#39-April 2002
***IN THIS ISSUE***
CLUB NEWS
1.OUR MARCH MEETING WAS FANTASTIC
2.NEWS OF OUR APRIL MEETING:
THE BASICS
3.NEWS OF OUR APRIL MEETING:
THE PUBLIC!
4.NEWS OF OUR APRIL MEETING:
THE FOOD
5.NEWS OF OUR APRIL MEETING:
LE' BAD
6.NEWS OF OUR APRIL MEETING:
THE SCARES
7.NEWS OF OUR APRIL MEETING:
THE AUCTION
8.NEWS OF OUR APRIL MEETING:
WE NEED GREETERS
9.NEWS OF OUR APRIL MEETING:
WE'LL NEED EXTRA CLEAN-UP HELP
10.THE CLUB MATURES
11.MEMBERSHIP FINALS
12.THE FINALS ON THE OSCAR POOL
TV NEWS
13.THE GLASS TEAT
With news on THE JUSTICE LEAGUE
OF AMERICA, FIREFLY, SPIDER-MAN, DARK ANGEL, THE DEAD ZONE, THE X-FILES
and FORGOTTEN REALMS.
14.DAVID BOREANAZ WAS LEERY
OF THE ANGEL BABY
15.THE ENTERPRISE CREW MEETS
THE ENTERPRISE CREW
16.LOOK FOR AN ENTERPRISE CLIFFHANGER
17.DON'T LOOK FOR WESLEY CRUSHER
ON ENTERPRISE
18.IRWIN ALLEN'S NEW HOME IS
FOX TV
19.MUTANT X PUMPS UP THE VOLUME
NEXT SEASON
20.FANS FIGHT FOR ROSWELL
21.THE WB QUIETLY SHOPS ROSWELL
22.SALEM'S LOT GETS A FRESH
COAT OF PAINT FOR TNT
23.HBO GETS READY FOR SHADOW
HOUSE
24.NOW YOU CAN VOTE FOR THE
BEST OF ST: TNG
25.SHANKS WILL GUEST STAR ON
A FUTURE STARGATE EPISODE
26.THE TAKEN MINI-SERIES IS
COMING TOGETHER
27.TRACKER: NO, YES AND MAYBE
28.GALE ANNE HURD AND THE ULTIMATE
ADVENTURE COMPANY
29.WHY MULDER RE-OPENED THE
X-FILES
30.WHY CHRIS CARTER CLOSED THE
X-FILES
EVENT NEWS
31.THINGS TO COME
With news on JOHNS HOPKINS
FILM FESTIVAL, FILMFEST DC, CHILLER THEATER SPRING EXPO, THE MARYLAND FILM
FESTIVAL, BALTICON 36, CREEP CON and ASIAN FANTASY FILM EXPO 3.
LITERARY NEWS
32.THE RELEASE OF THE EPISODE
II COMIC WILL BEAT THE MOVIE
33.ASIMOV DIED OF AIDS
34.BRADBURY GETS A STAR ON THE
WALK OF FAME
35.FORRY RECOVERS
36.JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA:
THE NOVELS
37.A BOOK TO HELP WITH CLOSE
ENCOUNTERS OF THE CELEBRITY KIND
38.RECENT TITLES: BOOKS ABOUT
MOVIES AND TELEVISION
39.RECENT TITLES: MEDIA TIE-INS
40.RECENT TITLES: OTHER BOOKS
OF INTEREST
MOVIE NEWS
41.QUICK TAKES
With news on DIE ANOTHER DAY,
Robert Altman disses TITANIC and AMERICAN BEAUTY, THE OUTER LIMITS, I AM
LEGEND, TERMINATOR 3: RISE OF THE MACHINES, THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE
FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING, DAREDEVIL, and ALIEN PRISON.
42.THE WRATH OF RAZZIE
43.THE SATURN NOMINATIONS ARE
IN!
44.THE CAT IN THE BEER-SOAKED
HAT
45.DEVLIN STUMBLED ON THE TITLE,
"EIGHT-LEGGED FREAKS"
46.FREDDY VS. JASON IS FINALLY
GOING TO HAPPEN
47.SCREENWRITER SAYS "NO" TO
A KINDER, GENTLER GHOST RIDER?
48.DEL TORO GOES FROM BLADE
II TO HELLBOY
49.EXPECT BIGGER F/X IN TWO
TOWERS
50.THE MARVEL MOVIE MACHINE
IS READY TO CRANK 'EM OUT
51.MEN IN BLACK 2 ALIENS REVEALED
52.DEPP IN NEVERLAND
53.POTTER PATTER
54.MABIUS TALKS RESIDENT EVIL
2
55.SPIDER-MAN 2 IS IN EARLY
PRE-PRODUCTION
56.THE FORCE COMES A CALLIN'
TO MOVIE EXHIBITORS
57.THE JIZZ-GUYS STRIKE BACK!
58.THE NEW TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE
WILL BE LOW GORE
59.ROBO-AHNULD TERMINATES HUMANS
AGAIN IN WESTWORLD
60.COPPOLA SAYS HOLLYWOOD'S
MISSED THE BOAT ABOUT 9/11
61.JOHN WOO WANTS HIS FELLOW
FILMMAKERS TO STOP THE VIOLENCE
62.TERRY GILLIAM ATTACKS EYE
CANDY
63.THE HEALTH OF HOLLYWOOD BY
THE NUMBERS
64.IMAGINATIVE CINEMA FOR THE
MONTH OF APRIL
News on the premiere of HIGH
CRIMES, CHANGING LANES, FRAILTY, THE SCORPION KING, MURDER BY NUMBERS and
JASON X.
INTERNET NEWS
65.STUDIOS LOOK AT DivX 5.0
FOR MOVIES ONLINE
66.A HIDDEN EPISODE II SITE
OPENS
67.SPIDER-MAN'S TRAILER DEBUTS
ON THE WWW
TECHNOLOGY NEWS
68.SANYO SAYS THIN IS IN
69.MAYBE WE'LL GET TO SEE THE
BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE IN 70MM
70.3-D TV IS IN THE CRYSTAL
VIDEO NEWS
71.BLOCKBUSTER WANTS TO BREAK
THE WINDOW
72.LEARN ABOUT DVD EASTER EGGS
73.BORDER'S BOOKS SAYS GOOD-BYE
TO VHS
74.NEW LINE PLANS THREE RINGS
VIDEO RELEASES
FAREWELLS
75.THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES
We say good-bye to Billy Wilder,
William Witney, Oskar Sala and Richard Sylbert.
IN REVIEW
76. APRIL CALENDAR
clubnewsclubnewsclubnewsclubnewsclubnewsclubnewsclubnewsclubnewsclubnewsclubnewsclubnews
1.OUR MARCH MEETING WAS FANTASTIC
We had an
excellent April meeting. We started out with our second round of our trivia
game show, "ICS Academic." Thanks go to Charlie Wittig and his friend Rob
Lees for constructing the amazing "Brainiac." For those of you not present,
the Brainiac is a gaming console that enables a team to buzz in. The first
team that buzzes ignites a light on the Brainiac, enabling the judges to
see who got the answer first. In our latest edition of the game, "The Evil
Dead" bested "The Giant Claws" and the "The Crimson Ghosts" to walk away
with the championship. In our sudden death elimination Norman Prentiss
took the grand prize. Thanks go to the entire club, those who played and
those who watched, for making this a spectacular round of ICS Academic.
We followed
up with a unique film done by our guest speaker, and newest member, Ed
Hellman. It was called GENERIC MAN'S NOTEWORTHY EXCURSION. Ed is an innovative
young filmmaker who was nice enough to come in and show us his work. We
have high hopes that Ed will go on to a major Hollywood career. Thanks
for coming and welcome to the club (it was also great to see out previous
guest speaker and recent member, Tom Woodward, in the audience).
2.NEWS OF OUR APRIL MEETING:
THE BASICS
Our special
April marathon-meeting will be held on Saturday April 27 with doors opening
at 11:30 A.M. This is not a new regular time for us. This is a special
event. As usual we'll be at the church hall behind the Perry Hall Presbyterian
Church located at 8848 BelAir Road. Take Baltimore Beltway exit 32 north
on Belair Road. Turn left onto Joppa Road. Immediately past the miniature
golf course turn left into the parking lot. If you miss it there are ample
turn-around opportunities. If you get stuck call Dave Henderson's cell
phone at 410-598-8005 or my (David Willard's) cell phone at 443-570-6455.
Either of us can talk you in.
3.NEWS OF OUR APRIL MEETING:
THE PUBLIC!
We've invited
several people to drop by in April. We've sent public service announcements
to local community newspapers. Notices were sent to the Baltimore Film
Club, FanTek, the Baltimore Science Fiction Society, the Star Trek Association
of Towson and the Johns Hopkins Science Fiction Association. Fliers will
be mailed to several individuals in the area. We're hoping to make this
as big a meeting as possible.
If there's
someone in your family or circle of friends that you've considered bringing
to a meeting, this is the one to bring them to. It should be a lot of fun.
4.NEWS OF OUR APRIL MEETING:
THE FOOD
We've asked
the club members to bring dishes with them. Below is a list of what we
have commitments for so far. If you've committed to bring food, please
bring lots of it. There should be a lot of mouths to feed. If you haven't
committed to bring food please scan this list, consider what you'd like
to bring and tow it along:
APPETIZERS
(VEGETABLE TRAY, CHIPS): Regina V., Dava & Donna S., David W. [Potato
Salad], John C.
MAIN COURSE:
Charlie W. [Hot Dogs & Fixings], Dave H. [Hot Dog Rolls], David W.
[Chili], Rick R. and Suzanne C. [Lasagna]
DESSERTS:
Gary R. [Cheesecake], Tim & Heather F., Norman P. [Donuts/Brownies],
Barry M.
SODA: Gary
R., Barry M., Jeanne M.
UTENSILS:
Andrew K.
5.NEWS OF OUR APRIL MEETING:
LE' BAD
We're starting
the meeting off by putting our worse foot forward!. We'd like everyone
to bring in the worst movie they've got. Grab your all-time crappiest VHS
or DVD and tell us why they're so awful. We'll be voting (and suffering
through) the single worst movie there. It should be fun.
6.NEWS OF OUR APRIL MEETING:
THE SCARES
Do you own
any
movies that just flat out scare you? Do you have anything in your collection
that makes your skin crawl just to look at the box? Is there anything on
VHS or DVD that gave you bad dream - maybe still gives you bad dreams?
We want to see it in April. Our second feature will be the scariest movie
available. Don your asbestos gloves, secure its collar and muzzle, and
bring it with you in April. We'd love to meet it.
7.NEWS OF OUR APRIL MEETING:
THE AUCTION
April is
the time to get some deals. From 5 to 7 we're holding (what promises to
be) another very spirited auction. Bring cash. Bring some stuff to sell.
This is going to be a lot of fun!
8.NEWS OF OUR APRIL MEETING:
WE NEED GREETERS
Because we
hope to have a goodly crowd show up in April we're going to have the sorts
of things we usually don't have to bother with - a table up front with
programs, name tags and a guest book. We're going to need people to staff
the table, greeting guests as they arrive. We don't expect to have anyone
there for the day. We're hoping to have people on one-hour shifts. If you're
available either see me at the meeting or phone or e-mail me in advance.
9.NEWS OF OUR APRIL MEETING:
WE'LL NEED EXTRA CLEAN-UP HELP
We're going
to have a lot of food at the next meeting. We're going to have a lot of
feet grinding that food into the carpet and dirtying up the premises. We're
going to need a lot of help making the place look neat and presentable
at the end of the meeting. Everyone's been great with clean-up. Please
continue you're good behavior on April 27!
10.THE CLUB MATURES
The Board
of Directors, in an effort to fulfill our mandate as guardians of the club's
funds, will be moving $500 from our checking account and investing it in
a Certificate of Deposit (or "CD"). We'll probably do this after our auction
when out funds are a little more flush. Our money will be able to earn
more than the $1 or so a month it's generating now. The Board is very excited
about this new measure to handle our money. If we do particularly well
maybe we'll earn enough to pay for the room for a month!
11.MEMBERSHIP FINALS
Our membership
renewals are over. Everyone who joins from this point on will be a new
member. Here is the final list of the forty-one names who now make up the
Imaginative Cinema Society:
JOHN CLAYTON
ROB PARR
LINDA CONRAD
JOE PLEMPEL
SUZANNE COOPER
NORMAN PRENTISS
DAVID DELLMAN
TOM PROVEAUX
VINCE DILEONARDI
RICK RIEVE
SUE FEDER
GARY ROBERSON
TIM & HEATHER FLEMING
RUTH ROBERSON
DIANE GERVASIO
MIKE SCHILLING
RALPH & PEGGY GERVASIO
DAVA SENTZ
MARTIN GRAMS JR.
DONNA SENTZ
ED HELLMAN
BRIAN & CINDY SMITH
DAVE HENDERSON
COURTNEY SPIES
SCOTT HURD
JACK TYDINGS
ANDREW KENT
REGINA VALLERANI
MITCH & KELLY KLEIN
JOHN WARD
MIKE LAIRD
DAVID WILLARD
LEITH LOMAKIN
CHARLIE WITTIG
JEANNE MATCOVICH
TOM WOODWARD
BARRY MURPHY
12.THE FINALS ON THE OSCAR POOL
We thank
everyone who participated in our Oscar Pool. We have a winner. Here are
the top five entries. Out of a possible 24 entries, John Ward got 12, Joe
Plempel and yours truly tied at 13, Barry "The Skipper" Murphy got 14 right
(twice with two different entries!) and SUE FEDER got a whopping 16 out
of 24 categories correct. Congratulations Sue! The total pool came to $36.
Sue will get $18 at our April meeting.
tvnewstvnewstvnewstvnewstvnewstvnewstvnewstvnewstvnewstvnewstvnewstvnewstvnewstvnewstvnew
13.THE GLASS TEAT
JUSTICE LEAGUE gets renewed.
The Cartoon Network has picked up its JUSTICE LEAGUE animated series for
a second season. The network ordered 26 new half-hour episodes. . . . FIREFLY
casting change. We mentioned in the last issue that Rebecca Gayheart was
a member of the new FIREFLY cast. At the time it was written that story
was accurate. It no longer is. The folks at Fox are scrambling for a replacement.
. . . SPIDER-MAN finds his voice. Neil Patrick Harris and singer Lisa Loeb
will voice Peter Parker and Mary Jane in MTV's upcoming animated SPIDER-MAN
series. Because of MTV's involvement, it's likely that more performers
who are prominent in the music business will be involved as guest stars,
possibly as villains. The show is targeted for an October debut. . . .
