Weakends Episode 2: A New Format

Filmadelphia is finally trying to get on the ball! Since we've found ourselves far too busy to update the ol blog throughout the week, we've changed the format of Weakends a little bit. Instead of blatantly ripping off the /filmcast, we've decided to do our Top 5 Stories of the Weak. We round up all the news for the week and pick our top five and talk about em! Sounds exciting right? It gets even better, G.Rett and Tom have finally decided on a schedule and should actually be updating every Friday! (Maybe Thursday, any opinions on that?)

Also, we haven't given up on the blog. Although Tom is far too lazy, G.Rett is still going to try and make an effort to put some posts up throughout the week. Have no fear, filmadelphia is going to return in a big way with Weakends.

Check out the new episode right now!

Let us know what you think of the new format in the comments!

Show Notes:

Top 5 News Stories for the Weak of 11.7.08 - 11.13.08

5. Baz Luhrmann on the ending of Australia
4. Joe Johnston is directing The First Avenger: Captain America
3. Jeffrey Tambor says the Arrested Development movie is a go
2. Ridley Scott is directing Monopoly
1. The new Watchmen trailer

More Watchmen News (Sorry for the Delay!)

I know I had to apologize for this once before, and then I never got back on track like I said I would, but I'd like to apologize again for not updating regularly. I swear to you I'm doing my best, but Philadelphia is just crazy when you're a full-time student holding down your own blog, a position at another blog, a position with the school paper, and an actual part-time job. It barely leaves enough room for me to actually see movies!

Anyhow, I was listening to the (ever present on filmadelphia) /filmcast last night, and then discovered this article this morning. I did not read this article, and I also muted the /filmcast while they were talking about this because I don't want to know, but apparantly Zack Snyder DID change the ending to Watchmen. HOWEVER, whatever it was changed to does not actually change the theme of the book or the point made in the ending, simply the events by which it happens. IE, no squid. If you haven't read the book you probably don't know what I'm talking about (and you should go buy it right now!).

I didn't want to know what it was changed to, as I'd like to be surprised, but Dave Chen assured listeners on the /filmcast last night that it didn't actually change anything except the way in which the ending occurs. For me to continue on would be to reveal too many spoliers, so I'll leave you to /film's article about the ending change if you'd like to know more.

But rest assured Watchmen fans! This will still be excellent. From the preview screening last week came rave reviews, just a few dissenters who were die hard fans that simply don't want to see any element of the book changed at all. While I admit, it does suck that an artist can't adhere to another artists source work for whatever, but in this case it makes sense. The ending of the book is a very comic book ending that comments on the medium of comics. Film is a different medium as they pointed out on the /filmcast last night, and this ending wouldn't work in that medium. Hopefully whatever they changed it to will be a comment on film, and still adhere to the themes, which I'm assured it does.

So again, unless you're one of those whiney fan boys who MUST have everything complete and the same, it sounds like Watchmen is going to astound us. Is anyone truly upset by this news, or does it make sense to you as it does to me? (obviously, I've posted wayyyy too many Watchmen posts, as I'm reduced to pictures like the one you see above)

Cinematical is watching the Watchmen

Erik Davis over at cinematical got a chance to peep twelve minutes of Watchmen at a special screening set up by Snyder last night. Dave Gibbons, the artist on the book, was also in attendance. Check out the article to hear about the footage (which sounds amazing) and the Q&A that followed.

Interesting to note: Kevin Smith was quoted as saying there were two changes in the film, one major and one minor. In the footage described there is an opening montage that gets the audience acquainted with the revised history of the US according to the events in the comic. There is also the scene where Nite Owl and Silk Spectre break Rorschach out of prison, and this has apparently been changed to include a fight scene, rather than just a horn that immobilizes the guards. Could these be the two changes that Smith was talking about? They both seem rather minor to me, so perhaps there's another one lurking within the film somewhere? I'm not opposed to these changes, in fact I think the idea behind both of these rather sound like improvements, or at least welcome adaptive changes. Only time will tell I suppose, but the more I hear about this the more excited I get. Here's hoping the film lives up to the footage Erik got to see last night!

New Watchmen Video Journal! Doc Manhattan!

Its a doc about the Doc, and its exclusive over at sci-fi.  I haven't had the time to watch it yet, but I'm so absurdly amped for this movie that I decided to post it right away.  Check it out and let me know what you think.  These video journals have gotten better with each one.  

