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Rottenwatch: WATCHMEN

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Both Silk Spectres smoke in the movie. Laurie rather hypocritically and passive agressively hassles her mother about it.

When she set off the flamethrower on Archie, it's becuase she's looking for a dashboard lighter.

So yeah, they cut the smoking.
 
Ahh you are so right. And come to think of it, I remember thinking to myself in the movie during that scene, "How are they going to have Laurie set off the flamethrower without smoking?"
 
mrkgoo said:
Why I didn't think meaningless, I agree that the ending is supposed to be vague - it wants to make you think, not explicitly state what will happen. Which brings me to another point - I hate how, when movies end with a vague "It might continue!" type ending (particularly horror movies), that people assumes it means a sequel come out - too many times people say, "Oh, it's obvious they are setting up for a sequel with the open ending and loose ends". No. They're not. It's just storytelling device to make the story feel like part of something more epic
It always looked to me like Rorschach's journal stopped just short of having all the info it needed. Sure that journal is a link killing others masks and possibly giving some people cancer, but he didn't have any idea at the time about just what Ozy was doing. It doesn't prove that the attacks by Doc M were manufactured by Ozy. MAybe at best it looks like Ozy pissed the Doc off and thats why he attacked. I thought all it really ment was that Rorschach story would be told and maybe people would see WHY one man did what he did.
 
Tobor said:
You just dated yourself, kid. ;)
I'm 23!!! I SWEAR!

Now that I look at the packaging I see those things were made by Hostess, but the only thing I ever associate with Hostess are those fantastic chocolate cupcakes with the filling in 'em.

TWENTY THREE!!!
 
Ok, this had to be mentioned in this thread already, but I searched and it did not come up...

Did anyone realize...
Ozzy claimed he was working with Jon on"Sub Quantum Unifying Intrinsic Devices" (SQUIDs) - energy reactors - to provide free energy to the world?

SO CLEVER!
 
Jon said:
Ok, this had to be mentioned in this thread already, but I searched and it did not come up...

Did anyone realize...
Ozzy claimed he was working with Jon on"Sub Quantum Unifying Intrinsic Devices" (SQUIDs) - energy reactors - to provide free energy to the world?

SO CLEVER!
There was a
flash of the SQUID acronym on Ozy's doomsday machine.
 
YYZ said:
There was a
flash of the SQUID acronym on Ozy's doomsday machine.

Ahh!
I guess I was too busy laughing at the "Boys" folder to notice.
This is definitely a movie that needs multiple viewings just to catch everything--much like reading the novel.
 
SnakeswithLasers said:
Maybe this has been mentioned--but is there a list of which DC heroes Watchmen is parodying? I thought the original intent was to use actual characters, but that it was shot down by DC.

Not technically parodying anyone, but I believe Moore's idea went from actual DC characters => D.C.'s newly-acquired Charlton Comics characters => original characters. And the reason you see so goddamn much characterization in Watchmen? Because they're new characters and Moore wants you to care about them. :lol
 
I mentioned the SQUID acronym on the sign, but I missed what it stood for (went by really fast).

Second time through, I also noticed the snow globe on top of young Luarie's dresser.


JW, it went from "random characters DC didn't own" to "characters DC just bought" to "new characters." And DC bought (or licenced anyway) the first set eventually, but they completely fizzled in relaunch (the Fly (probably inspiration for Mothman), the Shield (who played the Comedian part) and others).
 
Ignatz Mouse said:
I mentioned the SQUID acronym on the sign, but I missed what it stood for (went by really fast).

Second time through, I also noticed the snow globe on top of young Luarie's dresser.


JW, it went from "random characters DC didn't own" to "characters DC just bought" to "new characters." And DC bought (or licenced anyway) the first set eventually, but they completely fizzled in relaunch (the Fly (probably inspiration for Mothman), the Shield (who played the Comedian part) and others).

