Looking forward to some cinema
Before the cornovirus pandemic struck the world, one of my favorite past times was going to the movie theater for a nice bit of escapism. I tried to catch a matinee since the prices were cheaper, and the crowds a bit smaller, though there was always the occasional crowd of loud teenagers.
The pandemic put a halt to that experience, and the movie theater industry nearly went belly-up, and like online instruction, Zoom meetings, and masks at public events, people adapted and found ways around it.
A lot of movies these days are streamed directly into people’s homes. And with the size of today’s flatscreens, some television screens are nearly as big as a movie theater.
But nothing can quite replicate that feeling and anticipation of sitting through the movie trailers and then seeing your movie come on the massive screen. No house’s surround sound system can seem to capture and translate the roar and rush of noises and soundtracks and movie scores like a theater can.
Movie theaters have slowly opened across the state, and people are tentatively coming back to enjoy this experience once more. I still have not gone back to a movie theater since early 2020. I just haven’t seen an advertisement for a film yet that made me go, “You know what, I gotta see this on the big screen!”
Not only that, but I’ve been a bit preoccupied with work, what with the Colby girls cross-country team going to state, and the Colby Hornets football team on the precipice of doing the same.
But it looks like I’ll be breaking that streak here pretty soon, now that the movie Dune is out in theaters. The movie is an adaptation of the book of the same name, and various people have taken a stab at translating the complex and multi-layered story into film and the small screen.
The first attempt to translate the story to film was the David Lynch adaptation that came out way back in 1984. That version is a symbol of everything good and bad with pop culture in the 1980’s. There were some good moments and good performances in the film, but overall, it was limited by the lack of movie special effects, specifically the lack of computer generated graphics.
Another attempt was made back in 2000 with a mini-series from the SyFy Channel, and it was a bit better on the special effects department, but the costumes were almost comical, although more detail and background was made possible.
This latest version looks to be the best. It has a big budget, great actors and a capable and committed director who respects the source ma- terial. The sound track alone is brilliant, and the trailer completely has me hooked. When I do have some free time in the coming weeks, I’m looking forward to grabbing my over priced popcorn and soda, plopping into a seat, and enjoying some movie magic.
M USINGS AND G RUMBLINGS
ROSS PATTERMANN REPORTER
