Watchmen Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Villains We Love: 1970s New York
Filed under: Scenes We Love »
Villainy isn't just found in an evil plot, a straight razor, or a hockey mask. Sometimes it's a crippling state of mind and place that sucks the soul out of its heroes and heroines. It can be Purgatory, it can be hell, it can be a mental asylum, or it can be a bustling metropolis. So, I'd like to salute 1970s New York as being one of the most vicious, ruthless villains to ever wreck havoc on the silver screen.
By now you're regarding me with skepticism, outright derision, or a need to see Pinhead or Jigsaw saluted for the millionth time on a Halloween list. But think about the lurking menace behind Serpico, Taxi Driver, Fort Apache the Bronx, Cruising, Dog Day Afternoon, Klute, Mean Streets, Death Wish and dozens more. (Every once and awhile Hollywood mixed it up and set something in San Fransisco. But it always felt like a New York stand-in, didn't it?) The city's sickly decay spawned Watchmen. Without the drugs, spiraling crime rate, police corruption, and riots you wouldn't have Travis Bickle or Rorschach, who are rejected, broken, and made by what they witness on the city streets. In 1976, you wouldn't have had a charming dramedy called New York, I Love You. It probably would have been called New York: You'll Die Violently. The class and romance seen An Affair to Remember wouldn't come back until Disney dressed it up again.
Want 'The Ultimate Cut' of Watchmen?
Filed under: Action », Sci-Fi & Fantasy », Warner Brothers », Fandom », Distribution », DIY/Filmmaking », Home Entertainment », Comic/Superhero/Geek »
As we know and lament often, studios are never content to release a DVD just once, and any special edition is just a precursor to a bigger and better version somewhere down the road. Just a few months after we enjoyed Watchmen: The Director's Cut comes Watchmen: The Ultimate Cut, which hits store shelves on November 3. As you can guess from the cover art, this is the edition that will splice The Tales of the Black Freighter back into Watchmen, extending the movie's running time by another half hour or more.
Presumably, the footage with the newsstand vendor and the kid reading the comic will also be added in to help it flow better, but the official press release doesn't actually mention that. Other than the Black Freighter, the special features are just one big grab bag of what already appeared on the Director's Cut and Tales of the Black Freighter DVDs. (For reasons of space and word count, I've included the bullet list below the jump. Compare at your leisure.) It should also be noted that back in July, Zack Snyder stressed the Director's Cut was his preferred cut, and seemed to dismiss the Ultimate Edition as an excessive re-release.
I'm tempted to buy this one just so I can hang out with the newsstand vendor, and watch Black Freighter without having to swap discs. But I know that when I really want to kick back for a Watchmen viewing, I'll just put in the Director's Cut. That version of the film was good enough for me, and if I really want the ultimate fan experience, I'll just read the book again. What about you guys? Will you race to the stores and buy this triple dip? Did you hold off buying it, knowing this version would hit at Christmas? Or are you one of the Watchmen movie haters who doesn't want any version but the paper one by Alan Moore?
Cinematical Seven: Superheroes Without Costumes
Filed under: Sci-Fi & Fantasy », Fandom », Cinematical Seven », Comic/Superhero/Geek », Lists »
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We've been pretty hard around here on a certain movie with adamantium claws. Yes, whenever I'm reminded of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which comes out on DVD and Blu-ray today, I wish I had been shot with amnesia bullets. Still, I appreciated Hugh Jackman's determined efforts to stay out of the damn costume. Whenever Wolverine has donned a uniform in the previous X-Men flicks, he looks like he can't wait to rip it off. In his natural state, as the wandering, memory-challenged Logan, he repels latex like Congress repels taxpayers.
Most actors quickly declare that the biggest challenge in superhero movies is the costume: how to avoid looking sheepish or silly while wearing a form-fitting, custom-made suit that may reveal more than most of us are willing to bare at the beach? With advanced, super-realistic, computerized special effects and ripped body / stunt doubles available as needed, though, I think the bigger challenge lies in bringing the secret identities of superheroes to life: all those moments when supposedly normal people are leading supposedly "normal" lives.
Who, then are the most convincing superheroes without costumes? What actors and actresses have made you believe that their very human characters on screen could transform into larger-than-life heroes and/or heroines with a quick dash into a phone booth? Mind you, I'm not just talking Dr. Manhattan in Watchmen ...
1. Famke Janssen as Jean Gray in X-Men
She cuts a fine figure, doesn't she? Famke Janssen is undoubtedly sexier than Wolverine when they both suit up, yet she really shines whenever she's using her brain -- which is all the time. She doesn't need the costume to be one of the smartest, most empathetic, and most lethal people, in the universe.
