Billy Crudup, Children Stars Pull Watchmen Duty

The Doomsday Clock is ticking.

Billy Crudup is set to take on the role of the nuclear accident-enhanced Dr. Manhattan in the big-screen adaptation of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' iconic 12-part DC Comics series Watchmen, the only graphic novel to ever win the Hugo Award, a top honor in the world of science fiction and fantasy, and the only work of its kind to appear on Time magazine's list of the 100 best novels since 1923.

Figuring he should stick with what he knows, 300 helmer Zack Snyder, whose cinematic take on Frank Miller's battle epic was a hit at the box office, signed on last year to direct the Cold War-era tale of superhuman abilities and moral ambiguity.

Dr. Manhattan's multifaceted abilities, for instance, include superhuman strength, clairvoyance, telekinesis and the ability to teleport between continents, planets and galaxies (eat your heart out, Hiro Nakamura).

Malin Akerman (the third wheel in Eric's threesome on Entourage) will play the Silk Spectre, the love interest who Dr. Manhattan, for all his good points, just can't connect with, considering his increasing disconnect from humanity and all.

Little Children hunk Patrick Wilson will suit up as gadget expert Nite-Owl, who zooms around in an owl-shaped flying machine-cum-submarine, while Bad News Bear turned Oscar nominee Jackie Earle Haley will play the inkblot-faced vigilante Rorschach, who believes that evil should be unequivocally punished.

Violently.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan (aka the dear, departed Denny on Grey's Anatomy) has signed on to play the apathetic Comedian, a Vietnam Vet who would snuff out a nefarious human life as soon as he'd stub out his ever-present cigar.

Also joining the murky crusade is Matthew Goode (the well-meaning aristocrat who takes Jonathan Rhys Meyers home with him in Match Point), who will play shady multimillionaire Ozymandias. Per the Hollywood Reporter, the spry bullet-catcher hatches a plot to save the world from a catastrophe he (probably wrongly) believes will be caused by Dr. Manhattan.

Watchmen, which debuted in 1986, was shopped from studio to studio before Warner Bros.

opted to take the plunge. Darren Aronofsky, Paul Greengrass and Terry Gilliam were all in talks to take the reins at one point, according to Variety.

Jude Law, Keanu Reeves and Tom Cruise all showed interest in the project, as well, with Law and Reeves eyeing the roles of Ozymandias and Dr. Manhattan, respectively.

Instead, Snyder and the Crudup-headed ensemble, which will reportedly be making an appearance at Comic-Con Thursday in honor of the big casting announcement, have been selected to bring one of the most revered graphic novels of all time to the big screen.

Shooting is expected to kick off this fall in Vancouver. The look of Watchmen will likely resemble the is-it-animated, is-it-live look of 300, for which Snyder employed an impressive-looking combination of greenscreen-enhanced action and CGI effects.

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"Blade Runner" returns, definitively

Director Ridley Scott is working on a "definitive" new version of his science-fiction classic "Blade Runner."

"Blade Runner: The Final Cut" will get a brief theatrical run in Los Angeles and New York, beginning October 5, before its December 18 DVD release through Warner Home Video.

Scott went back into postproduction to complete the new version of the film, which has been restored and remastered from original elements and contains never-before-seen and extended scenes. The film also includes new and improved special effects, director and filmmaker commentary and an all-new Dolby Digital audio track. Three DVD editions are coming to stores, in two-, four- and five-disc configurations.

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Disney to cut smoking in family films

The Walt Disney Co. will eliminate smoking from all its films released under its label and will discourage smoking in films released under its Touchstone and Miramax brands, the company said Wednesday.

Disney chief executive Robert Iger made the pledge in a letter to U.S. Rep. Edward J. Markey, D-Mass, chairman of the House Telecommunications and the Internet Subcommittee, who last month held a hearing in Washington, D.C., on the topic.

"The Walt Disney Co. shares your concern regarding deaths due to cigarette smoking," Iger wrote.

