On DVD: Will You Watch the Watchmen?

Reviews of Watchment: Director’s Cut, Coraline and Explicit Ills
Watchmen
Warner Bros.
Theatrical Cut: $29
2-Disc Director’s Cut: $35
Blu-ray: $36

Plot: When a retired superhero is killed, his former colleagues investigate his death and wind up stumbling upon an apocalyptic plot that may have been hatched by one of their own.

Opinion: Like every other fanboy who discovered Alan Moore’s groundbreaking graphic novel Watchmen as a teenager, I anticipated and dreaded the arrival of Zack Snyder’s film version.  On the one hand, it’s hard not to geek out at the promise of seeing the comic’s beautifully drawn panels recreated so meticulously on the big screen.  At the same time though, I had enormous reservations about Snyder, whose previous film—the slow-mo-a-go-go adaptation of Frank Miller’s ultraviolent 300—was a triumph of style over substance.  I’m sorry to say that my fears were justified.  On a purely technical level, Watchmen is undeniably impressive.  The special effects are largely seamless, the production design is obsessively detailed and the characters all look like they’ve stepped right off the page onto the screen.  But as an adaptation—as well as a movie in its own right—it’s a profound disappointment.  The problem is that the filmmakers have tried to include too much of the book onscreen.  While it would have been hard to lose certain fan-favorite moments and subplots, a trimmer running time would have forced Snyder to really focus the film’s narrative, as well as find a way to make its themes relevant to modern audiences.  As it is, it’s difficult to tell what Watchmen is about…and this is coming from someone that has read the book multiple times.  This director’s cut adds 24 minutes to an already substantial runtime, but doesn’t improve the movie in any significant way.

Bonus Features: The 2-disc edition features a half-hour documentary about the impact of the graphic novel on the comic book industry and pop-culture at large as well as the 11 video journals that were posted online during the film’s production.  The Blu-ray version comes with considerably more extras, starting with a “Maximum Movie Mode” that allows viewers to watch the movie with picture-in-picture commentary from cast and crew as well as in-depth onscreen commentary from Snyder where he compares specific frames of the movie to the same frames featured in the comic book.  Also included are two additional making-of featurettes not found on the standard edition.  If you’re still hungry for more goodies after all that, you’ll have to wait for the Ultimate Collector’s Edition, a 5-disc set due to hit shelves this fall, just in time for the holiday season.

Verdict: Personally I say Skip It, but who am I kidding?  If you’re a fan of the comic, you’re obviously going to Buy It or at least Rent It.

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Coraline
Universal
$30
2-Disc: $35
Blu-ray: $40

Plot: A little girl discovers a passageway to a parallel world, which offers many delights…and a few horrors.

Opinion: Let’s cut to the chase: I love this movie.  On a technical level alone, Coraline is a stunning achievement and may just be the finest example of stop-motion animation yet put onscreen.  I’m not exaggerating when I say that you’ve never seen anything quite like the fantastical images that director Henry Selick and his team of animators have conjured up here.  From squeaky circus mice performing an elaborate song-and-dance routine, to a lush garden filled with giant snails and chatty flowers, to a seemingly ordinary room that transforms into a giant spider web, Coraline offers one dazzling setpiece after another.  It’s the very definition of movie magic—the world onscreen is so beautiful, so enveloping, so real, you feel like you’re a part of it instead of simply observing the action from your couch.  There are things about the film I could pick apart if I really wanted to—some of the vocal performances aren’t quite as strong as they could be—but none of these minor flaws can dampen my enthusiasm for what Selick has accomplished.  Coraline may look like a kids’ movie, but it’s a movie for anyone of any age who wants to experience the joy and wonder that comes with seeing a true cinematic artist at work.

Bonus Features: About 10-minutes worth of deleted scenes introduced by Selick, an in-depth half-hour making-of documentary and a featurette profiling the film’s vocal cast.  But the best bonus feature is the inclusion of both the 2D and 3D versions of the film on one disc, with a few pairs of 3D glasses tossed in as well.

Verdict: Buy It

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Explicit Ills
Peace Arch Entertainment
$30
Blu-ray: $35

Plot: A few days in the life of a run-down neighborhood in North Philadelphia, where residents are doing their best to get by.

Opinion: Although he’s never worked with critically acclaimed director David Gordon Green, actor Mark Webber has clearly studied his movies closely for his own directorial debut, Explicit Ills.  Modeled after Green’s breakthrough feature, George Washington, this stylized slice-of-life story places mood and atmosphere ahead of plot.  One area where Webber trumps Green is star power: Rosario Dawson, Naomie Harris, Paul Dano and The Roots’ Tariq Trotter are among the famous faces featured in this film’s ensemble. Thanks to the talented cast and Webber’s confident presence behind the camera, Explicit Ills is eminently watchable.  At the same time though, it’s never really all that compelling.  Instead of drawing the viewer into this community, Webber keeps us at a distance, which makes it hard to feel the full weight of the tragedy that eventually befalls the characters in the film’s final act.

Bonus Features: A batch of deleted scenes.

Verdict: Rent It

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Also on DVD:

The force is clearly with Robot Chicken.  After the success of their first Star Wars parody, Seth Green and the rest of the cast and crew of Cartoon Network’s hit stop-motion animated series return with Robot Chicken: Star Wars—Episode II (Cartoon Network, $20), which offers more hilarious Star Wars-themed sketches with a particular emphasis on the many bounty hunters (including, of course, Boba Fett) that populate that far, far away galaxy.  The disc comes with a smorgasbord of bonus features, including star-studded commentary tracks, lots of behind-the-scenes stuff and a video diary from the episode’s premiere at Skywalker Ranch.  A heartfelt tribute to the iconic crooner, who passed away just before the film was completed, Anita O’Day: The Life of a Jazz Singer (RED Distribution, $30) mixes vintage archival footage with recently taped interviews with the star and her many admirers.  Although the film is accessible for all audiences, it will be best appreciated by those with a working knowledge of O’Day and the era of music she represents.  90-minutes worth of additional performances and interviews are included on the DVD.  John Malkovich won some strong reviews for his star turn in the indie comedy The Great Buck Howard (Magnolia, $27) even though the movie itself received lukewarm notices.  Only weeks before the live-action Joe hits theaters, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero: Season 1.1 (Shout! Factory, $30) packages the first season of the ’80s animated series that a generation grew up watching.  Fans of Hong Kong cinema will enjoy Dragon Dynasty’s latest offering, last year’s An Empress and The Warriors (Dragon Dynasty, $20) starring Asian superstars Donnie Yen and Leon Lai.  Turning to TV releases, all three seasons of the cult British comedy series The Mighty Boosh: Season 1, 2 and 3 (BBC America, $30 each) cross the pond offering a surreal mixture of science-fiction and fantasy humor a la The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.  Stargate SG-1: Children of The Gods (MGM, $27) is a re-edited version of the pilot episode that launched the popular Stargate TV-franchise, which is still going strong on the SyFy network.  Finally, a moment of silence for two departing shows: Pushing Daises: Season Two (Warner Bros., $40) collects the final 13 episodes from ABC’s brilliant but cancelled detective show and Prison Break: The Final Break (Fox, $27) brings the exploits of expert jail-breaker Michael Schofield to a not particularly satisfying conclusion.