DVD Purchases and Rentals

[GiveMeGore]

Watched Push. I thought it was slow and didn't really care for it, but I was drinking and talking alot while it was on. I think it deserves a second chance. Finally gonna watch Planet Terror this week.

Haven't seen Planet Terror?! Man.....you are in for a freakin treat! One of the best zombie movies of all time, no doubt.

[Splatterscribe]

Picked up (and watched ) the extended director's cut of Watchmen today. Although the "Tales of the Black Freighter" segments are still not incorporated into this version (which doesn't really bother me since I don't think the animated segments will add much to the film ..the parallel comic book theme worked extremely well  in the graphic novel, but I suspect switching back and forth between animation and live action in the cinematic form would take me right out of the story) , the dialogue and characterizations are fleshed out to a greater degree through extended scenes. The real bonus is the inclusion of the extended Hollis Mason storyline (including the tragic resolution) this time around, making for an overall superior film that more closely approximates the feel of the GN. Oh and Rorschach still represents the greatest  film translation of a comic character ever.

[GiveMeGore]

Picked up (and watched ) the extended director's cut of Watchmen today. Although the "Tales of the Black Freighter" segments are still not incorporated into this version (which doesn't really bother me since I don't think the animated segments will add much to the film ..the parallel comic book theme worked extremely well  in the graphic novel, but I suspect switching back and forth between animation and live action in the cinematic form would take me right out of the story) , the dialogue and characterizations are fleshed out to a greater degree through extended scenes. The real bonus is the inclusion of the extended Hollis Mason storyline (including the tragic resolution) this time around, making for an overall superior film that more closely approximates the feel of the GN. Oh and Rorschach still represents the greatest  film translation of a comic character ever.

I know I'm in the SEVERE minority here......  but damn, I really don't get it. Just don't get how people can be that into Superhero crap/comic book fantasy nonsense. Like I said, I'm in the minority (which blows my mind to begin with) but I have ZERO interest in seeing this.

[Splatterscribe]

I know I'm in the SEVERE minority here......  but damn, I really don't get it. Just don't get how people can be that into Superhero crap/comic book fantasy nonsense. Like I said, I'm in the minority (which blows my mind to begin with) but I have ZERO interest in seeing this.

Fair enough. However, Watchmen was more about deconstructing the mythos behind superheroes than actually focusing on crimefighting/fantasy. Only one character-Dr.Manhattan- has superpowers. He's godlike. The detachment from humanity he exhibits(the eventual result of his transformation to his superhuman state and consequent inability to empathize with human beings) is a major plot point in both the graphic novel and the film. The rest of the characters are labeled "costumed adventurers" as none of them have any powers, only physical skill at combat, access to advanced weapons, etc. The story delves into what drives someone psychologically to put on a costume and do what they do in a world where it ultimately doesn't have any real impact. Many of these characters (particulary Rorschach) are deeply flawed and emotionally damaged. So in that regard, Watchmen isn't a superhero story at all but a way to use the genre to essay human nature. Not unlike how Romero uses the walking dead to satirize our culture.

But hey, everyone has their likes and dislikes. For example, I think  a number of the comedies I've seen you praise on these boards are utter crap..but man,if that's your bag, rock on brother. 

[GiveMeGore]

Well, with comedies it's all about whether or not you think the jokes/situations are funny. I'm talking about an entire genre here. Little different.... 

I hear you on the characters. The fact this was rated R actually made me a little curious when this first came out. But that soon wore off....  regardless of the specifics about the characters and the fact they don't have superpowers. It's still a fantasy movie about characters playing dress up in silly costumes...with a big budget/wall to wall CGI (regardless of how good it looks), explosions, and comic book one-liners. No thanks.



p.s. Scribe, I hope your avator and signature underneath sticks around for a while. Fucking SWEET is the first phrase that comes to mind.

[Splatterscribe]

p.s. Scribe, I hope your avator and signature underneath sticks around for a while. Fucking SWEET is the first phrase that comes to mind.

