Dune - (2000)

Beeps Pick: Dune (the one from 2000)




Why I picked this film: I blame Hayner!  While working at Blockbuster during the early 2000's, my buddy Anthony and I stumbled across this gem from the Sci-Fi channel (before they changed the name to SyFy), and we totally loved the movie.  He reminded me of this flick last week and he told me I had to make Apes watch it.  I have the books on my e-reader and so I thought this might kick start me into finally reading them.

Beeps:  Sometimes it is so easy to forget how bad something is...  Fortunately, this is only partially true for this film.  I'll expound upon that a bit more, later.  If you read my review of Akira, you know that my problem with that film is that they didn't really tell a full story from the source material.  If you've ever seen the 1984 version of this film you know exactly what I'm talking about.  The 1984 version of this film runs 2 hours and 17 minutes, this version runs a glorious 4 hours and 25 minutes.  Thankfully, the movie does not drag at all.  It is an epic tale that encompasses everything that you would expect.  The movie is full of  love, murder, revenge, politics, religion, action, and adventure, all rolled into 3 DVD's.  I love the fact that the film is split that way, it's roughly an hour and a half per disc, so it's easy to watch in pieces, or all at once, if you fancy that sort of thing.  The only detraction that I can say is that this is most assuredly a low budget production.  Most of the scenes are filmed on a sound stage and it shows.  There are plenty of scenes that it is very clear they are standing in front of a backdrop.  If you can repress that, and suspend disbelief, like you would if watching a theater performance, do yourself a favor and invest the time to watch this movie.  It is that good.  4 Stars!

Apes: Okay, so I'll admit I was totally dreading this! Four and a half hours of an "old" Sci-Fi film... uggh... However, I was very pleasantly surprised. The story is EPIC and the entire movie has that epic film feel in the same vein as Lord of the Rings and on a much more grown up level Harry Potter. The acting is well done and the special effects aren't too shabby (despite them reusing a few of the explosion scenes). This is one of those films with an iconic quote "The Spice Must Flow" that I've known for years and even used in dorky random conversations, but had never seen. I'm really glad I took the time to watch this film. Its definitely a way better use of my time than the 4 hours I gave to Napoleon Dynamite... Uggh. I'd recommend spacing this movie out over a couple of days, on a day where you are home sick and ready to vedge out, or using it as an AMAZING stall tactic like " Yeah honey I'll pick up your mother as soon as this movie is over." No matter how or why you decide to watch this film just make sure you DO indeed get around to watching it! Its definitely a must see film. I give it 4 1/2 stars (one for every hour and because I truly LOVED it)

Overall we give this film 4 and a half stars!

~Beeps and Apes