Watchmen Ending Definitely Changed

I have posted three articles now pertaining to the possible ending change to the film adaptation of Watchmen. Honestly, it's getting a little old now. 

For those of you who have not been keeping up, there was a special test screening held in Portland, Oregon a few weeks ago for Watchmen. Apparently, some fans crashed the screening (it was supposed to be a "blind screening" for non-fans) and quickly hit the Internet with news of a new ending very different from the ending of the original graphic novel. A lot of Watchmen fanboys (myself included) have been up in arms about the change since. 

There have been some reports that there was more than one ending shot and that the screening was just to test fan tolerance to the new ending but, as it turns out, that is all B.S. For me, it never made sense for them to shoot more than one ending due to the cost of creating something as vast and insane as the ending of the original graphic novel and go with something else instead. 

Anyways, it seems that the case is simple: yes, they changed the ending. No, the original graphic novel ending was never filmed nor will it be filmed. Zack Synder revealed this in an interview for Dark Horizons earlier this week. He's sure to put in that fans of the graphic novel were pleased with the film version. Nice one, Zack. 

Personally, after reading the interview (and it is spoilerish), I disagree with Synder on some of his views of Watchmen. The fact that he just blows off the original ending like it's not a big deal is kind of ridiculous. The fact that he puts more emphasis on scene such as the Comedian shooting a pregnant woman over the ending (i.e. the point of the book) doesn't really make sense to me. Also, after reading about some of his additions to the movie, they sound fun but, when thinking about them, they do not really make much sense in the context of the characters. 

Ugh, I'm tired of thinking and talking about this. I'm sure the movie will be entertaining but I just don't like the fact that Synder is taking so many liberties after saying that he wasn't going to. I do not like it when people betray my trust, Zack. Anyways, I have until March to get over the ending change. I'm sure I'll make it.

Also, for those wondering, that is a new teaser poster for the film featuring Rorschach at the top of the article.

Source: Dark Horizons

Speech of the Week #16

Hey guys, welcome to a column here on YDKS Movies entitled Speech of the Week! For now on, every Monday I will post a new scene from a movie that features a speech of some sort being given. After all, there are a lot of famous scenes in film where characters give an influential speech of some sort. Then again, there are also a lot of scenes where characters give a speech and it just comes off cheesy and lame. In this section, you will see both kinds. That's right, people, I'm giving you the good and bad of film speeches all wrapped up in one great big package. I hope you all enjoy.

This week's speech is definitely one of the best ones you will see on this column. It's from Kenneth Branagh's adaptation of William Shakespeare's Henry V. This the famous "St. Crispin's Day" speech that King Henry gives to his English troops to rile them up before doing battle with the vast and overwhelming French army. It is an example of some of Shakespeare's greatest writing and Branagh's delivery (accompanied with a great musical score) is pitch perfect. This also is the same speech that the saying "band of brothers" came from if you didn't know (I just did a research paper on Shakespeare so I figured why not throw out some facts). Lastly, if you look carefully, you can see a young Christian Bale in the crowd listening to the speech. Overall, it's a great scene. 

Enjoy.

Rocktober Ends!

I guess it has taken me a little over a week to come down off the high I experienced all October long. My roommate (known more affectionately as "Dantom" in the comments area) wanted to have a massive movie series that spanned the entire month. We were able to watch a total of 36 movies ending with a The Exorcist/The Shining Double Feature on Halloween Eve and Halloween on the 31st. I know this is late, but our list of movies was so good I thought it needed to be shared.

Rocktober 2008 (in order of viewing)

Rules of the Game (1939)
Duck Soup (1933)
Stagecoach (1939)
The Magnificent Seven (1960)
Rashomon (1950)
Some Like It Hot (1959)
Frankenstein (1931)
The Kid (1921)
Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008)
War of the Worlds (1953)
The Thing (1982)
Porco Rosso (1992)
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1929)
Airplane! (1980)
Dracula (1931)
Iron Man (2008)
The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
The Gold Rush (1925)
The Horror of Dracula (1958)
Halloween II (1981)
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
Cape Fear (1991)
Speed Racer (2008)
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
High Noon (1952)
Freaks (1932)
Peeping Tom (1960)
Son of Frankenstein (1939)
The Strangers (2008)
Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)
Feast (2005)
The Blair Witch Project (1999)
Nosferatu (1922)
The Exorcist (1973)
The Shining (1980)
Halloween (1978)

Our goal was to continue our movie watching excellency into November starting with The Nightmare Before Christmas on the 1st since the setting of the movie actually begins the day after Halloween. However, we were never able to accomplish this goal since both my job and Dantom's school work have begun to take top priority. So far this month we have watched Dr. No (which I fell asleep during), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), and The Devil Rides Out.

