Gutbrain Records

Thursday, 30 October 2008

What to do about these superhero movies? I generally don't do anything until I see the DVD on the shelf at the library. Sometimes I can't bring myself even to borrow it for free (Ghost Rider), sometimes I borrow it and only watch the first twenty minutes (Superman Returns) and sometimes I borrow it, watch the whole thing and feel relieved that I didn't spend any money on it (Batman Begins).

I may go see the Watchmen movie when it comes out, though. Not because I expect it to be great, but because I'll need to know how they decided to adapt it for the screen. The original comic is as uniquely a product of its medium as is, say, Chris Ware's work. Sure, you could make a movie out of an Acme Novelty Library storyline, but why would you?

Because there's money in it. There wouldn't be, in an Acme movie, but Watchmen is a different story, and one with obvious commercial appeal. There's been some noise about how faithful the Watchmen movie is to its source, but the change of media dooms any attempt to go beyond a superficial fidelity. If you don't believe me, read the graphic novel and then check out the Annotated Watchmen.

In other news, the Swedish vampire movie Let the Right One In is very good, though I wasn't as enraptured as many others seem to be. It's rating on imdb, 8.5/10, is too high. Citizen Kane's imdb rating is 8.6/10! I would give Let the Right One In a 7.

John Woo's new movie, Red Cliff, is a decent historical action outing, but lacks subtlety and is much too long. At 140 minutes, it's only part one and ends with "To Be Continued". I'll be surprised if it gets much of a release here.