Who watches the WATCHMEN?

[Doh!]

Watchmen photos are up:

http://rss.warnerbros.com/watchmen/

Nite Owl looks far too buff for me. I thought it was great in the comic to have an overweight superhero. Of course, the photo could be from early in his career.

I haven't read the comic since the '80s but remember liking it quite a bit. Let's hope the movie works.

 

[Lulu-in-Ny]

I agree, but I'm way more concerned about Ozymandias. Wow. My big issue with this film is that they seem very afraid of the age factor. The youngest of them in the comic was Laurie, and she was 36. I'm still holding out for it to be great, though. Fingers crossed...

 

[Corto]

Nite Owl looks far too buff for me. I thought it was great in the comic to have an overweight superhero. Of course, the photo could be from early in his career.

I voiced the same concern to a friend. He's under the same opinion- it's from a flashback...(I haven't read the comic in years, either...)

 

[Doctor Strange]

The comic was so brilliant that I'm trying to keep my expectations low - I'll be surprised if it's not too dumbed-down or otherwise screwed up.

OTOH, I liked 300 much, much more than I had expected to, so perhaps there's reason to hope for a good adaptation.

 

[Dr Doran]

I thought Watchmen was by FAR the smartest and best superhero comic ever done. I look forward to a film.

 

[mike]

Has there ever been a worthwhile movie that originated from the terrific mind of Alan Moore?!?!?
Still getting my head around the Black Dossier League of Extraordinary Gentleman book. I want to buy Lost Girls but... well its out of my price range :eusa_doh:

 

[SpitfireXIV]

i hope for the best when it comes to filming "Watchmen." Alan Moore is a brilliant writer; but after seeing what Hollywood did to "V For Vendetta," i fear the worst.

now, if i had filmed this.... i would have had it produced by a cable channel (HBO for example, or SciFi) and divided it into weekly hour-long episodes; too much ground to cover in 2 1/2 hours.

 

[Doh!]

I believe that at one point Terry Gilliam was involved, and he also wanted to do it in a much longer format. We'll see what happens.

I just ordered a copy of the book from Amazon; I only read it originally by reading a friend's copy, so now it's time to buy my own.

 

[Spiffy]

Thought this was interesting

Yay! Someone did the work for us and created this graphic!

 

[Edward]

I'm really looking forward to it. Have to admit, I actually enjoyed V for Vendetta a whole lot. I didn't feel the liberties they took with the plot in it were bad. I think it actually made a lot of sense to shift the blowing up of the Palace of Westminster to the end sequence, in terms of visual spectacle. I also think it was necessary to update the elements of it that were of its time for it to have sufficient appeal to be box-office viable.... I do gather that Moore felt that it didn't represent his work sufficiently well. I am not of the same opinion, but you know what they say about opinions.....

With Watchmen, I do hope they keep it as dark as it was. Specifically, the one character I fear they might toe down will be Rorschach. I hope they don't, though I can see a modern Hollywood exec running scared of having a right wing, xenophobic homophobe as a major protagonist who is not cast as a villain per se. I should expect we'll see the whole thing shifted some years forward, and in palce of the Cold War we will have the present War on Terror. I wouldn't be surprised if the manufacturered alien threat is repalced with a manufactured terrorist threat - lead in to 9/11 conspiracy theories...

We'll have to see. Whatever, as long as it's done well, I think it'll be great to see the Watchmen on the big screen after the last few years' long run of super hero movies. I do like a good super hero, don't get me wrong, but I love Moore's "reality rules" take on it - to paraphrase the man himself, the outworking of the reality that if Batman really existed we'd all see him as a dangerous psychopath rather than a hero.

 

[KeyGrip]

.... i would have had it produced by a cable channel (HBO for example, or SciFi) and divided it into weekly hour-long episodes; too much ground to cover in 2 1/2 hours.

