|
 As promised, "The Ultimate Cut" presents the
longest version of "Watchmen," Zack Snyder's admirably faithful cinematic
replica of Alan Moore's epic graphic novel and easily the most complex superhero
movie ever produced. This is ostensibly even more faithful, incorporating the
animated version of the "Tales of the Black Freighter" comic-within-a-comic in
Moore's original novel (previously available as a stand-alone short film) with
brief transition scenes at the newsstand. The problem is that this is a poorly
animated adaptation that loses all context when removed from the static panel of
the page and turned into a grisly anime-style cartoon. The previously-released
"Director's Cut" may not be quite as literal an adaptation but it's a more
effective and involving movie and I think Snyder realized that as well; note
that he only stamped one version as his "Director's Cut."
The five-disc
set features two new commentary tracks, one by Snyder (very informative), one by
graphic novel artist Dave Gibbons (not so informative), plus all the previous
"Watchman" supplements from various releases: the mock documentary "Under the
Hood" (directed as a seventies-era TV special), the two-disc "Watchman: The
Complete Motion Comic" (a flash animation-style presentation of the comic book,
panel by panel), four featurettes on the film and the comic, and the "Watchman
Video Journals" (11 brief featurettes that were originally incorporated in the
"Immersive WB Maximum Movie Mode" of the Blu-ray release). Also available on
Blu-ray, which was not made available for review by press deadline.
|
|
 |
| The Exiles |
|
Before there was ever such a thing as an independent American
cinema, Kent MacKenzie's independently produced 1961 drama chronicled the lives
of urban American Indians (all of them non-actors drawing from their own lives)
in the Bunker Hill area of Los Angeles over one long, alcohol-lubricated night
with powerful images and painful honesty. In the interest of full disclosure, I
participate in the DVD commentary with author and filmmaker Sherman Alexie, and
interview Alexie for a separate audio-only supplement. The two-disc set also
features four short films by MacKenzie plus other documentary shorts and
clips.
|
|
|
 |
| Downhill Racer |
|
The feature debut of Michael Ritchie is a character portrait in
the guise of a sports drama. Robert Redford plays a self-involved hotshot on the
American ski team more concerned with personal glory than any conception of
teamwork or discipline. Shot largely on location in Europe, the sports scenes
have an integrity that favors the physicality of action over the drama of
competition. Features new interviews with Redford and writer James Salter on the
origins and evolution of the film, an interview featurette with other members of
the production team, and an archival audio-only recording with Ritchie
discussing films and filmmaking in a 1977 seminar.
|
|
|
 |
| My Effortless Brilliance |
|
Before she hit Sundance with "Humpday," Lynn Shelton explored
the complications of male relationships, specifically the "breakup" of old
friends and the desperation with which one man (played by Harvey Danger's Sean
Nelson) attempts to reconnect, with this slyly funny and slightly discomforting
portrait. His motivations are less out of affection than ego -- dude, he
was dumped! -- and Shelton watches this relationship spin its wheels on
Nelson's glib but needy presence in all its understated humor. Features
commentary by Shelton with the stars and key members of her production team, a
featurette and deleted scenes.
|
|
|
 |
| Luxury Car |
|
Winner of the Un Certain Regard prize at Cannes 2006, Wang
Chao's drama covers territory now familiar to modern Chinese cinema: the
experience of young adults from the villages moving to the city and getting
caught up in the crime and corruption and hustle of urban life. Tian Yuan is a
bar girl all but resigned to her compromises when her father comes searching for
her brother, who's been missing for more than a year. The brief references to
the Cultural Revolution and underplayed revelations of the criminal underworld
are all the more effective by the quiet understatement. In Mandarin with English
subtitles.
|
|
|
|
|
Sean Axmaker is a film critic for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, a DVD
columnist for MSN Entertainment and a contributing writer for GreenCine.com,
Turner Classic Movies Online, Parallax View and Asian Cult Cinema, among other
publications. Find links to all of this and more on his shamelessly self-promoting blog.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Hotmail
