TV/Movies Megathread

[Ideologue]

Oh agreed - I'm not against making changes when transferring material from one medium to another, if it's beneficial to the final result. Which is why I said "the best possible adaptation".

It's a very far cry from other Alan Moore adaptations (esp. From Hell or League of Extraordinary Gentlemen which were almost unrecognizable in movie form).

Or V For Vendetta.  I guess it's recognizable--far more so than From Hell--but I checked out when V was crying and smashing mirrors.  Did they read the book or its Wikipedia entry?

[Ideologue]

Oh, and cel reminds me: Watchmen gets mega-super-bonus-points for being a period piece, too.  Iirc, early attempts to film Watchmen wanted to update it to the 90s/00s.

The thing is, Watchmen wasn't a period piece. It was released in the 80s and set in the 80s (even if an alternative universe version of them).

Well, neither was Captain America Comics #1, but it'd have really ruined the property to have set The First Avenger in 2011.

[garbon]

My two favorite bits: the opening credits sequence

I love that bit.

[Syt]

I haven't seen V for Vendetta (I have it lying around somewhere), but I just can't imagine that the themes and topics convert well to a modern U.S. movie setting.

[Ideologue]

I mean, it's at least still set in Britain, I guess.

Hey, cel!  I got Grand Piano in the mail.

[Syt]

My two favorite bits: the opening credits sequence

I love that bit.

It was a very good way of including a fair chunk of backstory from the comics' "back pages" (the excerpt from Hollis Mason's book etc.) in a very streamlined and visually interesting way. And there's of course some inside jokes there, like the original Night Owl saving some opera goers from being shot by a mugger - the opera: "Die Fledermaus". And if that's too subtle, there's ads for the Batman comic plastered all over the wall.

[Ideologue]

Hey, cel!  I got Grand Piano in the mail.

And they should've used my pull quotes for the box.   Other than the "hugely entertaining" from IGN, they're all kind of terrible.

Worst: "A devilish... thriller." 

[celedhring]

V for Vendetta is a period piece in the comic (dystopian future).

What I mean is that Watchmen very consciously portrayed the fears of the era it was released on, and did a great job of that. But making a film in 2009 about the fears of an era we are no longer in, without somehow making an effort to connect them to us ultimately results in a weaker film.

[celedhring]

My two favorite bits: the opening credits sequence

I love that bit.

It was a very good way of including a fair chunk of backstory from the comics' "back pages" (the excerpt from Hollis Mason's book etc.) in a very streamlined and visually interesting way. And there's of course some inside jokes there, like the original Night Owl saving some opera goers from being shot by a mugger - the opera: "Die Fledermaus". And if that's too subtle, there's ads for the Batman comic plastered all over the wall.

The sequence is great and easily my favorite bit of the film, but I don't think you can make any sense of it without knowing the comic beforehand. You have no idea who those characters are and what's going on.

[garbon]

My two favorite bits: the opening credits sequence

I love that bit.

It was a very good way of including a fair chunk of backstory from the comics' "back pages" (the excerpt from Hollis Mason's book etc.) in a very streamlined and visually interesting way. And there's of course some inside jokes there, like the original Night Owl saving some opera goers from being shot by a mugger - the opera: "Die Fledermaus". And if that's too subtle, there's ads for the Batman comic plastered all over the wall.

The sequence is great and easily my favorite bit of the film, but I don't think you can make any sense of it without knowing the comic beforehand. You have no idea who those characters are and what's going on.

I think without having read the comic (which I hadn't at the time) - it just works well for evoking the world that the movie is going to take place in. I found it really moving prior to having read comic. And for the sake of the film, I don't know that you really need more than an impression of the backstory.

[Ideologue]

V for Vendetta is a period piece in the comic (dystopian future).

What I mean is that Watchmen very consciously portrayed the fears of the era it was released on, and did a great job of that. But making a film in 2014 about the fears of an era we are no longer in, without somehow making an effort to connect them to us ultimately results in a weaker film.

Hugely disagree.  Is Saving Private Ryan a weaker film because we beat the Nazis?  Is The Last of the Mohicans weaker because we need no longer worry about Huron raids or the British?  I like it when movies recreate a time period and grapple with contemporary issues.  Sometimes those issues have relevance today (Django Unchained) and sometimes they don't (X-Men: First Class), but I enjoy being transported back.  In hindsight, we know the Soviets were collapsing in slow motion all throughout the 80s and that Moore's apocalyptic pessimism was ridiculous, but that's a huge part of the story and it's also a huge part of the fun.  Watchmen's very of its time; any adaptation should be of that time as well.

[Ideologue]

And V for Vendetta is weird, because it's that peculiarly Cold War-style nuclear dystopia.  At the time, I didn't think it worked without World War III.  Since the crisis, I've actually come around (in a similar vein, I've come to appreciate Children of Men as more plausible than I thought at the time).

[celedhring]

V for Vendetta is a period piece in the comic (dystopian future).

What I mean is that Watchmen very consciously portrayed the fears of the era it was released on, and did a great job of that. But making a film in 2014 about the fears of an era we are no longer in, without somehow making an effort to connect them to us ultimately results in a weaker film.

Hugely disagree.  Is Saving Private Ryan a weaker film because we beat the Nazis?  Is The Last of the Mohicans weaker because we need no longer worry about Huron raids or the British?  I like it when movies recreate a time period and grapple with contemporary issues.  Sometimes those issues have relevance today (Django Unchained) and sometimes they don't (X-Men: First Class), but I enjoy being transported back.  In hindsight, we know the Soviets were collapsing in slow motion all throughout the 80s and that Moore's apocalyptic pessimism was ridiculous, but that's a huge part of the story and it's also a huge part of the fun.  Watchmen's very of its time; any adaptation should be of that time as well.

I'm not saying that you should only make films about stuff that's relevant to today's audiences - just that Watchmen loses a lot of its punch since the themes of the film are no longer in the zeitgeist.

[celedhring]

My two favorite bits: the opening credits sequence

I love that bit.

It was a very good way of including a fair chunk of backstory from the comics' "back pages" (the excerpt from Hollis Mason's book etc.) in a very streamlined and visually interesting way. And there's of course some inside jokes there, like the original Night Owl saving some opera goers from being shot by a mugger - the opera: "Die Fledermaus". And if that's too subtle, there's ads for the Batman comic plastered all over the wall.

The sequence is great and easily my favorite bit of the film, but I don't think you can make any sense of it without knowing the comic beforehand. You have no idea who those characters are and what's going on.

I think without having read the comic (which I hadn't at the time) - it just works well for evoking the world that the movie is going to take place in. I found it really moving prior to having read comic. And for the sake of the film, I don't know that you really need more than an impression of the backstory.

That's probably true.

[Syt]

I think without having read the comic (which I hadn't at the time) - it just works well for evoking the world that the movie is going to take place in. I found it really moving prior to having read comic. And for the sake of the film, I don't know that you really need more than an impression of the backstory.

Pretty much this - it establishes a world where costumed heroes exist, were revered, but then reviled/shunned.