An overloaded cast can’t work through the issues of a flabby script and scattershot direction.

One of the most frequently heard gripes about American cinema the last couple of years is that adult movies – films made for grown-ups, about grown-up issues or at least matters relevant to audiences over 30 years old – are on the wane. It’s wondered if people who aren’t in college, or better yet high school, haven’t got the time to trek to a movie theatre and sit still for two hours. (Note to Hollywood: these days most of us are working too hard.) Films made for this demographic, the occasional romcom aside, don’t do as well as the superhero and vampire fluff that have become the studios’ meat and potatoes.

Certainly, marriage and parenthood are relevant, if not crucial, topics for “older” audiences, as are such ideas as romance and keeping some sense of youth and spontaneity alive once day-to-day living takes on a limitless routine. Life goes on, like the man said, long after the thrill of living is gone. Hollywood has a long and proud tradition of films addressing such quiet crises: The Big Chill, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, Two For The Road, The Ice Storm, and quite a few others all tackled its dangers. Notice that all of those films are dramas, however. Not one saw the lighter side of marital ennui and pre-midlife regret.

Just here to get lei'ed: the cast.

Couples Retreat could have been a smarter movie, a more mature film, and a sharper examination of the same topics if it tried harder than it does. But instead its script (co-written by stars Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau) too often panders to its presumed audience without ever really getting beneath the skin of the problems that lurk, like the lemon sharks of its lone suspense sequence, just beneath its surface. As with far too many major studio releases these days, the film takes pains to make sure the audience isn’t provoked into reflection, or into questioning the issues the characters only passingly mention they have. In lieu of that approach there’s too many lazy jokes, too much easy humor, too many cutesy-cute sitcommish gags about precious kids. It’s a safe film, from top to bottom and every frame between.

Uptight couple Jason and Cynthia (Jason Bateman and Kristen Bell) have hit a rough spot in their marriage, largely from their inability to have a child. Strapped for cash and desperate to make their marriage work, they approach five of their friends – two other couples and a recently-divorced male (Favreau and Kristin Davis, Vaughn and Malin Ackerman, Faizon Love) – with a group-rate package vacation to Eden, a tropical resort that doubles as therapeutic boot camp for troubled marriages. The couples agree, with Love’s hapless Shane bringing along his party-hardy 20-year old girlfriend Trudy (Kali Hawk). Once at the resort the couples’ plans for a vacation are foiled by resort regulations that demand they engage in therapy and communication skill-building sessions.

It’s only a little predictable, maybe, that each couple is in a different phase of disintegration: Favreau and Davis’ Joey and Lucy tolerate each other only until their teen daughter leaves for college; Vaughn and Ackerman’s Dave and Ronnie are just beginning to hit the skids; Shane and Trudy barely know each other. So far, so good, except each character takes their respective problem and amplifies it to ten. Part of the problem is that with so many characters, respective characterization gets lost in the shuffle: how can the audience keep up with everyone, unless they stand out? But it’s annoying nonetheless that each character has to go loud to be heard, and everyone’s behavior inevitably becomes childish and plot-focused. There’s very little sense these people know each other, past some laborious exposition dropped into a belabored first act.

There's more here for the guys to like...

Director Peter Billingsley keeps the plot moving, and again with so many characters there’s a lot to juggle. But individual scenes suffer as a direct result, with episodes trailing off and getting whisked from the viewer’s attention before they’ve reached their dramatic or comedic payoff. The result is an uneven middle and an too-tidy resolution that relies on too much convention, at least one out-of-left-field plot contrivance, and more than a little schlock. A film about adults in marital trouble doesn’t need one gag about a child using a sales floor demo toilet. The story in which two such jokes are necessary doesn’t exist.

... than there is for the ladies.

The cast, by and large, brings exactly what you’ve come to expect from them in other performances. Bateman and Bell are charming in their sunny respectability; Vaughn and Favreau are smart-assed and cranky. Davis is Charlotte York. Ackerman is charming and pretty, and seems vastly more comfortable than she appeared in Watchmen earlier this year. Love isn’t a bad actor, but watching his sad sack performance I couldn’t help but wish, and not for the first time, that Bernie Mac was still with us. Of the other cast members, Jean Reno is amusing as the resort’s spacey therapy guru, while Peter Serafinowicz  does an effective Jonathan Pryce impression as the resort’s maitre ‘d.

