by contributing writer Howard Anderton

Dune.

Man, Dune.

That movie sucks.

David Lynch.

Man, David Lynch…

Unquestionably, he’s one of the most gifted filmmakers who ever lived: David Lynch, a bona fide weirdo, and the grand transgressor of American cinema. His best scenes live on in your mind just like those dreams you’ll never forget: the nightmarish arrival of Robert Blake in Lost Highway, the circus-freak march of The Elephant Man, Dennis Hopper’s oxygen mask in Blue Velvet.

Some of Lynch’s work I embrace and love: The Straight Story is amazing. But most of his work I either don’t touch with a ten foot pole or don’t have the stomach to finish. Admittedly, the only films in the first paragraph I didn’t shut off were The Elephant Man and Blue Velvet. I loved The Elephant Man. I wish I could unsee Blue Velvet.

As alienating as his films are to me, he is a erudite man and a gifted communicator.

The man knows film, and he knows how to communicate his love for film. Heck, even our tastes are similar—he loves Hitchcock even more than I do. I have an intense amount of respect and admiration for Lynch, and for his command of the medium.

And then we have Dune. I was six years old when I first saw this film, and it stuck in my head: The bad guys’ six-inch-long eyebrows… The super-evolved, space-folding psychic monster men… knife-fights with bizarre yellow energy shields… Sting… Even as a kid, I wanted to like the film—giant worms and spaceships, come on!—but it didn’t make a lick of sense.

Thank God for Netflix streaming. In a moment of idle curiosity, I found Dune again. I’ve been on a pre-90s sci-fi kick lately (old school Doctor Who! Yes!!), so I clicked on it…

…and oh my goodness, I feel like throwing up.

The film opens with a shot of Virginia Madsen staring at the screen, fading in and out, setting up the world of Dune for us by talking directly to the camera. It is the year 10,000-something. Something about “the spice must flow.” A bunch of weird names like Atrides and Arrakis. I’m sort of captivated—kudos to Madsen and Lynch for creating a dreamlike erotic atmosphere… but I can’t understand a word she’s saying. Is that English?

Check the opening out. I can’t embed it from youtube, but you can watch it here.

Fade down Virginia Madsen. Fade up opening credits.

And then comes one bizarre, incredibly over-plotted, incomprehensibly weird scene after another.

The casting’s insane: Kyle Maclachlan, Patrick Stewart, Linda Hunt, Francesca Annis, Dean Stockwell, Sting, Jurgen Pronchow, Brad Dourif, Max von Snydow, Richard Jordan, Fernando Rey, Sean Young. All somehow leave a distinct impression on the viewer, delivering full-bodied characterizations in the midst of a very messy film.

The villains of Dune are classic David Lynch. Brad Dourif, whose ridiculous pyscho-religious dialogue and bizarre gestures and body language set the viewer on edge. Kenneth McMillan as a flying, psychopathic fat man. A bunch of attendants with their eyes and ears sewn shut. A psychotic doctor who whispers sweet nothings into Kenneth McMillan’s ears while sucking puss out of his face. A bald witch lady. Michael Bolton.* Sting.

About halfway through the movie—long after I gave up trying to make sense of it–Kyle Maclachlan and his mother get stranded in the desert. They’re taken in by some sort of native terrorist tribe run by Everett McGill, who has the coolest voice this side of James Earl Jones. From this point on, the movie threatens us with comprehensibility… there’s a neat sequence where Maclachlan uses some sort of psychic shouting thing to blow up rocks. The giant worms show up. The editing becomes smooth (it’s a complete hack job up until this point), and the film’s atmosphere becomes stronger. In another sequence, Kyle Maclachlan drinks a potion and goes on an acid trip. When he wakes up, the giant worms are sitting at his feet like puppy dogs, and he’s become, apparently, some sort of Future Space Jesus Christ.

At this point, I have the impression that Lynch may have had a good film here somewhere during the editing process.

I also have a headache. I pop a Tylenol and continue.

Finally, there’s a climactic battle in which the heroes attack a future space dessert city while riding giant worms. It should be noted that the special effects here aren’t the greatest, and the battle looks like… well, it’s a bunch of penis-shaped worm puppets attacking a miniature city.

The good guys win. Virginia Madsen shows up for the first time since the opening, speaking one line (why was she in this movie again)? Kyle Maclachlan fights Sting and stabs him to death. Then Kyle Maclachlan, summoning his Future Space Jesus Christ powers, makes it rain. Cue closing credits.

All in all… what the heck just happened?

That said, I think there was a good film in there. It should have been an hour longer, allowing Lynch to flesh out the story and give us something more comprehensible. The novel Dune is based on is thick—like 544 pages. It is regarded as the Lord of the Rings of science fiction—i.e. it is a unique, intricate, and complete world, filled with maps and glossaries and mishmash. Imagine if the first Lord of the Rings film had been cut down to two hours. We all would’ve hated it.

