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WHO SEASON TWO REVEALED
Russell T. Davies, executive producer of the BBC's hit
SF series Doctor Who, said that the upcoming second season—debuting in
the United Kingdom on BBC1 starting April 15—builds on the strengths of
season one (currently airing on SCI FI Channel Fridays at 9 p.m. ET/PT)
.
"A lot of it was 'more of the same,'" Davies, who plotted
out the entire season as well as writing half of the episodes himself,
said. "The temptation of the format is to keep being too different, but
it's easy to forget that for a lot of people, it's a brand-new series.
Even for the oldest, most dedicated fan, it's a new series. So we've got
some new elements and some new elements that I want to become regular elements,
including what I call the 'celebrity historical.' Doctor Who always did
historical stuff, so last year we met Charles Dickens [in the episode 'The
Unquiet Dead'], and this year we meet Queen Victoria [in episode two, 'Tooth
and Claw']. Next year there will be another one of those stories, because
I really love that Dickens episode, and I absolutely adore the Queen Victoria
one this year. So that's a little format within a format.'"
The first episode of the new season takes place in the
year 5 billion. "It's a return to that setting from last season, where
we did 'The End of the World,' and now we're going to see what happens
after the end of the world," Davies said. "It's an episode called 'New
Earth,' which is the next planet Earth, where mankind has a new home. That
episode features the return of Cassandra [Zoe Wanamaker], who was a very
successful enemy last year, the thin piece of skin on a frame."
The season's second episode is "Tooth and Claw," featuring
Queen Victoria and a werewolf. And in episode three, "School Reunion,"
fans will see the return of Sarah Jane Smith and K-9, characters from previous
incarnations of the show.
"Episode four ['The Girl in the Fireplace'] is a marvelous
story by Steven Moffat, featuring Sophia Myles as Madame de Pompadour,
which is an absolutely beautiful episode," Davies said. "Episodes five
and six are the return of the Cybermen in 'The Rise of the Cybermen' (what
a marvelous title!), which also sees the return of Rose's father, who was
killed off last year, but was so marvelous that we brought him back."
Davies added: "There's also the big end-of-season climax,
which seems built into every show these days, and even though it's a much
less British thing to do that, we've kept it very much the same."
The second season of Doctor Who will bring back Billie
Piper as Rose Tyler, but she will be joined by a new Doctor, played by
David Tennant, who was introduced in the holiday special episode "The Christmas
Invasion."
SMALLVILLE FACES LAWSUIT
A federal judge in Los Angeles has found that Smallville
may be infringing on the copyrights held by the widow and daughter of Jerome
Siegel, who created the Superboy character for DC Comics, Variety reported.
The March 23 summary judgment also found that Joanne Siegel and Laura Siegel
Larson had successfully recaptured the Superboy rights as of Nov. 17, 2004.
The ruling now throws into question the ownership of Smallville
episodes that have run since that date. The judge denied a request by the
defendants—Time Warner, Warner Brothers and DC Comics—for a ruling that
Smallville did not infringe on the Superboy copyrights. Warner Brothers
said in response that it "respectfully disagrees" with the rulings and
will pursue an appeal, the trade paper said.
Still to be resolved is the question of whether Smallville—now
in its fifth season—is actually infringing on the Superboy copyright. No
trial date has been set in the suit, which was filed in 2004, the trade
paper reported.
GALACTICA WINS PEABODY
SCI FI Channel's original series Battlestar Galactica
has been honored with the prestigious Peabody Award, which recognizes distinguished
achievement in electronic media. It is the first Peabody Award for the
network.
The winners of the 65th Annual Peabody Awards were announced
April 5 by the University of Georgia's Grady College of Journalism and
Mass Communication. The winners, chosen by the Peabody board as the best
in electronic media for 2005, were named in a ceremony in the Peabody Gallery
on the University of Georgia Campus and presented at a luncheon hosted
by two-time Peabody winner Jon Stewart at New York's Waldof-Astoria Hotel.
The Peabody Board is a 16-member group—made up of television
critics, broadcast and cable industry executives and experts in culture
and the arts—that judges the entries. Selections are made by the board
following review by special screening committees of UGA faculty, students
and staff. "As is the case every year, submissions for consideration by
the Peabody Board provide insight into the astonishing array of electronic
media productions," said Horace Newcomb, director of the Peabody Awards.
"These are the works self-selected by creators and producers as their very
best work from the previous calendar year. This year's Peabody Award recipients
stand as hallmarks of excellence in news, documentary, comedy, drama, education
and public service."
