| Entry: Dnevnoi Dozor |  | = Official Comment |
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From Curtis Sawyer
Website: http://ussexcalibur.blogspot.com |
I saw Night Watch. Didn't we already have this conversation? I liked it, but you didn't want to watch it because it was the same-old same-old good vs. evil epic battle lasting centuries?
I thought it was pretty good. Interesting, odd, some unique aspects to the mythos.
My review is here. |
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From Sean Stubblefield
Website: http://exastra23.deviantart.com/gallery/ |
Oh, dear God in heaven!
Dude, seriously, avoid that movie. So incredibly baddduh.
It's the "Blackhole" kind of bad.
This has been a public service announcement. |
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From Curtis M Sawyer
Website: http://ussexcalibur.blogspot.com |
I don't think it was Blackhole bad...
What it really made me want to do, as I mention in my write up, is to read a translation of the books. I think there is a lot more in there that didn't make the transition to the big screen too well (which has always been a problem with Harry Potter as well). |
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| From Jessica |
| What's frustrating about HP (as I’ve said before) is that it could be brought to screen effectively and meaningfully, it could be great-awesome, much easier than many adaptations. It’s not so much of a challenge that the producers should be failing so badly. It is such a shame. A real, real shame. |
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| From EM |
| I could only watch Night Watch for fifteen excruciating minutes before turning it off. And I wanted it to be good, based on the buzz I heard around here. But I never read the books, maybe that would've made a difference. |
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| From Jessica |
| A movie should be good on its own as a standalone: It should not need (or rely on) other materials, such as a book or comic, to make it good/fill in the gaps. |
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From Sean Stubblefield
Website: http://www.geocities.com/exastra/home.htm |
| regarding "A movie should be good on its own as a standalone"... normally, yes. but not necessarily. I like the idea of cross media projects inter-linking, acting as pieces of a puzzle and augmenting/ supplementing each other to tell a story. |
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| From Jessica |
| Successful example? |
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| From AgentLars |
Possible stretch... but I've been in the Shade too long any way.
How about The Matrix… specifically the comics, short stories, and animated shorts made between the 1st and 2nd movies? Of course, the last two movies were so bad that I’m hesitant to bring it up. But I felt there was a lot of creative work involved by others playing in the Matrix sandbox. And not all of it read like amateurish fanfic either. I still love Neil Gaiman’s “Goliath” where the machines pull someone out of the Matrix to defend the planet from an alien invasion.
I enjoyed Night Watch… mostly. I just felt the story was lacking toward the end. I did like the use of subtitles to contribute to the movie’s atmosphere, e.g. some one is slammed into a wall… the subtitles fall back with him and shatter. (I’m easily amused!) I haven’t read the books yet, though they are on the shelf in my reading queue. However, I did read that the movie sequel Day Watch covers the last two sections of the Night Watch book and not the book Day Watch. |
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| From Jessica |
What's so great about The Matrix one is that it stands alone and is fantastic. It doesn't rely on outside materials to make it great, although said materials might deepen the story and our enjoyment. The 2nd and 3rd movies suck, and no number of video games and animated shorts can make up for it/make the movies better. It's great if other forms of a story are good as well and give us more to sink our teeth into, but again the film must stand on its own in order to be good/useful. I think they did try, however, to be good across the board and to do something different and story-inspired: It just didn't work in terms of the final two films (which are the centerpiece). Definitely an example worth thinking about.  |
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| From AgentLars |
I should have known better then sticking my head out there and try to play with the big kids!
Okay, how about an unsuccessful example where the supplemental media was better than the movie itself?
The Blair Witch Project!
I remember reading the background material, viewing all the "crime scene" photos, etc. and really being creeped out. …And then I watched the movie and was never so bored in my life. I remember hating every sunrise where those annoying kids were still around. I never rooted for a villain so much in my life! |
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From Sean Stubblefield
Website: http://www.geocities.com/exastra/home.htm |
even if you ignore parts 2 & 3 of The Matrix, the extra media stories-- including the video games (which have some cool footage)-- were mostly well done, and can be considered a success.
I don't believe movies MUST stand alone to be valid. No more than I would expect for individual chapters in a book: each piece adds to the whole, but separately they are incomplete.
LOST and Heroes and LG15 and are other examples of attempts at cross media-tion. and I think they've been fairly successful. one might also include Star Wars/Trek, to some degree. |
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