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UPDATED! Quint watches WB's WATCHMEN panel at Comic-Con!!!
Ahoy, squirts! Quint here from Comic-Con.
This morning’s big Warner Bros panel just ended. I took lots of notes, but honestly, there is very little news to report.
WATCHMEN… Zack Snyder ended the panel and he did bring two of his cast out, but not before saying that "the press" has scooped him. He had planned to use Comic-Con to announce the full cast, but then it leaked.
So, officially confirmed:
Jackie Earle Haley as Rorschach
Patrick Wilson as Dan/Owl
Billy Crudup as Dr. Manahttan
Jeffrey Dean Morgan as The Comedian
Stephen McHattie as Hollis
Malin Akerman as Laurie
No mention of the previously mentioned Matthew Goode as Veidt.
So, bullet-hits from the panel:
-Sets are being built in Vancouver right now, including a New York City backlot. Not going to be 300 style, very little digital work except on Mars and in Antarctica.
-Think more SE7EN than SIN CITY in terms of production design.
-Warner Bros is behind an R-rated film.
-It is period. 1985. There was talk of updating it, but Snyder said it never felt right making it about the War On Terror instead of the Cold War, so he insisted it be set in 1985. Warners agreed.
-While it's not a hard rule, he is going to be using the original comic as storyboards. He'll use them to set the framing for most of the movie.
-The casting was not an exercise in marketing, big names avoided.
-Alan Moore is not involved. He asked for his name to be taken off the project way back when it was first being developed and Snyder is honoring that... but he does hope that this will be the first film made from one of his properties that Moore will eventually think "wasn't fucked up too badly."
-Release date is 03-06-09.
-David Gibbons has gotten behind the movie and has frequently given his thoughts on the script and art.
In fact, he did up a Comic-Con exclusive WATCHMEN poster... sorry it's blurry. Will try to get a higher res shot before I sleep.
-Quint
quint@aintitcool.com
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Please don't fuck this up...
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this talkback? Snyder has yet to fail yet so bring it on. Is this slated for Summer 08?
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I sure wish I could! Please be good, please be good, please be good!
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Here's hoping.
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Is to see I Am Legend and the Watchmen brought to life, and not to suck.
Right now it looks like I am 0-1, please please please make this Awesome Snyder. I'll <3 you forever. -
reeeeeeeeeee!
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I hope someday he feels they didn't fuck it up too badly too. But I love his uncompromising attitude towards Hollywood. Lets face it, they've screwed up all his other adaptations.
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Kind of ironic considering some of the changes he's making to the text of "Watchmen" himself. But of course he only emphasized his faithfulness to the project while he was at Comic-Con, I'm sure.
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I mean I have zero hopes this movie will be anything but shit, but all of these things are in the right direction. Can we please just stop adapting shit? Make movies that are movies.
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Sorry but 300 was one of the worst films I've ever seen. I mean really, that was a terrible movie. I don't see why beautiful-looking video games that suck can be panned failures, but a movie with slick effects is instantly great. Everything, EVERYTHING outside of the visuals was very bad.
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'Seven' style production design and little digital work? Good news to my ears.
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'Seven' style production design and little digital work? Good news to my ears.
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I don't know, everytime I see the Comic I can't help but thing some of the costumes look really bad.
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Moore hated the V film, and for good reasons: it was nothing like the comic. It was much better for it, but I can easily see why the original writer would not like the film.
Watchmen, however, appears to be trying for a direct adaptation, ala Sin City, so it should get (more of) his blessing.
The main thing to keep in mind here is that Alan Moore is a crazyman, and anything he says must be taken with a grain of salt. -
you can't read it on that blurry pic of the poster, but it has a tentative release date of 3/9/09 on it. check out SuperHeroHype if you don't believe me.
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1) Take book.
2) Cut out the literary fat.
3) Film remainder frame by frame.
