DUNE

 My son allows me to use his HBO Max account. I do so with not a little guilt.

I used to call, and really still do, HBO "Hell's Box Office" because, really, it has normalized all kinds of behavior we don't need. Blatant nudity, porn, grotesque violence, and the de-inappropriativeness of profanity. (I just made up that word. Words that never would be spoken in public before the '70s when HBO started are now shoulder-shruggers.)

In fact, I have it on good authority that the X-rated stuff pays for the more high-quality program--that is their business model. 

All that said, I hypocritically watch the streaming service some. I confess--I watched all of Scenes from a Marriage. Perhaps I'll dig into that here later, but I can't recommend it in good conscience despite it being artistically well done. (Scenes from a Marriage is a misnomer. Each episode is more like a play from a marriage, not just a scene. )  There's just too much nudity and graphic sex, the couple are both narcissists,  and the language is such that you get used to hearing it. It is normalized. I hate the F- word but I'm getting too used to it. 

Much to my delight, though, I saw that Dune was on HBO Max! I watched it last night. I might watch it twice, and I might reread the book or read the sequels. 

I never watched the 1984 version. I didn't know the story, and it looked disturbing. I read the book last year, pandemic reading. Although "experts" say Dune is unfilmable, I think this version proves them wrong. Granted, some things are left out, and Villanueve only filmed about 60% of the story, with the rest coming later. It makes perfect sense where it stops. 

What's left out? Explanations or exposition/back story about why there are no computers or artificial intelligence (a fascinating point) and that humans are trained to do the data manipulation work of computers. Also, what's actually going on with the emperor historically, and mostly, the weird sex parts of the 1984 film or those parts in the book. That is, Harkonen's proclivities. If it's alluded to in any way, I totally missed it. 

The production values, costumes, CGI scenery, the worms, the acting, the set pieces, and the action pieces are stellar and worthy of the book, which captivated me and I believe is the best sci-fi ever written (thought granted, I'm no expert). Oscar Issac is perfect as the Duke, as is Rebecca Ferguson as Jessica and the others as the main soldiers. The Challomet kid, well, I just don't know. He's so tiny. He needs to put on 20 pounds and beef up. Talk about your 98-pound weakling. He does not look like he could survive what his character goes through. 

I always say I don't recommend movies, I just give an opinion. If you hated the 1984 version, forget it and watch this one. Of course, that's easy for me to say. I didn't pay to see it!