1. It's Watchmen day, kiddos. Watch (LOLZ!) for some takes from House contributors in the days to come. The video above is apparently part of the film's genuinely fascinating viral marketing campaign (which, honestly, may end up being more fascinating than the film itself), which has also included this and this. America's few remaining paid critics are sharply divided. The Internet seems less conflicted. Ebert raves, Anthony Lane goes a bit nuclear, and Dana Stevens (quoted below) says, "Oh, who cares?" Then The AV Club talks it out. And how about this slideshow?! Post a link to your review in comments, and we'll link to our favorites (positive and negative) early next week.
["Watchmen (Warner Bros.), Zack Snyder's long-awaited adaptation of the seminal 1986 graphic novel written by Alan Moore and drawn by Dave Gibbons, shows an acolyte's respect for the sacred text on which it's based. The film is slavishly true to the letter of the book, with a few exceptions: Moore's use of nested narratives—interpolated text from imaginary books and newspapers, comics being read within comics—has been streamlined into a single master story line. But the book's spirit—its paranoia, its dark humor, and above all its bleak anti-triumphalism—has been squelched in the transition to a big-budget action epic. Watchmen fans wondering whether their graphic novel has been ruined will be thrilled to see its key scenes reproduced with storyboardlike fidelity, but those who've never read it will be unlikely to understand what the big deal was in the first place."]
2. I continue to be your House contributor of doom. Here's the latest exemplary This American Life show about the economic crisis, which makes sense of just what's wrong with the banking industry in an easily explainable manner in just under an hour. If you have no idea why things suck so much or why you can't find a job, it's as good a place to start as any. And you may as well listen to this episode and this episode too. To say nothing of the Planet Money podcast/blog!
["The collapse of the banking system explained, in just 59 minutes. Our crack economics team—the guys who explained the mortgage crisis, Alex Blumberg and NPR’s Adam Davidson—are back to help all of us understand the news. For instance, when we talk about an insolvent bank, what does it actually mean, and why are we giving hundreds of billions of dollars to rich bankers who screwed up their own businesses? Also, two guys go to New Jersey to look at a toxic asset."]
3. Horton Foote Dies at 92. A bit late on this one, sorry. One of the few remaining lions of the American theater passed away this week. His play The Young Man from Atlanta is a must-see/read. Film fans know him best for the screenplays to To Kill a Mockingbird and Tender Mercies.
["Horton Foote, who chronicled a wistful American odyssey through the 20th century in plays and films mostly set in a small town in Texas and who left a literary legacy as one of the country’s foremost storytellers, died on Wednesday in Hartford. He was 92 and lived in Pacific Palisades, Calif., and Wharton, Tex."]
4. Sure, it's Watchmen weekend, but it's ALSO the return of Breaking Bad weekend. Tune in to AMC this Sunday for the best show absolutely no one is watching. Tim Goodman of the San Francisco Chronicle raves below.
["What (Vince) Gilligan, as the creator, has managed to do here is present a man at the end of his rope, his options dwindling, his circumstances dire and mounting. But not just any man - it's easy to have some fool or loser decide to sell drugs to have one last desperate taste of the lost American dream or, short of that, feebly concoct a scheme to help his sad-sack family. But Walt has always played by the rules. This is the hook of "Breaking Bad." Walt is decent. He's smart and compassionate. He was almost somebody - contributing research to Nobel Prize-winning science."]
5. Harry Happy (1963). Jerry Beck at Cartoon Brew has just the thing to make your weekend merry and bright.
["Here’s one short that really disturbs me - and once again, I don’t believe this it was ever aired on television. It’s about a guy who is a complete asshole and wife abuser. It’s dark. It’s oppressive. So of course it’s called Harry Happy."]
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Quote of the Day:
—Alan Moore, who's probably having a really good day today
Image of the Day (click to enlarge): One last farewell to Mr. Foote from the excellent The Art of the Title Sequence site.
Clip of the Day: The trailer for 45365 is essential Midwest porn. Long, stately shots of small towns? Magic hour footage of kids playing football? Sufjan Stevens on the soundtrack? IT'S LIKE THEY MADE A MOVIE JUST FOR ME.
"Links for the Day": A selection of Links that will hopefully spark discussion. Comments encouraged. Suggestions for links are also welcome. Please send to todd@vanderwerff.us.
Posts
14 comments:
Re: #1 - I like the Watchmen cartoon title sequence quite a bit, but it has one major failing, and that's the theme. I realise the inherent pedantry in critiquing a viral parody of a parody, but those eighties cartoons had awesome theme tunes:
In a distant time
And far away place
The planet New Texas floats deep in space.
Sky of three suns
Land of precious ore
The Kerium brought outlaws by the score.
Step aside, T.S. Eliot.
