Films

[pinback]

I liked the ending.

Denzel's charceter needed to be taken down.

[Katster]

Despite losing it at the end, Training Day is one of the best pure thrillers of the last decade. That bit at the hispanic gang's house is incredible.

[dakyras]

Anyone seen the animated comic version of watchmen? Better than the film I though.

[dan666]

Loved The Watchmen. Awesome Direction and a great soundtrack. Brilliant.

[Greeny_Musicchild]

They should have made this feature length

[dakyras]

Edited March 10, 2009 by dakyras

[bealster]

Check this from one of my "work colleagues" who went to see watchmen...personally im biting my lip at the mo from telling him to f**k off ha ha!

It may follow the storyline in the comic, but they are two totally different mediums. What works as a comic book story, does not work as a film. It is entirely without substance, especially when it loses hald of it's themes and issues in the crossover. The idea of man being savage enough to destroy the planet is mentioned, but the audience is not left with a lasting impression of this and they don't even care if it does happen.

Dr Manhattan is fine in the comic, when you are reading it. But put him on the screen and not only is he the most boring character ever, when he starts spouting philisophical crap that comes straight from a GCSE text book, he also becomes the most irritating character since Ja Ja Binks!

Nite Owl may have been a geek in the comic, but again, cinema is a totally different medium. It may work reading about him, but when you see him on screen (naked might I add!!), fighting in what I can only describe as slow motion, either that or hes too old to move at normal speed, it sucks ass.

Adrian Veit was a wiener. In the comic he's meant to look like a mountain of a man. A god, a figure in the mould of his hero, Alexander the Great. Not some weedy little Peter Crouch lookalike with silly floppy hair. He should have some presence on screen. He is meant to have left alegacy to the world to rival Alexander the Great. All this guy did was have floppy hair and a stupid headband. Which is another important point. In comic, the costumes etc work, in film they don't work how they were done. Se Batman, Superman, Joker, Scarecrow, etc, for examples of how to update costumes to work on film. They just looked dumb.

One of the points of the comic watchmen and one of the reasons Alan Moore states it can only work in that form, is that when you read a comic, you suspend disbelief and believe what you read could be a reality. When we see the same things on a cinema screen, we cannot take it as a reality….if it looks too absurd. Which is what watchmen did. We bring too much baggage to the screen as humans. After having to accept the alternate future, Nixon, Vietnam war etc, we then had to accept other things far too removed from reality, which stopped the story making the same points that the comic could.

So…positives?

Well, Rorshach, though given absolutely awful dialogue in his voiceovers, was excellent though underused at times.

The Comedian. Excellent acting, prescence and made the character work, unlike any of the others.

Billy Crudup - Simply because it reminded me how incredible he was in Almost Famous, compared to this pile of steaming horse turd!!

My opinion = it was great, soundtrack was awesome, sublime scenes, humour was there when it should have been, cant fault it really.

Strange how one mans oscar winner is another mans raspberry huh?

[sifi]

I watched Gran Torino last night. It was not what I expected at all. I was kinda expecting a Death Wish kinda thing, but I laughed out loud a good few times and found myself sympathetic to the Eastwood's character.

Very good in other words.

[windy_miller]

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[Purple Monkey]

Watchmen was never going to be anything more than a flashy, glitzy monatge of the books events and character. It's too big a book for the screen.

Lord Of The Rings still fundamentally works when you remove elements, its arguably overblown and features many uneceesary shit that can be cut. Thats why the movies worked. With Watchmen, the book is a whole. There aren't things you can easily cut or remove without seriously alterring it's makeup.

Mark Kermode pointed out something interesting when he said that V for Vendetta was a better film, because the Wachowskis actually adapted the story and made it fit the medium. Because it's a comic, there seems to be a rabid obsession with trying to stay very loyal to the book.

I for one am more interested in film-makers not taking whole stories, and just regurgitating them on the big screen. I think the likes of Dark Knight and Batman Begins went some way into just making the movie version of a comic a new kind of thing inspired by the book - because it has to be. And in the case of the Watchmen, whoever took on that job was going to have serious trouble - fanboys wouldn't be happy unless it matched the comic, while sticking to the comic in such a way could be damaging - a film-maker and a writer/artist have different tools at their disposal and different restrictions to tell the story, so you can't expect one to copy the other and pull it of, it's an impossible task.

[Katster]

I can't believe Alien came out in 1979. Is it just me who thinks it still looks pretty stunning right now??

Madness.

Sorry, just thinking out loud.

[sifi]

I can't believe Alien came out in 1979. Is it just me who thinks it still looks pretty stunning right now??

[Katster]

That's Ridley for you. I'd say the same thing about Bladerunner too.

[sifi]

I meant the effects, but yeah, she'd get it.

[Katster]

I meant Ridley Scott, the director - not Ellen Ripley, the character

Feeling quite frisky at the moment? I must be the Skin news. And not you going through a massive change in your hormones. Oh no.

Edited March 10, 2009 by Katster

[sifi]

I can assure you the only change in my hormones at the moment are the changes created by the pill. If I was what you think I am it would be an absolute miracle, especially as Utd were playing at home over the weekend and I've not seen Mr Cheese since then

[dakyras]

God that voice over is awful. I hope the film is better than that...

[Greeny_Musicchild]

Mark Kermode pointed out something interesting when he said that V for Vendetta was a better film, because the Wachowskis actually adapted the story and made it fit the medium. Because it's a comic, there seems to be a rabid obsession with trying to stay very loyal to the book.

[Katster]

Watchmen tomorrow I think, followed by a curry. Life doesn't get much better than that

[Greeny_Musicchild]

That's Ridley for you. I'd say the same thing about Bladerunner too.

[IndianSummer]

Watchmen - Poor Leonard Cohen

One of the most disappointing soundtracks i've heard in the last 5 years. So many big tunes that crop up time and time again - Jimi Hendrix (Withnail) to mention one

Edited March 11, 2009 by IndianSummer

[dakyras]

There must be a middle ground. V for Vendetta was an atrocious film.

[Greeny_Musicchild]

Get out.

[dakyras]

are you kidding me?

It was like a pantomime. Love the concept and the comics excellent but the film had me laughing in parts. I'm not saying it has to be like the comic. I'm merely suggesting it should be watchable.

[Greeny_Musicchild]

As far as comic book adaptations go, it's not one of the worse. What was laughable about it? The only thing bad I found was that they changed the enemy from fascism to neoconservatism.