DC, you’re making Dr. Manhattans sad. With DC Comics president Paul Levitz stepping down from his seat, the rumor pools are getting murky with the possibility of Watchmen getting the prequels and spin-offs no one, least of all eccentric creator Alan Moore, ever wanted. Bleeding Cool claims Dan DiDio, SVP-Executive Editor, has taken the dismal idea on as his pet project, and “that he is determined to impress new bosses by building on DC’s biggest selling comic book of all time with multiple prequel comic miniseries and spinoff ongoing projects.” And if that happens, the Rorschach: Origins movie will probably be right behind. Obviously this is a terrible idea, so I say we do something about it: we allow the people who legally control the property do with it as they will, then we get increasingly frustrated by the results as they make massive amounts of money despite our protests, like usual. That’s worked so far with everything else. ( via! )

When director Zack Snyder was editing Watchmen down to a barely-more-manageable 162 minutes, some scenes were necessarily lost. But did you realize one of those scenes involved the slow-motion murder of an elderly man? It’s true! And you thought you’d seen every slow-motion murder of an elderly man. (You have, besides this one.) Thankfully, Warner Bros. has released the clip, depicting the death of the first Nite Owl. Your collection is now complete:

If your primarily complaint about Watchmen was that it wasn’t excruciatingly long enough, I’ve got some happy news, you: to promote Zack Snyder’s director’s cut on DVD, out July 21, the 25-minute longer edit will also be showing July 17 in venues in New York, Dallas, Los Angeles, and Minneapolis! According to Box Office Mojo , just twenty-five thousand dollars in ticket sales should push the film’s all-time domestic gross just above the Tom Hanks/Madonna/Rosie O’Donnell baseball comedy A League of their Own ! Let’s get Fandangoing! For those on the fence about whether or not they want to sit all the way through the new, 186-minute Watchmen , understand that there will be a brief intermission when Alan Moore rushes the stage and disavows himself from both the film and society as a whole before finally being pulled off stage by security guards who assume the insane, caveman-haired man is a street vagrant. ‘Watchmen’ director’s cut to bigscreen [Variety]

Blimey! Will the Brits get to watch more Watchmen than the rest of us? A two-disc Special Edition Blu-ray will be released in the UK by Paramount Home Entertainment, featuring a stack of content that will not be available in the edition coming from Warner Home Video, according to The Blu-Ray Blog . Even before the theatrical release in March, Zack Snyder was teasing fans about the director’s cut he had prepared , which he said would run 190 minutes — 27 minutes longer than the theatrical version — and be “considerably more violent … and sexier.” The North American edition will be released on DVD and Blu-ray on July 21, featuring the director’s cut, two featurettes, and two BD-exclusive features, along with a digital copy of the theatrical version. A single-disc DVD edition will also be available, without all the features. The UK edition releases on July 27, evidently with only the theatrical cut, plus two featurettes (one of which is a BD-exclusive on the North American edition), plus 11 video journals (webisodes) and four viral videos. As The Blu-Ray Blog points out, neither of these editions includes the rumored “final complete cut,” which would presumably feature the 25-minute animated Tales of the Black Freighter . Also, neither has the 37-minute, live-action / interview piece Under the Hood . For now, the only way to see Black Freighter and Hood is to buy the separate DVD or Blu-ray. Here in the States, you can also buy a pretty cool Blu-ray Nite Owl Ship Edition exclusively through Amazon (see images below). Based on my feelings about the film , I’m inclined to play the waiting game. No doubt a complete collector’s edition will be announced eventually … right after you finally break down and buy all these separate editions. Gallery: Nite Owl Ship Edition Filed under: Action , Sci-Fi & Fantasy , Paramount , Warner Brothers , Home Entertainment , Comic/Superhero/Geek Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Earlier this week, fellow Cinematical scribe Scott Weinberg pointed me to a cool little video that I watched twice and then forgot. He reminded me again and the pattern was repeated — or so I thought. Because that weird little piece of wild visual magic keeps popping up in my mind. I can’t let it go. You can allow it to infect your brain by watching Carousel at Stink Digital (or down below). That’s the same company that helped create the commercials in which 8 Mile and Die Hard were reimagined as 50s French classics . So, going in, you know that Carousel is an advertisement, in this case for a technology product I can’t possibly afford right now (a new model of television), though, again, it’s not a hard sell. Of course, some of the most creative and jaw-dropping works are made as part of advertising campaigns. Just think back to Ridley Scott’s startling 1984 ad for the Apple Macintosh : I don’t remember anything about the Super Bowl game that surrounded the ad, but I definitely remember that woman tossing her hammer at Big Brother. Directed by Adam Berg, Carousel inevitably brings to mind the amazing Bullet Time scenes in The Matrix , as applied to the opening title sequence of Watchmen , with a tip of the hat to The Dark Knight . The viewer is invited to take a “frozen moment” tour of a crime scene filled with guns, broken glass, and general carnage. I found it haunting and strangely beautiful. Philips : Carousel from Sawacs on Vimeo . (Thanks to @wlmager .) Filed under: Fandom , Home Entertainment , Trailers and Clips Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Have you ever dismissed a movie as an unmitigated piece of junk, and then seen it a second time and thought, “That wasn’t so bad”? Xan Brooks in The Guardian raises the question: “Who’s at fault if a film fails on a first viewing and succeeds on the second? The viewer, the film-maker, or the tangled, criss-crossing dialogue between the two?” He notes the turn-around he experienced with the Chilean drama Tony Manero , which is due for US release shortly. and admits that he is “nagged by the suspicion that there may be many other films in need of hasty reappraisal.” The influential film critic Pauline Kael famously said she never watched a movie more than once, but Newsweek film critic Joe Morgenstern completed changed his mind about Bonnie and Clyde after describing it as a “squalid shoot-em-up for the moron trade.” His mea culpa read in part: “I am sorry to say I consider that review grossly unfair and regrettably inaccurate.” I’m not suggesting that every bad movie will suddenly blossom into a classic with a second viewing. Our own Scott Weinberg recently watched Howard the Duck again, and that sucker is still a “$40 million dollar poop-nugget.” On the other hand, my estimation of the original Friday the 13th rose with a recent reviewing , and Peter Bogdanovich’s films have been rising in stock for me lately after falling through the floor for a period of my critical life. What about you? Have repeat viewings changed your mind, perhaps after a period of years, either for good or for bad? Are you now convinced that Citizen Kane isn’t so bad after all, or ready to give Watchmen a second chance when it hits DVD? Filed under: Critical Thought , Fandom , Home Entertainment Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

