BuzzSugar

Box Office: Who's Watching the Watchmen? Everyone

BuzzSugar — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 08:30:46 -0700

Zack Snyder's long-awaited screen adaptation of Watchmen finally hit theaters over the weekend and scored the best opening of the year with an estimated $55.7 million. Apparently that's actually a bit of a disappointment to the studio which, according to Variety, "had hoped Watchmen would match, or even best, the $70.9 million domestic opening of Zack Snyder's previous film, 300, which bowed on the same weekend in 2007."

The rest of the top five at the box office was all mixed up with Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail coming in second place, followed by Taken in third, Slumdog Millionaire in fourth, and Paul Blart: Mall Cop in the fifth spot. Oh, Paul Blart. America just can't seem to quit you.

So what did you see over the weekend? Did you venture out into the world of Watchmen?

Photos courtesy of Warner Bros.

Watchmen: Fun For Fans

BuzzSugar — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 09:30:33 -0800

It's obviously difficult to adapt a beloved written (and, in this case, drawn) work for the big screen - and it’s downright impossible to make an adaptation that satisfies every viewer (or certainly every megafan). I truly enjoyed reading the comic book series Watchmen by Dave Gibbons and Alan Moore, and having seen the film adaptation, I don't dislike it. It's probably the best we could have asked for as far as adaptations go. And I know it's useless now to say that the work should never have been brought to film in the first place (though I do feel that way), so now that it has been made into a movie, is it any good? From a fan's perspective I say, sure, it's fine. But I don't have any other perspective to go by.

I have no idea how this movie comes across to someone who has never read the comic book series. I can't even pretend to be unbiased about this - as a fan, just seeing these characters come to life is incredibly exciting. But as a standalone movie, I can admit that it's probably not great. Essentially, it's made for the fanboys (and fangirls) and other viewers may not understand or like it. It's campy, sometimes resembling a silly soap opera, and truthfully I am hard-pressed to remember any distinct images or scenes from the movie, just a few days after seeing it. It's certainly temporary entertainment, and for some it may be frustrating to watch. For more about the movie and my take, read more.

The opening credits (which I got to see at Wondercon, awesomely) are perhaps my favorite part of the whole thing as we hear Bob Dylan's "The Times, They Are A-Changing" and go through a series of slow-motion images of what's been happening politically over the Cold War years, along with images depicting the rise and fall of masked vigilantes in the US. Originally revered as society's helpers, by the 1980s masked crime-fighters have become hated, and people want their good ol' police officers back protecting them. One "mask" is the dark outlaw Rorschach, who still wears a mask of ever-shifting ink blots over his face. Now in 1985 New York City, Rorschach notices that someone has been murdering former masked avengers one by one and he becomes determined to get to the bottom of it. Meanwhile, tensions between the US and the Soviet Union are reaching a boil and nuclear war seems imminent. The movie strings together several different stories of the various former crime-fighters while simultaneously increasing the threat of nuclear destruction within the US-Soviet conflict.

Director Zack Snyder is very faithful to the written work (though he makes some decisions to make certain scenes bigger or smaller, like a particular sex scene that seems to go on for approximately forever). So any real issues one has with the story of Watchmen or with the characters are probably issues with the source material itself and not so much with Snyder's adaptation. That said, even having read the series, the movie is way more violent than I thought it would be. At times it's that cartoonish violence that's easy to take, but some of the gore is startling. In movie form it's just gruesome.

Despite this faithfulness to the material, though, there's a weightiness and a complexity to the written work that doesn't quite come through, leaving many of the scenes to fall flat and empty. The written work is expansive and complicated and multilayered - to pare it all down to a storyline people can understand (even in the lengthy running time of approximately 162 minutes) is an insanely massive task to take on. And in attempting to do so, some parts of the book simply don’t translate well. Dr. Manhattan (a physicist who has an accident in his lab, resulting in his becoming an all-powerful blue, glowy giant being), for example, comes across as just silly and in fact, I found myself at times bored or annoyed with him. His scenes with Laurie are even more tiresome.

