tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7415178.post8600201909641350716..comments2023-10-23T00:04:35.356-04:00Comments on The Vault of Buncheness: EARLY REVIEW: WATCHMEN (2009)Bunche (pop culture ronin)http://www.blogger.com/profile/11831085937894725459noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7415178.post-8034284516501767862009-03-09T16:18:00.000-04:002009-03-09T16:18:00.000-04:00My full thoughts on the Watchmen film would requir...My full thoughts on the <I>Watchmen</I> film would require a long, detailed post that I don't feel like writing. Thus, I'll summarize: <BR/><BR/>* Better than it could have been, not as good as I had hoped it might be. <BR/><BR/>* Worst. Nixon. Ever. <BR/><BR/>* Silk Spectre should have been called Wooden Doll. Pity, seeing as how the character is one of the story's emotional anchors. Looked the part, but... wow. Bad. <BR/><BR/>* Ozymandias = Worst Miscasting of the Year. The mass-murdering would-be heir of Alexander the Great should not be a lisping emo fag. <BR/><BR/>* The soundtrack choices were... unfortunate. Aside from "The Times, They are a'Changin'" (which I thought fit the montage beautifully) and the Phillip Glass mash-up (which also fit beautifully, even though it involved cannibalizing bits of another film's soundtrack), the selections were dire. I know this would have been out of place chronologically, but I wish they'd used that Smashing Pumpkins song from the trailers. It suited the film far better than the songs they <I>did</I> use. <BR/><BR/>* Someone needs to ban Zack Snyder from using slow-motion for his next 10 films or so. I felt that device worked well overall in <I>300</I> (and I suspect I may be the only person on this list who liked that film), but found it intrusive, silly and poorly-timed in <I>Watchmen</I>. <BR/><BR/>* The "knockback" effects were fucking stupid. Aren't these supposed to be normal people? Then why can they punch their opponents across the room? <BR/><BR/>* Had certain moments had real-time room to breathe, timing-wise, their emotional impact would have been stronger. <BR/><BR/>* I wish they'd let Ozymandias enjoy his moment of glory in the film. Moore and Gibbons had him tearfully triumphant; Snyder had him stone-faced and whispery. <BR/><BR/>* I understood why all the subplots involving normal people were excised, but really felt their lack. Without getting to know the "little people" who wind up sacrificed by the "heroes," the devastation wrought by Ozymandias becomes just another CGI catastrohe. <BR/><BR/>* Gods, I'm getting sick of CGI. <BR/><BR/>* That said, I felt the film's "final solution" worked better than the climax of the comic series. <BR/><BR/>* I applaud Snyder for sticking close - even to a fault - to the original graphic novel. For all that it fell flat in places, I would rather have had <I>that</I> approach than suffer through the expected Hollywood alternative. <BR/><BR/>* Rorschach's mask was creepy as hell. Wish they'd left more of his origin in the film, but... brrrr....<BR/><BR/>* I felt they nailed the look & feel of the series perfectly. The costumes, I think, worked far better than the rather silly ones in the graphic novel. (Admittedly, they were <I>supposed</I> to be somewhat silly there...)<BR/><BR/>* I <I>loved</I> the opening montage and the origin of Dr. Manhattan. Those moments - as well as Rorschach's attempted escape and prinson brawls, the Veitnam scene, and the alley fight/ Dr. Manhattan interview scene, were excllent. I wish the rest of the film had been nearly as good as those particular moments. <BR/><BR/>* Loved Bubastis. Too bad she had so little screen time. <BR/><BR/>For all its flaws, the film still stands taller than most of its kind. I'm glad Snyder stuck to his guns. He certainly dropped a couple of really important balls (though cleraly not Dr. Manhattan's!), but his heart was in the right place. <BR/><BR/>I actually feel that <I>300</I> is the better film... but then, <I>300</I> is a stark, simple, brutally stupid tale that I think works better as a movie than it does in its original inception. <I>Watchmen</I> demands far more (not to mention Moore), and I'm glad the film <I>was</I> as good as it was. In other hands, it could have been a <I>whole</I> lot worse. <BR/><BR/>Honestly, I hope the film makes a mint. I want to see Snyder vindicated in his decision to honor the source material. He put a lot on the line in his decisions to "go risky," and since hollywood values box office performance above all other considerations, I want <I>Watchmen</I> to do well despite its many flaws. <BR/><BR/>5 stars for effort<BR/>3 1/2 stars for results <BR/>Yeah, I'll probably watch the director's cut DVD. <BR/><BR/>And I actually <I>like</I> the Black Freighter story!Satyrbladehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18015786983800102480noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7415178.post-40388868319160917292009-03-07T12:19:00.000-05:002009-03-07T12:19:00.000-05:00Jesus, I haven't seen it yet but your reviews are ...Jesus, I haven't seen it yet but your reviews are always so, "Spot on", That I'm sure I will leave the theater with your exact sentiments. BTW, I prefer your reviews the old way you used to do them at Marvel Comics, with funny art depicting all the scenes. Please tell me one of these days you'll post those!! They are a scream!