The Peabody Awards, the oldest honor in electronic media,
does not recognize categories, nor is there a set number of awards given
each year
HORROR’S GARRIS HELMS BARKER
Director Mick Garris, who helped create Showtime's anthology
series Masters of Horror, said that that his next episode will be an erotic
ghost story written by horror master Clive Barker. "You know with Clive
it's going to have some very kinky sexual twist in it," Garris said. "That's
what he's good at writing, and that's the one I'm going to direct."
The episode, part of Masters of Horror's upcoming second
season, will be based on Barker's original story "Valerie on the Stairs";
Garris began shooting this week. "I'm not afraid of the rubber monsters
or that kind of thing," he said. "That's not what scares me. ... I'm more
afraid for the health and safety of the people in the story. This is a
good ghost story and extremely sexual in nature."
"Valerie on the Stairs" is set in a dead writers' house
that has become a hospice for failed authors, with a desperate scribe in
each of nine rooms. Barker's story "Haeckel's Tale" was the basis of a
first-season Masters of Horror episode directed by John McNaughton.
Garris denied rumors that he would be working on Barker's
next project, a grisly story called The Midnight Meat Train. "I'm not directing
that, no," he said. "I'm not involved with it. Right now, I'm busy producing
the Masters of Horror, and I'm doing my own segment."
Garris confirmed that he is taking meetings to see what
his next step would be in a genre-related project, which he declined to
discuss.
BBC AMERICA SCARES UP JEKYLL
BBC America will develop a new series based on Robert
Louis Stevenson's classic SF tale Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde among other new
dramas set to air next year.
Jekyll will consist of six 90-minute episodes and will
update Stevenson's tale to the modern day. James Nesbitt stars in the title
role of a man with two personalities. They share the same body, but Hyde
is unaware that Jekyll is now married and will do anything to protect his
family from the dark side. It will premiere in the second quarter of next
year.
BBC America general manager Kathryn Mitchell said
that the offshoot of the venerable British broadcaster wants to broaden
its appeal to a slightly younger audience, "but we don't want to lose those
loyal viewers."
LEE AUDITIONS FOR SUPERHEROES
Comic-book creator Stan Lee, producer of SCI FI Channel's
upcoming reality series Who Wants to Be a Superhero?, said that he was
quite impressed with the imagination of the potential superheroes who showed
up to audition in Hollywood, Calif., on April 4. About 120 contestants
braved a torrential rainstorm to try out at the Sunset Gower Studios, but
the weather didn't stop Monkey Lady, Bubble Man or Ice Bitch. "I defend
the environment and can imprison you in icicles," said the white-haired
woman with "IB" on her chest, who is really Lisa McLaughlin from Sherman
Oaks, Calif. "I teach those who are teachable and punish those who are
not."
In Who Wants to Be a Superhero?, a group of people dressed
in costumes of their own design will take part in a series of weekly challenges.
At the conclusion of each episode, Lee will appear and, much like Donald
Trump on NBC's The Apprentice, dismiss one of the contestants. The winning
contestant will have his character immortalized in a comic book to be published
by Lee's Pow! Entertainment.
Lee shook hands with all the contestants, stopping to
hear a ditty by Accordion Man—who looked a bit like Grandpa from The Munsters—and
he talked to a few along the way. "I feel safe with you here," he told
a Ninja. "I look forward to seeing more of you," he said to the scantily
dressed Robot Girl. One masked guy in a too-tight yellow leotard with his
hairy stomach hanging out said, "I'm such a big fan of yours!" Lee shook
his hand and deadpanned, "And I admire your taste."
Hula-Hoop Girl (aka Anah Reichenbach) walked three blocks
in her silvery outfit to the audition. "I read a lot of comic books, and
Stan Lee is the guy," said the professional hula-hoop champ. "My power
is to tele-transport, but my powers are erratic in prisons or insane asylums."
One guy demonstrated how he could encase himself in a giant pink bubble,
and another escorted his superhero Rottweiler. The lineup also included
a ballerina, a guy balancing a sword on his head, a rock star, a mouse
man and a green-faced, loud-mouthed youth calling himself Slimeball. The
six-week, one-hour show is seeking contestants through April 7.
SG-1 WINKS AT SERENITY
Brad Wright, co-creator of SCI FI Channel's original series
Stargate SG-1, offered a few spoilers on the show's upcoming 200th episode,
which tips its hat to a much shorter-lived SF series about civil-war veterans
in space. The episode will be part of the 10th season, which debuts this
summer.
The 200th episode will bring back the character of Martin
Lloyd (Willy Garson) and his fictional TV show Wormhole X-treme, which
was the subject of the 100th episode, "Wormhole X-treme," and is a parody
of SG-1 itself.
