In my opinion, the 1984 film adaptation of “Dune” by director David Lynch is a pretty messy failure. Even though it speeds by in two hours, it still feels like it needs another two hours to explain everything properly (and supposedly there was an original 4-hour assembly).

My favourite part of the film turned out to be Virginia Madsen’s portrayal of Princess Irulan, and her neverending monologue at the beginning of the film, which provides a decent “Dune for Dummies” explanation of the background and the plot. It should fail epically, but there’s something about her enrapturing gaze that grabbed me, and brought me much deeper into the film than I had any business in being. I wish she’d do a reading of the entire book like this.

The 2000 miniseries featuring William Hurt does a better job of portraying the expansive plot, but the film has way better sandworm special effects. But of course, you should just go ahead and read the book in the first place.