4) Add some Beethoven, replace actors chosen for Hollis Mason & Ozymandias (how about Jonathan Rhys Myers?), stir with care (recommended length: 3.5 hours see LOTR:ROTK).
5) If after 10 months, film result
is in anyway bland or undercooked,
quit showbiz & piss off straight
to Schumacher BLVD & hope someone will one day let you direct traffic.
ZACK-lovin' the "Seven" direction as David Fincher was always the more obvious director choice pre-2005. Good luck, man.
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Not gonna spoil it here, but the ending has been reported as being SIGNIFICANTLY different than the book's ending. No one stood up and took Snyder to task on this one? I'll be so upset if I walk into a theater on opening night, watch an amazing adaptation only for it to fall apart in the last reel.
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I haven't seen a single script review for a draft that was written after Zach signed on. Anyone care to correct me on this?
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Yes its not the comic but its also a great movie on its own. I loved the last 20 minutes.
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It depends on the context in which it takes place, but it is potentially a very significant change.
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Go here: http://zone.aintitcool.com/viewtopic.php?p=458488&highlight=#458488
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Such a talented dude, but enough already with the automatic disavowal of every single film.I bet when he finally does enjoy one, he STILL won't say it.Dick.
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Was about to do that. Yah, the ending is a bit of a lateral move, but... argh, put it this way: you know how the original ending is AWESOME? Ok, this is not quite so AWESOME. Why? Because it's different. Of course, this is all to be taken with a grain of salt. I'm being cautiously optimistic that we're being had... but if we're NOT... ick.
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...but regardless, I wish that someone would just ask Snyder about it. It's really easy to say how faithful and awesome your adaptation is going to be, especially compared to "fuck ups" like 'V for Vendetta' that were actually quite good, when you get to be vague about it.
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He wants nothing to do with them, that's his right. He's not accepting any of the money for them so he's not a hypocrite. He has read the screenplays so he does know something about the various projects.
So what's your problem? Have you liked every comic book based movie? -
He SOLD THE FUCKING RIGHTS. If you don't want a movie made, no one is twisting your arm to sell the rights. You can keep them to yourself and be GUARANTEED that no one will 'bastardize' your vision.I saw a BBC video where he admitted to not even WATCHING the adaptations any more. Now THAT's an asshole move.True, most of them have sucked, but I read Vendetta and thought the movie did a fine job of translating it for the screen. If Moore would remove his head from his ass for a few seconds maybe he'd see this too.
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Exactly. If you don't want your stuff "fucked up", dont sell it.
This movie will be good. You know it will. -
Changing anything in that last chapter would like Cameron deciding that TITANIC would work better without that "sinking bit" in the end. Come on, Alan Moore puts everything into his books in the effort of making them as PERFECT as the medium will allow.
Don't fuck around with perfection.
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The absolutely sold the rights. David Lloyd, the illustrator and co-owner of the rights to Vendetta, has never sided with Moore on this issue. He told the NY Times that he and Moore knew exactly what they were doing when they sold these rights over. It's only in the years since that Moore seems to be falling into a sort of mental illness that has distorted his relationship with just about everyone on Earth.
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... for the film version.
Don't get me wrong, I love the ending of the graphic novel, but the "big plan" as it stands just would not work in a film. It would come across as something silly from the left field...
How's THAT for skirting around spoilers? -
Treating these writers/artists like farmhands was common practice for decades. This treatment was the primary reason for the formation of "Creator Owned" publishing houses like IMAGE in the
early 1990s.
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That's cool that they're sticking with the 1985 timeframe. I still would've liked to see a War of the Worlds flick that wasn't set in modern times.
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Yeah, I wouldn't kick her out of bed for eating crackers. Mmmmmm...
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I read somewhere that yes, DC owns the rights to Watchmen. There's some screwy detail where rights will revert to Moore when/if DC decides to stop publishing copies of it. That said, it most likely wasn't Moore's decision to have this be filmed. I love Moore, really excited to see this still though.