In other video journal news, it sounds like Kevin Smith is having trouble with the MPAA over the Money Shots making of shorts he was going to release in advance of Zack and Miri.  Here's hoping they get through without much editing, and in time to be useful promotion for the film.

Watchmen Update!

The courts have set a date for January to begin the trial between Fox and WB. Hopefully this means we'll still get 03.06.09 as an opening date, as this seems to be the perfect opening day for Watchmen. No one else seems to be discussing this, but part of the genius of Watchmen is the way it views time. Keeping with the theme that time is not linear, but rather like a "diamond" (there used to be a video on youtube of Alan Moore, author of Watchmen, describing his theory of time this way, and it is obvious the book is written in coherence with this idea, but I couldn't find the video), which he really gets into exploring in issue 5, Fearful Symmetry, 03.06.09 seems to indicate underlying mathematics that may give meaning to existence, or at least influence it. Thus, I'm even more excited about the movie, since it seems Snyder is trying to keep completely in sync with Moore's vision, even in the advertising. So here's hoping we get to keep that date! (As I've said before, it's also the day before my birthday :-D)

Thank you Devin Faraci

Devin Faraci, author of The Devin's Advocate over at CHUD.com has posted an angry rant, part of which deals with Fox's suit against Watchmen. This is something I've been reserving writing about for awhile because it didn't really seem like anyone knew what was ACTUALLY going on. A lot of people think Fox is trying to shut down the movie completely, and have been writing about this. And while Fox is attempting to get an injunction, Devin assures us this is merely a business move. Please read his article for clear and excellent information on what's going on in the courts, and what this means for the movie. While I was going to write a post about how glad I am the movie will most likely make its March 6th release (just in time for my birthday!) I'd rather spread Devin's rally of encouraging a more analytical approach to film, as well as to reporting. It would prevent awful rumors like this from spreading.

So support Devin, read his article, and expect Watchmen on Marrch 6, 2009!

Slow Friday

Nothing much interesting to talk about today.  Except that Kevin Smith, perhaps my favorite filmmaker, saw Watchmen, the son of a bitch.  And what say Silent Bob?  "It's fucking astounding."  And more importantly "Even Alan Moore might be surprised at how close the movie is to the book.  March can't come soon enough."  You said it man.  Does anyone really think this will turn Moore though?  I have this feeling that even if it were perfect, Moore would still stubbornly stand by his belief that it only works as a book.  It'd be fucking mind-blowing if he did turn and support the movie though.  I think I'd blow Snyder.

If I wasn't excited enough for this fuckin movie, Kev's gotta go and get me real hyped.  Thanks a lot, friend.  Oh yeah, and it comes out the day before my birthday.  It's like Zach Snyder's personal gift to me.  Thanks a lot, friend.

Anyone else pumped?

Watchmen Poster Comparison

I'd like to point you all in the direction of an awesome article by Plasmic Studios in which they put Dave Gibbons posters for the original books overtop the new posters that Snyder released for the film at comic-con. As Monika over at cinematical points out, Snyder has nailed these things, they're almost identical. I'd like to point out that this is most likely Snyder subtley trying to put all of our collective fanboy minds at ease about the direction he's going with this. He's all "C'mon guys, seriously! Get behind me on this! Look, i'm not even messing with original posters! That's how fucking faithful i'm gonna be for you guys! Stop worrying!" And then we're all "Yeah, yeah, but Ozymandius doesn't look egyptian anymore you asshole!" And then he cries himself to sleep at night with a shotgun in his mouth.

What do you think? Are you as impressed as I am that Snyder is going to these lengths to reassure fans?

Who's watching the Watchmen production videos?

That's right, Zach Snyder has posted another Watchmen production video, and this has to be the best one yet.



Doesn't Archie look fuckin awesome? I'm so glad Snyder has decided to use as many practical effects as he has. It's always a huge disapointment to me when movies only employ CGI. There is a great charm to practical effects that I think many filmmakers over look (I'm lookin at you Lucas, you were the king of this back in the day, and then you unintentionally parodied yourself with a new trilogy full of CGI aliens that looked more ridiculous than their costumed counterparts from the originals). If you look at some of the other production videos or photos, you can see that they built a few blocks of NYC as sets to reproduce one of the main settings from the comic. They apparantly also built Veidts Antarctic hideout, complete with the monstrous statues at the entrance of his office.

Week after week, Snyder is proving himself worthy of faithfully adapting one of the most complex comics ever written. If you haven't read Watchmen yet, please go buy it now! (And if you're from philly, hit up either Atomic City Comics or Brave New Worlds to get your copy!)