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Rottenwatch: WATCHMEN

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Just saw a showing and quite liked it. The pacing is a bit slow in the beginning but I knew that would be the case going in, having read the GN.


and, much like the GN, my favorite section in the movie was Dr. Manhattan's recounting of his history while stepping through time. Loved that bit and the Philip Glass music score in the background throughout.

Most awkward part, IMO was at the end with
Ozymandias fighting Nite Owl and Rorschach while giving his speech. the fighting just seemed a bit odd. I know what they were going for but it didn't gel with me

I have a feeling this will be one of those movies that I appreciate more on a second and third viewing. that's usually the case with me and long movies. I get a bit restless with their pacing the first time but end up getting in tune with them on subsequent viewing.

And I'll be seeing it again on Tuesday with some friends who never read the GN so I'll be interested to see their reactions.

edit: Canada is more mature than you: example #69 - no one giggled at the big blue dick even once.
 
JayDubya said:
Just got back. Thought it was great.

Can't really think of much to complain about.

Some of my favorite bits were truncated, and I wanted more.
Loved it as well.

Came out siding with the sociopath more then I ever have. Which sociopath am I talking about?

Thought some dialog was stilted, but overall I can't find many faults with it. That was a whole lot of blue cock though.
 
rkenshin said:
I watched the movie and it's good in my view as I haven't read the novel..

My question is, does the dvd/bluray release of the Motion Comic's audio have the same people voicing their characters as they do in the movie itself?

No, the voice acting in the motion comic is all done by one guy. It's kind of odd (especially since he voices the female characters too), but not terrible.
 
The part that I am very glad they included was Dr. Long and Rorschach's little discussion.

The part that I am very unhappy that it got mostly cut to bits for time was Dr. Long and Rorschach's little discussion.

The detectives got cut out too. Hell, all the side characters got hit hard.

I'm thinking they mAY have been a little too indulgent on Issue #1 and Issue #2 at the expense of everything else. It seemed like they included virtually everything from those.

Though that may just be due to cutting Black Freighter, amongst other things. There was an awful lot of Black Freighter.
 
LCfiner said:
I am trying to get Canada to loosen up.
Don't know about others but It was true in the theater I was in. No one giggled at blue dick, most giggled at Dan's ass though.

Linkzg said:
any idea when the extended cut is out on blu-ray?

Extended cut as in Director's cut or Absolute Watchmen?

Director's cut is coming out in July and Absolute Watchmen is coming out in Fall.
 
shagg_187 said:
Don't know about others but It was true in the theater I was in. No one giggled at blue dick, most giggled at Dan's ass though.



Extended cut as in Director's cut or Absolute Watchmen?

Director's cut is coming out in July and Absolute Watchmen is coming out in Fall.


I giggled at Dan's ass when I first saw it in the GN. man-ass is always funny. especially on what is supposed to be a sad schlep of a man.

And i am totally going to double dip on this movie. gotta grab that insane 3.5 hour cut with Black Freighter down the line.
 
Linkzg said:
what is the difference between them?

The latter integrates much of what was deleted for the theatrical cut + the Black Freighter content, IIRC.

Madness? This. Is. Allegory! *Lashes corpses together*
 
So director's cut is the long, long one and aboslute is the director's cut with the animated Black Freighter cartoon spiced in? if that's the case then I'll just get the Director's Cut on blu-ray and The Black Freighter separate.

this is getting as complicated as all the cuts of Blade Runner I have
 
JayDubya said:
The latter integrates much of what was deleted for the theatrical cut + the Black Freighter content, IIRC.

Madness? This. Is. Allegory! *Lashes corpses together*

Editing the Black Freighter into the movie is going to be tricky. I wonder how they're going to frame it. And I wonder how they're going to explain how it no longer looks like an awesome EC comic and now looks like a shitty anime wannabe.
 
I really do want to see Black Freighter / Under the Hood, but I won't double dip for the content, so I guess I'll rent.

Flynn said:
Editing the Black Freighter into the movie is going to be tricky.

Well yeah. You don't need Max Shea to design a Dr. Manhattan cold fusion reactor thingie.

But really, Bernie and Bernie were awesome in the GN, and I want their bits extended, and I want to see Mr. End is Nigh buying his New Frontiersman.

Because really, you just can't beat someone telling you that the end of the world is definitely coming today, just before he ominously and stubbornly insists that you hold tomorrow's paper for him.
 
SpeedingUptoStop said:
That's like a 5 hour movie.

