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Rottenwatch: WATCHMEN

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Replicant said:
Eh, when people watch a film (or any kind of art form), they bring with them their own expectation, background, culture, and belief. It's actually unrealistic for you to expect them not to carry their baggage and just watch the film as is. What makes a film so interesting is that there's more than one way you can see them. The director may intended it to be seen one way but inevitably, someone will bring a different interpretation to it.
Wow really? Never knew about people having their own thoughts about stuff.

I'm just saying that your opinion on what the movie should have been about is funny to me.
 
JayDubya said:
Despite what others may have said, if you didn't see a villain, you are blind. :P

Whilst it's impossible not to call him a monster I also wouldn't go as far to say he's the villain
being the only one in the world who could stop the war he stopped it, he saved mankind even if it's just temporary
 
Zabka said:
Wow really? Never knew about people having their own thoughts about stuff.

2j3id68.gif

LOL did you get butthurt over me criticizing/pointing out why the film didn't work for me? Now, that is amusing!

Zabka said:
I'm just saying that your opinion on what the movie should have been about is funny to me.

I didn't say what the movie should have been about. I said I want to see more motivation from the characters and I don't think it's unrealistic to want to see character's motivation. To me characters > plot. If in the movie the characters just don't work for me, usually the movie is not enjoyable. Mind you, this is not always the case but most of the time, having characters who are interesting and well-developed is a must for me to be able to enjoy a movie.
 
Battersea Power Station said:
One thing I don't like in this thread is that there are too many people claiming that audiences want clear-cut good guys and bad guys and can't understand moral ambiguity.

There's no evidence of that whatsoever. Film-goers love anti-heroes, like Riddick, to name a fairly recent one. And there's a history of movies with a bad-ass cowboy, assassin, pirate, or other outlaw as the main character, often seen in a "good" light.

This post has nothing to do with an analysis of audiences' reactions to the Watchmen movie -- just a stupid misconception that bugs me when I see it parroted.


I think the distinction is less about "good" guys and "bad" guys and more about having a clear protagonist you know you're supposed to be rooting for (even if it is, say, the Punisher) and a clear antagonist that the protagonist will triumph against.

Who are we supposed to root for in Watchmen? The proto-fascist nihilist, the mentally disturbed criminal, the impotent nerd, or even the well-intentioned
mass murderer
?
 
I haven't seen the movie (will tomorrow) but I just wanted to make a side comment about people who leave the theater.

You paid your six bucks and were fully prepared to sit in that seat for 2+ hours why the hell do some people walk out? It just comes off childish and/or thickheaded to me. Hell, even when I simply rent a movie and I'm halfway through it and am not enjoying it I STILL give it the benefit of the doubt and watch it until then end. Only then do I decide if I liked it or not.

People who leave a screening early are like the worst kind of snobs to me. They were expecting to watch a film for a few hours but clearly their time is too important to give the film the benefit of the doubt.

Sorry, I guess I'm just venting. Maybe this is a pet peeve of mine.
 
Cymbal Head said:
I think the distinction is less about "good" guys and "bad" guys and more about having a clear protagonist you know you're supposed to be rooting for (even if it is, say, the Punisher) and a clear antagonist that the protagonist will triumph against.

Who are we supposed to root for in Watchmen? The proto-fascist nihilist, the mentally disturbed criminal, the impotent nerd, or even the well-intentioned
mass murderer
?

I think it's pretty fucking crystal clear that the audience is intended to sympathize most with Rorschach. Whether or not you do is completely your call.
 
Captain N. Tenneal said:
Hey, you figured it out.
They ARE humans wearing masks. Dr. Manhattan is the only one with any sort of special abilities that are "super" human. Otherwise they are superheroes but in a real world sense, they are just normal people who put on masks. Basically, they're vigilantes.

It sounds to me like you were expecting Superman/X-men/Spider-man and you're all disappointed it wasn't that way. I understand feeling tricked, but that's what the Watchmen is all about.

