DJ's best and worst: Movie Genre's rated

Status
Not open for further replies.

Deexter Jorgan

Has a Dark Passenger on board...
Concept

Twice a month i will be reviewing the best and worst of the Movie world, from Bollywood to Hollywood, from Film Noire to the down right disgusting all will be rated here, I will provide you with concepts and creations, from the best to the worst I will provide my own point of view of the best and worst in hopes to create ongoing discussion and hopefully attract the very diverse wrestlezone members to this thread to help banter about the biggest and baddest in the cinemas or straight to DVD.

the ratings system is as follows:

5 D's (Greatest of all time)

4d's (Best seen in the cinema)

3 d's (watch once but never again)

2 d's ( catch it on tv if your bored)

1d's (miss it)

Unrated (why did i even give this film a try?)

All viewers of this thread can provide an opinion disagree and provide your own point of view in hopes you can get the rating of said movie changed, you can even provide your own because lets face it not everyone has the same opinion of movies as the next guy and may love a film that others may see as a snorefest.

Now down to our first movie....

This Film comes from The Bollywood genre as im watching more and more of these diverse and very well written bollywod movies, for those of you who don't know of have never seen a bollywood movie in your life here is a little history lesson.

Bollywood first came to prominence in 2005 but has a long history of attachment with Hollywood, generally referred to as Hindi cinema due to the use of Hindi language in alot of Bollywood movies but do come with English subtitles due to the growing popularity with english speaking audiences.

Wikipedia.org

History
Film poster for first Indian sound film, Ardeshir Irani's Alam Ara (1931)
Nargis and Raj Kapoor in Awaara (1951), also directed and produced by Kapoor. It was nominated for the Grand Prize of the 1951 Cannes Film Festival.
Guru Dutt in Pyaasa (1957), for which he was the director, producer and leading actor. It is one of Time magazine's "All-TIME" 100 best movies.

Raja Harishchandra (1913), by Dadasaheb Phalke, was the first silent feature film made in India. By the 1930s, the industry was producing over 200 films per annum. The first Indian sound film, Ardeshir Irani's Alam Ara (1931), was a major commercial success. There was clearly a huge market for talkies and musicals; Bollywood and all the regional film industries quickly switched to sound filming.

The 1930s and 1940s were tumultuous times: India was buffeted by the Great Depression, World War II, the Indian independence movement, and the violence of the Partition. Most Bollywood films were unabashedly escapist, but there were also a number of filmmakers who tackled tough social issues, or used the struggle for Indian independence as a backdrop for their plots.

In 1937, Ardeshir Irani, of Alam Ara fame, made the first colour film in Hindi, Kisan Kanya. The next year, he made another colour film, Mother India. However, colour did not become a popular feature until the late 1950s. At this time, lavish romantic musicals and melodramas were the staple fare at the cinema.

Golden Age

Following India's independence, the period from the late 1940s to the 1960s are regarded by film historians as the "Golden Age" of Hindi cinema.[11][12][13] Some of the most critically-acclaimed Hindi films of all time were produced during this period. Examples include the Guru Dutt films Pyaasa (1957) and Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959) and the Raj Kapoor films Awaara (1951) and Shree 420 (1955). These films expressed social themes mainly dealing with working-class urban life in India; Awaara presented the city as both a nightmare and a dream, while Pyaasa critiqued the unreality of city life.[14] Some of the most famous epic films of Hindi cinema were also produced at the time, including Mehboob Khan's Mother India (1957), which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film,[15] and K. Asif's Mughal-e-Azam (1960).[16] V. Shantaram's Do Aankhen Barah Haath (1957) is believed to have inspired the Hollywood film The Dirty Dozen (1967).[17] Madhumati (1958), directed by Bimal Roy and written by Ritwik Ghatak, popularized the theme of reincarnation in Western popular culture.[18] Other acclaimed mainstream Hindi filmmakers at the time included Kamal Amrohi and Vijay Bhatt. Successful actors at the time included Dev Anand, Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor and Guru Dutt, while successful actresses included Nargis, Meena Kumari, Nutan, Madhubala, Waheeda Rehman and Mala Sinha.[19]

While commercial Hindi cinema was thriving, the 1950s also saw the emergence of a new Parallel Cinema movement.[14] Though the movement was mainly led by Bengali cinema, it also began gaining prominence in Hindi cinema. Early examples of Hindi films in this movement include Chetan Anand's Neecha Nagar (1946)[20] and Bimal Roy's Two Acres of Land (1953). Their critical acclaim, as well as the latter's commercial success, paved the way for Indian neorealism[21] and the Indian New Wave.[22] Some of the internationally-acclaimed Hindi filmmakers involved in the movement included Mani Kaul, Kumar Shahani, Ketan Mehta, Govind Nihalani, Shyam Benegal and Vijaya Mehta.[14]