Cameron will direct DARK ANGEL's season finale. James Cameron is about
to make his television directing debut on DARK ANGEL, the show that he
created and where he serves as executive producer. Cameron said that, "it
will be good discipline for me to direct one hour on a TV-size budget when
my last project was three hours for $200 million. . . . I love our cast
and am looking forward to working with them in the mud and the blood and
the beer." The episode will air on May 3. . . . Stiers enters THE DEAD
ZONE. Three-time Emmy nominee David Ogden Stiers ("M*A*S*H") has joined
the cast of the upcoming USA series THE DEAD ZONE, based on the popular
Stephen King novel. Stiers will play the recurring role of Reverend Gene
Purdy, Smith's legal guardian who doesn't have his best interests at heart.
The series premieres June 3. . . . "The Truth" is out there on May 19.
The title of the final episode of THE X-FILES has been leaked. The May
19 episode will be called "The Truth." All this time, every time we were
reminded that "The truth is out there," perhaps the show was simply foreseeing
its own demise. . . . FORGOTTEN REALMS is headed for television. Fireworks
Television has bought the TV rights to the FORGOTTEN REALMS series of fantasy
novels. Genre author R.A. Salvatore (known for his STAR WARS novelizations)
will write the live-action TV pilot. FORGOTTEN REALMS will tell the story
of a land filled with wizards and sorcerers. Wizards of the Coast, which
owns the Dungeons & Dragons game property, will help Fireworks develop
FORGOTTEN REALMS storylines. . . . BUFFY is planning a big season finale.
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER is in the midst of a lengthy mid-season hiatus.
There won't be a new episode until April 30. There are still four new episodes
to air. The final one, scheduled for May 21, should be a big one. It's
going to be a two-hour episode. The second hour of the episode will be
broadcast against the season finale of Fox's series, 24. . . . THE X-FILES
goes to TNT and the Sci-Fi Channel. The Sci-Fi Channel has purchased the
rights for THE X-FILES. It's a joint acquisition between Sci-Fi and TNT.
Sci-Fi receives primetime off-network rights and TNT gets daytime rights
of nine seasons of THE X-FILES totaling 202 episodes. Sci-Fi is also
close to signing a separate five-year exclusive deal for 62 episodes of
ROSWELL.
14.DAVID BOREANAZ WAS LEERY OF
THE ANGEL BABY
David Boreanaz
confessed that he initially had mixed feelings about the Angel-as-daddy
storyline, but that he now thinks the unlikely plot device worked well.
"My initial reaction was one of excitement, because I knew it would be
really strange and bizarre to have this child [on the show], but I wasn't
really sold on the fact of how it was going to happen," Boreanaz said.
"I was a bit nervous [about] that aspect."
Boreanaz
was concerned that the baby plotline would hurt the pacing on the show.
"Angel's relationship with Darla [Julie Benz] was really played out in
the second season, and I was nervous about that. They told me [the Connor
storyline] wouldn't be as lengthy a play-out [as feared]. And, you know,
as it progressed, it became [clear] that it would be more of a success
than a failure. It could have been a dangerous thing for the character,
but it opened up many more doors, and I think [the ongoing effect] is going
to be great. And where this child may end up again, I don't know."
As it turns
out the story may have given Boreanaz some time to practice. In real life
his wife, actress and former Playboy Playmate Jaime Bergman, is pregnant
with the couple's first child, due in May.
15.THE ENTERPRISE CREW MEETS
THE ENTERPRISE CREW
Crew members
of the U.S.S. Enterprise - the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier, not the starship
- will appear in an upcoming episode of ENTERPRISE. Aviation Electronic
Technician First Class Robert Pickering, Aviation Electrician's Mate Second
Class Timothy Whittington and Personnelman Third Class Sara Elizabeth Pizzo
will play starship crew members in an episode tentatively titled "Desert
Crossings," scheduled to air May 8.
Executive
producers Rick Berman and Brannon Braga extended the invitation to the
three crew members, who were selected as "Sailors of the Year" by a Navy
committee. Their scenes were shot on March 7. During a break in shooting,
the sailors presented Berman and Braga with a specially designed plaque
in gratitude for all the support and encouragement the cast, crew and actors
of ENTERPRISE have given the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise, which was one
of the first vessels deployed in the Afghanistan war.
16.LOOK FOR AN ENTERPRISE CLIFFHANGER
ENTERPRISE
co-creator Brannon Braga told fans at this year's Grand Slam STAR TREK
convention that the upcoming season-one cliffhanger finale will deal with
the temporal cold war. Speaking at the annual convention in Pasadena, Calif.,
Braga said, "The final episode will deal a lot with that, as will the first
episode of next year, and you'll learn a lot more about it. Over the course
of the seasons, we definitely want to get into, how did [the Federation]
come to be? How did this thing called the Federation happen? How did they
become part of the intergalactic neighborhood? How did they earn respect?
That's all going to be part of the show, for sure. We will be hinting at
it early next season."
But don't
expect Romulans anytime soon. "I don't think you're going to be seeing
the Romulans this season," Braga said. "In the original series, it was
established that no one had actually seen the Romulans. So it's tricky,
because you want to see them. You don't want to just see a bunch of ships
and not know what's going on. But we're thinking about ways we might do
it."
17.DON'T LOOK FOR WESLEY CRUSHER
ON ENTERPRISE
After several Internet
fansites published word that STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION cast member
Wil Wheaton would be seen in a recurring role on ENTERPRISE, Wheaton confessed
that he himself was the source of the story and that it was all an April
Fool's joke. "I hope everyone takes this in good humor," he said on his
website. "Lots of people sent really kind and sweet congratulatory messages,
and I actually feel pretty badly for fooling such nice people." The truth
is, he said, that he will not, as the stories suggested, be joining the
cast of ENTERPRISE as Ensign Wesley Crusher, using his "time travel" abilities.
18.IRWIN ALLEN'S NEW HOME IS
FOX TV
Producers
Kevin Burns and Jon Jashni have struck a deal with 20th Century Fox TV
and Fox Television Studios to resurrect four classic Irwin Allen SF television
series as movies or shows, including LOST IN SPACE, THE TIME TUNNEL, VOYAGE
TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA and LAND OF THE GIANTS. Burns and Jashni run Synthesis
Entertainment, which manages the interests of the Allen estate.
A new TIME
TUNNEL series is in the works for the Fox network, as is a two-hour NBC
backdoor pilot based on a new generation of LOST IN SPACE. The deal also
calls for a renewal of 20th Television's rights to distribute the original
83 episodes of LOST IN SPACE; a production agreement to revive THE TIME
TUNNEL, VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA and LAND OF THE GIANTS; and a new
production agreement to revive LOST IN SPACE.
19.MUTANT X PUMPS UP THE VOLUME
NEXT SEASON
Victor Webster,
who plays Brennan Mulwray in the syndicated series, MUTANT X, said that
the next season will take the show even farther than it's already gone.
"It's going to be a bigger, better deal, man," Webster said. 'Everything's
going to be bigger. Everything's going to be faster. It's going to be darker.
It's going to be fun. We were cutting our teeth in the first year, finding
out what worked, what didn't work. Expect more good things. We're making
some changes. We've got a new producer. We just want to take a great thing,
which I believe we have now, and make it even better. We're going to have
units devoted just to filming action, so that will be a little more intense.
[We'll also have] more character-driven drama."
Webster plays
Mulwray, a street-smart mutant who is able to generate electricity from
his body. In real life, Webster practices a combination of eight martial
arts. As to adapting his training to the show, Webster said, "You have
to learn a whole new thing. You learn the basics, you learn the agility,
you learn the coordination, but you didn't learn how to sell a punch and
make it look real. When you're fighting in the street or a tournament,
everything's tight and close. You've got to make TV big, things that are
beyond reality, things that look good."
20.FANS FIGHT FOR ROSWELL
Fans of ROSWELL
are racing to sign on Online petition to keep the show alive for one more
season. "ROSWELL is a great television program, and I am helping all ROSWELL
fans to start early in the quest to have Roswell reach its fourth birthday,"
the petition reads.
Though official
word won't come out about the low-rated series' future until later this
spring, there are strong indications that UPN will cancel the show. Fan
action has kept the show alive before. You might recall how at the end
of the show's first season, a deluge of fan mail, and tiny Tabasco bottles,
(the aliens' condiment of choice) persuaded The WB, to renew it for one
more year. ROSWELL fans are hoping to do it again. It looks like they have
an uphill battle in front of them.
21.THE WB QUIETLY SHOPS ROSWELL
Jonathan
Frakes, an executive producer of ROSWELL, said that the network hasn't
officially canceled the series, but producers are nevertheless shopping
the show to other networks in anticipation of the final ax's falling. "There
is no official word, and we're trying to find another home for it on another
network," Frakes. No deal has been struck.
Although
no formal cancellation announcement has been made, the producers have relinquished
their production space at 20th Century Fox and are distributing the show's
props to other series shooting on the lot. There is little likelihood that
the show will be picked up by other networks At this writing ROSWELL is
ranked 99th out of 108 primetime network TV shows.
22.SALEM'S LOT GETS A FRESH COAT
OF PAINT FOR TNT
Stephen King’s
SALEM’S LOT will come to life as a TNT original dramatic miniseries event,
according to Steve Koonin, executive vice president and general manager
of TNT.
TNT and Warner
Bros. Television will co-produce the four-hour miniseries, with Mark Wolper
(TNT’s THE MISTS OF AVALON, THE THORNBIRDS) executive-producing for The
Wolper Organization, and Peter Filardi (FLATLINERS, THE CRAFT) writing
the script from Stephen King’s book.
"The epic
works of Stephen King have always translated into compelling television,
especially in long-form miniseries,” said Koonin. “We are proud to be continuing
our association with Mark Wolper, who executive produced the highly successful
miniseries THE MISTS OF AVALON for TNT last year. Under Mark’s guidance,
Stephen King’s SALEM’S LOT will be a great fit with our positioning as
the home of great dramatic television events.”
In SALEM’S
LOT, King’s vicious take on the perfect All-American community, the seditious
horrors and close-held secrets of small town life turn into unimaginable
terror when a mysterious stranger arrives in town and ultimately reveals
himself to be a vampire looking to sink his teeth into a new home.
23.HBO GETS READY FOR SHADOW
HOUSE
Writer David
Goyer (BLADE II) announced that he's teaming up with Clive Barker to create
a new series for premium cable. "I have a pilot at HBO with Clive Barker,"
Goyer said. "It's called SHADOW HOUSE. Clive and I did it with Francis
Ford Coppola. We're writing it right now. We're trying to see if we can
put the HBO spin on it. So it is genre, but what I like about the HBO shows
is that they take things in a more intelligent direction. There aren't
any special effects in it. It's scary and psychological."
24.NOW YOU CAN VOTE FOR THE BEST
OF ST: TNG
TNN will
let fans pick their favorite STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION episodes, which
the network will then air in a marathon on April 14. Fans will be able
to vote for the top five greatest episodes of the series on TNN's official
Web site from April 1-6, the network announced. The marathon will air April
14 from 2 PM to 7 PM.
Viewers will
also be able to enter a sweepstakes to win TREK prizes from April 1 to
May 4. The grand prize is a trip for two to Hollywood for a tour of Paramount
Studios, Capt. Jean-Luc Picard's uniform from the upcoming STAR TREK: NEMESIS
film and a copy of the new Activision STAR TREK: Bridge Commander video
game.
25.SHANKS WILL GUEST STAR ON
A FUTURE STARGATE EPISODE
The Sci-Fi
Channel confirmed that departing STARGATE SG-1 cast member Michael Shanks
(Dr. Daniel Jackson) will make a guest appearance during the show's upcoming
sixth season. Shanks left the show at the conclusion of the fifth season,
but will return in the sixth-season episode "Abyss," which sees Col. Jack
O'Neill (Richard Dean Anderson) tortured at the hands of the Goa'uld.
STARGATE
started out on Showtime and will continue to air on the pay cable channel
through the end of season five. The show will then move to Sci-Fi in June,
when the all-new sixth season begins. Sci-Fi will also rerun the first
five seasons in order, beginning in the fourth quarter of 2002. Reruns
of STARGATE also air in various syndicated markets.
26.THE TAKEN MINI-SERIES IS COMING
TOGETHER
The equivalent
of the Manhattan Project is underway at the Sci-Fi Channel. They're working
on a very very big mini-series called TAKEN. This is a sweeping sci-fi
adventure (told from the point-of-view of a young girl) that weaves together
the story of three families over three generations and their crucial roles
in the history of alien abductions. Set against the backdrop of actual
history and UFO lore, TAKEN aims to create a powerfully emotional and evocative
story of mankind's encounters with extraterrestrials.
TAKEN's been
in production since last September. It's written and executive produced
by Leslie Bohem (DANTE'S PEAK), with Steve Beers also executive producing.
Sci-Fi's working on it with DreamWorks Television and Steven Spielberg.
So far the
announced cast includes Matt Frewer (MAX HEADROOM), Desmond Harrington
(WE WERE SOLDIERS), James McDaniel (NYPD BLUE), 8-year-old Dakota Fanning
(I AM SAM) in the pivotal role of Allie, Gabrielle Rose (DOUBLE JEOPARDY),
Heather Donahue (THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT), Adam Kaufman (BUFFY THE VAMPIRE
SLAYER), Andy Powers (OZ), Chad Donella (FINAL DESTINATION) and Emily Bergl
(THE RAGE: CARRIE 2), Steve Burton (THE LAST CASTLE), Joel Gretsch (MINORITY
REPORT), Ryan Hurst (REMEMBER THE TITANS), Eric Close (NOW AND AGAIN),
Catherine Dent (THE MAJESTIC), Anton Yelchin (HEARTS IN ATLANTIS), Julie
Benz (ANGEL), Chad Morgan (PEARL HARBOR), Michael Moriarity (LAW &
ORDER), James Kirk (DARK ANGEL) and Willie Garson (SEX AND THE CITY).
27.TRACKER: NO, YES AND MAYBE
Conflicting
reports have emerged about the future of the syndicated series TRACKER.
"Tracker unfortunately is not coming back for a second season," a series
spokeswoman announced. The spokeswoman added that the show has completed
shooting the last eight episodes that will be airing, but that the series
has not been renewed.
It ain't
necessarily so according to Doug Friedman, senior vice president of worldwide
television marketing for Lions Gate Entertainment. "TRACKER has not been
canceled," Friedman said. "We're in syndication through September or October
of this year. We are working on renewing the show. We're looking potentially
for new homes for the show, but we still have the option to bring the show
back. At worst, the future of the show is uncertain. At best, of course,
it will be back. We don't know where it will be back, but it is definitely
not canceled."
