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HEROES COMING TOGETHER
Tim Kring, creator and executive producer
of NBC's hit series Heroes, said that audiences can expect the show's superpowered
characters to start joining forces and working as a team in upcoming episodes.
"As their destiny starts to sort of become intermingled with one another,
yes, they have to form this sort of alliance with one another," Kring said.
"And then, in a sense, join with each other in order to figure out what's
going on. Every character has sort of a tiny piece of the puzzle. So the
puzzle gets put together by the characters coming together."
Rather than continuing to focus on the individual
storylines of the large cast of characters, Kring said that Heroes will
gradually integrate the threads into a single overarching story. "If you
sort of look at it as kind of a funnel, it starts wide and starts to narrow,"
he said. "As these characters start to cross paths, you no longer have
to tell eight stories. You can tell four stories or three stories. So there
is a natural progression that's allowing us to tell less and less scattered
stories."
Kring confirmed that the heroes will find
a common enemy in the mysterious serial killer known as Sylar, who Kring
called the "major villain" of the first season. Though the identity of
Sylar hasn't been revealed, he may be someone that viewers have already
met. "We're going to leave some of the answers to that vague, because I
really want the audience to be surprised when we do introduce the character."
Kring said. "I know there is speculation that the character is somebody
that
is among the characters already, and I'm comfortable with that speculation.
And I kind of don't want to give it away." Heroes airs Mondays at 9 p.m.
PT/ET.
JERICHO GETS FULL SEASON
CBS announced that it has given a full-season order
to Jericho, its hit post-apocalyptic drama. The show, about the aftermath
of a nuclear attack, has averaged 11.3 million viewers and a 3.4 rating
among adults aged 18-49, boosting CBS' performance on Wednesday nights.
Jericho stars Skeet Ulrich, Gerald McRaney,
Ashley Scott, Pamela Reed, Kenneth Mitchell, Lennie James, Sprague Graden,
Michael Gaston, Erik Knudsen, Brad Beyer and Shoshannah Stern. Jon Turteltaub,
Stephen Chbosky and Carol Barbee are executive producers for CBS Paramount
Network Television. The show airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
EICK REIMAGINING BIONIC LEGEND
David Eick, executive producer of SCI FI Channel's
original series Battlestar Galactica, will reinvent another 1970s SF show:
The Bionic Woman, which he will executive-produce with film writer Laeta
Kalogridis for SCI FI's parent TV network.
The original spinoff of The Six Million Dollar
Man starred Lindsay Wagner as tennis-pro-turned-superwoman Jamie Sommers;
it aired for two seasons on ABC before shifting to NBC in 1977 for its
final year.
Eick told the trade paper that the new
series will be "a complete reconceptualization of the title. We're using
the title as a starting point, and that's all."
NBC Universal Television Studio will
produce the new series, which has been given a script commitment by NBC.
Eick and fellow executive producer Ronald D. Moore turned SCI FI's Peabody
Award-winning Battlestar into a series vastly different from its predecessor.
Eick and Kalogridis are planning a similar "reimagination" of Bionic Woman:
Instead of focusing on terrorism and militarism, the new Bionic will explore
the role of professional women in contemporary society and how they juggle
their various roles.
Kalogridis is working on a pair of projects
with James Cameron, writing The Dive and co-writing Battle Angel with the
helmer. On the TV front, Kalogridis created the WB series Birds of Prey.
GALACTICA RUMORS SQUASHED
SCI FI Channel and its parent network, NBC,
put to rest fan rumors that SCI FI's original series Battlestar Galactica
will make the move to NBC. "There is no truth to this rumor”.
The rumor has appeared on fans sites such
as the Battlestar Galactica Site and been picked up by other entertainment
news sites. "Word has begun to circulate that NBC's acquisition of Battlestar
Galactica is in the 'waiting-for-the-ink-to-dry' phase at this moment,
and an official announcement could be days away," the Battlestar Galactica
Site said.
Battlestar Galactica returned for its third
season on SCI FI on Oct. 6 and airs Fridays at 9 p.m. ET/PT. It was the
number-one cable show in its timeslot for the night.
WHO WANTS TO A SUPERHERO? SOMEONE DOES
SCI FI Channel has ordered up an expanded
second season of its hit original reality series Who Wants to Be a Superhero?,
starring Stan Lee. The second season, which is slated to air next summer,
will expand from six to 10 one-hour episodes.
"Who Wants to Be a Superhero? was a success
for us on many levels last summer," Mark Stern, SCI FI's executive vice
president. "The show garnered great reviews, attracted a record-breaking
number of younger viewers to the channel and held its own against some
very stiff competition on Thursday nights."
