7 ms·

Don’t have to watch it… we’ll always have the books… maybe one day I’ll forget watching the first third of The Hobbit in 3D

hx8 3y ago
After Game of Thrones season 3 I've began ignoring film adaptations of books I enjoy. I think the risk of tarnishing my experience with a good book is much worse than any possible film enhancement I've experienced. The screenshots from Blade Runner 2 and Dune do look cool though.
- aftbit 3y ago
  I only read the first Dune book, but I feel like the recent-ish movie did a pretty good job following what happened in the book.
  - KineticLensman 3y ago
    The third Dune book (arguably the second) actually illustrates this general point about decline as well. Run screaming from the subsequent books
    - yongjik 3y ago
      I think the second and the third was okay, but the fourth was... hmm maybe "decline" is not the right word, it was as if I walked into my favorite coffee shop and they decided to drop a bunch of bricks and PVC pipes on my laps because that's what they do now. (Can't talk about later books - I kinda stopped there and never picked up again. Maybe I should.)
      - cmrdporcupine 3y ago
        God Emperor is a slog, but sets the groundwork for Heretics and Chapterhouse, and they're in my opinion very good. I've re-read Chapterhouse more than any of the others. But I think he meant for there to be a final one to follow it, and so it closes off somewhat unsatisfactorily.
        dwighttk 3y ago
        I always tell people to read the first one and stop or grit your teeth and read all of them… (Possible spoiler:) I was a little surprised in my last read through how small a part Duncan Idaho played until I got to the second book and remembered
    - cmrdporcupine 3y ago
      No, not run scremaing! God Emperor and beyond are awesome. But they're not the same thing, no. They're far more philosophical, and kind of about something else. The Brian Herbert books are very bad.
- ska 3y ago
  Blade Runner is less of an adaptation and more of a "inspired by", I think. The book and the film(s) stand on their own just fine.
  - ndsipa_pomu 3y ago
    A Scanner Darkly is probably the best PKD adaptation
- toast0 3y ago
  IMHO, Denis Villeneuve (and the rest of the crew) did a wonderful job with the visuals in Dune; there's some aspects of it I don't care for, but it definitely looks cool. But then again, I also think David Lynch (and the rest of the crew) did a wonderful job with the visuals in Dune, although somethings were a bit over the top; OTOH, I first watched this one when I was like 10 and got sucked in, so I'm not unbiased. I think both films did a great job of practical shooting that will continue to look good well into the future unlike a lot of recent films that are a lot of short takes in front of a green screen (cough Star Wars after the first two; most of Marvel cough). I'm looking forward to Dune: Part 2 this year, even if I'm pretty sure I'll dislike the same things I dislike from Dune: Part 1, because the visuals are likely to be going to be wonderful. The SciFi channel had zero budget and it showed; but I think they stuck to the book a lot better; but I don't think I'll ever rewatch them, because the visuals are so bad. Anyway --- we can always treat adaptations as inspired by rather than based on. I, Robot is a fun action film that name drops the three laws, but is otherwise unconnected to the book. The song retains the name, as they say.
  - dwighttk 3y ago
    (Dune has been delayed to early next year)
- jncfhnb 3y ago
  Blade Runner 2 was a great film. I think made slightly worse by its connections to the original. But I would recommend it. It’s nice that it is far enough in the future that it is a different world concept and there is no inclination to care about the canon.
  - the_af 3y ago
