If I've linked to either of these already, forgive me. Between Twitter, Facebook, Livejournal and here, I sometimes lose track,
Anyhoo, DH's reviews of Watchment in Giant and Film Journal:
You can't open the book of my life and jump in the middle. Like woman, I'm a mystery.
Mal ,'Our Mrs. Reynolds'
Buffista Movies 7: Brides for 7 Samurai
A place to talk about movies--old and new, good and bad, high art and high cheese. It's the place to place your kittens on the award winners, gossip about upcoming fims and discuss DVD releases and extras. Spoiler policy: White font all plot-related discussion until a movie's been in wide release two weeks, and keep the major HSQ in white font until two weeks after the video/DVD release.
Jessica - Mar 07, 2009 9:19:37 am PST #276 of 30000
If I want to become a cloud of bats, does each bat need a separate vaccination?
Polter-Cow - Mar 07, 2009 9:28:22 am PST #277 of 30000
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!
And it was annoying to me how every hero was [spoiler]
Yeah, I didn't remember that from the book, but it...looked cool? Same with the splatters.
I don't know. I liked the movie, and I was surprised how well many scenes translated to film (like the non-linear sections), and Jackie Earle Haley brought Rorschach to life in a way I thought impossible, and Billy Crudup's soft-spoken Dr. Manhattan won me over even though I always imagined him to have more of a booming, commanding, godlike voice, and there were a lot of neat details, but, hey, maybe the book really is unfilmable.
Miracleman - Mar 07, 2009 9:35:05 am PST #278 of 30000
No, I don't think I will - me, quoting Captain Steve Rogers, to all of 2020
Speaking of splatters
Heh. It's LJ all over again...
I was just looking at the graphic novel again and when Manhattan asplodes Rorschach there's a great deal of blood spattered all over. When Manhattan invades Moloch's vice den ("The morality of my activities escapes me.") he's blowing a guy's head up and while there's no big ol' splattery splatter of splattery blood, there's the implication that there will be a headless corpse quietly spurting in the corner as Manhattan walks on.
The movie went overboard with that, though, what with the limbs hanging from the ceiling and shit. I was all "What the...Jesus, Doc, fucking pick up after yourself! Were you disintegrated and reintegrated in a fucking barn?!"
HOWEVER, I agree with you, Jess. It always seemed to me that, for the most part Doc Manhattan's "You die now" (and I'm stealing that, by the way) was...cleaner. And, this is a "just me" thing, but it always felt to me that when he blows up Rorschach real good the bloody effect was on purpose on Manhattan's part...a strange tribute in a strange way, a way of saying to Rorschach "You deserve to have a mark left behind, some evidence that you were alive and human and not just a...thing...that I can unmake and disregard.
But I may be reading a LOT into that there.
Amy - Mar 07, 2009 9:36:53 am PST #279 of 30000
Because books.
hey, maybe the book really is unfilmable
I keep hearing that. Anyone want to chime in on why so many have thought so (without, you know, spoiling)? Is it length, complexity, nature of the characters, or what?
I'm still going to try to be a test subject for those who see the movie without having read the novel, hopefully this week.
Also, did anyone see Blindness? Wow, talk about grim. And ... weirdly good and bad.
Miracleman - Mar 07, 2009 9:39:43 am PST #280 of 30000
No, I don't think I will - me, quoting Captain Steve Rogers, to all of 2020
Is it length, complexity, nature of the characters, or what?
Yes.
It really is a very lengthy, complex book with complex characters of difficult natures.
But I have to agree with one of Ethan's reviews: I don't think it's unfilmable. I have NO IDEA how *I* would do it (except as a very expensive twelve-part miniseries on, like, HBO or Showtime or something), but I think it can be done. I just don't think Zack Snyder was the guy to do it perfectly. He did okay. I guess. But it wasn't as OMGWTFBBQ as graphic novel fans and non-fans alike were expecting, I think.
Amy - Mar 07, 2009 9:42:11 am PST #281 of 30000
Because books.
Ah. There are books like that.
Still can't wait to see it. And it's not (completely) about how much I love Jeffrey Dean Morgan, or how interested I am to see pendulous sapphire wang.
Jessica - Mar 07, 2009 9:44:23 am PST #282 of 30000
If I want to become a cloud of bats, does each bat need a separate vaccination?
Were you disintegrated and reintegrated in a fucking barn?!
BWAHAHAHAHA!
Also, I'm not posting anything else without checking the book first, because this is just getting embarrassing.
However, I think the main point is on all of these - and I think we do agree here - that the letter may have been right, but the spirit was wrong. And in my case, the spirit struck me so wrongly that the I (repeatedly) wasn't able to acknowledge the rightness of the letter until it was pointed out to me.
In short, I R CURMUDGEON KITTEH.
Volans - Mar 07, 2009 9:44:24 am PST #283 of 30000
move out and draw fire
except as a very expensive twelve-part miniseries on, like, HBO or Showtime or something
This would be ideal.
Jessica - Mar 07, 2009 9:46:45 am PST #284 of 30000
If I want to become a cloud of bats, does each bat need a separate vaccination?
They kind of tried that with Dune. It wasn't pretty.
Miracleman - Mar 07, 2009 9:48:31 am PST #285 of 30000
No, I don't think I will - me, quoting Captain Steve Rogers, to all of 2020
Jessica, we totally agree on that point. If you R CURMUDGEON KITTEH, then I am SLIGHTLY GRUMPY BASSET HOUND right next to you.
Don't get me wrong, folks, I didn't hate the movie. I wasn't sorely disappointed, but I was mildly disappointed. I just run up against the "Okay, but what would you do then, hotshot? Huh? What?" and I can only answer "Give me a quajillion dollars and a lot of time and I'll show you. But I need the quajillion dollars first."