Superhero Filmmakers: Where's Our Watchmen?

how's that working out for you

I've actually liked all the Kevin Smith films I've seen. He's not much of a filmmaker, yes, but at least the dialogue is usually funny.

Sin City, on the had, was at least cinematically ambitious, but nevertheless a failure, because 1) it tried to cram three different comic series into one movie instead of filming just one of them, thus making the pacing terrible with no breathing space at all, and 2) the director thought he could do the exact same things in a movie than in a comic, and it would still look equally good. Stuff like the cartoonish weightless bodies or caricatures like the Yellow Bastard simply looked silly, because cinema is inherently a more "realistic" medium, and therefore exaggeration and caricaturization can't be used in it the same way as in a comic.

(xxx-post)

Film is a different medium than comic, and you as a filmmaker should realize that.

-- Tuomas, Wednesday, August 20, 2008 7:36 PM (12 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

ya no duh. that doesn't mean experimenting by combining the two might not be worthwhile! or at least produce interesting results.

i agree it's not quite a success but it was still pretty neat & different and a lot more interesting than many other ways a sin city adaptation could have gone.

i mean the fact that people are making experimental art flicks based on "sin city" these days still kind of blows my mind... think about what an '80s adaptation would have looked like

Reloaded is great, though! It's Revolution that is super-embarrassing.

Tuomas:

1. If Rodriguez/Miller had only done one story, the movie would have been 40 minutes long.
2. The entire point of the movie was to transfer the comic book's imagery to film; change that and you basically have three shitty stories unworthy of direct-to-video release. (or s1ocki OTM)

The entire point of the movie was to transfer the comic book's imagery to film

this doesn't strike me as a particularly good reason to make a movie

what does strike you as a particularly good reason to make a movie?

eh, grandma?

"I really wanted to help the homeless, so I decided to make 'The House Bunny'."

In Every Multiplex, A Meet The Spartans

</raggett>

1. If Rodriguez/Miller had only done one story, the movie would have been 40 minutes long.

I think you could've actually easily made an enjoyable 90-100 minute feature film based on the first comic only. But now the whole story is told in 50 minutes super-speed with no room for atmospherics, breathing space, etc. For example, take the scene where Marv walks in the rain and tries to figure out who's pulling the strings behind everything that's happened. In the comic Miller devotes several splash pages to it, and it really feels like a needed pause between the action scenes, a calm before the final storm. But in the movie the whole scene is done with fast cuts in a couple of minutes, and it doesn't have the same effect at all.

omg that would have been the most excruciating thing on Earth

what does strike you as a particularly good reason to make a movie?

To make an adaptation that uses cinema's own strengths and gives the viewer a new interpretation of the basic story, instead of slavishly copying all the visual aspects and the plot from the original comic.

</raggett>

Too true.

To make an adaptation that uses cinema's own strengths and gives the viewer a new interpretation of the basic story, instead of slavishly copying all the visual aspects and the plot from the original comic.

-- Tuomas, Wednesday, August 20, 2008 8:05 PM (17 seconds ago) Bookmark Link

what if the visual aspect is the only interesting thing about it?

15 minutes of Marv walking in the rain is probably the number one thing I would say "Sin City" would never need.

(again, s1ocki OTM)

one of the reasons Sin City sucked was exactly the way it tried so slavishly to transfer everything in the original comic to the screen.

-- Tuomas

both of them are visually-stunning; most of my enjoyment of both movies came from the deep commitment to visual style evidenced in both.

Robert Bresson's Sin City.

i think it farts and sings

how's that working out for you

fine really

what if the visual aspect is the only interesting thing about it?

then its NOT A GOOD IDEA. sheesh.

what if the visual aspect is the only interesting thing about it?

Well, then you should realize that sometimes a certain visual aspect only works well in a comic book. If you can't come with any original ways of trying to convey the same effect in cinematic terms, don't try to slavishly the ape the comic's visuals if they're bound to look silly onscreen.