Ever since the social realist film Neecha Nagar won the Grand Prize at the first Cannes Film Festival,[20] Hindi films were frequently in competition for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, with some of them winning major prizes at the festival.[23] Guru Dutt, while overlooked in his own lifetime, had belatedly generated international recognition much later in the 1980s.[23][24] Dutt is now regarded as one of the greatest Asian filmmakers of all time, alongside the more famous Indian Bengali filmmaker Satyajit Ray. The 2002 Sight & Sound critics' and directors' poll of greatest filmmakers ranked Dutt at #73 on the list.[25] Some of his films are now included among the greatest films of all time, with Pyaasa (1957) being featured in Time magazine's "All-TIME" 100 best movies list,[26] and with both Pyaasa and Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959) tied at #160 in the 2002 Sight & Sound critics' and directors' poll of all-time greatest films. Several other Hindi films from this era were also ranked in the Sight & Sound poll, including Raj Kapoor's Awaara (1951), Vijay Bhatt's Baiju Bawra (1952), Mehboob Khan's Mother India (1957) and K. Asif's Mughal-e-Azam (1960) all tied at #346 on the list.[27]

Modern cinema

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, romance movies and action films starred actors like Rajesh Khanna and Dharmendra, and actresses like Sharmila Tagore, Mumtaz, Leena Chandavarkar and Helen. In the mid-1970s, romantic confections made way for gritty, violent films about gangsters (see Indian mafia) and bandits. Amitabh Bachchan, the star known for his "angry young man" roles, rode the crest of this trend with actors like Mithun Chakraborty and Anil Kapoor, which lasted into the early 1990s. Actresses from this era included Hema Malini, Jaya Bachchan and Rekha.[19]

Some Hindi filmmakers such as Shyam Benegal continued to produce realistic Parallel Cinema throughout the 1970s,[28] alongside Mani Kaul, Kumar Shahani, Ketan Mehta, Govind Nihalani and Vijaya Mehta.[14] However, the 'art film' bent of the Film Finance Corporation came under criticism during a Committee on Public Undertakings investigation in 1976, which accused the body of not doing enough to encourage commercial cinema. The 1970s thus saw the rise of commercial cinema in the form of enduring films such as Sholay (1975), which solidified Amitabh Bachchan's position as a lead actor. The devotional classic Jai Santoshi Ma was also released in 1975.[29] Another important film from 1975 was Deewar, directed by Yash Chopra and written by Salim-Javed. A crime film pitting "a policeman against his brother, a gang leader based on real-life smuggler Haji Mastan", portrayed by Amitabh Bachchan, it was described as being “absolutely key to Indian cinema” by Danny Boyle.[30] The most internationally-acclaimed Hindi film of the 1980s was Mira Nair's Salaam Bombay! (1988), which won the Camera d'Or at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, the pendulum swung back toward family-centric romantic musicals with the success of such films as Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (1988), Maine Pyar Kiya (1989), Hum Aapke Hain Kaun (1994) and Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995), making stars out of a new generation of actors (such as Aamir Khan, Salman Khan and Shahrukh Khan) and actresses (such as Sridevi, Madhuri Dixit, Juhi Chawla and Kajol).[19] In that point of time, action and comedy films were also successful, with actors like Govinda and Akshay Kumar and actresses such as Raveena Tandon and Karisma Kapoor appearing in films of this genre. Furthermore, this decade marked the entry of new performers in arthouse and independent films, some of which succeeded commercially, the most influential example being Satya (1998), directed by Ram Gopal Varma and written by Anurag Kashyap. The critical and commercial success of Satya led to the emergence of a distinct genre known as Mumbai noir,[31] urban films reflecting social problems in the city of Mumbai.[32] This led to a resurgence of Parallel Cinema by the end of the decade. These films often featured actors like Nana Patekar, Manoj Bajpai, Manisha Koirala, Tabu and Urmila Matondkar, whose performances were usually critically approved.