The first season of Who Wants to Be a Superhero?
averaged a 1.1 household rating (1.5 million total viewers), more than
doubled the year-to-date time-period average among viewers aged 18-34,
increased the number of 18-49 viewers by more than 74 percent and grew
the 25-54 audience by more than 44 percent.
FLUSHED’S SERKIS APED A RAT
Andy Serkis, who played the giant gorilla
in King Kong, said that he had a hard time switching between Kong and his
first fully animated role as a rat in the upcoming Flushed Away, which
he filmed at the same time. Serkis voiced the role of Spike the rat while
finishing up King Kong. "It was quite odd when we were doing King Kong
and then doing a bit of Spike as well, because it was strange going from
a 25-foot gorilla to a 6-inch mouse," Serkis said.
Flushed Away is the story of Roddy (voiced
by Hugh Jackman), an upper-crust "society mouse," who lives the life of
a beloved pet in a posh Kensington flat in London. When a sewer rat named
Sid (Shane Richie) shows up, Roddy winds up being flushed down the toilet
into the bustling sewer world of Ratropolis, where he meets Rita (Kate
Winslet), an enterprising scavenger. Serkis' Spike and his pal, Whitey
(Bill Nighy), are henchmen to the villainous Toad (Ian McKellen).
"This is actually the first time I've ever
done a voice for an animation," Serkis said. "People seem to think that
I've done [it] and so on, but I haven't. This is actually the very, very
first time. But they did show us in those sessions clay mockups of the
characters. That was really, really useful in as far as getting to grips
with what he was like. It was a part of the concept that they were showing
me as well, and what was apparent right off was that he was kind of nasal-y
and had these really sharp protruding teeth and quite tense in the jaw.
So that coupled with the script, and obviously you're playing a sort of
neurotic rat who wants to be bigger than he really is."
Serkis didn't have time to stop and study
rats because at the time he was studying the great apes. "I was actually
... studying gorillas, and this is the challenge of the job, really," he
said. "When you do an animation, you do literally three or four hours on
your first day, and then you don't see the character again for six months,
seven months, while the animators work on it, and then you come back and
you do another session for three hours, and then again like that. So it
was a very new way of working for me. I mean, luckily, in the very first
session I got the chance to work with Bill Nighy. So we worked out characters
and our voices kind of in counterpoint, really. I mean, obviously, he's
also going to be a slower kind of character. So we were able to sort of
pitch our characters to each other." Flushed Away, which comes from Aardman
Animation (Wallace & Gromit), is slated for release on Nov. 3.
RAIMI EYES CW HORRORS
Director/producer Sam Raimi is developing
a hybrid horror/reality series House of Horrors for The CW network. Raimi
and his longtime producing partner Rob Tapert are executive-producing.
CW executives told the trade paper that the show could be on the air as
early as next summer once it gets a green light.
Gunnar Witterberg (Treasure Hunters)
came up with the idea and will serve as co-executive producer; William
Hamm is also onboard as co-executive producer.
In Horrors, competitors will try to stay "alive"
in a mysterious house in which they must face their darkest fears. One
by one, players are "killed off" via elaborately staged "deaths" that will
mix elements of the reality and horror genres.
In addition to the Spider-Man franchise,
Raimi's credits in the horror/thriller genre include The Evil Dead, Army
of Darkness and The Gift. Raimi also produced The Grudge 2, which opens
Oct. 13.
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ERAGON STAR DID OWN STUNTS
"I had some scary moments, some really
scary moments, but I did feel safe through it all," Ed Speleers said. "I
wanted to do as much as they would let me do in all those months in Eastern
Europe, and every day I thought to myself, 'Wow, can I do it?' and 'Wow,
this is huge!'".
Speelers, who stars in the fantasy-novel-turned-film
Eragon, said that he performed as many of his own stunts as the filmmakers
would allow. The 18-year-old English actor hung from wires, rode horses
and fought with heavy swords in the movie, which brings Christopher Paolini's
2003 best-seller to the silver screen.
Speleers plays the title role, a young
farm boy who discovers what turns out to be a dragon's egg in the woods
and finds himself caught up as one of the last dragonriders in a war to
overthrow a tyrannous king. Eragon opens Dec. 15.
TAMBLYN CAUGHT IN BLACKOUT
Amber Tamblyn (The Grudge 2) has signed on
to star in Blackout, an independent thriller being directed by Rigoberto
Castaneda, with Simon O'Leary and Valerio Morabito producing.