Ultimately, it’s hard not to imagine this film as a better choice for a January or February release. It’s quality notwithstanding, all the sun and surf lovingly displayed will no doubt offer a welcome escape when winter is at its heaviest. That’s actually about the time the DVD should hit store shelves, so audiences with anything less than a compelling interest in the film would do well to wait until then.

- Michael Kabel

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iFanboy take a look at Alan Moore’s Watchmen

Widely heralded in most geek circles at the greatest comic book of all time, Watchmen holds a much vaunted place in the heart of comic book readers. For years, Hollywood tried to bring Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ deconstructionist super hero murder mystery to the big screen with no success. For years Watchmen was considered unfilmable.

But no longer. Riding the wave of comic book movie hysteria (and big profits), Warner Bros. and director have finally brought Watchmen to the big screen! And thus did hysteria ensue. The initial teaser trailer release caused the general public to go on a Watchmen buying frenzy, and 300,000 copies of the book flew off the shelves in the second half of 2008.

This week, iFanboy takes a look at the comic book that caused all the hysteria. Is it, in fact, the greatest comic book story ever told? Does it live up to the hype? Is it still as relevant now as it was in 1986? And how do the guys feel about the up coming movie?

Hurm.

… for more visit ifanboy

DISCUSS THIS STORY

Zack Snyder’s flawed adaptation of the milestone graphic novel arrives on DVD, Blu-Ray, and in Director’s Cut format this week.

Watchmen is a film that wants to be more than it is – at least most of the time. Based on the highly-praised (perhaps overpraised) 1980s-era DC Comics mini-series and at least twenty years in its journey from page to screen, Zack Snyder’s epic vision of a parallel America where super-heroes have worked, thrived and perished for years arrives on home video this week – just in time for the San Diego Comic-Con – with loads of extra features and even an expanded director’s cut promising additional footage. But does the original film succeed? Well, like the ink blot tests at the center of one character’s obsessions, that largely depends on how you see the film as a work of adaptation and as a film in its own right.

On the one hand, Watchmen is slavishly devoted to the comic’s atmosphere, characters, and even dialogue. On the other, Snyder’s insistence on highly stylized violence – the same gimmick that made his previous 300 such a blood-soaked thrill – works against the intelligent-approach-to-superheroes leitmotif that has always served as the comic’s claim to fame and redeeming virtue. Snyder, unwisely, attempts to have his cake and eat it too, presenting haunted characters doomed by their humanity who  nevertheless relish beating the shit out of other people. These two impulses work at cross-purposes to one another, and while the film never lags or suffers for pace, there’s often a sense of it getting winded, too. Superheroes don’t get tired – at least these don’t – but the emotional pitch often warbles and peters out.

The plot is faithfully byzantine, and fans of the comic series (who are going to enjoy the film the most anyway) will recognize dozens of visual and aural references to the world minutely created by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. For the layman viewer such density of information will probably prove disorienting, but in broad strokes the world works as a nightmarish amplification of the worst excesses of the Reagan/Thatcher Era, including all the paranoia and shame that accompanied them. A noticeable problem sometimes emerges when the talented cast attempts to bring Moore’s pulp-inspired dialogue to life. Jackie Earle Haley, playing the haunted vigilante Rorschach, has the biggest task in this regard but nevertheless succeeds the most, bringing palpable feeling to his minimalist voice-overs. The rest of the performers don’t fare as well, often bringing to mind Harrison Ford’s famous admonition to George Lucas on the set of Star Wars: “You can type this shit, but you sure can’t say it.”