What about Ozy?
HE CAN FUKIN CATCH BULLETS
 
Pai Pai Master said:
I think it's pretty fucking crystal clear that the audience is intended to sympathize most with Rorschach. Whether or not you do is completely your call.


Are we talking book or movie here? I haven't seen the movie yet, so I don't know how it's handled, but just on GAF I know there are plenty of people that sympathize with pretty much EVERY main character.

I always thought that the closest the book got to an 'audience proxy' character was Dreiberg. Personally, I've always felt the most sympathetic toward Manhattan.
 
Cymbal Head said:
Are we talking book or movie here? I haven't seen the movie yet, so I don't know how it's handled, but just on GAF I know there are plenty of people that sympathize with pretty much EVERY main character.

I always thought that the closest the book got to an 'audience proxy' character was Dreiberg. Personally, I've always felt the most sympathetic toward Manhattan.

Definitely movie, sorry.
 
Yeah, Dreiberg is the "watchman" I find the most sympathetic. The only character I ever felt truly bad for, though, was the psychologist. (At least in the gn; haven't seen the movie to know how he is in there.)
 
Bishman said:
Shut the fuck up! I am saying how I feel about the movie.

The plot was terrible. A lot of things do not make sense.
Why did the people hate the Watchmen? Are they even superheroes besides Dr. M?

I do not understand how they are superheroes but can die so easily from humans.
Like for example when Rorschach got getting jumped by the cops, I was expecting him to throw all the cops off. He seem like a normal human being with a mask on that is a psychopath.

The Watchmen is not what I was expecting from what I saw in the trailer. I guess I kinda felt tricked. I was expecting more action. In the end, I think my friends and I went in with certain expectation and the movie did not deliver to us.

im really amazed at your avatar, how much of the MGS saga do oyu actually understand? Or are you one of those people that skips the codec scenes?
 
ckohler said:
I haven't seen the movie (will tomorrow) but I just wanted to make a side comment about people who leave the theater.

You paid your six bucks and were fully prepared to sit in that seat for 2+ hours why the hell do some people walk out? It just comes off childish and/or thickheaded to me. Hell, even when I simply rent a movie and I'm halfway through it and am not enjoying it I STILL give it the benefit of the doubt and watch it until then end. Only then do I decide if I liked it or not.

People who leave a screening early are like the worst kind of snobs to me. They were expecting to watch a film for a few hours but clearly their time is too important to give the film the benefit of the doubt.

Sorry, I guess I'm just venting. Maybe this is a pet peeve of mine.

No, I completely agree with you. If anything, at least do some research or whatever if you are uncomfortable with certain things. I remember in Blindness, there were at least 3 different groups of people that left when
the rapes occur
.

I would assume something like that is noted in the rating.
 
A day after, now that I got some fresh eyes and it's sunk in a little bit I think it was a good movie. Not legendary or magnificent, but good.

Unfortunately, like any literary adaptation, the movie will naturally suffer because of what the reader interjects into the book when they read it. Naturally, you put your own imagination and perspective on things, so someone else's in a visual movie is much different. It's kind of like someone else describing their "golden era" in their life and not yours.

It's also going to be tough being the first "comic book" movie following The Dark Knight, not to mention the obscene amount of promotion and hype that will undoubtedly detract from the experience for a lot of newbies. I don't care who you are, unless they make it sappy and patriotic, Watchmen will always be a niche story. And I'm fine with that.

The new ending is fine, I just thought it was badly directed. I think the sentiment "plays", however, it could have been much more mean, lean, and focused. It needed an *umph* and unless you count Rorshach's journal, I didn't really feel that.

Maybe it was the fatigue from the awkwardness of sitting next to a fat guy on one side and a smokin' girl on the other.

But they needed to do a better job of:
-->
Setting up Laurie's bitterness towards her mom, which would have made it more dramatic when she forgives her in the end
.

-->
Describing Ozzy's intentions (needed the whole Alexander bit expanded like from the books)
.