Perhaps unsurprisingly (but no less satisfyingly), the best moments come from Rorschach. Aside from being a fan favorite in general, Jackie Earle Haley does a marvelous job making us care about Rorschach and see him as a disturbed man with a strong sense of right and wrong. He's pitiable and a little bit frightening, too. It's easy to root for Rorschach; it's easy for the audience to want to be on his side. We know that he's a bit messed up but somehow all the more likable because of it. And the dark electricity Haley brings to the screen in each of his scenes sets the character of Rorschach apart from the rest.

And maybe I'm easily amused, but the ever-shifting mask he wears is unendingly cool to watch.

See, that's the thing. As a fan, I forgive so much. I don't know how to recommend this movie to the uninitiated - I have no idea what it looks like, or if it's worth the nearly three hours in a movie theater. But as a fan I was going to go anyway, and short of total disaster, I was probably always going to think what I think: that it's cool-looking and super satisfying to see these characters come to life.

Photos courtesy of Warner Bros.

BuzzSugar at WonderCon: Watchmen Takes the Stage!

BuzzSugar — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 07:30:07 -0800

Saturday at WonderCon started with a bang: Watchmen director Zack Snyder appeared before an extremely packed house along with his cast to reveal about 20 minutes of footage from the movie, including the opening credits.

The conversation was lively and the footage very exciting. Of course, I can't give my final opinion till I've seen the movie start to finish, but based on what I saw this weekend, it's hard for me to imagine this film stumbling too hard. I'm a huge fan of the graphic novel, so I may be a wee bit biased - though it's hard to tell if that would make me easier or harder on the film. I guess I'll know soon, but to see my thoughts on the panel and more details about the clips, read more.

The ballroom crowd went wild when, in addition to director Zack Snyder, most of the major cast members showed up on stage. They included Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Billy Crudup, Malin Akerman, Jackie Earle Haley, and Patrick Wilson.

After some chatting about the movie, Snyder announced he was showing us the first 20 minutes or so of the movie. The opening credits of Watchmen are astonishing and manage to cram in the history and back story of the movie's alternate reality, all set to Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are A-Changin."
We also got to see a scene of Rorschach (Haley) in prison that practically had the crowd on its feet by the end. I'll just say this: it's violent, it's kick-ass, and I think it's a taste at how satisfying seeing this graphic novel on the big screen could be.
A couple of funny moments: Morgan said that in approaching his role as The Comedian, he had to somehow make the character seem human in the midst of "killing, raping and pillaging throughout the world." Crudup said in order to make Dr. Manhattan seem distracted, he just thought of "walking on the surface of the sun and things like that."

If there's a sequel, it probably won't involve Snyder, who called such rumors "crazy talk" and added, "To me it seems impossible to even talk about. That's like a sequel to Moby Dick."
For the record, Snyder couldn't be cuter in person.
If the film does well it will almost certainly get a director's cut re-release this July. Currently, the movie is 2 hours and 43 minutes long, and the director's cut will be 3 hours and 10 minutes.
When talking about all the cuts Snyder had to make for the theatrical release, he mentioned the studio requesting less of two things: violence and Dr. Manhattan's blue, er, private areas.
Snyder also said that the companion story to the comic, Black Freighter, has been created as an animation and will be released on DVD a week after the movie hits theaters.
Dave Gibbons, the novel's illustrator, had nothing but kind words for the movie, saying "It's completely surreal" and "This is like the movie I saw in my head, and these are like the people I saw in my dreams."
Fun fact: Little Rorschach, whom we see in the opening credits, is played by Snyder's own son.

Watchmen Release Date Ruling to Come Jan. 20

BuzzSugar — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 12:30:32 -0800

It's like the world is watching the Watchmen today with the arrival of a pretty juicy Japanese trailer for the movie (check it out after the jump) and the news that a ruling regarding the movie's release date will come on Jan. 20. Here's more:

In court papers filed Monday with U.S. District Judge Gary A. Feess, attorneys for Fox and Warner Bros. jointly said they would let the judge decide Jan. 20 whether Fox could block the film's theatrical distribution, now scheduled for March 6, as Fox has been seeking all along as part of its copyright infringement lawsuit against Warner Bros.

