Superhero Filmmakers: Where's Our Watchmen?

Some panels that correspond with the stills blueski posted above:

http://img510.imageshack.us/img510/4835/watchmen1up7.jpg

http://img509.imageshack.us/img509/2829/watchmen2xv6.jpeg

http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/7523/watchmen3qw5.jpeg

Like how the comic was a comic about comics, the movie is a movie about movies.

does not compute

Uh, ok. I guess not, if you're determined to be dumb/stubborn/whatever.

you might note that I'm not complaining about anachronisms - which are crucial to the "alternate reality" theme of the story - I'm complaining abotu STUPID SHIT that is in there for no reason and has nothing to do with the character other than "oooh we need to have the bad guy in black. leather. with nipples. wouldn't that be cool."

saying its a movie about movies is a gross misrepresentation - its a movie about a comic book about comic books. unless they've completely re-written the plot.

I wonder if this will be worse than V For Vendetta was.

Snyder has exlicitly stated that Ozymandias has nipples because of the Clooney-era Batsuit, in the spirit of recontextualization that Pancakes mentions. Like it or not, it's definitely not them trying to be "bad guy in scary outfit" or whatever.

Er maybe it's because designing a costume that an actual guy has to actually wear is different from just drawing one? The metal looking collar and cuffs he has in the book look quite impractical; they're still there in the movie, just a bit more realistic. And maybe on screen a poncey purple robe really doesn't look like an effective superhero costume.

xp.

i thought homeboy had nips in the comix

http://www.flytecrewblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/watchpeanuts.jpg

okay I would watch that 24/7

Linus as the Comedian is rather inspired

I wonder if this will be worse than V For Vendetta was.

I wouldn't think it was possible but Snyder looks set to prove me wrong.

ref'ing Schumacher Batman films = stupidest excuse I've ever heard

I think Shroeder should be Manhattan and Charlie Brown the Night Owl. Of course that makes Pigpen Oz which makes no sense at all.

so in the spirit of "recontextualization" did all the Minutemen don costumes cuz they were inspired to fight crime by Fantastic Four: The Rise of the Silver Surfer? Or was it more of a Dolph Lundgren-as-the-Punisher thing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watchmen_(film)

In December 2006, comic book artists Adam Hughes and John Cassaday were confirmed to work on character and costume design for Watchmen. Costume tests were being done by March 2007. 300 associate producer Wesley Coller played Rorschach in a costume test, which Snyder inserted into an R-rated trailer for 300. Although he intended to stay faithful to the look of the characters in the comic, Snyder intended Nite Owl to look scarier, and wanted Ozymandias to possess authentic Egyptian attire and artifacts. Nite Owl and Silk Spectre changed most from the comic, as Snyder felt "audiences might not appreciate the naiveté of the original costumes. So, there has been some effort to give them a (...) modern look — and not modern in the sense of 2007, but modern in terms of the superhero aesthetic". Snyder also wanted the costumes to "comment directly on many of today’s modern masked vigilantes": The Ozymandias costume, with its molded muscles and nipples, parodies the costumes in Batman Forever (1995) and Batman & Robin (1997). Set designers selected four Kansas City sculptors' works for use in the set of Dr. Manhattan's apartment after discovering their works on the Internet.

So, it looks like everyone's right! It's meta-commentary on modern superhero costumes and an attempt to pander to the audience with glossier costumes. You may now make out.

test marketing indicated widespread nipple parody approval

ref'ing Schumacher Batman films = stupidest excuse I've ever heard

Yeah because it's not like THOSE had any impact on the culture, right?

so in the spirit of "recontextualization" did all the Minutemen don costumes cuz they were inspired to fight crime by Fantastic Four: The Rise of the Silver Surfer? Or was it more of a Dolph Lundgren-as-the-Punisher thing.

Jesus Christ, Shakey, he's keeping the thing set in 1985, he's keeping the 1940s "Minutemen," by all accounts he's keeping the ending, what the hell is your problem here? The "recontextualization" amounts to dealing with these characters in the medium in which they're appearing, which is NOT A PIECE OF PAPER in case you hadn't noticed. If you want this movie to be even remotely watchable, Oz's costume from the comic simply would not fly. Maybe on some mid-budget Sci-Fi Channel original, but not here.

I mean, "OMFG OZYMANDIAS HAS NIPPLES THIS MOVIE IS RUINED" puts the dumbest Star Trek fanboy shit to shame.

Anyway, in the trailer scene where Dr. M appears in the cafeteria, you can definitely see some blue wang, so there's that.

Also:

http://www.toshistation.com/images/watchbabies1.jpg

"I mean, "OMFG OZYMANDIAS HAS NIPPLES THIS MOVIE IS RUINED" puts the dumbest Star Trek fanboy shit to shame."

I think Shakey has other reasons for thinking this movie is going to suck.

