I can't shake the feeling that there's this uncomfortable undercurrent to the excitement that goes something like "Watchmen the comic made everyone else realize that superheroes aren't kids stuff, so now the movie can make everyone realize that superhero movies aren't kids stuff either."
A very well-written article describing all the pitfalls of Watchmen (both the movie and the comic). The movie version is getting massive amounts of fanboy hype (but, in my opinion, may only cater to hardcore comic fans and not the mainstream).
August 2nd, 2008
/ paladinz / Tags: comics, movies, watchmen, alan moore / Trackback
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Finally, someone agrees with me that 300 was not the greatest movie ever. Nor was it a great comic book. No one has agreed with me in the slightest since they watched the movie and fell in love with Leonidas of the pointy spear.
Well, now someone agrees with me. And it's Alan Moore. Oh, yes, that Alan Moore. You know, the guy who wrote Watchmen, V for Vendetta, From Hell, Swamp Thing, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and The Killing Joke? Go ahead, look them up if you haven't heard of them. More than one of them might rank in the ten greatest works in the comic book industry.
I admit: Moore has been openly critical of movie adaptations in the past. His own works have had a very bad history, to the point where he has given up on them. But what's important about a recent EW.com interview with Moore is that he criticizes 300 as a comic book, not just a movie.
I'll just let him have at it:
... I didn't particularly like the book 300. I had a lot of problems with it, and everything I heard or saw about the film tended to increase [those problems] rather than reduce them: [that] it was racist, it was homophobic, and above all it was sublimely stupid.
There, that about sums it up. I've long maintained that Frank Miller isn't nearly the genius everyone thinks he is. I certainly won't deny him his dues (The Dark Knight Returns was and continues to be one of my all-time favorites and I know his work on Daredevil was a huge step forward for the industry), but 300 was overrated in almost every way.
And, yes, I give this quote credence despite any possible idiosyncracies the man may or may not have.
July 20th, 2008
/ paladinz
/ Tags: comics, alan moore, 300, frank miller / Trackback
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