It works, just thought it could work better. I'm glad this movie came out though, it proves the movie is film-able and maybe in a couple of decades we can have a new version.
 
rhino4evr said:
im really amazed at your avatar, how much of the MGS saga do oyu actually understand? Or are you one of those people that skips the codec scenes?

:lol

Yeah man, that's pretty bad to miss such a simple and basic point.
 
Prime crotch said:
He's right though, the movie portrays them as a bunch of wall crushing heroes with bone snapping strenght straight out of Cronnenberg's The Fly, how come then a few guys can pin one of them easily?

Agreed.

My friends (who hadn't read the book) asked me the same question. "How is Viedt so powerful? how the hell can the comedian break walls?"

Snyder should've made them fight more humanly, but they come across as more "super-hero" like. Major fuck up of the movie, for me.

Snyder should've kept the action grounded in reality, but he made it all 300 "over the top". He fucked up that bit bad. These are vigilantes - men in mask - who don't posses the ability to easily break bones, do extravagant jumps or break walls.
 
I haven't seen the movie yet (going tonight), but I'm glad I wasn't the only one who noticed how bad the make-up looked in the previews.
 
beelzebozo said:
my response to the idea that movies should never be walked out of:

spawn
nacho libre

Huh? Nacho Libre was mediocre, but nowhere near a "walk out" level of bad.

Was definitely disappointing though.

Either way, you're at a movie with friends, why walk out? You already paid for it, just sit back, relax, eat some unhealthy shit, watch a movie. Better than nothing.
 
Nihilism said:
No, I completely agree with you. If anything, at least do some research or whatever if you are uncomfortable with certain things. I remember in Blindness, there were at least 3 different groups of people that left when
the rapes occur
.
Glad to see I'm not the only person. However, even I mildly sympathize with the Blindness incident since clearly scenes of
graphic rape
are tough for many people to stomach. According to wikipedia that was a major issue with that particular film for many viewers.

My real beef is more with people who leave a screening of a movie early simply because they aren't enjoying it or it wasn't what they were expecting.

beelzebozo said:
my response to the idea that movies should never be walked out of:

spawn
nacho libre
Is walking out of a theater during a movie some kind of personal revolution? Are people who do this trying to make a scene as if to tell the other viewers how much they hate the film? If so, to them I say: fuck off. I don't care about your opinion of the movie so much that you have to interrupt my viewing. What if the last ten minutes of a movie they are walking out on turned out to be some of the best cinema they ever could have seen? Unlikely but tough shit, I guess.
 
no dude. i've done it twice, and it's not about trying to tell people how much you hate the movie. it's about being so miserable watching a movie that you'd rather take the $6-8 hit and get back to your real life and away from the torture of a truly awful film. i would have paid an extra ten dollars if i had to in order to be excused from those flicks.
 
If you paid for a massage, and the woman started pounding your back with rocks, would you stay just because you paid for it? Of course not.

If a movie is so miserably terrible, why sit through it? Just leave and go do something else.
 
ckohler said:
You paid your six bucks and were fully prepared to sit in that seat for 2+ hours why the hell do some people walk out? It just comes off childish and/or thickheaded to me.

Just because you're pissy about it, it doesn't mean they don't have their own valid reason(s)/justification. Here are some possible ones:

1. They didn't expect the film to be so long (some people don't actually check running times before watching a movie) and some probably have to leave to catch their last bus/train (it was night session in my case). They figure they don't enjoy the movie and would rather leave now than miss the last bus/train (taxis are expensive to take here).

2. They have better things to do than sitting in a theater watching something they don't like. For couples, they may want to go back home or other romantic places where they can enjoy each other's company better. A movie that you don't like can certainly ruin your date. My guess is that in some of the couples, the girl is not happy with the graphic scenes and decides to bail out. The guy has no choice but to follow.

3. Some probably decide to jump into other theater screening something else (this is possible in my cinema since once you hand in your ticket downstairs, no one gives a hoot which cinema you're going, unless you're sitting on someone else's seat).

Cymbal Head said:
I always thought that the closest the book got to an 'audience proxy' character was Dreiberg. Personally, I've always felt the most sympathetic toward Manhattan.