It goes without saying that there’s nothing funny about someone shooting themselves. But that said, when such a tragic action is committed during the viewing of a three-hour film, it could be interpreted as the most scathing review possible: A man shot himself to death in a Eugene movie theater just after midnight Monday morning. Police say about 10 patrons were in an auditorium at Regal Cinemas watching the movie “Watchmen.” About midway through the film some of the moviegoers told the manager they heard a “popping” noise like a gunshot. A 24-year-old man was found in the rear of the auditorium with a gunshot wound to the head. Police say the man shot himself and was dead when they arrived. The patron closest to the man was sitting two rows away. (Thanks, Soop.) Well, now we know the cut-off distance for not responding to a nearby gunshot: two theater rows. Man shoots himself during “Watchmen” movie [KMTR]

In the latest of what feels like a flurry of unfortunate movie theater incidents, a 24-year-old man in Eugene, Oregon shot himself in the head while taking in a late-night Watchmen screening at a Regal Cinemas. According to a story over KMTR.com — which was passed to us by Cinematical reader Ian G. — it was about halfway through the film when theatergoers heard a “popping” noise, and it was shortly after that when the man was discovered in the back of the theater with a gunshot wound to the head. The closest audience member was two rows away, and there were about ten folks total in attendance. Currently there’s no word on why the man chose to bring a gun to the screening of Watchmen and decide to shoot himself halfway through. Was it a completely random decision on his part? Did it have anything to do with the film itself, which spends most of its time dealing with a potential nuclear war? Did a particular shot or scene prove too much for the man, or were his suicidal issues completely separate from the film itself? If any of these questions are answered at a later date, we’ll update this post. In the meantime, our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends. With shootings inside movie theaters becoming more frequent, should metal detectors be added to all theaters or is that taking it too far? Filed under: Celebrities and Controversy , Newsstand Permalink | Email this | Comments

Quantum of Solace Daniel Craig’s second outing as James Bond, this time under the direction of Marc Forster, was a straight-ahead revenge drama, with rough edges intact, missing many of the character touches that we’ve come to expect from 007. That made it feel too much like an anonymous, overly-caffeinated action thriller for my taste, but there are enough dynamic, high-powered sequences to justify a rental. Olga Kuylenko is pretty easy on the eyes, too. Available in one and two-disk DVD editions, as well as Blu-ray. Rent it . Add to Netflix queue . | Buy at Amazon . Bolt “An entertaining movie for kids,” our own Jette Kernion opined. “However, there’s not much here for grownups to enjoy … apart from watching the kids get a kick out of the film.” Sounds like it was made for home viewing. John Travolta and Miley Cyrus voice key roles. Available in one and two-disk DVD editions, as well as Blu-ray. Rent it . Add to Netflix queue . | Buy at Amazon . Watchmen: Tales of the Black Freighter & Under the Hood Two vital components of the original Watchmen graphic novel that didn’t make the theatrical cut; pirate saga Tales of the Black Freighter is brought to life as a 2-D animated mini-feature and features the voice of Gerard Butler, while Under the Hood uses live-action and CGI to spin a faux-autobiography of the original Nite Owl. Both may be included in a forthcoming Director’s Cut of Watchmen , but if you just can’t wait any longer … Also on Blu-ray. Rent it. Add to Netflix queue . | Buy at Amazon . After the jump : Indies on DVD, more Blu-ray picks, and Collector’s Corner Filed under: Action , Animation , Classics , Foreign Language , Independent , New on DVD , Family Films , Home Entertainment , Cinematical Indie Continue reading Spin-ematical: New on DVD for 3/24 Permalink | Email this | Comments

Your weekend box office results: 1. Knowing - The proven formula of Nicolas Cage running around with a really, really concerned look has paid off yet again: $24.8 million . 2. I Love You, Man - $18 million –a fairly lucrative weekend for bromance, if bromance is a term you use and track the success of. 3. Duplicity - $14.4 million . An American spy played by an attractive American star in a love affair with a British spy played by an attractive British actor is too intriguing a concept not to see (except when obligated to first see the new Nic Cage movie). 4. Race to Witch Mountain - $13 million . Poll: would you rather… a) race to Witch Mountain? b) take your time and enjoy each others company to Witch Mountain. c) don’t care. 5. Watchmen - $6.7 million . This is probably my last chance for a really good “Who Watches the Watchmen” joke, and I’ve got nothing. Weekend Box Office Results [Box Office Mojo]