What the… Hey!

Who Watches the Watchmen? Me. August 9, 2009

This weekend, I (finally) saw The Watchmen. I missed it at the theater. So when it came out on DVD, it went right to the top of my Netflix Queue.

I was underwhelmed.

To start with, I should say that I was an avid reader of comics for most of my life. In fact, I was a collector who’d studied the history of comics back to its roots in pulp fiction. On the other hand, I’d never read The Watchmen series (or subsequent Graphic Novel reprint).  It had come out during my hiatus from comics, and (while I’d heard about it) I’d never gotten around to reading it.  Needless to say, I was very excited about the movie.

It’s a pretty strange movie.  In a lot of ways, it feels like a period piece, something out of the 70′s.  But, at the same time, not something made in 2008 as a period piece; more like something that was actually made in the 70′s.  The overall feel I got was for a movie that was out of touch, that belonged to a time that doesn’t exist anymore.

Here’s the thing. I think that good writing, whether historical or not,  is tied to the period when it was done.  A good story is a reflection of it’s time, an expression of that time done in prose.  The Watchmen was an expression of a time that didn’t exist when it was done. As a result, it didn’t really connect with me; it felt completely out of touch with reality.

Don’t get me wrong. I know the folks behind the picture struggled to make it true to the original work. I think they succeeded too well.  The Watchmen was written in the late 80′s, and (I think) was intended as a statement of what had happened to comics.  I think it was a powerful force that contributed to the renaissance of comics in the 90′s.  The movie version, however, is just something that doesn’t relate to anything. It feels like a narcissistic or sycophantic piece done to glorify the original work.

Frankly, the movie just made me sad, that something with such a great reputation would turn out to be so unimportant.

Fame is back June 4, 2009

… I want to live forever…

While doing my nostalgic data digging for SYTYCD, I discovered that there will be a remake of Fame in theaters this September!

I got there because Kherington (half of the “Twitchington” team from SYTYCD Season 4) is in the cast.  I’m always interested in what my favorites from the show are doing.

Then I saw the rest of the cast: Debbie Allen (!), Charles S. Dutton, Kelsey Grammar, Megan Mullally, and Bebe Neuwirth!  Now, I have to see this movie!

Not your father’s Star Trek May 12, 2009

Let me start by saying that I”m not a J.J. Abrams fan. When I heard that he was going to revive the Star Trek franchise, I was not happy.

Then, I saw the trailer.  I figured that if the movie even partially lived up to the trailer, it would be worth seeing.  And, boy was it!  Now, this wasn’t old school Star Trek.  There wasn’t a lot of big themes underlying the picture. Instead, it was pretty much wall to wall action, with just enough characterization to identify the players.

I do have to say that the plot was pretty thin, with huge holes in it. Who cares? The movie was tons of fun to watch, especially for an old Trekkie like me.  I do wonder how people without any background in the original series would take the movie since it was jam packed with references back to the original series. 

Now, I can’t wait for the next movie

A Smart Movie April 26, 2009

Last night, in order to try out Amazon’s and Roku’s video on demand service, I watched Get Smart.

I was on the fence about this.  I was a big fan of the original series, but this movie did not get good reviews. Additionally, I found it hard to think of Steve Carell as anyone other than Michael Scott from The Office.

I was pleasantly surprised. The movie balanced the Maxwell Smart character as both an effective “Control Agent” and a bumbling buffoon.  And Anne Hathaway as an updated Agent 99 was fantastic.  For those of us familiar with the original series, the movie was peppered with references that were hilarious.

If you haven’t seen this movie, go out and rent it. Or better yet, get a Roku box and watch it that way .

Two movies over the weekend April 20, 2009

I watched two movies over the weekend. Each ended up as a surprise.

The first was Burn after Reading.  I’d been meaning to see this movie since it hit DVD. In fact, it was in my NetFlix queue.  Currently, my queue is tied up with anime series, so browsed the pay per view menu and found this.  I’m a big fan of both Brad Pitt and Frances McDormand, so this seemed a no brainer.

What a bad, bad movie.  I was expecting some sort of farce. That was what the trailers for it advertised. Instead it was… something else.  It was so nondescript, I couldn’t even describe what kind of movie it was, other than boring.

While flipping channels on Sunday, I ran into the start of You Don’t Mess with the Zohan. I’m not a big Adam Sandler fan, and this movie got some pretty bad reviews, but I had time to kill.

What an experience! I loved this movie. I was laughing from start to finish.  Now, this is definitely not for everybody.  It has the usual Adam Sandler adolescent/juvenile humor, very low brow. On top of that, it’s full of ethnic humor (Jewish/Palestinian).  I have to admit that I have a particular taste for the stuff, having grown up in a multicultural place where ethnicity was a part of life. Now, it has to be done right, from the “inside” rather than finger pointing.  This is that kind of movie. I was pleasantly surprised at how good it was.

George Lucas is going back to the well April 1, 2009

I was a Star Wars fan before the first movie came out.  That’s right, I said before. Prior to the movie’s debut, Lucas published the story in novel form. I remember reading the book months before the movie came out. It fueled my interest in the movie. Of course, I was there on opening day (I saw it twice).

Back in those days, Lucas said that the whole story was 3 trilogies, with Star Wars being the first story of the 2nd.  We all know what happened after that.  He went on to do the first Trilogy, but also announced that he was burned out and there wouldn’t be a third.  I suspect that he really didn’t have a story to tell there and just decided to let it go.

That all has changed.  According to the Movie Blog, George Lucas has announced that he’ll be doing a 3rd Star Wars trilogy, based upon the Dark Horse comic series, Star Wars Legacy.  Here’s hoping that this one turns out more like the original trilogy and less like the 2nd.

Astroboy is looking good March 24, 2009

The first anime I ever saw (before I’d ever heard the term) was Astroboy. That was back in the ’60s.  Now, there’s going to be a new Astroboy movie out in October, and it sure looks good!