Fingers (and toes and eyes and anything else) crossed that the end result will be a March 6 release. For now, there's a new Japanese trailer online and it's pretty intriguing. There's more footage, and most notably we get a glimpse of the politically-themed parts of the story (we see Nixon and get a sense for the political atmosphere). Of course, it is in Japanese, but it's just as absorbing (if not more so) than any of the previous trailers. To check it out, read more.

Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.

New Watchmen Trailer Provides More Info

BuzzSugar — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 05:30:11 -0800

OK, I'll admit it: When I first saw the teaser trailer for Watchmen, I didn't really get it. I liked the look of it and I think the use of that Smashing Pumpkins song "The Beginning Is the End Is the Beginning" is inspired. But I didn't understand what was going on, unfamiliar as I was with the source material. Well, I decided to become familiar with the source material and now that I have, I'm a wee bit obsessed. To find out why and to see a new trailer, read more.

Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons's comic book series Watchmen has received overwhelming critical praise ever since publication in 1986 and 1987. In 2005 it was included on Time's list of "the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to the present," and Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof has called it ''the greatest piece of popular fiction ever produced." Unlike other superhero franchises (Superman, Spider-Man, Batman, etc.), Watchmen was deemed "unfilmmable," with director Terry Gilliam stating that "by reducing it to a two or two-and-a-half hour film, it seemed to me to take away the essence of what Watchmen is about.”

Well, in this superhero-happy era of filmmaking, Watchmen was going to be made, and admirably enough (at least in my opinion) 300 director Zack Snyder took on the project mostly because he loves the work and he worried that the wrong director wouldn't do it justice.

Now I'm almost done reading Watchmen and while I wasn't sure I'd like it, I have to say, I'm totally mesmerized. I think I see what all the fuss is about. And yesterday I (somewhat) patiently waited until 5:00 p.m. my time to catch the latest trailer for the film, which opens March 6, 2009. I've rarely been this intrigued by something I won't see for another four months. The new trailer provides more information on the story, so check it out below and tell me what you think.

Images courtesy of Warner Bros.

EW's Filmmakers Panel With Smith, Apatow, Snyder and Miller

BuzzSugar — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 14:30:03 -0700

Entertainment Weekly held a few "Visionaries" panels at Comic-Con that brought together some of the greats in the TV, movies and comic book worlds. At the filmmakers panel, it was mostly a kick to see Kevin Smith, Judd Apatow, Zack Snyder and Frank Miller all at one table. It turned into the Smith-Apatow comedy hour, but that seemed to suit the audience members (myself included) just fine. Check out some of the highlights below.

The whole panel was super bawdy and raunchy, mostly due to Smith and Apatow making dirty jokes about each other. And then there was the smiling, friendly-faced Zack Snyder, who awkwardly bumbled out an answer to a question, after which there were about three beats of silence before Smith said, "Thank God your visuals are so strong, man." Smith later marveled at how awesome Snyder's Watchmen looks, saying he could die once he sees that movie.
Apatow talked about his raunchy comedies: "You have to find out: how much penis can you show in a movie without clearing an entire room?" Meanwhile, Smith nodded, deadpan, like he totally understood.
Smith: "I go with my gut, but my gut has lied to me in the past, like, when my gut said, 'Yeah, Jersey Girl's a great idea!'"
Frank Miller: "Very early on I learned I was incompetent at anything else. So I started to make comic books."

More on comics, geek culture, and how comedians differ from rappers (according to Apatow), if you read more.

