism and promotion of the worst stereotypes and shallow materialistic values even more difficult to overlook (in the name of fun). I mean, it is occasionally bizarre, but not in a good way. It's really technically a bad movie (which could have been good, thus the bigger disappointment).
I'm trying to find something positive about it, and it's probably only a lot of clothes and style from the 80s.
But here you'll se a lot of bad acting and bad directing which make its sexism and promotion of the worst stereotypes and shallow materialistic values even more difficult to overlook (in the name of fun). I mean, it is occasionally bizarre, but not in a good way. It's really technically a bad movie (which could have been good, thus the bigger disappointment).
I'm trying to find something positive about it, and it's probably only a lot of clothes and style from the 80s.
Euphoria
(2019– )
Not so much fun
4 March 2023
"Exploitation film is a type of cinema, often cheaply produced, that is designed to create a fast profit by referring to, or exploiting, contemporary cultural anxieties. Examples include films about drug use, nudity and striptease, sexual deviance, rebellious youths or gangs, violence in society, xenophobia, and fear of terrorism or alien invasions." (Oxford Bibliographies)
That's exactly what this series is.
It is seemingly criticizing drug and alcohol abuse while actually encouraging it, especially if you are a teenager who tends to identify with characters from pop culture - just makes you wanna get high and get laid, which is basically the whole point.
Although you might not expect it, because of the colors, music and the bunch of cool characters, it is actually quite boring, apart from being depressing. A lot of quite pathetic zoom ins and close ups, slow "artsy" scenes with sad music or boring dialogues.
The entire soundtrack is maybe the best part, many good songs were used (rap, trap, 80's...)
That's exactly what this series is.
It is seemingly criticizing drug and alcohol abuse while actually encouraging it, especially if you are a teenager who tends to identify with characters from pop culture - just makes you wanna get high and get laid, which is basically the whole point.
Although you might not expect it, because of the colors, music and the bunch of cool characters, it is actually quite boring, apart from being depressing. A lot of quite pathetic zoom ins and close ups, slow "artsy" scenes with sad music or boring dialogues.
The entire soundtrack is maybe the best part, many good songs were used (rap, trap, 80's...)
Ambitious
3 March 2023
Am I the only one who feels like 70% of the movie was written by AI?
(I also think I saw "Toblerone" chocolate in one of the fast scenes).
I don't really want to have an opinion on this mega ambitious movie. I understand the rating, it has many awesome elements, dealt with many different topics, acting is awesome, and it showed eternal mother-daughter problem in a very deep and new way. But for me personally it didn't work, maybe because of its fast-paced bilingual start that I didn't get too involved. It feels a bit like a forced "Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy" type of thing with all the modern internet topics about your purpose, full potential, multiverses and all. Always makes me wonder did author really felt these things on his own skin or it's just an exploitation of major themes of the mases. But definitely something in sync with all this current AI revolution, somehow.
(I also think I saw "Toblerone" chocolate in one of the fast scenes).
I don't really want to have an opinion on this mega ambitious movie. I understand the rating, it has many awesome elements, dealt with many different topics, acting is awesome, and it showed eternal mother-daughter problem in a very deep and new way. But for me personally it didn't work, maybe because of its fast-paced bilingual start that I didn't get too involved. It feels a bit like a forced "Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy" type of thing with all the modern internet topics about your purpose, full potential, multiverses and all. Always makes me wonder did author really felt these things on his own skin or it's just an exploitation of major themes of the mases. But definitely something in sync with all this current AI revolution, somehow.
The Platform
(2019)
Not a movie to watch while eating snacks
1 March 2023
"A vertical prison with one cell per level. Two people per cell. Only one food platform and two minutes per day to feed. An endless nightmare trapped in The Hole" - this summary worked as a spoiler because nothing else actually happens.
A social allegory in which everything (social stratification and human selfishness) is explained through dialogues, while the characters are trapped on different levels (of social strata), and thus regardless of the disgusting details these scenes are somehow all the same. I'm sure it would be much more interesting in short story form as individual imaginations would probably make it deeper and scarier.
It also looks a bit like a theater play.
A social allegory in which everything (social stratification and human selfishness) is explained through dialogues, while the characters are trapped on different levels (of social strata), and thus regardless of the disgusting details these scenes are somehow all the same. I'm sure it would be much more interesting in short story form as individual imaginations would probably make it deeper and scarier.
It also looks a bit like a theater play.
A Serbian Film
(2010)
A Reflexion
7 February 2023
In some interviews the author was intellectualizing this movie in various ways, mostly that it is a metaphor for the Serbian government which abuses its citizens.