The 2000s saw a growth in Bollywood's popularity in the world. This led the nation's filmmaking to new heights in terms of quality, cinematography and innovative story lines as well as technical advances in areas such as special effects, animation, etc.[33] Some of the largest production houses, among them Yash Raj Films and Dharma Productions were the producers of new modern films.[33] The opening up of the overseas market, more Bollywood releases abroad and the explosion of multiplexes in big cities, led to wider box office successes in India and abroad, including Lagaan (2001), Devdas (2002), Koi... Mil Gaya (2003), Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003), Veer-Zaara (2004), Rang De Basanti (2006), Lage Raho Munnabhai (2006), Krrish (2006), Dhoom 2 (2006), Om Shanti Om (2007), Chak De India (2007), Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (2008) and Ghajini (2008), delivering a new generation of popular actors (Hrithik Roshan, Abhishek Bachchan) and actresses (Aishwarya Rai, Preity Zinta and Rani Mukerji[34][35]), and keeping the popularity of actors of the previous decade. Among the mainstream films, Lagaan won the Audience Award at the Locarno International Film Festival and was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 74th Academy Awards, while Devdas and Rang De Basanti were both nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

The Hindi film industry has preferred films that appeal to all segments of the audience (see the discussion in Ganti, 2004, cited in references), and has resisted making films that target narrow audiences. It was believed that aiming for a broad spectrum would maximise box office receipts. However, filmmakers may be moving towards accepting some box-office segmentation, between films that appeal to rural Indians, and films that appeal to urban and overseas audiences.

Now we are all caught up, down to the review

the film we will be reviewing includes one of the biggest stars in the Bollywood film industry and man who became internationally known with the accredited Devdas, which scored a number of independent film awards including best international film at the cannes film festival, a former TV star in india and current host of Indias own who wants to be a millionaire, he is sharukh khan.

It is the first feature film produced by his own Independant film company which works also in various projects producing special effects for the Bollywood film industry much like George lucas produces sound with his THX imprint, this company is known as Red Chillis entertainment, That film is Om Shanti Om.

Om shanti Om Khan partnered with a Farah Khan who directed previous Khan projects such as Mein Hoon Naa in which she also produced this is also the first film to feature an all star Bollywood cast in cameo roles a huge list including some of bollywoods best.

200px-Omshantiom.jpg


Story:

Protagonist Om Prakash Makhija (Shahrukh Khan) is a junior artist in the 1970s film industry. He and his friend Pappu (Shreyas Talpade) are trying to succeed as leading actors. Om's mother, Bela Makhija (Kirron Kher), herself a junior artist, inspires and encourages her son to become a success. He is in love with the film actress Shanti Priya (Deepika Padukone).

One evening, Om views the premiere of Shanti Priya's film Dreamy Girl, claiming he is the actor Manoj Kumar. Here, scenes from older Bollywood films are used to form the scenes seen by Om on screen. He is shown fantasizing himself as its lead and catching Shanti Priya's eye before Dreamy Girl begins and during its display. Later that night, Om becomes drunk and describes his vision of himself as a famous, wealthy film star to Pappu and some local children. During his speech, references are made to the Law of Attraction, creating an axiom that recurs throughout the story.

On another occasion, during a shooting of a film wherein Om is acting as a scene-extra, he notices Shanti trapped in the middle of a fire scene where the fire has escaped control. When the lead actor of the film fails to save her, Om saves her instead and they become friends. He initially attempts to overawe her by pretending that he is the lead and producer of his own films, but ultimately confesses and finds the attempt unnecessary. That night, Om invites Shanti to a film set, where Om, assisted by Pappu, uses props and several backgrounds to create fantastic backgrounds against which develops a romantic song sequence.

The following day, Om tries to talk to Shanti on the set of a film, but is almost ignored. He follows her into a dressing-room, where he, unseen except by the viewer, overhears her argument with the film's producer Mukesh Mehra (Arjun Rampal) about a recent promise of Mukesh's to marry a businessman's daughter in return for funding of a film. It is here revealed that Shanti is secretly married to Mukesh, and that Shanti is pregnant with Mukesh's child. Mukesh insists that his relationship with Shanti be kept secret, arguing that its revelation will spoil his plans; but Shanti demands that they marry in public. Mukesh relents when she reveals her pregnancy. Om leaves, disappointed, and remains miserable for some days.