In case you've
missed it TRACKER is a series about an alien bounty hunter who is tracking
fugitives on Earth. It stars Adrian Paul (HIGHLANDER) and Geraint Wyn Davies
(FOREVER KNIGHT). If you were considering starting to watch it, if I were
you, I wouldn't delay much longer.
28.GALE ANNE HURD AND THE ULTIMATE
ADVENTURE COMPANY
Gale Anne
Hurd is no stranger to the world of imaginative cinema. She's the producer
of THE TERMINATOR (1984), ALIENS (1986), ALIEN NATION (1988), THE ABYSS
(1989), TREMORS (1990) TERMINATOR 2 (1991), ARMAGEDDON (1998) and the upcoming
THE HULK (2003). So when she says she's getting into the TV business, it's
big news.
She's about
to launch THE ULTIMATE ADVENTURE COMPANY, an upcoming syndicated supernatural
series that she described as "kind of a RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK meets MISSION:
IMPOSSIBLE." The series, for Tribune Entertainment and Fireworks, has received
a 22-episode order and begins production in June in Toronto; Marseilles,
France; and the United Kingdom.
"It's actually
inspired by a friend of mine, who's a treasure hunter, and he's the kind
of person who can find anything," Hurd said. "Because treasure hunting
is one of those things where you raise a lot of money, and sometimes you
find the treasure, and sometimes you don't, you actually have to take paying
gigs in between. It's that kind of thing." The series will also flirt with
the supernatural, she added. "Of course! It's got my name on it. There
has to be a supernatural element. It's kind of a TWILIGHT ZONE supernatural
[element]."
29.WHY MULDER RE-OPENED THE X-FILES
It was David
Duchovny himself who suggested a return to THE X-FILES, even though the
actor had previously asserted that he had no interest in reprising the
role of Agent Fox Mulder. Chris Carter initially approached Duchovny about
directing the April 28 episode of the series, which wraps its nine-year
run in May.
Not only
was Duchovny interested, but "he had suggested that he act in the episode
as well, which was a big surprise to us," according to executive producer
Frank Spotnitz. "We certainly didn't expect that." When the decision was
made to put Duchovny in the two-hour series finale instead, Spotnitz added,
"what became uncertain at that point was whether David would still co-write,
direct and act in [the April 28] show. So the final outcome, as you well
know, is that he is going to act in the [series finale] and co-write, direct,
but not act in, [the April 28] episode."
Spotnitz
said he understands Duchovny's change of heart. "My impression from talking
to him was that he still cares about the show," he said. "He's still invested
in it and certainly cares about [Mulder]. And I think he recognized that
it was the best thing for the show and the audience [for him] to come back
and give closure to nine years of the series. I think we all agree on that."
There's no
way of telling if this has anything to do with other issues for Duchovny
- like his less than stellar movie career. This show could be his last
chance to make some decent money for a while.
30.WHY CHRIS CARTER CLOSED THE
X-FILES
Chris Carter
said that it was his decision to end the series after its ninth season
as the show's ratings dropped. He made the decision over the Christmas
break, as the show's ratings had already dipped following the departure
of David Duchovny after season eight, and they declined further during
the ninth season against savvy counter-programming.
"We were
up against SAVING PRIVATE RYAN in our first week out," Carter said. "We
were up against Britney Spears [and her HBO concert] the next Sunday night,
so we took heavy flak and never really recovered from it for the next four
episodes after those first two. . . . Our audience was just down from the
year before, and they didn't seem to be coming back. So they had gone elsewhere,
and I didn't know where they had gone. I thought we were doing great work,
and all of a sudden I saw there was an opportunity for people to say, 'It
wasn't the same old X-FILES.' I thought that was unfair, and I thought
they would pin that on Robert [Patrick] and Annabeth [Gish], who I think
are fantastic actors and are doing incredible work. I just didn't want
to see that happen, and so I thought I wanted to see the show go out strong.
I wanted people to come back to the show and see the good work we were
doing. Ultimately, I really hope that people, when they see these final
episodes - I think there are about 10 episodes left - or watch the finale,
I hope they say, 'God, we'll really miss this show.'"
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31.THINGS TO COME
JOHNS HOPKINS
FILM FESTIVAL will take place from April 11-14 on the campus of Johns Hopkins
University. The festival seeks to promote works by budding independent
and student filmmakers. Documentaries, features, and short films that have
been hitting the festival circuits as well as little seen local,
national, and international films will be displayed. The Johns Hopkins
Film Festival will take place in screening rooms on the Homewood campus,
including Shriver Hall, the largest screening facility in Maryland. Displayed
formats are 8mm, 16mm, 35mm and VHS. Tickets are $3 per show, $5 per day,
and $15 for a festival pass. Stand by for further details as they become
available.
FILMFEST DC
will hold its fifteenth annual festival beginning on April 17, running
to the 28. They'll be bringing thirteen days of outstanding new cinema
from around the world to the nation's capital. The screenings will take
place throughout the city. The list includes theaters, clubs, museums,
the French Embassy and the World Bank. Details of the festival will be
posted on the festival Web site as they become available. The complete
catalog will be distributed as an insert in The Washington Post on Friday,
April 13. Tickets are moderately priced at $8.00 for most screenings. Advance
ticket sales will be available starting April 5 through Tickets.com at
(703) 218-6500. If you'd like more information go to the link provided.
You can also contact Diana T. Kaiser via e-mail at kaiserd@hisaokapr.com,
or by phone at 202-466-6286.
CHILLER THEATER
SPRING EXPO will take place April 19 - 21 at the Sheraton Meadowlands,
Rt. 3 East in E. Rutherford, NJ. Guests at this point include Ben Chapman
(THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON), Beverly Washburn, (STAR TREK, SUPERMAN
AND THE MOLE PEOPLE), Bill Moseley (TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE II, NIGHT OF
THE LIVING DEAD-1990), Virginia Hey (FARSCAPE, THE ROAD WARRIOR), Richard
Kiel (MOONRAKER, THE SPY WHO LOVED ME), Sarah Douglas (SUPERMAN, SUPERMAN
II, CONAN THE DESTROYER), Charles Napier (THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, BEYOND
THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS, SUPEVIXENS), Darlene Thompkins (BEYOND THE TIME
BARRIER), David Carradine (KUNG FU), David Hedison (THE FLY, VOYAGE TO
THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA) David Prowse (STAR WARS), Denise Crosby (STAR TREK:
THE NEXT GENERATION), Ethan Phillips (STAR TREK: VOYAGER), Deana Lund -
Don Marshall - Don Matheson (all from LAND OF THE GIANTS), Ed Lauter (FAMILY
PLOT, THE LONGEST YARD), Joe Turkel (THE SHINING, THE KILLING), Kathy Garver
(FAMILY AFFAIR, THE EXORCIST II), Ken Foree (DAWN OF THE DEAD, FROM BEYOND),
James MacArthur (HAWAII FIVE-O), Ken Weatherwax & Lisa Loring (THE
ADDAMS FAMILY), Mark Goddard (LOST IN SPACE-TV), Ruth Buzzi (LAUGH-IN),
Linda Blair (THE EXORCIST), Lou Ferrigno (THE INCREDIBLE HULK), Lynn Stewart
(PEE-WEE'S PLAYHOUSE), Paul LeMat (AMERICAN GRAFITTI), Julie McCullough
(Playmate of the Year 1986, BLACK SCORPION), Remy Marks (model and Playmate),
Bernie Wrightson (comic artist who created "Swamp Thing"), Jeff Pitarelli
(illustrator), Ray Manzarek (founding member of The Doors) and Richie Scarlet
(guitarist Ace Frehley's Comet, Leslie West Band). General admission tickets
in advance are $10 per day, or $25 for all three days. At the door they're
$15 per day. You can pick up pre-show tickets to give you access to the
show one hour earlier than the general public on Friday night or Saturday
morning. In advance (by 3/22) $20 per day. At he door they're $30 per day.
You can get (in advance only) pre-show & VIP Tickets for the entire
show plus one hour early on Friday or Saturday is $35. Pre-show both days,
plus all day Sunday is $45 US Funds. To order by mail, send all payments
to Chiller Theatre, Inc./ P O Box 23/ Rutherford NJ 07070. For room reservations,
call The Sheraton at (201) 896-0500 and ask for the Chiller rate.
THE MARYLAND
FILM FESTIVAL will be held May 2-5 in Baltimore. At this writing details
are a little sparse. Here's what we know so far. They have a growing number
of celebrity guest hosts visiting the festival. NAACP Board Chair and legendary
Civil Rights Activist Julian Bond will guest host s showing of SWEET SWEETBACK'S
BAAD ASSSSS SONG. First year SURVIVOR finalist Colleen Haskell has chosen
Terry Gilliam's THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN. As usual John Waters
will host a Friday night film. This year, he's hosting a screening of FUEGO,
which means "fire," an unusual softcore X-rated melodrama that was made
in Argentina in 1969. Either visit the festival's website or keep your
eyes on The ICS Files for further details.
BALTICON 36
will be held Memorial Day Weekend, May 24 - 27 at the Wyndham Inner Harbor
Hotel in Baltimore. They offer activities and guests for a wide range of
interests for science fiction fandom. Their literary programming will feature
philosophical debates, story crafting tips and ideas, author readings and
book signings. There will be separate poetry, academic, literary and media
tracks, including an writer's workshop. Their science program continues
with the kind of briefings you see for industry, academic and government
leaders. Topics include NASA and space industry planning, launch systems,
paleontology, DNA research and more. There will also be special sessions
about art, costuming and children activities for kids 4-12. There'll be
filking (science fiction-oriented folk music), a masquerade, a large dealer's
room, a gaming room, a computer room, L.A.R..P. (Live Action Role Playing
gaming), a gaming room and live theater (a LORD OF THE RINGS parody). Tickets
are $40 until 3/17, $45 until 4/30 and $50 at the door (children 6-12 are
$20/$23/$25). For tickets or answers to questions contact BALTICON 36/
P.O. Box 686/ Baltimore, MD., 21203-0686 or phone (410)JOE-BSFS [410-563-2737],
e-mail: BSFS@balticon.org, fax # 410-879-3602 or go to the above link.
CREEP CON
takes place at the Baltimore Convention Center from June 7-9. Guests include
Anthony Head (Giles on BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER); Adam Busch ("Warren"
on BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER); Robert Hall (Special Make-Up Effects for
BUFFY, ANGEL and BLACK SCORPION); Warwick Davis (LEPRECHAUN, STAR WARS
and WILLOW); Virginia Hey (FARSCAPE, THE ROAD WARRIOR); Kane Hodder ("Jason"
FRIDAY THE 13th films); Alexxus Young (scream queen, star of the upcoming
ARACHNIA); Muse Watson ("Fisherman" from I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER),
David Carradine (KUNG FU); Ben Chapman (THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON);
Bill Moseley (TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 2); Linnea Quigley, Miguel Nunez,
Jewel Shepard, Beverly Randolph Hartley, Jules Brenner, Brian Peck, John
Philbin, Don Calfa, Kenny Myers and William Stout (all from RETURN OF THE
LIVING DEAD); Leonard Lies and Marty Schiff (both from DAWN OF THE DEAD);
Brian Penikas (special make-up effects artist); Jerome Blake (STAR WARS:
EPISODE II - ATTACK OF THE CLONES); Mike Quinn (RETURN OF THE JEDI); Michonne
Bourriague (STAR WARS: EPISODE I - PHANTOM MENACE); Shannon Baksa (STAR
WARS RPG model); Debbie Rochon (NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD); Dick Durock
(SWAMP THING); Edwin Neal (TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE); Reggie Bannister (PHANTASM
series); Kevin Summerfield (director SLEEPY HOLLOW HIGH 1 & 2); Velvet
Chain (L.A. band that's appeared on BUFFY); Darling Violetta (California
band that did the theme for ANGEL); Frank Cho (comic artist); Virgil (WWF
Superstar); Remy Marks (model and Playmate) and Nicole Wood (Playboy Playmate,
Miss April 93). Scheduled events include a special Friday Night, Creep
Con Opening Ceremony at The Vault on Baltimore St. The show is limited
to only 200 Tickets. It starts at 6:00 and continues through the night.
There will be open bar and food available. Doors open Saturday and Sunday
at 10 AM for VIP ticket holders, 11 AM for everyone else. General admission
at the door is $20 per day, or $30 for the weekend. General admission in
advance is $15 per day, or $25 for the weekend. V.I.P. Gold are $125 each.
These passes give you admission on Saturday and Sunday 1 hour earlier than
the general public, access to the Friday Night Creep Con Opening Ceremony,
one free autograph from most guests appearing on stage and best seating
in the auditorium for the guests Q&A sessions and special events at
the show. For further information or tickets either click on the link at
the beginning or (for you snail mailers) contact FOD Entertainment/ C/O
Creep Convention/ P.O. Box 2139/ Glen Burnie, MD 21060-2139.
ASIAN FANTASY
FILM EXPO 3 is being held on June 15 & 16 at the Holiday Inn &
Conference Center in Saddle Brook, New Jersey. This is THE convention for
people who like their monsters large, aggressive and Japanese. Guests include
Shusuke Kaneko (director of GODZILLA • MOTHRA • KING GHIDORAH: GIANT MONSTERS
ALL-OUT ATTACK), Teruyoshi Nakano (special effects director of Godzilla
films in the 70's and 80's), Shinichi Yokokawa (with Bandai, creator of
Japanese monster character toys), Carl Craig (the American Boy Scout in
DESTROY ALL PLANETS), Bob Eggleton (America's leading Godzilla artist)
and Remy Marks (fantasy model and Playmate). One day passes are $10 in
advance, $12 at the door. Two day passes are $18 and are available only
in advance. Children age 5 and under are free. To order click on the above
link or contact P.O. Box 1614 Fort Lee, NJ 07024/ 201-587-8112/ fax: 201-587-8114.
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32.THE RELEASE OF THE EPISODE
II COMIC WILL BEAT THE MOVIE
Dark Horse
comics will release an adaptation of STAR WARS: EPISODE II - ATTACK OF
THE CLONES on April 24, three weeks before the film hits theaters. Henry
Gilroy has adapted George Lucas' and Jonathan Hales' screenplay, with Jan
Duursema and Ray Kryssing providing the artwork.
CLONES will
appear as a trade paperback and as a four-issue series of comics. The four
issues will feature covers by Tsuneo Sanda. Photographic cover versions
will be available as well.
