Weekend movies: Watchmen and Choke
Mar. 9th, 2009 09:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
yendiOn Friday, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
shadesong, omnisti, badlittlemonkey, rintrahroars, and I saw Watchmen.
Since every non-Racefail post on my FL this weekend seems to have been about Watchmen, I'll keep my thoughts brief and non-spoilery.
I liked it. I think it was (almost) as good an adaptation as could be made. Notable flaws include Malin Ackerman's acting (and her mysterious wandering accent), Matthew Goode's accent (his acting was fine, but I hated the voice), and some lovingly-extended fight choreography that slowed things down way too much. The changes to the ending, mostly didn't bother me. The change that most annoyed me, actually, was the removal of a dramatic pause at about the halfway point (a Dan/Laurie moment). If only because it's the only scene that Snyder seemed to blow completely. Otherwise, I'm pretty happy with things.
Over the weekend, we borrowed Choke from the library yesterday, and I enjoyed it quite a lot. Possibly more than the book, actually. Unlike Fight Club, there's nothing deep here, but Sam Rockwell nicely carries the movie as a sex addict who pretends to choke at restaurants because it builds a bond with the saviors, who then periodically send him money. By day, he works at a Colonial Williamsburg-eque place, and he spends a lot of his time visiting his mother in the mental ward of a hospital, where he eventually meets a doctor who offers him some hope. It's the sort of wackiness that Palahniuk specializes in. In the end, it's still primarily fluffy and borders too much on being Apetowian, but it's funny and dark enough to be worthwhile. And hey, Anjelica Huston and Joel Grey are in it, which is always a plus.
shadesong, omnisti, badlittlemonkey, rintrahroars, and I saw Watchmen. Since every non-Racefail post on my FL this weekend seems to have been about Watchmen, I'll keep my thoughts brief and non-spoilery.
I liked it. I think it was (almost) as good an adaptation as could be made. Notable flaws include Malin Ackerman's acting (and her mysterious wandering accent), Matthew Goode's accent (his acting was fine, but I hated the voice), and some lovingly-extended fight choreography that slowed things down way too much. The changes to the ending, mostly didn't bother me. The change that most annoyed me, actually, was the removal of a dramatic pause at about the halfway point (a Dan/Laurie moment). If only because it's the only scene that Snyder seemed to blow completely. Otherwise, I'm pretty happy with things.
Over the weekend, we borrowed Choke from the library yesterday, and I enjoyed it quite a lot. Possibly more than the book, actually. Unlike Fight Club, there's nothing deep here, but Sam Rockwell nicely carries the movie as a sex addict who pretends to choke at restaurants because it builds a bond with the saviors, who then periodically send him money. By day, he works at a Colonial Williamsburg-eque place, and he spends a lot of his time visiting his mother in the mental ward of a hospital, where he eventually meets a doctor who offers him some hope. It's the sort of wackiness that Palahniuk specializes in. In the end, it's still primarily fluffy and borders too much on being Apetowian, but it's funny and dark enough to be worthwhile. And hey, Anjelica Huston and Joel Grey are in it, which is always a plus.