Somebody is picking off those responsible for the big screen adaptation of Watchmen. Rorschach follows the trail to Watchmen creator Alan Moore. Watch the Funnyordie short Nobody Watches the Watchmen after the jump.
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This Week in DVD & Blu-ray: Watchmen, Coraline, Pushing Daisies, and More
Posted on Tuesday, July 21st, 2009 by Adam Quigley
This Week in DVD & Blu-ray is a column that compiles all the latest info regarding new DVD and Blu-ray releases, sales, and exclusive deals from stores including Target, Best Buy and Fry’s.
Please don’t take the commentary on the movies and TV shows too seriously, as they’re meant not to be reviews but rather previews that include the general thoughts and ramblings of a twice-committed DVD addict. The categories represent solely the author’s intentions towards the films at hand, and are in no way meant to be a reflection on what he thinks other people should rent or buy. So if he ends up putting a movie you like in the “Skip it” section without having seen it, please keep in mind that the time you could spend leaving a spiteful but ultimately futile comment could instead be used for more pleasant things in life. Like buying DVDs.
WATCHMEN
(Available as single-disc Theatrical Cut and 2-Disc Director’s Cut)
For the longest time the Watchmen graphic novel was said to be “unfilmable”. Obviously, that’s a nonsensical notion. If we’ve learned anything from the Super Mario Bros. movie, it’s that any property can be adapted into a film, regardless of story (or lack thereof). The real question is whether or not it can be done well. And in the case of Watchmen, director Zack Synder found himself in a lose-lose situation. The problem with adapting any comic or novel for the big screen is that, more often than not, what worked in its original medium just doesn’t translate that well to film. Thus, the only solution is to make concessions by changing various aspects of the source material. In many instances, this process has yielded positive results (V for Vendetta, the latest Harry Potter films), regardless of what the frothing hostility of certain fanboys might suggest. Watchmen though, would only suffer from these types of changes. To significantly alter the source material would be to defeat the purpose of adapting it at all. Zack Snyder was clearly aware of this, and decided (with one notable exception) to remain as faithful to Alan Moore‘s classic graphic novel as possible. While I strongly believe Snyder made the right choice, there’s no denying that the resulting film suffers from all the expected flaws that come with going down this route. The pacing is all over the place, certain twists and turns don’t carry the same weight as they do in the graphic novel, and uninitiated viewers may find themselves at a total loss as to what in the hell they’re watching. Simply put: As a movie meant to stand on its own, Watchmen is a failure. It succeeds, however, as a fascinating experiment and companion piece for those who have already read and loved the graphic novel. Likely not what the studio was hoping for, admittedly, but for people like me, it’s just about the best Watchmen film we could’ve asked for… even if, frankly, it probably shouldn’t have been made in the first place.
Blu-ray? Yes.
Notable Extras: DVD – Single-disc includes the theatrical cut of the film. 2-Disc includes the director’s cut with 25 minutes of additional footage, a “The Phenomenon: The Comic that Changed Comics” featurette, 30 minutes of Video Journals, a My Chemical Romance Desolation Row music video, and a digital copy of the theatrical version. Blu-ray – Includes all of the 2-Disc DVD extras, along with 2 additional featurettes (“Real Super Heroes, Real Vigilantes”, “Mechanics: Technologies of a Fantastic World”), 30 minutes of Watchmen Focus Points, and a Warner Bros. Maximum Movie Mode.
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[WARNING: This post/video contains spoilers for the graphic novel of Watchmen, as well as the Watchmen: Director's Cut.]
One of the things I found remarkable about Alan Moore’s Watchmen graphic novel was how deeply-layered it was. When Zack Snyder’s Watchmen was released back in March (see the review we did with Kevin Smith here), almost everyone I spoke with had a different opinion about their favorite scene from the book that was noticeably absent in the final film. Snyder actually filmed a lot of the scenes people were referring to, but they were cut from the theatrical release. Fortunately, when the Watchmen: Director’s Cut hits Blu-Ray on July 21st, we’ll see many of those deleted scenes reincorporated into the film. Hit the jump to see one such scene and let us know your thoughts in the comments.