Re: Quote of the Day -
Jim Emerson makes a very funny observation in his recent post Nite Owl versus the Bat Man:
(It was writer Alan Moore -- you know, the guy who hates all comic book movies and gives so many interviews about it -- who said he tries to do things in his work that wouldn't translate to film, which is why he won't allow his name to be associated with any of them. Except in all those interviews he gives.)
#1: I don't think that video is part of the viral campaign, if the creator's comments on it at Newgrounds (where it was originally posted) are any indication:
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/485797
Most of the actual viral marketing has been pretty brilliant, particularly the Dr.Manhattan newscast with the stiff 70's style cartoons, but the MTV pastiche is kind of vomitworthy.
What's fascinating about the reviews is that, while there are clusters of fanboy adulation (the usual folk) and snobby scorn (Anthony Lane, who is notsomuch a critic as a composer of quips to delight the guests that don't go to movies very often at the most boring cocktail party in the universe), virtually nobody seems to agree on just which parts of the movie work and which parts don't, save for pretty much universal agreement that Malin Akerman's part might as well have been filled by a vacuum cleaner with mammaries.
Re #4: Having just watched the first season of "Breaking Bad" on iTunes, I'm looking forward to the second season this weekend. That there isn't much of a spotlight on it may help the show to continue quietly being effective unlike other much-hyped shows. And, speaking of hype...
Re #1: I wish I could say I was interested in "Watchmen", but, as someone who doesn't read comic books at all, I can't say a deconstruction of comic books interests me as a moviegoer especially when movies like "Unbreakable" and "The Incredibles" covered similar territory, but also existed as more than just genre deconstructions.
Also, like many hyped movies previously, "Watchmen" seems to inspire a mentality where, instead of genuine discussion, internet film critics seem to want to recreate the opening brawl of "Gangs of New York", which I find a bit dispiriting and a little nauseating by now.
I have a feeling when I do get around to seeing the movie months from now, distant from all the hype and in a more objective state of mind, I'm going to ask myself what the big deal was all about. It wouldn't be the first time.
The reviews have left me less interested in seeing Watchmen than I was, and certainly not anticipating much, but if a man can't deride adaptations of his own work, then what's a heaven for?
On the other hand, a friend remarked recently, of Watchmen, that a Zack Snyder adaptation of a deconstruction* of a genre of Kitsch seems a lot like multiplying zero by zero by zero.
* Setting aside, for the moment, the kitschification of "deconstruction" generally and Moore's '80s anti-Thatcher the-sky-is-falling-and-it's-Reagan's-fault-ism.
Watchmen Review Cycle:
Phase 1 - Snide, belittling reviews from critics.
Phase 2- Boorish fan reaction (calling the critics "fags", etc.)
Phase 3 - Screeds lamenting Phase 2 with the kind of earnest sincerity generally reserved for national tragedies.
(make allowances for snarky blog comments pretending to be above the whole thing.)
I've just seen it, and have sat down to work on my take. It's a funny, funny film.
Z: Snarky blog comments pretending to be above it all? Did you read my mind?
oldboy: I should have been more clear about that. Even though the Saturday morning cartoon thing was not bought and paid for by WB, it still sort of IS a part of the viral marketing campaign, since viral marketing campaigns are, by design, supposed to get fans buzzing and creating their own stuff to throw up online. I'm guessing this guy would have done the animation, viral marketing campaign or no viral marketing campaign, so maybe he doesn't count.
http://kazuakiwatanabe.blogspot.com/2009/03/yes-i-also-watched-watchmen.html
First I had no interest in Watchmen, then as the internet buzz grew my interest grew, but now after reading the reviews I'm really not sure what to think. Even the critics I would normally trust with life-and-death movie recommendations are split! The fact that Ebert liked it enough to see it twice is the only thing that's keeping me interested now.
http://weaponsgradeennui.wordpress.com/2009/03/08/a-watchmen-review/
http://kirbydotsmovies.blogspot.com/2009/03/watchmen.html
As a longtime Leonard Cohen fan, dating back to the early 80s, all I can say is... poor Leonard. Poor, poor Leonard.
Max, I'm assuming you mean "poor" as in "pitiable". Agreed.
Because, in the "financial" sense, with the rights payments for the version of "Hallelujah" which he sang, and the publishing for "First We Take Manhattan" which he only wrote, but which he 'controls' (revenue-wise), Mr. Cohen will likely have his most recent medical treatment bills covered.
And that's the most positive element of "Watchmen", for which this reviewer found not even worth spending time to work up the snark. (or proper grammar, obv.)
I hadn't remembered "First We take Manhattan" in this movie, though wasn't it used in "Natural Born Killers"? It's good Snyder didn't use that song during the love scene, I suppose...
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