Watch This: The Great 'Watchmen' Debate
Filed under: Fandom, DIY/Filmmaking, Home Entertainment, Trailers and Clips
I know, not another Watchmen post -- you're probably wondering by now whether we're studio henchmen or sick Watchmen addicts searching for that next fix. This post, however, I promise is worth your attention. Our good friend Drew McWeeny (formerly of AICN and now at HitFix) was asked to take part in a one-on-one Watchmen debate versus David Poland of Movie City News on G4's Attack of the Show. One thing I really like about Attack of the Show is how they open their arms to us online movie geeks, whereas most television shows want Ben Lyons clones to suck up whatever's left of our spirit. Anyway, Drew and David appeared on the show recently, and we have the video to share with you below. Now I can talk all day about which of these guys is super cool and which has an annoying ego the size of Texas, but that's not what this is about and I don't want to taint your opinion. So all I'll say is watch the video and let us know who you think has the better argument: Drew or David.
The accumulated filth of all their sex and murder will foam up about their waists and all the whores and politicians will look up and shout "Save us!"... and I'll look down and whisper ... "Follow me on Twitter ..."
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-10-2009 @ 3:21PM
William Goss said...
Seemed surprisingly civil to me, even if I'm pretty sure I agree with your non-assessment of which acts how off-camera.
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3-10-2009 @ 4:34PM
Ben said...
Yeah, kudos to them for keeping it mature and respectable. Truthfully, I don't really think that there was a clear cut 'winner'– both sides of this ongoing argument were presented fairly and nicely by both sides, and I thought the host did a fine job of balancing.
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3-10-2009 @ 4:38PM
Kurt Munro said...
The guy on the right wins.
Blade Runner worked as a movie because it's totally seperate from the novel. Watchmen could've been better.
Film/comics/novels are totally different mediums. One won't work well as the other, unless it's something like Sin City which is film-like in the first place.
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3-10-2009 @ 4:53PM
Scott said...
I stopped watching after the host said 'The' Watchmen one too many times.
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3-10-2009 @ 10:08PM
uforeader said...
well, i didn't really like watchmen, so I gotta go with the guy on the right.
the problem - for me - wasn't that the movie was too dense, or the story/characters too complex as the guy on the left seems to believe dissenters think. the problem was the story-telling. .it never had a rhythm, a flow, or a direction. 300 had the same problem. fun to look at, but completely emotionally detached from the audience.
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3-11-2009 @ 8:35AM
ML said...
In my opinion the source material was the same way.
3-11-2009 @ 1:22AM
ICON! said...
Okay Mr. Poland said he read the book 20 times, but he really isn't all about like everyone else...what? then...why...read...it...20 times...The movie was amazing and Drew made a good point that it took him twice to see it until he wrapped it around his finger. I said that it would take probaly the same thing for most people, and suggest that people see it twice before they cast their full judgement. The MOVIE is really amazing and poetic. GO SNYDER!!!
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3-11-2009 @ 7:27AM
Oz said...
I love Watchmen (the book) and i'm a huge comics and movie geek. But i gotta say, i agree with David Poland. The movie offers a rich experience but not a deep one. It's cold. It largely stays on the surface. It's hard to feel anything for the characters.
I enjoyed the movie, but i find it just a little better than your average Hollywood high-concept movie. I don't think Zack Snyder was the right guy to adapt Watchmen. I applaud him for trying to stay true to the spirit of the book. But i just don't think his directorial style was right for Watchmen. In my opinion, the movie is an admirable failure.
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3-11-2009 @ 4:11PM
MF said...
It seems like the prominent complaint about the film is that it doesn't do anything different than the book.
I'm just glad people who feel screen adaptations of classics must be revised massively had their hands off what is considered by many lists to be one of the great literary works of the 20th century.
It's like the interview on the bonus features for the remake of the Italian Job (I'm paraphrasing): "They hired us to write a remake of the Italian Job; all we knew is that we were pretty sure they didn't want us to just write a remake of the Italian Job." Huh?
The main thing the Watchmen should be is: the Watchmen. Criticizing it for living up to that standard as fully as possible seems pretty ridiculous.
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