Watchmen question: Okay, was it supposed to be a surprise that the Comedian was Laurie's dad?

There was a picture of her on his nightstand. It was VERY noticeable. I couldn't believe this was a big reveal. I didn't get it in the context of the movie.

The FotR DVD is why I bought a DVD player.

I sometimes watch it just for that commentary and the Making Of feature with Elijah wandering around being cute.

le nubian, I had read it, and The Boy had not, so after we saw it, I asked him if it was a big reveal. He said that he hadn't really paid close attention to all the little details that seem obvious in retrospect, but he also said that, when the actual reveal was, uh, revealed, he wasn't surprised at it, either.

Relatedly, I can't remember if anyone has posted this yet (or if I had, for that matter): Mad Magazine's parody of Watchmen.

le nub, yes, and that's exactly what I was talking about upthread about the narrative structure being out of order and failing.

why did they put the picture of Laurie on the Comedian's nightstand? Just leaving that out or having her picture out of focus, or having Rorschach pick up the picture and set it down again without revealing the picture's image, would have at least put some mystery in all of it.

BTW - for individuals who read the book? Comedian tried to rape Laurie's mom, right? Then X years later, she willingly slept with the asshole? Why?

le nub:

The Comedian being Laurie's father is a *BIG* reveal in the comic that they totally punked in the movie. Having her picture there was one major fuckup...way to spoil it, Snyder.

It's really well done in the graphic novel. There are tiny tiny pieces sprinkled throughout that don't seem to point to anything in particular and don't even attract notice until Laurie pieces them together on Mars (without, might I add, Dr. Manhattan's horseshit "See as I see" crap which is not in the novel).

As to your second question:

Sally answers the question like this: "...shouted at him, he looked *surprised*, couldn't imagine why I'd bear a grudge. See, it's different for him, and I just couldn't sustain it, the anger..."

"First off, he was *there*, right? Plus, he was *gentle*. You know what gentleness *means* in a guy like that? Even a glimmer of it?"

Later, to Laurie:

"Oh, Laurel, I'm so sorry. Wh-what must you think? It...it was just an afternoon, in summer. He stopped by...

"I tried to be angry, but...I mean, I never wanted you to know. I should have told you, but...I don't know, I just felt ashamed, I felt stupid, and..."

So, to me it was a bad decision, one of those bad relationship moves that people make and they feel fucking stupid about afterward, but it happened and there you go. Sally Jupiter was never shown to be the most together person as it was. Her reasoning for dressing up and fighting crime, her apparently loveless marriage...I don't know, it rang true to me in that way that people doing fucked up things that don't make sense sometimes does.

The commentary on "Strictly Ballroom" is really good, but Baz thinks far too highly of himself and wears a listener out with all of his talking.

Wallybee and I have just started watching through the Red Curtain trilogy. (I've seen them before, Wallybee hasn't.) Will have to check the commentary.

One thing I really liked, and mayhaps is the same thing that others have mentioned liking, was when Archie pulls up at the last moment and crashes into the top edge of the cliffs and suddenly the perspective is upside-down.

Now that was innovative and fresh, exciting, original, and a bit foreshadowing of things to come.

I have never heard it called the "Red Curtain Trilogy."

Strictly Ballroom is my absolute favorite.

I caught Beetlejuice over the weekend too, though I sadly missed the Day-O dinner party.

I'd forgotten how scorchingly hot Alec Baldwin was back at the start of his career.