Amazing what a quick shoot this was - under 2.5 months with a similar pre-production lead-in. By keeping the focus on Cruise Cruise Cruise and not the war, Spielberg knocked this over in half the time you'd normally expect for a big budget sci-fi invasion film.

Agree with the problems raised above. Also it was mis-marketed as an ID4 extravaganza, which must have left many disappointed. The battle was just over the ridge but we can't quite see it.

Also, it's exhibit A in Deus Ex Machina endings. Not its fault (that's how the book ends) but passive protagonists don't make for satisfying blockbuster movies.

An intermission about endings. There are great movies and lame movies, but most popular mainstream movies fall into the bell-curve middle of 'okay' movies. From these, it's almost always the final act that lets them down. The premise and opening is the easiest to make interesting. The second act is character development and setbacks and raising stakes. But Hollywood movies are like a metaphorical funnel where, no matter how they started, have to end the same way e.g. race against time, chase, one-on-one goody v baddy confrontation, villain dies, loose ends are resolved, etc.

Is it the studios (and test screenings) that insist that the final act conform to some template, like a tablet from the Mount?

I often only see the first two-thirds of a movie (as they're usually the best) and as soon as the final act starts , I switch off as that's where the movie is on metaphorical railroad tracks.

Just heard a few Danny Boyle commentaries: Sunshine, 28 Days Later - very good. Lots of interesting insight into the production and thought processes behind the story.

It was a good point you guys made about commentaries being recorded immediately when the DVD/BR is released (and these days the interval between theatrical release and 'home video' release is getting narrower). The director will still be in 'PR spin' mode with 90% of whatever anyone says is BS. The need to kiss ass and stroke egos in Hollywood is astounding.

But a 5, 10, 15, 20 year anniversary re-release, when the pressure is off to sell the movie, can result in a frank re-appraisal, constructive criticism, etc. Imagine Harrison Ford doing a commentary for the Holiday Special now.

I've probably heard about 150-odd commentaries:
The best: All of David Fincher's, Ridley Scott's (e.g. Gladiator, Alien), James Cameron's movies (Aliens, Titanic, T2), and Peter Jackson on LOTR and King Kong (2005).
Professor Christopher Frayling on the Sergio Leone 'Man with no Name' trilogy, and Frankenstein 1933 are VERY informative in putting the films in a greater context with amazing amounts of behind-the-scenes details.

Not so much a fan of cast commentaries as most actors just relate random production anecdotes (e.g. 'Woody Allen fell asleep so we kept on shooting')

Riff Trax - I've yet to laugh at anything they've done. Maybe raised half-a-lame chuckle once during '300'.

RE: DUNE
To give it justice, they'd have to include all that political intrigue and powerplay between the various Houses, the Guild, the Bene Gesserit, and half a dozen other institutions, then there's all the religious commentary (manipulating the gullible with hocus pocus), the background of the Butlerian Jihad, as well a great adventure yarn of mother & son in the desert. The screeplay writer will have his work cut out for him - it's at least as challenging as the LOTR screenplays, which needed a prologue and lengthy exposition at Bag End and the Council of Elrond.

But the reality is, the bigger the budget the more it boils down to good guys in the red corner, bad guys in the blue corner, and they slug it out, in between hour-long chase sequences.

I'd love to see it happen (i.e. 3 x 3 hour treatment) but I'm sceptical.

>However, Dune was written by a particular man in a particular time frame, with specific ideas in mind.

I wonder how much Herbert was inspired by Lawrence of Arabia. He wrote Dune in the mid-1960s and the Lean film came out early 1960s. Once again, an outsider leads religious desert-dwellers to overthrow a powerful, corrupt empire. There's a sabotage campaign, there's uniting the tribes, there's 'going native'.

Yes, I'd love to see the battle of Arrakeen on film - giant sandworms breaching a gap in the cliffs created by atomic weapons and pouring into a city. The 1984 movie forgot to add in the city during this sequence. It'd be expensive.

DIF are the best fan commentaries in terms of entertainment, knowledge, audio quality and accessibility.

In terms of OFFICIAL non-crew commentaries, then Christopher Frayling's spaghetti western commentaries are superb.

Close Encounters - I listened to the commentary and enjoyed your discussion about how didactic movies have become since the 1970s. In mainstream big budget American movies, evildoers are punished, and the virtuous are rewarded. In indie films and in European films, you can have moral ambiguity that reflects life i.e. bastards can prosper without getting a come-uppance and the innocent can suffer.

There must be some budget level (e.g. $1 million? $5 million?) where suddenly studio execs insist 'no that child/kitten cannot die' and that villain has to be killed/jailed at the end.