This past April saw the release of writer/director Jody Hill‘s first official Hollywood feature entitled Observe & Report. The film is an uncompromised portrait of a young mall-cop riding the peaks and valleys of bi-polar disorder like a vigilante daydream set to Queen‘s Flash Gordon theme. In the lead, Seth Rogen gave his most memorable and invested performance since a scathing-eyes debut on Freaks and Geeks.
On top of that, Observe‘s production design was deliberately unglamorous; its depictions of a troubled, goofy main character and firearms bordered, at times, on misanthropic endorsement. Hill’s script and direction managed to flesh out an endlessly talented supporting cast (Anna Faris, Aziz Ansari, Patton Oswalt, Ben Best, Danny McBride, Ray Liotta, Michael Peña, Collette Wolfe) in a decidedly untypical comedy. Many critics and viewers didn’t know what to make of it. Far too many critics said, “I liked it, but it’s not for everyone.” Movies as Joe Viewer trough? Moreover, gallons of digital ink were wasted on a bullshit, hit-fueled “rape controversy,” in yet another growing-pain display of male movie writers as over-sensitive guardians of today’s PC-gates.
/Filmcast Ep. 57 – Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (GUEST: Quint from Aint It Cool News)
Posted on Wednesday, July 1st, 2009 by David Chen
In this episode of the /Filmcast, David Chen, Devindra Hardawar and Adam Quigley share their feelings on an Uncharted movie; get excited about a Facebook film based on Ben Mezrich’s new book; try not to think about the American Werewolf in London remake; mourn the passing of an influential pop star; and find there’s a lot less to Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen than meets the eye. Special guest Eric Vespe (AKA Quint) from Aint It Cool News joins us.
You can always e-mail us at slashfilmcast(AT)gmail(DOT)com, or call and leave a voicemail at 781-583-1993. Join us next Monday at 9 PM EST / 6 PM PST at Slashfilm’s live page as we review Public Enemies.
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Watchmen’s Maximum Movie Mode Could Be The Best Blu-Ray Special Feature Yet
Posted on Monday, June 29th, 2009 by Peter Sciretta
One of my many complaints about Blu-Ray is that the movie studios have yet to embrace the format and create some cool extra features using the new technology. Disney has done it right in the past. The visual commentary of the Pixar discs is amazing. Today I came across this video preview from the Watchmen Director’s Cut Blu-Ray which shows the Maxium Movie Mode, and I have to say — this might be the coolest Blu-ray feature yet.
Director Zack Snyder actually comes on screen and hosts an incredibly indepth look at the film, complete with behind the scenes footage, comic to film comparisons, history timelines, trivia, and much more. From this clip alone, it appears like it could be the best Blu-Ray feature I’ve seen thus far, offering a lot more than the usual audio or visual commentary tracks. Now if Warner Bros would quit producing those worthless Blu-ray mini-books, and instead start creating more special features like this for their future releases… Watch a video preview after the jump.
Zack Snyder Watch: Watchmen Director’s Cut, Sucker Punch and 300 Follow-Up
Posted on Thursday, June 25th, 2009 by Russ Fischer
Zack Snyder did promotion yesterday for the Blu-Ray release of Watchmen, and quite a few small tidbits of news came out of his various interviews. He talked about the theatrical release of the Watchmen Director’s Cut, which will hit four theatres, the future of his next film Sucker Punch, a possible follow-up to 300 and more. Read More »
Stupid: Watchmen Blu-Ray Connects To Your Facebook Friends
Posted on Monday, May 11th, 2009 by Peter Sciretta
Warner Home Video has announced that Watchmen will be released on DVD and Blu-ray simultaneously in late July, either July 21st or July 28th, to coincide with San Diego Comic-Con International.
Warner Bros is really proud that the Director’s Cut Blu-ray will include a feature which will allow you to view the film simultaneously and share comments with your Facebook friends. It might have been cool if you could somehow host a screening online for your friends, but everyone needs to own the Blu-ray for the “viewing party” to work. And Hollywood wonders why Blu-Ray isn’t selling as well as they had hoped.