According to my research,** Lynch turned in a four hour cut, and it was chopped down by the producers for release—Lynch was contractually obliged to turn in a two hour film. An obvious mistake on the producers’ part.

Ridley Scott was developing Dune to direct before Lynch, and had suggested splitting the first book’s story into two films. This was probably the wisest choice. The Sci-fi Channel’s miniseries adaptation of the novel spanned six hours, and apparently made a lot more sense. There’s just too much information in the novel to adapt into a sensical two hour film.

Lynch’s film has its good points, buried in an obsence mess of uniformly awful editing. The score by Toto is sublime. The cinematography by Freddie Francis is atmospheric and heady. The performances, as I noted earlier, are full-bodied, weird, and attention-grabbing. And it has the touch of an auteur, which can make a terrible film like Dune more entertaining to me than vacuous fluff like Night at The Museum.

That said, it still made me wanna throw up. Netflix it at your own risk.

· Bolton can be spotted in a single shot at the end of the film. He plays a drummer during a climactic knife fight between Sting and Kyle Maclachlan.

** By research, of course, I mean Wikipedia.

Robert Duvall turns 80 today.

Hiyao Miyazaki turns 70.

The blogosphere’s heaping an incredible, much-deserved amount of attention on the great Robert Duvall, and there’s no way I could show my appreciation better than they do.

But I’m not reading a lot about Mr. Miyazaki, who along with John Lassiter remains the most important filmmaker in the world.

Here’s a smattering of trailers for his masterful animated children’s films:

Two years ago, I stood less than six feet from both Mr. Lassiter and Mr. Miyazaki in the press pit at San Diego Comic-Con.  I swear I got misty-eyed when Miyazaki, humble and soft-spoken, emerged onto the stage to promote his latest, the ecstatic fantasy-comedy Ponyo (which you should watch right now on Netflix streaming).  As I saw clips from Ponyo, I witnessed an animator who had completely reinvented his style, abandoning computer-aided drawing for a hand-drawn technique that at times looks almost fingerpainted.

He is one of the few filmmakers that is so gifted at invoking sense that you can almost smell the film.  But his images, often hallucinagenic in their beauty, are built around carefully constructed, specific stories.

His masterpieces–My Neighbor Totoro, The Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, and Castle in The Sky–burst with candy-colored detail.  The gentle, character-based beauty of My Neighbor Totoro somehow uses animated fantasy to invoke the works of Ozu.  The Princess Monoke is an uncharacteristically dark, rich action film.  Spirited Away is Alice in Wonderland for this generation: a bold fantasy that works as both family entertainment and acidic satire.  Castle in The Sky stands as a masterpiece of action filmmaking and environmental dogmatism.

Take some time today to investigate the immense, captivating worlds created by Hiyao Miyazaki.  Happy birthday, Sensei.

In this episode: We interview filmmaker, Azazel Jacobs. Azazel is the writer/director of films such as, the critically-acclaimed MOMMA’S MAN, and THE GOODTIMES KID. Both films are highly recommended. Make sure you check out MOMMA’S MAN while it’s still on Netflix Watch Instantly.

Azazel is an extremely talented filmmaker and it was a pleasure to have such a lengthy conversation with him about his work and technique. I am a big fan of his films and can’t wait for his next one! Thank you to Azazel for taking the time to do this interview.

You can also listen to any of our podcasts by clicking on the player at the top right, or by subscribing to our podcast on iTunes.

“Momma’s Man” trailer

“The GoodTimes Kid” trailer

July 14, 2010 – The Wagner/Cuban Companies’ Magnolia Pictures announced today that it has acquired world rights to Oscar-nominee Casey Affleck’s directorial debut, I’M STILL HERE, a striking portrayal of a tumultuous year in the life of internationally acclaimed actor Joaquin Phoenix. With remarkable access, I’M STILL HERE follows the Oscar-nominee as he announces his retirement from a successful film career in the fall of 2008 and sets off to reinvent himself as a hip hop musician. Sometimes funny, sometimes shocking, and always riveting, the film is a portrait of an artist at a crossroads. Defying expectations, it deftly explores notions of courage and creative reinvention, as well as the ramifications of a life spent in the public eye.

Magnolia will release I’M STILL HERE on Friday, September 10th.

The deal was negotiated by Magnolia’s SVP Tom Quinn, Acquisitions VP Dori Begley and Head of Business Affairs Chris Matson, with Liesl Copland for WME Global.

What do you think of I’M STILL HERE? Do you have any desire to see it? Please comment below and let us know.

Jared (L) talks with writer/director Bryan Poyser (R)

After the SXSW screening of “Lovers of Hate” in Austin, TX we sat down with the writer/director/editor of the film, Bryan Poyser. Bryan also wrote and directed the festival favorite, “Dear Pillow”.

