Sucker Punch is Zack Snyder's first break from adapting someone else's work, and either because he just wanted to go balls to the wall on his first auteur outing, or because he plainly needs the focus of pre-existing material, Sucker Punch is a glimpse into a hyperactive, overstimulated, geek-tunnel-vision mind. Which would be perfectly fine as a fun, disposable, style-over-substance action film. But for reasons surpassing comprehension, Snyder had to go and try to make it some feminist statement as well -- despite being woefully ill-equipped to do so -- and the result is an action movie that is not only derivative and juvenile, but an action movie that is a misguided failure on an intellectual level as well. Why do that to yourself, dude?

Tags: Abbie Cornish, Emily Browning, Jamie Chung, Jena Malone, Oscar Isaac, review, Sucker Punch, Vanessa Hudgens, Zack Snyder

Regardless of whether you felt Zack Snyder's 300 was spectacular art or mindless drivel, or that his Watchmen was too faithful or not faithful enough, or whether you think he's a good choice to direct the next Superman movie, you have to admit you're intrigued by Sucker Punch. Sure, the latest trailer is chock-full of his overused slow-motion, but it's also packed with more geektastic imagery than any movie we've ever seen before, leading one man to call it Things The Internet Likes: The Movie, and numerous others to compare it to Inception due to its dream-state storyline. So is it actually Nerd Inception? Let's use what we've learned from the new trailer to take a closer look.

Tags: Inception, Sucker Punch, trailer, Zack Snyder

Zack Snyder's fever dream Sucker Punch failed to knock out Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2 at the box office this past weekend and received mostly terrible reviews. But it's not Snyder's latest film we're concerned about, it's his next one: the Superman reboot. Even with Christopher Nolan overseeing the project, Snyder is still directing, and after seeing Sucker Punch, we're worried about what Snyder's clearly imaginative psyche will come up with for the Man of Steel. These are some of our red flags:

Tags: Man of Steel, Sucker Punch, Superman, Zack Snyder

Fans and detractors of director Zack Snyder have long been looking forward to seeing what the geeky auteur can do when he's not adapting other people's material. He successfully updated Dawn of the Dead, faithfully re-created the comic-book worlds of 300 and Watchmen, and even his upcoming animated owl picture Legend of the Guardians is based on a children's book, so the idea of an original Zack Snyder joint had fans salivating and haters waiting. Well, the wait is over, and the first trailer for Zack Snyder's self-penned Sucker Punch has been released, and while it certainly is eye-catching, it doesn't look terribly original. It looks like he took a dozen existing movies, put them in a blender and hit "Puree." Granted, it still looks pretty tasty to a movie freak like me, but the film's tag line, "You will be unprepared"? If you've seen any of these movies, you just might be prepared after all.

Tags: review, Sucker Punch, trailer, Zack Snyder

Despite looking like a goth version of the big meeting at the beginning of The Warriors, Spike TV's Scream Awards managed to pull in some pretty big talent Tuesday night. Liv Tyler, Milla Jovovich, Gary Oldman, Anthony Hopkins, Ron Perlman and Jon Favreau were among the A-listers who showed up to get screamed at by a group of extras from Rob Zombie and Marilyn Manson videos. (Both were in attendance.) But the real treat of the night was the appearance of the Watchmen cast, who brought along some new footage... okay, it was a lot of old footage, mostly from the first trailer, but there were some tasty gems buried within, ones that nobody had seen before, not even the press.

Tags: Carla Gugino, Nite Owl, Rorschach, Scream Awards, Silk Spectre, Spike TV, teaser footage, Watchmen, Zack Snyder

As you may have heard, there was a test screening last week in Portland for the Watchmen movie. Once news of the screening broke online, nerds from across the greater Pacific Northwest flocked to the theatre to see if they could get in, only to find out that the passes had all been given out the week before. However, despite the fact that everyone at the screening signed a Non-Disclosure Agreement, a number of people who claim to be attendees have been more than willing to share their opinions and spoilers about the film online. Aside from the fact that it was unfinished and awesome, it seems like there was at least one major change in the plot from the original graphic novel: namely, the ending. While both Zack Snyder and Kevin Smith have already said that the ending would be slightly different, it sounds like the one that was shown was more different than a lot of people expected. It may be a fake ending, whipped up to throw nerds off the scent, but if you've read the book, and want to know what the movie's ending might be, read on.

Tags: Alan Moore, ending, Kevin Smith, Watchmen, Zack Snyder

So you've read our description of the Watchmen preview footage that was shown at last week's press events -- now it's time to hear what the men who made it possible have to say. At the event, director Zack Snyder and Watchmen co-creator Dave Gibbons talked to the press about the film and the book it's based on, and they had some pretty interesting stuff to tell us. Check out both of the interviews in Mondo Extras!

Tags: Dave Gibbons, interview, sneak peek, Watchmen, Zack Snyder

Already well on its way to becoming the most divisive work in geek history, Zack Snyder's film adaptation of Watchmen, the most revered comic book of all time, may best be approached as a giant -- you guessed it -- Rorschach test: you either see a pretty butterfly, or you see a dog with its head split in half. The naysayers are certainly out there in force, in both the mainstream publications and the fanboy blogs, and I don't begrudge them their sometimes valid, often contradictory, occasionally deeply flawed points of view. All I can do is report that when I gazed at this dense, two-hour-and-forty-minute-long inkblot of a movie, I saw the butterfly -- I saw a brilliantly realized, richly textured pop-fiction spectacle; candy for both the eye and the brain. Is this theatrical version a perfect cinematic treatment of Watchmen? No, and I'll explain why below. But in the final analysis, seeing this beloved story come to life in a completely fresh, unexpected way gave me the same sensation I felt when I first read it in its original single-issue form over 20 years ago: pure astonishment, quickly followed by a burning desire to experience it again and again. Nothing ever ends.

Tags: alan moore, dave gibbons, jackie earle haley, patrick wilson, watchmen, zack snyder