WATCHMEN Movie Discussion (SPOILERS allowed)!

[HdoubleD]

I agree. Hence why I have decided to just ignore those negative comments. Could care less what the film snobs think. I liked the movie.

My thoughts exactly.

 

[barbelith]

I dont quite get what you're saying....we shouldnt enjoy the movie?

I've never said anything remotely like that.

But you used the same supposed "public opinions" and "numbers" to advertise and vindicate your opinion that the movie sucked first.

I didn't even bring it up; somebody else did.

 

[Dusty]

I agree. Hence why I have decided to just ignore those negative comments. Could care less what the film snobs think. I liked the movie.

I hope that I'm not included in that category! I'm pretty much as far as you can get from a film snob. I love Transformers for goodness' sake - and the fun A Life Less Ordinary, which many people either don't give a chance or outright hate! But I also LOVE One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Donnie Darko, Slumdog Millionaire, American Beauty, etc etc etc. I just posted to point out the fallacy of claiming that simply because a few people on the internet love a movie doesn't mean that it's well-liked in general, as some are trying to argue.

I LOVE Serenity for instance, but I'm not going to come in here and argue that the vast majority of people like it or even know about it. I'll go on and on about how great a film it is, but I understand and accept the ultimate truth - that's it's not a hit with most people and never will be, no matter how rabid the Browncoats are about it They call them cult classics for a reason, and that's exactly what Watchmen is. Kudos to the marketing team for selling $55 million in tickets for opening weekend - that was a great feat!

Again, unless they completely changed the story, it was never destined to be a hit. It's just not a story that is consumed well by the GENERAL public... and never will be no matter how awesome the film plays for some people! And that's cool, because no one wants the story changed anyway, just to sell tickets. Personally, I'd rather make a product that 60 people are VERY PASSIONATE about and no one else really likes or even knows about, instead of a product that 500 people know about but doesn't excite them. Example - Apple. Their products EXCITE people - sure, Mac users are a very small minority of computer users, but man are we passionate - ha!

Obviously, Watchmen has done this for a minority of movie-goers. That's great, kudos to the people who made it for accomplishing that passionate response. And I think we can all agree that it's NOT a well-liked movie IN GENERAL... but THAT'S OKAY. No reason to get defensive and start name-calling people who didn't like it 'film snobs'

As for this discussion, as with every discussion, it's a place for people to come who want to discuss the movie - ANY part of the movie, story, box office, likes and dislikes, etc, etc - whether they liked the movie or not. Just like the Freaks board in general: people who post here don't ALL have to love Sideshow products, as I think is clearly evident Me? I didn't particularly care for the movie, but really enjoy the graphic novel. Plus I like a good discussion now and then, as long as it's civil and people can see both sides

 

[BadMoon]

Nope not pointing the finger at anyone. Especially not you. Wouldn't want you to hurt me at the con.

 

[Dusty]

Nope not pointing the finger at anyone. Especially not you. Wouldn't want you to hurt me at the con.

Ha, coz I'm so TOUGH! I'd probably just go cry in the corner

 

[BadMoon]

Ha, coz I'm so TOUGH! I'd probably just go cry in the corner

So would I.

 

[barbelith]

A Life Less Ordinary

Cheers for a very thoughtful post. But I especially wanted to take a moment to give a big up to A Life Less Ordinary. When will those early Boyle films come out on Blu-ray?!?!

 

[barbelith]

Nope not pointing the finger at anyone.

I'm comfortable being called a film snob; that just means I have standards. Wolverine is a godawful mess and I'm not afraid to say it.

 

[jye4ever]

I LOVE PUNISHER: WARZONE....

There, I said it....



Oh, and the Wolverine movie....

Worse special effects i've ever seen, you could even see the wires on the actors and the explosions looked like rough drawings....

For sure won't win any special effects oscars...

 

[BadMoon]

I'm comfortable being called a film snob; that just means I have standards. Wolverine is a godawful mess and I'm not afraid to say it.

Oh you can say it. I'm affraid to watch it. So I don't plan on it. I could have told you it would be crap when I first heard they were doing it. Spinoff's are never a good idea in my book.

 

[CelticPredator]

I'm comfortable being called a film snob; that just means I have standards. Wolverine is a godawful mess and I'm not afraid to say it.

Neither am I. Typical Fox fare.

 

[Shatterer of Dreams]

i wouldn't be scared to call a movie a godawful mess but i think i'll wait till the finished movie comes out and not the rough version that is currently circulating.

Now i haven't seen the Wolverine thing that's making the rounds right now so i can't really say if it sucks or not but maybe we should all wait till it's done.

I thinks calling anyone a film snob is stupid since everyone has "bad" movies that hey like. There isn't a single person out there that just watches Casablanca and it's like. Those same people will watch Troll 2 and love it, real snobs don't exist.

 

[CelticPredator]

I dunno....FOX may say its unfinished, but the movie has zero character development. Sometimes characters pop up and your supposed to care about them. But you dont.

Like the old couple that takes in Wolvie.....we dont even know their names! .

 

[Bannister]

You *know* he MEANT that he would never come on a message board and try to spin DD as popular in the real world (obviously it's popular on message boards like this one )

Of course I know what he meant. Can't I just twist his words to suit my needs?

 

[Bannister]

I dunno....FOX may say its unfinished, but the movie has zero character development. Sometimes characters pop up and your supposed to care about them. But you dont.

Like the old couple that takes in Wolvie.....we dont even know their names! .

You're.

 

[CelticPredator]

I ment what I said.

