After Hours 18: Watchmen
After viewing the movie, Robot Panic members Zinswin, Nanny Skeksis, Tiggermango and Apoch join us for a discussion of all things Watchmen. In addition, we’re joined via phone by Mitch, MC Wilson, Ryker XL, DJ Incompetent and Lag as we wrap up the Watchmen Book Club!
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March 9th, 2009 at 11:59 pm
sorry about the crappy call, but I remembered what I wanted to talk about after the show , which was the choices in Director and Actors, who for the most part, did an amazing job at portraying the characters
March 10th, 2009 at 4:57 am
Again, HUGE props to Mitch for setting this whole book club up. It was a real joy to be a part of. I hope this trend can continue with other relavent comics,
“Walking Dead”, “Kingdom Come”, “Battle for the Cowl” or something… That would be great!
March 10th, 2009 at 8:17 am
Walking dead would be hard to do since it doesn’t have a definitive end, and it’s so long. However, I think it would be cool to do Y: The Last Man, although that’s just as long.
March 10th, 2009 at 9:24 am
Y also has the pain of being multi-volume, which makes it a fairly significant investment in either cash or patience with the library in order to read along. One of the great things about Watchmen for a book club is that you can just read it.
I meant to call in, but I forgot. It didn’t seem like my opinions were much different than the other people who made it.
March 10th, 2009 at 12:21 pm
Last night I put the kid to bed, kissed the wife goodnight, and went to see the movie again. I caught the 10:25 show. There were about seven or eight other people in there aside from me.
I caught a lot more stuff this time around. I saw the S.Q.U.I.D. emblem that Ryker talked about, saw some signs in the background and…heard some lady say she was glad she ordered the four-legged chicken. WTF?
Anyway, as happy as I was with the movie the first time, I was even moreso after the second viewing. I thought they did a great job and 90% of the changes worked brilliantly; including the ending.
Oh, and as far as book clubs go, how ’bout The Dark Knight Returns? It’s one volume.
March 10th, 2009 at 12:55 pm
The Dark Knight Returns is a good idea. I’d like to revisit it.
You could also continue the Moore trend and go with something like League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (which is so just one volume, dammit!) or From Hell / V for Vendetta (which, unlike LXG, have movie versions I’m willing to admit exist).
I’ve been meaning to read Persepolis, which is a very different single volume graphic novel with a movie attached to it.
March 10th, 2009 at 1:07 pm
Dark Knight Returns and Kingdom Come are fantastic books. If you wanted to do something lighter and a bit less well known you could try Doug Tennapel’s Black Cherry.
March 10th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
From Hell is a great idea.
Also, MC had an idea about watching the Star Trek movies leading up to the new one.
March 10th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
Trek Movie Recap…RIGHT ON!!!
@John Dark Knight Returns is an awesome idea. LXG and V are awesome ideas as well.
March 10th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
Im gonna just throw this one out there, but Jason Aaron’s “The Other Side” is a fantastic read. It is about the Vietnam war, but from the perspectives of two characters. One character is an American soldier leaving his family and going over to fight. The other character is a Vietnamese soldier who has been bred his whole life to be a grunt. It is fucking astounding and I would recommend it many times more than the Dark Knight Returns. Apparently it is based on the writer’s uncle who was in the war. And the uncle also wrote the short story that “Full Metal Jacket” is based on. So needless to say, it is gonna be gruesomely authentic.
But thats just my two cents.
Linkage!
http://www.amazon.com/Other-Side-Jason-Aaron/dp/1401213502/ref=pd_bbs_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1236713518&sr=8-3
March 10th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
I’m ashamed to admit that I’d probably watch all the Start Trek movies if other people were doing them. I bet I could even convince my wife to join me.
March 10th, 2009 at 3:16 pm
Oops, I meant Jason Aaron’s cousin. Not uncle.
March 11th, 2009 at 3:54 pm
So I was on my way home and just thinking about the movie. I must have missed something. Where did Laurie get the gun?
March 11th, 2009 at 5:58 pm
She must have looked deep within herself and found it there. I’m losing shit deep within her all the time.
March 11th, 2009 at 11:38 pm
damn… I never thought about that. Good point.
March 12th, 2009 at 8:33 am
The only time I saw a gun was during that first fight in the alley when her and Dan were about to get mugged. Did she really keep it with her the entire time?
March 12th, 2009 at 2:59 pm
Hi. Um, David Hayter wrote a letter saying anybody who gives a shit about hollywood taking graphic novel source material seriously better go see the movie again.
http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/article/watchmen-must-be-hurting-as-screenwriter-begs-you-to-go-see-it-again
I really don’t want the only worthwhile comic movies to be just Iron Man and Batman. If comic films become Uwe Boll shit, I will be a sad panda.
Remember how the upcoming Castlevania movie isn’t gonna have a whip in it? Yeah. Don’t let that happen to your art books or Tyler_Durden84 will have to stab a bitch.
