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Rottenwatch: WATCHMEN

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Steve Youngblood said:
Everyone (I've even caught myself doing it) says this, which is just the wrong way to look at it. If a movie can't stand on its own without familiarity with the source material, then it's just not a good film, which may be the case.

All in all, I think the problem is just that by attempting to stay so true to the book, it set up a film that is quite unlike what people would come to expect. At times, it WANTS to be a blockbuster, action-filled film, but those scenes are few and far between and not at all what the book was about. Thus, reading the book isn't a requisite for enjoying the film, but it incidentally prepares you to know what to expect. Also, it gives you an attachment to the characters that is very important for the success of most comic book films. Not only do you not know any of these characters if you haven't read the book, but you also have no frame of reference for what they're supposed to be. Try explaining to people the characters were loosely based on Charlton Comics characters. You'll be met with a blank stare, as the characters Moore crafted are more memorable than the characters he used as a template, and the Watchmen was a completely self-contained story.
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All my friends watched it without no prior knowledge of the book, besides the basics. They got everything, all the twists, flashbacks, the works. I even quizzed them afterwards. They loved it.
 
Truant said:
All my friends watched it without no prior knowledge of the book, besides the basics. They got everything, all the twists, flashbacks, the works. I even quizzed them afterwards. They loved it.
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That "besides the basics" part is the monkey wrench, though. The problem for me is that the popular wisdom out there seems to be that the movie is good mainly for fans of the book. Now, I liked it. However, I read the graphic novel, so I can't really erase my fondness for it and go in with fresh eyes.

I've heard from people who didn't like it, and it's difficult for me to distinguish between the legitimate gripes people have, and complaints that seem grounded in "the movie wasn't what I expected." All in all, it's a very hard movie for me to critique. I do, however, take issue with recommendations of needing to read the book first before seeing the movie.
 
I saw it for the first time last night. Liked it a lot as a self contained story. I prefer long movies. I haven't read the GN yet. It's the first comic book movie that has made me want to read the source.
 
Haha. Lee Iacocca gets capped. Let that be a lesson to all the other CEO's begging for bailouts.


Also, why does nobody talk about the big blue starfish in Watchmen and only the big blue cock?
 
watchmenbluemeanie.jpg
 
Tales of the Black Freighter was released last week and it doesn't seem like anyone here bothered to watch or buy it. I gotta imagine that doesn't bode well for the sales of the actual DVD of the film.
 
border said:
Tales of the Black Freighter was released last week and it doesn't seem like anyone here bothered to watch or buy it. I gotta imagine that doesn't bode well for the sales of the actual DVD of the film.
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I want to check it out... but not for $30(BD version). I am interested in the Motion Comic though... any word on how good that is?
 
Kagari said:
I want to check it out... but not for $30(BD version). I am interested in the Motion Comic though... any word on how good that is?
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Regarding the motion comic, I watched the first episode and the limited animation is very well done. One major problem though, one guy does all the voice work. It's actually not bad because he has different voices and effects for each character, but he still sounds like a man when doing the female characters. If they had just hired a woman to do the other voices, everything would have been perfect. Kinda ruined the whole thing for me.
 
Oh, I saw the animated Tales of the Black Freighter. It was pretty well done. I quite enjoyed it.

I'm going to finally see Watchmen in theaters today. The movie hit Japanese theaters on Saturday, and we missed the 5pm show yesterday. I'm pretty excited!
 
I dont know what to think or feel about this movie, loved the GN when I read it 3 years ago but I feel like I need to see it again to form an opinion.

one thing I can say for sure is that the sex scene is awful, it almost seems like it was on purpose specially considering the bizarre OST.

btw the actor that plays Rorschach is perfect, almost like the Joker from TDK, also is probably the first time that it made me realize that Rorschach is a conservative, anyway he's still my favorite character.
 
FiRez said:
btw the actor that plays Rorschach is perfect, almost like the Joker from TDK, also is probably the first time that it made me realize that Rorschach is a conservative, anyway he's still my favorite character.
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Rorschach is based on The Question, who was created by Steve Ditko (co-creator of Spider Man), who was a raving Ayn Rand Objectivist. It shows up in Ditko's Question work, but far more in Ditko's Mr. A (name taken from the Randian notion of "A is A" ) which he did as an underground comic, a guy who judges and kills wrongdoers (after making a speech) because Ditko saw everything in stark Objectivist terms. Moore drew a lot on that philosophy when fleshing out Rorschach - a guy who sees everything in black & white, good or bad; and as everything is binary, if one is good and they compromise, then they must necessarily have become bad.

It really explains his last scene, why he can't just let it go. And I love how that plays off his mask - The Question is faceless, allowing people to project themselves onto it, the Rorschach painting takes that one step further - its black & white scheme echoing what he feels inside, and what one sees in the image reflecting their own nature, for good or ill.
 
Steve Youngblood said:
That "besides the basics" part is the monkey wrench, though. The problem for me is that the popular wisdom out there seems to be that the movie is good mainly for fans of the book. Now, I liked it. However, I read the graphic novel, so I can't really erase my fondness for it and go in with fresh eyes.

I've heard from people who didn't like it, and it's difficult for me to distinguish between the legitimate gripes people have, and complaints that seem grounded in "the movie wasn't what I expected." All in all, it's a very hard movie for me to critique. I do, however, take issue with recommendations of needing to read the book first before seeing the movie.
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The basics being that they knew going in that it was about obsolete superheroes. That's about it.