Smith said he knew a while ago that it was only a matter of time before the comic book movie trend exploded. "Why not mine some of the most creative material ever, that's already been around for 50, 60 years? I think geek culture is here to stay. Thank God for Quentin Tarantino."
When asked whether he might attempt a different kind of movie than those he’s been making, Apatow answered in the negative, stating "There will be no movie with fairies and goblins. . . who can't get laid."
When asked about their influences, Apatow immediately said - without a trace of irony - Kevin Smith. "He laid down the track. I saw Clerks and I was like, ‘You can do that?!'" Smith reached over and gathered Apatow into a hug.
Apatow, babbling: "Comedians are not like rappers. Rappers kill each other and comedians like each other…" A few beats of baffled silence ensued before Smith asked, "Did you just step out of 1989? When was the last time a rapper killed another rapper?"
Frank Miller, on direct-to-internet content and advice for aspiring filmmakers: "Find the places the censors haven't found yet. Cause as much trouble as you can."

The Spirit Looks Good, Watchmen Looks Freaking Awesome

BuzzSugar — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 22:33:41 -0700

Yeah, another dispatch from Comic-Con today but I just had to share because I attended the panels for Watchmen (see: photo below) and The Spirit today and both were so exciting. The one for Watchmen in particular was not only coolest in terms of the footage we got to see, but also because of the funny, laid-back vibe of the panel. I think Zack Snyder with his friendly, boy-next-door ways pretty much set the tone for that.

More on that later. First, some thoughts on Frank Miller's film version of Will Eisner's The Spirit:

There are two things that I really loved about The Spirit footage we saw and the panel itself. For one, the movie truly looks like a comic book, and it's a lot of fun to watch. Jaime King described it as visually "intoxicating," which I could see. Secondly, Samuel L. Jackson was at the panel and he was a great interviewee. He chuckled when the topic of his Spirit character's Nazi costume came up. "That was awesome. I was a Nazi! Nick Fury became a black skinhead."
That said, there was something about both the movie and the panel that was a little empty and detached. Miller completely admits that if a woman is in his movies, she's gonna be hot and wearing tight clothing. And that's fine. His choice, etc. But there's a line between making an artistic choice and objectifying women, and Miller skates that line.
Finally, there's the issue of the Spirit himself, played by Gabriel Macht. I think Macht is an incredibly cute guy. And the character of the hero of the film is an important one to cast. On this topic, Miller mentioned that Hollywood has many fine male actors, but "not many men." Which is why, he says, we hold onto the Bruce Willises and Harrison Fords and Clive Owens (his examples, all). And then. . . he chose Gabriel Macht to be his manly hero? I thought the footage they showed us from the movie would explain this a little more, but not so. Onscreen as the Spirit, Macht is likable and funny and cute, but he's not the heroic "man" that Miller referenced earlier, which struck me as odd.

For some of my thoughts on Watchmen sneak peek, read more.

As I mentioned, director Zack Snyder (300, Dawn of the Dead) has this easygoing, affable manner, and it really set the tone for the panel, which included all the main actors: Malin Akerman, Carla Gugino, Jackie Earle Haley, Billy Crudup, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Matthew Goode and Patrick Wilson. All of them seem to be deeply passionate about the film, and about doing justice to the original source material by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons.
Snyder said he knew an adaptation of Watchmen - which has been said to be the one work that is "unfilmmable" - was in the works, and he decided to direct it mostly out of fear that someone else wouldn't do it well enough.
And it appears that Snyder brought it to life stupendously. The clip montage we were shown was completely wordless, set to that ominous-sounding choral music (as opposed to the Smashing Pumpkins song in the trailer, "The Beginning Is the End Is the Beginning"), so it's mostly a series of images. If you know what's going on in the story of the Watchmen, it's really, really freaking cool. All the effects aren't completely done, they were careful to say, but so far, Billy Crudup's bright blue Dr. Manhattan looks super cool, and Rorschach's ever-morphing face mask is totally mesmerizing.
Speaking of Rorschach, Jackie Earle Haley said that he gained inspiration and knowledge about how to play Rorschach by looking at online fan sites and blog threads and reading what all the fans believe Rorschach is like. "I learned a lot about him from you," he said. At an event where a lot of the movie panels seem to be mostly about stroking and re-stroking certain egos, this deferential comment - specifically toward the very types of people who attend Comic-Con - was really refreshing.