One night, Om notices Mukesh escorting Shanti to the set of their planned film Om Shanti Om. Inside, Mukesh tells Shanti that he will cancel the film, reveal their marriage to the public, and have a grand wedding in the spectacular set; but contradicts himself by blaming her for his loss of the film and its revenue, igniting a fire in the set, and leaving her imprisoned inside it. Om attempts to rescue her, but is attacked by Mukesh's men. When they leave him, Om enters the set, but is prevented by an explosion from rescuing Shanti. Om, having been fatally injured and propelled by the explosion into a road, is hit by a car owned by Rajesh Kapoor (Javed Sheikh), a well-known actor who is taking his wife (Asawari Joshi) to a hospital for the birth of their child. Rajesh Kapoor then takes Om to the hospital with them; but Om dies of his injuries. Moments later, a son is born to Rajesh Kapoor, who is named Om and implied to be Om Prakash's reincarnation. The film then cuts to the younger Om's adulthood, wherein he is a popular movie star and lives an extravagant, luxurious life. He experiences pyrophobia and appears overall to be a younger, more impatient, brusquer, and less emotionally mature version of his previous self. It is shown through some scenes that he subconsciously inherits Om Prakash's memories.

Having been introduced to Om Kapoor, his lifestyle, and his nickname of "O.K.", viewers see him becoming aware of Om Prakash's memories when his film crew use the site of Om Prakash's death as the setting of his new film. Here, O.K. sees images of Mukesh's argument with Shanti Priya, which vanish when he is disturbed by a crewmember. Later, O.K. is awarded 'Best Actor' during a ceremony featuring both existing and fictional Bollywood films and film stars (listed below). When making a speech of acceptance for this award, O.K. unexpectedly recalls the speech Om Prakash had made, when drunken, to Pappu, and makes it to the assembly who have awarded him. Pappu, seeing this broadcast on television, is convinced by it to share Bela's conviction that O.K. and Om Prakash are the same man. At a celebration of his award (again featuring numerous Bollywood film stars, and accompanied by a song whose refrain is the film's title), O.K. is introduced by his father to Mukesh Mehra, who has been producing films in Hollywood for thirty years. Upon seeing him, O.K. becomes aware of all of Om Prakash's memories. He conceals his knowledge of Mukesh's past, but later reunites with Bela and Pappu. He then conspires with them to avenge Shanti Priya's death by terrifying Mukesh into confessing his role therein.

As a disguise and framework for this plan, O.K. convince Mukesh to recreate Om Shanti Om, altering the plot to fit their designs. It is then shown that the central part of their scheme consists of convincing Mukesh that Shanti Priya's ghost is haunting him, thereby frightening him into revealing his role in Shanti's death. To achieve this, they hold auditions for an actress who resembles Shanti Priya to the extent that seeing her unexpectedly appear and seem to vanish will startle Mukesh. They fail to find such an actress; but the role is ultimately fulfilled by a fan of O.K.'s named Sandhiya ("Sandy" for short). O.K. and his co-conspirators train Sandy to represent Shanti's ghost; but achieve no success, on account of her clumsiness, until they have told her the entirety of their plans and the reason thereof. Thereafter the filming begins. Throughout the film shootings, O.K. and his friends arrange incidents, some involving brief appearances by Sandy, that frighten Mukesh; arrange the situation itself to remind him of his crime; and exacerbate his fear almost to insanity in their (chiefly O.K.'s) conversation with him. Their plan goes awry when Mukesh investigates their arrangements and begins to suspect that they are deceiving him. During the music launch of the film, O.K. taunts Mukesh by revealing the extent to which he knows the story of Shanti Priya's death, in the process implying that his film's plot imitates that story. Toward the end of this scene, Mukesh pursues Sandy and sees that she is capable of bleeding, persuading him that she is not a ghost.

After the celebration, O.K. and Mukesh confront each other with their knowledge of each other's actions. They are interrupted when a figure whom they think to be Sandy appears on the nearby stairwell and reveals that Mukesh had returned to the burning film set after its explosion, found Shanti dying but not dead, and buried her in the center of the set, beneath its chandelier. Mukesh himself is killed when an identical chandelier, located in the same positon, falls onto him, having come loose during the celebration. Moments later, Pappu and Sandy join O.K., whereupon they realize that the figure who challenged Mukesh is Shanti Priya's ghost. As they realize this, the ghost smiles at them, runs up the stairwell, and disappears.

My take

The Good

The film tells the tale of reincarnation and tales the tale quiet well, it provides a take of lost loves and lost memories which somehow are braught back to the surface, you can actually emerse yourself in the film and distance yourself from reality due to the great story and the brilliant acting from Sharukh Khan, Deepika Padukone and the villanous antics of Arjun Rampal, The film manages to tell the story with the provocative acting and amazing choreography which really helps the bollywood industry stand out, I cant say enough good things about this movie so here's some brilliant examples

[youtube]94NgXI7do74[/youtube]

[youtube]H-66BRnANlI[/youtube]

The Bad

The worst part of this film for me was basically the unfinished story, I wont attempt to ruin the ending here but the story leaves alot of un-answered questions which is pretty normal in most modern cinema, It left me somewhat feeling kinda cheated, I didn't pay for an unresolved ending, I wanted to see this story end and with no sight of a sequel it left me thinking that they could have easily ended this film on a positive note within the three hour's that where given.

