02A55: Different Sands

Monday Omelet

Metro Manila Community Quarantine - Day 583

Quite the busy start to the workweek. A lot of it was dedicated to preparations for a client workshop we conducted in the afternoon. I'd like to think it went well despite the lack of participation. It's always unnerving when you conduct training via video conference and most participants never turn on their video nor do they participate in your various engagement activities - not even just in the chat. 

We ended the day by giving in and watching the new Dune movie. Part of me really wanted to wait for a chance to see it in theaters as is "proper" for a movie of this scale. But my curiosity got the better of me and so we hunkered down for the experience. I knew I'd have challenges with it, but I was still very excited to see how they would pull things together.

It's a good movie and we definitely enjoyed it. But I know that I love the text too much as someone who has probably read the books way too many times. There are lines of dialog that didn't make it into the movie that I missed. There were entire scenes that did not get through to the screen, which is understandable but also lamentable. There are so many things that look wonderful but there were beats that felt wrong. 

And all this is precisely what I expected out of this movie. It doesn't necessarily dumb things down to a level that will make it more widely accessible for the more average movie viewer. But I think it still makes things easier for more people to appreciate right up there with a lot of the other set-piece genre movies out there. 

I'll need to think about this movie some more before I come up with a proper review or something. And I definitely feel the need to re-read the core Dune chronicles again. It has been too long since I've last done so. 

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