The script, by Ed Dougherty and Morabito,
revolves around three people who are trapped in a hospital elevator for
almost 24 hours as what at first seems like an inconvenience turns into
a nightmare.
Tamblyn will play a young woman who
is trying to get to her grandmother in the hospital who is moments away
from death.
Also cast in the film are Aidan Gillen
(The Wire), playing a doctor who happens to be a psychopathic killer, and
Armie Hammer, a teen who wants to run away with his girlfriend. Shooting
begins early next month in Spain. Tamblyn next appears in The Grudge 2,
which opens Oct. 13.
TIDELAND MIXES REAL AND FANTASY
Terry Gilliam, director of the upcoming fantasy
drama Tideland, said that he didn't worry about how to achieve the proper
balance between the real and the otherworldly. Based on the Mitch Cullin
novel of the same name, Tideland tells the story of Jeliza-Rose (Jodelle
Ferland), a lonely 9-year-old girl with heroin-addicted parents (Jennifer
Tilly and Jeff Bridges), who, after her mother's death, moves to a rural
farmhouse where her imagination runs wild.
"It was quite easy, I guess, because
I didn't think about it," Gilliam (Twelve Monkeys) said in an interview.
"I never distinguish between fantasy and reality, in a strange way. They're
the same thing to me. I'm just making a world. We could have shot it and
made everything look really grim and kitchen sink and really [ugly]. When
you do a drug film, normally it's all really gritty and on the ground.
I didn't want to do that."
Gilliam added: "There's a kind of beauty
even in the decaying, rotting house. The only thing that was important
to me was to create the two worlds, which was the outside world with the
fields and the open space and the beauty and then this dark inside of the
house that's almost like the inside of a smoker's lung. So one is claustrophobic
and dark and the other is wide open. That's about the only intellectual
approach I had to it. Once I got into it I found the house, and we designed
as we went along. It's not all designed in advance, and then we make it.
It was a lot of found objects on Tideland." Tideland opens Oct. 13 in New
York before opening wider later in the month.
EVAN LAUGHING AT BUDGET?
Universal Pictures' upcoming supernatural
comedy sequel Evan Almighty is on course to become the most expensive comedy
film ever.
The film, the follow-up to Jim Carrey's
2003 Bruce Almighty, stars Steve Carell as a Noah-like congressman commanded
by God to hoard hundreds of animals in an ark the size of a cruise ship.
But unexpected costs for visual effects
and the logistical challenges of filming hundreds of live animals have
turned what was supposed to be a $140-million movie into a $160-million
one that could climb as high as $175 million by the time it's finished,
the Times reported. With marketing expenditures, the film is expected to
cost at least $250 million.
Studio executives acknowledged
to the newspaper that they underestimated the cost of Evan, but they are
confident it will be profitable.
MONEY IS THE REASON, JUST MONEY
"I was curious to work with a green screen,
plus I got offered a lot of money to work on something that is fast and
fun and really weird," Scott said. "I also love working in Vancouver. It
is a beautiful city."
Campbell Scott (TV's Six Degrees) said
that he had a simple reason for starring in the upcoming SF movie Final
Day of Planet Earth on the Hallmark Channel: cash. Scott co-stars with
Daryl Hannah in the TV movie, in which he plays an astronaut who is kidnapped
by alien insects while on a space mission. Three years later, he's rescued,
on the verge of insanity, and discovers that his former colleague (Hannah)
is now the Alien Queen, bent on destroying the city with her fellow insects,
disguised as human beings.
Final Days of Planet Earth airs Oct. 14.
REPO - ITS “THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW MET SAW” MUSICAL
Saw III director Darren Lynn Bousman
told SCI FI Wire that he's hoping to direct a big-screen version of the
off-Broadway SF horror-rock opera Repo! The Genetic Opera. Bousman directed
an early version of the production in Los Angeles and more recently shot
a presentation reel using much of his Saw III cast and crew.
"We did shoot a presentation piece for
it, and we're in the process of editing that right now," Bousman said.
"The minute that I was done with Saw III, the mix of it, we went ... right
to work on this musical thing. And it was great, because the entire crew
of Saw III came back; not just one or two of them, the entire crew. Some
of the actors flew back in, and we actually had cameos from some other
actors that came out."
Set in Los Angeles in the near future,
Repo! The Genetic Opera depicts genetic engineers who respond to an epidemic
of organ failures by harvesting organs for transplants. High interest rates
and failures to pay off credit cards used for purchasing organs lead to
foreclosures galore, and it's the gruesome task of the genetic repo men
at GENECO to reclaim the organs.