Moore has sold other film rights though - but he needs to pay the bills somehow. Even the best comic book writer of all time doesn't make a whole ton of money.
How about a Lost Girls movie next ;-) -
Alan Moore:
I'd have nothing to do with films anymore. If I owned the sole copyright, like with 'Voice Of The Fire,' there would not be a film. Anything else, where others owned copyrights, I'd insist on taking my name off future films. All of the money due to me would go to the artists involved. -
From CBR(last post also):
Alan's oft-repeated stance on this is that the original comics remain untouched. "As long as I could distance myself by not seeing them, enough to keep them separate, take the option money, I could be assured no one would confuse the two. This was probably naïve on my part." -
This has changed. Speaking to me on Friday, Moore added to this sentiment, telling me "after the films came out, I began to feel increasingly uneasy, I have a dwindling respect for cinema as it is currently expressed." This came to a head when Alan Moore was sued as part of a suit against 20th Century Fox for plagiarism of the screenplay "Cast Of Characters" which bore heavy resemblance to the movie version of "The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen" starring Sean Connery.
"They seemed to believe that the head of 20th Century Fox called me up and persuaded me to steal this screenplay, turning it into a comic book which they could then adapt back into a movie, to camouflage petty larceny." This led to Moore giving a ten-hour deposition - he believes he'd have suffered less if he'd "sodomised and murdered a busload of children after giving them heroin."
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now that would be good
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I have seen Jeffrey Dean Morgan playing Judah Botwin And Danny Duquette, and he was incredible, although very loving, fatherly and uncomedianlike, have heard he's badass in Supernatural but only saw the pilot.(http://youtube.com/watch?v=8sVLrRQiCWQ)
JEH was fucking amazing in Little Children, the jerk off scene was brilliantly creepy. Patrick Wilson pulled aged and beat down really well on Little Children and was great in Hard Candy.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=IiJLJd7cH1c
MA was cute in The Comeback and hot in Entourage but have yet to see her real acting chops (http://youtube.com/watch?v=nC4tJYOrtOw). Billy Crudup rules, wouldn't say he's a no name.
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that would be awesome
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For the record I think it's a great book. Was disappointed by the film. Could barely recognize the story while watching the movie.
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He's a BRILLIANT crank with an incest fetish, but still...
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Looks like we got a release date.
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Check out Haley in "Little Children" and Patrick Wilson in "Hard Candy."
IMO, Wilson and Ellen Page could have gotten oscar nods for that movie...absolutely terrific. I just can't believe we're getting Watchmen already...thought it would be another decade or more. -
but, besides crudup, who the fuck are the cast? unknowns isn't a bad idea but, seriously, they ain't leaping to mind as a good fit for their parts. okay then, that's two things.
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yes, the story was significantly compressed and the shiny wachowski look was much flashier than very dated style of john lloyd's artwork. But of all the shitty hollywood adaptations of Moore's work, i thought V was the closest. As for the ending of Watchmen, i don't mind if they change because - honestly - the original one is silly. Yes, i know Moore is the god of graphic novels and Watchmen is his Sistine Chapel. But sometimes you gotta point out that the emperor has no clothes: the original Watchmen ending was lame.
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You fuckheads do realize it is MEANT to be silly, it is moore saying "it's a fucking comic book". God you guys are fucking stupid. Ridiculous costumes, crazy ideas all have to be in this, it's the juxtaposition between the comic elements and the realistic elements which are brought forth with the characters. Fuck yourselves.
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I appreciate your good natured expression of opinion. You're a cool guy.
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So far, besides the cast looking a leeeetle on the young side, everything I'm hearing sounds positive...
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on interview with chud.
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Or is this ComiCon moving from THE one I wanted to attend to zzzzzzzzville. Please say that isn't all we're getting in terms of info regarding Watchmen.
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The idea is that it's a threat that no nation has a plan for, therefore they must work together as one race of people.