We can accept this part about the government, but it's hard to understand why would you want to express this frustration in a literal display of sexual abuses, misogyny, murder and pedophilia that fill the worst headlines or perhaps the dark porno sites? Why would you want to replicate, reproduce and therefore generate another type of evil for the purpose of a metaphor?? Because this movie IS a mere replay, a copy-paste and nothing more. It is not thought-provoking, critical and "underground", there is no any activist message that it communicates.
Especially because the aesthetics of this movie are painfully inconsistent - at times an extremely pitiful attempt of wannabe Lynch type of thing, at times some kind of 70's porn and so on, what makes this movie look like some bad student work, far from being purposely kitsch or whatever.
It is sad that the main actor accepted this role in someone's pathetic attempt to be shocking and "controversial" director, and whose public masturbation and personal catharsis we didn't need to see.
Don't watch, spare your mind of an extra dose of someone else's psychosis. Hentai for example would be a better choice if you're looking for this type of excitement, simply because it does justice to the artistic presentation of the dark side of the human psyche.
We can accept this part about the government, but it's hard to understand why would you want to express this frustration in a literal display of sexual abuses, misogyny, murder and pedophilia that fill the worst headlines or perhaps the dark porno sites? Why would you want to replicate, reproduce and therefore generate another type of evil for the purpose of a metaphor?? Because this movie IS a mere replay, a copy-paste and nothing more. It is not thought-provoking, critical and "underground", there is no any activist message that it communicates.
Especially because the aesthetics of this movie are painfully inconsistent - at times an extremely pitiful attempt of wannabe Lynch type of thing, at times some kind of 70's porn and so on, what makes this movie look like some bad student work, far from being purposely kitsch or whatever.
It is sad that the main actor accepted this role in someone's pathetic attempt to be shocking and "controversial" director, and whose public masturbation and personal catharsis we didn't need to see.
Don't watch, spare your mind of an extra dose of someone else's psychosis. Hentai for example would be a better choice if you're looking for this type of excitement, simply because it does justice to the artistic presentation of the dark side of the human psyche.
Divergent
(2014)
Another random entertainment
8 January 2023
This goes for the other two movies as well. I haven't read the books, so I wouldn't know if the books contained any substance.
It's stuff like this that made me become uninterested into dystopian genre - such an accumulation of recycled ideas. The idea of science fiction eroded to the level of video game aesthetics - how far this erosion will go? How far will they go with black and blue suits, shinny metallic interiors, simulation within simulation narrative, ah we want to overthrow the powerful and everything is deserted, but we are cool and sexy, no matter our acting is getting worse and worse. Like she's saving the world in a designer bodice with a cleavage. Boring.
It's stuff like this that made me become uninterested into dystopian genre - such an accumulation of recycled ideas. The idea of science fiction eroded to the level of video game aesthetics - how far this erosion will go? How far will they go with black and blue suits, shinny metallic interiors, simulation within simulation narrative, ah we want to overthrow the powerful and everything is deserted, but we are cool and sexy, no matter our acting is getting worse and worse. Like she's saving the world in a designer bodice with a cleavage. Boring.
The Great Gatsby
(2013)
Electro swing - rap remix
24 October 2022
A modern interpretation, more precisely electro swing/rap remix of 'The Great Gatsby' 1974 movie, where everything is exaggerated, stylised and skillfully arranged, with expectedly deepened romance tropes for dramatization, while the older movie filled some different parts that were left untold in the book (for example when Gatsby puts his uniform again, which is the scene that I remember since childhood, or the conversations between the two). I prefer the older version because it is closer to the book and shows better the vibe of the 20s. But if you like the director's ('Moulin Rouge') style, this movie can work for you.
Girl Asleep
(2015)
Creative, original
3 February 2022
People who dislike this movie probably have mainstream-shaped taste and minds unable to accept the story being told in any other way than what they expect. They just want the same old plot that makes sense. But this actually IS the same old plot, only in its surreal, oniric version, which is not for everyone, apparently. In my opinion this movie is well done and perfectly uses its means of expression to accomplish exactly what it intended. I admire the artists who manage to find their own expression.
Something for philosophical minds
1 February 2022
I was pleasantly surprised last night in cinema - and I am still under the impression that I've never seen better ending of a movie, so hilariously true, simple & exactly what we all, as a society of idiots, deserve! I laughed so much to this ending. There is a plot, because there has to be some plot, right, but all the little details that fill the movie and illustrate the condition of society we live in, are the primary content of this movie. The great social critique, that's how it's done!
Watch the Swedish version
16 December 2021
If you never saw the movie, you should definitely watch much better Swedish version "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" 2009 ("Män som hatar kvinnor", 2009).