'Delgo' Creators Mull 'Avatar' Lawsuit
Filed under: Animation »
In the day's "frivolous lawsuit" news, according to a story on PR Newswire, Fathom Studios, the producers of the little-seen animated film Delgo are contemplating legal action against the makers of Avatar, James Cameron's 12-years-in-the-making return to mainstream filmmaking. "From what we have seen, we are amazed by the visual similarities between the two films," a Fathom spokesperson said. "We are reviewing what legal options may be available to us."
The bad news for Fathom is that lawyers for Fox, the studio distributing Cameron's film, are tenacious and shrewd; earlier this year, a dispute between Fox and Warner Brothers over the adaptation rights of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' source material almost derailed the release of Watchmen, and the subsequent settlement virtually ensured that Warner turn over a big chunk of the film's profits to Fox. And of course, there's also the fact that a trailer for a film may or may not actually contain all of a film's surprises, story developments, or ideas, so Fathom may be gobsmacked over several images in the teaser which ultimately have little or nothing to do with Avatar's overall content.
SDCC: Watching the Watchmen Again
Filed under: Warner Brothers », Fandom », Home Entertainment », ComicCon »
To give you an example, the first question out of the gate was about whether or not a suspicious looking object next to the Comedian's television set was really the sort of sex toy it looked like. The answer is a big fat yes. Snyder decided the Comedian was the kind of guy who would have a very kinky and dark sex life (something all over the costumed heroes of Watchmen anyway), and that if you look closely, you'll see all kinds of things scattered over his apartment. Somehow I don't think that made it onto the DVD commentary, though I could be wrong.
This will obviously be Watchmen's last appearence at ComicCon, so I'm sad to have missed the whole live broadcast. But to come full circle, if you were there the year The Big Casting Announcements Happened, you might remember that there was a really obnoxious question about Sally Jupiter's hair. One determined fanboy was dying to know whether or not Snyder planned to keep Sally Jupiter's poodle perm, and it was just the kind of creepy thing that plagues every panel Q&A. Turns out, the whole thing was a prank pulled by one of the production / visual designers (the name was drowned out on my end of the room). "So mean," moaned Snyder. I've thought of that question every time I saw Sally's hair, and I'm glad to know there isn't a fanboy out there still angry about it!
What else don't you get from a home viewing ... swag! In proof that the machine (especially if its run by Snyder) keeps going, check out the t-shirt below. It's your first piece of Sucker Punch marketing, and officially kicks off a gallery that'll have many more additions in the future. Best of all? He had them in girl sizes. Someone in his camp knows there's female geeks in the world!
Gallery: Sucker Punch
The Crazy World of Comic God Alan Moore
Filed under: Documentary », Independent », Fandom »
Speaking of comics, hey, there's this guy named Alan Moore who's written a few books you might have heard of. I doubt he will ever, ever put in an appearance at Comic-Con. He's notorious for being awesomely grumpy about the movie adaptations of his seminal works, like, say Watchmen. He didn't hold back in an phone interview with the Los Angeles Times last year. One of the more colorful things he said was, "Will the film even be coming out? There are these legal problems now, which I find wonderfully ironic. Perhaps it's been cursed from afar, from England. And I can tell you that I will also be spitting venom all over it for months to come."
The movie did come out to rather mixed reviews, although it's very doubtful Moore noticed or even gave a sh*t. (Watchmen artist Dave Gibbons was onhand at last year's Comic-Con to discuss the movie, however, which you read read more about here, courtesy of Elisabeth Rappe.
Other choice words from the genius behind Watchmen, V for Vendetta, From Hell, and other comics-turned-films that he equally loathed:
"I find film in its modern form to be quite bullying... It spoon-feeds us, which has the effect of watering down our collective cultural imagination. It is as if we are freshly hatched birds looking up with our mouths open waiting for Hollywood to feed us more regurgitated worms. The Watchmen film sounds like more regurgitated worms. I for one am sick of worms. Can't we get something else? Perhaps some takeout? Even Chinese worms would be a nice change."
He also didn't mince words about both the comic book industry and the movie industry.
Cinematical Seven: The Pen...is Mightier Than the Sword
Filed under: Cinematical Seven », Lists »
It's funny over here. You're quite safe from penis shots in America because American people don't have penises, so you can't see them in film. Whereas in Britain you can see your penis in film. So since it's an American picture, it's just a bum you see. Ewan McGregor, interviewed by MTV
I apologize for the lame joke in the title, but in this case it rings true. As McGregor insinuated above, there's a certain phobia about male genitalia, so much so that the mere sight of it -- even in its inactive state -- leads to uproar. Why would I mention this today? Watchmen is now out on DVD, and that means full-frontal Dr. Manhattan.