(x-post)

yeah the Man Without Fear is pretty unfuckwithable

jessica rabbit was hot in the comics too

http://www.cinematical.com/media/2008/04/jessicarabbit1.jpg

im not even a big sin city fan, it's just that the dogmatic approach to what SHOULD and SHOULDNT be a movie is kind of annoying

I go back to my "jesus god you people are dour" post.

convincing world-hating brutalist Crass schlocky alive dynamic kinda adult arrested erotic explicit Disneyfied Maxim squeaky-clean T&A full-grown/stunted sexuality fuck you fury robotically beautiful slickness ugly as shit visually-stunning appallingly stupid ugly graceless farts drools sings

Radiohead's finest lyrical hour.

Roger Rabbit is great btw. I tend to hate Zemeckis (who doesn't?) but that one is a real gem.

im not even a big sin city fan, it's just that the dogmatic approach to what SHOULD and SHOULDNT be a movie is kind of annoying

So you can't criticize movies if you find them lacking in certain ways?

Stuff like the cartoonish weightless bodies or caricatures like the Yellow Bastard simply looked silly, because cinema is inherently a more "realistic" medium, and therefore exaggeration and caricaturization can't be used in it the same way as in a comic.

I don't know, anytime I need a cheer-up it's pretty great to think of Elijah wood grimacing and hopping around moonwalk-style in a Charlie Brown sweater.

So you can't criticize movies if you find them lacking in certain ways?

You can, but you should be prepared for people to tell you that they think you're a dogmatic robot.

I'm not saying that Sin City SHOULD'VE been exactly this and this way, I'm just saying that for me it didn't work, and it was pretty easy to pinpoint the reasons why.

So you can't criticize movies if you find them lacking in certain ways?

-- Tuomas, Wednesday, August 20, 2008 8:19 PM (52 seconds ago) Bookmark Link

no, you just seem to be drawing these arbitrary rules that don't really mean anything or are so obvious they're not worth pointing out. hey did you know that COMICS aren't the same thing as MOVIES?!?

its not so much a dogmatic idea of what shouldn't or should be done so much as it is understanding what does and doesn't work about a specific medium. I agree with contenderizer (and obviously disagree w/S1ocki and Dan) that Sin City looked terrible. I just did not think it looked good on-screen. Saying that it faithfully aped the style of the comics is not enough to recommend it, as accomplishing that particular aesthetic feat is fairly pointless and not a particularly good idea. Its like saying that a building based on a Van Gogh painting must be great, cuz it LOOKS JUST LIKE A VAN GOGH PAINTING! Never mind that its a shitty building.

x-post

Let's talk more about Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Love that movie. And I promise to refrain from using words that are bad.

i think it translated the comic pretty spot on and kudos to the casting of carla gugino imo. i didn't like the source material that much and tbh i think rodriguez did a totally fine job, even if i personally don't think the whole thing is my...thing.

http://www.chucksconnection.com/sincity/sincity03.jpg

"Watch out bitches, when I'm done with my Seventh Day Adventist shit, I'm gonna take to Mario-style hopping!"

"Srsly I am scary!"

...

"I mean it!"

Ned Raggett's Post.

http://www.negativespace.net/victorian-graffiti/kevingdoll.jpg

"BOOGA BOOGA BLOOBY bippity boppity boo!"

Also I think Jessica Alba has a midriff.

"Abbott sums up the movies 4 u"

Okay, Elijah apparently is scarier IRL than as 'Kevin':

http://www.bitetv.ca/blog/archives/Elijah%20Wood.jpg

I had a crush on you since age 10, what're you DOING to me here, buddy? *96 tears*

was that really necessary

Elijah, that wasn't really necessary! I agree.

see that's an example of how to really bring illustrated visuals to life.

HI DERE NOT SAFE FOR FUCKING WORK OK