I don’t get how these movies work so well

by MattG, Wednesday, March 18, 2026, 04:16 (72 days ago) @ IrishGuard

For my entire life I was told Dune is an unfilmable mess. It broke Jodorowsky, and Lynch turned in a repulsive mess of an 80s movie.

Villeneuve turns in two absolutely beautiful box office smashes. I’ll continue to say Dune 2 should have been best picture but I assume the voters are waiting for this one LOTR style and they may not like it.

So what changed? CGI advancements for sure, but Dune’s best moments are practical effects, the worms are still not the most impressive part. Did WE change? Certainly not in our ability to watch slow paced blockbusters.

Was it all casting? Is chalamet such a perfect Atreides that we could not resist? Not to rag on Kyle shanahan but Maybe! We needed a scrawny spoiled prince Paul, instead of the stock hero Paul that Kyle was inevitably going to be in the early eighties. And Rebecca Ferguson and Zendaya and Momoa and Brolin and Saarsgaard and Isaac and Butler were perfectly cast, too - especially compared to their 1984 cast.

Is it just vibes? The entire set design of arakkis and geidi prime and Caladan were better than anything Disney has given us since Endor at least. It was all show-don’t-tell with enough detail to make you just accept that those were lived in places with cultures and history. I think it might just be style and vibes.