"The 200th, ... as we've all put our heads together on
that one, is based on a great idea Robert C. Cooper had, and we've all
written bits and put them all together," Wright said on SG-1's Vancouver,
Canada, set earlier this month.
This time around, the SG-1 team helps Lloyd turn Wormhole
X-treme into a movie. "Even though the series was canceled after three
episodes, it did well on DVD," Wright said. "It's a little nod to Serenity,
I suppose." Serenity is based on the failed Fox TV series Firefly, which
was canceled in the middle of its first season, but which went on to sell
well on DVD, warranting a feature film.
As for Wormhole X-treme, Wright said: "The Air Force loves
it, because they love the notion of a television series out there that
is ostensibly [based on the] real events in SG-1, in Stargate Command.
So plausible deniability. ... It's a series of, I guess you could call
them vignettes or flashes, scenes, that are kind of unusual."
In the episode, which also marks the return of former
SG-1 star Richard Dean Anderson, viewers can expect the kind of broad,
insiderey humor that characterized the 100th episode. "'Wormhole X-treme'
was pushing it," Wright said. "This is pushing it twice as far. But, you
know, it's the 200th episode."
Currently in production on its 10th original season (its
fifth on SCI FI), Stargate SG-1 is now the longest-running SF series on
American television, surpassing The X-Files and every iteration of Star
Trek.
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WEINSTEINS SNAP UP MINIMOYS
The Weinstein Co. announced that it acquired
rights in all English-speaking territories to the live-action/computer-animated
fantasy film ARTHUR AND THE MINIMOYS, based on filmmaker Luc Besson's best-selling
French children's book of the same name. The screenplay was adapted by
Besson (THE FIFTH ELEMENT), who will direct the movie, which will star
Freddie Highmore and Mia Farrow and the voices of Madonna, Snoop Dogg and
David Bowie. The film is currently in production by EuropaCorp.
The film centers on 10-year-old Arthur, who
discovers that his grandfather hid a treasure somewhere on the "other side"
in the land of the Minimoys, tiny creatures who live in perfect harmony
with their environment.
Besson's 2003 book was a best-seller in France
and ultimately led to a four-book series, including Arthur and the Forbidden
City, Arthur and the Revenge of Maltazard and Arthur and the War of the
Two Worlds.
ANOTHER KILLER CROC IN TOUCHSTONE'S PRIMEVAL
Touchstone Pictures is mounting a new killer-crocodile
movie called PRIMEVAL, even as Dimension's similarly themed ROGUE is headed
for a wrap under director Greg McLean in Australia. PRIMEVAL will star
Dominic Purcell of BLADE: TRINITY and Fox TV's PRISON BREAK in the story
of a news producer, reporter and cameraman who travel to South Africa on
an assignment to bring back alive a 25-foot croc called Gustave. Not only
do they find the reptile violently uncooperative, but they also run afoul
of a vicious local warlord. Orlando Jones, who had an early role in FROM
DUSK TILL DAWN 3 before turning to comedy vehicles, also stars.
The film will mark the feature directorial
debut of TV veteran Michael Katleman, who has directed episodes of THE
X FILES, AMERICAN GOTHIC and TAKEN, among many others.
D-WAR MONSTER-SNAKE MOVIE TO ATTACK U.S.
The South Korean monster epic D-WAR is currently
in FX postproduction and is targeting a November release in the U.S. Directed
by Shim Hyung-rae (whose previous giant-monster pic YONGGARY was released
Stateside as REPTILIAN by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment), the movie
stars Jason Behr (THE GRUDGE), Amanda Brooks, Robert Forster (ALLIGATOR),
Chris Mulkey (TWIN PEAKS), Elizabeth Peña (JACOB’S LADDER), Aimee
Garcia, Craig Robinson and John Ales in the story (based on Korean legend)
of a giant serpent that goes on a destructive rampage through LA in search
of a girl with the power to transform it into a dragon.
TWO NEW HERSCHELL GORDON LEWIS MOVIES
With 2001 MANIACS headed for DVD this month
and a WIZARD OF GORE remake currently filming, it’s only inevitable that
the man behind the original films of those two remakes, Herschell Gordon
Lewis, would get back behind the camera himself. Film State 51 is backing
a pair of new features from the Godfather of Gore: the long-mooted HERSCHELL
GORDON LEWIS’ GRIM FAIRY TALES and BACK IN BLOOD: REVENGE OF THE GORE-CRAZED
MANIACS. Film State 51 partners Andrew Allan and Andy Lalino (FILTHY) are
producing both features as well as scripting and directing REVENGE.
