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View Full Version : Watching out for "Watchmen" - filmed in Vancouver


mr.x
Mar 8, 2009, 7:33 PM
http://www.filmofilia.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/watchmen-final-poster.jpg
http://curbed.com/uploads/2007_11_watchmen1.jpg

Watching out for the watchers
The anticipated movie version of the popular The Watchmen graphic novel opens in theatres tonight at midnight.

By GRAEME MCRANOR, 24 HOURS

When the Vancouver-shot, sure-to-be blockbuster Watchmen opens tonight at midnight, people will talk.

They'll talk about the execution of the film and how it stacks up against the graphic novel it was based on. They might discuss the actors' performances, the director's style or maybe even the nuanced writing.

But at the Empire Studio 12 Theatre in Guildford Town Centre in Surrey, at least one film fan will be tipping his hat to the projectionist.

Well, to be accurate, he'll be tipping his Hamburg.

In his suit, trench coat and Hamburg hat, Randy Jablonka looks like he just came from a Dick Tracy investigation. It's just how he dresses. He's a lifelong film fanatic and works as a lighting technician in the business. And he's been going to the theatre at Guilford for years, which is how he met Justin Drake, a young projectionist with aspirations of getting into the film biz.

"Justin came up to me and said, 'Hey, I hear you work in the movies ... I'd love to get in the movies one day,'" says Jablonka. "And I'm like, 'Well, you already are involved in moviemaking. You're the last line of defence. It doesn't matter how much money anybody spends on making a movie, this is the last place the public actually gets to see everybody's hard work come together.' He was just really passionate about how the movies look."

So, to borrow a line from a film, it was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
Click here to find out more!

"I've always been passionate about movies," says Drake, whose attention to detail has ensured that he's never had any scratches or film interruptions during his tenure at the theatre. "And I've seen how hard cast and crew work on the movies they make, and they deserve to have someone on that backline doing whatever they can."

While working on Night of the Museum 2, Jablonka mentioned Drake's passion to Ben Stiller, who subsequently invited him down to set.

"That was a pretty cool experience," says Drake. "I come down to the film set and Ben Stiller's walking around. It was kind of dumbfounding ... He comes up after shooting a couple of scenes and he starts talking with me ... It was really cool to see that he really truly appreciated someone's hard work."

Drake and Jablonka have put their passion to work to promote films playing at the theatre: They constructed a bat signal for Dark Knight, a lobby display for the latest Indiana Jones installment and most recently a display for Watchmen.

They do it because they love movies.

So, are they film nerds?

"Film nerds?" asks Jablonka, laughing.

"Yeah," admits Drake.

"I guess that's probably exactly what it is," says Jablonka. "But who wants to be called that?"

http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/Entertainment/2009/03/05/8632961-sun.html


Tried going last night, but tickets were sold out for all showings.

agrant
Mar 8, 2009, 8:35 PM
It'll be "fanboy heavy" for awhile, so I'm going in a couple weeks. I don't know a lot about the comic, but the trailer got me interested. Another one I'm looking forward to is Star Trek.

Hong Kongese
Mar 9, 2009, 5:21 AM
I'm going to watch this movie for sure.


Here's the trailer..

mr.x
Mar 9, 2009, 5:23 AM
Ummmm.....i think you have the wrong link you dirty, dirty child.

Hong Kongese
Mar 9, 2009, 5:34 AM
Sorry!


This is the right one:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tH8RE-bOJLk&feature=related

touraccuracy
Mar 9, 2009, 5:36 AM
right link for me... did mr. x2 accidently open a tab he was looking at earlier instead of the youtube link ;)

squeezied
Mar 9, 2009, 7:02 AM
there was one scene with an elementary school and a bus stop in front of it. i forgot in what context it was in, but the bus stop was unmistakenably vancouver.

