By Mathew Kumar

One of the films that Stephen McHattie is in this week is going to make hundreds of millions of dollars (well, it’s likely to) after a blanket marketing campaign and on the strength of the source material; the other one isn’t.
And more’s the pity! For it’s not too foolish to say that Pontypool picked a bad release week—in a quieter week this absolutely wonderful and (dare we say it?) unique little film would probably pick up a lot more buzz. Pontypool stars McHattie as a down-on-his-luck DJ with an unforgettable on-air voice, trapped in a small town radio station in the middle of what appears to be a zombie apocalypse—or at least that’s what he manages to piece together from the reports that come in. The film is an educated character piece with a nice take on small-town Canada (where it is unrepentantly set), and as a result Pontypool escapes its genre’s trappings. Bruce McDonald is easily one of our favourite Canadian directors so it comes with our highest recommendation—though there’s a twist that many reviews seem to have been happy to spoil, so avoid any others if you can before you see it—and you should see it.
Of course, the other film out this week features McHattie as Nite Owl senior, Hollis Mason, and if you already know exactly who that is you’re probably steeped in Watchmen lore enough to be ready to rip the film apart—though as days go by more and more fans seem to be willing to meet the film on its own level, which is, by all accounts, a slavish recreation of the book (more or less), just with moving pictures rather than funny little ones on pages that you have to read sequentially.
Though we’re perfectly willing to check it out on that basis, we’re pretty much on original writer Alan Moore’s side (essentially, “why bother?”) and can’t help but imagine the kind of work a screenwriter with interest in taking what the book really did—which was play with the form of the superhero comic and bend and twist it to show its power—and do that for the superhero movie. Of course, for some viewers the foreignness of the material might be enough to make the work of “visionary” director Zack Snyder perform a similar task, but we doubt that would be as many viewers as Warner Bros. is hoping to get.
Also out this week: Owl and the Sparrow, Nightwatching, One Week; and, at the Royal, the animated French horror anthology Fear(s) of the Dark. Oh, and we’ve been asked to mention that “Canadian improv movie” In The Moment plays at the Royal on Sunday at 1 p.m., if you’re interested. Additionally, the U of T Film Festival begins on Monday, Cinematheque Ontario continues screenings, and the Wright Stuff season hits one of its (many) high points with a double feature: The Wanderers followed by The Warriors starting at 7 p.m. on Sunday at the Bloor.