Like the fact that it's directed by a complete moron for example.

my point is this should not have been made into a movie at all, precisely because it will not translate well to film. Not because of all the minor details like, say, Ozzy's nipples (although those do matter - Moore was very meticulous in making every minor detail relevant to the larger plot), but because it is, as you say, a comic book about comics, and trying to make that into a movie about movies about comic books while also adhering tto the original plot is simply not possible. This film is a stupid fucking idea and I can't believe any of you are willing to pay money to further this fuckwit Snyder's career.

"OMFG I SAW A BIT OF BILLY CRUDUPS BLUE WANG THIS MOVIE IS GREAT" > "OMFG OZYMANDIAS HAS NIPPLES THIS MOVIE IS RUINED"

Watchmen poll

Not because of all the minor details like, say, Ozzy's nipples (although those do matter - Moore was very meticulous in making every minor detail relevant to the larger plot)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/72/LolitaPoster.jpg

TS: James Mason's wang vs. Shelly Winter's nipples

obv. Veidt's erect nipples are a commentary on the political polarity yet similarity between Nixon's victorious regime and the Soviet bloc and the resultant paradox

Unfortunately for you Pancakes this is more like the remake of Lolita.

Guess we'll see, huh? (Didn't see the "Lolita" remake, anyway.)

I am going to recommend to WB publicity that "This film is a stupid fucking idea and I can't believe any of you are willing to pay money to further this fuckwit Snyder's career" go on the posters, though.

It's still a better than whatever Roeper's going to come up with.

Well, yeah. I'm waiting for Rex Reed.

Morbius will love this:

“If you look, when you see Adrian (Veidt) hitting this would-be assassin in the trailer, the guy gets hit with a stanchion, one of those brass stanchions, and the guy flies in the fountain,” Snyder revealed to us, making reference to the scene in Alan Moore’s classic comic where Ozymandias avoids an assassination attempt.

“(The assassin) has a gun,” Snyder explained, remembering the difficult process of transforming his dark, R-rated film into a trailer for the masses. “So the MPAA said, ‘Look you can’t have him (holding the gun)‘ … I don’t even think it’s one second. I think it’s like 12 frames. He’s pointing the gun at the camera, and they said, ‘You can’t do that.’”

For years, the MPAA has prohibited weapons from being pointed at the “viewer” in advertising, presumably for fear that it will freak them out. That’s why you always see guns pointed at angles on movie posters and in film trailers.

“So we erased the gun,” Snyder grinned. “And put a walkie-talkie in his hand.”

As many film geeks remember — and are still angry about — Steven Spielberg famously re-released his family classic “E.T.” in 2002 after using CGI to transform the gun-wielding federal agents into less-threatening agents holding walkie-talkies.

“It was a total Spielberg reference,” laughed Snyder. “Because I was like, ‘Well, it worked for Spielberg, so we should do that. Just put a walkie-talkie in his hand!’ … (The editors) were like, ‘But then you cut to a real gun!’ but I’m like, ‘No one will ever see that; they’ll think he had a gun in the other shot, so it’s fine.’”

I think the idea of making movie watchmen about other superhero movies is a pretty smart move. I didn't see 300, cause it looked like a piece of shit. But then, the comic was a piece of shit, too! So maybe given an excellent comic to adapt Snyder will be able to make an excellent movie from it.

On the other hand, maybe I'm just wishin'.

Okay, so Snyder has done:

"Dawn of the Dead" (remake): a movie I will never see
"300": good brainless fun and stylistically awesome
"Guardians of Ga'Hoole": lol waht teh eff
"Watchmen": stylistically intersting based on the trailer but seemingly way too large a project to successfully make the transition to film

What makes him an idiot? I know nothing about him.

Dawn of the Dead was ok for a completely unnecessary remake

yep

yeah dawn of the dead wasnt nearly as bad as it should have been

Watch a minute of a Snyder interview.

Some morons can make good movies btw. But I don't think a moron is going to be able to make a good movie out of Watchmen. Hell I don't think a GENIUS could make a good movie out of Watchmen.

I'm kind of with Shakey on this one. It seems at best pointless, I dunno, I might be wrong, but s.th about the whole thing seems kind of leaden and unimaginative, like Dr Manhattan's mars clock base thing in the comic was all freaky and other, somehow. In the trailer, oh look, more CGI puffery (yawn) seen it before. Kind of hard to explain how/why exactly, but it rubs me up the wrong way totally.

In all fairness, I'm sure that's going to look more impressive on a movie screen than on a computer monitor.

(unless of course you've got a 914" monitor)

did you take 3 minutes to actually calculate the size in inches of a movie screen?

give him some credit, it was 2 minutes

oh wait

6 looked liked a 5

I had to find out what the size of a movie screen was first!

ANYWAY.

I thought the mars clockamajig looked great! The only effect in the trailer that looked kinda shoddy to me was the Vietnam bit.

I'm cautiously stoked, but I don't blame anyone for being uber-skeptical about this at all.

dawn of the dead was a decent remake but i don't know why anyone need to see it, really. 300 was pretty retarded. this one could be good, it at least looks interesting, as i should hope it would.

this is kind of a shitty comic book anyways

out.