(no subject)
I...had a very bizarre day. Not bizarre, more like...I don't know. I kinda want to go to bed, sleep, start tomorrow with a smile on my face.
I....lied to my coworkers to hide my own laziness (although I'm not entirely too blame here, and I'm almost proud that I'm such a good liar, LOL), I've been a little tense because Amazon has quite a lot of my money and what I bought might have been lost and/or stolen, I didn't start studying when I wanted to, I didn't start drawing when I wanted to. I'm still shocked and incredibly upset by what happened to Natasha Richardson. I've been following reports all day. Call me shallow, she was one of my very first film crushes.
I ended up having a very crappy viewing experience with a movie I was anticipating a lot.
Weird day. Nothing too drastic, but...kinda meh.
Anyway, to get things off my mind, I put something together about the movie I mentioned...which is Watchmen.
I probably had/am gonna have the worst viewing experience with this...I ended up watching a rather poor quality copy on my computer because they didn't release the English version ANYWHERE here (first time that happens with a major movie in a very long time), and today I've been told that we're gonna see it at work on Thursday...so that means big screen, which is good, but also Italian dubbing and 400 teenagers.
Despite all that...I think I liked it. My judgement is a little tampered by the fact that I just finished it and the last 30 minutes are horrid. Truly, truly horrid. What they used to replace the squid was not bad, but the clunky dialogue, awkward fighting and Wilson's screaming and running in slo-mo are simply awful. And awful ending to a movie that I was genuinely enjoying up to that point. And I'm speaking as a fan of the novel and as somebody who despised 300.
I can't blame Snyder for simplifying the story and themes. I do think that a more thematically faithful adaptation is possible, but probably not in the film medium. Or at leats not in one film, as long as it is. TV would work very well, too.
I do blame him for the general disjointed feeling I got from the movie, even the rather fine first two hours. That probably goes only for those who have read the novel, but it's almost like I could sense the division into chapters. It's like Snyder didn't try to make all the aspects of the 12 chapters fit into one, fluent flow, but kept them separated. There's a definite problem in pacing here - having all the flashbacks about the Comedian play during his funeral, with the token close-ups of the other characters looking meaningfully at the grave while they start reminishing was simply lazy film-making. The individual scenes were very well done, but awkwardly put together.
But I can't say that I didn't enjoy it. I was fully immersed, at least until the last scenes. There were many things that Snyder did just perfectly - Dr. Manhattan's backstory, the titles sequence, the prison scenes, all the individual falshbacks with the Comedian, Rorschach's and Laurie's childhood memories, not to mention the visuals, and the characterization of Manhattan who is really part God and part child who's surprised at, yet distant from the simplicity of human life (some praise must go to Billy Crudup too - I don't know how much physical acting he put under the computer generated blueness, but his voice had a very special...I don't know...candor about it?).
I even liked the Danny/Laurie romance, and the sex scene minus the musical choice. And of course Jackie Earle Haley was extremely good.
Goode, yeah, not good. For not being a classic comic book villain, as he says, he's pretty villainy. Too villainy. Ozymandias should inspire hope and trust, he's supposed to be a beacon for humanity, a hero that transpires justice and, in the end, trascends justice and humanity itself. The film version is more like...Mozenrath from the Aladdin TV series. A suave and slightly creepy machiavellian prince. I wouldn't want to meet this Ozymandias in a dark alley. I'm not an adaptation fascist, but the changes made to his characters simply do not work with the outcome of the story. But he's mostly present only in the last act, and that is bad with or without him, so
(sorry JessKat!)
Despite the sure to be disastrous Italian dubbing, I can't wait to see what this looks like on the big screen...and if it holds up well.
I really should read the book again.
Fan art time! I never post my art here, but this feels appropiate.
Original size here
I....lied to my coworkers to hide my own laziness (although I'm not entirely too blame here, and I'm almost proud that I'm such a good liar, LOL), I've been a little tense because Amazon has quite a lot of my money and what I bought might have been lost and/or stolen, I didn't start studying when I wanted to, I didn't start drawing when I wanted to. I'm still shocked and incredibly upset by what happened to Natasha Richardson. I've been following reports all day. Call me shallow, she was one of my very first film crushes.
I ended up having a very crappy viewing experience with a movie I was anticipating a lot.
Weird day. Nothing too drastic, but...kinda meh.
Anyway, to get things off my mind, I put something together about the movie I mentioned...which is Watchmen.
I probably had/am gonna have the worst viewing experience with this...I ended up watching a rather poor quality copy on my computer because they didn't release the English version ANYWHERE here (first time that happens with a major movie in a very long time), and today I've been told that we're gonna see it at work on Thursday...so that means big screen, which is good, but also Italian dubbing and 400 teenagers.
Despite all that...I think I liked it. My judgement is a little tampered by the fact that I just finished it and the last 30 minutes are horrid. Truly, truly horrid. What they used to replace the squid was not bad, but the clunky dialogue, awkward fighting and Wilson's screaming and running in slo-mo are simply awful. And awful ending to a movie that I was genuinely enjoying up to that point. And I'm speaking as a fan of the novel and as somebody who despised 300.
I can't blame Snyder for simplifying the story and themes. I do think that a more thematically faithful adaptation is possible, but probably not in the film medium. Or at leats not in one film, as long as it is. TV would work very well, too.
I do blame him for the general disjointed feeling I got from the movie, even the rather fine first two hours. That probably goes only for those who have read the novel, but it's almost like I could sense the division into chapters. It's like Snyder didn't try to make all the aspects of the 12 chapters fit into one, fluent flow, but kept them separated. There's a definite problem in pacing here - having all the flashbacks about the Comedian play during his funeral, with the token close-ups of the other characters looking meaningfully at the grave while they start reminishing was simply lazy film-making. The individual scenes were very well done, but awkwardly put together.
But I can't say that I didn't enjoy it. I was fully immersed, at least until the last scenes. There were many things that Snyder did just perfectly - Dr. Manhattan's backstory, the titles sequence, the prison scenes, all the individual falshbacks with the Comedian, Rorschach's and Laurie's childhood memories, not to mention the visuals, and the characterization of Manhattan who is really part God and part child who's surprised at, yet distant from the simplicity of human life (some praise must go to Billy Crudup too - I don't know how much physical acting he put under the computer generated blueness, but his voice had a very special...I don't know...candor about it?).
I even liked the Danny/Laurie romance, and the sex scene minus the musical choice. And of course Jackie Earle Haley was extremely good.
Goode, yeah, not good. For not being a classic comic book villain, as he says, he's pretty villainy. Too villainy. Ozymandias should inspire hope and trust, he's supposed to be a beacon for humanity, a hero that transpires justice and, in the end, trascends justice and humanity itself. The film version is more like...Mozenrath from the Aladdin TV series. A suave and slightly creepy machiavellian prince. I wouldn't want to meet this Ozymandias in a dark alley. I'm not an adaptation fascist, but the changes made to his characters simply do not work with the outcome of the story. But he's mostly present only in the last act, and that is bad with or without him, so
(sorry JessKat!)
Despite the sure to be disastrous Italian dubbing, I can't wait to see what this looks like on the big screen...and if it holds up well.
I really should read the book again.
Fan art time! I never post my art here, but this feels appropiate.
Original size here