March 12th, 2009 at 4:42 pm
I enjoyed Watchmen, but even if it were to be a runaway success at the box office, the only thing it would mean for future comic book movies is a lot of Watchmen clones. The reality is that it’s most likely going to be topped this weekend (in terms of revenue) by Race to Witch Mountain, which has the force of Disney’s marketing arm behind it.
March 12th, 2009 at 6:01 pm
And The Rock. Don’t forget about The Rock. That guy’s a great actor; like a modern day Rowdy Roddy Piper. Just ask Boric, he’ll tell you.
Anyway, not sure where that came from, but I agree with you. I don’t see it doing much business this weekend. Hell, on Friday when we went the theater was barely 1/3 full, and that was at 7pm on the Super Screen.
March 12th, 2009 at 6:38 pm
@John…Don’t You Smell What the ROCK….is Cooking?
I will admit being somewhat bummed that the theater wasn’t even half full. Audience dynamics can really enhance the movie experience. Case in point was Star Trek 6 when I accidentally chose a theater that the local Star Trek Fan Club (USS Nokomis) was viewing. The theater was packed with Trek Fans 90% of whom where in complete Trek garb. They even had a Klingon honor guard for us when we entered. Those folks made that movie even better than it was, and perhaps one of the best times I have ever had at a show.
Lets hope a few more folks see Watchmen before she hits the dollar theater.
March 25th, 2009 at 11:39 am
It’s official. Watchmen failed. Comic Covies can only be for children.
There’s a loophole blurb about Jonah Hex being R anyway. Dunno what that’s about. Or if it counts.
I’m puttin’ $10 on new Terminator being PG-13
March 25th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
I wouldn’t call Watchmen a failure just yet. The DVDs haven’t been released and I am sure that TONS o cash will be made from folks picking up all the glorious Watchmen goodness on several DVD releases.
The artical does a good job pointing out ratings and setting genre tentpoles for Super Hero movies. It used to be (and maybe John you can chime in here) that R rated movies were the big money makers. Adults had the cash and they would go see their R rated movies. I don’t believe that to be the case anymore these days as the PG-13 rating is just as edgy and attracts a wider audience. This begs a couple of questions…
Could the Watchmen have been made as a PG-13 movie? That would have been tough as we would definately lose Dr Manhatten and all his Blue goodness and the sex scene and some violent overtones would have to go. But I ask myself, did those things make Watchmen a better movie? Tigger and I talked about it the next day and I’m not so sure they did.
One of my personal complaints was some of the over-the-top violence that was added to the film. The Rorschach origin change (here comes the cleaver) and the Chainsaw the henchman from the jail cell are some examples of adding violence for violence sake. I didn’t find that it added anything to the characters or storyline. And in my humble opinion, it may have taken away from it. Tiny remarked to me that he liked the orininal Rorschach origin (burning down the house scene) better, and even though we see similar story lines in “Saw” and “Mad Max”, I appreciated that character development better myself.
Would the movie have been worse had Dr Manhatten wore a black speedo the whole way through? I appreciate the risk taking that was taken, and I enjoyed that part of his charcter. But I don’t know if main stream movie-goers got that and I am sure some were turned off by it.
Would the movie have been worse without the airship sex scene? That scene felt so forced to me that I’m of the opinion that a silouetted kissing to a fade away to Arte (to much better music) would have sufficed and dare I say…worked… Nuff said.
Would the movie have worked without the rape scene? That’s a tough one, because it’s such a crucial part of the story. Can I even insinuate attempted rape and have a PG-13 movie? Not sure on that one, and I’m not sure I would have done anything differently with that scene or lose it. For rating sake, I think pushing Silk Specter around and such could have gotten a point across, but wouldn’t have been as good.
For me, I think Watchmen could have been made into a PG-13 show and I don’t think we would have lost much by doing so. PG-13 is so edgy these days that you can push the envelope and get away with much more than you could a few years ago. Case in point – “The Dark Knight”. I’m sorry but after seeing that show I immediatly wondered why it wasn’t rated R. There were a ton of kids in the theater, way younger than Tiny and wow, that was way too intense for them. Add more swearing and maybe some skin and wolla, you get the R easily.
The author refers to the Terminator series and how they want a PG-13 rating just because the old ones did. I recently watched “Terminator 2 “in my quest to educate Tiny in all things cool, and by today’s standards, it wouldn’t be rated R. Safe bet D.J.I, we’ll see John Conner get a PG 13.
So, as filmed, does the Watchmen fail as a comic book movie? I would have to say yes. But in doing so I need to remind all of us, that Watchmen is MORE than a comic book. It is a deep compelling story full of thought provoking situations and deep character development. It is not a typical genre film of super-powered beings saving the universe. I think that is what audiences expected, and why some were disappointed.
I for one look forward the Director’s Cut DVD.
July 21st, 2009 at 1:41 pm
Heads Up! The Director’s Cut DVD that was released today DOES NOT have the “Tales of the Black Freighter” cut in. That will be included in a DVD to be released this Christmas! Looks like I’m waiting …
July 21st, 2009 at 2:17 pm
Yeah, I caught that. I figured they’d be waiting for the double-dip. Bastards.
July 21st, 2009 at 6:24 pm
It’s been known for awhile.