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but I reckon they really really should have done that with Spiderman instead of the bland "spidey on a building" "spidey on a building AGAIN" crap....Watchmen is a little more serious though...the only poster they need is the image of the Comedians badge. Thats it.
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I'd like to know how they're treating Dr Manhattan. I hope they're not gonna just paint Billy Crudup blue. That would look silly. They'd have to razzle dazzle him up a bit with some pixels, right?
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You can still keep that scenario without dropping a giant dead tentacle monster on NYC.
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LAAAAMMMEEE... looks nothing like him
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Seriously, I'm no filmmaker, but the Tales of the Black Freighter stuff needs to be a DVD extra IF ANYTHING. It's not REALLY gonna be in the theatrical release, is it?!?!?
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You cast celebrities, you know what you get? Halle Berry as Catwoman/Storm, Ben Affleck as Daredevil, Nic Cage as Ghost RIder... to hell with celebs, and the bloated budgets and bloated egos that come with them!
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You fucking bitches don't know how lucky you are. Considering the schlocky casting we've had for other comic films, count yourselves more, more, more than fucking lucky....
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Don't.
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That this movie is being made at all. Let alone with such integrity to the source material. Character actors in the lead roles AND a 1980's cold war setting... and all some of you faggots can do is bitch. Un-fucking-real.
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No alien. Ozy is going to harness Doc M's powers and use them to kill millions of people, blaming a rogue and vengeful Manhattan for it. I actually think it's pretty cool.The very ending (Rorschach's journal) is the same.
No Goode, eh? Maybe I'm still in with a chance.... -
Seriously, this man is PERFECT for Rorschach. That role, more than any other, needed to be cast perfectly for the film to work. Plus, I've been pulling for Jackie Earle Haley since his comeback began last year with "All the King's Men" and especially "Little Children", so this just adds to the great news. This will be an ambitious undertaking, but I've faith that Snyder can pull it off. It just sucks I've gotta wait over a year and half for this.
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He's not making a comment on the quality of the other films, you idiot, Ribbon. He's making a comment on Alan Moore universally hating everything adapted from his works. Read between the lines dude. Sheesh.
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The "Dead" remake was really pretty good, ASIDE from the fact it was a remake. I liked it a lot better than the other kinetic, new-school over-the-top horror that followed it (Hills Have Eyes, for instance, which was slick, and yes, superbrutal, but so what? it was just no fun).
"300" was like a freaky fetish movie from a different dimension, and you know what? That was not the work of a hack. It wasn't an aesthetic I particularly cared for, but I did feel like Snyder really kept true to the somewhat bizarre vision of the film... didn't compromise or dilute it. Did I love 300? Well, it was an interesting spectacle. Definitely better than most of what Hollywood shits out, but that's not saying much these days.
But I really am psyched now for Watchmen... although I had the reservations any fan of the comic would, EVERYTHING Snyder says above is exactly what I as a fan of the comic would want to hear. And look at that poster! In a world where "Fantastic Four" and "Ghost Rider" are topping the box office, I think Watchmen fans got very fucking lucky to have Snyder at the helm.
I am optimistic, and I'm not very often optimistic about big-budget movies... or comic book properties. And as others have said, casting character actors is EXACTLY right. And it's a period piece, set in 1985, not some gay bladerunner-lite techno near-future... I mean, come on folks, unless you're someone who just doesn't believe a good Watchmen movie is POSSIBLE (which I would have said about LOTR once), how could you not be psyched???!?!? -
recognizable as Shatner by a long shot. Sorry, Mr. West. Probably a better actor than Shatner too. I don't think he would be recognizable/distracting. But there have been a lot of great "dream cast" ideas floated in the Talkbacks, from William Macy for Nite Owl to Paddy Considine as Rorshach to Demi Moore as the original Silk Spectre... all good ideas if you ask me, but I am excited to see less famous faces.