FiRez said:
I dont know what to think or feel about this movie, loved the GN when I read it 3 years ago but I feel like I need to see it again to form an opinion.

one thing I can say for sure is that the sex scene is awful, it almost seems like it was on purpose specially considering the bizarre OST.

btw the actor that plays Rorschach is perfect, almost like the Joker from TDK, also is probably the first time that it made me realize that Rorschach is a conservative, anyway he's still my favorite character.
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Snyder said recently that he had to change the music because he was afraid no-one would get that the scene was supposed to be ridiculous. The fact that his new over-the-top choice didn't sell it hard enough is perplexing. That scene was fun, in a good way.
 
LiveFromKyoto said:
Rorschach is based on The Question, who was created by Steve Ditko (co-creator of Spider Man), who was a raving Ayn Rand Objectivist. It shows up in Ditko's Question work, but far more in Ditko's Mr. A (name taken from the Randian notion of "A is A" ) which he did as an underground comic, a guy who judges and kills wrongdoers (after making a speech) because Ditko saw everything in stark Objectivist terms. Moore drew a lot on that philosophy when fleshing out Rorschach - a guy who sees everything in black & white, good or bad; and as everything is binary, if one is good and they compromise, then they must necessarily have become bad.

It really explains his last scene, why he can't just let it go. And I love how that plays off his mask - The Question is faceless, allowing people to project themselves onto it, the Rorschach painting takes that one step further - its black & white scheme echoing what he feels inside, and what one sees in the image reflecting their own nature, for good or ill.
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That's very interesting, thanks
 
Watched it. I guess it's as good as it gets for a Watchmen film, and I am not disappointed. Of course, I can't wait for the Ultra Director's Cut.
 
My GF put Tales of the Black Freighter at the top of her netflix queue for us, they say theres a monstrous wait for it though. I'd buy it if it weren't going to be integrated into the mega deluxe complete edition, I can't justify owning it twice.
 
I want the br, but I also want the Black Freighter stuff D:

And I want it to be combined into one awesome movie, I have no problem with longer movies like the KoH DC :D

So I don´t know if I´ll buy or wait for a special combined edition. If I buy the gimped version, I´ll be pissed. But if the combined one never comes out and my wait was just a waste of time, I´ll also be pissed. Decisions, sigh.
 
Ignatz Mouse said:
I'm trying to figure out exactly which cut this is.
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Director's cut = theatrical cut + deleted scenes, out in July
Final cut = director's cut + Tales of the Black Freighter, out later this year
 
director's cut for me on BR.

hell yeah!

The black freighter was kinda meh so i don't know if it'll make the movie better when integrated. i'll still be curious to see it, though

and this summer release is hardly gimped. there's a ton of special features on it.
 
Man that box art is sweet. That should have been the final poster instead of that crap they had with all of the characters Photoshopped in.
 
Ignatz Mouse said:
I know that was the rumor, has it been confirmed?
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I wouldn't necessarily call a statement made by the director of the film a rumor. Though, Warner Bros. might have halted that due to Watchmen's poor take at the box office. I still think it's coming though.
 
Very smart choice to release it around the time of Comic-Con.

Anyway, i really enjoyed the movie, and i expect to like the director's cut even more.
 
JdFoX187 said:
I wouldn't necessarily call a statement made by the director of the film a rumor. Though, Warner Bros. might have halted that due to Watchmen's poor take at the box office. I still think it's coming though.
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I would kinda think they would... they have the materials, not like the have to remaster them. Just let the nerds (like me) buy it again and again.
 
Blader5489 said:
Director's cut = theatrical cut + deleted scenes, out in July
Final cut = director's cut + Tales of the Black Freighter, out later this year
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Ignatz Mouse said:
I know that was the rumor, has it been confirmed?
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I can confirm this to you. It is definitely coming this Christmas. I'm not buying the Director's Cut for I have shilled ALOT for this novel. ALOT!

It'll most likely be called "Watchmen: The Ultimate Edition" for the consumer to understand WTF this is but I will CREAM my pants if they call it "Absolute Watchmen". They might put Black Freighter out of print since it'll serve no purpose on it's own (Unless they only include the sections of the freighter that were in the comic which is VERY unlikely especially from the looks of the clip provided in BD-Live).

Oh and:

more-watchmen-goods-20090512072714843-000.jpg


WHAT AN UGLY BOXART! I guess they couldn't go with the plain-old smiley logo cause people might skip through it when it's in the store shelves and when they look at this one, they'll say "Ohh look look! Its The Watchmen! That's the main hero of the movie!"
 
I wish they'd just bundle the motion comic with the Final Cut and save me the trouble of buying more than one retail copy of any Watchmen releases. I'd be all for an "Absolute Watchmen" release if it included EVERYTHING + cut content.

Watchmen Director's cut + Black Freighter + Motion Comic + Video Commentary.. Make it happen
without the shitty cover
, people.
 
The whole movie I kept thinking that Rorsharch was such a great character. Then when he was unmasked I was a little off-put for some reason. When I got home I did the imdb thing and was shocked that he was played by Kelly from the Bad News Bears.

Definitely looking forward to the director's cut of this one.
 
JdFoX187 said:
Man that box art is sweet. That should have been the final poster instead of that crap they had with all of the characters Photoshopped in.
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Yet this is also the same crap with characters photoshopped in.
 
Paramount can go eat a bucket of dicks. They're only releasing the theatrical cut on BR in Europe.

I know I can import and all that, it's just suck a shitty move.
 
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