Watchmen

[picolas]

Warner has just officially announced the DVD and Blu-ray Disc release of Watchmen for 7/28. Available will be single-disc DVD, 2-disc DVD special edition and 2-disc Blu-ray versions (SRP $28.99, $22.95 and $35.99). The single-disc DVD will include just the theatrical cut of the film. The 2-disc DVD will feature a new cut of the film that's 25-minutes longer, along with The Phenomenon: The Comic That Changed Comics documentary, 11 "making of" webisodes and My Chemical Romance's Desolation Row music video. You'll also get a Digital Copy version of the film. The Blu-ray will include all of the 2-disc material, along with a BonusView Immersive Maximum Movie Mode of the film hosted by director Zack Snyder, as well as BD-Live features that can be shared with friends on Facebook.

there's a double-dip a few months later though right?

[Neil]

Upon finishing the graphic novel, I had a few thoughts right off the get go.  I can't believe the chose that little bitch for adrian, and this  could not have been done as one film if you want to capture its full potential. So it really boils down to the fact that few things do what the Watchmen graphic novel is able to do, and the same goes for an on screen adaptation.  Personally, it would have been difficult not to jack the entire story verbatim, i mean moore gives the reader amazing dialogue from so many characters. So, to try anything better, dialogue wise, is almost immediately knocked out of the question. Since I have only had one sitting with the film, i'll need to watch it again to see what exactly was taken from the original story.
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I think it's a bizarre idea the way they changed the ending, i mean ozy kind of covers his tracks in the GN, but in the film, i'm not sure how he can get away with that.  Plus like i said, fuck that little dude playing him. 

[MacGuffin]

Confirmed! WATCHMEN Director's Cut to Show In Select Theaters For One Weekend in July
Source: Collider

Just an hour ago I attended an amazing Blu-ray presentation at Warner Bros. in Burbank to help promote "Watchmen: The Director's Cut" and "300″ on Blu-ray. Based on the footage I saw and how interactive the discs are, these are seriously must own Blu-ray's. The "Watchmen" Blu-ray has over three hours of extras and the "300″ Blu-ray over two hours. I was really blown away.

But the highlight of the day was director Zack Snyder confirming the news that the "Watchmen Director's Cut" would be playing in select movie theaters next month! If you remember, he talked about a possibly release when the film first came out.

Zack said the movie would show in theaters "the weekend before Comic-Con in Los Angeles, Dallas, Minneapolis, and New York." He said the release would only be for one weekend and in one theater. He also said they made a new "Watchmen" movie poster to help promote the release.

[socketlevel]

One aspect of the film, though, I feel I must champion is the change made to the ending. Without spoiling anything, let's just say in the book the climax pivots on an alien element which is introduced only within the final pages of the story. In the film they've done away with that concept completely, and instead reframed the denouement on an element already firmly established within the world of the Watchmen. It works. It covers all the bases, leaves the larger framework intact, and satisfies the movie audience far more successfully than introducing a brand new thing right at the end of the movie. In a recent interview for Creative Screenwriting magazine, the two writers defended the change for the film version. "It was a solution that happened to fit in perfectly with the puzzle pieces that had to be there," Hayter said. "The result is the same, which is important," said Tse. "I can defend it a million different ways as to why it still accomplishes exactly the same thing."

It's a shame neither extended that attitude to the rest of the picture.

i agree, as i posted before my gripe is with the tone of the ending not the events that take place.  people often complain when actions, characters and tangible elements are changed from the original source material.  i personally don't care about that.  i get pissed off when they change the sentiment of the original author, like in the case with this film making the owl guy and other characters more empathetic.  in the book everyone alive at the end feels passive aggressive and somewhat sociopathic, snyder made them pensive, and therefore redeemable.

-sl-

[Stefen]

Finally saw this last night. Directors cut. I'm this flicks biggest detractor and I hadn't even seen it. I was familiar with the comic. I didn't know EVERYTHING about it, but I was familiar with the story and what happens.

Um, this was pretty fucking awesome. I don't know if it was just the directors cut (which is a pretty hard R) or if my expectations were just so low, but this was awesome.

I can definitely see where some people not familiar with the material would get frustrated and confused, but for anyone who's familiar with the story, I can't see how you can be that disappointed. It's got some shortcomings but doesn't everything? Most of the casting was spot-on. I especially liked the casting of Nite Owl II and Rorschach. When reading the GN, I remember thinking about how much of a fucking sweetheart Dreiberg is. I didn't think Patrick Wilson could pull it off, but he did. Like a bumbling Clark Kent. Only problem I had was the dude who played Adrian. He kind of came off as a wimpy pussy.

Gotta hand it to Snyder. This could have been a disaster and before I saw it, I thought it was but he pulled it off better than I could have ever imagined. I'll take him off my hack list (for now).

[Neil]

Finally saw this last night. Directors cut. I'm this flicks biggest detractor and I hadn't even seen it. I was familiar with the comic. I didn't know EVERYTHING about it, but I was familiar with the story and what happens.

Um, this was pretty fucking awesome. I don't know if it was just the directors cut (which is a pretty hard R) or if my expectations were just so low, but this was awesome.

