It seemed to me that, even in a Hollywood that is dictated by the almighty dollar and not necessarily narrative strength, a canonical work like Watchmen, despite achieving modest success as a film, would be safe from a sequel. It seems that I would have been wrong in that assumption.

Of course, rumors about upcoming films are rampant on the internet — sites like Rotten Tomatoes and JoBlo have made movie news and rumors their stock in trade — but recent posts on Watchmen producer Herb Gains’ Twitter and curious easter eggs hidden within the Legendary Pictures website are fueling speculation that a sequel to Zack Snyder’s recent film may, in fact, be in the works.

Read more

If I had a nickel for every time I’ve seen someone use a pun on “Who Watches the Watchmen” in their review of the movie–well, I’d probably only have like twenty cents. The phrase has practically become the official tagline of the book, and indeed can be seen as Alan Moore’s working thesis for the graphic novel. And while the phrase appears frequently throughout the panels of the book, we never see the entire phrase, but rather we see only fragments of it. It’s a subtle inclusion into the world of the comic, graffito scrawled on walls by disgruntled citizens. In Zack Snyder’s adaptation, there is a full screen shot of the runny spray-painted phrase. While this seems a minor detail, it serves as my working metaphor for everything that the movie ultimately fails at–it’s a problem of subtlety and nuance.

Okay, so there are things wrong. Things have been changed. Let’s, at least for now, take that as an unfortunate eventuality when translating a story between media. So, in the interest of not too plainly showing my fanboy Watchmen boner (too late, perhaps), let’s start with what I liked.

Read more

So, Watchmen is hitting approximately a gajillion theaters on Friday, and it’s got me thinking about adaptations. Mostly, comic book movies haven’t striven to be direct 1:1 adaptations of their respective source materials. Spider-Man and The Dark Knight had elements of narratives from the comics, but they were, for the most part, not taken directly from any individual canonical story. Sin City showed us that, with the proper source material, intricately faithful adaptations can be worthwhile. Zach Snyder continued that trend with 300, another film that almost entirely used the original comic as a storyboard.

Thing is, Watchmen never struck me as the kind of book that would lend itself to an exciting cinematic adaptation. It’s fundamentally a much slower, more nuanced experience compared to something like 300. And I love Watchmen for that reason; it does something very specific with it’s narrative and it’s technique that is so perfectly suited in the comic book medium. Transitioning that to a film, especially a film that attempts to recreate it accurately seems, frankly, pointless.

Read more

For those of you seeking a cathartic outlet (but do not wish to provide input of your own, as with many video games), Battle Royale is immersed in violence.  What makes this film notable is that it is marked by extra elements that elevate the production above the garish, one-dimensional slash-fests like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Hostel.

A brief statement: I think that when it is presented correctly, ultraviolence can be interesting.

Works of fiction where large percentages of the cast are killed do not often have a greater meaning—there’s no point beyond the simple execution of violent acts.  I believe that this is the reason that such productions, like the Final Destination series, are hardly ever critically acclaimed.

I recently saw a film that actually provided a cake of narrative substance to go along with the frosting that is ultraviolence—that is, interesting entertainment values that elevate the films beyond the standard fare.  Battle Royale, a 2000 adaptation of a wildly popular and controversial novel, was engrossing for complex reasons. Read more

If you go back and examine the entertainment narratives from the past century, it’s always fairly easy to determine who is the bad guy and who is the good guy. They were necessary niches that a story needed to have filled. There’s that old adage in the comics about how heroes are defined by their villains. The stalwart hero needed a blackly dressed villain, perhaps with a wickedly-curving mustache or an aptitude for evil science. At the very least, it had been common practice to give a protagonist a clear antagonist. This is one of the first things you’ll learn in a fiction writing class; both are necessary.

And it seems like, in the past decade or more, this notion of clearly-demarcated good and evil has begun to blur a little.

Read more

Let’s face it, the science fiction genre has really gone downhill. Excluding movies made from comic books, which have produced some surprising gems over the last years (and should probably have their own category anyway), sci fi films have been entirely devoured by CGI and attractive mid-20’s actors, leaving very little room for plot, characterization, and heart.

A brief review of a couple of the Sci Fi movies released in 2008. (spoilers below the cut)

Read more

So, snowed in today with nowhere to go, I finally had to opportunity to crack open my fresh copy of The Dark Knight on DVD. I’ve loved Batman my entire life–photos exist of me at four or five walking around in a black turtle neck, carrying a batman action figure, my makeshift cape billowing out behind me.

Anyway, watching it tonight got me thinking about icons, our touchstone mythologies that carry through to the next generations. There are films like Star Wars or The Godfather that introduce characters that become landmarks on the map of culture. And what’s interesting to me about the current state of Hollywood, and comic movies in particular, is the propensity of companies to constantly reintroduce, reorganize, reconstruct these iconic characters. In my childhood, Michael Keaton was Batman. Then Kevin Conroy’s gritty portrayal in Batman: The Animated Series became my standard. And now it’s Christian Bale. It seems as though each successive generations has had their own incarnation of the character to suit the tastes of that generation.

Read more

Before you get too excited, the Halo movie produced by Peter Jackson is still dead in the water. This concept art, however, is from a draft of a movie based on The Fall of Reach, a prequel novel written by Eric Neylund. The movie script was written by Stuart Beetle, whose credits include Collateral and two of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Everything is still very much in the preliminary stages, but at least some progress is being made.

So, what do you think? Could a Halo movie be a Star Wars style epic or would it be more of a Doom-style disappointment?

[Halo: Fall of Reach Concept Art - LationReview.com]

According to Variety, Live Free or Die Hard director, Len Wisemen, will be directing the upcoming Gears of War film by New Line studios.

Chris Morgan, writer of The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, has also been added to the film’s roster. Morgan will be creating a new script for Gears of War, replacing the draft that Stuart Beattie, known for producing such films as Pirates of the Caribbean and the upcoming G.I. Joe adaptation, originally wrote.

Epic Game’s boss, Mark Rein, seems assured that the film will be a great success. He commented:

“It’s like with our games, you can have it right or have it right now. We want to get it right. There’s no timetable for us. We just want to make as good a movie as we can, and we think (Wiseman’s) the guy who will do it.”

The Gears of War movie will be releasing in the summer of 2010, also according to Variety.

Guess what, guys? There’s going to be a Bioshock movie, and the illustrious director of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies is going to be making it. For some, this is pretty exciting news, but I know a certain ninja that probably feels otherwise. Still, considering how strong Bioshock’s narrative was, I think it should adapt quite nicely to film. Said Verbinski, “I think the whole utopia-gone-wrong story that’s cleverly unveiled to players is just brimming with cinematic potential. Of all the games I’ve played, this is one that I felt has a really strong narrative.” Hopefully they decide to make the ending a bit more riveting than it was in the game, though. Moreover, this is supposedly going to be the biggest game-to-movie deal since the now-defunct Halo deal in 2005. Hopefully Bioshock won’t end up in the trash, though.

[via Variety.com]