Watchmen Movie and your gripes

[Tam Li Hua]

Originally Posted by gothicusmaximus

Well, since difference from the book detracts from quality, and everything any random individual tells you is true, I guess my argument has been summarily defeated.

The Godfather is the only one off of that list which I have seen, but haven't read. With the exception of No Country, which I have neither seen nor read, I've both read the books and seen the movies of all the titles listed above.

Have -you- read The Godfather? If so, did you enjoy it?

I'm not saying that movies aren't generally worse than the books on which they're based, just that there are many great movies adapted from shitty books.

Granted, but the list of shitty books/great movies is a bit smaller than good movies/great books.

[gothicusmaximus]

Originally Posted by Tam Li Hua

Have -you- read The Godfather? If so, did you enjoy it?

Only the first book in the series, which is naught more than an unremarkable thriller, while the film is superb.

Granted, but the list of shitty books/great movies is a bit smaller than good movies/great books.

This statement does not extrapolate to "MOVIES RARELY IF EVER LIVE UP TO THE BOOKS ON WHICH THEY'RE BASED".

[Tam Li Hua]

Originally Posted by gothicusmaximus

Only the first book in the series, which is naught more than an unremarkable thriller, while the film is superb.

I've heard differently from others who both read the book and saw the movie. If I ever get a wild hair and read it for myself, I guess I'll discover the truth then.

This statement does not extrapolate to "MOVIES RARELY IF EVER LIVE UP TO THE BOOKS ON WHICH THEY'RE BASED".

Fine, fine; I misspoke by two little words. Terribly sorry and all that.

[gothicusmaximus]

Originally Posted by Tam Li Hua

I've heard differently from others who both read the book and saw the movie. If I ever get a wild hair and read it for myself, I guess I'll discover the truth then.

Coppolla's Godfather consistently appears on "Best Movies Ever" lists, whereas the same can't be said for the book in regard to "Best Novels Ever" lists.

Fine, fine; I misspoke by two little words. Terribly sorry and all that.

You didn't misspeak. You conceived of a post, typed it out, and pressed submit. Plenty of time in which to pose to yourself the question "is the sweeping statement I'm about to make a deeply stupid one?"

[Godslayer Jillian]

How about instead of talking about movie adaptations, we go to the more moronic and annoying fact that though Tam thinks the book was dry she can only think of the word as in dry humor

[gothicusmaximus]

If we're going to address the things Tam has said in this thread in order of decreasing stupidity, we probably should begin with "Alan Moore's Watchmen just didn't seem that well written to me! I prefer Anne Rice!"

[Man In Room 5]

Originally Posted by Man In Room 5

Garrison Keillor's Lake Wobegon Days is dry intellectural humor.

I just noticed that I misspelled intellectual, which probably debars me from their ranks. What's even more odd is that nobody nailed me on it. I plead drunkenness. Being a 3rd shift worker I'm technically allowed to be drunk before noon.

[Tam Li Hua]

Originally Posted by gothicusmaximus

Coppolla's Godfather consistently appears on "Best Movies Ever" lists, whereas the same can't be said for the book in regard to "Best Novels Ever" lists.

Granted.

You didn't misspeak. You conceived of a post, typed it out, and pressed submit. Plenty of time in which to pose to yourself the question "is the sweeping statement I'm about to make a deeply stupid one?"

Mis-typing on t3h Internetz iz SIRIUS BIZNIZZ!!1

[Tam Li Hua]

Lesson #1356: Do not ever mess with Watchmen fanboys.

[gothicusmaximus]

Tam, I want you to try an exercise in using your imagination. You mentioned that you found the Chronicles of Narnia movies to be 'so annoying' and to do a very poor job of 'reflecting the book properly'. I don't really know the extent of your attachment to The Chronicles of Narnia, but for the purposes of this hypothetical, make believe you've poured over every paragraph, had awesome conversations with your friends about it, and generally held it very close to your heart for years.
Then the SO ANNOYING "The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe" film is released. Someone on gothic.net, who hasn't done much to convince you of their worth as a person, changes their avatar image to a .gif that cuts from a black Aslan, to an inverted pentagram, to the words VIVA NARNIA. You express your annoyance at this, only to be met with the reply "Don't have a cow, man!" You note that the person's avatar is an infuriating deviation from the book, to which that person replies "Tam, I never would have pegged you for a children's book elitist lol. I tried reading The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe once, but I found it dry." You ask in what way the book was dry, and this budding Narnia enthusiast answers "It was uninteresting like a desert. It just didn't seem that well written to me. But now that Hollywood has validated the book for me with this shitty movie, I'm way more interested . I love how anti-Christian it is."
How would you feel?

[Tam Li Hua]

While the icon would probably slightly confuse me, I would be glad that they are at least interested in giving the books another try because of the movie. In that sense, I wouldn't consider the movie a -total- waste.

However, I would also be realistic and realize that some folks may be into fantasy movies, but not fantasy books, or perhaps simply not be fans of the way C. S. Lewis writes. I would respect their opinion that it just isn't their thing, and would move on with my life.

Ironically, I -am- that big of a fan of the Narnia books, and had just about every word memorized back in the day. When the first movie came out, I was a little disappointed, but I wasn't surprised at being disappointed either, nor did I berate anyone for liking the movie. If someone asked, I would say, "It was okay, but the books were better."

On the opposite end of the spectrum, I'm married to a man who -doesn't- enjoy reading, and who often jokingly says, "Books ruin movies". Despite that, he's now reading "Watchmen", because the movie got us both interested in it, so doesn't the fact that the movie got some folks interested in a beloved book of yours redeem it just slightly?