33.ASIMOV DIED OF AIDS
Isaac Asimov's
widow, Janet Jeppson, is producing a single condensed volume of her late
husband's three-volume autobiography. It will be entitled It's Been a Good
Life. In the book she reveals that Asimov's 1992 death was the result of
AIDS.
There was
a tragic time in the early eighties when the Red Cross and health care
system knew than HIV was in the blood supply but felt that it wasn't "cost-effective"
to bother screening it. Asimov acquired the disease through a blood transfusion
during a 1983 bypass surgery.
34.BRADBURY GETS A STAR ON THE
WALK OF FAME
Ray Bradbury
received the 2,193rd star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on April 1. Los
Angeles Mayor Jim Hahn, actor Charlton Heston and other officials attended
the ceremony.
The ceremony
kicked off a month-long reading campaign called "One Book, One City L.A.,"
in which Los Angeles residents are encouraged to read Bradbury's Fahrenheit
451. Bradbury, 81, is a lifelong Los Angeles resident.
35.FORRY RECOVERS
The legendary
sci-fi editor and publisher, Forrest Ackerman (aka "Uncle Forry") is recovering
from surgery after a massive blood clot was found on his brain. Ackerman
was rushed to a hospital and was promptly operated on. He's due to leave
the intensive care unit in early April. Cards may be sent to 2495 Glendower,
Hollywood CA 90027. They will be given to him as they are received.
36.JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA:
THE NOVELS
If you like
to cuddle up with a good book in bed here's you'll chance to enjoy a bedtime
nuzzle with the likes of Aquaman, Hawkman, Wonder Woman and Superman. Pocket
Books will publish six paperback adult prose novels featuring Justice League
of America superhero characters from DC Comics. The first novel, Justice
League of America: Batman-The Stone King, by Alan Grant, will hit comic
book stores this month. Longtime comic illustrator Alex Ross will contribute
covers for the entire series.
Each book
in the series will be told from the point of view of a specific Justice
League member, except the last book, which will feature all heroes equally.
The second book, Justice League of America: Wonder Woman-Mythos by Carol
Lay, is slated for a September release.
Future books
will include The Flash by Mark Schultz, Green Lantern-Hero's Quest by Dennis
O'Neil, Superman by Kyle Baker and a finale by Christopher Golden.
37.A BOOK TO HELP WITH CLOSE
ENCOUNTERS OF THE CELEBRITY KIND
Have you
ever had a brush with a celebrity? If you attend conventions you're likely
to. I have. I was once in the men's room at Sardi's in New York's theater
district when a very vexed-looking Robert Goulet came rushing into one
of the stalls. Once, while feeling weak from a 103° fever I found myself
riding an elevator with Martin Sheen. And once, while at the symphony,
friends dragged me backstage to meet the celebrity performing a recitation
that evening - Claire Bloom. At least in her case I found something to
say. I shook her hand and stammered, "Miss Bloom, I'm an enormous fan of
yours. I'm enormous - and I am a fan of yours."
I may have
benefited from a new book by Mike Sington, a trainer of guides for Universal
Studios in California. It seems that there's a tendency for folks to forget
their manners when they see a celebrity. To help alleviate the problem,
Sington and his fellow guides have written A Visitor's Guide to Celebrity
Etiquette, which sets out guidelines for making all "celebrity experiences"
happy ones.
The book
includes tips from celebrities themselves, such as this autograph-seeking
advice from ONCE AND AGAIN star Sela Ward: "Skip the 'I know you don't
like to be bothered' and go right to what you want graciously ('I'm such
a big fan - do you mind giving me an autograph?'). Secondly, have a pen
that works."
Another section
deals with approaching a famous person who's eating. The guide advises
doing so only "if you are pleased when telemarketers call your house during
your dinner. If for some odd reason this does please you, then only interrupt
a celebrity who is eating if you enjoy having a chainsaw used as a regular
part of your dentist's check-ups."
Much of the
advice in the handbook is common-sensical - don't stare, don't tell them
their last movie stank, don't imitate their characters. It's included because
when people meet a star, "common sense goes out the window," Sington says.
"You may
feel like you know the person, but obviously you don't. And they don't
know you," Sington says. "They're used to being approached, but you've
got to do it in the right way." Celebs like to be complimented as much
as the next person, and the handbook suggests doing so concisely, although
"body parts are not acceptable." Still, advises Jamie Lee Curtis, "Don't
say the celebrity looks better in person. Since they're supposed to look
good on screen, it makes them feel like they're not doing their job well."
Still, the book advises "don't tell the celebrity that they look better
on screen, either. Please."
38.RECENT TITLES: BOOKS ABOUT
MOVIES AND TELEVISION
Ain't It
Cool? Hollywood's Redheaded Stepchild Speaks Out by Harry Knowles, Paul
Cullum (Contributor), Mark Ebner (Contributor), $23.95
Harry Knowles is the guy behind
the "Ain't It Cool News" Website (or the AICN to its initiates). This is
a book about movies and the movies business from the perspective of a fan.
Knowles writes some autobiographical things about himself and his famous
site, but spends a great deal of the book on the movies and what's wrong
with them.
Bad Blood
: An Illustrated Guide to Psycho Cinema by Christian Fuchs, $19.95
Mass-murderers, serial killers,
human cannibals: 20th century history is awash with atrocious, apparently
motiveless acts of violence. As the century progressed, the media coverage
increased, and these psychopathic outsiders, such as Ed Gein, Jeffrey Dahmer,
Ted Bundy and Charles Manson, directly inspired movie directors and producers.
Detailed case studies and their related film(s) are illustrated with true
crime photos and film stills.
Behind the
Mask of SPIDER-MAN: The Secrets of the Movie by Mark Cotta Vaz, $20.00
As you may have guessed, this
is a book about the upcoming SPIDER-MAN movie. It's filled with interviews
and photos. From script to soundstage, from costumes to visual effects,
the book captures the creative energies of those responsible for this cinematic
act of illusion.
English Gothic:
A Century of Horror Cinema by Jonathan Rigby, $29.95
From the silent era to HELLRAISER
and beyond, this is a compelling illustrated history of the British horror
film, featuring 100 key movies and 150 illustrations, stills, and photos.
FARSCAPE:
The Illustrated Companion by Paul Simpson , David Hughes, Paul Simpson,
$12.95
If you’re a fan of the series
and a behind-the-scenes junkie, this is your book. It gives a thorough
episode by episode review of season one and a bit of season two. It covers
the origin of the series, music, writing, directing, the characters, the
stars, the effects and a lexicon of words and references.
The Grove
Book of Hollywood by Christopher Silvester (Editor), $18.50
This book gathers over 150 recollections
taken from magazine articles, production logs, and oral histories alike,
providing a decade-by-decade timeline of some of Hollywood's most colorful
figures. We hear from movie moguls, ambitious starlets, embittered screenwriters,
bemused outsiders such as P. G. Wodehouse and Evelyn Waugh, and others.
Their personal recollections range from the affectionate to the scathing,
and from the cynical to the grandiose, and they offer a portrait of the
city from its humble origins to the height of glamour. We encounter the
first people to move to Hollywood, when it was a dusty village on the outskirts
of Los Angeles in the first years of the twentieth century and eventually
work our way to the 90's.
Horror: A
Biography by E. Michael Jones, $17.95
There's more to horror than
cheap thrills. Beginning with Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, tales of horror
have consistently drawn a connection between transgressive sex and violent
death. In this history from the French Revolution to modern Hollywood,
E. Michael Jones reveals the origins of horror in the lives of its creators.
We examine the life of Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker, Steven King, Anne Rice,
and Wes Craven and a look at “what lies beneath.” contemporary horror cinema.
Making It
Big in the Movies : The Autobiography of Richard "Jaws" Kiel by Richard
Kiel, $24.95
This is the perfect book for
the obsessive/compulsive James Bond fan. Now that you know every major
fact and minor nuance of Mr. Bond and the men who've played him get to
know one of his most notorious nemeses - "Jaws" from MOONRAKER and THE
SPY WHO LOVED ME. Besides writing about his Bond experiences he tells the
story of his career from his early extra, prop and stunt work, through
his TV roles in THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E., THE WILD WILD WEST, THE MONKEES
and other classic series, as well as films as varied as THE NUTTY PROFESSOR,
SILVER STREAK and PALE RIDER.
Science Fiction,
Horror: A Sight and Sound Reader by Kim Newman (Editor), $19.95
What in contemporary cinema
is a horror film and what is a science fiction movie? BLADE RUNNER (1982)
is as much film noir as science fiction, and it is a literary adaptation.
The latest remake of THE MUMMY (1999) is more an effects fantasy or action/adventure
than straightforward horror. This book provides a diverse overview of trends
that have shaped sci-fi/horror in the last decade. It explores how recent
films like THE FIGHT CLUB and THE TRUMAN SHOW have impinged on more traditional
territory and have tested the limits of conventional understandings of
these most central of genres. The book engages with a host of topics that
have emerged over the last decade: vampire movies, body horror, the nuclear
threat, childhood terror, artificial worlds, and postmodern horror.
A Skin For
Dancing In: Possession, Witchcraft and Voodoo in Film by Tanya Krzywinska
$24.95
The cinema of the occult celebrates
the irrational and the magical, and it offers powerful and seductive narratives
of desire, transgression, and fantasy. Why are magic and demonology such
attractive subjects for filmmakers? Is the cinema of the occult an expression
of a cultural need for the experience of the sacred? What cultural meanings
are invested in demons, witches, possessed nuns, and voodoo priests? Read
this book and find out.
Slayer: An
Expanded and Updated Unofficial and Unauthorized Guide to BUFFY THE VAMPIRE
SLAYER by Keith Topping, $9.95
A guide to the first five seasons
of BUFFY. In a style that captures the unique humor of the show, Keith
Topping provides a complete episode-by-episode guide, with each episode
broken down into recurring categories. He unearths pop culture references
and soundtrack information, serves up the best lines of dialogue, exposes
continuity errors and includes a section on the BUFFY novels and Internet
sites.
Smokin Rockets:
The Romance of Technology in American Film, Radio and Television, 1945
to 1962 by Patrick Lucanio, Gary Coville, $32.00
This new book from McFarland
examines science and science fiction in American culture beginning in the
year World War II ended and going to 1962, the year of John Glenn’s orbital
flight and the Cuban Missile Crisis. The radio work of Arch Oboler and
the significance of his “Rocket from Manhattan,” which aired only one month
after the dropping of the first atomic bomb and asked serious questions
about the use of atomic energy, are examined. Other topics are the conflict
between the free world and the Communist world in the context of science
fiction plot lines, the dangers of science as shown in films like GODZILLA,
THEM!, THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, and radio and television programs,
the flying saucer phenomenon and the treatment of such stories in the media
(with special attention given to the 1956 documentary UFO), the changing
and more positive depictions of scientists, television programs like FLASH
GORDON and SPACE PATROL, the shift in the balance of world power due to
the successful launching of Sputnik I by the Russians in 1957, the “end
of the world” theme in science fiction, and the American journey into space.
39.RECENT TITLES: MEDIA TIE-INS
BATTLESTAR
GALACTICA Classic by Glen A. Larson, Robert Thurston, $14.00
This novelization is a re-release
of a pair of novelizations from two of the series' episodes. It's set at
the end of a bloody thousand-year war between humans and the Cylon Empire.
Peace soon turns to bloodshed when the Cylons launch an unexpected attack
against humanity's twelve Colonial worlds, wiping out most of the inhabitants.
BUFFY THE
VAMPIRE SLAYER: Tempted Champions by Yvonne Navarro, $6.99
Buffy's shaken to learn that
Celina, the new girl in town, is actually a vamp who's heard of Buffy's
rep. She's here to challenge the Slayer. Even Angel - in L.A. - is concerned
that this time, Buffy may be in over her head. Buffy learns Celina is not
just any vamp - she was once a Slayer herself. Buffy has struggled with
her own dark side enough to question the subtle distinction between "Slayer"
and killer. If Celina turned Buffy, and Willow restored Buffy's soul, could
she possibly find love with Angel at last? And, more importantly, would
she still be a hero?
DOCTOR WHO:
Anachrophobia by Jonathan Morris, $6.95
A disabled TARDIS forces the
crew to land on a planet in revolt, among colonists trying to escape from
the clutches of the Plutocratic Empire. The principal weapon in this conflict
is time itself: without protection, soldiers are aged to death in seconds.
DOCTOR WHO:
Palace of the Red Sun by Christopher Bulis, $6.95
Interstellar tyrant Glavis Judd
has usurped the world-kingdom Esselven; however, his plans for total conquest
are thwarted. The royal family have escaped the planet, taking with them
the keys to vital archives and systems essential to Esselven's governance.
PANIC ROOM
by James Ellison, $6.99
This is a novelization of the
new Jodie Foster film.
SPACE: 1999
Alien Seed by E. C. Tubb, $5.99
This is a re-issue of a SPACE:
1999 novel written by British science fiction author, E.C. Tubb. It's a
fast-paced, adventure novel that for followers of the television series.
THE SCORPION
KING by Max Allen Collins, $6.99
This is a novelization of the
new film.
SPIDER-MAN
by Peter David, $6.99
This is a novelization of the
coming film. Peter David held true to the script but he fleshed it out
a lot. He says, "I added a framing prologue and wrote an entire sequence
detailing a 5-year-old Peter Parker's arrival at Ben and May's home after
his parents died. In short, you try and take a movie story, which is told
in very visual terms, and try and convert it into the more literary requirements
of a novel." The book will follow the film's story closely, David said.
"No differences," he said. "Just additions. Plus some in-jokes for readers.
For instance, I have Aunt May and Uncle Ben, upon first learning of the
existence of our hero, reacting thusly: May incredulously says, 'Spider-Man?
SPIDER-MAN?' And Ben replies with a shrug, 'Apparently he does whatever
a spider can.'"
STAR TREK
THE NEXT GENERATION: A Hard Rain by Dean Wesley Smith, $6.99
The Starship Enterprise has
lost power and control, its own momentum carrying it ever deeper into a
dangerous zone of warped space and time. And the only way out is hidden
somewhere in the mean streets and back alleys of old Frisco. But so is
a cold-blooded murderer. Now Dixon Hill, alias Jean-Luc Picard, must get
to the bottom of a tangled mystery that threatens the lives of everyone
aboard the Enterprise !