"It's crazy," Bousman said. "It's
dark. It's horrific. And it's ... not like Singin' in the Rain or even
Rent. It's like if The Rocky Horror Picture Show met Saw. It's violent,
and the music is very modern. So it's really cool. It's not poppy, pop-singing
kind of music. The music is pretty down."
MAN BEHIND THE IRON MAN MASK
It was announced that Robert Downey
Jr will be the Iron Man. Jon Favreau's Iron Man movie has decided that
Downey will be the man behind the mask. Plus, there's confirmation on the
villian 'Shellhead' (as Stan Lee used to call him) will be fighting, who's
designing the armor, when cameras will finally roll, and whom one of his
rumored costars might be.
Also joining the film is Terrence Howard,
to play Jim "Rhodey" Rhodes, the confidante of Iron Man's alter ego, Tony
Stark, played by Downey. Rhodes, a high-ranking military officer and aviator,
steers the team that develops the robotic suit that allows the sickly Stark
to fly around and battle bad guys.
In the Marvel Comics series on
which the film is based, Rhodes' character gets his own armored suit and
evolves into an occasionally antagonistic character called War Machine.
That development seems likely to be saved for the sequel, though, as Iron
Man will battle the villainous Mandarin when shooting begins in February
in Los Angeles, the trade paper reported.
THE PERFECT JOKER
Christopher Nolan, director of the the upcoming
Batman sequel The Dark Knight, said that Heath Ledger will make a perfect
Joker, though he might not seem so at first blush.
"He's just exactly the kind of energy I needed
for the character," Nolan (The Prestige) said. "Everything about the risks
that that performer is willing to take, are the things I need for somebody
to take on that iconic figure. It's going to be a huge challenge for us
to create it, and he's exactly the guy you want to be in the trenches with."
Nolan added that he's been so busy putting
the final touches on his upcoming supernatural film The Prestige that he
hasn't had time to focus on other new casting for the Batman Begins sequel.
Ledger will play the Joker opposite Batman Begins returnees Christian Bale
as Bruce Wayne/Batman, Michael Caine as Alfred, Morgan Freeman as Lucius
Fox and Gary Oldman as Lt. James Gordon.
As anyone who saw Batman Begins knows,
that film's final moments included a sequence between Batman and Lt. Gordon
in which they react to the discovery at a crime scene of a playing card
bearing the face of a Joker. The Dark Knight will no doubt pick up right
after the discovery of that card. "To be frank, I hadn't really thought
about doing the sequel while we were doing the first one, but we wanted
to end the first one with a sense of possibility," Nolan said. "And, frankly,
the dynamic of that scene and the sense of possibility that we tried to
leave the audience with at the end of Batman Begins just stuck with me.
And I felt it as much as I hope the audience did. So we really just want
to carry on that story and see where it goes." The Dark Knight will be
released in 2008.
OTHER NEWS:
It was just another day at the intersection
of Baltimore and Calvert street recently. Long lines, detours, and
honking horns. Oh my.
But wait! Isn't that Bruce Willis? Yes
he was in Baltimore to film Live Free or Die Hard, the 4th movie in the
series. It will come out next summer. And imagine this, we will be substituting
for DC. In this movie he battles internet terrorists.
007 007 007 007 BOND, JAMES BOND 007
007 007 007
007 is back again and many of us fans are looking forward to this film
of our favorite international spy. Here are some treats to wet your whistle,
some trivia notes and some quotes (the quotes from the trailers, but still
fun) Thank god for IMDB.
Trivia for Casino Royale (2006)
A published report by BSkyB in early 2003 indicated that Sean Connery
was among those being considered to direct the film.
Before Daniel Craig was officially announced as the sixth actor to
play James Bond there were several other actors considered for the part.
Producer Michael G. Wilson said that they looked over 200 actors searching
for the right one. Some of them were Julian McMahon, Hrithik Roshan, Dominic
West and Gerard Butler. Most of them were deemed not appropriate to fit
the role, while some others were nothing but media speculation. Goran Visnjic,
Sam Worthington, Alex O'Lachlan and Rupert Friend were also considered,
while Henry Cavill almost got the part but was considered too young to
play it.
Many of the other actors in the running for Bond didn't even know they
didn't get the job until they saw the TV broadcast of Daniel Craig accepting
the offer.
The announcement of Daniel Craig as the new James Bond was made on
October 14th, 2005, aboard the HMS President, in London. In that same day,
former James Bond Roger Moore was celebrating his 78th birthday.
Poker playing was a common pastime amongst cast and crew on the set,
even after production had wrapped. This however is not new for a James
Bond movie. Roger Moore and Albert R. Broccoli during breaks in filming
played and bet on backgammon. Many of the James Bond movies have been known
to have cast and crew participate in some high-stakes gambling.