Iger also said that a public service announcement will be included on any DVD of a film that includes smoking and that the company would encourage theater owners to show an anti-smoking message before screening films that depict characters lighting up.

Universal Pictures said it instituted a policy to reduce smoking in youth-oriented films in April, but did not announce it publicly until Wednesday.

The studio said it will include a health warning along with films that include smoking.

"We believe it's possible to do that while respecting filmmakers' creative choices and we are committed to partnering with them in this effort," Universal Studios chairman Ron Meyer said Wednesday.

In May, the Motion Picture Association of America said it would begin considering smoking as a factor in rating films.

Markey praised Disney's decision.

"Now it's time for other media companies to similarly kick the habit and follow Disney's lead," Markey said.

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U.S. and Britain dominate star-packed Venice festival

The Venice film festival will celebrate its 75th birthday this year with a star-packed lineup and top directors like Kenneth Branagh, Brian De Palma, Ken Loach, Peter Greenaway and Ang Lee vying for its top prize.

U.S. and British films dominate the program of the world's oldest movie contest, totaling 11 titles out of the 22 films -- all world premieres -- in the main competition.

"We wanted to show that there is an Anglo-Saxon cinema that is different from the mainstream one," Marco Mueller, the festival's director, told reporters as he unveiled the program on Thursday.

"Our main criterion was originality, and we found that British and U.S. films still manage to offer something new and dare more than others. What I find extraordinary is that the films in the lineup are incredibly innovative and yet full of stars," he said.

Among the nine U.S. productions hoping to win the coveted Golden Lion award are De Palma's "Redacted," Paul Haggis's "The Valley of Elah" and Branagh's "Sleuth."

Joe Wright's "Atonement," based on British author Ian McEwan's acclaimed novel, will open the festival. Ang Lee, whose gay cowboy film "Brokeback Mountain" won Venice's top prize in 2005, returns to the Lido with "Lust, Caution."

British films in the main contest include Greenaway's "Nightwatching" and Loach's "It's a Free World...." Three Italian movies from lesser known, emerging filmmakers are also vying for the Golden Lion as is France's Eric Rohmer.

Outside the competition, Woody Allen's "Cassandra's Dream" , Claude Chabrol's "La Fille Coupee en Deux" and Takeshi Kitano's "Glory to the Filmmaker!" are among the most eagerly awaited titles.

RED CARPET

Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Richard Gere, Cate Blanchett, Vanessa Redgrave, Scarlett Johansson, Charlize Theron and Susan Sarandon are some of the celebrities who could hit the red carpet during the festival, which runs from August 29 to September 8 and will screen a total of 57 films.

As far as big names go, the lineup is one of the most impressive to hit the Lido in recent years.
Organizers of the festival, who have been dogged by logistical problems and reacted nervously when a rival film contest was launched in Rome last year, said the quality of the selection showed Venice had a bright future ahead.

"It just means that big directors and big producers trust us," said Mueller, who will end his four-year stint at the helm of the venerable Mostra del Cinema after this year's edition.

Davide Croff, director of the Biennale art foundation that oversees the Venice festival, said the Lido competition was now "better organized, better loved and more authoritative both at home and abroad."

He also said that a long-delayed project, the building of a new Palazzo del Cinema that should replace the Lido's ageing, moldy theatres, had found financial backing and should be completed in two or three years.

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Capsule reviews of this week's new films

Capsule reviews of films opening this week:

"Arctic Tale" — Think of this as a mash-up between "March of the Penguins" and "An Inconvenient Truth," except unlike both of those movies, it isn't even trying to be a pure documentary. Yes, all the footage of polar bears and walruses is real and often extraordinary in both its grandeur and intimacy. Husband-and-wife filmmakers Adam Ravetch and Sarah Robertson spent the past 15 years braving the elements among these creatures and came back with some truly wondrous, moving images. (Here's some advice: Bring tissues.) But they've also manipulated them to create a fictional, family-friendly fable that serves as a warning about global warming. With the help of Queen Latifah, whose narration often feels too cutesy and gets in the way, they introduce us to Nanu, a spirited polar bear cub, and Seela, a walrus pup. We watch the two from infancy and follow them as they grow up, struggle to survive amid a changing climate, and ultimately have babies of their own. Trouble is, Nanu and Seela are composites of several different polar bears and walruses. We're not watching two animals from start to finish, but rather several creatures whose experiences have been patched together and anthropomorphized for maximum heart-tugging effect. Maybe that's OK with you because the message, and the individual moments, are so worthwhile. Maybe kids will be entertained and inspired, and that's enough. G. 83 min. Two and a half stars out of four.

• Christy Lemire, AP Movie Critic

___
"No Reservations" — A perfect metaphor for the movie itself is the plate of frozen fish sticks Catherine Zeta-Jones' gourmet chef, Kate, fixes when her 9-year-old niece, Zoe, refuses to eat anything else. They're just fish sticks — familiar, generic, suitable for a wide variety of palates — but it's the way she arranges them, stacked on top of one another like some delicate, intricate sculpture, that makes them seem appealing. You've seen all this before (and if you've seen "Mostly Martha," the 2001 German film it's a faithful remake of, you really have seen it before). But everyone involved is so pedigreed, so capable, they make the experience go down easier that it ordinarily might. Kate is an uptight control freak; predictably, because she's the heroine in a romantic comedy, this means her life will be thrown into turmoil and she will be forced to loosen up. Zoe (Abigail Breslin from "Little Miss Sunshine") helps with that by moving into her apartment after Kate's sister is killed in a car crash. Then there's Nick (Aaron Eckhart), the hunky chef who moves into her kitchen and, eventually into her heart. Be warned: The ads for "No Reservations" accentuate the light, flirty moments. It's much more gut-wrenching than it looks, especially when director Scott Hicks ("Shine") trains the camera on Breslin's wise, sensitive face. PG for some sensuality and language. 101 min. Two and a half stars out of four.

• Christy Lemire, AP Movie Critic

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"The Simpsons Movie" — The universe of "The Simpsons" — outlandish, yellow and absent of normal human growth — has sketched with parodying perfection the struggle of family life, the exploitation of a neighbor's good will and the bizarre qualities of school bus drivers, to name just a few of its accomplishments. But "The Simpsons Movie" arrives long after the show's glory days. Not to sound too much like the Comic Book Guy, but the Fox sitcom, which once brilliantly satirized TV's conventions, has gradually settled into its own ruts — which usually entail Homer acting silly for silliness' sake. After 18 seasons on television, the much-anticipated big-screen debut of "The Simpsons" feels purposeless — as if creator Matt Groening finally thought: "Well, we might as well." After Homer pollutes Lake Springfield, the Environmental Protection Agency encases Springfield in a giant dome, and Homer must save the town and win back the support of Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie. While "The Simpsons Movie" is — like the TV show has become — too much a caricature of itself, it still possesses good cheer, an aversion to self-seriousness and manic energy for stuffing the screen with layers of humor. In Homer's leap of Springfield Gorge late in the film, watch for a small artifact from a renown 1990 episode; it recalls both the show's bygone triumphs and stubborn resilience. PG-13 for irreverent humor. 87 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.

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`The Simpsons Movie' not exxxxxcellent

The universe of "The Simpsons" — outlandish, yellow and absent of normal human growth — has sketched with parodying perfection the struggle of family life, the exploitation of a neighbor's good will and the bizarre qualities of school bus drivers, to name just a few of its accomplishments.

In one of its greatest episodes, about Prohibition, Homer's concluding toast demonstrated how the animated series could be as damning as it was hilarious: "To alcohol, the cause and solution to all of life's problems!"