I saw Crudup in the "Coast of Utopia" marathon... you know, the twelve-hour long Tom Stoppard stage play cycle about mid-1800s Russian intelligensia? Yeah, that. And he was fucking amazing. And he was also the best thing about the misfired "Jesus' Son" film adaptation, which is the only other thing I remember him in off-hand. If he is indicative of the talent level in the cast overall, we are in for a real damn treat. -
wowza!
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At least I think its the New First Panel (assuming it hasn't been printed before). Here's some geek knowledge: Ysee, ever cover of WATCHMEN was actually the first panel of the storyline contained in the book. The cover first issue was the bloody smiley face (which you can see in that image) and the next few panels were a "pan out" from that bloody smiley face. On the trade paperback of WATCHMEN, its a broken window (which occurs before Commedian goes splat). And now we have the murder socking Commedian one. And then so it goes the rest of the story. Craziness. One wonders how far back Gibbons will go if he keeps this up. Will we eventually get an image of Commedian scratching his nuts watching TV? Only time will tell! Anyway, I thought it was cool.
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That Comic Con/Teaser poster is gorgeous...Gibbons' work is beautiful when colored right
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The firt time I read Watchmen, I didnt know who these characters were....you just sort of get to know them as the story progresses...I feel like thats how it will be with the movie, we dont have preconcieved notions of who these actors are (except Billy Crudup) and we'll get to know them as the film prgresses...its a little like Bob Hoskins in Roger Rabbit, I couldnt see him in any other role for a while after RR and he was pretty much unknown at that time....the same will be with these guys...they will be their characters, their characters wont be THEM.....or whatever
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they are going to do it like Gollum. So he looks otherworldly and glows.
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Setting it in 1985, not too CGI heavy...all very nice. And that Dave Gibbons poster is loveliness.
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Oh my God, it looks so fucking good, I can't believe it!
Overall it all sounds good so far, but I will remain skeptical about it probably until I see this thing. I am such a die-hard fan of the novel, I can't bring myself to get hyped up about the movie and then be disappointed by it. That would kill me. -
No offense dude, but I think you could use a little more training in reading comprehension than I could. I got what Snyder meant. What *I* meant is that it's pretty arrogant to assume Moore won't think the exact same thing when you start fucking around with his material, even if it's in the name of "telling a better story."
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Jul 28, 2007 6:51:49 AM CDT
rorschach is WRONG WRONG WRONG
by in the future there wont be men and wome
he wasnt meant to look creepy like that. he was just meant to look totally nondescript so that people just thought he was a complete nobody. i cant believe that after all this time waiting for this film, it looks like its going to be a waste of everyones time. zack snyder just isnt very good. dawn of the dead was pish and 300 was just mind-numbingly stupid. if only they'd let paul greengrass go with it.
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http://www.superherohype.com/news/watchmennews.php?id=6086
Everything looks allright. I hope they dont screw this up. -
Fuck, dont think I can wait that long! I have a strange optimism about this. Re-read it last week and realised I had forgotten how brilliant it is! Ackerman looks like she could do a good Spectre anyway. Bit of dye and shes a pretty solid looker for the comic!
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Alan Moore is right. Frank Miller has had success in Sin City in adapting, some financial rewards from 300 ( which I personally hated.) So what if Snyder adapts it panel by panel from the book. Dave Gibbons art is masterful. Also, I dont trust a director who digitally enhances the actors muscles. That ruined the whole thing. Well, that and all the gimmick shots. The comic is OK, ive always felt Lynn's stuff with Frank lacking. Watchmen is sacred territory, and the only respect shown it so far is all the directors who realized it should NEVER BE MADE INTO A MOVIE!