STAR WARS:
Jango Fett by Ron Marz, $5.95
This Dark Horse Comics graphic
novel features Jango Fett and a glimpse of Boba Fett, the most mysterious
and beloved of all the STAR WARS rogues. A bounty hunter and killer is
looking for a lucrative big job. When Jango is hired to recover a rare
and extremely valuable artifact, he thinks this could be his biggest score.
Only one obstacle stands between him and his prize: a beautiful and deadly
rival!
STAR WARS:
Jedi Vs. Sith by Darko MacAn, Raul Fernandez, $17.95
According to legend, the Sith
are always two - a master and an apprentice. It was not always this way.
A thousand years ago the Sith were many and they battled endlessly with
the Jedi Army of Light. Lord Kaan ruled the Sith Brotherhood of Darkness
and sought the destruction of Lord Hoth and his Jedi followers. Recruited
into the war by a scout, three friends venture onto the battleground and
march into destinies far greater and different than any of them could have
ever imagined.
40.RECENT TITLES: OTHER BOOKS
OF INTEREST
Everything's
Eventual: 14 Dark Tales by Stephen King, $28.00
We don't normally include non-media
related fiction in The ICS Files, but since Stephen King is such a favorite
of so many club members, here it is. This is the first collection of stories
King has published in nine years. It includes one O. Henry Prize winner,
two other award winners, four stories published by The New Yorker, and
"Riding the Bullet," King's original e-book, which is making its print
debut with this anthology.
movienewsmovienewsmovienewsmovienewsmovienewsmovienewsmovienewsmovienewsmovienewsmov
41.QUICK TAKES
JAMES BOND #20 IS NOW DIE ANOTHER
DAY. The upcoming 20th James Bond movie finally has a name: DIE ANOTHER
DAY. According to producers Michael Wilson and Barbara Broccoli of EON
Productions, "DIE ANOTHER DAY carries on the tradition of the Ian Fleming
stories and reflects the excitement and mystery of our latest script.".
. . ROBERT ALTMAN DISCUSSES THE WORST FILMS EVER DONE. Robert Altman is
known for directing films that no one has ever heard of. He seems to relish
obscurity. He was asked recently about the all-time worst films. "TITANIC
I thought was the most dreadful piece of work I've ever seen in my entire
life. Another film that I think is equally bad was AMERICAN BEAUTY. So
badly acted and directed. But people like that." And I thought he was going
to say MONSTER PLANET. . . . THE OUTER LIMITS IS COMING TO THE BIG SCREEN.
MGM has signed a deal with the family writing team Gerald DiPego and his
sons Justin and Zachary to bring THE OUTER LIMITS to the big screen. There
are hopes that the film will do well enough to become a franchise. . .
. SCHWARZENEGGER AND THE ZOMBIE SHUFFLE. We reported, once upon a time,
that Schwarzenegger would star in the remake of I AM LEGEND (the Richard
Mathesson book has previously been filmed as THE LAST MAN ON EARTH and
THE OMEGA MAN). Ahnuld won't be in it after all, but will stick around
to produce it. Will Smith is being approached about the role. At one point
the director was to be Ridley Scott. Now it might be Michael Bay. What
could be a stark nail-biter about the last man on Earth fighting off death
might mutate into a loud effects-plagued series of explosions and witty
wisecracks. We'll see. . . . T3 CASTS A NEW JOHN CONNOR. Nick Stahl (IN
THE BEDROOM) will take on the role of an adult John Connor in TERMINATOR
3: RISE OF THE MACHINES. Stahl, 22, takes over the role originated by Edward
Furlong. . . . GOOD NEWS/ BAD NEWS FOR LOTR'S OSCAR HOPES. First the good
news - THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING won four Academy
Awards. Now the bad news - it lost nine. It got stuck in the technical-acheivement
ghetto where imaginative films often find themselves - winning for best
cinematography, best score, best makeup and best visual effects. It lost
in the big categories like Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor, Best Director
and Best Screenplay. Oh well, we've got two more chances. . . . DAREDEVIL
IS IN PRODUCTION. After years of rumors and false starts DAREDEVIL is finally
becoming a reality. Principal photography began the end of March. Based
on the Marvel Comics series of the same name, DAREDEVIL stars Ben Affleck
as blind lawyer Matt Murdock, who leads a secret life as a masked vigilante.
The film also stars Jennifer Garner (ALIAS), Michael Clarke Duncan (THE
GREEN MILE), Colin Farrell, Jon Favreau, Joe Pantoliano (THE MATRIX), David
Keith and newcomer Scott Terra. . . . ROLAND EMMERICH IS HEADED FOR ALIEN
PRISON. You are alone on an alien vessel. You have been studied. You meet
five others treated the same way, and now your alien abductors plan to
attack Earth and your group must stop them. This is ALIEN PRISON. Director
Roland Emmerich (INDEPENDENCE DAY, GODZILLA) bought the script by Andrew
Marlowe (AIR FORCE ONE and HOLLOW MAN). He is in negotiations with Columbia
to direct and produce the script. So once again, the aliens are coming
to a theater near you.
42.THE WRATH OF RAZZIE
The Golden
Raspberries have spoken. They have decided who was the worst of 2001. The
big "winner" (if that's the right word) is Tom Green and his widely reviled
"shock comedy" FREDDY GOT FINGERED. The film, slammed by CNN as "the worst
movie ever released by a major studio in Hollywood history," won a total
of 5 gold-spray-painted $4.79 trophies, including Worst Picture. Four Awards
went to Green himself, who became the first on-screen talent in the Razzies'
22-year history to attend and accept his awards. The five awards ties FREDDY
with MOMMIE DEAREST, THE POSTMAN and WILD WILD WEST.
"I'd just
like to say to all the other nominees in the audience, I don't think that
I deserve it anymore than the rest of you," said Green as he accepted the
Worst Picture trophy. "I'd like to say that. I don't think that it would
be true, though."
"Winners"
were announced the now-traditional 24 hours before the Academy Awards (referred
to as, simply, "that OTHER Award Show"). The show came complete with a
tacky opening number ("Hooray for What's No Good!") tuxedoed presenters,
envelopes and clips of nominated films. Here's a look at the results:
Worst Picture: FREDDY GOT FINGERED
(20th Century-Fox)
Worst Actor: Tom Green/FREDDY
GOT FINGERED
Worst Actress: Mariah Carey/GLITTER
(20th Century-Fox/Columbia)
Worst Supporting Actor: Charlton
Heston/CATS & DOGS (Warner Bros.) PLANET OF THE APES (20th Century-Fox)
and TOWN & COUNTRY (New Line)
Worst Supporting Actress: Estella
Warren/DRIVEN (Warner Bros.) and PLANET OF THE APES
Worst Screen Couple: Tom Green
& any animal he abuses/FREDDY GOT FINGERED
Worst Remake or Sequel: PLANET
OF THE APES (20th Century-Fox)
Worst Director: Tom Green/FREDDY
GOT FINGERED
Worst Screenplay: FREDDY GOT
FINGERED, Written by Tom Green and Derek Harvie
43.THE SATURN NOMINATIONS ARE
IN!
The Motion
Picture Academy usually pays little attention to the field of imaginative
cinema each year. They aren't the only "Academy" and the Oscar isn't the
only award.
Welcome once
again to Saturn Nominations brought to you by the Academy of Science Fiction,
Fantasy and Horror Films. This L.A. based organization will be giving out
awards for excellence in imaginative cinema for the 28th year.
HARRY POTTER
AND THE SORCERER'S STONE topped the nominations with nine, including best
fantasy film. THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING tied with
BROTHERHOOD OF THE WOLF for the next-highest number of nominations, with
eight each.
The Saturn
awards will be presented in June in Century City. Look for the results
in our July issue.
Best Science Fiction Film: A.I.
ARTIFICAL INTELLIGENCE, JURASSIC PARK III, LARA CROFT: TOMB RAIDER, THE
ONE, PLANET OF THE APES, VANILLA SKY
Best Fantasy Film: HARRY POTTER
AND THE SORCERER'S STONE, THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE
RING, MONSTERS, INC., THE MUMMY RETURNS, SHREK, SPY KIDS.
Best Horror Film: THE DEVIL'S
BACKBONE, FROM HELL, HANNIBAL, JEEPERS CREEPERS, THE OTHERS, THIRTEEN GHOSTS,
Best Action/Adventure/Thriller
Film:BLACK HAWK DOWN, BROTHERHOOD OF THE WOLF, JOY RIDE, THE MAN WHO WASN'T
THERE, MEMENTO, MULHOLLAND DRIVE.
Best Actor: Tom Cruise-VANILLA
SKY, Johnny Depp-FROM HELL, Anthony Hopkins-HANNIBAL, Guy Pearce- MEMENTO,
Kevin Spacey-K-PAX, Billy Bob Thornton-THE MAN WHO WASN'T THERE.
Best Actress: Kate Beckinsale-SERENDIPITY,
Nicole Kidman-THE OTHERS, Angelina Jolie-LARA CROFT: TOMB RAIDER, Julianne
Moore-HANNIBAL, Frances O'Connor-A.I. ARTIFICAL INTELLIGENCE, Naomi Watts-MULHOLLAND
DRIVE.
Best Supporting Actor: Robbie
Coltrane-HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE, Mark Decascos-BROTHERHOOD
OF THE WOLF, Ian McKellen-THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE
RING, Eddie Murphy-SHREK, Jeremy Piven-SERENDIPITY, Tim Roth-PLANET OF
THE APES.
Best Supporting Actress: Monica
Bellucci-BROTHERHOOD OF THE WOLF, Helena Bonham Carter-PLANET OF THE APES,
Cameron Diaz-VANILLA SKY, Fionnula Flanagan-THE OTHERS, Frances McDormand-THE
MAN WHO WASN'T THERE, Maggie Smith-HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE.
Best Performance by a Younger
Actor: Freddie Boath-THE MUMMY RETURNS, Justin Long-JEEPERS CREEPERS, Alakina
Mann-THE OTHERS, Haley Joel Osment-A.I. ARTIFICAL INTELLIGENCE, Daniel
Radcliffe-HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE, Emma Watson-HARRY POTTER
AND THE SORCERER'S STONE.
Best Direction: Alejandro Amenabar-THE
OTHERS, Chris Columbus-HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE, Christophe
Gans-BROTHERHOOD OF THE WOLF, Peter Jackson-THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE
FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING, David Lynch-MULHOLLAND DRIVE, Steven Spielberg-A.I.
ARTIFICAL INTELLIGENCE.
Best Writing: THE OTHERS, MONSTERS,
INC., BROTHERHOOD OF THE WOLF, SHREK, A.I. ARTIFICAL INTELLIGENCE, THE
LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING.
Best Music: MULHOLLAND DRIVE,
BROTHERHOOD OF THE WOLF, SHREK, THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF
THE RING, A.I. ARTIFICAL INTELLIGENCE, VANILLA SKY.
Best Costume: PLANET OF THE
APES, FROM HELL, BROTHERHOOD OF THE WOLF, THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP
OF THE RING, HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE, MOULIN ROUGE.
Best Makeup: HANNIBAL, HARRY
POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE, THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP
OF THE RING, THE MUMMY RETURNS, PLANET OF THE APES, VANILLA SKY.
Best Special Effects: A.I. ARTIFICAL
INTELLIGENCE, HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE, JURASSIC PARK III,
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING, THE MUMMY RETURNS, BROTHERHOOD
OF THE WOLF.
Best Network Television Series:
ANGEL, BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, DARK ANGEL, ENTERPRISE,
SMALLVILLE, THE X-FILES.
Best Syndicated/Cable Television
Series: ANDROMEDA, THE CHRONICLE, FARSCAPE, THE INVISIBLE MAN, STARGATE
SG-l, WITCHBLADE.
Best Single Television Presentation:
EARTH VS. THE SPIDER, JACK AND THE BEANSTALK - THE REAL STORY, THE LOST
EMPIRE, THE MISTS OF AVALON, SHE CREATURE, TEENAGE CAVEMAN.
Best Actor in a Television Series:
Richard Dean Anderson- STARGATE SG-l, Scott Bakula-ENTERPRISE, David Boreanaz-ANGEL,
Ben Browder-FARSCAPE, Robert Patrick-THE X-FILES, Tom Welling-SMALLVILLE.
Best Actress in a Television
Series: Jessica Alba-DARK ANGEL, Gillian Anderson-THE X-FILES, Claudia
Black- FARSCAPE, Yancy Butler-WITCHBLADE, Sarah Michelle Gellar-BUFFY THE
VAMPIRE SLAYER, Kristin Kreuk- SMALLVILLE.
Best Supporting Actor in a Television
Series: Christopher Judge-STARGATE SG-l, James Marsters-BUFFY THE VAMPIRE
SLAYER, Michael Rosenbaum-SMALLVILLE, Anthony Simcoe-FARSCAPE, Connor Trinneer-
ENTERPRISE, Michael Weatherly-DARK ANGEL.
Best Supporting Actress in a
Television Series: Jolene Blalock-DARK ANGEL, Gigi Edgley-FARSCAPE, Annabeth
Gish-THE X-FILES, Alyson Hannigan-BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, Amanda Tapping-STARGATE
SG-l, Michelle Trachtenberg- BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER.
Best DVD Release: BRUISER, GINGER
SNAPS, LADY AND THE TRAMP 2: SCAMP'S ADVENTURE, PANIC, RAT, WITH A FRIEND
LIKE HARRY.
Best DVD Special Edition Release:
DR. SEUSS' HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS, FINAL FANTASY: THE SPIRITS WITHIN,
LARA CROFT: TOMB RAIDER, MOULIN ROUGE, PLANET OF THE APES, SHREK.
Best DVD Classic Film Release:
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS, STAR
TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE (Director's Edition), STAR WARS: EPISODE I - THE
PHANTOM MENACE, SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE, SUSPIRA.
Special Award Recipients: The
Dr. Donald A. Reed Award - Sherry Lansing, The Life Career Award - Stan
Lee, Drew Struzan, Special Achievement Award - Anchor Bay Entertainment,
The George Pal Memorial Award - Samuel Z. Arkoff (posthumously)
44.THE CAT IN THE BEER-SOAKED
HAT
When you
think of Dr. Seuss's most popular character, the Cat in the Hat, do any
movie images come to mind? Well they do if you're CAT IN THE HAT producer
Brian Grazer. "I think of him like Bluto, the character [John] Belushi
played in ANIMAL HOUSE," the producer said. "He took the characters on
a ride more intense than anyone expected, and that's what the Cat does."
Hmmmm.