Longer. :P

Anyone else got that same feeling I did about the first couple of issues dominating a disproportionate amount of the runtime? They gave Blake a lot of time; I don't think they cut anything there.
 
pelicansurf said:
I just got back from them movie and was pretty disappointed. The song selections were fucking terrible. The actual songs are good but the songs placed inside the movie pretty much destroyed the mood and tone of the movie everytime they popped up. I also hated how they made Adrian look like the bad guy from like the second time he appeared on film. I understand that they had to change the ending and I was alright with that but I hated the fact that Nite Owl comes back in and beats the shit out of Adrian out of anger. Oh well. It was alright but I felt bad for anyone who actually has not read the source material and didn't like wikipedia the story or anything because they probably would've been horribly lost/confused.

Uh, I didn't read the source material and I wasn't lost at all.
 
Flynn said:
Editing the Black Freighter into the movie is going to be tricky. I wonder how they're going to frame it. And I wonder how they're going to explain how it no longer looks like an awesome EC comic and now looks like a shitty anime wannabe.

I don't think It'll be tricky since (LAST I HEARD!) The Black Freighter individual release already has scenes from the movie incorporated into it i.e. the Bernies.

EDIT: For those complaining about songs choices - do know that they were picked for most of them are/were quoted/mentioned at the end of every chapter. Don't hate Snyder for being a purist and staying loyal to the source.
 
fistfulofmetal said:
I want a version with everything in it :(
That is why they have books.

If you want all the details then stick to paper. Movies are a different medium and it is a waste to just try and copy a book verbatim.
 
pelicansurf said:
It was alright but I felt bad for anyone who actually has not read the source material and didn't like wikipedia the story or anything because they probably would've been horribly lost/confused.


What was so hard to follow about it? As I said earlier, I knew almost nothing about the GN, but had no problems following the movie. It had more depth than your average superhero film, but it wasn't exactly War and Peace. It shouldn't really have been that tough to follow.
 
bionic77 said:
That is why they have books.

If you want all the details then stick to paper. Movies are a different medium and it is a waste to just try and copy a book verbatim.

But then you don't get Jeffrey Dean Morgan.
 
JayDubya said:
Edit: One niggling complaint.

Nixon's nose. I can believe a whole lot of crazy things and I can suspend disbelief quite a bit, but Nixon's nose took me out every time.

Really?
Nixon+old-web.jpg

Nixon_070806110022648_wideweb__300x375.jpg


Pretty close.
 
"99 Luftballons" is just about perfect for background music.

I enjoyed reading about Snyder having to defend the choice to someone who didn't get why it was wholly appropriate.
 
JayDubya said:
"99 Luftballons" is just about perfect for background music.

I enjoyed reading about Snyder having to defend the choice to someone who didn't get why it was wholly appropriate.

What was his explanation? Is there a link to it or something?
 
Flynn said:
A more imaginative filmmaker would have re-interpreted. Instead of the Black Freighter comic, create a film within the film that tells a parallel story with a similar subtext.
Bleh. What a terrible idea.

Manics said:
He's damned if he does and damned if he doesn't. If he didn't include the songs that were referenced in the graphic novel fanboys would be all over him. You can't win when you're adapting something as loved as Watchmen is.
There's a certain segment of GN fans that are not going to approve of any deviation from the source. There was a substantial bit of discussion here about whether Snyder would actually show blue wang, and most were pretty disdainful of anything but full-frontal. Yet now that's being second-guessed.

It sounds like the Absolute Watchmen cut will give a fuller translation of the comics, and Snyder might even adjust the film to reflect whatever criticisms have now been leveled. There's no way there would ever be a mini-series, HBO or otherwise, of this project. How is a cable channel going to make back their $100 million investment? Honestly, it seems like Watchmen got a director who truly loved the original source and fought hard to maintain that inspiration. I doubt any other of the names thrown about for the project would have stayed true to that.
 
ezekial45 said:
What was his explanation? Is there a link to it or something?

I don't think he offered the explanation. I believe the interviewer / audience just laughed and they moved on.

I won't presume anything here, so for people that think it's some happy upbeat simple tune that plays a lot in GTA Vice City, 99 Luftballons is a German pop song about nuclear holocaust. It's a Cold War protest song more or less in disguise. It came out in the early-mid 80s and became popular in the United States right around or just before the time Watchmen is set.

It would be clever if it wasn't so obvious, but it's also a great choice for iconic 80s background music.

I also really like it, for some reason. German version only, of course.
 
adamsappel said:
Bleh. What a terrible idea.


There's a certain segment of GN fans that are not going to approve of any deviation from the source. There was a substantial bit of discussion here about whether Snyder would actually show blue wang, and most were pretty disdainful of anything but full-frontal. Yet now that's being second-guessed.

It sounds like the Absolute Watchmen cut will give a fuller translation of the comics, and Snyder might even adjust the film to reflect whatever criticisms have now been leveled. There's no way there would ever be a mini-series, HBO or otherwise, of this project. How is a cable channel going to make back their $100 million investment? Honestly, it seems like Watchmen got a director who truly loved the original source and fought hard to maintain that inspiration. I doubt any other of the names thrown about for the project would have stayed true to that.