[gothicusmaximus]

Originally Posted by Tam Li Hua

On the opposite end of the spectrum, I'm married to a man who -doesn't- enjoy reading

You would be.

Despite that, he's now reading "Watchmen", because the movie got us both interested in it, so doesn't the fact that the movie got some folks interested in a beloved book of yours redeem it just slightly?

Not really, especially in the case of someone who wouldn't deign to read the book before, and has become interested in it only after seeing a hollowed-out, cliff-notes version thereof. Honestly, people who were aware of Watchmen and were sufficiently interested in it to see the movie, but not to read the book, don't deserve that book in my opinion.

[Mealla]

Originally Posted by Tam Li Hua

Mis-typing on t3h Internetz iz SIRIUS BIZNIZZ!!1

"Mis-typing" implies a typo, a mere misspelling of a word, a chance grammatical error. "Mis-typing" does not cover missing a point, stubbornly defending your misshapen view of a particular work, and disrespecting a work by going rabidly fan on something without a thorough understanding of it. You rushed out, saw the movie, and suddenly you're obsessed and simply must go back and read something that couldn't even keep your attention before the big, flashy Hollywood version came out.

[Tam Li Hua]

gothicus: It's a good thing for my hubby and I that you aren't in control of Watchmen booksales, in that case.

Mealla: Yes, I very much looked forward to and enjoyed the movie. No, I wouldn't consider myself obsessed.

[gothicusmaximus]

Originally Posted by Tam Li Hua

gothicus: It's a good thing for my hubby and I that you aren't in control of Watchmen booksales, in that case.

Demonstrating once again her feeble grasp of English composition, Tam opts for the unwieldy, turgid clause "It's a good thing for my hubby and I" when she could have just as easily written the more concise and totally equivalent "Humanity mourns".

[Joker_in_the_Pack]

Originally Posted by Tam Li Hua

The Wizard of Oz was a -very- different movie from the book. I haven't read the other two, though I've seen the Godfather and heard that the book was, indeed, better than the movie.

Other books that were better than the movies: Interview With A Vampire, Stardust, The Neverending Story, Queen of the Damned, The Stand, and so on and so forth.

With the exception of QotD, the movies that the books inspired weren't bad, it's just that the books were better.

Edit: *Removed smileys so as to not offend GM's delicate sensibilities.*

Let me put it this way. Godfather is a story about Italians and the Italian Mafia. The non-Italians on the set of the Godfather movie probably learned more Italian than Mario Puzo actually speaks.

[Tam Li Hua]

Joker: Heh. I wouldn't be surprised if that were true.

[Albert Mond]

Originally Posted by Tam Li Hua

The Wizard of Oz was a -very- different movie from the book.

Darker mainly.

Other books that were better than the movies: Interview With A Vampire, Stardust, The Neverending Story, Queen of the Damned, The Stand, and so on and so forth.

How dare you speak of the movie version of The Neverending Story in the same breath in which you mention the movie version of The Stand. The Stand is a piece of shit, while The Neverending Story is a visual masterpiece.

With the exception of QotD, the movies that the books inspired weren't bad, it's just that the books were better.

I've never read The Stand. If the movie version isn't "bad" to you, I'd hate to see what QoTD's like.

[Tam Li Hua]

Originally Posted by Albert Mond

Darker mainly.

I'm not sure about darker, but definitely more fanciful.

How dare you speak of the movie version of The Neverending Story in the same breath in which you mention the movie version of The Stand. The Stand is a piece of shit, while The Neverending Story is a visual masterpiece.

What can I say? I feel daring.

TNS is a childhood fav of mine, so when I discovered the book, I was thrilled! By comparison, no, The Stand isn't that great. However, in both instances, the book was far better than their cinematic correspondents.

I've never read The Stand. If the movie version isn't "bad" to you, I'd hate to see what QoTD's like.

Meh. It was okay for what it was, but I agree that it wasn't spectacular. QotD is okay if I pretend that it has nothing to do with Interview or Anne Rice at all. :/ Other than the names of the characters, it has very little to do with either. Talk about mutilating a storyline!

[a morbid curiosity]

I thought Queen of the Damned was the most pointless movie ever made when I first watched it. I had yet to see Twilight, to be sure.

I can't see the Watchmen movie straightaway 'cause I'm still a youngster

[Man In Room 5]

From what I understand, they only released Queen of the Damned because that chick died. It was going to go direct to video until that happened.

[Godslayer Jillian]

There's no fucking way Tam is arguing about how the movie Queen of the Damned wasn't loyal to the book and 'mutilated a storyline' and yet she didn't even fucking read Watchmen and is all wet because of the movie.

No rational person can go that low!

[Tam Li Hua]

Man 5: That makes sense.

Jilly: QotD just didn't even try to be like the books, or even tie in to "Interview" at all. Like I said, if I just keep the books and the first movie out of mind, then it's an ok vampire movie. Not super-duper-todiefor-spectacular, but decent.

By comparison, according to my husband, Watchmen was transcribed to the screen almost shot-for-shot with the book. When he's done reading, we'll go see the movie again for another comparison.

[Solumina]

I saw Watchmen with Jake a few days ago, I haven't read the book, Jake absolutely loves it. I thought the movie was good, it was entertaining and some of the visuals were spectacular but as a whole it felt like something was missing (apparently something was missing and now Jake has convinced me that the book is so much better and when I get I chance I'm going to borrow his copy). Also the blue cat thingy made no sense in the movie, it was just kind of there with no explanation at all and seemed to be there for no reason.

[Tam Li Hua]

Solumina: I agree; I would have liked to know where the blue cat came from.

I'm looking forward to the Blu-Ray/DVD release; apparently, there's about 50 minutes of extra footage that they are going to put back into the movie.