There's a reason 'Stupid Things I Have Said' was one of the very first categories created way back when the first version of this blog was brought forth. I don't use it very often because 95% of the STIHS things I have said are best not broadcast to the whole wide of the world. I might be occasionally stupid, but I'm not dumb.
This picture, taken at around Midnight this past Friday?
It represents one of the Ultimate STIHS Ever In The Entirety Of My Life So Far. *In my defense* there is no way I could have known! NONE! AT! ALL!
So.
I have seen Watchmen, and now understand why many of the worth-listening-to usual suspects I read that one usually can rely upon to Make With The Spoilers have not done so (thus pissing me off for a couple of weeks). I now see that these people - at least those not holding back under threat of alleged embargo*** - have made the right decision on a big picture level. Disclosure - I don't know these people personally, I'm just extrapolating based on nothing more than longtime reader and people-largely-follow-patterns.
It comes down to if you are Of The Tribe, you *must* go into this film with the book in your head yet no knowledge of the filmmaker's choices ahead of time so you can delight in/viciously argue about/drop jaws in absolute astonishment over how they chose to rework the source and pulled it off. If you are not One Of Us, you need to know nothing ahead of time because that level of source material neepery will be meaningless to you, serve only to confuse and irritate you to no end, and possibly nudge you away from checking this movie out in the theater which you seriously must do.
And that's why, in lieu of a giant spoiler-filled review that I do not have time for anyway, later this week I will share a streamlined version of the story behind this picture. That'll hold enough to give me time to finish cleaning up the live posts (of which at least six are missing DAMMIT). All I'll say about the Hollywood adaptation of Watchmen for now is:
1. The film is fantastic. Let me say that again - THE WATCHMEN FILM IS FANTASTIC.
1a. My personal fave chapter in the book is *perfection* on the screen. (I think I've said this around here in the past somewhere, but when you come to this site It's All About Me. If the Hollywood People had fucked up my favorite chapter? My reaction here would be Unpleasant In Great And Excruciating Detail.)
2. I cannot wait to see how mundanes react to it. Tribal response only goes so far you know. It is the reaction of the rest of the wide world that truly matters here, in a practical, bottom-line, they-must-have-spent-a-fortune-on-the-legal-battle-and-that-cost-must-be-justified-with-butts-in-theater-seats sense of things.
3. I so very much hope the film drives people to the Most Worthy source material.
4. Now I understand why Dave Gibbons was being so gleeful about the movie at one of his CCI panels last year. No party line stuff there; that was flat-out honesty on display. Maybe I should work on my default setting of Cynical...but I'm not gonna so I don't even know why I bothered to type that.
5. Men who happen to share the same name as my father are so magnificently awesome that THE UNIVERSE QUAKES AT THE VERY THOUGHT OF THEIR EXISTENCE AS IT THINKS TO ITSELF IT IS GOOD.
And now to blessed sleep because I have to hit up the day job in the morning. Why didn't I remember at the time that I'm no longer in my Freshly Minted Era and attempt to take Monday off as well for Recovery? At least I wasn't the only one. Perhaps I'll throw in a streamlined version of Sunday reports about what happened across the board on Saturday night as well...
Update! Roger Ebert's interesting thoughts.
More, later.
*** I'll save the advice that was to go here about the nature of press embargoes in the actual world for another day, because every time I have attempted to have this conversation in real life with the too-easily-cowed members of the comics pr outlets, it *never* goes well.
