OT- Best movies lately?

He was referring to the ongoing joke in the movie of the use of the word "Inconceivable"

I recommended reading the book in my post. I think it's excellent. Loving the comic in no way correlates with liking the movie. In fact, according to my totally unscientific measurements, most of the people I've talked to that liked the movie had never read the book. You're right in the fact that Watchmen's major flaw is that it's painfully faithful to the narrative structure of the source material. It plays like a comic book. The problem is that we are not reading a comic book, we are watching a film. There are certain structural conventions that commercial films must follow, things like pacing through proper editing and developed, intelligent scriptwriting that the movie totally misses the mark with. The dialogue might work in the comic, but much of it is awful when actually spoken. The character development is fine for a comic, but once you get these characters on screen, every one but the Comedian is totally flat in performance: Rorschach and Manhattan have zero voice inflection, Silk Spectre and Nite Owl have little personality outside of glints of nostalgic ponderings, and the Comedian disappears 1/3 of the way through the film. I know these characters are faithful to the comic, but that doesn't mean that Zac Snyder did a good job making this film. You could faithfully adapt someone's day at the office, yet that wouldn't make it an interesting or powerful film. Just like Watchmen, after viewing one could ask, "What's the point?" I also have thematic problems, but this post is getting way too long. Lastly, what are you talking about "it uses music that seems cliche but was taken directly out of the comic?" None of the stupid songs that are in the Watchmen movie are ever, ever mentioned in the comic. Whoever did the music must have been like "OMG! Our audience will be composed of 12 year-old boys who didn't live through the 80s! We have to get music that is "really 80s" like 99 balloons and Hallelujah to really get the tone right!!!" Ugh, the music was pitifully done

The film doesn't stand on its own because it is horribly paced and completely fails to create relevance for the occurrences in it. It just lifts the material right out of the book without regard for context or meaning. It is as if a child took apart a watch and arbitrarily glued together an assortment parts. Complete failure of art. Complete waste of time... actually it has nice visuals. Soundtrack is epic fail. (I grew up on the comic btw)

You're right that many of these elements are unimportant when considering the work from a linear-narrative perspective. But they add a deeper meta-context that ultimately is what sets Watchmen apart from its contemporaries (as the story itself, while intriguing, is not entirely exceptional). What makes Watchmen special is the structure; the manner in which it unfolds is true art. The rest is just storytelling. Movie misses this completely and is just a story. With some nice ta-tas, to be sure.

First, here's what I loved about The Wrestler. Mickey Rourke's amazing performance of course-- very few actors could have played that role, and he makes a slightly average script into a great movie. It reminded me of De Niro in Raging Bull, which is probably overstating it a little, but it did. Second, I thought it was well directed-- for example the shots were the camera followed Rourke from behind, whether he was walking through the meat factory or into the ring, and the wrestling scenes themselves were very personal and, I think, realistic-- like when the wrestlers are talking through their next moves. I loved the details there. And Jersey-- the real Jerz. I felt like I was in a Springsteen song, which of course you do get one in the end, and what a good song it is. Now, the ending: The Wrestler was more a character study than your traditional beginning, middle, end plot-driven story. And, yeah, there's no definitive conclusion, other than this: after 90 minutes, we know who Randy the Ram is; thus the title. The movie ends in the ring because he can't walk away, because there's no other place for him to go. So yeah, I'd have to see it again, and I will, to give you a more well thought out conclusion.

more of a heartfelt expose than a plot driven story. but if you're looking for the crisis and resolution here it is. Randy is alone. He is lonely. He has no family. The whole movie is randy trying to find a real connection to someone. He tries the stripper. He tries his daughter, he even tries the patrons in the deli. But none of them can compare to his wrestling fans. And the resolution (though not necessarily a happy one) is that he chooses his fans over the stripper, over his daughter. He finally knows who he is.

Have you seen Once? I don't know a lot about Irish films, but Once is a must-see. Such a sweet (meaning heartfelt, not tubular) film