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7415178.post-12124626548925675002009-03-06T00:28:00.000-05:002009-03-06T00:28:00.000-05:00Oh, and p.s., I must be the only person in the wor...Oh, and p.s., I must be the only person in the world who didn't mind the giant squid in the comic. Something about the lost subplot where Veidt was also breeding creatures in the Antarctic made it work for me, I suppose as some kind of depressing environmentalist commentary about transplanting species...But it never would've flown in this movie, so no objection there.Joanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16111743716962892096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7415178.post-49461659318530418292009-03-05T22:18:00.000-05:002009-03-05T22:18:00.000-05:00I find myself mostly in line with both the first a...I find myself mostly in line with both the first and second opinions posted here. On the one hand, it's been way oversimplified, and I found ALL the acting painfully bad, really -- everyone complains about Silk Spectre, but Rorschach's hammy gargle is as irritating as Dr. Manhattan's fey drone, though I blame this less on the actors than on Snyder. (It reminds me of my reaction to Spider-Man: Raimi is awesome with the creepy horror of radioactive blood, and horrifically lousy with human interaction.) Also, there's my tortured relationship to the sexual politics of Alan Moore, who on the one hand does marvelous characterization of women and applies his S/M fetish streak beautifully to superhero critique, and on the other that same fucking streak fuels the same cocktease maybe-it-was-maybe-it-wasn't rape scene of WATCHMEN that he'd later rehash for KILLING JOKE, and gives Snyder license for totally unnecessary shit like dressing Silk Spectre I in Lost-Girls-like black lingerie for it.<BR/><BR/> On the other, this really is an unfilmable book, and as with V FOR VENDETTA, anyone who grew up in the punk-to-New Wave flavored nuclear dread of the 80s can't help but be affected by the movie's heroic attempt to just plain TRY while specifically aiming to nail that element of the series. There are gorgeous scenes still burned in my brain hours after seeing it this morning. But like you guys, I'm just at a loss as to whether the general (& especially younger) public will get that even superficially. The series was ahead of its time for being a critique of early superheroes, not later ones. But will a couple generations raised mostly on Marvel movies get that? We shall see.Joanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16111743716962892096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7415178.post-38831919534557378922009-03-05T19:53:00.000-05:002009-03-05T19:53:00.000-05:00With all the preview screenings, I'll be amazed if...With all the preview screenings, I'll be amazed if anyone actually winds up paying to go.Scott Koblishhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01140333755020005257noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7415178.post-29829168487458898272009-03-04T22:05:00.000-05:002009-03-04T22:05:00.000-05:00And one of my favorites is still "Kingdom Come" by...And one of my favorites is still "Kingdom Come" by Waid and Ross.robsethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06519161363259088201noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7415178.post-46384985172881046052009-03-04T22:04:00.000-05:002009-03-04T22:04:00.000-05:00Thought everyone might get a chuckle from this:htt...Thought everyone might get a chuckle from this:<BR/><BR/>http://www.pvponline.com/2009/03/02/ombudsmen/robsethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06519161363259088201noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7415178.post-61293477462939744652009-03-04T14:57:00.000-05:002009-03-04T14:57:00.000-05:00I had just seen "300" at home and was thinking The...I had just seen "300" at home and was thinking The Watchmen would be a lot worse. I shall go see it. Thanks for the write-up, Bunche.Sonja Kodiak Wilderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13949175437233425540noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7415178.post-33656875705555767032009-03-04T13:24:00.000-05:002009-03-04T13:24:00.000-05:00The greatest graphic novel of all time? It's a tou...The greatest graphic novel of all time? It's a tough call and one that's open to interpretation (I say a mutli-volume run, provided it ads up to one story, can be counted as a novel), plus such a call would be completely subjective. I can't nail down an all-time greatest, but my short list would include:<BR/><BR/>ELFQUEST (first series)-this is collected in four archive editions by DC Comics and tells a long fantasy epic about a bunch of elves who attempt to figure out where their race came from. The characters may look cutesy at first, but don't let that fool you; this series is gripping as hell and features my favorite love story in the entire comics medium. Book one sets up the protagonists and the subsequent volumes detail the quest itself. Highly recommended.<BR/><BR/>MIRACLEMAN-Alan Moore's original deconstruction of the superhero (in this case Captain Marvel/Marvelman), this series is simply the last word on the subject. Too bad the collected editions are long out of print, the individual issues are pricey as a son of a bitch — if you can can find them — and the series is unlikely to be reprinted within the foreseeable future thanks to a nightmares of rights/ownership issues.<BR/><BR/>SWAMP THING-Alan Moore's run on this is what put him on the map, and with very good reason. Genuinely scary and emotionally involving as well as intelligent, it's all collected but I say you don't really need to read it after Swamp Thing's encounter with Batman in Gotham City.<BR/><BR/>LONE WOLF AND CUB-a truly incredible samurai epic that defined the genre in comics form. Everything about it is excellent, but the American collections of the full series are reprinted in an annoying tiny format that kills much of the highly-nuanced wash art and renders the text almost too small to read.<BR/><BR/>Anyway, you can't go wrong with any of these four.Bunche (pop culture ronin)https://www.blogger.com/profile/11831085937894725459noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7415178.post-56873041579749750592009-03-04T12:50:00.000-05:002009-03-04T12:50:00.000-05:00Nice review - will definitely be seeing the movie ...Nice review - will definitely be seeing the movie this weekend. I was curious - what would you consider the greatest graphic novel of all time? I'm relatively new to this blog, so I apologize if you have covered this before. I just recently started reading comics again after a 15 absence - just wanted your recommendation.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7415178.post-25244215986863081212009-03-04T11:22:00.000-05:002009-03-04T11:22:00.000-05:00I agree with both of you, Laser and Buncheman...I ...I agree with both of you, Laser and Buncheman...I haven't seen it yet, but the sheer volume of the graphic novel indicates to me that it should have been done either ala LORD OF THE RINGS or as an HBO/SHOWTIME series.<BR/><BR/>I recently rewatched GONE WITH THE WIND--hold on here, you'll see my point--and although the movie is still very good, it pales in comparison to the book; the nuances of all the main characters, especially Scarlett's, is lost in the movie because of it's running time--which is what happens when a 1000+ pages book is condensed into even a nearly 4 hour movie--<BR/><BR/>And this, I'm sure, is what happens in WATCHMEN. <BR/><BR/>Still, of course I will to to see it.<BR/><BR/>MindyMindyP51https://www.blogger.com/profile/17933283617910299666noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7415178.post-15194292395131142732009-03-04T08:23:00.000-05:002009-03-04T08:23:00.000-05:00Laser Rocket Arm, you could not be more right. The...Laser Rocket Arm, you could not be more right. The graphic novel works as well as it does by having the space in which to fully develop and explore its strengths and if I had my way the movie would have been a twelve-hour HBO series, one hour for each chapter.Bunche (pop culture ronin)https://www.blogger.com/profile/11831085937894725459noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7415178.post-4308177442860353202009-03-04T06:25:00.000-05:002009-03-04T06:25:00.000-05:00I'll be the first to admit I'm not a comic geek (b...I'll be the first to admit I'm not a comic geek (but I know many), but after all the ravings I heard about the published version of <I>Watchmen</I> I wonder if it would have served the book (and geeks) better had the film version gotten the <I>Lord of the Rings</I> treatment and been split up into two or three parts?Laser Rocket Armhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12332672587425641355noreply@blogger.com