Same here. I kept wondering what's the point of Dreiberg's character but then I realized that he's the closest, less-weird character in the story. One that most audience can probably attach themselves to. Manhattan is the one that I can understand the most though.
 
omg rite said:
You go to movies by yourself?

I honestly couldn't imagine doing that. It's a social event.

oh no. i was joined by others. friends have a way of understanding to retch is appropriate when you're being fed shit.
 
omg rite said:
You go to movies by yourself?

I honestly couldn't imagine doing that. It's a social event.

Rarely. Usually just for some indie film I can't convince anyone else to go to.

In the cases where I want to walk out on a movie, it's usually bad enough that my friends want to too. Like Speed Racer or Love Guru.

edit - wait, were you talking to me? :lol
 
What entertains me is that internet reviewers make a point of telling us that people walked out of the movie, displaying it as evidence supporting their criticism. I see people walk out of movies all the time, from some of the highest rated films. They walk out of stuff I like, stuff I dislike, they walk out of future Oscar nominees, they walk out of superhero movies, they walk out of kids movies, they walk out of romances. Reporting how many people walked out is like telling me how many were eating popcorn.
 
Ninja Scooter said:
i sat through all of Battlefield Earth and Godzilla i can sit through anything.


I liked Battlefield Earth as a book, as a movie it just seemed stupid, plus they only made the half the book. :D
 
omg rite said:
You go to movies by yourself?

I honestly couldn't imagine doing that. It's a social event.

I went by myself because I couldn't find a friend to come with me. I even had an extra ticket and couldn't get anyone to take it when I was in the lobby.

I'm a sad person.
 
Replicant said:
2j3id68.gif

LOL did you get butthurt over me criticizing/pointing out why the film didn't work for me? Now, that is amusing!

I didn't say what the movie should have been about. I said I want to see more motivation from the characters and I don't think it's unrealistic to want to see character's motivation. To me characters > plot. If in the movie the characters just don't work for me, usually the movie is not enjoyable. Mind you, this is not always the case but most of the time, having characters who are interesting and well-developed is a must for me to be able to enjoy a movie.
I was just mocking your condescending attitude and strange opinions. Carry on with them.
 
rhino4evr said:
im really amazed at your avatar, how much of the MGS saga do oyu actually understand? Or are you one of those people that skips the codec scenes?
What are you getting at? I hate people like you who make assumptions. MGS saga is my favorite game series of all time. I probably know more about MGS than you. And why the fuck would I skip the codec scenes? You learn a lot of the story and back story of the characters and storyline. And not to mention the humor.

Why are you guys attacking my opinion of the movie? A big FUCK YOU to everyone attacking my opinion. REMEMBER, I did not read the graphic novel. And to anyone saying read the graphic novel, no. I have no interest in doing that. Ask your friends and see if you see any correlation to what I said and what they say about movie. Watchmen left a sour taste in my mouth. :/
 
polyh3dron said:
Just when you expect to see Ebert take the biggest shit ever all over a movie, he surprises you. Wow.

There's no surprises here for me. Ebert likes what I like.

Seeing this tomorrow with my wife, she'll probably hate it. ;-)
 
Blader5489 said:
Rarely. Usually just for some indie film I can't convince anyone else to go to.

In the cases where I want to walk out on a movie, it's usually bad enough that my friends want to too. Like Speed Racer or Love Guru.

edit - wait, were you talking to me? :lol

No, but I like knowing that you actually gave Love Guru a chance. :lol

Even I though that looked terrible. :lol
 
Blader5489 said:
If you paid for a massage, and the woman started pounding your back with rocks, would you stay just because you paid for it? Of course not.
i dunno, i might be so confused that i would stay just to see where it goes
but i would be really pissed off and injured afterwards
 
Fair enough guys. I do see your points about leaving early. It's your prerogative. It still bugs me when people do it.

To me, watching a movie is kinda like having someone tell you a story they've written in an very informal way. Leaving early would be like cutting them off mid-sentence. It just seems disrespectful to filmmakers. Granted, the filmmakers will never know and I can understand why some people do it. It's just a pet-peeve of mine. If someone heckles the screen however... well, that's entirely different.