Death to the Movies: Thanks for talking with us, Bryan.

Bryan Poyser: It’s my pleasure.

DttM: I understand you grew up here in Austin, is that right?

BP: I didn’t grow up here, but I have been here since 1993. I went to school here at the University of Texas, and I really enjoyed it so I’ve stuck around since then.

DttM: Where are you from originally?

BP: I’ve lived in many different places from Connecticut to Washington to New York City.

DttM: Did you get your start in filmmaking here in Austin then?

BP: I was actually more interested in being an actor in high school. At my high school, they had a thing called “Senior projects” where you take your last year to do whatever you wanted. So I decided to make a movie. I ended up making this really terrible and ridiculous “Lost Boys” rip-off vampire movie. It was shot on VHS and it was so cheap and stupid, like the vampires were out during the day because we didn’t know how to light scenes at night. It was pretty terrible and embarrassing and I hope whatever VHS copies remain are so degraded that no one can ever see it. But the experience of doing that, of being creatively consumed, hanging out all day in the A.V. room editing tape-to-tape, was so fulfilling. It was the first time I came upon something that fulfilled me in all aspects, emotionally, creatively, spiritually, it was just so much fun. It made me not want to be lazy, I worked really hard on it. Even though it turned out bad it made me think that this is what I want to do and I want to get better at this. So that’s when I enrolled at UT to become a filmmaker.

DttM: “Lovers of Hate” is featured on Video on Demand, how do you feel something like that will help the exposure of independent film today?

BP: For me, the last two features I did didn’t make a dime and hardly anyone saw them. With this new film we were fortunate enough to make it into Sundance and South by Southwest, the two biggest festivals in the US, and the exposure that the film has gotten just through these festivals has probably given us the most press we’ll get for it. With companies like IFC, who picked up the film, they’re trying out this new model where the festivals are almost like the theatrical run for the movie and it’s like we should strike while the iron is hot. Meaning when people are talking about the movie, and people are doing interviews with me like this one, and people are aware of the existence of the film, that’s when we should make the film available to an audience that might not have it in their city. With “Dear Pillow” I was on the festival circuit for 1 1/2 years, it took another 1 1/2 years just to get it out on DVD, and then the company that distributed it folded a year later. And I got so much out of that movie, it got an Independent Spirit Award nomination, it opened so many doors for us, it helped people take notice of what we were doing, but it just took so long for it to become available to people. So it was like, as much as I want people to see our film in the theaters and as much as I love the experience of having the film play at festivals, why not take a chance, lets try this and see if this Video on Demand thing is gonna work.

DttM: What’s your criteria or what do you look for when you watch a movie?

BP: My only request to the filmmaker is to show me something new. Surprise me because I’ve watched a lot of movies, I’ve soaked up movies since I was a kid but after seeing so much you get used to the tropes and the formulas. That’s what Hollywood is good at, but I’m always waiting for it to get me to the point where I can’t help but question the plot’s next move.

Bryan Poyser (L) with some of the cast & crew at the SXSW premiere of “Lovers of Hate”

DttM: Were there any movies that specifically inspired you?

BP: Most filmmakers today always go back to the 70′s, I was lucky enough where growing up with my step-dad,  he showed me a lot of things like that. I was 14 and he would say things like “You’ve never seen Raging Bull? Taxi Driver? Midnight Cowboy?”. While these movies were quite advanced to what I was ready for at that age, again they surprised me. They jolted me to realize there is a more deep and psychologically rich cinema out there that I wasn’t getting from these extravaganzas and blockbusters at the cinema.

DttM: Have you seen any films here at SXSW that you particularly enjoyed?

BP: I haven’t seen too many unfortunately. I’ve seen “Cold Weather” by Aaron Katz. It was interesting and showed some similarities to my own film that was interesting. It had some surprising genre elements of action and suspense and had a wet, soggy, and beautiful landscape surrounding it. It was a beautiful character piece and was again surprising to me where it switches from a relationship piece to almost a mystery, but I also have a lot of friends here showing films as well such as “Tiny Furniture”, “Happy Poet”,  and “Mars”. That’s the great thing about South by Southwest is that we bring movies from all around the world but we also use it to showcase what we have here in Texas as well.

DttM: What do you have next that you’re working on?

BP: Actually, I have a  script that I’ve been working on.

DttM: A vampire script?

BP: Yes, [laughs] well no, but it is a thriller actually and is set in an elevator. I wrote the script before “Lovers of Hate” and just finished a re-write so I’m gonna try looking for financing and if it doesn’t work out I’ll be sure to write something else.

DttM: Thanks so much Bryan, it was great talking with you.

BP: Thanks, you too.

Lovers of Hate is currently available on IFC’s VOD. Check out the trailer here

And the official website here

For our review on Lovers of Hate, click here