That SQUID thing is so awesome. It shows they at least had a think about things.
 
John Harker said:
You're all forgetting the last 5 minutes of the movie,
Rorsharch wrote in his journal that Ozy was behind everything and he had a facility up in the arctic. He exposed him as the parent company behind Pyramid, who was responsible for more than just the murder of the comedian. He dropped his journal off at a newspaper that was hungry for some destructive news. You better believe they are going to publish that entire journal, and investigate Ozy and that location. That's the ultimate point: it was all for nothing, the truth will get out, this peace will shatter, and with Dr. Manhattan gone to other worlds, the Watchmen more or less disbanded, the world will devour itself. The whole movie was depressing :)
the purpose of finding his journal won't do any good.

I re-read the chapter with him in jail and they mention his journal is either unreadable or coded, possibly interpreted as being written by a madman.

the narration from the comic we are able to read is through Rorschach's eyes, and the narration from the movie is just that, Rorschach telling us what it says
 
MisterHero said:
the purpose of finding his journal won't do any good.

I re-read the chapter with him in jail and they mention his journal is either unreadable or coded, possibly interpreted as being written by a madman.

the narration from the comic we are able to read is through Rorschach's eyes, and the narration from the movie is just that, Rorschach telling us what it says


But then again, in the GN,
he went to retrieve his backup journal - so maybe that one was meant for someone else's eyes
?

Wouldn't matter in the movie though. Either way, that is a very good observation you made.
 
The journal TNF gets is meant for the eyes of others. They read and understood the first bit of it before throwing it into the crank pile initially.
 
saw the film and loved it. and i found 99 luftballons quite fitting: its a song about the cold war and the end of the world.
 
Prime crotch said:
I just noticed something, aside from The Comedian and a criminal boss no one else smokes on the movie, on a movie set on the 80's, I bet this is some bullshit exec's decision.

Near the end of the credits it says something like no one on the film has been paid to endorse tobacco.

S1kkZ said:
saw the film and loved it. and i found 99 luftballons quite fitting: its a song about the cold war and the end of the world.

Loved that touch.
 
AlexMogil said:
But then again, in the GN,
he went to retrieve his backup journal - so maybe that one was meant for someone else's eyes
?

Wouldn't matter in the movie though. Either way, that is a very good observation you made.
EviLore said:
The journal TNF gets is meant for the eyes of others. They read and understood the first bit of it before throwing it into the crank pile initially.
Two journals? That's just crazy
 
Regarding the journal:

I always thought that the stain on the guy's shirt symbolized the Comedian getting the last laugh.
 
BobTheFork said:
It always looked to me like Rorschach's journal stopped just short of having all the info it needed. Sure that journal is a link killing others masks and possibly giving some people cancer, but he didn't have any idea at the time about just what Ozy was doing. It doesn't prove that the attacks by Doc M were manufactured by Ozy. MAybe at best it looks like Ozy pissed the Doc off and thats why he attacked. I thought all it really ment was that Rorschach story would be told and maybe people would see WHY one man did what he did.

If you are reading this, whether I am alive or dead, you will know the truth: whatever precise nature of this conspiracy, Adrian Veidt responsible.

Yea, just glancing at the comic, it works because TNF worships Rorschach.
 
S1kkZ said:
saw the film and loved it. and i found 99 luftballons quite fitting: its a song about the cold war and the end of the world.

I didn't like how any of the music was presented. The songs were good, but they all (to me) felt just jammed in.
 
Son of Godzilla said:
If you are reading this, whether I am alive or dead, you will know the truth: whatever precise nature of this conspiracy, Adrian Veidt responsible.

Yea, just glancing at the comic, it works because TNF worships Rorschach.

The instant the editor found out that Rorschach was a subscriber, they sure did! :lol
 
I was never sure if he spent everyday out on the street with his sign or what.