Reportedly, the name of Casino Royale's Vesper Lynd character has two
sources. First, she was named after an exotic cocktail called a "Vesper".
The rum punch drink contains ice, rum, fruit and herbs and was served to
Fleming and life-long friend Ivar Bryce at a north-eastern Jamaican plantation
house. The other source of the name was apparently a spy friend of Ian
Fleming called Christine Glanville, aka "Vesperale". She was allegedly
a spy who had loved him.
Daniel Craig is the first actor to be under the age of forty and play
James Bond since George Lazenby in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969).
"Casino Royale" was the only James Bond novel not obtained by Harry
Saltzman when he purchased the rights in 1961. He then went into partnership
with Albert R. Broccoli.
It will be the first time in the 44 years of the James Bond series
that it will rain.
The recipe for James Bond's legendary favorite drink, "The vodka martini,
shaken, not stirred", first appeared in chapter seven of the "Casino Royale"
novel. It reads: "Three measures of Gordon's, one of vodka, half a measure
of Kina Lillet [a brand of vermouth]. Shake it very well until it's ice-cold,
then add a large thin slice of lemon-peel." Thus the recipe is six parts
gin, two parts vodka, and one part Lillet blanc, to be shaken (not stirred)
in a cocktail shaker with cracked ice, then poured into a chilled cocktail
glass, then garnished with a twist of lemon. The shaking is important since
the drink contains vodka. A traditional martini made with gin alone should
be stirred so as not to "bruise" the gin (get air in it) nor to allow the
vermouth to dissolve into the drink too much; this leaves the drink smooth
and doesn't mask the subtle flavors of the gin and vermouth. A vodka martini
has to be ice cold (hence the shaking over the ice) and benefits from the
blending of the flavors.
Ian Fleming is said to have based the character of the villain Le Chiffre
in the novel "Casino Royale" on English occultist Aleister Crowley.
This is the first time that the character "Felix Leiter" returns to
the James Bond franchise since 1989's Licence to Kill (1989).
"Casino Royale" is the most often filmed of Ian Fleming's James Bond
novels totaling three times: in 1954, 1967 and 2006. Thunderball (1965)
is second with being filmed twice.
"Casino Royale" was the first James Bond novel written by Ian Fleming
and is the last of the original Ian Fleming novels to be filmed by EON
Productions. The filming of Casino Royale (2006) now means EON Productions
have filmed the entire canon of Ian Fleming James Bond novels.
Quotes from CASINO ROYALE
Vesper Lynd: It doesn't bother you, killing those people...
James Bond: Well, I woudn't be very good at my job if it did.
Vesper Lynd: The treasury has agreed to stake you in the game. But if
you lose, our government will have directly financed terrorism. I will
be keeping my eye on our government's money; and off your perfectly formed
arse.
James Bond: You noticed.
M: This may be too much for a blunt instrument to understand. Any thug
can kill. I want you to take your ego out of the equation.
James Bond: So you want me to be half-monk, half-hitman.
M: I knew it was too early to promote you.
James Bond: What I understand, double-ohs have a very short life expectancy.
Movie Meanderings
A bunch of ICS members met on Wednesday the
11th at the Charles to see a special showing of Mark Redfields new
movie The Death of Poe.
Quite of a few of the ics membership was represented
in the movie. Not quite positive roles, one was coughing, several
were drunk and one was dead. Then there was the temperance preacher.
In the film were ICS members Charlie Wittig, Sam DiBlasi, Leo Dymowski,
Rick Arnold, Barry Murphy and a special appearance from Sam Diblasi SR
(Sam’s Dad).
In the audience we had Poe expert Jeanne Matcovich
and we had comedian Jim Childs. Well the outing was fun on an otherwise
dreary Wednesday night.
Check out our happy members below ---
IMAGINATIVE
CINEMA COMING SOON
MUST SEE MOVIES FOR YOU!
OCT 27th SAW III
Stars: Tobin Bell, Shawnee Smith, Angus Macfadyen
Premise: Jigsaw, the torture-friendly serial
killer, uses a doctor (Soomekh) to help keep him alive while his new apprentice
puts a second victim (Macfayden) through a vicious test.