Anyway, stay tuned for more. And is everyone in agreement that the latest episode of The Office is one of the best episodes to date? Stay tuned for a review on that as well!

*The Compilation Poster above (although not entirely finished) is courtesy of Dantom himself!

John Carpenter Still Makes Movies

/Film has the teaser poster for John Carpenter's new film Riot, starring Nicholas Cage. The poster is a generic mess but that's besides the point: John freaking Carpenter is making another movie! It's been about seven years since Carpenter last made a movie (and it was the terrible Ghosts of Mars). Actually, now that I think of it, not only has it been a really long time since Carpenter directed a movie but it's been awhile since he directed anything good. Still, this could be the one, right? Sure it does have Nicholas Cage in it (who hasn't been a good movie in years) and it does have a really generic poster with a lame tag-line ("Uncaged?" Please don't tell me that's referring to the film's star...). But, hey, it's John freaking Carpenter and he made The Thing. For me, that's all I need to know.

For those who don't know, Riot was originally titled Scared Straight. Its screenplay was written by Joe Gazzam and was on the 2005 black list, which is a list of the best unproduced screenplays of that year. So, as far I know, the script is at least good. It deals with a youth who is taken hostage in a prison riot during the middle of a Scared Straight program. 

There are a lot of things pointing to this being really lame but since the script is supposed to be good and Carpenter is involved, I'll consider myself modestly looking forward to this. Modestly. Plus, how cool is it just to see John Carpenter's name above a movie title again? Man, I nerding out like crazy tonight.

And, of course, this topic was just an excuse to post a video from Carpenter's cult classic Big Trouble in Little China. Enjoy.

Kurt Russell FTW. If only he was in Riot instead of Nicholas Cage. Now that would be something to see.

Source: /Film

Nostalgic Critic Does Double Dragon

I've had a pretty awful day today so I figured I'd just post something kind of quick and fun on here. I've posted a few Nostalgia Critic videos on the site before (his Surf Ninjas review and his Drew Struzan tribute video) and, well, this one is no different. In this video, he reviews Double Dragon which, in my opinion, is the absolute worst video game film adaptation ever. I remember seeing this as a kid and even then I was disappointed. The Critic's take on the mug shot and the Double Dragon arcade game cameo are classic. I hope you all enjoy this video- I know I did.

Michael Crichton Has Died

According to /Film, author and director Michael Crichton died yesterday from an unpublicized case of cancer. He was 66.

For those who do not know (and if you don't, you should be ashamed of yourself), Crichton is the writer of such novels as Jurassic Park, The Andromeda Strain, The Great Train Robbery, Disclosure, Timeline, Congo and many others. His books have been adapted to film many times (and they haven't always turned out great, as in the case of Congo). Crichton co-wrote the screenplay for Steven Spielberg's film adaptation of Jurassic Park with screenwriter David Koepp. He also directed film such as The First Great Train Robbery and Westworld. Lastly, he created the television show ER.

This is pretty sad news for me. Not only is Jurassic Park one of my favorite movies, it is one of my favorite novels ever. I have read it twice (most recently this past summer, along with The Lost World) and it's a really wonderful piece of writing. I'm not sure if I can imagine a world where that book and film didn't exist. It's a really terrible thought. Crichton was one of those rare writers that was able to create entertaining thrillers that still managed to be very logical and filled with scientific background to back things up. He was obviously a very intelligent man and it's a real shame to see him go, especially so suddenly and unexpectedly. 

R.I.P. Mr. Crichton. You will be missed.

Source: /Film

Speech of the Week #15

Hey guys, welcome to a column here on YDKS Movies entitled Speech of the Week! For now on, every Monday I will post a new scene from a movie that features a speech of some sort being given. After all, there are a lot of famous scenes in film where characters give an influential speech of some sort. Then again, there are also a lot of scenes where characters give a speech and it just comes off cheesy and lame. In this section, you will see both kinds. That's right, people, I'm giving you the good and bad of film speeches all wrapped up in one great big package. I hope you all enjoy.

Since Monster Fest has come to an end, I figured it would be good to start off with a non-horror related speech. This week's speech is probably one of, if not the best, speech you will probably see on this list. My best friend and college roommate Caleb actually has this speech quoted on his Facebook profile. It comes from Adaptation where Charlie and Donald Kaufman (both played by Nic Cage) share a moment hiding out in the Florida swamp from some people who are planning on killing them. In this moment, Donald gives one of the most interesting and touching takes on love that I've ever heard. It's some really brilliant writing from the real life Charlie Kaufman, who wrote the film's screenplay. Whenever I have a love prospect not work out in some way, I try to think of this speech. It's one of the best messages that you can learn from a movie.

This was the only online version of this speech that I could find. It's not the best quality and has an annoying logo pasted at the top of it. Still, the audio works well and that's all that really matters. If you've never seen this movie or this scene, please watch it.