It'd be cool if he was on welfare, but I think he was judgmental about his landlady for that reason... or maybe just because she had so many kids.
 
levious said:
I was never sure if he spent everyday out on the street with his sign or what.

It'd be cool if he was on welfare, but I think he was judgmental about his landlady for that reason... or maybe just because she had so many kids.

If Rorschach was on welfare...I don't want to think of what would happen.
 
levious said:
I was never sure if he spent everyday out on the street with his sign or what.

It'd be cool if he was on welfare, but I think he was judgmental about his landlady for that reason... or maybe just because she had so many kids.
also because she was a whore and reminded him of his mother
 
As someone who has never read the graphic novel, I must say that Watchmen the movie was pretty terrible.

I won’t throw this all in Zach Snyder’s lap, because frankly, I think this thing was doomed long before he was on set directing. The screenplay is a barely coherent, badly paced mess. The characters have barely any depth to them, and I can’t think if a single one of them is likable. By the time we were in Antarctica, I barely could recall what the hell the plot was, and I didn’t care.

Although I said it’s not Snyder’s fault, as he started off with one foot in his grave, he does deserve a share of the blame for this mess. It would be too easy, although still appropriate, to criticize his trademark usage of slow motion here, but I won’t bother, as there are other things to pick on. Now, I’ve heard that a lot of the music choices are from the GN itself, and that’s great, but the way Snyder used some of these was so incredibly cheesey (Sound Of Silence during a sappy pan back from the cemetery – really, Snyder?) or cliché (Ride Of The Valkyries during a Vietnam War scene – really, Snyder?). On top of that, he failed to coax a decent performance out of anyone outside of Jackie Earl Haley, and even he was a little too “Bale Batman voice” at times.

Props for some nice visuals, a good score (the Tyler Bates stuff, not the other stuff), and Malin Akerman’s body though.
 
RubxQub said:
I'm 23!!! I SWEAR!

Now that I look at the packaging I see those things were made by Hostess, but the only thing I ever associate with Hostess are those fantastic chocolate cupcakes with the filling in 'em.

TWENTY THREE!!!

Christ, you weren't even an embryo when the Hostess Fruit Pie ads were running.

I'm feeling old at 32, that's for sure.
 
Tobor said:
Christ, you weren't even an embryo when the Hostess Fruit Pie ads were running.

I'm feeling old at 32, that's for sure.

It's interesting. I've been thinking about this recently. I don't feel old (I'm 30) talking to friends in their mid twenties UNTIL I begin to mention pop culture bullshit that happened when I was, say, 10.

THEN it puts things into a different perspective and I feel ancient.

"My God You were a baby when Night Court was on! that's crazy!"

this will go on for hours.
 
LCfiner said:
It's interesting. I've been thinking about this recently. I don't feel old (I'm 30) talking to friends in their mid twenties UNTIL I begin to mention pop culture bullshit that happened when I was, say, 10.

THEN it puts things into a different perspective and I feel ancient.

"My God You were a baby when Night Court was on! that's crazy!"

this will go on for hours.
My co-workers pull this on me all the time (youngest peer is 30 something, but they are generally all 40+).

It's cute every now and then but I swear some folks get way too much joy out of it :lol

...they won't be laughing so loudly when they all work for me in 2-5 years! HA!! HAAAAAAA!!!!!!
 
RubxQub said:
My co-workers pull this on me all the time (youngest peer is 30 something, but they are generally all 40+).

It's cute every now and then but I swear some folks get way too much joy out of it :lol

...they won't be laughing so loudly when they all work for me in 2-5 years! HA!! HAAAAAAA!!!!!!

first step to moving up is getting off GAF at work. :P

speaking of which.... I need to get off GAF at work.
 
saw it and loved it, the 5 or so I went with had the whole spectrum from 'fuck that' to 'eh' to 'good music' to 'awesome'

I found the hallelujah song to be appropriate as well I mean come on, the dude had just been railed by the impotence fairy and he got his groove back.
 
catfish said:
I found the hallelujah song to be appropriate as well I mean come on, the dude had just been railed by the impotence fairy and he got his groove back.

