Why I Like the Film Watchmen

Probably the one film that I get the most guff about liking, and it is my favorite movie of all time, is Watchmen. A lot of people I know do not like this movie at all, either it's too long, or Dr. Manhattan's penis is on screen for too long, whatever. I really enjoy the comic a lot, and I thought Zack Snyder did a really good job adapting it. The one problem I have, and spoilers are to follow, is the change from the original ending of the alien attack to the one with Dr. Manhattan's power attacking everyone and him becoming the enemy. In the sense of the film it makes more sense that Dr. Manhattan would be the fall guy, his power and reason for existing in America is questioned a lot in the narrative, and it seems almost logical for the end to have everyone hate him. But I also really like the comic, and that the world needs to come around and help stop the threat of the alien/dimensional being, while Dr. Manhattan's work is done and he walks off to live his life alone. They are both good endings in their own sense. For the people who don't like how long it is, all I can say is I own the Ultimate Cut of the film, and being 4 and a half hours, it is a very long film. But being a fan of the comic so much, I can sit through it. It grips my attention throughout the entire film, and for some people it didn't. Also to the people that said there was too much Dr. Manhattan's penis, read the comic, he is naked throughout the entire thing. I really enjoy the acting, Jackie Earl Haley was amazing as Rorschach, the set design was great, it look a lot like the comic, and overall it was a great adaptation of one of my favorite comics of all time.

Oscar Picks (As Of 1-28)

1. Toy Story 3
2. The King's Speech
3. Inception
4. True Grit
5. The Fighter
6. The Social Network
7. 127 Hours
8. The Kids Are All Right

(Black Swan and Winter's Bone still left to see)

Now, this is how I think the ratings should go, my official pick for best picture is The Social Network, but I would like to see Toy Story 3 win, because it is probably my favorite film of the year.

Movie Review "127 Hours" "Spoilers"

127 Hours was pretty good. James Franco was great, especially during the amputation scene; you can really feel his pain. And the way it was edited was fantastic, the jerky camera movements and the quick editing was great. I think one of the greater aspects of this film is the music. To me, the music just seemed to fit the scenes very well. Danny Boyle's style of cropping multiple shots at the same time was pretty interesting, but at times seemed a little overused. At points it does work, like the opening title sequences, that was very good, just the last ones were kind of unnecessary. The ending was really great. Even though I knew he survived in the end, I was still on the edge of my seat. Also, I think the scenes where he is imagining his ex girlfriend seemed unnecessary. Now, I know this is all real life and this is actually what happened, and it was a reason for him to keep going and live, but nothing really came from this relationship. I just didn't seem the point. Overall a good film, I would say Slumdog Millionaire is Boyle's better film, but you can't really compare the two. Franco gives a very good performance. I have seen movies where there is basically only one actor in the whole film, and I feel they did it better, the main example being Moon with Sam Rockwell. That's not saying that Franco did a worse job, I just think Moon did it better. It is a good film, just not the best, or my cup of tea, and not my pick for the Oscars, although Franco might get my nod for Best Actor, it is between him and Colin Firth for The King's Speech, which is an excellent film. 6.5/10