    I'm a fan of Blade Runner and really disliked Blade Runner 2. To be honest, it didn't stand a chance with me: BR2 is a movie that didn't need to get made. Someone else in this thread called it "fanfiction", and that's what it is: technically very well made, but pointless fanfiction nonetheless. But if I had a slightly open mind about it, the inclusion of old Deckard, the chew-the-scenery overacting of Jared Leto (and actor that is always hard to like), and that ridiculous "I'm the best" Luv -- which is miles behind the marvelously inspired Roy Batty -- were the final nail (nails?) in the coffin of this trainwreck of a movie. The only saving graces are set design, K and the implications about Joi and her mass-produced but convincing displays of affection. The rest of the story is pointless and most of the characters are unlikable and badly acted. Again, no movie would have satisfied me. I think the very concept of a Blade Runner sequel is wrong and a mistake; but Hollywood must march on, I guess.
    - jncfhnb 3y ago
      Idk. I thought the hooker scene and the android test scene were phenomenal and interesting. If the first one asked if synthetic life could be human, this one seemed to argue that it’s arguably inevitable if the beings are living real lives; and the ultimate meaningless of the distinction. I thought that was great. I agree Ford and Leto were distractions to the detriment of the film. Would have been fine as an independent original film and not blade runner although the reflections of the original did help highlight the themes.
      - the_af 3y ago
        The hooker scene did nothing for me, but the replicant alignment test was interesting. I think K was an interesting character. I do agree there were some good questions asked by the film (just not anything to do with Wallace's "vision" -- boy did this ruin the movie for me!). > Would have been fine as an independent original film and not blade runner Yes. I would have received this way better had it been an original film with echoes of Blade Runner (so I would have been spared, for example, the ridiculous execution of clone-Rachael) instead of an official sequel. I can accept "I'm a director who admires Blade Runner and want to do a film that is a homage to it", but cannot accept "I want to do Blade Runner 2". For the record, I think Villeneuve is a good director and also think this was a genuine attempt at doing something good. It just happens that it was a bad idea, doomed to fail.
- cmrdporcupine 3y ago
  Blade Runner 2 is basically .. fan fiction done by one of the best directors ever. The story is pointless. The movie aimless. The visuals and acting and directing absolutely stunning. As lovely as it was to look at, I'd just like my 3 hours back. The original movie was a somewhat campy but beautiful film-noir sci-fi detective thing that actually didn't take itself that seriously, despite being aesthetically quite serious. The new thing took itself way way way too seriously. But Dune 1 is amazing. Highly recommended, and I'm a deep Dune nerd (... but not the Brian Herbert crap, that's not Dune) for decades. It's not the "same" as the book -- it lacks a lot of what's there -- but it's enough of the book and amazing in its own right that it's absolutely worth the experience.
  - hvis 3y ago
    To be fair, the original Blade Runner was also basically fan fiction to the source material. The second one was too, and though it was quite different in tone, I liked both.
- the_af 3y ago
  > The screenshots from Blade Runner 2 and Dune do look cool though. Good news about Dune! It's actually a good movie. It's both close to the book and makes the right calls in changing what needs to be changed for the big screen. It looks amazing, too. Give it a chance. Bad news about Blade Runner 2: it's not good. It looks good, but the movie is pointless and jarringly bad acted at times (Jared Leto, enough said). And I say this as someone who absolutely loves Blade Runner, so I'm not one of the naysayers who found it "boring". It's not boring -- it's bad and pointless. Someone here called it "fanfiction", and that's what it is: fanfiction by a very competent director who doesn't truly understand the source material.
- skjoldr 3y ago
  Dune has the opposite problem, the movie by itself is quite confusing and even boring to newcomers, but people who had read the book can really appreciate its effort to stay true to the source material. It is a very difficult story to adapt.

