There's a book and two movies that were based on it I'd like to write a review about - Dune by Frank Herbert.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dune_(novel)


I read it only about six times or so, and was fascinated at the world Herbert managed to create, about people who wanted to tame their desert planet into a living world, about intrigues inside other intrigues, about plans inside other plans and conspiracies inside other conspiracies - these are the things that really made this book famous. Then David Lynch made a movie:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087182/


I watched it in 1989, I think, and imagine my disappointment about the whole thing when I watched it. There was nothing left of the book. Really nothing. Just some third-rate story. I was crushed. Even the main concept of the book about a boy who tried act as a god for his people had turned upside down somehow and now it was about some really godlike figure who got into trouble by mistake.
I know it's really hard to make a movie out of this book (where the main intrigue is taking place inside people's minds and characters' thoughts are very important), but really, could Lynch at least try to make something out of it. He's not a bad producer, after all.

Well, then there was 2 computer games, one based on the book, but the second one (Dune 2 - The battle for Arrakis), though had little in common with the book but the world and major houses names, was still revolutionary and the founder of a new genre in computer games - real time strategy.

Finally, in 2000, 16 years after David Lynch, there was another attempt (which turned out much better than the first one):

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0142032/

Of course, even though I have to admit that most of the actors were unknown to me and many played rather poorly, still it was a movie I liked. I was shot very close to the original book (thus making it over 4 hours long) but it was worth the time. Everything there was as authentic as possible and if you will ever be in doubt - pick this one.