The Rating

With Frah Khans brilliant directing style and breathtaking dialogue was enough to keep me hooked, as always The acting ability of Sharukh Khan was enough to help me emerse myself in this movie, it was also the breakout role for Deepika Padukone which has so far overshadowed her career, but thats for a later date.

The bad left me feeling a little bitter about this brilliant picture so it has let this film down in a major way.

I give this film 3 d's it's entertaining enough to be seen but truthfully you may only want to see this film once, and once maybe more then enough.
 
Ok we are back for another Of DJ's best and worst Movie reviews, this will be my second review of the month a review which hopes to attract more and more of WZ's members, as always i would ask for everyone to try and and develop their own take on the movies that i review, I know most probably don't know what Bollywood is but there are others from the Hollywood genre that wil be rated also.....................

Which leads to my newest review

I decided to pick a film which was one of the last watched in the cinema (2009 hasn't been a good year for movies, hoping that will change soon enough).

Lets talk a little about the genre

Comic book genre of movies

The film genre started off with Superman and the Mole Men in 1951 which was distributed as part of the Lippert Pictures Inc.Superman and the Mole Men is a 1951 black and white film starred the late George Reeves as Superman and Phyllis Coates as Lois Lane, the film itself was apart of the ongoing seriels shown in the cinema and was apart of the DC superman franchise which continues till this day, the genre continued with Batman (also known as Batman: The Movie) was the first full-length theatrical adaptation of the DC Comics character. The 20th Century Fox release starred Adam West as Batman and Burt Ward as Robin, it was known as Batman the movie, this movie itself like others before it did not show the gritty style that we are used to today.

In 1978 Superman once again made a huge debute back into theatres this time Christopher reeves was at the helm as the red and blue knight, the story was told with little changes between the comic book and the film itself, the film managed to gross highly worldwide which promted the sequals Superman 2, Superman 3, Supergirl and the final Superman 4 The Quest for Peace, the genre was yet again reinvented by the man who braught us huge concepts that we see today but mainly focuses on the cartoon genre, the director of yet to be released revamp of Alice in wonderland Tim Burton.

Burton took a virtual unknown and raised the bar in the comic book franchise with the aid of Michael Keaton in revamping a camp classic in batman and made it into a dark mobid yet tantilating Trilogy of movies, it spawned the sequels of Batman Returns, Batman forever and the horrible batman and Robin (it was so bad i was the only person left in the cinema more on that later).

the franchise kept taking a more and more dark turn in favour of the more real approach in hopes to gain more comic book orientated fans then pushing for the young approach in order to promote happy meals and kids toys.

this brings me to i believe one of the best Comic Book films of all time, the best film that i believe has come out of the comic book industry in years that film is WATCHMAN!


WatchmenPosterFinal.jpg

The story takes place in an alternate timeline in which masked, costumed vigilantes fight crime in America, originally in response to a rise in masked and costumed gangs and criminals. In the 1930s and '40s, the vigilantes formed a group called the Minutemen to "finish what the law couldn't." The original lineup often suffered early and violent deaths in action, or became suicides, or were arrested for breaking the law themselves, or in one case was committed to an asylum. Decades later, a second generation of "superheroes" attempts to form a team as well, called the Watchmen. Various historical events are shown to have been altered by the existence of superheroes, such as the assassination of John F. Kennedy and the Vietnam War. The American victory in Vietnam, due to the intervention of the godlike being Doctor Manhattan, leads to Richard Nixon's third term as President following the repeal of term limits in the United States. By the 1980s, however, the Watchmen have been outlawed by Nixon after an outpouring of anti-vigilante sentiment in the country, and tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union have escalated the Cold War with threats of nuclear attack.

By 1985, only three adventurers remain active: the Comedian and Doctor Manhattan, both of whom act with government sanction, and the masked vigilante Rorschach, who refuses to retire and remains active illegally. Investigating the murder of government agent Edward Blake, Rorschach discovers that Blake was the Comedian, concluding that someone is trying to eliminate the original Watchmen. He goes off to warn his former comrades—the emotionally detached Dr. Jon Osterman (Doctor Manhattan) and his lover Laurie Jupiter (Silk Spectre), Daniel Dreiberg (Nite Owl), and Adrian Veidt (Ozymandias)—but he makes little progress.