hx8 3y ago

After Game of Thrones season 3 I've began ignoring film adaptations of books I enjoy. I think the risk of tarnishing my experience with a good book is much worse than any possible film enhancement I've experienced. The screenshots from Blade Runner 2 and Dune do look cool though.

aftbit 3y ago
I only read the first Dune book, but I feel like the recent-ish movie did a pretty good job following what happened in the book.
- KineticLensman 3y ago
  The third Dune book (arguably the second) actually illustrates this general point about decline as well. Run screaming from the subsequent books
  - yongjik 3y ago
    I think the second and the third was okay, but the fourth was... hmm maybe "decline" is not the right word, it was as if I walked into my favorite coffee shop and they decided to drop a bunch of bricks and PVC pipes on my laps because that's what they do now. (Can't talk about later books - I kinda stopped there and never picked up again. Maybe I should.)
    - cmrdporcupine 3y ago
      God Emperor is a slog, but sets the groundwork for Heretics and Chapterhouse, and they're in my opinion very good. I've re-read Chapterhouse more than any of the others. But I think he meant for there to be a final one to follow it, and so it closes off somewhat unsatisfactorily.
      - dwighttk 3y ago
        I always tell people to read the first one and stop or grit your teeth and read all of them… (Possible spoiler:) I was a little surprised in my last read through how small a part Duncan Idaho played until I got to the second book and remembered
  - cmrdporcupine 3y ago
    No, not run scremaing! God Emperor and beyond are awesome. But they're not the same thing, no. They're far more philosophical, and kind of about something else. The Brian Herbert books are very bad.
ska 3y ago
Blade Runner is less of an adaptation and more of a "inspired by", I think. The book and the film(s) stand on their own just fine.
- ndsipa_pomu 3y ago
  A Scanner Darkly is probably the best PKD adaptation
toast0 3y ago
IMHO, Denis Villeneuve (and the rest of the crew) did a wonderful job with the visuals in Dune; there's some aspects of it I don't care for, but it definitely looks cool. But then again, I also think David Lynch (and the rest of the crew) did a wonderful job with the visuals in Dune, although somethings were a bit over the top; OTOH, I first watched this one when I was like 10 and got sucked in, so I'm not unbiased. I think both films did a great job of practical shooting that will continue to look good well into the future unlike a lot of recent films that are a lot of short takes in front of a green screen (cough Star Wars after the first two; most of Marvel cough). I'm looking forward to Dune: Part 2 this year, even if I'm pretty sure I'll dislike the same things I dislike from Dune: Part 1, because the visuals are likely to be going to be wonderful. The SciFi channel had zero budget and it showed; but I think they stuck to the book a lot better; but I don't think I'll ever rewatch them, because the visuals are so bad. Anyway --- we can always treat adaptations as inspired by rather than based on. I, Robot is a fun action film that name drops the three laws, but is otherwise unconnected to the book. The song retains the name, as they say.
- dwighttk 3y ago
  (Dune has been delayed to early next year)
jncfhnb 3y ago
Blade Runner 2 was a great film. I think made slightly worse by its connections to the original. But I would recommend it. It’s nice that it is far enough in the future that it is a different world concept and there is no inclination to care about the canon.
- the_af 3y ago
  I'm a fan of Blade Runner and really disliked Blade Runner 2. To be honest, it didn't stand a chance with me: BR2 is a movie that didn't need to get made. Someone else in this thread called it "fanfiction", and that's what it is: technically very well made, but pointless fanfiction nonetheless. But if I had a slightly open mind about it, the inclusion of old Deckard, the chew-the-scenery overacting of Jared Leto (and actor that is always hard to like), and that ridiculous "I'm the best" Luv -- which is miles behind the marvelously inspired Roy Batty -- were the final nail (nails?) in the coffin of this trainwreck of a movie. The only saving graces are set design, K and the implications about Joi and her mass-produced but convincing displays of affection. The rest of the story is pointless and most of the characters are unlikable and badly acted. Again, no movie would have satisfied me. I think the very concept of a Blade Runner sequel is wrong and a mistake; but Hollywood must march on, I guess.
  - jncfhnb 3y ago
    Idk. I thought the hooker scene and the android test scene were phenomenal and interesting. If the first one asked if synthetic life could be human, this one seemed to argue that it’s arguably inevitable if the beings are living real lives; and the ultimate meaningless of the distinction. I thought that was great. I agree Ford and Leto were distractions to the detriment of the film. Would have been fine as an independent original film and not blade runner although the reflections of the original did help highlight the themes.
    - the_af 3y ago
      The hooker scene did nothing for me, but the replicant alignment test was interesting. I think K was an interesting character. I do agree there were some good questions asked by the film (just not anything to do with Wallace's "vision" -- boy did this ruin the movie for me!). > Would have been fine as an independent original film and not blade runner Yes. I would have received this way better had it been an original film with echoes of Blade Runner (so I would have been spared, for example, the ridiculous execution of clone-Rachael) instead of an official sequel. I can accept "I'm a director who admires Blade Runner and want to do a film that is a homage to it", but cannot accept "I want to do Blade Runner 2". For the record, I think Villeneuve is a good director and also think this was a genuine attempt at doing something good. It just happens that it was a bad idea, doomed to fail.
cmrdporcupine 3y ago
Blade Runner 2 is basically .. fan fiction done by one of the best directors ever. The story is pointless. The movie aimless. The visuals and acting and directing absolutely stunning. As lovely as it was to look at, I'd just like my 3 hours back. The original movie was a somewhat campy but beautiful film-noir sci-fi detective thing that actually didn't take itself that seriously, despite being aesthetically quite serious. The new thing took itself way way way too seriously. But Dune 1 is amazing. Highly recommended, and I'm a deep Dune nerd (... but not the Brian Herbert crap, that's not Dune) for decades. It's not the "same" as the book -- it lacks a lot of what's there -- but it's enough of the book and amazing in its own right that it's absolutely worth the experience.
- hvis 3y ago
  To be fair, the original Blade Runner was also basically fan fiction to the source material. The second one was too, and though it was quite different in tone, I liked both.
the_af 3y ago
> The screenshots from Blade Runner 2 and Dune do look cool though. Good news about Dune! It's actually a good movie. It's both close to the book and makes the right calls in changing what needs to be changed for the big screen. It looks amazing, too. Give it a chance. Bad news about Blade Runner 2: it's not good. It looks good, but the movie is pointless and jarringly bad acted at times (Jared Leto, enough said). And I say this as someone who absolutely loves Blade Runner, so I'm not one of the naysayers who found it "boring". It's not boring -- it's bad and pointless. Someone here called it "fanfiction", and that's what it is: fanfiction by a very competent director who doesn't truly understand the source material.
skjoldr 3y ago
Dune has the opposite problem, the movie by itself is quite confusing and even boring to newcomers, but people who had read the book can really appreciate its effort to stay true to the source material. It is a very difficult story to adapt.