I can definitely see where some people not familiar with the material would get frustrated and confused, but for anyone who's familiar with the story, I can't see how you can be that disappointed. It's got some shortcomings but doesn't everything? Most of the casting was spot-on. I especially liked the casting of Nite Owl II and Rorschach. When reading the GN, I remember thinking about how much of a fucking sweetheart Dreiberg is. I didn't think Patrick Wilson could pull it off, but he did. Like a bumbling Clark Kent. Only problem I had was the dude who played Adrian. He kind of came off as a wimpy pussy.

Gotta hand it to Snyder. This could have been a disaster and before I saw it, I thought it was but he pulled it off better than I could have ever imagined. I'll take him off my hack list (for now).

Although i'm confident "everyhing has shortcomings" is not a valid premise, I agree with this 100%  The themes that get carried into the film (despite the fact they didn't all make it in) are a few steps ahead of anything with a budget of this size.  Obviously with a story that contains this much complexity, things will be lost, but even with some of that negativity, this fucking movie is a swing for the fences.

[polkablues]

Fuck it, I'm going to go all the way out to the end of the limb and say that I really liked Matthew Goode as Adrian Veldt.  I think the foppishness was actually kind of a bold character choice, and one that made perfect sense for a bored rich guy obsessed with Alexander the Great.

[Neil]

*Caution inner turmoil*
I can dig on those feelings. Very Valid conception of a character, i hadn't considered that. I'm solely basing my outlook off of the comic which will tell you (from previous posts) that i'm one giant contradiction.  Bold is the correct call on that maneuver, however, although he is arrogant, I just cannot picture that man/character as an icon to rebuild the human race. I mean fuck, this post has already went on too long, but the depth of a character like adrien, where he's like all vulnerable for some 'answer' from john, mixed with being the "smartest man alive"... i think in that regard Goode maybe pulled off the right thing, but as a leader? Maybe i'm putting too much into the idea of muscles, however we all know when it comes to the core basic bullshit, those kind of things can be intimidating, and i think that's a characteristic the original Veidt had in tact.  To me the muscles in the comic are pretty much on the level with "smartest man alive" if you dig what I'm sayin...

[matt35mm]

His American accent was pretty off, though.  I MEAN COME ON.

EDIT: Oh nevermind.  I just read that he was doing a "subtle German accent."

[MacGuffin]

there's a double-dip a few months later though right?

'Watchmen: Ultimate Collector's Edition' Blu-ray in December

The ultimate gift for 'Watchmen' fans is coming for the holidays.

A flyer included with the 'Watchmen: Director's Cut' Blu-ray (available in stores July 21) reveals that a 5-disc 'Watchmen: Ultimate Collector's Edition' will head to Blu-ray this December.

This monolithic edition will present Zack Snyder's Director's Cut with the "Tales of the Black Freighter" comic-within-a-comic actually woven into the film for a complete 'Watchmen' experience.

While it's worth noting this release will be missing most of the supplements (like the awesome maximum movie mode) found on the version due to hit stores in a couple of weeks, it will contain a new commentary by Dave Gibbons and Zack Snyder and two hours of bonus material, including the "Under the Hood" mockumentary. It appears the 'Watchmen: The Complete Motion Comic' will be included as well.

The final bit of info is that the insert makes mention of $10.00 off for those who register with WB Insider Rewards.

The flyer can be seen below:

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in toronto best buy has the rorsach SE, HMV's got the dr. M. SE and future shop's got the SE steelbook... all are blu-ray releases.

seems like america doesn't have the steelbook (or any steelbooks beyond james bond for that matter), which will probably end up being the most valuable because of this rarity (if such things matter to you).  either way i'd rather have the steelbook over the other two kinda shitty looking releases.  steelbook is classy, the other two are cheese.

-sl-

[RegularKarate]

[MacGuffin]

I don't remember it the first time, so maybe it's just in the Director's Cut, but the ping-pong room from The Man Who Fell To Earth was a nice nod.

[modage]

usually i notice every additional moment in a directors cut but besides the hollis mason sequence i couldn't tell what the extra 25 minutes were.

[Gold Trumpet]

I didn't stand a chance to like this movie. It's main belief that super heroes are worthy of high drama and their fictional dilemmas should resonate with my emotions was just silly to me. I wanted to enjoy the portions of this film that were meant to be entertaining, but to do so, it meant weeding through all the stiff and drab talk about things that are important in a super heroe's universe. You have to care about those exterior details to really emerge yourself into the emotions of this story. If you can do that, fine, but it's not my bag.

I know people are fans of comic books and graphic novels on here. I'm not, but I find it interesting that the best film to really encompass the possibilities of what comic books can be on film was Dark City. As far as I know, it has no comic book origins, but it's masterful approach to mis en scene and fantasy seems to really lay out the possibilities of the comic book structure. I think the film could have been a good start for other films to emulate (considering its technical qualities), but the progression since Dark City has been to legitimize the content in comic books. People want to make comic book character as normal for films as magical realism has become in literature.

I don't like it much because Watchmen just seems to imitate a lot of other dramas. It has stylistic touches, but its style seems to exist to make all the multiple stories more compact for telling in one film. There isn't an organic touch to the style like in Dark City where the drama really takes on the form of the storytelling.