"The Simpsons Movie" arrives a decade after that 1997 episode, and long after the show's glory days. Not to sound too much like the Comic Book Guy, but the Fox sitcom, which once brilliantly satirized TV's conventions, has gradually settled into its own ruts — which usually entail Homer acting silly for silliness' sake.

After 18 seasons on television, the much-anticipated big-screen debut of "The Simpsons" feels purposeless — as if creator Matt Groening finally thought: "Well, we might as well."

The movie quickly revels in lampooning itself. Ralph Wiggum crawls over the opening 20th Century Fox logo. An "Itchy and Scratchy" segment then plays out before revealing the Simpsons family watching, seated in a movie theater.

"I can't believe we're paying for something we get for free on TV!" exclaims Homer (voiced by Dan Castellaneta).

An alteration of the show's opening sequence leads to a Green Day concert where the band tries to speak about pollution, thereby setting up the action: Lake Springfield, it turns out, is a polluted mess, the result of — among other things — Krusty the Clown dumping tankfuls of his flop sweat into it.

Homer ruins a cleanup effort, however, emptying a silo (yes, a silo) of pig feces in the lake, the result of his new best friend: the adopted Spider-Pig, who's later renamed Harry Plopper. This isn't Homer's first love affair with a potential meal, nor his only go-around with a pig. Fans will recall his "pig-de-la-resistance" in "Lisa the Vegetarian," the excellent 1995 episode in which vegetarianism is tackled more successfully than pollution is here.

Lake Springfield promptly turns black and the Environmental Protection Agency, led by Russ Cargill (Albert Brooks), soon intervenes, placing a giant, transparent dome over Springfield and its townspeople. It's a clearly redundant entrapment for a town that exists everywhere and nowhere. (At one point, standing atop a mountain, Ned Flanders points to the states bordering Springfield: Ohio, Maine, Kentucky and Nevada.)

Cargill — who sounds a lot like Hank Scorpio, the maniacal but cheery evil genius Brooks voiced in a 1996 episode — works for President Arnold Schwarzenegger (Harry Shearer) who declares: "I was elected to lead, not to read."

Homer must save the town from Cargill's plans for Springfield, but, more importantly, he has to win back the trust of Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie.

The plot is wayward at times — particularly a trip to Alaska that feels excerpted from an unaired episode.

But narrative was never what drove "The Simpsons." It was always the jokes, which are just as relentless here as they are on the show.

Under director David Silverman's stewardship, the animation is brighter and filled with more background detail. Every character now maneuvers with a carefully drawn shadow.

Little has changed in the leap to the big screen, but we do gain a new perspective on Springfield, where Mr. Burns' house is now so elevated it seems more like the Grinch's lair hovering above Whoville.

We also see for the first time Milhouse's neighborhood and Bart's bathing suit area. His full-frontal scene is one of the movie's best visual gags.

While "The Simpsons Movie" is — like the TV show has become — too much a caricature of itself, it still possesses good cheer, an aversion to self-seriousness and manic energy for stuffing the screen with layers of humor.

In one of the final scenes, Homer again finds himself soaring across Springfield Gorge as he did in the 1990 "Bart the Daredevil" episode. On the other side of the gorge, moviegoers will notice an old ambulance from that episode crashed against a tree — as though it's been sitting there in SimpsonLand for 17 years.

The small artifact of animation recalls both the show's bygone triumphs and stubborn resilience.
"The Simpsons Movie," a 20th Century Fox release, is rated PG-13 for irreverent humor throughout. Running time: 87 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.

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"Ultimatum" a natural Bourne box office killer

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - "The Bourne Ultimatum," the culminating film of the trilogy begun five years ago with "The Bourne Identity," gets under way with a burst of nervous energy and extreme urgency and never lets up.

It's a 114-minute chase film, dashing through streets and rooftops of any number of international urban sprawls with Matt Damon's redoubtable Jason Bourne hot on the trail of -- himself. That might be the genius of the series: A James Bond-like character who can escape any pickle and thwart any villain, but all in a quest for his own identity. Jason is not out to save the world -- though he might do that -- he'd just like to know his real name.

