Dune: Villeneuve in Review

 I will start with my bona fides, i.e. what makes me qualified to give this review?

Is it enough to say that I have read the book Dune? More than once? More than twice? In fact, I have reread Dune every March since high school.. so for more than 30 years. I have read Dune more than 30 times.

I will emphasize only rereading the first book. For this review I will only touch on a couple of minor details for the later books.

To start, I loved the movie, but it is not the book. I will break this down in to five categories. Things missing or poorly explained, changes, interesting bits, things they did right, and things I expect the second movie will cover.

SPOILERS

Things missing or very poorly explained:

• They never mention that Paul has been in Mentat training he entire life and is expected to become a Mentat Duke
• The dinner party. This scene in the book showed Paul's comprehension of the political world in which he was immersed.
• Mahdi! It was lightly mentioned in the flick, but not well explained. Paul was call Mahdi many times before he was referred to as Lisan al Gaib
• Thufir Hawat: Mentat Assasin. I tried working this one into a joke.
• Q: "Who would win a fight between Gurney and Duncan?"
• A: Thuffir
• Of course, the real answers is that the Harkonnens would be the victor.
• The movie does not properly depict Thufir's prowess. I wanted more Thufir. The actor did well but I didn't feel like he helped physically train Paul
• Weirding Way. Lightly mentioned once, zero explanation as to what it meant.
• Piter de Vries and his obsession with the Lady Jessica
• Internal dialog. This was a big part of the book, being inside the character heads. 
• Count Fenring. The previous screen adaptations also failed here and he was such a fascinating subplot in the book. Another spoiler: few could best Paul in single combat at his peak, Fenring could have done with ease.
• Las guns were not well explained. Las guns and shields were natural enemies; if a las gun hit a shield the feedback would destroy both ends instantly and unpredictably. This is why there was such an ephasis on bladed combat
• Jamis was ambidextrous, Chani should have warned Paul of this fact. You did briefly see this in the fight between Paul in Jamis; Jamis switched the blade to his right hand behind his back in his final lunge towards Paul
• Jessica slaps Paul after his fight with Jamis. She purposefully wanted to shame him so he never enjoyed killing. This may still happen in the next movie.
• The animosity between House Harkonnen and and House Atreides never mentioned. One minor mention of "cousin" which is actually pointless. In truth the Duke was a cousin of the Emperor, not the Harkonnens.  
• The rivalry between Thufir and Jessica. Rivalry may not be the right word here
• The spice melange. I don't know that the movie really explained why it was so valuable.
• The actual weapon that took down the Atreides was old school artillery.
• Where are the Atreides family atomics? The book does not state this plainly but it is implied that posession of atomics are what makes a Great House. 

Things Changed

• The spice carryall scene. Changing it to be shitty equipment instead of a hijacked carryall feels pointless.
• Dy Kynes gender swap. I have zero problem with this, she nailed the role.
• Duncan was sent to live with the Freman during the meeting where they were all spitting. I loved this scene in the movie, it made me laugh. it was a big change but an acceptable one.
• The sardukar should have been in Harkonen uniforms to hide the emperor's involvement.
• When paul lets Jessica know he is aware of her pregnancy. No major issues with this other than with the timing the Duke never knowing feels wrong.

Interesting Bits or scenes that I liked a lot

• The Sardukar were badass the way they were portrayed.
• A guild navigator was not shown
• The mentat eyeball roll was neat
• The sign language. It was actually in the book, but not used this much; the book used more coded verbal phrases. I am good with the sign language as the translation of the phrases would have been difficult on screen. 
• The Duke's line of  "So.. it's done?" was Oscar Isaccs at his best. Very Dameron Poe
• Duncan's demeanor when he walked into the first hallway with the Sardukar... where he looked at them and was like "oh, my second blade might get some use" and pulls the blade.
• A lot more personality put on the Duke. 
• Stilgar's super chill attitude was brilliant.
• Paul staring down the Reverend Mother

Things they did right

• Ornithopters. Hells yah.
• Stillsuits
• Personal Shields
• Bagpipes
• Paul's age and size
• Paul's love for his father
• The Baron and his suspensors.
• Music/score
• The Atreides warriors were the best in the universe, but there were not very many. They were better than the Sardukar and the Fremen. 

The second movie should cover...

• Jessica's bloodline
• The Weirding way
• Jessic'a ascension to Sayadinna 
• The Freman "religion"
• Where Thufir and Gurney end up after the attack
• The family atomics

I may add more to this later after I watch it for the ... fifth time?

Let me know if you have any questions.

Screaming for help... and no one is listening.

This may seem like a rant, and it is. I have taken an ambien for some peace and sleep and hope to type this before the meds kick in. It will likely become less coherent and more disjointed the more I type.

I have zero intention of purposefully hurting myself or anyone else.

My life is hell. I have cuts and bruises on my arms from my son attacking me.

18 months ago I had a bruised rib from where he kicked me. I was in pan for weeks. I have had bruised ribs before, I am familiar with the pain.

My home, that I rent, has dozens of holes in the walls from damage my twins have done. Mostly from him but a bit from her.