Mike Myers
will headline the live-action movie. "The blend of his irreverence works
very well with the Seussian child sensibilities," Grazer said. He said
that Seuss's widow, Audrey Geisel, approved of Myers' casting. "Having
Mike puts the story on steroids," Grazer said. Myers replaces Tim Allen,
who left the project to work on SANTA CLAUSE 2.
Myers will
undergo prosthetic transformations from makeup guru Rick Baker. Unlike
Jim Carrey's HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS, CAT will be aimed more at
adults.
45.DEVLIN STUMBLED ON THE TITLE,
"EIGHT-LEGGED FREAKS"
Dean Devlin,
producer of the upcoming giant-spider movie EIGHT-LEGGED FREAKS, said that
the film's title started out as a joke. Regular ICS Files readers might
remember that producers changed the film's original title, ARAC ATTACK,
after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, to prevent people mistaking it for
"Iraq Attack." "The studio re-titled the movie ATTACK OF THE KILLER SPIDERS,"
Devlin said. "I said, 'No, if you're going to go in that direction, you
have to go much more campy. Do a title like BIG ASS SPIDERS or EIGHT-LEGGED
FREAKS. Something like that.' A week later, I got a call from marketing
saying, 'They love your title!' 'What title?' 'EIGHT-LEGGED FREAKS.' 'No!
I was just kidding!'" Devlin said with a laugh. But he admitted, "I really
like the title now. In the beginning, I was like, 'I was kidding,' but
now I like it, because not only does it represent the time, it also represents
the tone of the movie. This movie is that kind of silly."
EIGHT-LEGGED
FREAKS is a low-budget, summer monster-movie homage to films like THEM
and TARANTULA. It features a whole menagerie of arachnids, Devlin said.
"There's the trapdoor spiders, which come from the ground, literally out
of trapdoors and yank people and animals down into the trapdoors. There
are the orb weavers, and the males web up their prey and drag them to the
queen. The queen then sucks it dry from the inside out, while it's in the
cocoon. Then there's the spitters. Those are the ceiling crawlers, and
they spit this goo. Then there's the tarantula, which is like the big-muscled
tank of the group. Then there's the jumpers. The jumpers can leap. There's
a sequence, [which] I think is one of the most fun sequences I've ever
worked on, where you've got a bunch of dirt bikers racing for their lives
from these jumpers, who are jumping at 60 miles an hour! It's just a wild,
fun sequence."
Look for
EIGHT-LEGGED FREAKS this summer. It opens July 12.
46.FREDDY VS. JASON IS FINALLY
GOING TO HAPPEN
New Line
co-chairman Bob Shaye said that he has green-lighted a script for the long-proposed
FREDDY VS. JASON movie, based on characters from the NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET
and FRIDAY THE 13th franchises. "The basic idea is how does Freddy come
back after his banishment and how does he use Jason and eventually have
to vanquish him, and then how do the children of Elm Street have to get
rid of everybody?" Shaye said.
Shaye said
the proposed movie makes one important reference to a tradition of both
ELM STREET and FRIDAY THE 13th. "It acknowledges [them] to the extent that
at the end of every one of the Freddy films and at the end of every one
of the Jason films, the bad guys get sent back," Shaye said. "Now, I think
one of the two characters is going to try to enlist the other in concert
to come back again and maybe not have to leave. That's basically what the
storyline is." The new script does not specifically address events in the
latest NIGHTMARE movie, Wes Craven's NEW NIGHTMARE, in which Shaye and
other New Line Cinema stars appeared as themselves.
Shaye said
the new film also has a sense of humor. "It's funny in a sort of macabre,
cynical way, which is what all of the Freddy scripts have been," he said.
"It doesn't abuse the fan base or condescend [or say], 'We can make jokes,
because this is really all bullsh-t.' It's scary, it's wry, and in fact
even today one of the writers was alluding to the Renny Harlin ELM STREET
[PART 4], where in the waterbed scene, he said, 'How do you like this wet
dream?' That's funny, but it's nasty."
47.SCREENWRITER SAYS "NO" TO
A KINDER, GENTLER GHOST RIDER?
David Goyer
(the sreenwriter for BLADE II) wrote the script for the proposed GHOST
RIDER movie. He said that the on-again, off-again project will have to
get by without him. "I'm hearing now they want a kinder, gentler GHOST
RIDER," Goyer said. "The film that [director Stephen] Norrington and [Nicholas]
Cage and I would have made was a very tough film. It would have been fantastic,
but it was a dark movie. I'm hearing now that they want something with
humor in it, too. I don't know, man. It's kind of an oxymoron to me. The
guy's got a flaming skull. I guess you can do Happy Meals with that. [But]
Norrington and I both said we didn't want to be involved with a PG GHOST
RIDER."
The movie
now goes into turnaround. It will hit the stack of potential Nicholas Cage
movies.
48.DEL TORO GOES FROM BLADE II
TO HELLBOY
Director
Guillermo del Toro said that his upcoming comic-based movie HELLBOY will
differ from his latest film, BLADE II, despite their common comic book
origins. "It's going to be a great comic-book movie, but it's going to
be much more personal and very character-oriented, although it will have
a big portion of action," del Toro said.
Where BLADE
II has fast and furious martial-arts battles, del Toro promises a unique
tone to HELLBOY's action scenes. "Very different, because Hellboy is not
an agile, fast guy," del Toro said. "He must weigh 650 pounds of muscle
and rock because of the hand. So it's basically a completely different
direction."
As for casting,
del Toro said, "All I know is Hellboy is Ron Perlman." HELLBOY is currently
in development.
49.EXPECT BIGGER F/X IN TWO TOWERS
Oscar-winning
LORD OF THE RINGS visual effects wizards told reporters that the special
effects in the second RINGS film, THE TWO TOWERS, will surpass those of
the first one. "It has to top the first one in both quality and quantity
of effects due to its sheer epic nature," effects wrangler Jim Rygiel said
backstage at the Oscar ceremony. "There is going to be a completely [computer-generated]
villain, huge battle scenes, and it's going to be much bigger. This one
was sort of like a warm-up."
Orlando Bloom,
who reprises the role of elvish archer Legolas in TOWERS said that the
biggest challenge was the climactic Battle of Helm's Deep, which takes
place entirely in the rain. "When it's overcast and raining, that just
heightens all the dramatic tension. That was nine weeks of night shoots
that pretty much broke most of us. It was physically very demanding. We
were filming it on a quarry, so just the uneven ground was a challenge,
and it was nights."
Richard Taylor,
who won an Oscar for makeup and visual effects on the first RINGS film,
said that the creatures in the second and third films echo the movies'
metaphorical progression. "We tried very hard to create the analogous journey,
from cottage-industry England right through to industrial-revolution northern
England," Taylor said. "Through that transition, the worlds are populated
by different creatures of very different organic feel. There's very much
a humanoid feeling of the cave troll, the Ray Harryhausen-esque watcher
in the water. More fantastical as we journey into film two. The Mûmak
[an elephantine beast] stands as the biggest thing we've ever made. It
was 14-and-a-half meters square, a massive structure, took 18 house-removal
tracks to get it to location. You'll be seeing that in film two. The creatures
just become more and more fantastical and more visceral and real and gritty
as they take on the mantle of Sauron's world."
Unfortunately
you've got a wait before you'll be able to see any of these splendid images.
THE TWO TOWERS opens Dec. 18.
50.THE MARVEL MOVIE MACHINE IS
READY TO CRANK 'EM OUT
Marvel Comics
studio chief Avi Arad announced that plans are already in the works to
begin shooting a sequel to Sam Raimi's SPIDER-MAN movie, though the first
film doesn't open until May. Raimi is on board to direct the proposed sequel,
which is eyeing a January 2003 production start, the site reported.
Arad added
that plans are underway for BLADE III and HULK 2 (HULK just went into production
in March with a June, 2003 release target), which is in development and
targeted for a May 2005 release, and an Elektra spinoff of the upcoming
DAREDEVIL movie. Marvel still plans feature-film versions of Dr. Strange,
Fantastic Four, Deathlok and Namor, based on its Sub-Mariner series.
For SPIDER-MAN
2, everything except the costume will change, Arad said. "He'll deal with
new villains. He'll deal with new issues. It takes the first movie, the
origin movie really, to tell the story to explain the world. It's tougher
to deal with more than one villain. It's really easy in our universe to
take our sequels and make them uniquely new from sequel to sequel."
51.MEN IN BLACK 2 ALIENS REVEALED
"Men in MEN
IN BLACK 2 make-up effect wizard Rick Baker said that “just trying to come
up with something that you haven't seen a million times before” was his
key challenge in concocting new creatures for the movie. From the looks
of the aliens already revealed, like Split Guy, Spider Bunny, Tendrils,
Robot Squid and Corn Face, Baker and his crew may have accomplished their
mission.
To see for
yourself what these strange creations look like, head on over to the official
site for "MEN IN BLACK 2. They'll be revealing a new one every Friday.
MEN IN BLACK 2 hits theaters July 3.
52.DEPP IN NEVERLAND
Johnny Depp
will play Sir James M. Barrie, the Scottish author of the play Peter Pan,
in Miramax Films' NEVERLAND, to be directed by Marc Forster (MONSTER'S
BALL). Shooting is set to begin in June in London.
David Magee
adapted NEVERLAND from Allan Knee's play "The Man Who Was Peter Pan." It
tells the story of how Peter Pan came to be staged, based on the author's
relationship with four fatherless boys and their mother in turn-of-the-century
London.
53.POTTER PATTER
Actor Jason
Isaacs, who played Mel Gibson's nemesis in THE PATRIOT, has signed on to
play another slimy character - Lucius Malfoy, father of Harry Potter's
antagonistic schoolmate Draco Malfoy. Isaacs will be in the HARRY POTTER
AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS, along with the casting of Miriam Margolyes
as Professor Sprout and Gemma Jones as Madam Pomfrey. As mentioned in an
earlier ICS Files, Kenneth Branagh will play the dashing (and useless)
Gilderoy Lockhart.
54.MABIUS TALKS RESIDENT EVIL
2
Eric Mabius,
who co-starred in RESIDENT EVIL, said that he may appear in director Paul
Anderson's proposed sequel - even before the first film hit theaters. The
next one is tentatively titled RESIDENT EVIL: NEMESIS, with director Paul
W.S. Anderson returning to write and produce the sequel.
In a possible
spoiler for the sequel, Mabius said, "This [film] brings us up to
above ground in Raccoon City. I'm going to be Nemesis in the sequel. I'll
be putting on 30 or 40 pounds and three or four hours a day in prosthetics.
This guy has tentacles and all this crazy stuff going on." In the first
film, Mabius plays Matt, a character who did not appear in any game. Matt
gets infected with the T virus, and the evil scientists take him away,
saying, "We want him in the Nemesis program." To play his mutated form
in the sequel, Mabius said that he will study the game in which Nemesis
appears.
"I prepare
to an annoying extent usually, so I'll probably dissect every possible
aspect . . . of the character," Mabius said. "Obviously, it will be predicated
on where the character goes in the script, but I'll gather everything I
can about the character [from the game]." Anderson denied that a script
was completed. But Mabius suggested it was a done deal. "When Bernd Eichinger,
the head of Constantin Films, saw an early cut in December, he wanted Paul
to start writing the sequel," Mabius said. "Based on some of the pre-sales
alone, Sony is demanding a sequel already. It's pretty exciting and wasn't
really anticipated."
55.SPIDER-MAN 2 IS IN EARLY PRE-PRODUCTION
Laura Ziskin,
producer of Sam Raimi's SPIDER-MAN movie, announced that work is about
to commence on a sequel, even though the first movie doesn't open until
May. Tobey Maguire is set to reprise his role as Peter Parker in the proposed
sequel.
"We're making
the deal, so I don't think I can announce it," Ziskin said, but confirmed
that director Raimi will be back behind the camera for any further Spider-Man
adventures. "We wouldn't do it without him." Production on a second film
could begin as early as January.
56.THE FORCE COMES A CALLIN'
TO MOVIE EXHIBITORS
Exhibitors
who watched a 10-minute film featuring scenes from STAR WARS: EPISODE II
- ATTACK OF THE CLONES at their big annual convention in Las Vegas indicated
that they liked what they saw. Produced with digital cameras and screened
with digital projectors, the film had what one attendee called "an atmosphere
that just doesn't look like regular film. ... It just looks so impossible,
some of the images that have been created here." Producer Rick McCallum
told the exhibitors at the screening: "The one thing I can promise you
is this EPISODE II will deliver and big time."
Let's hope
this isn't just pre-release hype. It would be nice to go to a really fun
STAR WARS film.
57.THE JIZZ-GUYS STRIKE BACK!
Some time
back we ran a story on a suit filed by Lucasfilm Ltd.(a company that has
enough money to buy their own working model of a Deathstar) against an
oddball porno company called Media Market Group over an adult parody called
STARBALLZ. Seemed Mr. Lucas didn't care for the sleaze-by-association that
the upstart gave their premium line. Lucasfilm Ltd. obtained a restraining
order against Media Market Group last year after telling a California judge
that STARBALLZ infringed on Lucas' intellectual property rights. The animated
parody follows the adventures of a sex-starved rebel across the galaxy;
several characters' names are bawdy takeoffs on those in STAR WARS.
A federal
judge in Oakland, Calif., later threw Lucasfilm's complaint out, saying
it was unlikely anyone would confuse Media Market Group's product with
the STAR WARS movies. Judge Claudia Wilken also agreed with Media Market
Group that the parody was protected by the First Amendment.
You might
have figured that would be that. Media Market group should thrilled that
they survived an encounter with George Lucas's legal wrecking crew. But
no, they're not done yet.
Media Market
Group is suing Lucas for $140 million, claiming that a spokesperson for
the producer-director-mogul falsely accused the company of marketing its
fare to kids. During the earlier proceedings, Lucasfilm spokeswoman Lynne
Hale said that "We feel strongly that the law does not allow for parody
to be a defense to a pornographic use of someone else's intellectual property,
especially when that use is directed to children."
Media Market
Group takes issue with the implication that it markets its products to
children. Its filing in the libel suit states that the company "has never
directed pornography to children; the cover of STARBALLZ states 'Adult
Only' in three places."
58.THE NEW TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE
WILL BE LOW GORE
Michael Bay
is remaking THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE without the meathooks and hammer
to the head of its illustrious first incarnation. Bay (never accused of
being "subtle" with movies like PEARL HARBOR and ARMAGEDDON) wants to replace
the blood with psychological terror. Bay is involved with a director's
committee against violence. He's taking a cue from such bloodless but scary
smash hits as THE SIXTH SENSE and THE OTHERS.