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For the bitches who moan about how young these actors are. It's fucking confirmed as so many before have said- it's because of the fucking flashbacks. So stow that criticism because it's tired.
http://www.superherohype.com/news/watchmennews.php?id=6086 -
Maybe it'd because I'm not a fan of war epics, and that's what it was. I enjoyed Dawn of the Dead, for what it was though. Synder DOES seem to be taking the right approach for this, and as long as he doesn't do constant slow motions, like in 300, I'll be fine. Also, I didn't enjoy V For Vendetta that much. The bullet-time sais were unnecessary, and I suppose I'm still a little upset that my favorite part of the graphic novel, the payback for the guy who worked in concentration camps, with the dolls, wasn't in the film. If the movie was my first experience with the material, I may have enjoyed it, not knowing what I was missing.
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The only really good bit was the part they took, pretty much word for word, from the original comic. The breaking and rebuilding of Evey.
So many things in that movie were utterly retarded. V cooking eggs comically, the pathetic overacting by John Hurt, the totally stupid death given to V (why bother delivering such an important speech to somebody you're going to kill anyway?) The embarassing lines about muslims and the clumsy attempts to blend current day reality with the graphic novel. In the end V doesn't survive as long as he does because of his ideals or the power of his words, but the fact that he's apparently an unstoppable ninja machine who rips scenes directly from "For A Fistful Of Dollars". So totally stupid. But for me the most unforgivable sin was the exclusion of what could have been some of the greatest moments in cinema, to be replaced by a terrible scene of Stephen Fry running around to the Benny Hill theme. (WOW! So original! So shocking! That hasn't been done to death 10,000000 times at all!) Come on. The dolls burning. The man on the windowsill. Motherfucking FATE! And the best scene of all, the detective on acid in the fucking concentration camp! Holy Christ that was genius and the two fuckup dipshit brothers who clearly went insane whilst making their fourth grade philosophy lesson/video games will never be forgiven in my eyes for missing those chances. My closing statement? Voilà! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of Fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin van-guarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition. The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous.
Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose, so let me simply add that it's my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V. I rest my fucking case. -
And so much easier to adapt. Relatively simple storylines with some sweet original concepts, bad-ass action and a great characters, with just a hint of the typical Alan Moore utter fucking insanity.
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is when people assume that, because Snyder made 300, that he will make Watchmen in nthe same fashion he made 300. Whether you like the 300 adaptation or not (i liked it), I'll bet that the finished product was pretty damn close to the original vision that Snyder had for it (and is pretty darn close to Miller's vision too). This is important, because it means that he has the ability to follow throught his vision to the finished product. Too many filmmakers have a reach that exceeds their grasp. I don't get that impression from Snyder.
I don't think he's a one-trick pony and I really hope he is able to follow 300's slick and shallow style with the required depth needed for Watchmen. Time will tell. Although anyone who says that a project will definitively suck before it's even been made, has earned the right to have their opinions ignored. -
How does it look like that's what Zack's gonna do, exactly? All you know is that he's keeping it period. I'll say one thing for the man, after '300,' he has fanboys eating out of the palm of his hand.
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How can you call God an "asshole"...well, maybe you can, but Alan Moore wrote this motherf'er, so he gets a free pass from criticism...and that's not even adding in Marvelman and Supreme and all the other cool shit he's written. Alan Moore makes Neil Gaiman or Frank Miller look like hacks...that great is his talent and brilliant output.
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The book made more of a point about how extremists justify each other and the film made another retread of how facism is bad complete with the most painfully obvious Nazi references since Ultraviolet.Didn't they even change The Head's name to Adam Statler so it would sound like an Anglicized Adolf Hitler? I mean, how fucking stupid do the Wachowskis think the public is? Everybody knows about WW2 and the Nazis and the holocaust, it seems to be the one fucking thing they teach in history class.
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Actually, I think that's pretty brilliant "unknown" casting. Doesn't anyone here watch Supernatural? He IS pretty badass as a demon hunter - I can definitely see him chomping on a cigar and carrying a big gun, and being intense and aggressive. And he's got the kind of face that ages well. So I can easily see him playing the range of ages necessary. This production just seems to be making all the right moves. We'll see...
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