Watchmen: The Black Freighter & Under the Hood

Movie Running Time: 66 minutes
My Running Time: 60 minutes
Elliptical Revolutions: 3294
Calories Burned: 778
My Mass: 190lbs, 86.2kg (-0.0lbs, -0.0kg)

The Black Freighter and Under the Hood both existed as supplements to the main story in the original graphic novel of Watchmen. The Black Freighter was a story from a pirate comic being read by a secondary character. Under the Hood was published as excerpts from the autobiography of Hollis Mason, the first Nite Owl, and was presented often in single spaced text at the end of an issue. To adapt these two stories into a film version of Watchmen is difficult at best, and director Zack Snyder took his best shot at both.

The Black Freighter was originally supposed to be a live action 300-esque production, complete with Gerard Butler playing the lead role. Due to the projected $20 million that would have been needed to make that portion, it became an animated film, though it retained Gerard Butler as a voice actor for the lead role. The story of the Black Freighter is meant to mirror the moral dilemma proposed by Adrian Veidt in his attempt to scare the world into peace. In the Black Freighter, the lead character struggles to get home and save Davidstown after his ship is sunk by the infamous freighter. Instead he turns himself into a murderous monster when he accidently kills his wife and two other residents, believing them to be crew members from the Black Freighter. In the end he is welcomed into the rotting arms of the freighter’s hideous crew.
I think if inserted into the Director’s Cut of Watchmen these animated portions will be too jarring. The production quality of the animation is subpar for Warner Brother’s animated material, almost looking as poor as the Motion Comic chapter included with this release. If it had been live action, I think the comparison would have been more appropriate, between the “real” comic book world that the Watchmen exist in, and the “fake” comic book world of The Black Freighter.

Under the Hood presented an even more difficult adaptation. Other than directly filming the events described in the text of the autobiography there really isn’t any other way to convey the information. The solution arrived at was to make Under the Hood an interview television special with Hollis Mason, where the host discusses the actual book with him, and some other interviewees. The most enjoyable part of this production is seeing the vintage footage of the original Minutemen, whether its in their golden years of retirement, or in old newsreel or promotional material. It highlights the attention to detail Snyder and the rest of his crew had, and gives a bit more screen time to characters that were more fleshed out in the graphic novel.

If you plan on buying these films in any form, skip the Blu-ray edition. The production values of both films do no warrant High Definition in any form, and the cost is far too extreme for 66 minute runtime of the two films together. I recommend either renting this movie, or if you have the know how, buying it for only $4.99 on the US iTunes store as a digital version.

Today marks the beginning of a new type of post I’ll be trying to make on this blog. It is called “Running to the Movies” and will hopefully fulfill two purposes. Purpose one is to help me get through the large stacks of DVDs and Blu-ray movies that sit unwatched at my house. Purpose two is to get my lazy ass running on the elliptical and to keep track of time, steps, calories and weight. So without further ado, here is the first of hopefully many posts.

The Last Emperor (1987)
Director:
Bernardo Bertolucci
Starring:
John Lone, Wu Tao, Tijger Tsou, & Richard Vuu as Emperor Pu Yi
Peter O’Toole as Reginald Johnston

Movie Running Time: 165 Minutes (Theatrical Cut)
My Running Time: 150 Minutes
Elliptical Revolutions: 8500 approx.
Calories Burned: 1800 approx.
My Mass: 190 lbs 86.2 Kg

The Last Emperor covers the life of Pu Yi from the time of his gaining the title of Emperor at the age of 3, to his death at the age of 61. The movie deals with both his personal life and political life as Emperor of China, Emperor of Manchuckuo, and as a citizen of the People’s Republic of China. The acting in this film is astounding with Pu Yi being played extremely well by four separate actors bridging the length of his life, as well as a notable performance by Peter O’Toole as Reginald Johnston, an English tutor to the Emperor. This film falls into the category of Docu-Drama, but does not seem to add any unnecessary drama to an already exhilarating set of historical facts.

The edition of the movie I viewed was the Blu-ray edition produced by the Criterion Collection in 2008, which has the 165 minute theatrical cut of the film. It features a flawless director approved high definition transfer, which only adds brilliance to this being the first film allowed to film inside of the Forbidden City. One odd problem I encountered with this film has to do with the audio transfer, though I am unsure if it has to do with my particular home theater setup or the disc itself. While viewing the film I could max the volume on the television and still have difficult hearing portions of the audio track. Outside of the audio volume there was nothing I could possibly imagine complaining about with this edition put forth by the Criterion Collection. Special note should be made to the eco-friendly cardboard packaging used as opposed to the standard plastic cases found with most DVDs and Blu-ray discs.

As usual for a Criterion Collection presentation, the supplemental features set is extremely informative and entertaining. The provided documentaries help explain the background surrounding the history of China during this time period. Additional information is present in regards to the production of the film, which fulfills the unstated mission of the Criterion Collection to provide you not only with a thrilling feature, but also a mini Film School in a box.

For those who already know about and love the Criterion Collection, this movie is an instant buy with no additional thought needed. For those unfamiliar with the content, or the Criterion Collection, this epic film can be a bit daunting and may not warrant ownership or repeat viewing. I leave it up to you to make the best choice. For those who want more information, clicking on the image of the cover will take you to the Criterion Collection listing for this Blu-ray.

It took a very strange occurrence the other day for me to realize it was time to change the ringtone on my iPhone. (BTW I got an iPhone 3GS about a month ago, and I love it to death) While in the waiting room at Central Car Wash my iPhone rang, with the ever so familiar Marimba ringtone, and no less than 3 other people in the room all reached for the iPhones. Turns out that this is a good ringtone, and the most common one used. I got a kick out of this either way, as well as when someone else’s Glass text message notifier went off and all four of us reached for our iPhones in sync for a second time.
At first glance, it appears to be difficult to add a ringtone to your iPhone or iTunes, unless you are tech savvy enough to have some killer audio mixing software. After that the options slide to paying an additional $0.99 to have Apple make a ringtone for you. I decided to find something simple and free for making an iPhone ringtone, and that solution was Audiko. Turns out all you have to do is upload an audio file (AAC, MP3…) or link to a Youtube video. Once the track uploads you are given a very elegant visual editing bar. This bar provides playback options, and markers for maximum length for iPhone ringtones. Once you are done selecting your cut of the song you click through, add any needed track info, and then download the track to your computer. Double click the file, and it gets automatically added to iTunes under the Ringtones sidebar. Then next time you sync your iPhone your new ringtones are added instantly.
So far as I’ve read this site makes ringtones for other types of phones, but I do not know the full details of what formats. Check it out though, I’m sure you won’t be disappointed.