Yeah,they will. I noticed that Fred Krueger isn't at all represented in the avatars on this site and that sort of bothered me because -whether or not you dig the sequels - the fact is that Freddy is one of the best horror characters ever to grace the silver screen.  I had the poster (my first horror themed poster, I might add) featuring the large version of this exact same image on my bedroom wall as of late 1985 ( it was a tie-in with Elm Street 2-this was when Kevin Yagher took over the makeup design ) and the quote..well that's probably my favorite Krueger quote of all time. So yeah, I think I'm just gonna leave this as is and show some love to the classics.

[Splatterscribe]

Just a heads up to my fellow Horrorwatchers as this is a DVD thread..according to an article I saw on Shocktillyoudrop's site, Moviefone has has put it out there that the DVD street date for Sam Raimi's Drag me to Hell will be October 20th.

Also released on DVD that month will be the long awaited Halloween themed anthology Trick R' treat which, assuming the press it has received is accurate, is another epic example of a top notch horror film getting completley fucked out of what should have been a first rate theatrical run.

I may purchase both films and have a triple feature on Halloween night (adding Carpenter's Halloween, which I watch every year).

[GiveMeGore]

Also released on DVD that month will be the long awaited Halloween themed anthology Trick R' treat which, assuming the press it has received is accurate, is another epic example of a top notch horror film getting completley fucked out of what should have been a first rate theatrical run.

On the blue ray dvd of Friday the 13th they had a 10 minute clip of Trick R Treat. Movie looks incredible, can't wait to pick it up....

[BadKitty]

Fair enough. However, Watchmen was more about deconstructing the mythos behind superheroes than actually focusing on crimefighting/fantasy.

Actually, I think of Watchmen more as a deconstruction of the political and social aspects of the Regan era - but then I consider They Live and Starship Troopers to be two of the best movies about political and economic systems ever, so .... 

Watchmen strikes me as one of those adaptations where you can either read the book, or see the movie, either one.  The film of The Watchmen was so faithful to the book (other than the Black Freighter, and I'm sure someone will do a version of the movie cutting in the Black Freighter footage as appropriate) that, sort of like the shot-for-shot remake of Psycho, I kind of wondered what the point was.  And the book was such an artefact of its time, I really wonder what someone who watches the Watchmen but isn't old enough to vivdly remember the cold war would make of it. 

[monkeyghoul]

Actually, I think of Watchmen more as a deconstruction of the political and social aspects of the Regan era - but then I consider They Live and Starship Troopers to be two of the best movies about political and economic systems ever, so ....

Amen.

And I too have wondered what today's kids think of Cold-War-related stuff.  Do they kind of get it, like I kind of get Vietnam-War-related stuff?  I don't know, but I TA'd for a class of undergrads working on '50s films (incl. Invasion of the Body Snatchers), and there was a range of understanding but very few really grasped just how deeply the propaganda-induced terror ran in Americans back then, ambivalently combined with (justified) paranoia over our own government's actions.  In Starship Troopers's ironically Fascist propagandistic currents, despite the futuristicity it was really all straight out of the '50s, which was a brilliant touch.

It occurs to me just now that Watchmen coulda been influenced by The Day the Earth Stood Still, perhaps even answering it in a way.  Any thoughts?

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[
Actually, I think of Watchmen more as a deconstruction of the political and social aspects of the Regan era - but then I consider They Live and Starship Troopers to be two of the best movies about political and economic systems ever, so .... 
Watchmen strikes me as one of those adaptations where you can either read the book, or see the movie, either one.  The film of The Watchmen was so faithful to the book (other than the Black Freighter, and I'm sure someone will do a version of the movie cutting in the Black Freighter footage as appropriate) that, sort of like the shot-for-shot remake of Psycho, I kind of wondered what the point was.  And the book was such an artefact of its time, I really wonder what someone who watches the Watchmen but isn't old enough to vivdly remember the cold war would make of it. 