NOV 10th THE RETURN
Cast:Sarah Michelle Gellar, Kate Beahan, Peter
O'Brien (IV), Adam Scott,
Sam Shepard
Premise: Joanna Mills is a tough young
Midwesterner determined to learn
the truth behind the increasingly terrifying
supernatural visions that have
been haunting her
NOV 17th CASINO
ROYALE
Cast: Daniel Craig, Mads Mikkelsen, Judi Dench,
Eva Green, Jeffrey Wright
Premise: James Bond's first 007 mission
takes him to Madagascar, where he
is to spy on a terrorist Mollaka. Not everything
goes as planned and Bond
decides to investigate, independently of the
M16 agency, in order to track
down the rest of the terrorist cell.
NOV 22nd DECK THE HALLS
Cast: Danny DeVito, Matthew Broderick, Kristin
Chenoweth, Kristin Davis,
Alia Shawkat
Premise: Danny's latest dream - to create
the biggest holiday light
display in the world, visible from outer space
- is turning Steve's
disciplined world into a chaotic nightmare.
As Danny's home explodes with
festive lights of incredible design, increasing
complexity, and
exponentially-growing wattage, Steve becomes
a man on a mission. At any
cost, he will thwart Danny - or top him.
NOVE 22nd DEJA VU
Cast: Denzel Washington, Val Kilmer, Paula
Patton, Bruce Greenwood, Adam
Goldberg
Premise: That flash of memory when you
meet someone new you feel you've
known all your life. But what if the feelings
were actually warnings sent
from the past or clues to the future? It is
déjà vu that unexpectedly guides
ATF agent Doug Carlin through an investigation
into a shattering crime.
farewellsfarewellsfarewells
Good bye farewellsfarewellsfarewells
Sven Nykvist, the Oscar-winning cinematographer
and filmmaker whose naturalistic, straightforward camera work distinguished
the movies of directors Ingmar Bergman and Woody Allen, has died at age
83.
The Swedish-born Nykvist was most closely
associated with Bergman and won best cinematography Oscars for the director's
Cries and Whispers in 1973 and Fanny and Alexander in 1982.
In a career that spanned six decades and included
more than 100 motion pictures, Nykvist helped change the look of film.
His stripped-down photography and low-tech illumination techniques magnified
the actors' psychological reactions to devastating effect, with Rembrandt-like
highlights on faces and contrasting interplay between light and shadow.
His Bergman films include sawdust and tinsel,
hour of the wolf, the magic flute, scenes from a marriage, and winter light.
For Allen he did another woman, crimes and misdemeanors, celebrity and
the segment of New York Stories, titled Oedipus Wrecks.
For other directors, his work includes what’s
eating gilbert grape, something to talk about, the unbearable lightness
of being, the ox (which he directed), sleepless in seattle, mixed nuts,
cannery row and agnes of god.
Film critics, peers and colleagues say Nykvist
was the best cinematographer of his time, possibly the best ever in film
and his work has had a lasting influence on his field.
Edward Albert, the actor-son of the late
screen veteran Eddie Albert who first gained fame co-starring with Goldie
Hawn in the 1970s film Butterflies Are Free, has died. He was 55.
He was the only son of Eddie Albert — the twice
Oscar-nominated supporting actor who starred in the popular 1960s television
sitcom Green Acres — and actress Margo Albert.
He made his film debut at 13, playing a runaway
who encounters a disturbed Civil War veteran played by Anthony Perkins
in the 1965 drama The Fool Killer. Other films included 40 carats, midway,
mind games, exiled in america, body language and guarding tess. He was
also in such genre movies as when time ran out, galaxy of terror, the house
where evil dwells, space marines, stageghost and mimic 2.
Elizabeth Allen, a two-time Tony Award-nominated
actress who played opposite John Wayne in Donovan's Reef and appeared in
Diamond Head, the carey treatment, From the Terrace and Cheyenne Autumn,
has died.
Born Jan. 25, 1929, in Jersey City, N.J., Allen
worked as a high-fashion model with the Ford Modeling Agency before she
began acting. She later became known as "The Away We Go" girl, who introduced
skits on The Jackie Gleason Show. Her Tony nominations came in 1962 for
best supporting actress in a musical for The Gay Life and 1965 for best
actress in a musical for Do I Hear a Waltz?
She also had many T.V. appearances including
such genre series as the twilight zone, thriller, the man from u.n.c.l.e.
and buck rogers in the 25th century. She was 77.
Tamara Dobson, Baltimore native model-turned-actress
best known for her leading role in two films as the kung fu-fighting government
super-agent Cleopatra Jones, has died.
She studied fashion illustration at the Maryland Institute College of Art
and began modeling there. She soon attracted the attention of the New York
fashion world with her 6-foot-2, traffic-stopping hourglass figure and
huge Afro hairstyle. After moving to New York, she appeared in many magazines,
including Vogue, Redbook, Ebony and Essence, and in television commercials
for Faberge, Chanel and Revlon.
