Jack Hatred and Julian Lytle take on Alan Moore and the New Watchmen film.
Julian suggests Jack read Alan Moore’s interview(link) on Wired magazines website. Here’s an exerpt to bring our readers up to speed;
Moore: these things are not being bought by children. They’re being bought in many cases by hopeless nostalgics or, putting the worst construction on it, perhaps cases of arrested development who are not prepared to let their childhoods go, no matter how trite the adventures of their various heroes and idols.

jackhatred (10:56:30 AM): I heard this cat (Moore) talk about this before…

jackhatred (10:56:36 AM): word

jackhatred (11:01:17 AM): in the end though… he should barely write comics cause he can’t think visually… write  a novella.
jackhatred (11:02:18 AM): …but I think he’s mostly right on that one
julianlytle (11:02:21 AM): but his comics are good and his partners are good
julianlytle (11:03:12 AM): I think in terms of that part he’s right. Because he’s talking about superhero books which are read by mostly grown ass men
jackhatred (11:05:15 AM): I think he’s right, and been right, and I think he should know because his career is born on the shoulders of that audience and maybe now he can say it because he’s rich and he is no longer exclusively beholden to that audience…
jackhatred (11:05:51 AM): I also would argue that he himself can see it maybe because he is growing up a little and no longer part of that audience with the arrested developement
julianlytle (11:06:18 AM): I’d say he hasn’t been in that for a long time
julianlytle (11:06:54 AM): all the stuff he was writing when we were in college were adventure books and adventure tales
julianlytle (11:08:14 AM): he is old, and time lets you say things you might not say when one is younger
julianlytle (11:08:22 AM): and maybe he’s tired of it
julianlytle (11:08:39 AM): all his hot superhero stuff is from the 80s
julianlytle (11:09:07 AM): and when he wrote some more superhero stuff its from the early 90s which is also old
jackhatred (11:10:01 AM): Moore from article:“That isn’t really what happened. Instead it seemed that the existence of Watchmen had pretty much doomed the mainstream comic industry to about 20 years of very grim and often pretentious stories that seemed to be unable to get around the massive psychological stumbling block that Watchmen had turned out to be, although that had never been my intention with the work. “
jackhatred (11:10:03 AM): wow…
jackhatred (11:10:04 AM): real talk
julianlytle (11:10:41 AM): yeah he’s right
julianlytle (11:11:03 AM): watchmen and dark knight returns kinda ruined superhero comics
julianlytle (11:11:14 AM): and really they might ruin superhero films
julianlytle (11:11:24 AM): 20 years later
jackhatred (11:22:31 AM): yeah dude.. I watched spider-man 2 again the other day. It’s my favorite. Like… on a summer day, I’d go see a movie like that with a chick, and we’d both come out feeling happy
jackhatred (11:22:51 AM): Dark Knight… yeesh… it’s good for what it is, but no thank you.
julianlytle (11:23:02 AM): yeah man. That’s spidey for me.
jackhatred (11:23:06 AM): I’ll watch the Wire or something if I want that type of mind fuck of a character
jackhatred (11:23:22 AM): I think it was a good idea
jackhatred (11:23:28 AM): but I hope nobody follows suit
jackhatred (11:23:53 AM): and I hope we can have a good fun batman movie… somewhere between Nolan and Schumacher
jackhatred (11:23:54 AM): hahaha
julianlytle (11:23:56 AM): whats funny is in a way the character of Omar in the Wire became a superhero of sorts
jackhatred (11:24:57 AM): cause I love this cartoon (Batman the brave and the bold)… I don’t think it would work live action though… I want them to get Spumco to animate a few episodes, they’d be SP awesome!!!
julianlytle (11:25:19 AM): you mean the new batman cartoon?
julianlytle (11:25:35 AM): well some of it was in live action, it just had adam west in it
jackhatred (11:27:16 AM): “I think the amount of work we contribute to our enjoyment of any piece of art is a huge component of that enjoyment. I think that we like the pieces that engage us, that enter into a kind of dialog with us, whereas with film you sit there in your seat and it washes over you. It tells you everything, and you really don’t need to do a great deal of thinking. There are some films that are very, very good and that can engage the viewer in their narrative, in its mysteries, in its kind of misdirections. You can sometimes get films where a lot of it is happening in your head. Those are probably good films, but they’re not made very much anymore.”
jackhatred (11:27:25 AM): hhahah
jackhatred (11:27:27 AM): word
jackhatred (11:27:36 AM): adam west, hahaha
jackhatred (11:27:53 AM): yeah… I like how they’re gonna have the Kane batman in the next episode, he looks AWESOME!
julianlytle (11:28:41 AM): you mean owl man? that the evil batman from the other earth.
jackhatred (11:29:16 AM): Yeah… imagine if spumco did an episode… I was watching some of the expressions, they’re dope, but I’d love to see where real american gag animators would take them… not “takes” but really pushing the models to their limits, without anything TOO crazy
jackhatred (11:29:28 AM): –he looks like an old Kane batman
julianlytle (11:29:41 AM): I think Alan Moore doesn’t see enough film and gets dragged to too many movies. There is a vast difference. Most of my favorite films in the last 5 years or so have no explosions in them or are lazy.
jackhatred (11:32:46 AM): I really respect Moore, man.. I wish I liked his work more
julianlytle (11:33:02 AM): how much have you read really?
julianlytle (11:33:19 AM): Ii know you don’t care for Watchmen too much.
jackhatred (11:33:21 AM): but you know… Julian… you are becoming more and more the dude who is watching the films that I’d watch if I had the time
jackhatred (11:33:27 AM): you are not a regular film watcher anymore
jackhatred (11:33:30 AM): truth be told
jackhatred (11:34:08 AM): the more you watch films the more you learn the language and before you know it, you’re watching some wild shit, and not to be pretentious, but just because you understand the fucking language… just like comics, nahmean. Or Jazz
julianlytle (11:34:11 AM): I consume. I consume more than most do.
jackhatred (11:35:07 AM): the problem is, the modern hollywood movie, despite it’s other merits or whatever, does not use the language of cinema to engage the audience, it is a fireworks show. Transformers was a fireworks show… a very good one, but a fireworks show nonetheless
jackhatred (11:35:33 AM): the more you create, the less time you’ll have to consume, and you’re gonna get real discriminatory
julianlytle (11:35:50 AM): that’s true but I don’t expect a grand film of a cartoon that was a 22 minute commercial to sell me toys when I was 5.
julianlytle (11:37:40 AM): whereas something like Half Nelson is nothing like that and tells an engaging story. I just think there is enough stuff being made for a little bit of money that is good,  and even the oscar bait is good overall in comparison to the summer mind fuck of lights and sound.