Both Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons have stated that Watchmen is a deconstruction of what was (at the time) the existing superhero mythos (in the wake of Watchmen and - later - The Dark Knight Returns, the superhero mythos as we had known it was altered to consistently have deeper character exploration thrown into the mix ). The cold war/Reagan-era aspects you're referring to are definitely there, but the primary goal was to provide a psychological breakdown behind the mentality that drives someone to put on a mask and do what these people do. Originally, Moore and Gibbons wanted to use classic Golden Age heroes for the story, but they couldn't secure the rights and instead created their own variations on them (Rorschach is inspired by The Question, Batman was the inspiration for Nite Owl II..etc etc).That goes a long way towards explaining why there is so much emphasis placed on Jon Osterman's increasing alienation from humankind. If a human was transformed into a godlike being, wouldn't a likely result be his increased inability to relate to the human condition?  And there will be a version of the film with the Black Freighter segments incorporated throughout released this December on DVD (nice double dip there for Warners I guess). Personally, after having seen how well the recently released  directors cut works, I don't know if the version incorporating the animation will be a success. That was a terrific motif for the illustrated page..but in a cinematic venture it might tend to disrupt the organic flow of the live action material, serving only to repeatedly take people out of the story rather than adding the intended substance.

[GiveMeGore]

Splat.....I checked out MOST OF The Watchmen this weekend. I want to mention the hatchet scene. Very cool.

Now that I got all the GOOD out of the way......   movie was clownshoes. Boring as all hell. The one character who was remotely cool had constant CGI blots on his face. If there were ever someone who looked like a fuck, it was him. Looked like a fuck. That stupid ass blue "god" .....he can straight up turn you into a bowl of loud mouth soup at the flick of a wrist. Has that much power, yet there's still a conflict? OK.

I know I'm in the minority....but whatever. I'd rather watch a marathon of "The View" and listen to a bunch of old whores clucker about religion and their yeast infections, than watch this flick from start to finish.

[Splatterscribe]

Splat.....I checked out MOST OF The Watchmen this weekend. I want to mention the hatchet scene. Very cool.

Now that I got all the GOOD out of the way......   movie was clownshoes. Boring as all hell. The one character who was remotely cool had constant CGI blots on his face. If there were ever someone who looked like a fuck, it was him. Looked like a fuck. That stupid ass blue "god" .....he can straight up turn you into a bowl of loud mouth soup at the flick of a wrist. Has that much power, yet there's still a conflict? OK.

I know I'm in the minority....but whatever. I'd rather watch a marathon of "The View" and listen to a bunch of old whores clucker about religion and their yeast infections, than watch this flick from start to finish.

Hey man, that's fair. You're far from being the first person who just didn't like the movie. To each their own .

Speaking of personal opinions: Finally watched Oldboy this weekend. Whoopdie shit. It was okay, but I don't get the enduring love for the flick. The corridor scene was hardcore, but otherwise it felt overblown and convoluted. I definitely can't see myself watching it a second time. I'm going to watch the Sympathy for.... movies next and then Thirst. Hope they're better. As it stands right now,  The Host is the best example of Korean cinema I've seen to date.

[GiveMeGore]

I've been meaning to see Oldboy myself. I believe Eli Roth said that was his favorite horror movie of all time. Heard mixed things.... 

Anyone catch Perfect Getaway? (I think it opened this weekend)  Seems promising.

[Splatterscribe]

I've been meaning to see Oldboy myself. I believe Eli Roth said that was his favorite horror movie of all time. Heard mixed things.... 

Anyone catch Perfect Getaway? (I think it opened this weekend)  Seems promising.

I had heard nothing but rave reviews for Oldboy. I mean hell, at one point recently Spielberg mentioned having an interest in directing an American version of the movie. Needless to say, I was disappointed. I wouldn't say it's total crap, but I just don't think it's all that it's cracked up to be.

I'm curiious about A Perfect Getaway myself..but I'm on a tight budget and the movie money gets saved for District 9. End of story.