I accidentally watched it, at first thinking it's Fincher's version, and after sucked in the Swedish trilogy, watching Fincher's version felt extremely weak and unconvincing. Maybe it has some better technicalities, such as cinematography, but acting (Noomi Rapace especially), plot development, general engagingness, even the set designs in the Swedish version feel very realistic, and make this version's overall impression pretty naive.
I accidentally watched it, at first thinking it's Fincher's version, and after sucked in the Swedish trilogy, watching Fincher's version felt extremely weak and unconvincing. Maybe it has some better technicalities, such as cinematography, but acting (Noomi Rapace especially), plot development, general engagingness, even the set designs in the Swedish version feel very realistic, and make this version's overall impression pretty naive.
Dune
(2021)
Hollywood Reproducing Itself
22 October 2021
Top-notch effects, sounds and all - but everything already seen, and seen too many times, in the very same way. If that's your definition of 'poetic language', fine. Like there is a paved path of how we see things and it's so deeply paved that we don't even consider anymore the possibility of things perhaps being represented in some other way. Totally opposite of what poetry is, btw. Maybe art really IS dead, as some have theorized.
Long shots of impressive huge military troops (like in Game of Thrones), a LOT of explosions and space ships (like in Star Wars), spectacle-epic-blockbuster, oh give me a break. Even the way crew talks about the movie is creepily self-absorby.
Long shots of impressive huge military troops (like in Game of Thrones), a LOT of explosions and space ships (like in Star Wars), spectacle-epic-blockbuster, oh give me a break. Even the way crew talks about the movie is creepily self-absorby.
The Apple
(1980)
Remake, anyone? :)
3 October 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Too bad, I feel so personally touched imagining if this film succeeded, it would be one of my favourite movies. There are many good elements like makeup and costumes, set design, dancing...with the basic idea itself being hippie and super - something like 1984 in the context of music industry, made as a musical (comedy?). It's the world ruled by evil Mr. Boogalow (well played character) where everyone wants to record something and everything is one big totalitarian music-industry contest. Boogalow's triangle logo stickers must be worn on the face at all times, everyone is dressed shinny and it's all r'n'r. There are also hippies who don't like TV.
But unfortunately, the very essence of how this movie was made (script, musical sequences and plot) are unbelievably banal and simply stupid, so it turns catastrophic in a way that you just want it to be on purpose...but it doesn't work either way. It's just catastrophic. It's easy to imagine a really great movie.
But unfortunately, the very essence of how this movie was made (script, musical sequences and plot) are unbelievably banal and simply stupid, so it turns catastrophic in a way that you just want it to be on purpose...but it doesn't work either way. It's just catastrophic. It's easy to imagine a really great movie.
Gentleman Jack
(2019–2022)
Overrated
23 September 2021
Warning: Spoilers
I know I'm already too late with my suggestions to the crew ;) but I just watched the show and I still want to write as if they will read and appreciate my input :) ...Since they will not I can only wish them luck, hoping they surprise us with betterments in the Season 2.
The fetishistic opening sequence tells us it's all about the style, and it IS all about her all the time walking fiercely in that men suit that someone thought was so sexy - and it might have been if the hairstyle was made to fit her face. But combined with her uptightness she often looks as some wooden caricature. When they are about to kiss (no need to mention the cliché of postponing and people entering the room in the beginning) she is awkwardly coming into the face of her beloved each time in the same unimaginative way ('patronizing'). Sometimes it was worse than 'male gaze', sterile and very annoying to watch - the lesbian romance magic is mostly missing from those kisses - but there's a lot of lesbian drama for compensation, that's for sure! :)
I totally agree with the person who wrote - what's with her looking at the camera and talking to audience?? It simply makes the show (already predictable and unconvincing) even more annoying. 'Breaking the 4th wall' here only makes things worse. Her occasional winks & hints to us are NOT funny nor charming if that was maybe the purpose.
Predictable dialogues aimed to please the modern queer audience with very modern tropes to identify with. A queer hero gets a deserved piece of cake within the capitalist system because of playing the game well and we are invited to admire her power (together with her overall exquisite nature). Maybe I'm asking too much, this is a simple entertainment show, but it wasn't performed so well, that's all I'm saying.
Overall - I find the very intention of creating powerful independent female characters praiseworthy!
