Shorts, 2/24.

By David Hudson on 02/24/2009

"To its many devotees, 'Watchmen' is untouchable, unimprovable, sacrosanct," writes Adam Rogers, profiling Zack Snyder for a "Watchmen" package in Wired that includes interviews with Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (video) and another video on creating Rorschach. "'The literati were less hard on the Coen brothers for changes they made to 'No Country for Old Men' than the geeks will be on me for changes I make to "Watchmen,"' Snyder says. 'There are no more fierce fans than geekdom.'" Related: IFC's Matt Singer lists "Ten Performances We Can't Wait to Watch This Spring."

David Thomson "maintains his preeminence by pleasing on two fronts, writes AS Hamrah in the National:

For literary baby boomers, traditionally suspicious of the movies, he laments the passing of cinema's glory days. For seekers of inside dope, he exposes the spiritual corruption of the blockbuster industry, submitting to its fall as predestined. In his adopted homeland, the USA, the Englishman Thomson spreads pessimism over our illusions like orange marmalade, and he's been thanked for it more than any film critic could expect.

One gets the feeling, however, when reading his books, that no reward is great enough for this chronicler of the movies' decline. His prose exudes a sense of wounded disappointment beyond praise. With the release of his new memoir, "Try to Tell the Story," an account of his boyhood and teenage years in London after the Second World War, we begin to see why.

Also via Bookforum, Sandra Tsing Loh in the Atlantic on Paul Fussell's "Class," Michael Tolkin's "The Return of the Player" and Bill Bishop's "The Big Sort."

In the New York Times, Michiko Kakutani reviews Jonathan Littell's international literary sensation "The Kindly Ones," whose "gushing fans... seem to have mistaken perversity for daring, pretension for ambition, an odious stunt for contrarian cleverness.... [T]he nearly 1000-page-long novel reads as if the memoirs of the Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss had been rewritten by a bad imitator of Genet and de Sade, or by the warped narrator of Bret Easton Ellis's 'American Psycho,' after repeated viewings of 'The Night Porter' and 'The Damned.'"

Mark Dery's posted PDFs of the interviews with JG Ballard and David Cronenberg he conducted for Rage to coincide with the release of "Crash" in 1997. Via David Pescovitz at Boing Boing.

"Michel Gondry is in negotiations to direct 'The Green Hornet,' Columbia's big-screen treatment of the classic crime-fighting hero being portrayed by Seth Rogen." Borys Kit has more in the Hollywood Reporter. Via Erik Davis at Cinematical. Eric Kohn recalls talking with Gondry about the project a few years ago.

Woody Allen's "Whatever Works" is out in June, but of course, he's already casting the next one. On board so far, according to Tatiana Siegel and Michael Speier in Variety: Josh Brolin, Anthony Hopkins, Freida Pinto ("Slumdog Millionaire") and Naomi Watts, who's also lined up for "Fair Game," a film based on the outing of Valerie Plame Wilson to be directed by Doug Liman. Michael Fleming reports that Sean Penn may come on board to play Joseph Wilson.

Tom Giammarco has news of odd goings on in the Korean box office: "Well, the movie 'Old Partner' has done the impossible. This documentary about a farmer and his cow has slowly moved up from obscurity to be the most watched film of the week."

Voting for the 7th Annual Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards is open until March 21. Richard Harland Smith offers a brief history of the Rondos and considers a few of the nominees.

The Austin American-Statesman's Chris Garcia has come across MovieMaker's "Best Places to Live in 2009" list (more accurately described in the subheading: "The 25 best cities in the US to ride it out as an independent moviemaker this year"): "Last year Austin ranked No. 1. This year we are No. 10. Crud."

Speaking of moviemaking in cities, at Tribeca Film, producer Ted Hope issues a call to action to New York filmmakers. The tax credit money's dried up, but there are already petitions and Facebook groups racing to... well, to do whatever they're going to do. But Hope's thinking ahead to a broader agenda.

"Hercules Bellville, longtime right-hand man to producer Jeremy Thomas who also worked closely with Roman Polanski, Bernardo Bertolucci, Michelangelo Antonioni and numerous other filmmakers, died Saturday in London," writes Variety's Todd McCarthy. "He was 69." More from Chris Auty in the Guardian.

Also via Movie City News: "Howard Zieff, a top advertising print photographer and TV commercial director in the 1960s and early 70s before tapping his flair for comedy as the director of movies including 'Private Benjamin,' 'Hearts of the West' and 'My Girl,' has died. He was 81." Dennis McLellan in the Los Angeles Times: "Beginning with 'Slither,' a 1973 comedy with James Caan and Peter Boyle, Zieff directed eight other comedies, including 'House Calls,' 'Unfaithfully Yours' and 'The Dream Team.'" More from Phil Nugent at Screengrab.

Online viewing tip #1. Jamie Stuart: "'AmEx' was shot and edited in a day and a half back in April 2006, as a sardonic response to the multitude of big-name filmmakers appearing in American Express commercials. Three years later, with the collapsed state of indie film and the strangled economy/credit market, it seems more relevant than ever."

Online viewing tip #2. Jarmo Puskala's got one that "pretty much shows sums up the whole of Finnish culture and Finnish movie culture of the 70s/80s in four minutes and 16 seconds."

Online viewing tip #3. "With 'You Won't Miss Me,' [Ry] Russo-Young has created a free-wheeling, lyrical but sometimes jarring depiction of a few months in the life of a character who is navigating her own chaotic and often inchoate emotional straits." Filmmaker's Scott Macaulay has the trailer.

Online viewing tips round 1. At the Daily Beast, Anu Chopra introduces clips from the five "Best Bollywood Films."

Online viewing tips, round 2. Academic Earth features "Thousands of video lectures from the world's top scholars." Via Coudal Partners.

[Photo: "Watchmen," Warner Bros, 2009]

Tags: David Cronenberg, David Thomson, JG Ballard, Watchmen