This would be ideal, as they could fit in all the intricacy of the plot and all of the flashbacks. I can't really see a way of abridging the book to movie form without loosing some vital part.

 

[Doh!]

While I agree that an HBO miniseries would have been ideal, I hope they can make a solid movie out of such dense material, much like L.A. Confidential was a successful film from the VERY thick novel.

 

[Lulu-in-Ny]

While I agree that an HBO miniseries would have been ideal, I hope they can make a solid movie out of such dense material, much like L.A. Confidential was a successful film from the VERY thick novel.

I have always been amazed that they made such an incredible film out of such a mammoth book. That was, and this will be, a job for a superior screenwriter. Let's hope the guys they've got can get the job done.

 

[Charlie Noodles]

I'm looking forward to this. Though I'm sure it's going to suck. Jackie Earle Haley should do a good job of Rorschach; I saw him in 'Little Children' recently and he has the perfect build for it, I think.

 

[resortes805]

Apple trailers has a great segment on setting up this photo shoot for the first generation of Superheroes explored in Watchmen.
Here's the pic:

Here's a link to the clip:
http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/watchmen/

 

[Charlie Noodles]

I've heard they changed the ending. If true it sounds even more silly and leaves a few plot holes. Is there spoiler mask code here?

 

[Esme]

I have been practically holding my breath, waiting for this to come out!
I had never even heard of this comic until I came here to Aus about 4 years ago, but my husband is a long time comic collector and turned me on to it, so I have read all of them I could get my hands on, including the re-issue graphic novel. Now I am dieing to see the movie!!
I heard there were some legal issues that held it up or something? Anyway, we won't get it till months after it come out in the US but I will be there.
I scored 4 free movie tickets at work that I was supposed to get before the holidays but just got ahold of. They are good until October.
I am thinking about Angelina Jolie's new movie as it is set in the 1940's and the costuming looks good. What do you think?

 

[Miss 1929]

That group pic looks like a Lounger get-together...

 

[Edward]

I love the look of that photo: exactly how thingd would look if a bunch of regular people might end up dressed if trying to invent their own superheroes - which, in effect, is exactly what the first generation 'costumed adventurers' of the Watchmen universe did. If they'd looked too good, too stylised, too spohisticated.... it simply wouldn't work. this bodes well, I feel.

 

[kiltie]

Killing is Funny...

How's that for a thread title?
I'd like to post something here relative to this thread:
http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=38031&page=2

Already, many of you have seen Watchmen and I don't think it's a spoiler, per se, to dump the fact that during the opening credits there's a snippet of the character Comedian shooting JFK.

The opening credits of Watchmen have several black comedy fueled snippets based on iconic moments of American history. Further, as a whole, I really enjoyed Watchmen as a pretty faithful adaptation of a fun read. But I'm a bit conflicted about the JFK assassination scene. In that bit, Comedian shoots Kennedy from the grassy knoll in a very realistic portrayal of the fateful motorcade procession. There is NOTHING left to the imagination as the camera is focused on Kennedy's head and the fatal bullet strikes. EXTREMELY graphic.

The Camelot years were before my time, and as I've grown up, political and personal leanings have never caused me to yearn for years like them. However, I know that John F. Kennedy was more than a man who held the office of president; that he was a symbol of many things to many people. I know that his murder signaled the end of America's innocence for many. I know that his assassination was the "Where were you...?" date between Pearl Harbor and 9/11; a multi-generation glue that bound people together.

In my post in the thread linked above, I offered that people are so removed from past tragadies that it's hard to even hold them accountable for being callous. Separated by time, distance, economic status, etc...

Is the scene in Watchmen art? Is it fair game to satirize that event? Consider that in the sixties, Dr.Strangelove and The Manchurian Candidate were either edited or pulled all together due to issues of sensitivity regarding the Kennedy assassination. Where are we now? Are people shocked, hurt, or otherwise impressed?

What's the impression here at the lounge?