After Blake's funeral, Dr. Manhattan is accused of causing the cancers afflicting his former girlfriend and colleagues from before the accident that turned him into the being he is now. Manhattan exiles himself to Mars, giving the Soviet Union the confidence to invade Afghanistan in his absence. Later, Rorschach's conspiracy theory appears to be justified when Adrian, who had long since made his identity as Ozymandias public before retiring, narrowly avoids an assassination attempt, and Rorschach finds himself framed for murder.

Meanwhile Jupiter, after breaking up with Manhattan, falls in love with Dreiberg, and the two former superheroes come out of retirement as they grow closer. After breaking Rorschach out of prison alongside Nite Owl, Silk Spectre is confronted by Manhattan. He takes her to Mars and after she asks him to save the world, explains he is no longer interested in humanity. Probing her memories, he discovers the Comedian was her father. His interest in humanity renewed, Manhattan returns to Earth with Silk Spectre.

Investigating the conspiracy, Rorschach and Nite Owl discover that Adrian may be behind everything. Rorschach records his suspicions in his journal, which he drops off at a newspaper office. Rorschach and Nite Owl confront Adrian, dressed in his Ozymandias costume, at his Antarctic retreat. Ozymandias confirms he is the mastermind behind The Comedian's murder, Manhattan's exile, and the framing of Rorschach; he also staged his own assassination attempt to place himself above suspicion. He explains that his plan is to unify the United States and Soviet Union and prevent nuclear war by destroying the world's main cities with the energy reactor he had Doctor Manhattan create for him under the pretense of providing free energy for the world. Rorschach and Nite Owl attempt to stop him, only to find his plan has already been set into motion. The energy signatures are recognized as Doctor Manhattan's, and the two opposing sides of the Cold War unite to combat their "common enemy."

Jupiter and Manhattan arrive at the ruins of New York City and realize Ozymandias's plan. They confront him in Antarctica but, after seeing a news report in which President Nixon states that the US and Soviets have allied, Dr. Manhattan, in a state of helpless disbelief, realizes that killing Ozymandias and revealing the conspiracy would only break this peace and lead to war again. Rorschach is unwilling to remain silent and, upon exiting Ozymandias' retreat, is confronted by Manhattan. Knowing that he is the only one among them who wants to reveal Ozymandias' plot, he tells Manhattan to kill him. After much reluctance and coaxing by Rorschach himself, Manhattan finally kills him. Manhattan shares a final kiss with Jupiter and departs for another galaxy.

With the end of the Cold War and the uniting of humanity, Jupiter and Dreiberg return to a New York City being rebuilt, and begin a new life together. The film closes with a newspaper editor in New York complaining of nothing worthwhile to print because of the world-wide peace. He tells a young employee that he may print whatever he likes from a collection of crank mailings, among which lies Rorschach's journal, implying that Veidt's plot may be unveiled to the world.

Development

Watchmen was in development hell, being passed around from place to place, movie studio to movie studio due to the rather publicised adult orientated content of the movie.

but dont here it from me here is the full story from the wikipedia

In 1986, producers Lawrence Gordon and Joel Silver acquired film rights to Watchmen for 20th Century Fox.[34] Fox asked author Alan Moore to write a screenplay based on his story,[35] but he declined, so the studio enlisted screenwriter Sam Hamm. Hamm took the liberty of re-writing Watchmen's complicated ending into a "more manageable" conclusion involving an assassination and a time paradox.[35] Fox put the project into turnaround in 1991,[36] and the project was moved to Warner Bros., where Terry Gilliam was attached to direct and Charles McKeown to rewrite it. They used the character Rorschach's diary as a voice-over and restored scenes from the comic book that Hamm had removed.[35] Gilliam and Silver were only able to raise $25 million for the film (a quarter of the necessary budget) because their previous films had gone overbudget.[35] Gilliam abandoned the project because he decided that Watchmen would have been unfilmable. "Reducing [the story] to a two or two-and-a-half hour film [...] seemed to me to take away the essence of what Watchmen is about," he said.[37] After Warner Bros. dropped the project, Gordon invited Gilliam back to helm the film independently. The director again declined, believing that the comic book would be better directed as a five-hour miniseries.[38]
A ship resembling an owl, with two large eye-like windows and flashlights across the "nose"
Archie (Nite Owl's airship) on display at the 2008 Comic-Con