There was an elderly man sitting directly in front of us, and he was singing along to the song, lolz
 
Saw the movie with no prior reference (AKA I didn't read the comic) and I loved it. Story was interesting and is probably the only movie of its length I never got bored with. Very happy with it.

Usually when a movie makes a transition from one media to another (comic/book to movie) I tend to dread seeing the film first because they tend to feel very disconnected if you haven't read the original. Didn't have this problem here. Everything was conveyed nicely and I never felt lost.
 
Solo said:
As someone who has never read the graphic novel, I must say that Watchmen the movie was pretty terrible.

I won’t throw this all in Zach Snyder’s lap, because frankly, I think this thing was doomed long before he was on set directing. The screenplay is a barely coherent, badly paced mess. The characters have barely any depth to them, and I can’t think if a single one of them is likable. By the time we were in Antarctica, I barely could recall what the hell the plot was, and I didn’t care.

Although I said it’s not Snyder’s fault, as he started off with one foot in his grave, he does deserve a share of the blame for this mess. It would be too easy, although still appropriate, to criticize his trademark usage of slow motion here, but I won’t bother, as there are other things to pick on. Now, I’ve heard that a lot of the music choices are from the GN itself, and that’s great, but the way Snyder used some of these was so incredibly cheesey (Sound Of Silence during a sappy pan back from the cemetery – really, Snyder?) or cliché (Ride Of The Valkyries during a Vietnam War scene – really, Snyder?). On top of that, he failed to coax a decent performance out of anyone outside of Jackie Earl Haley, and even he was a little too “Bale Batman voice” at times.

Props for some nice visuals, a good score (the Tyler Bates stuff, not the other stuff), and Malin Akerman’s body though.

They may be cliché, but there is some more than just cliché use going on here, whether you agree with it or not (and please someone correct me if I get this wrong, I don't know much about music history or teh Watchmen book):

Sound of silence was written as a song for the aftermath of JFK's assassination. It is played at the Comedian's funeral in the movie as an ironic piece since, according to the film, he is responsible for assassinating JFK.

Ride of the valkyries is referred to in the book as "the saddest thing [Hollis] has ever heard".
 
mrkgoo said:
Sound of silence was written as a song for the aftermath of JFK's assassination. It is played at the Comedian's funeral in the movie as an ironic piece since, according to the film, he is responsible for assassinating JFK.

If so, then the usage of the song is somewhat justifed. However, it still doesnt make it any less corny.

Ride of the valkyries is referred to in the book as "the saddest thing [Hollis] has ever heard".

I could hear Francis Ford Coppola rolling in his grave (artistically speaking, hes been dead for decades).
 
the problem with Sound of Silence is that it's already associated with The Graduate.. and Ride of the Valkyries with Apocalypse Now.
 
As expected, lots of giggles from the teen crowd whenever Dr. M was on screen. What made me laugh was not the blue cock onscreen, but thinking that it was some poor chap's job to animate that sucker and make it flop around like the real deal :lol
 
Watched this monday with a group of friends. To keep it short and sweet for people who are still havn't seen it: it was awesome but (here comes the whining!);

This movie shows us that somethings are just impossible to transfer to the screen. In every adaptation something is lost because of cutting down scenes. Watchmen the film begins good but when the second half kicks in it just tries to fast to finish, this is the biggest problem. There are some key scenes in the comic book i would have put in the movie,like the conversation between Rorschach and the shrink, Night Owl II finding out about Night Owl I death and a longer prison sequence.

The scenes i just mentioned are key elements to the character developments. Rorschach just feels so hollow in the movie. In the comic book the confrontation between him and the shrink really made you get a good glimpse of who he is. You can debate that the ''little girl'' sequence establised that he was a crazy dude, but still that scene still made you feel like ''yeah,whatever''. The same was with NightOwl death, it would have shown Dan had some guts (while now he comes off as a pussy).

