I first watched David Lynch’s Dune almost 20 years ago, and could remember very little of it except the image of Sting with ridiculous punk orange hair wearing nothing but a loincloth, which is not the sort of memory you’d cherish. Since then I actually got around to reading Frank Herbert’s epic sci-fi novel and its sequels, and decided to revisit this much-maligned movie adaptation. Its bad reputation is deserved in many respects, but as much of a mess it is, it’s also way too bizarre and singular to be dismissed outright.
I watched this movie on the weekend as a part of the Melbourne International Film Festival, and I’m still not sure how I felt about it. I don’t know if I liked it but I’m glad I saw it; I don’t know if I’d call it a good film but it sure was memorable.
This reboot of a beloved 80s classic is neither a comedy masterpiece nor a proof that Jesus died in vain, as some people’s reactions would have you think.
Confession: though I always loved classic literature I could never make it through a single Jane Austen book – I tried at least four of her novels and gave them all up in the first fifty pages. Something about her writing style clearly rubs me wrong, but despite this, I enjoyed many of the Austen film and TV adaptations. While this onscreen version of her early, little-known novella is not my favourite it was amusing and diverting.
Lovely movie by a first-time Turkish-French director that takes a look at adolescence, the suppression of female sexuality and the arranged marriage in modern Turkey, a bit like a darker Pride & Prejudice or a more optimistic Virgin Suicides.
A strange little movie based on a poem novel by an Australian author Dorothy Porter – a fact I had no idea about before watching it, but you can guess its literary roots from the kind of dialogue that probably sounds fine on the page but comes off as mighty pretentious and unnatural onscreen.
I finally watched this 90s classic, partly to put an end to the horrified what you haven’t seen The Shawshank Redemption??? reactions I invariably got from friends and acquaintances. Yes, it absolutely deserves its reputation as a great movie.
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