He's looking
for BLAIR WITCH style scares. He even mimicked BLAIR WITCH in the teaser
he created to get the project off the ground, complete with a dark screen,
loud footsteps and heavy breathing.
59.ROBO-AHNULD TERMINATES HUMANS
AGAIN IN WESTWORLD
The name
"Schwarzenegger" once had a lush green sound to it - the sound of currency
drifting into studio pockets. He made THE TERMINATOR, money rolled in.
T2 - nice thick nine-digit sums of it came cascading into hungry studio
accounts. CONAN, TOTAL RECALL, TRUE LIES - jeez, this guy poops gold, they
think. Like a latter day King Midas, every film he touches turns to gold,
doesn't it? Well, maybe not always. There was stuff like TWINS, KINDERGARTEN
COP and JUNIOR, but heck, even THEY made money. Not a lot. But some. And
when it came to action, he was Hollywood's ATM machine - shooting money
out of every orifice.
Then came
BATMAN & ROBIN in 1997. Then END OF DAYS in 1999. Then THE 6TH DAY
in 2000 (ouch!). Then COLLATERAL DAMAGE in 2002. Suddenly the studios beautiful
golden goose could only lay rotten eggs.
Schwarzenegger
has listened to The Beatles' advice - he's gotten, "back to where he once
belonged." He's revisiting familiar hits of the past in hopes of catching
fire again.
We've discussed
his work on TERMINATOR 3, the third CONAN THE BARBARIAN and TRUE LIES 2.
Now Ahnuld is stepping out of the world of sequels for the world of remakes.
He's about to star in a remake of Michael Crichton's 1973 hit WESTWORLD.
In WESTWORLD Schwarzenegger will take on the role of the Old West gunman
robot (played by Yul Brynner in the original) at a fantasy vacation spa
where customers are allowed to "kill" him. However, when the robot's circuits
go wacky, it's his turn to hunt down and kill the visitors (Michael Chrichton's
story of a high-tech resort where the amusements kill the visitors got
re-cycled into JURASSIC PARK).
"I am very
excited to be working on WESTWORLD, " Schwarzenegger said. "I loved the
original film when I saw it in 1973 and have wanted to remake it for several
years. After following the project for some time, I am really thrilled
it has finally come together at Warner Bros."
Seeing Schwarzenegger
as an unstoppable killer robot again should do a lot to help him reclaim
his momentum. We'll keep an eye on his progress for you.
60.COPPOLA SAYS HOLLYWOOD'S MISSED
THE BOAT ABOUT 9/11
Francis Ford
Coppola has criticized Hollywood for failing to tackle subjects like terrorism
and violence in bolder ways than it has in the past following the Sept.
11 attacks. Coppola said that he had been "hopeful that such a historical
event would bring about films of greater content that tried to shed light
on human contemporary life . . . [and] that would be more useful to people
to try to understand how to live together." Coppola indicated that he had
put his own film, MEGALOPOLIS, on hold following the attacks, since it
dealt in part with a Soviet satellite falling to earth and demolishing
a part of New York. "It took me a while to really scratch my head and think,
'well, how am I going to deal with this?'" he said. "I believe I've come
up with a way to approach it now."
61.JOHN WOO WANTS HIS FELLOW
FILMMAKERS TO STOP THE VIOLENCE
The name
"John Woo" has become synonymous with violence on the screen. If someone
says the words "a John Woo film" we usually don't conjure the image of
caring and compassionate people sitting down and reasoning together. His
films celebrate the surreal quality of extreme violence. Lead characters
tend to float through his films, both arms extended straight in front as
their long jackets billow behind them while in each of their clenched fists
high caliber pistols erupt with flame and death.
So it comes
as something of a shock to hear that Mr. Woo has pleaded with Hollywood
directors to cut down on violence in movies, after last year's terrorist
attacks on America. The Chinese moviemakers believes September 11 has changed
the American film industry. Woo says, "It's made us feel that when it comes
to violent movies there should be some control. We should have some changes.
We should instead make movies with encouraging stories, stories that give
people hope and promote mutual understanding."
John Woo's
next project is WINDTALKERS, starring Nicolas Cage. It's a World War II
flick. It'll be chock-a-block full of extensive and graphic battle action.
62.TERRY GILLIAM ATTACKS EYE
CANDY
Veteran Hollywood
director Terry Gilliam has laid into the modern cult of making movies which
are all style and no content. The former Monty Python man and TIME BANDITS
and TWELVE MONKEYS moviemaker says the industry needs to focus more on
ideas and less on cute camera angles. He says, "The guys who are shooting
films now are technically brilliant. But there's no content in their films.
I marvel at what I see and say: 'God, I wish I could have done a shot like
that.' But the shots are secondary for my films, and with some of these
films, it's all about the shots. I watched TOMB RAIDER last night. Technically,
it's brilliant, but it's just crap! Every shot is beautifully composed,
the lighting is great, the sets are great. But what's the point? I'm not
sure people know what points to make. I'm not sure how in touch with reality
anybody is, everybody's too busy phoning each other."
63.THE HEALTH OF HOLLYWOOD BY
THE NUMBERS
Don't be
fooled by MGM's logo, "art for the sake of art," Hollywood was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be (world without end - amen) driven by numbers.
It's a business. If the numbers are there, they're elated. If the dollars
are down - it's panic button time. As we steer our way through difficult
financial times for much of the rest of the country, movie production and
theatrical exhibition seem to be doing just fine, thank you.
The average
Hollywood film cost $47.7 million to produce in 2001, down 13 percent from
2000 and the lowest level since 1996, according to Jack Valenti, president
of the Motion Picture Association of America. However, he said, marketing
costs per movie averaged $31 million, 14 percent above those for the previous
year. The combined $78.7 million is 4.1 percent below the combined amount
for 2000, Valenti observed. "This is a most welcome piece of fiscal arithmetic,"
he said. The MPAA chief also noted that while the Sept. 11 attacks may
have dampened business elsewhere in the nation, he had little if any effect
on movie attendance. He also observed that the rise in the number of admissions
last year was partly driven by the average moviegoer attending more frequently
than in previous years - not by an increase in the actual number of moviegoers.
He said that 27 percent of all moviegoers bought 82 percent of the tickets.
John Fithian,
president of the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO), has indicated
that the industry is well on its way to recovery following a year and a
half that saw one theater chain after another seek bankruptcy protection.
Fithian said, "We essentially had our recession before the country did.
. . . The theater chains emerging from the bankruptcy process are leaner
and meaner."
64.IMAGINATIVE CINEMA FOR THE
MONTH OF APRIL
APRIL 5:
HIGH CRIMES is about a San Francisco attorney (Ashley Judd) who teams
up with a former military attorney (Morgan Freeman) to defend her husband,
(Jim Caviezel), in military court. The military has declared him a deserter,
charging him with participating in a mass killing in El Salvador. Can she
get him free? As the disturbing top secret details of the crime are revealed,
will she want to? The director is Carl Franklin (DEVIL IN A BLUE DRESS)
The screenwriters are Yuri Zeltser (BLACK & WHITE, EYE OF THE STORM)
and Cary Bickley (THE GUN IN BETTY LOU'S HANDBAG)
APRIL 12:
CHANGING LANES is the story of what happens one day in New York when a
young lawyer (Ben Affleck) and a businessman (Samuel L. Jackson) get their
lives entangled in a minor automobile accident on F.D.R. Drive. Their mutual
road rage escalates into a feud whose stakes spiral up to very dangerous
levels. Toni Collette, William Hurt and Amanda Peet are also featured in
the cast. The director is Roger Michell (NOTTING HILL). The screenwriters
are Chap Taylor (a former production assistant making his debut as a writer)
and Michael Tolkin (DEEP IMPACT).
One small
note about the production - when the cataclysm of September 11 shook New
York numerous movies were delayed or re-located. This was the first film
to shoot in New York following that tragic event. It may seem trivial now.
At the time it was a supreme show of confidence. No one knew if the terrorists
intended to immediately return to further assault the city.
FRAILTY
is the story of an FBI hunt for a serial killer who calls himself God's
Hands. A man, Fenton Meeks (Matthew McConaughey) comes forth to tell the
FBI that he thinks his brother Adam may be the man they're looking for.
The film uses flashbacks to tell the story of Meeks' disturbing childhood
at the hands of a father (Bill Paxton) who believed he was on a divine
mission to destroy demons that inhabit human bodies. Besides starring in
the movie, Bill Paxton will be making his directoral debut. The movie's
screenwriter, Brent Hanley, will be making his screenwriting debut with
this film.
APRIL 19:
THE SCORPION KING is the backstory to the recent MUMMY RETURNS. Set in
very early ancient Egypt, this is the story of how a peasant (Dwayne "The
Rock" Johnson) who wreaks revenge on a marauding army who pillaged his
village eventually becomes the First Pharaoh of Egypt, known as the Scorpion
King. The cast also features Michael Clarke Duncan and Kelly Hu. The director
is Chuck Russell (BLESS THE CHILD, ERASER, THE MASK). The rather sizable
writing staff includes Jonathan Hales ( STAR WARS: EPISODE II - ATTACK
OF THE CLONES), David Hayter (X-MEN), Will Osborne (DR. JEKYLL AND MS.
HYDE) and Stephen Sommers (the writer/director of THE MUMMY and THE MUMMY
RETURNS).
MURDER BY
NUMBERS centers on two gifted high school students (Ryan Gosling and Michael
Pitt) who commit a series of "perfect murders." They engage in a battle
of wits with an police detective (Sandra Bullock) who is working with a
green partner (Ben Chaplin). Through her investigation, the profiler discovers
dark secrets in the teens' past that explain how the two could be capable
of such cold, calculated crimes. The director is Barbet Schroeder (SINGLE
WHITE FEMALE). The screenwriter is Tony Gayton (THE SALTON SEA).
APRIL 26:
JASON X is set in the year 2455, long after humanity has abandoned Earth
as a lifeless planet. An expedition of archaeological students discovers
a research facility where two people are cryogenically frozen: one a young
woman, the other a large male in a strange mask. The ice begins to thaw,
and so the students bring the bodies back to their spaceship, having no
idea what they just unleashed on the future, and of course, on themselves
- Jason. The director is James Isaac (who has mostly worked in other
capacities in the business but did direct 1989's THE HORROR SHOW). The
screenwriter is Todd Farmer (making his screenwriting debut). Todd Farmer
based much of JASON X on ALIEN, even naming one of the characters (who
he would incidentally play) Dallas, after Tom Skeritt's character in the
Ridley Scott film.
This movie's
been in the can for sometime. Its release has been delayed a half dozen
times - usually not a sign of high confidence in a film. It's director
says it was because of their complex post production visual effects that
took so long to do. See for yourself and judge.
internetnewsinternetnewsinternetnewsinternetnewsinternetnewsinternetnewsinternetnewsinternetnewsi
65.STUDIOS LOOK AT DivX 5.0
FOR MOVIES ONLINE
To begin
with, just like old Jacob Marley, Divx is dead as a doornail. It's so terribly
and totally dead that a young Dutch software designer, Jerome Rota, better
known as Gej, has carved out a whole new way of downloading movies and
in a mocking tribute has called his software DivX.
The irony
behind the name was how the two formats were conceived. Divx was a means
of setting up a toll booth and charging customers for every peak they took
at a movie. DivX was designed to kick down those doors. DivX 5.0 is a compression
technology that promises to be to video what MP3 is to music. DivX compresses
unwieldy video clips into small files so they can be easily transferred
over the Web. It's been the tool of choice among people looking to pirate
movies Online.
Now, however,
the DivX moniker may not be as ironic as it once was. DivX is striving
to go legit. The company has struck a deal with chipmaker Advanced Micro
Devices to include the technology in upcoming chips. DivX 5.0 contains
digital rights management, or DRM, technology, which would protect movies
from being bootlegged. In a departure from its underground roots company
is working closely with movie companies. The struggle to put movies Online
may have just taken a great leap forward.
Studios,
many of whom have been angry over the slow rollout of the cable industry's
digital Video-On-Demand service through the country, are licking their
lips over this new development. Their long-term dream has been to bypass
video retailers (and theaters if possible) and go directly to the public.
DivX, long considered a bootlegging nightmare, could be the means to help
them realize their avaricious dreams.
66.A HIDDEN EPISODE II SITE OPENS
Eagle-eyed
viewers of the new trailer for STAR WARS: EPISODE II - ATTACK OF THE CLONES
noticed an unusual link at the end of the credits. The link takes users
to a mock news site, Holonet News, that is set in the universe of the prequel
films.
The site
features news stories about developments in the galaxy at the time of EPISODE
II, including Senator Palpatine's efforts to create a clone army, a central
plot point in the new movie. EPISODE II opens May 16.
67.SPIDER-MAN'S TRAILER DEBUTS
ON THE WWW
SPIDER-MAN's
trailer has spun on the Web before it hits theaters. The new trailer debuted
March 27 at www.sony.com/spider-man. It's presented exclusively in Apple's
QuickTime format in three sizes, including full-screen, and will have English,
French, Spanish, German and Italian versions.
"By placing
this trailer exclusively Online, we are giving fans everywhere an opportunity
to get caught in SPIDER-MAN's world wide web," said Geoffrey Ammer,
President of Marketing for Columbia TriStar Marketing Group. "This Internet
exclusive is also our way of saying 'thank you' to the Online community
that has so enthusiastically followed and supported the development and
production of SPIDER-MAN over the past several years."
The trailer
will mark the final glimpse of the movie for fans before it hits theaters
May 3. The visual effects will be showcased, including shots of SPIDER-MAN
swinging through the city with the use of his webshooters and crawling
along buildings.
technologynewstechnologynewstechnologynewstechnologynewstechnologynewstechnologynewstechnolo
68.SANYO SAYS THIN IS IN
Imagine a
TV screen that's really thin, I mean REALLY thin, I mean Callista Flockhart
after a long fast thin, and you probably still can't envision a screen
as wafer-thin as Sanyo's new TV. They've introduced a new TV with a screen
about the thickness of a credit card (1 mm) and a crystal clear picture.
Traditionally,
television sets have hogged space in living rooms all over the world, no
thanks to the cumbersome cathode ray tube, the component that projects
light and images onto screens now. So the bigger your screen, the more
likely you will feel cramped in your own living room. Enter Sanyo's new
technology for making super-slim TV sets - electro-luminescence. It lights
up the screen by sending electric currents through it, eliminating the
need for back-lighting.
This could
change the way we watch TV. Think of a TV that you could put in a briefcase
and then comfortably lift that case with one hand. It could travel to any
room in the house or anywhere that had an electrical outlet.