Amid the dogged loyalty shown by Snyder and screenwriters David Hayter (X-Men) and Alex Tse, the changing of the book’s ending comes both as a surprise and a relief, yet it still doesn’t entirely make sense. Watchmen the comic’s ending has long been a subject of debate and even derision (the book’s own editor, Wolverine creator Len Wein, fought with Moore but relented). To be fair, the original ending is both derivative (though openly so) and quite a bit dated by now. Hayter and Tse’s script turns the central mystery inward but fails to really examine the ramifications of its execution, and Snyder tries to ram the idea past the audience with bluster and speed. Neither tactic really works.

The film would work much less than it does if not for the performances that manage, often against overwhelming odds, to emerge from the special effects and tediously gruesome fight sequences. Billy Crudup (Public Enemies) finds the character of godlike Dr. Manhattan in the estranged superbeing’s lonesome voice, while Patrick Wilson (Lakeview Terrace) disappears inside the flabby self-loathing of the myopic Nite Owl.

Less commendable are the turns by Malin Ackerman (The Heartbreak Kid) as Laurie Jupiter, the second Silk Spectre, and Matthew Goode (Match Point) as Adrian Veidt, the hero turned media mogul. Moore wroter Veidt as a dispassionate, virtually asexual intellectual; while Goode’s glacial good looks fit the part he never brings any nuance to the character’s dark intellect. Ackerman struggles with a role that’s underwritten to the point of insignificance. Perhaps the delicate balance of family versus self and the struggle for a father figure at the heart of Jupiter’s character was beyond the screenwriters’ capability or outside their interest. Whatever the reason, her character was neglected most in adaptation, and the big reveal regarding her paternity doesn’t quite come off as a result.

The action sequences aside, there are finally other problems with Snyder’s sense of staging and scene construction, and even the most casual viewing reveals missed chances. One particular wasted opportunity involves a third-act reconciliation between Nite Owl and Rorschach, as the latter begs his former partner’s forgiveness for being obstinate. Though the scene screams for close-ups, to show the emotions bursting forth from beneath the masks, Snyder frames the moment as a static medium two-shot. Other visual counterpoints to character growth used so masterfully in the comics – a crystal castle splinters and falls as memories come to light, dirigibles hover over death, a perfume advertisement heralds a new future - are all curiously missing.

The cynical response, obviously, is that Snyder or the screenwriters just missed them when reading the comics. And it’s possible a repeated viewing might show that their understanding of the comics’ themes and still-timely message is in fact only skin deep. I hope not. After 23 years, the Watchmen movie shouldn’t feel like a waste of time.

- Michael Kabel

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(Note: An earlier version of this review originally appeared for the film’s theatrical release.)

It’s Tuesday again and this means time for senseless, random, rambling! YES!  Go over to The UnMom’s place to see other random ramblers. Here are my random thoughts! Happy RTT!

- Damn this rain! The only good thing to come from this incessant freaking rain is that I’m 

The Boyfriend hates them (though he didn't say so) he thinks they're too loud. (He didn't say that either but I can read his mind) I say if I'm gonna wear rain boots I'm gonna WEAR RAIN BOOTS!

getting rain boots! I decided that I refuse to wear any of my nice (or pricy) shoes in these damn puddles. I also don’t wanna wear flip flops-the typical Miami shoes- because well, that would be disgusting in these puddles, and sneakers would be great, if the floor were just wet, but its full of PUDDLES!! SO I ordered rain boots. Online. Cause I don’t wanna walk through the puddles to get from my car to the mall. Besides, I don’t like the mall. Check them out! 

- I made an appointment for a manicure and pedicure for tomorrow after not getting either since… December? She’s going to have a field day with me tomorrow!  No, my feet aren’t crusty, there’s nothing growing out of them… But they just don’t look as pretty as I’m used to seeing them. My hands, eh, they’re nice and plain. But not anymore. Not after tomorrow! I say Polka dots!! Whaddayathink? 

- Watch the movie Death at a Funeral. 

- Terminator was fabulous! I still get a little confused about the future and the past in that movie  with the fathers being younger than their sons and all that, but it was tons of fun! I wouldn’t have minded one bit if they didn’t fade Arnold’s mid-area cause I’m still traumatized by the huge blue penis from “Watchmen!” 

