Weekend movies: Watchmen and Choke

[yendi]

On Friday, 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.

Comments

[coffeehouse.livejournal.com]

So sorry, I should have posted about Oregon or something for you!

On your recommendation, 'll pick up Choke to watch, thanks.

Oh! I had bacon parsnip leek soup out here in the wilds of Oregon. It was good.

[chris-walsh.livejournal.com]

Want something non-Racefail and non-Watchmen? Be amused by these mice. (I'm pretty sure there's no Rorshach Mouse, but there are a couple of Lecter mice...)

And hey, Anjelica Huston and Joel Grey are in it, which is always a plus.

More reason to see Choke: I already knew rafaela had liked it. And I knew about Huston, but not Grey. Neat. (My recent pop culture diet's included Grey's Buffy episodes and the original cast album of Wicked.)

How's s00j and K' and Ms. Valente? And is your headache gone?

[wednesday]

Unlike Fight Club, there's nothing deep here

I am a bad person whose brain asks, "Where was the depth in Fight Club?"

Then again, I spent, what, the last third of the movie yelling at it for failing at psychiatric condition that might be a spoiler to the other person who avoided Fight Club for however many years.

[yendi]

Taking things in reverse order, I generally believe that after five years (or less, usually), movies (especially blockbusters) are free to be spoiled. I also believe that if a movie can't stand up to being spoiled, it's probably not that good in the first place.

I actually yelled at it less for any psychiatric failings (it's a very deliberate fiction, so I'm okay with how they elided things there), but for the lack of economic awareness. That said, even there, I like the intent of it.

As far as depth goes, I'm not saying it's The Seventh Seal or anything, but I do think it raised some good questions about the state of society (even if it didn't provide any answers).

[yendi]

Oh! I had bacon parsnip leek soup out here in the wilds of Oregon. It was good.

It sounds good! I must try that at some point.

[morenasangre.livejournal.com]

I was a little disappointed in Watchmen, particularly the ending. Felt rushed to me, both in terms of plot and cinematography. I wanted something a little more...grand...less moustache-twirling. But I enjoyed it. I got my Rorschach goodness. It felt like a young-director film to me, but I kept thinking that, as a director, Snyder knows how to make violence PURTY. He's got a gift for shooting action scenes, even if he can't quite handle dramatic moments like a pro.

[coyotegoth.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Ackerman didn't work for me at all; by contrast, I thought that the ending (and Rorschach's epiphany of sorts with the chld molester) made more sense than they did in the novel.