thejamgod Reviews

Hope (1997 TV Movie)

Some nice touches ruined by a bad film

[16 July 2002]

I watched this movie in mid-afternoon on my day off, and I have to say this a very typical daytime tv type movie.

The film has its good parts and its bad parts - there is some very good acting from Christine Lahti and Jeffrey Sams, which is unfortunately offset by a script which ranges somewhere between embarrassing and just plain bad. Similarly, some excellent camerawork and direction is negated by the fact that the story lacks any originality and some of the characters are so badly drawn they almost reinforce the stereotypes that the film wants to challenge.

This is definitely a film that one should not approach with high expectations, although there is some enjoyment to be had from switching the sound off and simply enjoying the scenery.

Oh and by the way (SPOILER!!) the final courtroom scene is farcical.

Dune (1984)

Sorry, just not epic enough

[8 April 2002]

This just wasn't very good.

Anyone who has read Dune will know the satisfaction that can be gained by reading the book. Frank Herbert's writing conjures up wonderful images in the reader's mind of Arrakis/Dune, of the Fremen, of the whole Dune universe. One of the most striking features of the novel is that the reader is never sure which way the story will twist next, what character developments will follow, or just how far the writer's imagination stretches. All the things that make the novel great are lost in the film.

This may not be entirely David Lynch's fault. What makes the novel great is exactly what makes the film bad. The twists and turns of the novel translate into confusion and detachment in the film. The dark, chilling world of the Harkonnen becomes hammer-style camp horror, and the sheer barren wilderness that is the Arrakeen landscape becomes drab and dull.

Fitting a 700-page novel into a two hour film can never be easy, but maybe that's why it should never have been done in the first place. This film loses on two fronts - it will never be good enough for anyone who has read the novel, nd is not well enough made to attract other audiences.

My advice to anyone thinking about watching this - read the book first, then don't watch the film anyway, it's awful.