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2000-12-04 - 15:27:06
Movie reviews and random ramblings
I watched the first of the new Dune miniseries last night on the Sci-Fi Channel with my brother. Very odd. They don't have any thought-voiceovers in it, so they've had to play a little with the scenes to get the book's points across effectively ... and failing, in many cases. Of course, that could just be because they had to chop 30 minutes out of it for the US release ... to fit it to our TV schedules, and to cut out a bit of nudity. I'd be willing to bet the non-nudity minutes are all slowish, plot-building clips that would help everything make a lot more sense! Still, I *have* to see how it turns out. So I'm going back tonight, and tomorrow, to see the ending.It reminds me a little of the Battlefield Earth movie. I dislike the religion that the book's author founded, and I am disgusted by his Mission:Earth novels, but the book Battlefield Earth is absolutely marvelous. It's nearly 1,100 pages in paperback, and it covers all genres of literature except Fantasy. I'm not sure how he managed to keep such an enormous novel coherent and interesting, but he did. It's just not possible to adequately capture a complex book like that on screen.Granted, the Dune miniseries has 6 hours to work with, much MUCH better than Travolta's ridiculously butchered 105-minute version of BE ... and I've only seen a third of it. So, I'll just have to wait and see how the rest of it turns out before I comment any further.All this talk of movies brings me to "Unbreakable". I saw it last week with Azash. First reaction ... "Good, but wierd. I'd watch it again." Then, I saw Popsi a few nights ago and asked she said she'd seen it and thought it wasn't all that good ... much too slow. My reaction: What?? There was so much going on!Then it occurred to me: It's just like Jane Austen. So many people say that "there's nothing going on" in her books. But there is! It's just all psychological in nature; it's inside the mind, not running around with explosives and fast cars and foreign accents. (Don't get me wrong; I love a good action flick!)... I just checked CNN.COM ... *snort* When is this election ever going to end? Two blows for Gore in one day, and he's still making like the Energizer Bunny. I dislike his political persona ... but I'm developing a grudging respect for his tenacity. All the same, it's definitely time he tossed in the towel and started planning for 2004.*yawn* Nothing much going on in my emotional life today, so I'll send this on in and get that annoying "filler post" off my site. I'm not sure I like the new look yet ... but I'll play with it some more tomorrow. TTYL, Diaryland.
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