 
- Night at the Museum was also pretty fabulous! No penises there. No hot bodies either. But it was funny and sweet. (Yes I know, who goes to the movies twice in one week’s time? Me. That’s who. Bored little me with no school this semester and nothing to do in the mornings till June 8th.)

- You know who goes to the movies THREE times in one week’s time? YUP! ME! I got free tickets to watch Pelham 123 tomorrow. Woot woot! I’m cool. I’ll let you know if it’s terrific or not. If it’s anything more than terrific, or less, I refuse to comment on it. Watch the trailer by clicking [not here] or [here] but by clicking [HERE]

- The MTV Movie Awards are a joke, I know, but I watched them anyway. I say they’re a joke because winners are decided by the popular vote and, sad to say, many movie goers are idiots (hence the reason they keep making crap like American Pie, Scary Movie 1 to 13, Pineapple Express, and so on with similar NOT funny movies) I watched it anyways because ultimate vampire hotness Edward from Twilight (Robert Pattinson) was nominated for Best Kiss, Best Fight, and the movie itself for best movie of the year. Yeah yeah, I know. I’m an idiot too for being a Twilight freak along with the rest of the teenage girls all drooling over him. But, HAVE YOU SEEN HIM!?!?!??!?! Oh the yumminess! And, for the record, the movie took ALL the awards for which it was nominated. Including best female performance (which it deserved less than Movie of the Year) and the Bella character (Kristen Stewart) dropped her trophy on the floor like a dork. Good God!

In case you’re a drooling vampire fan who’s just DYING to watch New Moon after reading the book check out the movie trailer by below!

- I know it’s a lot of watching but you HAVE to check this last thing out! I watched an ABC documentary called Un-Broke: What You Need To Know About Money. WoW! It’s supposedly for young people to become, well, Un-Broke, but I think this is something EVERYONE should watch, 5 times, takes notes, and be quizzed on! It’s absolutely great. It has stars like Will Smith, Samuel L. Jackson, Seth Green, Cedric the Entertainer, and others, who – in a super funny and entertaining way- teach viewers about the stock market, the fundamentals of a smart mortgage, credits cards dos and don’ts, 401(k)s and all that good stuff many of us don’t really understand. Below is the first clip of four. I will be posting the other three with my daily posts for the rest of this week so check back! This is good stuff! 

“What are you so nervous about?”

- Alright. that’s all I got this week. Come back tomorrow though for the next part of Un-Broke. Happy RTT everyone!

Best real-life Doreen Green I have ever seen, but with Watchmen? Talk about contrasting styles. Cah-razy.

     In the past couple of years, there have been two major comic book movies released.  The more recent of the two is Watchmen.  The older, and far more critically acclaimed, is The Dark Knight, the sequel to 2005’s Batman Begins, which rebooted the Batman film franchise.  Many people have called this movie the greatest comic book movie ever.  The plot of the movie revolves around the arrival of the Joker, played by Heath Ledger, in Gotham City and his convoluted plots to destroy the local mafia and take control.  In addition, Gotham City has a new district attorney, Harvey Dent, played by Aaron Eckhart, who in the course of the movie, goes from being a righteous ally of Batman and Jim Gordon (who is appointed commissioner during the movie) to being the infamous Two-Face.  Rachel Dawes, the romantic interest of Bruce Wayne who was introduced in the last movie, returns, this time played by Maggie Gyllenhaal.

     Despite the highly positive reception that this movie has gotten, it really doesn’t deserve all of the acclaim.  That is not to say that it is a bad movie.  However, it isn’t the best comic book movie ever.  The main point in which this is the case is the character of the Joker.  Heath Ledger died during the course of the making of the movie, as most people know.  This instantly catapulted the movie into greater fame than it might have achieved otherwise.  Now, he was a very good actor.  And he played a great insane person.  But he didn’t play a very good Joker.  His portrayal of the Joker was sadly lacking a lot of the quirks that make him great, like his bizarre sense of humor.  In this movie, his sense of humor was just dark, rather than both silly/gimmicky and dark.  In addition, he was extremely anarchistic to the point of ridiculousness.  And that’s not to say that the normal Joker isn’t anarchistic.  But that isn’t his whole appeal.  The normal Joker is actually a lot more screwed up than this guy.  I mean, the normal Joker tried to patent fish with his characteristic grin.  That’s pretty nuts.  This guy just blew stuff up, waved around a knife and bazooka, and cracked the occasionally gross joke about his smile.