The fetishistic opening sequence tells us it's all about the style, and it IS all about her all the time walking fiercely in that men suit that someone thought was so sexy - and it might have been if the hairstyle was made to fit her face. But combined with her uptightness she often looks as some wooden caricature. When they are about to kiss (no need to mention the cliché of postponing and people entering the room in the beginning) she is awkwardly coming into the face of her beloved each time in the same unimaginative way ('patronizing'). Sometimes it was worse than 'male gaze', sterile and very annoying to watch - the lesbian romance magic is mostly missing from those kisses - but there's a lot of lesbian drama for compensation, that's for sure! :)
I totally agree with the person who wrote - what's with her looking at the camera and talking to audience?? It simply makes the show (already predictable and unconvincing) even more annoying. 'Breaking the 4th wall' here only makes things worse. Her occasional winks & hints to us are NOT funny nor charming if that was maybe the purpose.
Predictable dialogues aimed to please the modern queer audience with very modern tropes to identify with. A queer hero gets a deserved piece of cake within the capitalist system because of playing the game well and we are invited to admire her power (together with her overall exquisite nature). Maybe I'm asking too much, this is a simple entertainment show, but it wasn't performed so well, that's all I'm saying.
Overall - I find the very intention of creating powerful independent female characters praiseworthy!
Yo soy la Juani
(2006)
Perfect pop
5 August 2020
Did I just watch the movie too stoned or was I the only one here who noticed the brilliance of Luna's collage narration excitingly wrapped around the "typical plot"? But the stereotypes and the plot cliches that bother you are so real and brought to us intensely, with the fullness of youth energy, and soundtrack that follows it. For example, I really like the crazy transitions from one scene to another (dance floor - guys chasing them on the street, for example), and the pop-techno quality of dream/imagination sequences. It's like...the perfect pop!
Unfreedom
(2014)
Annoyingly Terrible
23 February 2019
The title would do enough but review needs to be five sentences long. One of the worst movies I ever saw. Everything about this movie is bad. And the end??? Sugar on top. You really need to have no taste at all to make something like this.
Blade Runner 2049
(2017)
Awesomeness
22 November 2017
Thanks Denis Villeneuve for finally giving us the science fiction movie as it should be. This is the cyber punk aesthetics brought to perfection. William Gibson as imagined. Absolutely stunning. Less pandering to audience than in Arrival (which was also a bit of refreshment). I am a bit worried about the Dune though.
Snowpiercer
(2013)
Why did I watch this movie?
3 May 2017
I hope that one day someone else makes the proper adaptation of the graphic novel from 1982. What happened is that the movie appeared on some ''underrated sci-fi movies'' list, so I believed it's really underrated, and of course I was keen to see it. But this movie is SO bad that it literally hurts my skin, my eyes, my ears. After the pathetic intro music comes the baaad make up, awfully simplistic way to tell the story, pathetic slow-motion G. O. T. Like axe massacre, then the "emotional" cigarette moments No.1 and No.2 ?? That seem like the movie was made for people used to commercials (it's NOT the funny reference or anything). Some actors were SO bad that I almost cried (Kang-ho Song is not one of them, he doesn't belong to this movie, Tilda wtf was she doing there??) $40 million budget for sucking up to the audience with really really cheap tricks, absolutely DISGUSTING.
Holy Motors
(2012)
Perfect photography
2 May 2017
What a delightful visual surprise was this movie, stunning photography, I wanted to hug the creators. But there is no plot and it only makes the movie pretentious. But maybe it should be totally forgiven because I see it as a gem in the oniric movie tradition.
The City of Lost Children
(1995)
Polished to the point of absurdity
2 May 2017
I have been trying and trying to find words but I still cannot describe what to me is wrong with this movie. It is like a vow to develop T. Gilliam's style to perfection which led to the point of absurdity. The style is so overly polished, the movie is meticulously perfect, that the final outcome seems as a beautiful but empty shell created with purpose of irritating, or what they call 'style over essence'... I don't really know yet what I don't like about this movie.
The Love Witch
(2016)
Half good, half bad
1 May 2017
I expected something really cheap when I chose this movie before my bed time - but immediately got pleasantly surprised with the awesome cinematography and funny retro style acting. Characters are pretty solid and mocking the witchcraft and witch covens (with a really accurate representation) is successful. Also the odd mix of 70's & modern technology gives a slight oniric touch. I feel so so sorry that the plot didn't work out so well and the movie became boring pretty soon - as the imdb user 'mysticalfredo' perfectly explained it, saying: "I wanted to get my scissors out and trim this film" Exactly! :) ...But honest congratulations for all the rest.
Passengers
(I) (2016)
Argh.
22 February 2017
Just terrible, cheap, cliché melodrama disguised in eye-pleasing sci- fi fetishism, with nice effects and sexy actors. The worst movie I have watched since long time. I wasn't really expecting a great piece of art, but such a vast consumer cheapness really shocked me. I like the color blue which prevails in the movie, thanks, that was great.
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