Movie News Roundup: Watts, Fox, Another 300 Movie and More

BuzzSugar — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 09:46:17 -0700

According to The Guardian, Naomi Watts will play one of King Lear's daughters in the next film adaptation of Shakespeare's play. Gwyneth Paltrow and Keira Knightley will take on the roles of the other two daughters to Anthony Hopkins's King Lear.
Matthew Fox is in talks to star in yet another one of Hollywood's comic book-turned-movies, Billy Smoke, about "an elite hit man who's nearly killed during a botched job and realizes that his only way to find redemption is to rid the world of all assassins."
Hollywood Reporter writes that Helena Bonham Carter will have a "small but pivotal role" in the fourth Terminator movie.
A follow-up to 300 is officially in the works, with Frank Miller currently writing the graphic novel on which it will be based. Though he's not committed yet, 300 director Zack Snyder is "definitely interested" to see what Miller comes up with. It's unclear whether the new installment will be a prequel or a spinoff, Variety reports.
Robert Rodriguez is casting his lady Rose McGowan yet again, this time for a new film version of Red Sonja, a story based on the fearsome woman warrior created by Robert E. Howard and later adapted for Marvel Comics, Variety writes.
According to Hollywood Reporter, four more ladies (Marcia Gay Harden, Kristen Wiig, Juliette Lewis and Zoe Bell) have joined Drew Barrymore's directorial feature Whip It, starring Ellen Page. The movie is based on the novel Derby Girl.

Source, source, source and source

Buzz News Roundup, 4/14

BuzzSugar — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 13:31:59 -0700

Having recently taken on Gossip Girl books and Dancing with the Stars, The New Yorker now turns its attention to The Hills.
300 director Zack Snyder is set to direct an animated film adaptation of Guardians of Ga'Hoole, writes ComingSoon.
Variety reports that the romantic comedy HangingOutHookingUpFallingInLove has just added an ensemble cast which includes Janeane Garofalo, Jenna Elfman and Rita Rudner, among others.
Kristen Johnston will join Kate Hudson, Anne Hathaway and Candice Bergen in Bride Wars, writes Hollywood Reporter.
Meanwhile, Danny DeVito has been cast in When in Rome alongside Kristen Bell and Will Arnett, reports ComingSoon.
And, some TV casting news: TV Guide reports that Albert Brooks will play Nancy's dad on Weeds, while Variety has news that Six Feet Under mom Frances Conroy has joined the cast of a CBS comedy pilot.
Lifetime will adapt two of bestselling author Patricia Cornwell's novels into TV movies, Zap2It reports.
Billboard has news that My Morning Jacket will make their SNL debut on May 10, and will perform material from their upcoming album Evil Urges.
Apparently, The New York Times reports, many people who call to vote for American Idol can't get the numbers right and bother off-duty notaries and the like instead.

Source

Buzz News Roundup, 10/12

BuzzSugar — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 13:27:14 -0700

Regis Philbin will host "Million Dollar Password," a new CBS version of the classic game show, and The Futon Critic has the details.
According to Hollywood Reporter, Fisher Stevens will join the cast of "Lost," putting a face to the voice of Minkowski, who spoke to Jack on the phone toward the end of the last season.
Variety has news that 300 director Zack Snyder will helm The Last Photograph, a drama about "a photograph that becomes the catalyst for a journey two men undertake through war-torn Afghanistan."
Billboard reports that Janet Jackson is having a busy fall, what with her new book, movie and album.
The Will Smith movie Hitch could become a TV series with Big Boi from Outkast in the lead, writes the Hollywood Reporter.
Fox has picked up a pilot for The Church of Reggie about a guy who inadvertently starts his own religion, cooked up by "Arrested Development"'s Ron Howard and Chuck Tatham, Variety reports.
The "American Idol" tour has been accused of breaking child labor laws, the New York Daily News reports.
Weird but true: The daughter of writer and scientist Isaac Asimov has raved about "The Big Bang Theory" to TV Guide.

Source