GRIM is Lewis’ answer to the current reality-TV
craze, featuring a game show in which losing contestants pay the ultimate
price. “This will be my crowning cinematic achievement!” said the director,
who also scripted the film. “We have a great production team in place,
and a story that’ll spray the big screens with blood—stage blood, of course.”
REVENGE is a reunion of several antiheroes from Lewis flicks past, including
Fuad Ramses (BLOOD FEAST), Montag the Magnificent (THE WIZARD OF GORE),
Adam Sorg (COLOR ME BLOOD RED) and Rodney and Granny Pringle (THE GRUESOME
TWOSOME), uniting for nothing less than world domination. “BACK IN BLOOD
will be a dream come true for my fans,” added Lewis. “To see my beloved
super-villains teamed up in such an ingenious story pleases me to no end.
It’ll be a wonderfully horrific addition to the legacy.”
“There are at least five different HGL projects
in the works between Film State 51 and other production companies,” Lalino
added, “but what sets our projects apart is that they offer our audience
the only HGL-related feature films which aren’t remakes—the storylines
are new and refreshingly original.” Both movies are set to roll in 2006.
THERE'S A SHIVER IN THE AIR AT DIMENSION
Dimension Films will produce and release a
chiller called SHIVER. The movie is an example of the current vogue for
"torture movies" inspired by the success of HOSTEL. In first-timer Mikey
Wigart's script, reportedly based on a true story, a group of partiers
get into a car accident on a snowy New Year's Eve in Minnesota. They seek
refuge at a remote house, not knowing at first that the widowed doctor
who lives there is obsessed with the scientific study of torture.
Michael Cuesta, who made a highly praised
debut with the indie drama L.I.E. and will direct and produce. He said,
"When it's done honestly, with serious intent, [the horror genre] can tap
into the social fears and anxieties of our time. I find that exploring
the grotesque, the abhorrent and what disturbs us is a chance to convey
some universal truths about us and our society." No start date has been
announced.
VAUGHN SPRINKLES STARDUST
Paramount has set Robert De Niro, Michelle
Pfeiffer, Claire Danes, Charlie Cox and Sienna Miller to star in STARDUST,
an adaptation of the Neil Gaiman fantasy novel, to be directed by Matthew
Vaughn.
Vaughn, who committed to the project last
fall, wrote the script with partner Jane Goldman. STARDUST centers on a
star-crossed youth from the English village of Wall who tries to win the
heart of his true love by searching for a falling star and heading into
a magical world where he must deal with a witch and a pirate.
Vaughn (LAYER CAKE) dropped out of the third
X-MEN movie for personal reasons.
PERELMAN TO DIRECT GIVER
Vadim Perelman (HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG) has
signed on to adapt and direct a film based on Lois Lowry's Newbery Award-winning
fantasy novel THE GIVER for 20th Century Fox and Walden Media.
The story centers on Jonas, a 12-year-old
boy living in an idyllic future society where all memory of human history
has been erased. His life is thrown into turmoil when he is designated
to inherit the role of the Giver: the sole keeper of the vast range of
human emotions. Perelman will work from an earlier draft penned by Todd
Alcott.
Jeff Bridges is one of the producers on the
film. Walden Media previously produced THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION,
THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE.
ROTH TO DIRECT KING'S CELL
Dimension Films has acquired rights to Stephen
King's latest novel CELL and has set Eli Roth (HOSTEL) to direct it. King's
novel is a throwback to his early apocalyptic horror novels. In a single
moment, a pulse sent out through cell phones around the world turns every
phone user into a crazed, murderous zombie.
This marks Dimension's second deal with King,
as the studio prepares to cast the Mikael Håfström (DERAILED)
directed adaptation of the King novella 1408.
CUSACK CHECKS IN TO ROOM 1408
John Cusack (IDENTITY) will star in Dimension's
film version of Stephen King's short story 1408. He'll play a man who specializes
in debunking allegedly supernatural phenomena, but is forced to face real
horrors after checking into the titular room at the Dolphin Hotel. Mikael
Hafstrom, whose thriller EVIL is about to open domestically from Magnolia
Pictures, will direct from a script by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski
(ED WOOD.)
"This film is so much a one-man show," Hafstrom
said. "It's quite a contained drama. It is a horror film if you want to
put a label on it, but the way I see it, it's much more an inner journey
of this character." Hafstrom directed DERAILED last year.
1408, which rolls this summer, has bounced
among a few writers, including MIMIC's Matt Greenberg, and before him,
Eli Roth, who was also set to direct. Dimension has signed Roth to script
and direct another King project, a feature adaptation of the author's new
novel CELL. 1408 was originally issued in an audiobook titled Blood and
Smoke before appearing in the 2002 anthology tome Everything’s Eventual.
