Month: February 2026

Dune (2021) – A Science Fiction Movie Review

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This isn’t really a normal review.  I won’t walk through the plot.  Instead, I’ll give my impressions of the movie.  Now, full disclosure, I’ve never read the Dune books.  That alone is pretty remarkable considering they came out in the heyday of my science fiction reading career.  I never could actually tell why I didn’t.  Just something about the story didn’t click for some reason.

The first impression I have of this film is the high quality of the cinematography.  The landscapes both desert and temperate are beautifully filmed.  And the special effects of the colossal machines, space craft and the sand worms are wonderfully done.  Of course, on the theater screen they’re even more impressive.

Next let’s look at the actors.  There is a fairly large cast so there is a range of talent and not every character is given equal attention but the actors for the principal characters do a very fine job of making their parts memorable and entertaining.

The plot is something like the situation in feudal Japan where the emperor is in competition with his warlords and internecine struggle is a constant threat.  But we clearly have House Atreides and the Fremen to root for and everyone else to hiss at.  The battle scenes are impressive and the sword fights are well done and very entertaining.

Now I guess I’m supposed to like the Fremen as they’re the “good guys.”  But honestly, I found them pretty unlikeable.  I much preferred Atreides people (whatever they’re called).  And also, the sisterhood that Paul Atreides’ mother is a member; the Bene Gesserit, I disliked them also.  If I was running that universe, I’d have them rounded up and burned as witches.  They’re very annoying.

Now of course, this first movie isn’t the full story.  The second film is out there waiting for me to watch.  So, I’ll leave this encapsulation of my impressions here.

I highly recommend this movie.  This is good storytelling.  The plot and characters are memorable and engaging.  Two thumbs up.  Bring on part two!

16FEB2026 Marketing Update

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I was going to review another science fiction movie tonight (Her (2013) but about fifteen minutes into the movie I couldn’t get over my dislike for the protagonist (Theodore played by Joaquin Phoenix) so I turned it off.  Once again that “best of” list doesn’t really match up perfectly with my taste.  So far, I’ve had three bombs; Repo Man, Dark Star and now Her.  On the positive side I liked Dark City, Wrath of Khan and Dredd.  And soon I’ll watch Dune which I’ve already seen and liked.  So, this guy is batting slightly better than .500.  To be fair there were other movies on the list that I also like but have already seen.  But the point is I’ll have to make my own version of “The List.”

So, there’s about another ten days or so left in my marketing contract for my book and I have learned a lot about how Amazon Ads work and also what they can and can’t do.  You’re basically buying visibility on Amazon.  The ratio is about one person in a thousand who sees your ad will click on it.  And about one person in ten (approximately) will buy the book.  But you pay money for every click (something like a dollar a click) and so you actually lose money on the sales you make.  It’s quite bizarre.

The next stage in the campaign includes giving away five books on Goodreads to people who signed up and dropping the price on the e-books for two days to $2.99.  And then there will be ads on Bookbub and hopefully this will provide the recognition in the algorithm to boost the books visibility.  And of course there will be some reviews that hopefully entice buyers.  Well, the fate of a self-published author is a lonely one.  But I wanted to write a book and now I know how that looks.

On the positive side I have gotten pretty favorable feedback from some of the readers whose opinions I highly value and that is actually the biggest pleasure of the whole process.  Several people have demanded that I produce a sequel immediately.  Which is kind of a problem.  But I have several different stories that I’ve been toying with and one of them will take the lead and become book two.  It is interesting to me how differently men and women approach the story.  Some of the women wanted to know how Bogey does with the waitress from the end of the book.  Well, everyone has their own way of reading a story I suppose.

Anyone who’s purchased the book and would like to put a review up on Amazon I’d encourage you to do it right away to help me with the push for sales during the upcoming sale.  I’m told that verified purchaser reviews are actually one of the most important marketing factors.

Well, there’s my update.  I’ve been disavowed of my dream of best seller status (sniff).  But I hope that with the rest of the program to come it will spark enough interest to produce a burst of sales.  Excelsior!