In October 2001, Gordon partnered with Lloyd Levin and Universal Studios, hiring David Hayter to write and direct.[39] Hayter and the producers left Universal due to creative differences,[40] and Gordon and Levin expressed interest in setting up Watchmen at Revolution Studios. The project did not hold together at Revolution Studios and subsequently fell apart.[41] In July 2004, it was announced Paramount Pictures would produce Watchmen, and they attached Darren Aronofsky to direct Hayter's script. Producers Gordon and Levin remained attached, collaborating with Aronofsky's producing partner, Eric Watson.[42] Paul Greengrass replaced Aronofsky when he left to focus on The Fountain.[43] Ultimately, Paramount placed Watchmen in turnaround.[44]

In October 2005, Gordon and Levin met with Warner Bros. to develop the film there again.[45] Impressed with Zack Snyder's work on 300, Warner Bros. approached him to direct an adaptation of Watchmen.[46] Screenwriter Alex Tse drew from his favorite elements of Hayter's script,[47] but also returned it to the original Cold War setting of the Watchmen comic. Similar to his approach to 300, Snyder used the comic book as a storyboard.[48] He has extended the fight scenes,[49] and added a subplot about energy resources to make the film more topical.[7] Although he intended to stay faithful to the look of the characters in the comic, Snyder intended Nite Owl to look scarier,[48] and made Ozymandias' armor into a parody of the rubber muscle suits from 1997's Batman & Robin.[50] While 20th Century Fox filed a lawsuit to block the film's release, the studios eventually settled, and Fox received an upfront payment and a percentage of the worldwide gross from the film and all sequels and spin-offs in return.[51]

Dave Gibbons became an adviser on Snyder's film, but Moore has refused to have his name attached to any film adaptations of his work.[52] Moore has stated he has no interest in seeing Snyder's adaptation; he told Entertainment Weekly in 2008, "There are things that we did with Watchmen that could only work in a comic, and were indeed designed to show off things that other media can't".[53] While Moore believes that David Hayter's screenplay was "as close as I could imagine anyone getting to Watchmen," he asserted he did not intend to see the film if it were made.[54]

[edit] Release

[edit] Marketing

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment published an USA-only episodic video game to be released alongside the film called Watchmen: The End Is Nigh. Warner Bros. took this low-key approach to avoid rushing the game on such a tight schedule, as most games adapted from films are panned by critics and gamers.[55] The game is set in the 1970s, and is written by Len Wein, the comic's editor; Dave Gibbons is also an advisor.[56] On March 4, 2009 Glu Mobile released Watchmen: The Mobile Game, a beat 'em up mobile game featuring Nite Owl and The Comedian fighting enemies in their respective settings of New York City and Vietnam.[57] On March 6, 2009, a game for the Apple Inc. iPhone and iPod Touch platform was released, titled Watchmen: Justice is Coming. Though highly anticipated, this mobile title suffered from serious game play and network issues which have yet to be resolved.[58]

As a promotion for the film, Warner Bros. Entertainment released Watchmen: Motion Comics, a series of narrated animations of the original comic book. The first chapter was released for purchase in the summer of 2008 on digital video stores, such as iTunes Store and Amazon Video on Demand.[59] DC Direct released action figures based on the film in January 2009.[60] Director Zack Snyder also set up a YouTube contest petitioning Watchmen fans to create faux commercials of products made by the fictional Veidt Enterprises.[61] The producers also released two short video pieces online, which were intended to be viral videos designed as fictional backstory pieces, with one being a 1970 newscast marking the 10th anniversary of the public appearance of Dr. Manhattan. The other was a short propaganda film promoting the Keene Act of 1977, which made it illegal to be a superhero without government support. An official viral marketing web site, The New Frontiersman, is named after the tabloid magazine featured in the graphic novel, and contains teasers styled as declassified documents.[62] After the trailer to the film premiered in July 2008, DC Comics president Paul Levitz said that the company had had to print more than 900,000 copies of Watchmen trade collection to meet the additional demand for the book that the advertising campaign had generated, with the total annual print run expected to be over one million copies.[63] DC Comics reissued Watchmen #1 for the original cover price of $1.50 on December 10, 2008; no other issues are to be reprinted.[64]