Director Paul Greengrass, who only made the astonishing "United 93" in the interim, returns for his second "Bourne" film (after 2004's "The Bourne Supremacy") to bring the roller coaster ride to an end in a dead heat where all the plot points and (surviving) characters of the three films converge. Audiences will eat it up: This is a postmillennial spy-action movie pitched to a large international audience. You hardly need subtitles.

The cool thing about this movie is that the real revenge is not against bad guys in the CIA, but against the high-tech world that maddens mere mortals. Your mobile phone drops calls? Your car needs towing after a parking-lot fender-bender? Well, Jason can switch phones and patch into the world from trains, subways, stairwells and undergrounds. Any car he steals leaps up sharp inclines, plunges off of roofs or smashes into other vehicles until reduced to smoldering metal yet can still outrace any car on the block.

And his body! Blow it up with a bomb, expose it to brutal hand-to-hand combat or throw it into the East River, and it gets up with a few manly scratches.

Yes, there are a few plot holes. But few are likely to care. A smart cast of veteran actors gives the film just enough emotional heft to carry you through the silliness. Damon has definitely made Bourne his own. For all his physical dexterity and killing instincts, Damon brings a Hamlet-like quality to the CIA-trained assassin suffering from a five-year spell of amnesia who can never quite tell who his friends are, or rather, which of his enemies might be a true friend.
Joan Allen returns as the CIA investigator who has slowly come to see that Jason might be the real deal. And Julia Stiles as an in-over-her-head agent again shows up for no credible reason other than the producers want her back. (They're right.)

Newcomers include a flinty and increasingly antsy David Strathairn as a head of a black-ops program that has its real-life model in all the extralegal programs sponsored by the current administration. At one point, he declares "you can't make this stuff up," and you know the filmmakers are nodding toward today's Washington.

Scott Glenn appears as a law-ignoring CIA director, though he might remind you more of the current attorney general, and Albert Finney crops up toward at the end as a Dr. Mengele figure behind a behavior-mod program that created any number of Jason Bournes.

The movie swings through Moscow (filched from the previous film); Paris; Turin, Italy; London; Madrid; Tangiers, Morocco; and New York as Jason hones in on who did this to him. (That's another thing -- he never has to endure airport security checks!)

A fatigue factor sets in somewhere; it might vary from person to person. Yet the sharp intelligence behind the screenplay by Tony Gilroy, Scott Z. Burns and George Nolfi (though other hands reportedly contributed) gives the plot, salvaged from the Robert Ludlum Cold War spy novel, a genuine buoyancy. The film is trying to get at something, no matter how crudely, about corruption within the American espionage system, with its secret reliance on renditions and torture in the name of freedom. This might not be the best way to illustrate the problem with credibility-stretchers at every turn. But then again, how many people look at documentaries?

Greengrass stages terrific stunts and chases through crowded streets, buildings and rooftops. Cinematographer Oliver Wood and editor Christopher Rouse gives the film its lightning speed and jagged edges with a close, hand-held camera and quick edits while John Powell's score pulsates pure adrenaline.

Cast:

Jason Bourne: Matt Damon

Nicky Parsons: Julia Stiles

Noah Vosen: David Strathairn

Ezra Kramer: Scott Glenn

Sam Ross: Paddy Considine

Paz: Edgar Romeriz

Pamela: Joan Allen

Dr. Hirsch: Albert Finney

Director: Paul Greengrass; Screenwriters: Tony Gilroy, Scott Z. Burns, George Nolfi; Screen story: Tony Gilroy; Based on the novel by: Robert Ludlum; Producers: Frank Marshall, Patrick Crowley, Paul L. Sandberg; Executive producers: Jeffrey M. Weiner, Henry Morrison, Doug Liman; Director of photography: Oliver Wood; Production designer: Peter Wenham; Costume designer: Shay Cunliffe; Music: John Powell; Editor: Christopher Rouse.

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