Watchmen

Boomcoach · Post by **Boomcoach** » February 14th, 2009, 6:41 am

harvey wrote:I have yet to read or hear any of Haggard's works. My first exposure
to Allan Quatermain was in King Solomon's Mines (1950) (won 2 Oscars)
starring Deborah Kerr and Stewart Granger. One of my favorite movies.

That is an excellent production, my favorite of any of the versions of Mines. I have gained a lot of respect for Stewart Granger the last 10 years or so. As a kid, I don't remember knowing much about him, maybe because his name wasn't parodied on the Flintstones

, but dow that we have had TCM for several years, I look forward to his films.

harvey · Post by **harvey** » February 14th, 2009, 11:58 am

Boomcoach wrote:I have gained a lot of respect for Stewart Granger ...
now that we have had TCM for several years, I look forward to his films.

(Recognizing this is getting a bit far afield from Watchmen),
the only other movie I'm familiar with which has Stewart Granger is
North to Alaska (1960), which costars John Wayne and the beautiful
Capucine. Ernie Kovacs and Fabian (yes, the singer) are also in it.
It's a romantic comedy western. Granger is clearly having a good
time in his role. Wayne does pretty well in contributing to the humor,
especially near the end when he blows his top imagining what's going
on between Granger and Capucine (which is nothing other than a lot
of sounds they are making intended to provoke him).

Boomcoach · Post by **Boomcoach** » February 14th, 2009, 2:33 pm

harvey wrote: (Recognizing this is getting a bit far afield from Watchmen),
the only other movie I'm familiar with which has Stewart Granger is
North to Alaska (1960), which costars John Wayne and the beautiful
Capucine.

If you like swashbucklers, Scaramouche stars Granger, and has one of the finest swordfights in cinema history. I also saw him in a film in which he kills his wife, then is blackmailed by his maid. He was very sinister and charismatic in that one, but I do not recall the title.

harvey · Post by **harvey** » February 14th, 2009, 5:36 pm

Boomcoach wrote:If you like swashbucklers, Scaramouche stars Granger
and has one of the finest swordfights in cinema history.

Thanks. I do like swashbucklers, and, since I read Scaramouche
in high school, I'd like to see this movie version. It has a good
cast in addition to Granger. Unfortunately, our public library
doesn't have it. However, I have the ear of the librarian who
does the DVD purchasing so there is hope.

Bookaroo · Post by **Bookaroo** » February 22nd, 2009, 6:19 pm

The wait for Watchmen is finally over... but who's watching them?

urls removed

Boomcoach · Post by **Boomcoach** » March 9th, 2009, 3:00 am

Interesting that this thread has recieved no attention since the movie opened.

I saw it on Friday night and was blown away. While the movie does not have the depth of the novel, which I knew going in that it could not be expected to do, I saw no compromises in telling a tough and dark story.

Graphically, the portrayal of Dr. Manhattan was spectacular, but did not feel out of place with the grittiness of the rest.

I have heard that the "Black Freighter" substory is going to be released striaght to video later this month, then will be integrated into the rest of the movie in one of the DVD releases.

Timothy Ferguson · Post by **Timothy Ferguson** » March 9th, 2009, 4:34 am

I don't see the need to intergrate the Black Freighter material, so I'm not fussed by it.

Basically it served two purposes in the comic, as I understand it:

* it was supposed by Moore that if we really had super heroes, our popular media (and comics) would fixate on something else and he suggested pirates. That's still a goer, but isn't the big point.

* but the big point was the the writer of the BF material is the squid designer and his kidnapping and work scenes stop the squid ending being a blindside. The squid ending is off the table in the movie, so you don't need the writer of the BF, so you don't need the BF.

I like the new endining better than the book ending. Sure, I get the point of the book ending, and I see the Reagan quote and all that. In terms of the arc of characters, though, I like the new ending more.

Boomcoach · Post by **Boomcoach** » March 9th, 2009, 6:05 am

I would agree that the Black Freighter was easily left out of the story, and better left out than simply jammed in half-heartedly, but I look forward to seeing how it is done cinematically.

I thought that the theater version was excellent, so I will probably rent any extended versions rather than buy them. Too often, extended versions show why some cuts are a good idea.

The Fellowship of the Ring is a bit of a dilemma for me, re theatrical/extended versions. I think that the first half is better in the theatrical version, after they leave the Shire I want to stick in the extended version.

Great Plains · Post by **Great Plains** » March 9th, 2009, 6:11 am

I haven't gotten a chance to see it yet. I was so incredibly busy at work last week and this last weekend, and now I'm just wiped. Maybe I'll try to see it by this next weekend.

Caeristhiona · Post by **Caeristhiona** » March 9th, 2009, 6:26 am

EEK! No spoilers, people!

But that said...I'm officially in love with the film.

TYM and I had very, very poor expectations...we were convinced the book was truly unfilmable. But we went to see it last night, and were thrilled. Seems like the director did his best to reproduce the book, shot-for-shot, as much as is possible without making a LOTR-length epic. Overall the acting was fabulous -- with particular attention to Dan Dreiberg, Rorschach, and Adrian Veidt. As an obsessive Alan Moore fan I thought this was a much, much better adaptation than V.

Great Plains · Post by **Great Plains** » March 11th, 2009, 3:21 pm

Okay, Watchmen has been watched.

Discuss.

Caeristhiona · Post by **Caeristhiona** » March 11th, 2009, 4:20 pm

Did you like it?

Great Plains · Post by **Great Plains** » March 11th, 2009, 5:02 pm

Yeah. I thought the plot was tightened compared to the book. Otherwise, it was quite faithful. The nudity and the violence was a bit extreme compared to the book, though. I don't handle graphic violence too well.

Caeristhiona · Post by **Caeristhiona** » March 12th, 2009, 4:25 am

There was a lot more violence -- I was particularly disturbed by the scene where Rorschach describes his investigation into the little girl's kidnapping...I don't want to give away any spoilers, but it was pretty gross and unnecessary. But overall, I thought that the changes they made (re: endgame especially) were good dramatic choices.