Superhero Filmmakers: Where's Our Watchmen?

I still don't see what's so bad about it. It's about as faithful to the comic as a film's going to get.

Watchmen, that is

I watched it just before reading the book admittedly. Maybe my opinion would change were I to watch it again. I dunno.

"about as faithful to the comic as a film's going to get"

that's where it went wrong, though. Because the comic was (in addition to everything else) a very formalist critique of the comic form and movies are a very different medium. For one, they have moving images. Or at least THEY SHOULD.

and "Hallelujah" wasn't in the comic

::shudder::

Edelstein pretty well summed up how noisily lifeless i think it is ("Watchmen is dead on the screen, but I gotta admit it's some corpse: huge, loud and gaseously distended by its own dystopia"), but i'm also one of the only people who doesn't think the source material was all that perfect to begin with.

tons of people don't care for the comic. that said, alex in sf otm when he said the movie was completely tone deaf to the material - i think that's really the key problem with the movie from which all the littler problems emanate

yeah i guess that must be true -- i just got a very "that's it? that's all? van damme" feeling when i read it

yeah the movie got EVERYTHING wrong tone-wise. and theme-wise for that matter.

like i realize its probably hard to get any blockbuster greenlit w/ actors over 30 who are remotely less-than-beautiful, but the fact that theyre middle aged, blemished, baggy skined frumps is kinda the whole goddamn point.

actors too good-looking was really the least of its problems

well yeah.

although Malin Akerman is definitely one of the most astoundingly talentless model-turned-actresses to ever headline a major Hollywood flick (xpost)

i mean zach snyder is michael bay on adhd meds so i wasnt expecting anything above the level of "adolescence-raping horror" but ugh.

I remember almost nothing about this movie

snyder's more like bay on ritalin since the super fast cutting isnt really his bag... im much more willing to believe that snyder could make a good movie one day than bay could

i didnt find any of the cast to be excessively beautiful. laurie's not supposed to be a baggy frump, and patrick wilson captured dan's essential goobertude pretty well. most of the acting is quite bad but i dont really blame the actors for that

oh i missed the "on adhd meds" part

love the graphic novel, but this movie was bleh

patrick wilson totally did a standup job

only place where the casting falls down is an ozymandias that everyone in the cinema could destroy in a fight

matthew goode more like matthew bade

fucking awful film

the comic was a big part of my childhood and i seem to be the only person on earth who found nothing except "hallelujah" to object to in the movie

hey I'm just trying to save you guys from wasting yr hard-earned kopecks on this movie. You'll thank me later

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 18 July 2008 19:09 (3 years ago)

Grant Morrison defended this movie in a recent interview; maybe he'll get Snyder to do Invisibles or We3?

dude he already has the producer of League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen and the Transformers movies on We3

this totally seems like it would be in Gmo's wheelhouse

fucking awful film

you said that a few posts ago.

"fucking awful film"

awful fucking film

fifth pilfered filthy pilchard falafel

to be fair, this film was fucking awful

and there was awful fucking

it's awfully fucked

the comic was a big part of my childhood and i seem to be the only person on earth who found nothing except "hallelujah" to object to in the movie

I liked it too.

I wonder if the point of the hallelujah bit is to make you go "jesus christ this is disgusting", just as it would be if you were actually watching two old fetish people getting it on?

I doubt it. Also neither of them are old

dont really see how malin akerman is disgusting unless you hate people with oblong heads

fucking awful film mind you

im much more willing to believe that snyder could make a good movie one day than bay could

He already did, it was called "Dawn of the Dead."

yeah yeah i know. i liked DotD, though it's pretty clear now that James Gunn's script is why it was good. bay also made The Rock which was a good movie, but im positive he'll never make that mistake again.

The Rock was not a good movie. [/objective scientific view]

lol I actually saw some of this on TV the other day - was kinda worth it for my wife's lolzy reactions, but not really

http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/underwire/2012/01/WATCHMEN_2012_OZY_Cvr.jpg

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/01/books/dc-comics-plans-prequels-to-watchmen-series.html

Brian Azzarello, a comics author who is writing the mini-series for the Watchmen characters Rorschach and the Comedian, said he expected an initial wave of resistance because “a lot of comic readers don’t like new things.”

er...

“It’s our responsibility as publishers to find new ways to keep all of our characters relevant,” said DC Entertainment Co-Publishers Dan DiDio and Jim Lee. “After twenty five years, the Watchmen are classic characters whose time has come for new stories to be told. We sought out the best writers and artists in the industry to build on the complex mythology of the original.”

I love how Alan Moore just gives the same response he always gives to everything.

“I think the gut reaction is going to be, ‘Why?’ ” Mr. Azzarello said in a telephone interview. “But then when the actual books come out, the answer will be, ‘Oh, that’s why.’

the accounting books

Azzarello's writing Wonder Woman for DC's New 52 and it's not bad, and his Joker graphic novel from 2010 was well receive if a little overrated, but this? Eh.

no, i LIKE azzarello but doing watchmen for a DC that could not proclaim its creative bankruptcy more clearly is the king of NAGL