 

[The Mike]

Is this film Citizen Kane? No. Could this have better been served as a 12-14 part miniseries on HBO or something along those lines? Probably. Did I still really like the movie? Definitely. Ending aside, small quirks aside being able to look at my GN and see the exact frame from the comic to the screen still made me fanboy more than any other Comic film out to date. Up until the middle of the film it was almost piece for piece what you would have read so much so that what was left out became that much more blaringly evident....I haven't seen on Comic Book film put out yet that came so close to capturing the essence of the original source material.

Here is the thing, the film was never EVER going to mimic the widespread appeal of the comic. Ever. Partly due to time constraints but partly due to the fact that the creators themselves knew they had to bring it to a widespread audience and knew that they had to work within their parameters....that being said you get the feeling that they themselves knew they were going for "the best we could give" and found themselves stuck in the middle where they alienated a lot of the two core groups they were going for.

It fell into the trap that all Comic Book movies do. It became an abridged version of itself. Spider-Man, X-Men, Batman, Superman all often take years of source material and smash them together into one story instead of trying to flush out one story from one story or storyline. This is why you have so much going on in one film. Watchmen tried to take 12 issues that even when put into Motion Comics which cut out parts was over 12 hours and turn it into a 3 hour tour. I don't think there was one fan going in that thought they'd get the same feel just knowing that alone.

Say what you want about Zack Synder and his directing skills, or the writers and their attempts to reach out that have obviously failed but when I see Dr. Manhattan, The Comedian and Rorschach on screen they are exactly as I read them, exactly as I thought they'd sound, exactly as I wanted to see them. That is enough for me. I'm not worried about a sequel or if America loves these characters or not, the fact of the matter is the source material and core as endured since 1985 and like all the other properties who have had films and other media that weren't as successful as hoped put out there this will survive without much hassle.

I'll be buying the DVDs and watching the Director's Cut in theaters in July and putting it in a spot right next to the GN and the couple of original issues of WATCHMEN I still own. I'll be watching it repeatedly and enjoying it and really no comments otherwise will change that and I think you'll see a lot of fans of the original Watchmen doing the same. We loved the comic because of the thought it envoked and the discussions it prompted and the feel it gave as we went through it. The film ironically does the same because through either a like or dislike what you have is a conversation that looks at the core of what the story was doing, trying to do, putting out there and creating for the reader. Only this time the conversations aren't a response to literature but a compare and contrast look at the successes (there were quite a few) and what are deemed the failures when handling a piece so beloved by many. It'll happen again though probably sooner than we think.

When J.D. Salinger dies (it'll probably be soon since the man celebrated his 90th year this year) you'll see the same thing occur, his family will option out the rights to make a Catcher in the Rye film most likely to a severe fan of the work who they feel will give it the proper treatment, it'll come out and you'll see the masses divided amazingly, those who like it and those who call it an abomination. Same thing happened here....shows the love that the fans have for the original introduction but nothing really more.

 

[CelticPredator]

Amen!!.............

 

[IrishJedi]

Is this film Citizen Kane? No. Could this have better been served as a 12-14 part miniseries on HBO or something along those lines? Probably. Did I still really like the movie? Definitely. Ending aside, small quirks aside being able to look at my GN and see the exact frame from the comic to the screen still made me fanboy more than any other Comic film out to date. Up until the middle of the film it was almost piece for piece what you would have read so much so that what was left out became that much more blaringly evident....I haven't seen on Comic Book film put out yet that came so close to capturing the essence of the original source material.

Here is the thing, the film was never EVER going to mimic the widespread appeal of the comic. Ever. Partly due to time constraints but partly due to the fact that the creators themselves knew they had to bring it to a widespread audience and knew that they had to work within their parameters....that being said you get the feeling that they themselves knew they were going for "the best we could give" and found themselves stuck in the middle where they alienated a lot of the two core groups they were going for.

It fell into the trap that all Comic Book movies do. It became an abridged version of itself. Spider-Man, X-Men, Batman, Superman all often take years of source material and smash them together into one story instead of trying to flush out one story from one story or storyline. This is why you have so much going on in one film. Watchmen tried to take 12 issues that even when put into Motion Comics which cut out parts was over 12 hours and turn it into a 3 hour tour. I don't think there was one fan going in that thought they'd get the same feel just knowing that alone.

Say what you want about Zack Synder and his directing skills, or the writers and their attempts to reach out that have obviously failed but when I see Dr. Manhattan, The Comedian and Rorschach on screen they are exactly as I read them, exactly as I thought they'd sound, exactly as I wanted to see them. That is enough for me. I'm not worried about a sequel or if America loves these characters or not, the fact of the matter is the source material and core as endured since 1985 and like all the other properties who have had films and other media that weren't as successful as hoped put out there this will survive without much hassle.

I'll be buying the DVDs and watching the Director's Cut in theaters in July and putting it in a spot right next to the GN and the couple of original issues of WATCHMEN I still own. I'll be watching it repeatedly and enjoying it and really no comments otherwise will change that and I think you'll see a lot of fans of the original Watchmen doing the same. We loved the comic because of the thought it envoked and the discussions it prompted and the feel it gave as we went through it. The film ironically does the same because through either a like or dislike what you have is a conversation that looks at the core of what the story was doing, trying to do, putting out there and creating for the reader. Only this time the conversations aren't a response to literature but a compare and contrast look at the successes (there were quite a few) and what are deemed the failures when handling a piece so beloved by many. It'll happen again though probably sooner than we think.

When J.D. Salinger dies (it'll probably be soon since the man celebrated his 90th year this year) you'll see the same thing occur, his family will option out the rights to make a Catcher in the Rye film most likely to a severe fan of the work who they feel will give it the proper treatment, it'll come out and you'll see the masses divided amazingly, those who like it and those who call it an abomination. Same thing happened here....shows the love that the fans have for the original introduction but nothing really more.

Well said!

But Barbelith will think you're dumb.

 

[The Mike]

Eh. He already thinks that so regardless of what I post that ain't gonna change.