     That, for me, was the main thing that made this movie less than excellent.  Then, we also have the fact that Christian Bale’s Batman growl was pretty ridiculous sounding.  It didn’t make him sound scary at all.  Next, there’s the very existence of Rachel Dawes.  Maggie Gyllenhaal is a much better actress than Katie Holmes, but I would much rather have seen Vicki Vale or Selina Kyle (Catwoman), some of Bruce Wayne’s real romantic interests.  Considering the movie, Two-Face’s origin story was a good adaptation of the original.  And there were some very exciting moments.  But this movie was riding the wave of fandom and interested generated by Ledger’s death during the course of production, and that’s something that will keep it popular for a long time, despite the fact that it isn’t as great as people say it is.  It’s a good Batman movie.  One of the best ever made.  But it could have been better.  Seeing this movie made me want to see Mark Hamill’s portrayal of the Joker in Batman the Animated Series all over again.  THAT’S the Joker, folks.

Story: 8.5      Cinematography: 9.0      Soundtrack: 8.0      Acting: 8.2      Overall: 8.5

Hi, this post has links that are nsfw.

I’ve watched Watchmen here in Japan twice. And only now I caught it. Or didn’t.

What am I talking about? Mosaics, of course.

Anyone – and when I say anyone I really mean heterosexual males or lesbians, I don’t want to discriminate, with a taste for adult themed visual entertainment featuring women in the country I current live in- will know that Japan – GASPS! – censors their Adult Videos. AVs, as they’re called here, proudly pixelate the private parts of anyone on film.

For instance; I watched Underworld Evolution in the theaters here. During the love scene between Kate Beckinsale’s sexy female Vampire post-Matrix-style-tight-black-outfit wearing character Selene and Scott Speedman’s Hybrid Vampire Lycan character with the boring name of Michael, the lower half of both actors were heavily censored.

There in the theater I thought “Holy last Brown Bunny scene, Batman! Exactly what are they showing (and what am I missing out on)?” So I had a US edition DVD sent my way from home and it turns out the love scene really didn’t show anything far too graphic to warrant a big circular blur. Unless you count exposed waists and thighs risque.

This coming from a country that shows breasts on national television late at night.

Which brings me to Watchmen.

For those of you who have not watched the movie or read the comic book, there is a character named Dr. Manhattan. He is the only character in the graphic novel who has superpowers, who is blue, and who is naked for most of the time. Knowing that Watchmen was going to be released in Japan I wondered if there would be heavy censorship of a certain blue member, because director Zack Snyder went out on a limp to remain true to the novel and made sure Dr Manhattan would be seen in all glowing blue glory.

Lots of articles have been written on the member of a member of Crimebusters er… I mean, Watchmen.

My own contribution to the online material of nakedness is the fact that here in Japan, on my second viewing of Watchmen – when I finally stopped geeking out that I was watching a vitual adaptation of one of my favorite comics and could relax and enjoy the finer details – I realized that Dr Manhattan is not at all censored.

No mosaic. None whatsoever.

This struck me as very odd. It’s obvious what’s there. In a country where pornography and genitalia are stamped with mosaics, the Watchmen movie got by clean.  I’m glad.  Never thought I’d see the day where I’d be glad to see a blue penis on the big screen but here it is.

I don’t know why the Japanese Board of Blurry Bits chose not to censor Dr Manhattan. It’s a good thing. I’m not a big fan of censorship.

By the way, a Japanese edition DVD of the Brown Bunny has a nice blur on the scene in question, kinda like looking at a waterpark show through a sand blasted glass window. Go figure.

Watchman comicbook cover

“Sigh… An Epic setting doesn’t save this long and really slow underachieving movie. If Snyder only had used some of the magic he showed us in ‘300′ this might be a bearable movie to watch. Zzzzzz…”

- [R] for strong graphic violence, sexuality, nudity and language.