It might also be because I DO see many films by myself. I rarely go with friends as they have a tendency to want to talk. Heh... all this could just mean that I have a "movies are serious-business!" type personality. :)
 
bggrthnjsus said:
i dunno, i might be so confused that i would stay just to see where it goes
but i would be really pissed off and injured afterwards


I can't remember ever walking out of a movie, but then again I generally know what type of movie I'm going to see. I wouldn't go into a movie that I knew I'd probably hate ahead of time like Love Guru.
 
i do it very infrequently because i usually read reviews and know what i'm getting into.

with nacho libre, i had enjoyed napoleon dynamite and thought this might hold the same magic. not so.

with spawn, i was 12. i walked out with two friends and played x-men arcade until my mum picked us up. no regrets.
 
Zabka said:
I was just mocking your condescending attitude and strange opinions.

All because you got butthurt that your fave movie/comic got criticized? LOL, indeed and cry some moar. In fact, called the Waaahmbulance now.

If I went "Worst movie ever" then you have a case to be a drama-queen. But I clearly stated what I didn't like and what I liked.
 
omg rite said:
No, but I like knowing that you actually gave Love Guru a chance. :lol

Even I though that looked terrible. :lol

I knew it was going to be bad, but I still thought there might be at least 5 seconds of funny...

anyway, that was my date's idea for a movie, and I stopped seeing her like a month later. :lol
 
Only retards walk out on movies that they've paid to see. Would it kill you to do a little research beforehand to be sure you're interested in the material before plunking down your $10?

That being said, I would have walked out on Resident Evil 2 if it weren't for the unintentional hilarity.
 
StoOgE said:
I actually think you missed some stuff.

I know. I've read the book numerous times. I'm trying to explain things in black and white for someone who didn't understand the plot at all. But I suppose that if you didn't understand the plot, then no amount of explaining is going to help.

I don't even know why I post on Forums. No one understands what the previous person was talking about, where they're coming from, what tone they're speaking in. Just one person after another trying to make the next look retarded.
 
Bishman said:
What are you getting at? I hate people like you who make assumptions. MGS saga is my favorite game series of all time. I probably know more about MGS than you. And why the fuck would I skip the codec scenes? You learn a lot of the story and back story of the characters and storyline. And not to mention the humor.

Why are you guys attacking my opinion of the movie? A big FUCK YOU to everyone attacking my opinion. REMEMBER, I did not read the graphic novel. And to anyone saying read the graphic novel, no. I have no interest in doing that. Ask your friends and see if you see any correlation to what I said and what they say about movie. Watchmen left a sour taste in my mouth. :/

Everyone's laughing at you because you missed the point entirely.
 
Evlar said:
What entertains me is that internet reviewers make a point of telling us that people walked out of the movie, displaying it as evidence supporting their criticism. I see people walk out of movies all the time, from some of the highest rated films. They walk out of stuff I like, stuff I dislike, they walk out of future Oscar nominees, they walk out of superhero movies, they walk out of kids movies, they walk out of romances. Reporting how many people walked out is like telling me how many were eating popcorn.

I walked out of Happy Go Lucky, which was nominated this year for best original screenplay. It was fucking terrible. I don't know what anybody saw in that pile of trash. I consider myself a fan of cinema and I'll sit through anything. I like big dumb blockbusters and I like quiet indie flicks. I will give any film the benefit of the doubt, but god damn Happy Go Lucky was so awful I honestly couldn't believe it. It's only the second movie I've ever walked out of for not liking. The first was Orange County.
 
Coin Return said:
Only retards walk out on movies that they've paid to see. Would it kill you to do a little research beforehand to be sure you're interested in the material before plunking down your $10?

That being said, I would have walked out on Resident Evil 2 if it weren't for the unintentional hilarity.

Some times you don't get to see the movie you want to, and group mentality drags you to a movie you're not interested in.
 
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