CRANE PENTALOGY ADAPTED
The Weinstein Co. has acquired the worldwide
rights to CRANE—IRON PENTALOGY, a series of five martial-arts-oriented
novels written by Wang Du Lu, and plans to realize the stories as stage
shows and feature films. The fourth book in the series, Crouching Tiger,
Hidden Dragon, has already been made into a blockbuster martial-arts-fantasy
feature, and it will be the first of the stories to receive the theater
treatment.
Weinstein Co. bosses Bob and Harvey Weinstein
also intend to spin shows and movies out of the other four stories, Crane
Frightens KunLun; Precious Sword, Golden Hairpin; Sword Spirit, Pearl Light;
and Iron Knight, Silver Vase. The stories follow three generations of a
martial-arts family throughout the Qing dynasty.
Harvey Weinstein said that he anticipates
"a series of great films, much like the LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy." He
added that he considers the four as yet un-produced stories to be prequels
and sequels to CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON, which received an Academy
Award nomination as best picture in 2001.
UNIVERSAL FINDS THEIR CREATURE
Universal Pictures has cast veteran creature
performer Brian Steele to play the Creature in their remake of THE CREATURE
FROM THE BLACK LAGOON. Steele’s more recent gigs have included lycanthropic
shenanigans in both UNDERWORLD films, a Hell Knight in DOOM and the Drake
Monster from BLADE: TRINITY. He even played the creature in Stuart Gillard’s
aptly titled TV movie CREATURE.
Breck Eisner (SAHARA) is set to direct the
film, which is scripted by Gary Ross. In the original a scientific expedition
traveling up the Amazon River encounter a dangerous humanoid amphibious
fish creature.
WOLF MAN TRANSFORMS
Universal Pictures is developing a new version
of its classic horror movie THE WOLF MAN, with Benicio Del Toro playing
the title role. SEVEN writer Andrew Kevin Walker has begun writing the
script. The studio owns the underlying rights to the character.
Like the 1941 original that starred Lon Chaney
Jr., the new movie will be set in Victorian England. Del Toro will play
a man who returns from America to his ancestral homeland, gets bitten by
a werewolf and begins a hairy moonlight existence. The deal came out of
a series of meetings with the producers, Walker and Del Toro, who collects
Wolf Man memorabilia.
Walker spent several months working on some
frightening new twists to a familiar tale, adding several characters and
plot points that take advantage of cutting-edge visual-effects technology.
Walker will turn in his first draft by the
spring, and the producers and studio are optimistic that THE WOLF MAN will
shoot early in 2007. The expectation is that THE WOLF MAN will see a summer
2008 release.
U.S. TO REMAKE JAPAN’S INFECTION
The Japanese horror film INFECTION, the first
in producer Taka Ichise’s J-HORROR THEATER series, will be remade in the
U.S. Although Lionsgate released the original Stateside, New Line is behind
the remake.
Directed by Masayuki Ochiai (THE HYPNOTIST),
the original INFECTION is about a gruesome plague that overtakes a hospital
which already has enough problems with incompetence and cover-ups. The
new version will be scripted by Channing Gibson, whose credits include
LETHAL WEAPON 4, CRADLE 2 THE GRAVE and another remake, WALKING TALL. No
director has yet been attached.
DREAM HOUSE OPENS
Universal has signed Belgian director Erik
Von Looy (THE MEMORY OF A KILLER) to direct the supernatural thriller DREAM
HOUSE. The script is by David Loucka, one of several writers who worked
on New Line’s SNAKES ON A PLANE.
The story concerns a family who move into
a country home that at first seems perfect, only for things to go awry
when bizarre and frightening events begin to befall them. Van Looy’s THE
MEMORY OF A KILLER was Belgium’s official entry for the 2005 Foreign Language
Academy Award and was released by Sony Classics.
DAVA’S
DELVINGS
The Libertine - A Movie Review by: Dava Sentz
Those of you who have read the ICS files and my column
faithfully know I have consistently shared my thoughts on the film and
theater circuit. Whether you've read my articles in every issue or have
had a conversation with me at a meeting, it should be clear that I have
a high respect for the dramatic arts, even if I can't always afford to
see the show. Acting is a captivating profession, one that has been praised
and criticized for centuries.
A modern day hero of this artistic endeavor is Johnny
Depp. There have been many inspired performers in cinema history, but never
one quite like him. Having portrayed everyone from an eccentric constable,
to a violently disturbed writer, to a flamboyant pirate, Johnny Depp is
the type of performer who can play any role, and do so equally well. This
is why, when The Libertine, was released on March 10th, I jumped on the
bandwagon opening weekend. What I was met with surprised and, quite frankly,
confused me.
