fyi, Esquire has a generally favorable article about Dune ... illustrated, for some reason, by clips from the David Lynch version

Dune, Reviewed by Someone Who Popped an Edible Beforehand

That is the review I needed see, if only for the plot summaries

My boss, who saw Dune over the weekend (and liked it) said that he'd heard the second part had been OK'd.

The second comes out October 2023.

I watched & of the three Dune adaptations, I think this is the best one. The Lynch one was pretty but kind of bombastic & BIG & still didn’t do the job. Very, very 80’s. I don’t remember Sci/Fy’s tv version: how good could it have been.

So, it was pretty, and not terrible, but there has got to be a really good adaptation out there, somewhere.

After seeing it again with Javachik, I can appreciate how well Villeneuve truly adapted the material, rather than simply putting the book onscreen. Herbert prioritizes context and backstory to the point where probably 70% of the book is characters thinking in italics about What That Thing Really Means And How The Last 8000 Years Have Led Us To This Point, and it honestly never occurred to me that you could just...not do that.

The Lynch version completely takes for granted that all of the backstory and context were critical because Frank Herbert said they were, and I still think that version feels more like reading the book, but I'm glad we get to have both.

(I also can't remember anything about the SyFy version, except that the effects were terrible like all VFX on TV in that era.)

The two things that did continue to bother me:
1. PUT YOUR DAMN MASKS ON, FREMEN
2. In the book, there is a LOT of interior monologuing. And in the Lynch version you can hear people thinking by having the actor look into the middle distance with their thoughts on slightly echo-y voiceover. Cheesy, but whatever. And in this version, Villeneuve decided he was just going to have all the characters say their thoughts OUT LOUD muttering under their breath? WTF? Do you think Paul can't hear you, Kynes? He is literally standing two feet in front of your face.

How far through the book does the movie get?

So it turns out The Matrix Resurrections is a love letter SPECIFICALLY TO ME and validates ALL OF MY FEELINGS about the sequels. It is a perfect movie and I want to smish its perfect little movie face and then give it a kiss on the nose.

(Going way back because apparently you asked me a question a month ago and I ignored you like an asshole? Sorry!)

How far through the book does the movie get?

Dune 1 ends with Paul and Jessica going with Stilgar to Sietch Tabr after the fight with Jamis.

That is most excellent news about Matrix. I have a serious love of the first one and didn't want to risk damage to my affections.