Short: 2

Metacritics.com: 56

     As the title of this suggests, I’ve been putting off reviewing the Watchmen movie for a long time.  Why?  I’m not really sure.  Maybe I was afraid to actually say what I felt.  But now, I’m going to say it.  Well, this movie can basically be viewed in two ways.  The first is that of someone who has never read the Watchmen, considered the greatest comic book ever, and thus has few preconceptions.  The second is that of someone who has read Watchmen and therefore knows what the original story and ideas were.  The former will enjoy this movie to a certain degree, depending on how confused he/she gets and how squeamish he/she is.  The latter will basically deride this movie as crap.  I’m one of the latter.  This is an absolutely terrible adaptation of Watchmen.  Alan Moore was worried that this movie would not live up to his work, and he distanced himself from it.  Now I know why.

     For one, the cinematography is amateurish.  Slow motion for certain scenes to imitate comic book panels?  Stupid.  Next, the acting is pretty terrible.  I didn’t believe Malin Akerman as Silk Spectre or Patrick Wilson as Nite Owl for even a minute.  I felt like they were reading their lines.  Jackie Earle Haley, however, was superb as Rorschach.  Then, there’s the alterations to the ending.  Okay, so a genetically-created alien-like being is pretty silly.  But by changing the ending the way they did, the creators of the movie fundamentally altered the ending.  That’s really not okay.  This movie was also even more bloody than the comic.  It was especially bad when they did slow-motion for when someone was getting his arm broken.  That was gross.  Lastly, I know it’s been talked about.  But what the hell was up with Dr. Manhattan’s penis?!  We get that he doesn’t care about clothes.  But Dave Gibbons drew his nudity tastefully and never really showed that.  But with the movie, it’s like they just HAVE to show us that.  It’s pretty silly.

     So I’m giving this movie two ratings.  The first is for people who haven’t read the graphic novel.  You’ll enjoy this decently, but you’ll be put off by a few things, depending on your personal movie preferences.  And if you’re a fan of the graphic novel, the second rating is for you.  Unless you want to be able to say you saw the movie, DON’T SEE IT.  You will be pissed, in varying degrees.  As for the people who haven’t read Watchmen, go read it.  Then maybe you can understand why we fans are so mad.  But Zack Snyder, here’s a message for you: don’t go ruin some other comic book we all love!  Go direct something nobody cares about and hone your craft first!

Story: 6.5      Cinematography: 4.3      Soundtrack: 3.2      Acting: 5.5

For Casual Viewers:  6.9

For Fans: 3.2

I’m starting a series of short posts from people (real or imaginary) I admire or those that interest me and have affected me in one way or another.
First off is a journal entry from Rorschach’s journal, Watchmen issue #2 by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons:

“I heard a joke once: Man goes to doctor. Says he’s depressed. Says life is harsh and cruel. Says he feels all alone in a threatening world. Doctor says, “Treatment is simple. The great clown Pagliacci is in town tonight. Go see him. That should pick you up.” Man bursts into tears. Says, “But doctor… I am Pagliacci.” Good joke. Everybody laugh. Roll on snare drum. Curtains.”

This quote is also mentioned by Rorschach in the Watchmen movie.

Info:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0409459/

http://rapidshare.com/files/207300486/Watchmen2.TS.XViD.part1.rar

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No Pass

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Nicolas Cage’’s sci-fi thriller ‘Knowing’ has topped the weekend box office after raking in 24.8 million pounds.
Paul Rudd’’s screwball bromantic comedy ‘I Love You, Man,’ co-starring Jason Segel, was second with 18 million dollars.

Julia Roberts’ ‘Duplicity’ landed the third spot with 14.4 million dollars while ‘Race to Witch Mountain’ came fourth after raking in 13 million dollars.

Watchmen rounded off the top five with 6.7 million dollars.