KPELLY
Mar 9, 2009, 7:46 AM
I noticed the bus stop too. I didn't know going into the movie that it was filmed in Vancouver, but thoughout I noticed all the give aways that it was Van.

Yume-sama
Mar 9, 2009, 9:45 AM
I watched the movie and hated it :P I think I might be in the minority, but... yeah. The whole thing was a softcore porno filled with mostly homoerotic action, which is a lot like his "300" movie, I guess. Not that that is the MAIN reason to dislike it. The whole being nothing more than visual tricks without having a good story and being at LEAST an hour too long with MANY less than necessary scenes (the whole prison thing, to start with) didn't help, which I guess is also quite like his other movie "300". As I was leaving I heard a kid sum it up properly "How are you supposed to take it seriously when there's a big blue glowing wiener flopping around the whole movie"

agrant
Mar 9, 2009, 1:05 PM
I liked 300, so this should be pretty good for me.

SpongeG
Mar 25, 2009, 9:48 PM
gonna see it on imax

big blue flooping weiner in imax size!! woot

raggedy13
Mar 25, 2009, 9:57 PM
I saw it last week. I thought it was great. I've never read the graphic novel but I did a lot of wikipedia-ing a few months back to educate myself a bit more about it.

I liked a lot of the characters and how they all had differing ideologies, the cinematography/effects were pleasing to the eyes, it didn't over-rely on action, and it was just entertaining in general. The ending wasn't what I expected at all but it was interesting. Another thing I liked about it was how it was an alternate version of history.

And I don't really see what the big deal was about the blue penis. Most of the shots don't show him below the waist anyways and if I didn't already know about it beforehand I might not have even noticed the shots that do show it. It is very subtle and does not stand out in the least.

So, maybe not the best movie I've ever seen but entertaining and worth the price of a ticket.

mr.x
Mar 25, 2009, 11:34 PM
After watching it a few weeks ago, i thought it was overrated....not saying it wasn't a good/decent movie, it was - just not as awesome some people have been telling me.


Anyhow, the blue penis was the highlight of the entire film. :D

Yume-sama
Mar 25, 2009, 11:37 PM
After watching it a few weeks ago, i thought it was overrated....not saying it wasn't a good/decent movie, it was - just not as awesome some people have been telling me.


Anyhow, the blue penis was the highlight of the entire film. :D

:sly: Yes the big blue penis symbolized the whole movie. Unfortunately :P

I hear it was quite close to the graphic novel, which makes me glad I never spent time reading it.

SpongeG
Mar 26, 2009, 12:07 AM
they are said to be making a sequel and the director and some others want nothing to do with it

since it was a one off novel and not a serial kind of thing

and apparently the DVD will be over 3 hours as they did a lot of choppng to downsize it for theatres

Yume-sama
Mar 26, 2009, 12:11 AM
they are said to be making a sequel and the director and some others want nothing to do with it

since it was a one off novel and not a serial kind of thing

and apparently the DVD will be over 3 hours as they did a lot of choppng to downsize it for theatres

Jesus, really? It was already Peter Jackson-esque un-necessarily long.

flight_from_kamakura
Apr 8, 2009, 5:32 PM
the graphic novel was pretty cool, i read it years ago, they actually changed the story in a major way for the film (in the book, the secret weapon was something completely different, and far weirder). overall, i thought the film was okay, but just okay.

if there's a longer version, i'll watch it on the condition that they remove the appalling 1960s pop music. as a confirmed child of my generation, i utterly detest jimmy hendrix and the doors and bob dylan and aerosmith all that, and i'm gobsmacked that this director would sabotage such a stylized film with such bizarre and asymmetrical scoring choices. willful suspension of disbelief = severely (and near irreparably) discomposed by music that recalls some old 1970s war film or scorcese gangster film. bah.

touraccuracy
Apr 8, 2009, 7:24 PM
There's no way I would have known this was filmed in Vancouver purely by watching it.

un-necessarily long.

Blue penis joke.