Her film career began in 1972 with a small role
in Fuzz as the girlfriend of the "deaf man" villain played by Yul Brynner.
Dobson’s big break came the next year when she was cast in the title role
of Cleopatra Jones — the first black superheroine in the "blaxploitation"
genre — a striking, fierce and fashion-conscious spy. She reprised the
role in 1975 in Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold. She also appeared
in come back charleston blue, Norman, Is That You ?, Murder at the World
Series, Chained Heat and amazons. She had TV roles in the early 1980s in
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century and Jason of Star Command. She was 59.
THE LAST WARD . . .
I’m trying something a little different this month. Usually it’s
one column = one topic, unless I’m in an ellipsis mood. Well, I’ve
got a few different ideas bouncing around in my brain, but none of them
are column-length, and there aren’t enough of them to set the ol’ Ellipsis
Meter beeping. So call this month’s column… Rants and Raves.
WHY I HATE THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT
Let’s start with the idea that it’s one of the most overhyped
and overrated genre movies of the past decade. I was stunned twice:
first, at the huge numbers of folks who were singing the praises of BLAIR
WITCH before I ever got around to seeing it; and second, by the incredible
con job foisted on the public by the film’s makers. I couldn’t believe
that the public actually thought there was something spooky going on down
around Burkittsville. Give me a break!
I hated BLAIR WITCH because the faux-documentary storyline was
so amateurishly put together; its “ad lib” screenplay was one of the laziest
I’d ever heard or seen, nothing more than an excuse for the three or four
main characters to show their lack of real-world intelligence by spewing
f-bombs from start to finish.
But I really hated BLAIR WITCH because it was so shoddily filmed
in the infamously bumpy, jagged hand-held camera style. Other directors
since have used the same approach, and not once has it helped the picture.
I remember enjoying the remake of DAWN OF THE DEAD a couple of years ago,
then having to close my eyes in disgust at the finale, when one of the
survivors got his hands on a camcorder, and the last few moments were filmed
through his eyes.
Most recently, I went to see the otherwise excellent UNITED 93,
one of the first movies to deal frankly with the events of 9/11.
Director Paul Greengrass chose to film the action of the movie in a quick-cutting,
slightly overexposed style designed to amp the tension onscreen.
All it did was amp the tension in my stomach.
Why do so many directors think this is such an inventive method
of filming their stories? Can’t they see that it actually distracts
from the storytelling arc itself? I guess not. And we have
the lamebrains behind THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT to thank for that.
NETFLIX JUNKIE
Three weeks ago, I finally took the plunge and signed up for Netflix
– and I may never step foot inside a Blockbuster again, which is probably
how the greedheads at Netflix want it.
I first heard about Netflix from our neighbors to the far west,
Tim and Heather Fleming. They’ve been Netflixies for a couple of
years now, but I guess it always made more sense for them, living in wide-open
New Mexico. Go to the local Blockbuster? Are you kidding??
What Blockbuster? Tim and Heather share their backyard with a pack
of coyotes, for Pete’s sake! (Okay, I might be exaggerating about
New Mexico’s lack of amenities. But I wasn’t kidding about the coyotes.
I swear I heard the little buggers howling when we were there.) I
had no problem hitting up Blockbuster for the latest rentals, although
I was just as likely to visit the Land of the Blue Shirts and buy my own
copy on New Release Tuesday. The other thing that kept me from signing
up with Netflix was my general wussiness about throwing my VISA number
around on the Internet.
Times change. I had heard of enough people trying it out
that I had to see for myself. Turns out they’ve got several payment
options; I went for the next-to-cheapest. For ten bucks a month,
Netflix will keep sending me DVDs, one at a time, until my eyes start to
bleed and my tongue hangs to the floor. No problems so far with their
mailing system, either; just send ‘em back in their delivery envelope.
Actually, this brings to mind my only real beef with Netflix.
Several of their price options describe “unlimited” movie rentals.
This is what’s known as kinda-truthful advertising. They’ll send
you a DVD, sure enough, but since they won’t send the next one until the
previous DVD is returned, that slows things down a bit. Do the math,
folks: at that rate, you’ll be lucky to see 8 or 9 movies a month, easy.
Which is still not bad for ten bucks, I guess. (Good thing I know
my target readership. If anyone else had stumbled upon my column
just then, they would’ve thought, who has time to watch 8 movies a month??
Get a life, already!!)
I may have to bump up to the 12-bucks-a-month deal, however.