Now to bitch about the ending. It was a good ending, but felt rushed and you could notice by the good awful dialoge. Yes, this ending did include the orginal intented message but people who have not read the book are cheated out of one of the most intresting ending ever. The scene in the comic book is so haunting, yet in the movie it felt like nothing ever happend. On a last note: music was awesome! hallaluh!
 
Solo said:
As expected, lots of giggles from the teen crowd whenever Dr. M was on screen. What made me laugh was not the blue cock onscreen, but thinking that it was some poor chap's job to animate that sucker and make it flop around like the real deal :lol

I actually felt it was well done. It became less and less apparent to me, and just felt really natural. So it's a peins. Half the world has one and a majority of the other half have seen one. Wathcmen has shown me the light.

I don't see why it's any different than say animating a finger - actually, I believe they animated genitals for Gollum and the Cave troll, or at least the models had them if I'm not mistaken.

And re: songs, yeah, I guess they were a bit corny.

I liked the songs, and I happen to like clichés, but they do seem a bit out of place in the film - there isn't the same flow like there was in, say, Gump (where you are constantly bombarded by mainstream songs).
 
TheOddOne said:
The scenes i just mentioned are key elements to the character developments. Rorschach just feels so hollow in the movie.

All of the characters felt hollow (or one dimensional, if you prefer) to me. I think that was my biggest problem with the movie. How can you possibly fail to develop characters over a 170 minute runtime?
 
Solo said:
As expected, lots of giggles from the teen crowd whenever Dr. M was on screen. What made me laugh was not the blue cock onscreen, but thinking that it was some poor chap's job to animate that sucker and make it flop around like the real deal :lol

A James Bond avatar does not give you the right to use the word 'chap' in conversational fluency.
 
TheOddOne said:
Watched this monday with a group of friends. To keep it short and sweet for people who are still havn't seen it: it was awesome but (here comes the whining!);

This movie shows us that somethings are just impossible to transfer to the screen. In every adaptation something is lost because of cutting down scenes. Watchmen the film begins good but when the second half kicks in it just tries to fast to finish, this is the biggest problem. There are some key scenes in the comic book i would have put in the movie,like the conversation between Rorschach and the shrink, Night Owl II finding out about Night Owl I death and a longer prison sequence.

The scenes i just mentioned are key elements to the character developments. Rorschach just feels so hollow in the movie. In the comic book the confrontation between him and the shrink really made you get a good glimpse of who he is. You can debate that the ''little girl'' sequence establised that he was a crazy dude, but still that scene still made you feel like ''yeah,whatever''. The same was with NightOwl death, it would have shown Dan had some guts (while now he comes off as a pussy).

Now to bitch about the ending. It was a good ending, but felt rushed and you could notice by the good awful dialoge. Yes, this ending did include the orginal intented message but people who have not read the book are cheated out of one of the most intresting ending ever. The scene in the comic book is so haunting, yet in the movie it felt like nothing ever happend. On a last note: music was awesome! hallaluh!

I haven't read the book properly - just kind of skimmed it before seeing the movie and it's like on ahold until forever at the library - maybe I will just go buy it. Anyway, what happens to Night Owl ii in the book? Maybe you shouldn't tell me so that I go buy the thing.

I too prefer the book in regards to Rorshcach's 'birth'. It's like you actually have to sit back and think about what is going through his mind. The real shameful part is that it would've TOTALLY worked in the film. A lot of other changes you can kind of see why they did what they did, if not be happy about it, but I can just see a closeup of Rorschach's mask in my mind's eye, with an orange flickering glow of the fire reflected back. I wouldn't have made the association with Saw any worse than the songs from above. Besides, I think everyone knows it predates Saw.

Also, the squid ending is so much cooler for the WTF-value
 
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