If it sounds
good to you then start saving now. The price of the screen alone is likely
to cost about 10,000 yen ($137) a square inch. If I were to replace my
61-inch TV with the new Sanyo it would cost more than $200,000. Like early
TV's, VCR's, calculators, DVD players, computers and other widely used
consumer electronics, if there's apt to be a strong market for it the price
will likely plummet.
69.MAYBE WE'LL GET TO SEE THE
BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE IN 70MM
IMAX has
developed a method to digitally convert films shot on conventional 35mm
film into the 70mm IMAX format. Brad Wechsler, co-CEO of IMAX said that
the company had spent five years developing the digital remastering process
because "we thought it was necessary for our long-term growth." The first
film to be re-released in the format, he said, will be the 1995 film APOLLO
13, starring Tom Hanks and directed by Ron Howard. No release date was
announced.
70.3-D TV IS IN THE CRYSTAL
Researchers
at UCLA have devised a method to produce 3-D television by manipulating
the molecular action of crystalline materials, according to the Journal
of the American Chemical Society. The publication said that the advance
could "do for television and computers what the transistor did for electronics."
Although experiments continue to be conducted into producing 3-D images
with laser light beams, the new process would cause solid images literally
to project out of a TV set and change form rapidly. "We realized this could
be a technological breakthrough. There are no examples that I know of of
solids made to behave in this way," according to project leader Miguel
Garcia-Garibay.
The research
raises the prospect that information and images revealed by light passing
through these crystalline materials could achieve virtually any shape,
or a series of shapes one right after another, and very rapidly. Parts
of the crystals can be brightened, darkened or change colors nearly instantly,
in billionths of a second, in the presence of electric and magnetic fields
that control the three-dimensional shaping.
In less than
a decade, we might be able sit back and revel in solid-looking images that
literally project out from a television-like device. In addition to the
possibility of 3-D TV, the solid-crystal molecules could act as ultrafast
switches in optical computers. Stacked in a cube several inches high, they
could provide unprecedented storage potential, perhaps many billion times
that of current devices. Speed of access would prove dramatically faster
than is possible with current computer designs.
The crystalline
materials could be eventually produced in bulk, similar in form to large
plastic blocks. As more is learned, researchers expect to reduce costs
and improve manufacturing efficiencies. The UCLA team is making rapid progress,
Garcia-Garibay says, and holds out the prospect that commercial versions
of the crystalline molecules could be available in a few years.
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71.BLOCKBUSTER WANTS TO BREAK
THE WINDOW
There's a
technical term in the video business. It's called "rental window." Its
fate could have a strong influence over how you buy and rent videos.
A rental
window is the gap of time between a VHS (usually) film being released as
a very expensive rental and its eventual re-release as a sell-through.
Until recently its first release may have carried a retail of over $100.
It's eventual pricing descent might lead it to around $20 or less.
Large sell-through
minded retailers (led by Best Buys) have advocated doing away with the
window. The video rental people (led by Blockbuster) have advocated its
preservation. In a sudden reversal Blockbuster's CEO, John Antioco, said
that based on their experience with strong dollars both on the rental and
sale of the same DVD titles that, "it's in the best interest of everyone
to eliminate [the rental window] altogether."
Blockbuster
has a very loud voice in how studios direct their policies. With two of
the largest customers, Blockbuster and Best Buys, on the same page it may
not be long until every movie, regardless of format, releases to home video
as an affordable title.
72.LEARN ABOUT DVD EASTER EGGS
DVD designers
are a fun bunch. They like to leave little surprises for viewers. They're
called "easter eggs." They may be hidden images or words. They may add
to your viewing experience, make you scratch your head in puzzlement or
just make you laugh. Now there's a site that tells you where these hidden
treats are lurking and how to unlock them. It's called DVDEasterEggs.com.
Drop by there. You might find that you've been missing some of the best
parts of your favorite films!
73.BORDER'S BOOKS SAYS GOOD-BYE
TO VHS
Border's
is phasing out all of its VHS tapes except for children's, exercise and
certain big theatrical new releases. DVD already accounts for over 80%
of their video revenue so it's a logical move.
Much of the
problem is competition. WalMart's devouring their competitors with low
prices. Bookstores generally don't low-ball prices or offer special deals
and discounts. Bookstore customers are already paying an average of $7.50
more for every DVD they buy compared to discounters like Best Buy, WalMart
and Target. That same stubborn loyalty that prompts buyers to spend extra
hasn't translated over to video cassettes.
74.NEW LINE PLANS THREE RINGS
VIDEO RELEASES
New Line
is planning three different releases for THE LORD OF THE RINGS: FELLOWSHIP
OF THE RING. The first ones will be a PG-13 version. The last will carry
an "R" rating.
The PG-13
version will be available Aug. 6. IT arrives on VHS and DVD. It'll be a
straight transition of the movie that you saw on the screen. There will
be a second double-disc DVD of that version that will include a 10-minute
behind-the-scenes preview teaser of TWO TOWERS as part of two hours of
supplemental material.
An second
"special-extended-edition" will release on November 12 (five weeks before
the sequel hits theaters on Dec. 18). The extended version on VHS and DVD
will include more than 30 minutes of extra footage that likely will generate
an "R" rating. A four-disc DVD version of the extended edition also will
include more than six hours of supplemental material.
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75.THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES
Imagine this:
a young man is living in a small apartment in Berlin. The year is 1926.
His landlady's beautiful daughter, Lulu, liked to pick up money as an occasional
prostitute. When her outraged boyfriend suddenly appears at the apartment
house, the young man agrees to help her out. He conceals her client in
his room. He immediately recognized his naked guest as a man known only
as Galitzenstein, the president of Maxim Films, and, introducing himself
as a screenwriter, offered him a script to read. Hearing the raging boyfriend
in the next room vow that he would slit the throat of any man he caught
with Lulu, Galitzenstein hefted the script in his hand and said: "I'll
buy it. It feels like a good story."
That marked
the improbable beginning of the career of a man who would go on to change
the look of Hollywood films. That was how Billy Wilder came to movie making.
Samuel Wilder
was born June 22, 1906, in the town of Sucha, in a section of Poland that
was then in the Austro-Hungarian empire. His mother, Eugenia, who died
in Auschwitz during World War II, had lived in the United States in her
youth and nicknamed her second son "Billy" because of her fascination with
the American frontier hero Buffalo Bill Cody.
He fled Germany
as Hitler came to power. He arrived in Hollywood in 1934, unable to speak
English, and after a six-month contract with Columbia expired, he was out
of work for two years. "I kind of starved for a little bit," he said. "I
shared a room with Peter Lorre, and we lived on a can of soup a day."
Wilder taught
himself English by listening to baseball games on the radio and going to
movies, forcing himself to learn 20 new words a day. For decades, he instructed
his collaborators - first Charles Brackett and later I.A.L. Diamond - to
correct immediately any mistake he made in writing the language.
"Most of
the refugees had a secret hope: 'Hitler will be defeated and I will go
back home,' " said Wilder, who became a U.S. citizen in 1939. "I never
had such a thought. This was home. . . . I had a clean-cut vision: 'This
is where I am going to die."'
Frustrated
by what other directors did with his scripts, Wilder made his solo directing
debut in 1942 with the romantic comedy THE MAJOR AND THE MINOR with Milland
and Ginger Rogers.
"I'm not
a born director," he told Crowe. "I became a director because so many of
our scripts had been screwed up."
During his
long career Wilder came up with classic images on film such as Marilyn
Monroe's dress flying up over a subway grating in SEVEN YEAR ITCH and Gloria
Swanson's dramatic crazed waltz down the staircase in SUNSET BOULEVARD
as well as Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon's comedic role as men disguised
as women in SOME LIKE IT HOT.
Known for
delving into the dark side of American life, and working with some of the
world's greatest screen legends, Wilder made dark dramas such as DOUBLE
INDEMNITY, an alcoholic's struggle with his addiction in THE LOST WEEKEND,
and comedies such THE FORTUNE COOKIE (the first film to pair Jack Lemon
and Walter Matthau).
He worked
with Greta Garbo in 1939's NINOTCHKA, Marlene Dietrich in A FOREIGN AFFAIR,
Ginger Rogers in 1942's THE MAJOR AND THE MINOR, as well as the anti-Nazi
drama FIVE GRAVES TO CAIRO in 1943.
Wilder picked
up two of his Academy Awards (for directing and writing) for THE LOST WEEKEND
and for writing SUNSET BOULEVARD as well. He had a total of 21 Oscar nominations
and 6 wins.
His razor
sharp mind and his distinct personality were the frequent object of comment
in the Hollywood community. The screenwriter Harry Kurnitz once quipped,
"Beneath Billy Wilder's aggressive gruff exterior is pure Brillo." William
Holden, a friend who won an Academy Award under Wilder's direction, called
him "a man with a mind full of razor blades." Perhaps the best description
came from his wife, Audrey. "Long before Billy Wilder was Billy Wilder,
he behaved like Billy Wilder."
Wilder's
screenplays sparkled with such lines as the one read by Robert Benchley
in THE MAJOR AND THE MINOR: "Why don't you get out of that wet coat and
into a dry martini?" He once ordered a cameraman: "Keep it out of focus.
I want to win the foreign-picture award." He once counseled an actor, "You
have Van Gogh's ear for music." He advised Walter Matthau that "we're on
the track of something absolutely mediocre." He wooed his wife by telling
her, "I'd worship the ground you walk on if you lived in a better neighborhood."
That brilliant,
burning mind - that mind that excelled in a foreign land and in another
tongue - finally came to rest at the age of 95. His wife of 53 years, Audrey,
was at his side.
William Witney,
is a serial director who should be well-known to members of the Imaginative
Cinema Society. You might remember him for having directed or co-directed
23 of Republic's best-known serials between 1937 and 1946, including "The
Lone Ranger," "Spy Smasher," "Perils of Nyoka," "Drums of Fu Manchu," "Adventures
of Captain Marvel," "Zorro's Fighting Legion" and "Mysterious Doctor Satan"
If you love westerns you might associate him with having directed 27 Roy
Rogers westerns from 1946 to 1951, a period in which he diminished the
musical content of the Rogers films in favor of more serious story lines.
Or you just might associate him with his final serial, a little thing he
worked on called "The Crimson Ghost." During his career he changed the
way movie fights are done forever.
Witney was
always known as an action man. He made Republic's greatest cliffhanger
serials during its B-movie heyday in the 1930s and '40s and introduced
the now-standard practice of choreographing fight scenes. His Republic
serials served as the inspiration for Steven Spielberg's INDIANA JONES
movies. Quentin Tarantino, a Witney fan, has praised his rough and believable
action scenes and visual style in films such as THE GOLDEN STALLION with
Roy Rogers and STRANGER AT MY DOOR, a western starring Macdonald Carey.
Tarantino said "I've found directors of some of these movies who I'm really
into, but William Witney is ahead of them all, the one whose movies I can
show to anyone and they are just blown away."
Witney learned
to choreograph screen fights after watching choreographer-turned-director
Busby Berkeley rehearse a dance
number at Warner Bros. As related
in his 1996 memoir, In a Door, Into a Fight, Out a Door, Into a Chase,
Witney said he was never satisfied with the way movie fights were shot.
In those days, the stuntmen more or less had a free-for-all as they mixed
it up in front of the camera. "The fights always seemed to be OK for the
first punch," Witney wrote. "Then the stuntmen were always out of place
for the next punch. By the time three or four minutes had passed, the stuntmen
were out of breath, scattered all over the set and seemed to be staggering
around waiting for someone to hit them." Then Witney watched Berkeley at
work filming a sequence with 40 dancers. "He was lining up all the girls
for just one little movement," Witney recalled. "He got it perfect. Then
he sent them back to rehearse another little movement, shot it, and then
maybe a few close-ups later to put in between those shots." Borrowing Berkeley's
method, Witney began filming fight sequences by breaking them into shorter
segments, changing camera angles and including close-ups for greater audience
impact.
When he wasn't
doing movies he also worked steadily in television. His credits include
SKY KING, ZORRO, BONANZA, TALES OF WELLS FARGO, LARAMIE, THE VIRGINIAN,
THE WILD WILD WEST and THE HIGH CHAPPARAL.
Witney, was
in ill health since suffering a stroke in 1995. He died in a nursing home
in Jackson, California of complications from that stroke and several subsequent
ones. He was 86. He's survived by his #1 fan, Barry Murphy.
Oskar Sala
might liked to have been remembered as a great physicist. Perhaps he was.
He might like to have been hailed as a great composer. Maybe, in time,
he will. But Oskar Sala, to the extent that he's remembered at all in this
country, is known not by his name but by the blood-chilling sound he was
able to produce.
As a physicist/composer
he was able to perfect the world's first synthesizer - the trautonium.
He used it to great effect to produce the eerie bird sound effects for
Alfred Hitchcock's THE BIRDS.
Sala has
gained some small measure of fame in his native Germany. His trautonium
has been used in hundreds of that country's movies, TV shows and commercials.
Sala not only perfected it - he became a master of it, appearing with the
Berlin Philharmonic on several occasions.
Sala lived
to 91. I'm happy to say that he died of natural causes - not being pecked
to death by a flock of angry birds.
Richard Sylbert
is a name you don't know. But if you ever saw CHINATOWN, DICK TRACY, ROSEMARY'S
BABY, THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE, THE GRADUATE, CARNAL KNOWLEDGE, SHAMPOO,
REDS, THE COTTON CLUB or the TV show CHEERS you've seen his work. In fact
that's literally true - what you were seeing was his work. Richard Sylbert
was not just a production designer - he was one of the greatest production
designer working in present day cinema.
It was Sylbert
who designed the cartoon world of DICK TRACY. In CHINATOWN he made all
the buildings white to reflect heat and underscore the film's plot about
drought. The famous 360-degree shot in THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE from the
hotel lobby in New Jersey with the ladies talking about the garden club
to the amphitheater in Manchuria with the psychiatrist talking about the
garden club was all Sylbert's design. He designed the bar for the set of
CHEERS.
"No one has
any trouble understanding what a costume designer does," Sylbert said.
"But 'production design' is a title without any definition. I tell people
that, just as a painter organizes pigment and a musician organizes noise,
a production designer organizes visual material."
He was always
known for his devotion to historical accuracy as well as his inventiveness,
he earned six Academy Award nominations and won his two best art direction
Oscars for the claustrophobic world in WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOLF in
1966 and for his amazing world of primary colors that made up DICK TRACY
in 1990. Last year, Sylbert received a Lifetime Achievement Award from
the Society of Motion Picture and Television Art Directors for his illustrious
body of work.
Richard Sylbert
was 73.
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