The weekend’’s top-grossing films are:

1. Knowing, $24.8 million

2. I Love You, Man, $18 million

3. Duplicity, $14.4 million

4. Race to Witch Mountain, $13 million

5. Watchmen, $6.7 million

6. The Last House on the Left, $5.9 million

7. Taken, $4.1 million

8. Slumdog Millionaire, $2.7 million

9. Tyler Perry’’s Madea Goes to Jail, $2.5 million

10. Coraline, $2.1 million

Finally decided to see “Watchmen” in the movies tonight.
I wasn’t at all sure that I really wanted to see it.
You see I was one of the few people out there that wasn’t crazy over the “V for Vendetta” movie though I really liked the graphic/comic series. The story and actors were good, and the movie wasn’t bad but it wasn’t what I wanted it to be.
Alan Moore wasn’t at all behind the Hollywood production of “Watchmen” so…
By the way Alan Moore is really rather odd but damn good at writing interesting series and being himself I suppose. He’s in “The League of Extraordinary Gentleman” as far as I’m concerned.

Alan Moore

I’ve been a long time “graphic (for lack of any better term) novel” reader, though not a fanatic.
Couldn’t afford to be one. Started with comics, and underground comics, Heavy Metal before it turned into well… whatever. I still have the first 3 years worth saved around here somewhere and a few Fat Freddy’s Cat too. Began reading comics and graphic novels early on (Once upon a time I wanted to be an illustrator and went to college for Advertising Art and Design) and never stopped loving the comic/graphic medium to this day.

Unfortunately I got rid of all my comic books (girls weren’t supposed to read them: grow up and all) so when I moved out of parents house they were all given away.
Based on my reaction to the comic book tables at a few I-Con/Otacon visits I’ll never go to a comic-con I’d just sit and cry. Sadly, I had just about everything all the original stuff.
It’s not their monetary value that I get upset about it’s just that it makes me want them back to read and have. I loved comic books with a passion. It would have been better if I realized my interests were mine before I tried to “grow up” and be someone that I wasn’t as comfortable with.
Ah well, water under the bridge.

Back to Watchmen: I had mixed feelings about this movie. Yes, I enjoyed it and it followed the story all right… It wasn’t as gory as it could have been, yet not too watered down either.
Full frontal male nudity sort of (it’s CGI of course). Though Dr. Manhattan was done fairly well and the other characters were fine, I found something lacking in the movie. Maybe it’s because I enjoyed the comic series? I think I’ll have to see it again to fully decide if I really liked it or not, sometimes I have an attitude towards a movie and it effects the viewing. Certainly entertaining enough.

The distraction problem I had with the movie was that I couldn’t get Zena Warrior Princess out of my head (not that Laurie/Silk Spectre was anything like zena really I think it was her haircut, dark with bangs, or something)
Now Zena alone wasn’t too bad if it wasn’t coupled with a strange association in my mind between the unmasked Night Owl (Dan Dreiberg) and Chevy Chase of SNL/Fletch era. I know that’s weird and I seriously don’t get it myself but it took me more than half the movie before I wasn’t distracted by it. Don’t know why Chase got in my head but it definitely wouldn’t have even occurred to anyone young anyway. It’s just weird, maybe it was the glasses, or his mannerisms, no clue.

I’ll watch it again at some point, to give it a fairer chance.
Thumbs up I guess… but with reservations. Btw: semi-gratuitous comic book sex is thankfully far shorter than the silly Night Owl/Silk Spectre scene in Watchmen (seriously hitting the fire button… really lame) Don’t listen to me however, go see it whether you read the comics or not, you’ll probably like it… It was reasonably violent though so if you don’t like blood, etc., you might not. Rorschach, Dr. Manhattan and The Comedian were pretty good castings.

Some comic/graphic novels make better cross overs for movies than others especially if you’ve read them previously: for instance I loved Sin City and thought The Crow was absolutely stunning.
Pretty hard to compare with The Crow, at least in my mind.

I’ve said before that I have odd taste in movies and reading materials for a female it seems.

G’night,

Laura

Those are some keen pop variations on the Watchmen characters by Dave Mott. It seems he got inspired upon stumbling across the kids we posted a few weeks ago and went hog wild.

Good times.