What does the Absolute Watchmen have that Inabsolute Watchmen doesn't?
 
mrkgoo said:
What does the Absolute Watchmen have that Inabsolute Watchmen doesn't?

The DVD release or the comic?

The Absolute Watchmen DVD release has 1 hr of extra stuff not added in the movie.
The Absolute Watchmen comic release is the same as the other releases, but its in AWESOMELY high quality paper, binding, and bigger than Yellow pages. It also includes concept arts and others (also available in "Watching the Watchmen" but wasn't available for it's time).

birdman said:
Can you guys explain to me the Under the Hood release for the Watchmen disc releases? What it's going to have?

Sure. "Watchmen: Tales of the Black Freighter & Under the Hood" includes the two stories respectively.

"Tales of the Black Freighter" is the comic-inside-a-comic. It's a comic book about pirates and represents the death of superhero comic books since superhero actually exists in Watchmen universe. It also shows the parallel between Ozymandias and Protagonist of the Black Freighter. Running time: Approx - 30 min.

"Under the hood" is based on Hollis Mason (the original Nite Owl)'s best-selling book (inside the Watchmen universe ofcourse) which tells the story on how the Minutemen first came into existence. Running time: Approx - 40 min.
 
Yeah, I loved how they kept The Outer Limits in there, but they needed to include the episode's name. :P

The Architects of Fear.

Pretty good. Less relevant to the film than the GN: the team of scientists plan to make a fake alien and have him crash into the U.N. building in a fake spaceship.
 
Chiggs said:
Is the Watchmen Blu-ray worth buying?
Watchmen Motion Comic or Watchmen: Tales of the Black Freighter?

Motion Comic is definitely worth it. A quick/simple way of seeing the similarities and differences between the movie/comic and how it was meant to be (considering you haven't read Watchmen of if you have, you love it to death). Black Freighter is worth it if you saw the movie and want to see certain scenes that were not added to the movie (and if you think you can't wait till Fall 09 to see the definitive release of Watchmen).
 
I think the Watchmen motion comic is a pretty big waste. It turns a great looking graphic novel into a pretty crappy looking Flash animation. You can probably go look at an episode or two on YouTube to see if it is the sort of thing you'd be into.

JayDubya said:
But really, Bernie and Bernie were awesome in the GN, and I want their bits extended, and I want to see Mr. End is Nigh buying his New Frontiersman.
What is it that people liked about this section of the book? Self-important newpaper vendor blathers on, guy on curb ignores him and reads comic book. It left me pretty cold.
 
border said:
What is it that people liked about this section of the book? Self-important newpaper vendor blathers on, guy on curb ignores him and reads comic book. It left me pretty cold.

Couldn't really tell you. The older fellow is a total hypocrite that contradicts himself regularly and the younger one seems only marginally interested in the comic he spends an inordinately long period of time reading; actually he seems relatively dumb. They both do.

Doesn't much matter, though - I just really grew to like 'em both.
 
Just got back from seeing it; I really enjoyed it. My only real gripes were some of the audio track selections, Ozy coming off too much as a generic villain in the end (kind of the theme/point though), and them referring to themselves as the "Watchmen."

I can't wait to see the Director's Cut.
 
JayDubya said:
I don't think he offered the explanation. I believe the interviewer / audience just laughed and they moved on.

I won't presume anything here, so for people that think it's some happy upbeat simple tune that plays a lot in GTA Vice City, 99 Luftballons is a German pop song about nuclear holocaust. It's a Cold War protest song more or less in disguise. It came out in the early-mid 80s and became popular in the United States right around or just before the time Watchmen is set.

It would be clever if it wasn't so obvious, but it's also a great choice for iconic 80s background music.

I also really like it, for some reason. German version only, of course.

Yeah, I can understand why people would be puzzled by that song choice... fortunately I knew about the Anti Nuke message behind it. With that knowledge, it was definitely fitting.
 
JayDubya said:
Longer. :P

Anyone else got that same feeling I did about the first couple of issues dominating a disproportionate amount of the runtime? They gave Blake a lot of time; I don't think they cut anything there.

5.5 hour runtime on the motion comic... but that would need to be longer because the action scenes are much shorter in the motion comic.
 
Chiggs said:
Is the Watchmen Blu-ray worth buying?

the motion comic, is all kinds of awesome.

It is essentially a visual audio book. You have a guy reading all the lines, and they show the panels that he is reading from on screen. They even have some crude animation going on as well.

It also looks (and sounds) fantastic on bluray. The image is extremely sharp.
 
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