While it's probably one of the most necessary uses of nudity (fake flesh at that), Manhattan's penis sent many conservative critics and moviegoers into a rant-filled panic. Never mind the fact that he's a full-stop superhero who is naked, and has a fulled developed body. Some of the masses expected him to keep prudish sensibilities in mind and Ken-ize his genitalia as he saves the world or works in his natural state. In honor of the Manhattan uproar, here are seven cases where male nudity became the main talking point of the film.
Spin-ematical: New on DVD for 7/21
Filed under: New Releases », DVD Reviews », New on DVD », Home Entertainment »
Watchmen Director's Cut
It may not have been exactly what Joel Silver was once scheming up, but Zack Snyder's adaptation is at the top of this week's new release list, with more goodness not included in the theatrical release. Blending new twists with a number of scenes straight out of the book, Watchmen is a film that Peter called "sledgehammer entertainment." Buy it. Also out on Blu-ray. (And big fans will want to also check out the Collector's Corner section for more Watchmen goodness.)
Add to Netflix queue | Buy at Amazon
Coraline
Coraline slips into another world and finds an alternate version of her life that quickly turns from laughs to frights. Stop-motion animation in 3D, with a kickass female star, all from the mind of Neil Gaiman. In her review, Jette said it "is gorgeously fantastic, in all senses of the word." Buy it. Also on Blu-ray.
Add to Netflix queue | Buy at Amazon
The Great Buck Howard
And with this, we've got all great picks this week! The Great Buck Howard boasts John Malkovich in another classically crazy role, plus both father and son Hanks in the story of a struggling and aged mentalist desperate for his next big break. But the ultimate reason to check it out: In his review, Scott said the film "might be the most affectionate look back at old-school entertainment since Peter O'Toole boozed his way through My Favorite Year." That's high praise indeed. Buy it. Also on Blu-ray.
Add to Netflix queue | Buy at Amazon
Also out: Robot Chicken: Star Wars - Episode II, Echelon Conspiracy, Messengers 2: The Scarecrow, Super Capers, Skeleton Crew
Joel Silver On What He Wanted 'Watchmen' To Be
Filed under: Celebrities and Controversy », Fandom »
Notwithstanding the general and persistent unprofessionalism of many of the journalists in attendance at this weekend's Los Angeles press junket for Orphan - which is noteworthy, but not worth going into specifics about - a few valuable tidbits of information did actually come out of the interviews (although for details on the film itself, check in later this week from our hopefully more successful New York team). But during an interview with producer Joel Silver, the subject of Zack Snyder's Watchmen came up; and Silver, who was scheduled to produce his own version of the acclaimed graphic novel series in the early 1990s, had a few things to say about Snyder's film, not to mention what his own Watchmen might have looked like.
Discussing his upcoming slate of films, Silver explained that the preponderance of graphic novel adaptations and comic book-themed material was nothing new to his eclectic filmography.
'Watchmen' Directors Cut to Hit Theaters for One Weekend in July
Filed under: Fandom », Exhibition », Home Entertainment », Comic/Superhero/Geek »
If you're a Watchmen fan, you surely know that the slick Director's Cut will be hitting shelves on July 21 in all of its beautiful, retro-crime fighting wonder. I'm already trying to decide if I can finally budget for a Blu-ray player because let's face it -- this is the sort of film that's meant for the highest definition possible.But for some lucky folks, July won't only mean Watchmen on the small screen. While talking to Collider, Zack Snyder revealed that the film will indeed be re-released in theaters -- but only in selected cities, for one weekend (the weekend before Comic-Con), and one theater. The lucky locales: Los Angeles and New York (of course), plus Dallas and Minneapolis.
Considering the fact that the movie wasn't exactly a box office smash, I get not having a huge re-release. But come on! FOUR screens?? Talk about teasing the rest of the masses, who will have to deal with the 27 minutes of extra violence and sexiness on our modest, small screens. At the very least, it could've been some sort of pre-sale traveling tour. I'm sure I'm not the only one who would love to see the Director's Cut on the big screen without impromptu travel. How about you?
Robert Pattinson Talks 'Breaking Dawn' & 'Unbound Captives'
Gwyneth Paltrow Joins Nicole Kidman in 'The Danish Girl'
Discuss: The Movies That Haunt You_thumbnail.jpg)
'Yogi Bear' Will Cry Me A River With Its Cast
Watch This: Movie Titles That Slip Into the Dialogue