Set in 16th century England, The Libertine tells the story
of John Wilmot, Earl of Rochchester. A well-to-do patron of the arts with
an uncontrollable lust for wine and women, the Earl drove himself into
an early grave through his excessive drinking and reckless behavior. I
want to provide a more detailed overview of the plot, but fear I may not
be able to as it was very hard to follow. In the simplest format, The Libertine
can be summed up in one word: Bizarre! The film opens with a close-up of
John Wilmot, aka Johnny Depp, spouting a monologue of his perverse and
addictive nature. He speaks for 10 minutes: First to the women in the audience
about procuring and bedding his conquests with very little regard for sensitive
seduction. Second to men, advising them to take note of their sexual endeavors,
pausing to consider the nature of their erections and wondering "is this
what he felt when he pleasured a woman?" Where the movie was going was
not yet known, but as John went on about the sins that plagued him, he
always returned to one definitive point, "You will not like me." He said
that over and over, as if that was to be expected, as if that's what he
wanted. Yet, to spite his resistance to the contrary, I did like him. I
just didn't know why.
Something about the character appealed to me. John Wilmot,
as I have read, was hardly a man who would make for suitable companionship,
yet still appeared to be a fascinating individual.
Using Johnny Depp in this role was a wonderful idea, both
in theory and in film. After all, the Earl was a man of high society and
theatrics, a man with a questionable reputation and eccentric tendencies.
Johnny Depp's public life has been presented very much in this way. He
has been arrested three times during his career. He has also acquired a
number of ex-fiancées including Jennifer Grey, Kate Moss, and Winona
Ryder. I can certainly see some similarities which could be the reason
why his performance was so intriguing. Depp was, without a doubt, the movie's
most appealing asset. Other than him, however, it was not what I would
call entertaining, lacking an understandable script for an otherwise talent
cast.
Though John appeared to have lead an opportunistic life
as a boy, The Libertine chooses to focus on his adult years. Throughout
his short-lived existence, Wilmot became best known for his raunchy poetry
and manuscripts. Though married to an attractive lady of leisure, John
continued to pursue sexual involvement within the whorehouses and theatres
of England. One night, after a particularly bad performance, John took
aspiring actress Elizabeth Barry, played by Samantha Morton, under his
wing. Determined to mold her into a sophisticated woman of the stage, he
began to coach her in the fine are of acting and, while things started
on a professional basis, Miss Barry eventually fell pray to Wilmot's alluring
charm. As his marriage falls apart and his relationship with Miss Barry
gets to be too dramatic for even her theatrical activities, Wilmot drinks
himself into a disturbing and undeniable stuper. His reckless behavior
continues until his good looks began to die out as did the rest of his
body. The Earl is assumed to have died of syphilis in 1680. He was 33 years
old.
Samantha Morton and Johnny Depp make a great on-screen
couple, processing a natural on-screen chemistry. I only wish I could be
fully aware to the extent of their involvement. Other notable performances
include Rosamund Pike, who portrays Wilmot's lonely and frustrated wife,
Miss Elizabeth Malet. While you cannot help but feel sorry for her to some
degree, these feelings are perhaps short-lived in light of the torrid circumstances.
Was she not aware of the Earl's reputation before entering the marriage
bed? Did she actually think she could trust a man whose idea of courtship
was to kidnap a woman off the streets? In any event, the performance was
amusing and, in some ways, admirable.
Lastly, of course, there was John Malkovich. Playing Rochchester's
most trusted friend King Charles II, Malkovich and Depp appear to have
a healthy report. It is only fitting that two such highly regarded, and
oddly original actors would be paired up to convey such an oddly original
pair of men. To watch them together, it's almost as if they knew each other
well in a past life, as Charles and Wilmot did.
Yet still, in spite of these great performances, the movie
was not enough to achieve critical acclaim in my eyes. Maybe it was the
script, maybe it was the distractions in the theater, or maybe it was my
poor sense of history. Whatever the reason, it just didn't make the grade.
IMAGINATIVE
CINEMA COMING SOON
MUST SEE MOVIES FOR YOU!
APRIL 14th Hard Candy
Cast: Patrick Wilson, Ellen Page, Sandra Oh, Jennifer Holmes
Premise: A provocative drama about a 32 year-old man who takes
home a 14 year-old girl he meets on the Internet, with surprising consequences.