My son goes into meltdowns that are uncontrollable. He kicks, screams, throws thing, attacks his sisters and his mother. He does all this while staring at me, goading me on... daring me to get involved.

He is 17, I am 46, he is an inch taller that I but I have probably 40-50 pounds on him.

Earlier this summer during one of his rages I broke his arm while trying to restrain him, At the hospital I was paraded around in shame showing my sons broken arm and my bloody arms.

Once the hospital got the full story and saw him acting out they began to understand.

CPS showed up at the house 3 days later. We made an effort to clean the house from the hell hole it is, the CPS lady was nice and examined my arms and the walls and had the attitude that I did the right thing, it was not malice, it was self defense from him.

He was calm for a few weeks, then he had another episode, His arm got broken again. This time the hospital xray showed nothing wrong so they sent us on our way. I knew something was still wrong and when we took him to his apointment for the first broken arm they confirmed it was broken again, but in a new place.

The worlds worst shame comes from hurting your own children. I feel that shame every day, but I do not hide from it; I did it, I am accountable, it is my responsibility

The last three days he has has an incident per night. My arem are covered in scratches, abrasions, and scars. I am the only one who can pin him down and try and keep him from damaging our home or hurting those that live here

He has had to have his classroom evacualted and had to be restrained at school. I dont have much more detiail than that

The bride does next to nothing... she goes in and tries but he attacks her and pulls her to the ground by her hair, him staring at me the whole time. it is almost like he is trying to prove he is the alpha dog

We meet with doctors reguarly, they medicate him and it vaguely works. Yesterday the doctor asks if he is hurting himself or others and the bride says no before I can answer, i interject and talk about my hand, my arms, and my rib. The bride scoff and says it wasnt that bad; I could barely breath for a month, my hand was swollen and it took a week to get the ring I wore on the finger off.

The bride does nothing. Sometimes if i remind her she will cook a meal, she never cleans anything unless worried CPS is coming back over, even then only what they would see.

My oldest is 18 and sort of helps. I hired her to be the cleaning lady for the summer. I listed out her chores and duties and even put out a schedule. She ignores it unless I say something then gets mad at me or cries for making her work. Her mother doesn't tell her to do it unless I remind the mother, then it turns into an argument between them on how to do it. Bride has no idea how to clean so I have been doing 90% for the last 20 years, which means I have to be the one to show my oldest the proper way to clean dishes.

My home is infested with rats...lots of them. My backyards is so bad they are coming from there, I know this. I am too exhausted to get to the back yard.

Doctors for the kids do nothing but provide more meds, which barely work. I try to keep track of all of them but the bride keeps it close to the chest; I ask her to write it down in a spreadsheet and I am ignored.

I am in therapy but the biggest thing I need t do is get out of the house and do something for me... but... between covid ad the twins freaking out every day I am trapped here. That is part of why I cant take care of the yard.

I make very good money now, my annual is now over $200k. Then the fridge broke, then the dishwsher a week later, the oven is dead, the microwave is going.

We went 3 years without AC in texas heat. I managed to get a service to take pity on me and replace the entire HVAC unit for free, that is the most positive thing that happend inthe last coupe of years,

The hospitals wont help, the insurance wont help, the doctors wont help, the bride wont help, my oldest wont help

My friends want to help, but they dont know how. I am ashamed to have them in my home because of the condition and the smell. My friends are awesome, they really are, they truly want to help, but what can they really do?

Shame... it has all come down to shame. I am accountable, I can take responsibility and show where I went wrong to get to this place. I built my self up to be a tower of good. I am honest, accountable, loyal, and fair. Why do I have to feel shame when I work hard at being a good person.

My parents say to pray...they say they pray for me every day. I asked them to stop, thier prayers were obviously making it worse. That did not go over well.

I need help for my children. I can eventually heal myself and get my mind straight. but I cannot take care of basically 2 invalids and 2 deadbeats and work a full time job

I am exhausted, I am at wits end.

"That which must be endured, can be endured" --Ghandi (I think)

Going to try something new.

 Actually this is something  I used to do a very very long time ago... like in the 90s.

Regular updates. Not just any regular updates, but life specific updates.

I don't think anyone has looked at this site in years, but if you are still checking, thanks.

Let me bring y'all up to speed.

My life is amazing.. I have a fantastic view of hell from my vantage point on the precipice. 

Let's list out a few things to start

• Three healthy children, two of which (the twinions) are autistic (more on them later).
• A bride that could care less if I am alive

Now lets go over the last 18 months

• Every major appliance (except washer dryer) in the house has had issues in the last 18 months (dishwasher )twice), fridge, HVAC, stove, and microwave
• COVID-19
• My company went bankrupt due to covid 19 (no warning, just a sudden company meeting in October saying goodbye. No warning, no indications, no severance, no COBRA, nuffin)
• Due to covid the twins cannot attend their ABA therapy nor can they attend school. This is a bad thing. Nutshell: they are becoming more and more agitated, aggressive, and violent.

More later, I am honestly exhausted jut typing this out.