J.J. Abrams finally said no to a project.  Unfortunately, MTV Movies is reporting that project was an adaptation of Stephen King’s wildly popular The Dark Tower series that he and Damon Lindelof were previously attached to.  While Abrams cited his reluctance to delve into a new story immediately after finishing Lost, Lindelof mentioned the difficulty of adapting an immensely popular work.  “Having seen Zack [Snyder] go through what he went through on Watchmen in terms of saying where can I digress from the material, I just get headaches from changing anything,” he said.  Hear that fanboys and fangirls?  Your reputation for intense scrutiny has gotten so bad it’s scaring people away from good projects.  Keep it up and you can kiss that Wheel of Time adaptation goodbye.

This Tuesday, Warner Bros. is releasing the “ultimate cut” of “Watchmen,” a 5-disc box set intended to do the graphic novel justice–something that writer Alan Moore would be (but still isn’t) proud of.  The feature included is an hour longer than the theatrical release, and there are plenty of bonuses to be seen.  Go through it all with me, one disc at a time, after the jump.

A few days ago I got on the phone with “Smallville” executive producer Brian Peterson. While the show moved to Friday nights this season, “Smallville” still has a loyal following as 2.5 million tuned in for last week’s episode. While that number might be low on any other night, you’ve got to remember Friday nights are a death sentence for every network and getting a few million to watch is pretty good especially since the CW isn’t one of the four major networks. With that being said, no one knows if this is the last season of “Smallville”. Anyway, when I spoke to Brian Peterson about the show, I asked his thoughts about a 10th season and got updates on a lot of other things.

The big news is the CW Network has been told there is a date when the network has to decide if “Smallville” is coming back, so if it isn’t, they can wrap up the storyline for the fans that have been watching from the beginning. Also, for fans of Geoff Johns, what was supposed to be a one part Justice Society episode is now a two-parter. We talked about a lot more so hit the jump to read the interview:

Warner Bros. just sent out the sellsheet of the upcoming “Watchmen: The Ultimate Cut” and it confirms what we already heard: “The Ultimate Cut” has the “Tales of the Black Freighter” animated short film woven into the Director’s Cut.  This new cut will also have two new commentaries from Director Zach Snyder and Illustrator Dave Gibbons.  According to the sellsheet, the Ultimate Cut runs 3 hours and 35 minutes.

The sellsheet also mentions that there will be over two hours of bonus content including 4 featurettes and the “Watchmen” Video Journals. The set will also include the short feature “Under the Hood” which was previously available on the “Tales of the Black Freighter” disc, all 12 episodes of the “Watchmen” motion comic, and a digital copy of the theatrical feature.  The set will be available as either a 5-Disc Limited Edition DVD set ($43.87 SRP) or a 4-Disc Limited Edition Blu-Ray set ($59.99 SRP).  Hit the jump to get a full look at the box art.  “Watchmen: The Ultimate Cut” will be available to own on November 3^rd.

Last week I was able to speak with director Sylvain White. While most of our conversation is under embargo, I’ve been given permission to post some of what was said. Since Sylvain is currently attached to Frank Miller’s “Ronin” movie, I figured you’d like to hear what he said about his take on the property and where it currently is in development.

According to Sylvain, he’s about to get a new draft of the script and he envisions the film as a “big-budget, big blockbuster.” He went on to say he’d “love to do it in 3D.” For more on the project, click the jump:

After over two decades of controversy, fan anticipation, lawsuits, and thousands of naysayers claiming that it could never actually happen, Alan Moore’s groundbreaking graphic novel Watchmen finally got its silver-screen translation.  Although Moore’s name is conspicuously absent from the film’s credits (Dave Gibbons is oddly given solitary “co-creator” credit for the graphic novel), this is an adaptation that does more than stick to its source material.  It literally becomes it.  Warner Bros. has released director Zack Snyder’s extended cut in a two disc DVD set.  The added sequences manage to enhance the movie and further Snyder’s testament of devotion to the source material. Read my review after the jump:

We’re now in a different place with Zack Snyder. He’s directed three films, all on Blu-ray, and I have watched and reviewed all three for Collider. The most honest statement I can make is that Snyder is an amazing visual talent, who knows what the fuck he’s doing behind a camera. But after three films, I don’t know what’s going on inside his head. Sure, his first film was smartly hella commercial, and 300 was a blockbuster, but is also inherently a shallow but engaging visual spectacle. Watchmen is a great dense tome of a film, but much of its greatness belongs to the graphic novel. He has done little that can guess what he really has going on upstairs. There is great technique, but the voice is undefined. My review after the jump:

Watchmen is one of the best films of 2009. It’s challenging, subversive, fascinating. It can’t compare with the original graphic novel, as made by Dave Gibbons and Alan Moore but it never could. Watchmen, the comic book was a revelation in its time. It took a part of our culture (superheroes through comic books) and perfectly dissected it. From the panels on down, it dealt with why they were created, and their limitations -from the character’s personal sexual hang ups to using their archetypes to show what they meant, and how they failed. My full review of the director’s cut is after the jump:

Last week I went to Warner Bros. and got to see part of the “Watchmen” director’s cut on Blu-ray. As I already said, I thought it looked incredible. From what I could gather, the Blu-ray format is finally showing what it can do and fans of Zack Snyder and “Watchmen” are going to be blown away by how many great special features on are the disc.

One of the best things they showed us was something called ‘Maximum Movie Mode’. That’s where Zack will be on the screen and talking about the film while it’s playing. Also, you can go off on side tangents and then come back to the movie where you left off. It’s the kind of immersive experience that makes home video so great. Anyway, I’ve got a preview of this mode after the jump so take a look.

Just a few hours 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.

The great thing about the discs is the choices you have. If you just want to watch the movies, they look amazing. But if you’re curious how the movies were made or what went on behind the scenes, both Blu-ray’s are filled with extras and interactive choices. The way they’ve set up the discs is as you watch them you can pick different options and they’ll either pop-up as the movie continues to play, or it’ll bring you to another section of the movie. The best part is when you’re done watching, you’re back at the exact point you left.

Based on what I saw, fans of both movies are going to have a geekgasm.

Anyway, after the presentation ended, I managed to get some time with director Zack Snyder and after the jump you can see Zack talk about his plans for this year’s Comic-Con and what’s up with his next film “Sucker Punch”.

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.

Take a look at what he said after the jump. If you live in one of these cities, this is awesome news.

I’ll have a lot more of what Zack told me later today or tomorrow. Including his Comic-Con plans - which are awesome.

If you’re wondering what I do on the weekend, I don’t just surf the net for funny videos.  I sometimes cry in the shower.  Unfortunately, my shower is out of hot water and if you’ve tried crying in a cold shower, it’s a really unpleasant experience.  You cry and lose your erection.

So without shower-crying, I bring you a video from CollegeHumor.com where we discover that immature audience members weren’t the only ones who had a problem with Dr. Manhattan’s junk.  The world needs saving but only if the atomic man will put some damn clothes on.  Find out if he’ll dress for the success of humanity, or leave us to our naked, dangling fate.

Video (Safe-for-Work) after the jump.