i went to see "watchmen" the other day. i thought it was pretty good overall. here's a great piece of bathroom graffiti i found at a borders in san diego:
(it's tough to read, but one person wrote "who watches the watchmen?" and some wiseacre drew an arrow pointing to the quote and wrote "nerds")
i loved the novel and the movie is a pretty faithful interpretation, but it definitely has its low points. i hate ham-handed symbolism (i.e. "argh! the comedian was right! life IS just a joke!") and the movie had more than its share of that. plus, malin akerman and matthew goode certainly aren't going to win any oscars for their roles, but i don't think they're as bad as some people say.
despite my generally positive impressions, i left the theater with the feeling that i would have been confused had i not read the book. but mostly because people in the theater kept talking/laughing/making noise and i couldn't hear. we went to a matinee at a mildly crappy theater and the crowd wasn't exactly respectful.
the movie's high ratio of male-to-female nudity provoked quite a bit of snickering amongst the audience. i can understand a brief chuckle at seeing dr. manhattan in all his luminous blue glory for the first time, or at nite owl's relative flabbiness for a superhero... but it's pathetic when adults are still giggling at a completely nonsexual image of a naked person after seeing it for the sixth or seventh time.
i think my worst "inappropriate laughing at a theater" experience was "the fellowship of the ring." i'm a big LoTR fan (shocking, right?) and i had been following the production of that movie for like three years.
i saw it on opening night in a packed theater and i was spellbound, up until the scene where boromir gets shot by a bunch of arrows. a group of people somewhere in the back of the theater started laughing uproariously and i have no idea why... looking at it objectively, there isn't anything funny about the scene; no goofy facial expressions or weird groans or anything.
i was livid at them ruining that scene for me. to this day, i still have nagging memories of those boorish assholes whenever i watch it.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
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i just read that part where the owl is naked. funny that it's THAT true to the book.
ReplyDeletei'm nearly done with the book...and it's good. maybe not exactly like i thought, but it's certainly engaging. i have never read a book that included pictures of people having sex, so that's been funny. after watching more previews here, i got the feeling that the movie would suck a tad. batman is the only comic book turned movie that i've felt was serious enough to really enjoy.
also, is the movie as gory?
i would say the movie is worth watching... but let me know when you finish the book, i want to hear what you think of the ending.
ReplyDeletethe movie probably contains comparable levels of gore to the book, but it's been a while since i actually read it.
When I saw "Return of the King," at the theater, someone behind me whispered "Bilbo's face looks like a nutsack," when the elder hobbit appeared in one of his final scenes, all old and hoary. Feeling the aptness of the description, I pretty much lost my shit entirely.
ReplyDeleteIt's part of their graffiti campaign they are plastering it all over the place.
ReplyDelete"wiseacre" !!! yes! haha
ReplyDelete