Watchmen

I have been debating on whether or not to see Watchmen, since well before it came out last week. I'll admit I have not read the graphic novel yet, but i do plan to in the near future if i have time. I did consider reading it before the movie came out, but I knew if I did that I would probably just end up complaining about how it wasn't like the book, so I opted not to. Ultimately I saw this trailer for Watchmen last week while at the theatre seeing the new Friday The 13th and I was sold. I'm a sucker for a great movie trailer, no lie.


Well I went to see Watchmen last night and I have to say I verrrrrry much enjoyed it. Now I'm not gonna go into a full length review of it, since the story has sooo many layers and what not, it would take me too long, and I'm much to lazy on sundays to do that. I will say though that it had a fresh and interesting story, that kept me completely engaged. Now since I don't want to write a normal review, I'm just gonna write some random thoughts about the movie.

1. Zack Snyder gets called a "hack" very often, especially on the imdb message boards. I will say though that the guy deserves credit for actually getting the thing made. They've been trying to turn the graphic novel into a film for the past 20years, with most claiming it was "unfilmable". Also the guy did an enjoyable remake of Dawn Of The Dead, which I never thought could done.

2. This movie has one of the best (if not the best) opening credits sequence ever. It shows the evolution of super heros in America and the influence they have in the Watchmen universe on important historical events in the 20th century. It's also accompanyed by Bob Dylan's Times They Are A Changin.

3. They used the wrong version of Hallejuah in my opinion during the movie's main sex scene. Jeff Buckley's and John Cale's versions of the song contain alternate, more sexually suggestive lyrics. Plus they used the least sexually suggestive verses of Leonard Cohen's original version in the movie. Oh well, its a small annoyance that doesnt really affect my overall opinion of the movie.

4. Another comment about the music, My Chemical Romance's cover of Desolation Row is awful.

5. Something unique that struck me after I left the theatre was that not one actor in the film was familiar to me, except for the midget, sorry little person, from Seinfeld. None of the major characters were played by well known actors, which was a pleasent surprise for me. Usually studios want well known actors for a big budget movie such as this. This helps though in ignoring the fact these are actors and focus more on the characters they are playing. That said, the actors cast were perfect for their roles, and I can't imagine anyone else in these roles. My favorites were Jackie Haley as Rorschach and Jeffrey Morgan as The Comedian.

6. Some guy brought his 10 year old kids to see this. WTF, i bet he was regretting that one later.

7. This is not a very upbeat movie. It is incredibly dark and nihilistic in tone, not what you would expect from the average super hero movie. If you thought Christian Bale's Batman had problems, then you better get ready for The Comedian, who is described as "practically a nazi" by his comrades. A pretty accurate description. I actually really like the tone of the movie, and I'm finally glad studios are moving away from the campyier super hero movies, and shooting for something much more real.

hmm I might come back and update this with more thoughts in the future, as the movie has been on my mind a lot today. Can't wait for the dvd.

Phantoms Of My Youth

I still love kids songs, I'm not gonna lie. Even at my age where I'm now listening to Dylan, Waits, Cohen, Prine, Zevon, among many others, the genius of sesame street, the muppets, and other fine young-un music is not lost on me. Well I shouldn't call it kids music, its for all ages :)
So yeah here are some memories.

Let's start with absolute fav song as a young-un. WET PAINT. I watched this to death when i was little, and i even had a pair of red boots like how now brown had in the video and i would put them on whenever i watched it. It probably is the reason why i like paint, rain boots, and general messyness to this day.
so here's how now brown and the moo wave with Wet Paint


Following up with something else about rain boots, this one is a new favorite that i saw for the first time on noggin not too long ago. This is Boots by the Laurie Berkner Band :)
B-O-O-T-S


Umm one of the best bands ever, and a realllllly good movie. (oh and check out the Robot Chicken episode that does the Behind The Music on them, its hysterical)


ok this next one was shown to me numerous times in 2nd grade to encourage our class to our wash our hands and it always stuck with me. I mean how often do you see rapping germs!
This is the Germ Rap


These next 2 numbers are from one of the best animated movies of all time, The Brave Little Toaster. This is Worthless, and B Movie Show. I still sing along with the first one :), and the second one i always loved since it involves the love of horror movies ive had since...forever




I was determined to fit my second fav animated movie on here, so here's a little number from The Great Mouse Detective.


It's the oogie boogie man!!!


and we shall close with a few more classic numbers i loved on Sesame Street :)






Nah, they don't make em like they used to.

Oscar Predictionssss

While I was somewhat upset by The Dark Knight being ignored for Best Picture, its not really that surprising. Every decade you have a couple of "big event" movies. Movies that wow audiences and critics, but ultimately don't win cause the Academy thinks they know better than everyone else. The best examples of this include Raiders Of The Lost Ark and Star Wars, which didn't win, BUT were nominated for best picture. I wish TDK had been at least nominated, but oh well at least its been nominated for a bunch of technical oscars, all of which it deserves. If you don't believe me watch the special features on dvd and look and how they accomplished a lot of the effects. Many movies like TDK overuse computer effects, when the film makers could've put in a little extra effort and really created the effect. Most movies would have just used computer effects to flip a big rig truck, or to blow up a whole hospital, but not TDK, and this little extra effort makes the film look even more remarkable. The hospital explosion i still think is one of the best explosions ive seen a movie in a lonnnng time. A big grin came across my face when i saw it on the big screen :) So yeah i think it richly deserves its technical oscars. Oh and I'm pretty sure Heath Ledger is gonna get him an oscar. I don't think theres anybody else in the category (except Robert Downey Jr.) who really deserves it.

I'll be honest I haven't seen any of the big oscar contenders this year, but I'll probably get around to watching a few of them eventually (I'm mainly looking forward to Frost/Nixon and Slumdog Millionaire). I have been reading up on them though, and listening to what friends have to say so here are my predictions.

Best Picture: Slumdog Millionaire (its gonna be a toss up between this and benjamin button, but i think all the good word of mouth about Slumdog is gonna push it to victory)

Best Actor: I can't be definite on this one, but I personally want Frank Langella to win, The guy's a phenominal actor, but movies dealing with either race relations or gay rights tend to win over the academy so they'll probably give it to Sean Penn.

Best Actress: Kate Winslet

Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger

Best Supporting Actress: Penelope Cruz

Best Director: Danny Boyle: Slumdog Millionaire

Best Original Script: Most likely Milk, but I would prefer In Bruge to win

Best Adapted Script: Most likely Benjamin Button since it expands greatly on the original short story, but I would prefer Frost/Nixon.

Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Art Direction, Sound, Sound Editing, Visual Effects: The Dark Knight (yeah i know it's wishful thinking :p)

Best Costume: Benjamin Button

Best Makeup: Hellboy II (WHAT you mean I didn't pick TDK to win this one!, why yes. Let me explain, Del Toro is a visual genius and the creations he comes up with are amazing. The Dark Knight does have some good makeup, but really the only thing that stands out is Heath's makeup while in Hellboy, it has tons of cool looking creatures) To be honest though, they'll probably give to Benjamin Button.

Best Original Score: Benjamin Button

Best Original Song: Slumdog Millionaire

Best Animated Film: Wall-E

Best Foreign: Vals Im Bashir

Best Feature Length Documetary: Man On Wire (I'm really wanting to see this)

Best Short Documentary: The Conscience Of Nhem En

Best Animated Short Film: Ubornaya istoriya

Best Short Live Action Film: Grisen

well lets see how my predictions go on Feb 22 :)