[edit] DVD releases

Tales of the Black Freighter, a fictional comic within the Watchmen limited series, was adapted as a direct-to-video animated feature from Warner Premiere and Warner Bros. Animation, and released on March 24, 2009.[65] It was originally included in the Watchmen script,[66] but was changed from live-action footage to animation because of the $20 million it would have cost to film it in the 300-esque stylized manner Snyder wanted;[65] this animated version, originally intended to be included in the final cut,[9] was then cut because the film was already approaching a three-hour running time.[65] Gerard Butler, who starred in 300, voices the Captain in the animated feature, having been promised a role in the live-action film that never materialized.[67] Jared Harris voices his deceased friend Ridley, whom the Captain hallucinates is talking to him. Snyder had Butler and Harris record their parts together.[68] International rights to Black Freighter are held by Paramount.[69]

The Tales of the Black Freighter DVD also includes Under the Hood, a documentary detailing the characters' backstories, which takes its title from that of Hollis Mason's memoirs in the comic book.[65] Under the Hood is rated PG because of the friendly public image of the characters. The actors were allowed to improvise during filming interviews in character.[70] Bolex cameras were even used to film "archive" footage of the Minutemen.[71] The film itself is scheduled to be released on DVD four months after Tales of the Black Freighter, and Warner Bros. will release a director's cut on July 21, 2009, and the extended version with the animated film edited back into the main picture in December.[72][65] Snyder said if the film does well enough, the director's cut will be simultaneously theatrically released in New York and Los Angeles.[73] In addition, the Watchmen: Motion Comics, was released in digital video stores and DVD on March 3. It included an exclusive scene from the movie but as of press time (prior to the disc's release) the scene had yet to be added.[74]

The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on July 21, 2009. The Blu-ray contains Maximum Movie Mode, which plays the movie along with a video presentation by director Zack Snyder, and includes behind-the-scenes footage, comic comparisons, trivia, and more.[75][76] In December, 2009, an "Ultimate Collector's Edition" will be released. The five-disc set will include the director's cut of the film with Tales of the Black Freighter woven in, new commentaries by Zack Snyder and Dave Gibbons, the complete Watchmen Motion Comics, and over 2 hours of bonus content including Under the Hood, which was previously released on the Tales of the Black Freighter DVD.[77]

The Good

What can be said about this movie that you don't already know?, well the movie is pure awesome, the animation, effects and acting was quiet dramatic sticking to the quality of the comic book made the film not just appealing but a must see, there where moments where i grasped my seat and followed the endless amount of story that was told through this movie, even being told by unknowns in the film industry it still managed to put on some of the best superhero storytelling in ages, the acting was amazing and the direction helped put things into perspective, yes their was slight changes to the text but those where minimal at best which led to one of the most appealing films of 2009.

The Bad

The Sex scenes seemed out of place, they didnt really make me feel like i liked what i saw, i felt more like a small child peeking at his daddies porn collection amazed but yet not interested, I thought that i was the only one but yet nearly everyone in the cinema (couples singles alike) just didnt feel it, it really could have been done better, but that is a small price to pay when watching this movie, if you have the DVD or Blue ray fast forward is always your friend here.

Favorite Quote

Rorschach: after literally destroying an inmate whilst in the prison canteen,

You people don't understand!, I'm not locked in here with you, your locked in here WITH ME!!!

[youtube]aF7i4-V1zq4[/youtube]

[youtube]SppOkWc9d-o[/youtube]

Making of CGI watchmen
[youtube]toi6HUTfzIc&[/youtube]

[youtube]E4blSrZvPhU[/youtube]


Rating

The film is amazing, everything from the direction to the acting made this a must see and by box office takings it was a must, would i see it again? damn straight i would, Im even picking up the DVD this week and will conceal it in my collection away from prying hands of my children.

special mention goes to Jackie Earle Haley as Walter Kovacs / Rorschach, he was an enigma raped around a tortured soul, the more you pried into his existence and the reason he became a hero the more tainted his story becomes, you watch with a voyeuristic approach as you see the blood splatter and the story unfold, its quiet intriguing.

I give this film 4 D's Must see, The sex scenes and the change of ending took a point off for me, i felt that with this film they could have turned it quiet easily made those scenes more accurate, but saying that it didn't ruin the film for me, i still watched and enjoyed more then ever when watching this, it raised the bar very high and only time will tell if another movie can dethrone it from its glory, movie studios take not keep the text accurate and stop trying to warp the vision for your own.

Your side

Am i wrong, dont you think i was accurate, missed anything well its your turn to judge me and my reviews and tell me if this film is a hit or miss, post here today and i will respond, now thats all for this month of DJ's movie reviews, see you soon when we will be rating a classic, if you want to know then you have to read!!!.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Users who are viewing this thread

Members online

No members online now.

Forum statistics

Threads
174,851
Messages
3,300,884
Members
21,726
Latest member
chrisxenforo
Back
Top