Watchmen is really damn good.I hope I don't regret saying that in a month like I did with the Dark (Dark, I'm So, So Dark) Knight

I saw Watchmen yesterday with Kirk and, I have to say, I was pretty fucking impressed. Zack Snyder managed to tell the story as well as I think it could possibly be told, adhering to the story (or at least its spirit) while maintaining a strong screen presence. I'm going to avoid spoilers where at all possible. If you've seen it you'll know what I'm saying.
The acting is fair at worst (Akerman's Silk Spectre is a little weak) to incredible (Haley's Rorschach comes alive on screen). Most of the CG looks good and the characters are well realized for the most part. Wilson's Nite-Owl could probably have been a little more wishy washy but whatever (as a personal note I kept expecting him say "Give me some sugar, baby!" to Silk Spectre. He looks way too much like Bruce Campbell). Morgan's Blake/The Comedian comes across perfectly as the nihilistic asshole he's supposed to be. I felt at first that Crudup's Dr. Manhattan needed a little more detachment and that some effects to make his voice hollow and distant would have been helpful but by the end of the film I realized that would have been wrong. It would have made his comeback feel tacked on and false. Goode's Veidt/Ozymandias-cum-David Bowie was the perfect portrayal of this character. He's smarmy and infuriating with the knowledge that he's better than you in every way and he knows what's best for you.
Enough of the major plot points were hit that the story's integrity is maintained. Most of the subplot of the detectives investigating Blake's death was cut, and it affects the outcome of a couple of characters but its forgivable because the movie would have been four hours long and dull as dirt. The subplot about Rorshach's psychologist's home life and the newstand guy and comic reading kid were cut for similar reasons to no real loss to the film. The New Frontiersman makes an appearance only at the end, which I felt hurt its impact just a little. If you didn't know the story going in then the New Frontiersman would mean nothing to you. You'd have no reference as to what kind of material they print.
Snyder spared no possible amount of action, from the relatively meaningless attack by the gang on Laurie and Dan to the prison break and even beefing up the fight between Ozymandias and Nite-Owl and Rorschach. And I don't blame him. He is an action director. He's making an action film. The Comedian's death is particularly amped up in the violence department and it works fine.
Now, THE ENDING: Yes, the giant space squid is gone and for good reason. I am going to go ahead and say it- the BIG PLOT in the film is better than the one in the books. Its simpler and more devastating in its conception, more believable, more of a betrayal by the perpetrator and better tied into the rest of the story's mythology. The fact that God's wrath becomes real is much, much more effective than a space squid blowing up New York. Sorry, it is.
So, that's my two cents. Go see Watchmen. Its good.

Please stop hauling out Hugh Hefner's withered old carcass for comedic effect.

I've been watching the trailer for Miss Fucking March nonstop for the last several days, thanks to adultswim.com and hulu.com. Jesus Christ am I sick of this thing. Of all the awfulness to be found in this my absolute most horrific moment is the moment where they drag Hugh Hefner out of his medically induced coma, shoot him full of whatever they use on the horses on Derby Day and shove him in a chair long enough for a smug potshot at the lovable goofballs for whom he's providing life advice this time. Good God, can you just leave the man alone? Has the "Hef shows up" joke finally found its way to the bottom of the barrel now? If the rest of this trailer is to be believed then, yes, it has. Rest in peace, shitty joke. Never come back.