[Note: I realize this is four screenings in two months, which is highly uncharacteristic of me. Unlike my recent couch purchase, I'm not losing my mind this time. :) At some point, I realized my mistake was attending the short films, and I can't take those back.] I attended the midnight showing of Watchmen at Midtown Art Cinema. My impressions (without giving away more than what I've seen already): The opening "credits" were stunning. As a Bob Dylan fan, I found it worth the price of admission alone, just to watch that. There are an abundance of subplots, themes, and statements missing from this movie; supposedly, the DVD release will have another hour of footage. While these omissions detract from the film (and will be certain to irritate the diehard fans), I suppose it's difficult to get theaters to agree to a two-part screening for a first-release. In fact, what detracts most from Watchmen are the small touches which seem to be obligatory for a movie these days. [soapbox]Still present is the Hollywood conceit that audiences can't figure out how the popcorn stand works without a label, cue, or prompt. This conceit drags the movie into "standard" territory, in much the same way as leg braces "assist" perfectly mobile people into a semi-dependent state.[/soapbox] A few weeks ago, a horribly edited scene was released as a trailer. Fortunately, that scene is the worst this movie gets over 2 1/2 hours; even then, it plays better with theater sound. In context of this release, the chopped scene is a cinematic foil to the rest of the film, and its early release seems to be a middle finger to whomever made the cut. Overall, this adaptation incorporates the novel well enough that the inevitable "studio/marketing" meddling should stand out as caricature for folks who have read the novel. Visually, this movie is also good. I've heard gripes about the frequent use of slow motion; those scenes looked stellar, actually. One more interesting tidbit: Motion capture tech is advanced enough to make standard CGI look silly in a live-action shot. This particular screening included a moment of true terror: At some point, the (digital) projector lost alignment; the resulting 15% vertical wrap sent a half-dozen people running for the exit to flag down the cinema staff. My overall impression is that Watchmen is too complex and rich a story for Hollywood to stop. That fact alone is a testament to a very well-constructed fiction, and the author who composed it. So, my one-line description of this film is: Alan Moore > Hollywood. |
| posted at: 13:35 | permanent link to this entry |
Today's topic for discussion is:
| Forecast for tomorrow: sunny, 78. Helloooooo, springtime! :D |
| posted at: 13:18 | permanent link to this entry |