APRIL 21st Silent Hill
Cast: Sean Bean (Christopher), Radha Mitchell (Rose), Deborah
Kara Unger (Dahlia Gillespie), Laurie Holden (Cybil Bennet)
Premise: When Rose's (Mitchell) ill daughter becomes obsessed with
a small town called Silent Hill, she takes her there to see a faith healer
she hopes might be able to help, only to discover themselves trapped in
a strange alternate reality that comes and goes over the town in a dark,
forbidding mist.
APRIL 21st The Sentinel
Cast: Michael Douglas, Keifer Sutherland, Kim Basinger.
Premise: The lead secret service agent is presumed a traitor and hunted
down
by his protégé.
MAY 5th Mission
Impossible 3
Cast : Tom Cruise, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ving Rhames, Laurence Fishburne
Premise: Ethan Hunt's Impossible Mission's Force team returns for its
next
covert mission.
MAY 12th Poseidon
Cast: Josh Lucas, Kurt Russell, Richard Dreyfuss, Emmy Rossum, Jacinda
Barrett , Jimmy Bennett
Premise: A remake of the Poseidon Adventure. Imagine CGI and the tipping
of the Poseidon! You know, Up is now Down, so they must go Up to
get Down which is Up.
farewellsfarewellsfarewells
Good bye farewellsfarewellsfarewells
Maureen Stapleton, only the tenth performer to win the triple
crown of acting, a Tony, an Emmy and an Oscar, has died. She earned her
Tony in the original Broadway production of Tennessee Williams' THE ROSE
TATTOO. Won an Emmy for her leading role in TV’s AMONG THE PATHS TO EDEN
and her Oscar in Warren Beatty's epic REDS. She was in such films
as LONLEYHEARTS, THE FUGITIVE KIND, BYE BYE BIRDIE, AIRPORT, PLAZA SUITE
and INTERIORS. ICSers will also remember her from COCOON and COCOON,
THE RETURN. Maureen Stapleton was 80 years old.
Richard Fleischer
director of such films as GIRL IN THE RED VELVET SWING, THE VIKINGS,
BARABBAS, THE BOSTON STRANGLER, TORA! TORA! TORA!, and MR. MAJESTYK, has
died. His father was animation pioneer Max Fleischer, who created Betty
Boop and popularized Popeye and was a bitter rival of Walt Disney. So of
course, over fifty years ago when Disney called Fleischer to ask him to
direct 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA, he was so taken aback that all he
could reply was “You do know who I am?”. But Disney hired him and the lavishly
produced 1954 live-action adaptation of the Jules Verne adventure became
a box office hit and the big break that lifted Fleischer’s career off the
B-movie treadmill.
He also directed such Imaginative entries as FANTASTIC VOYAGE, SOYLENT
GREEN, AMITYVILLE 3D, CONAN THE DESTROYER and CALL FROM SPACE. He was 89.
Myron Healey, a movie character actor whose deep rich
voice and sly smile helped make him one of the top-10 badmen of westerns
in both films and television, has died at age 82.
Healey played his first western heavy in 1948 in HIDDEN DANGER, which
launched him as a regular in low-budget Monogram westerns. He quickly became
one of the best, most recognizable and most frequently seen heavies in
the world of westerns. On television, he appeared regularly on dozens of
western series, including THE ADVENTURES OF WILD BILL HICKOK, RANGE RIDER,
BONANZA, MAVERICK and RAWHIDE. In the late '50s, Healey replaced Douglas
Fowley in the role of Doc Holliday for a year on THE LIFE AND LEGEND OF
WYATT EARP. He also showed up in such genre films and JUNGLE MOON MEN,
THE UNEARTHLY, THE MONSTER VARAN and THE INCREDIBLE MELTING MAN.
THE LAST WARD . . .
By John Ward
The last time I did a column about lists, LOST had just recently
premiered on television, and Bruce Springsteen was leading a last-minute
barnstorming concert charge (Remember “Vote for Change”?) to see if Dubya
could be unseated in the White House. Well, LOST has long since become
a cult phenomenon, things have become pretty depressing around 1600 (Just
ask Deadeye Dick), and my passion for lists hasn’t cooled at all.
So here’s a fresh batch for your perusal, whipped into a heaping pile of
… well, something. All I know is, it isn’t edible. Enjoy!
