Blade Runner 2049 completely fails to tell a story. A truly horrible film. Watching it to the end was a torture I endured for educational purposes.

High concept ideas are not a story per se, obviously. Villeneuve´s remarks about "sacrilege" to explain the BR2049 disaster totally miss the point.

Dune fails to tell a story, too, although granted it is visually much more interesting than BR2049. It has a great, immersive world building which carried me just well enough through the first half of the film. But then Dune really started to drag, because it is a mere chain of events, never a story. Where is the protagonist´s conflict? What is his aim? What set him on this journey? Can the plot test his flaws and drive him right into hell? A dream about a girl with blue eyes is no conflict. A mere survival "story" is no story. Obstacles only become real obstacles when the hero has a clear intention beyond survival. Father loves him, mother loves him, everybody loves him except some wild guys in the desert and some weird guys on a grey planet. No conflict.

Villeneuve could have done a very good job with a good script. But he made the same mistake as with BR2049: Doing an expensive movie with a screenplay with no real story. His craft is good but that is nothing without a deep understanding for story.

After 2.5 hours the film finishes with no sign of a real conflict, of a story. And the girl with the blue eyes whispers: "This is just the beginning". Frankly, no, this rather looks like the end for Dune.

Steven, are you UK or US... here is a offer for Europe from one of the biggest Panasonic broadcast dealers:

https://www.teltec.de/Specials-Teltec/Aktion/Panasonic-AU-V35C1-VariCam-...

I tested their Demo and ordered my LT from them.

Varicam LT review with shot-by-shot comparison to FS7:
https://vimeo.com/167962330

Now what would the R&D costs of the Varicam sensor and image technology be? Panasonic has so far probably lost a lot of money with the Varicam 35 so it´s good for us and them to now have this image quality available for any serious DP/filmmaker. The LT is clearly aiming at Arri Amira, at half the price.

The Sony FS7 is the paradigm camera in the price range you mention, but also shows serious shortcomings even if you don´t compare it to a master camera as the Varicam LT (which I did).

More footage:

https://vimeo.com/165999334

Had a Varicam LT for 3 days and ordered one after. I´ll try to post a review with a shot by shot comparison with Sony FS7 the next days. Price is right, Amira costs twice as much without lovely ISO5000. Varicam LT offers easy workflow with 65mm, 35mm and 16mm film looks depending on how you use it, so many filmmakers will love it.