5 GREAT LEGAL DRAMAS
1. 12 ANGRY MEN
2. ANATOMY OF A MURDER
3. THE VERDICT
4. A FEW GOOD MEN
5. PHILADELPHIA
5 THINGS TO LIKE ABOUT THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
1. The parting of the Red Sea
2. The first Passover
3. The Exodus
4. The finger of God writing the commandments
5. Lily Munster with a great tan
SAM PECKINPAH’S BEST FILMS
1. THE WILD BUNCH
2. RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY
3. STRAW DOGS
4. THE BALLAD OF CABLE HOGUE
5. THE GETAWAY
5 OUTRAGEOUS MOVIE TITLES
1. CAN HIERONYMUS MERKIN EVER FORGET MERCY HUMPPE AND FIND TRUE HAPPINESS?
2. BRING ME THE HEAD OF ALFREDO GARCIA
3. HAWMPS!
4. JESSE JAMES MEETS FRANKENSTEIN’S DAUGHTER
5. LINDA LOVELACE FOR PRESIDENT
The Merkin movie is the clear winner here, adding bonus points for
character names like Polyester Poontang, Goodtime Eddie Filth, and ol’
Mercy Humppe herself.
DAVID CRONENBERG’S BEST FILMS
1. A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE
2. THE DEAD ZONE
3. THE FLY
4. SCANNERS
5. VIDEODROME
5 CLASSIC TRAILERS
1. PSYCHO
2. THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING
3. TOYS (Robin Williams doing 2 minutes of totally unrelated standup
in a field)
4. CASABLANCA
5. ICE AGE
5 GREAT LIVE-ACTION DISNEY FILMS
1. 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA
2. THE PARENT TRAP (1961)
3. OLD YELLER
4. THE ABSENT-MINDED PROFESSOR
5. THE SCARECROW OF ROMNEY MARSH
5 GREAT “ANIMAL” THRILLERS
1. JAWS
2. KING KONG (1933)
3. THE BIRDS
4. CUJO
5. WILLARD (1971)
FIVE REASONS WHY THE TOWERING INFERNO IS A BETTER DISASTER MOVIE THAN
THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE
1. Steve McQueen.
2. Paul Newman.
3. The “kids in danger” aren’t nearly as obnoxious.
4. More big-name stars have death scenes.
5. The stunt work is way more spectacular.
SIDNEY LUMET’S BEST FILMS
1. 12 ANGRY MEN
2. DOG DAY AFTERNOON
3. NETWORK
4. THE VERDICT
5. FAIL-SAFE
…AND 5 MORE GOOD LUMET FILMS THAT NO ONE EVER THINKS OF
1. RUNNING ON EMPTY
2. POWER
3. DEATHTRAP
4. THE HILL
5. Q & A
4 MOVIES WITH EXPLODING HUMANS
1. THE FURY
2. SCANNERS
3. SLITHER
4. ALIEN
THE TEN BEST MOVIES BASED ON STEPHEN KING BOOKS
1. THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION
2. STAND BY ME
3. THE GREEN MILE
4. THE DEAD ZONE
5. THE SHINING
6. CARRIE
7. CUJO
8. CHRISTINE
9. MISERY
10. THE RUNNING MAN
THE FIVE WORST MOVIES BASED ON STEPHEN KING BOOKS
1. CHILDREN OF THE CORN
2. MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE (The only film directed by the Kingmeister himself)
3. CREEPSHOW 2
4. THE LAWNMOWER MAN
5. FIRESTARTER
UNUSUAL CO-STARS IN JOHN WAYNE MOVIES
1. Shirley Temple (FORT APACHE)
2. Ricky Nelson (RIO BRAVO)
3. Frankie Avalon (THE ALAMO)
4. Fabian (NORTH TO ALASKA)
5. Glen Campbell (TRUE GRIT)
6. Roman Gabriel (THE UNDEFEATED)
7. George Plimpton (RIO LOBO)
8. Bobby Vinton (BIG JAKE)
9. Ann-Margret (THE TRAIN ROBBERS)
10. Richard Attenborough (BRANNIGAN)
THE FIVE BEST LORD OF THE RINGS ACTION FIGURES
1. Balrog Battle Gandalf
2. Possessed Galadriel
3. Twilight Gollum
4. 14” Treebeard
5. Peter Jackson
AND FINALLY…QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE?
…SHE MARRIED HER BOSS
WHO’S MINDING THE MINT?
…THE BANK DICK
WHO’LL STOP THE RAIN?
…THE RAIN PEOPLE
WHY SHOOT THE TEACHER?
…HE KNOWS YOU’RE ALONE
WHERE’S POPPA?
…IN A LONELY PLACE
WHO SLEW AUNTIE ROO?
…GANDHI
ICS
CALENDER OF EVENTS
APRIL 14th
Hard Candy
APRIL 21st
Silent Hill
APRIL 21st
The Sentinel
APRIL 29th
ICS MEETING
- Saturday at 5:30 P.M