My son just discovered that Netflix carries over 1,200 anime titles.
I think I’m going to need that extra DVD in the envelope.
WHAT HATH 24 WROUGHT?
The new fall TV season is upon us, and even though 24 won’t have
its 6th season premiere until early January, it seems like Jack Bauer and
his buddies are with us in spirit. Serialized spirit, that is.
These things go in circles. I have fond memories of my
parents butting heads in the ‘60s whenever Dad wanted to watch the ball
game, but PEYTON PLACE was on. Mom used to spend hours on the phone
with her friends, debating the latest plot twists. Not long after
that, the ‘70s brought us all to Sitcom Heaven, and the serial was left
in the gutter. It wasn’t until the ‘80s that J.R. Ewing dragged the
serial out of the gutter, dusted it off, gave it a money-green coat of
paint, and scored big ratings.
For the past 5 or 6 years, serials have been almost non-existent.
The rule-of-thumb was that folks just didn’t want to devote the time necessary
to stay with a drama week after week after week. Everything needed
to be wrapped up before the last commercial. I blame Dick “LAW AND
ORDER” Wolf and the guys behind CSI for this one.
Thanks to shows like 24, LOST, and DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES, America
has come back around to the idea that a TV story doesn’t have to end in
52 minutes. A show can actually take several weeks to spill its secrets,
and if the writing’s good enough and the ratings are up, those few weeks
can expand into an entire season, or beyond.
Here’s a sampling of what’s out there for your serial pleasure.
Every single one of these shows has a premise that’s supposed to last an
entire season, or even longer: JERICHO, with a Kansas town struggling to
survive the “day after” nuclear devastation; VANISHED, about a search for
a senator’s kidnapped wife; KIDNAPPED, about the search for a rich couple’s
teenage son; THE NINE, about the aftermath of a 50-hour bank hostage situation;
and HEROES, about people around the world who discover they have genetically-enhanced
superpowers. And that’s just the genre stuff, folks. I hear
there’s also supposed to be a comedy about a bunch of working-class shmoes
who plan to burglarize Mick Jagger’s mansion, said plan to take the entire
season. I hear ol’ Mick plans to do a cameo. Methinks the lad
better schedule that cameo soon, while there’s still a show on the air
to visit.
Because let us not forget exactly why shows like 24 and LOST
are hits; when you’ve got good writing and interesting characters, people
will keep tuning in, week after week.
Wow; now there’s a concept.
WHERE HAVE YOU GONE, DANNY PEARY?
If you’re a film geek and don’t recognize the name in that title,
shame on you! Peary is something of a god among cult film fans for
his remarkable 3-volume series on cult movies (Cult Movies 1, 2, and 3),
published in the early ‘80s and long out of print. The books are
readily available on Amazon and Ebay, along with several more that he published
later, all of which have a fond place on my bookshelf: Guide for
the Film Fanatic, Cult Film Stars, and Alternate Oscars. A Wikipedia
entry on Peary credits him with bringing a new level of attention to the
cult film, coming on the heels of such midnight sensations as THE ROCKY
HORROR PICTURE SHOW and ERASERHEAD.
Unfortunately, the guy doesn’t just love movies; he also loves
baseball. The sport has been Peary’s primary focus over the past
dozen years or so, with Peary co-writing several books about baseball with
Tim McCarver. This is not a plus; I enjoy watching baseball almost
as much as I enjoy watching movies, but McCarver’s tired, clichéd
“color analysis” during the baseball playoffs is almost always enough to
make me turn the channel. I still have an old VHS tape of the 1993
All-Star Game that I kept for sentimental reasons; I sat in the outfield
bleachers with my brother-in-law, and I could spot myself in the crowd
on the tape when Roberto Alomar’s home run landed below us. But I
haven’t watched the tape in years, because McCarver’s commentary made my
teeth hurt.
So, partly thanks to McCarver, I haven’t been able to enjoy Danny
Peary’s writing for a long time. I would rank Peary on a par with
Roger Ebert as far as film lore and instructive criticism; those two, more
than anyone else, helped teach me how to truly watch a film. (Don’t
even mention Pauline Kael; her writing only served to piss me off.)
And now that Ebert’s not likely to be writing for a while, thanks to his
illness, things are looking pretty grim. At times like these, I usually
just crawl into bed with a stack of Entertainment Weeklys and pull the
covers over my head.
ICS
CALENDER OF EVENTS
OCT 27th SAW III
OCT 28th ICS MEETING 5:30pm
This month is our HALLOWEEN special and Greg Mank Returns, he
will be speaking about Lionel Atwill and Murder at the Zoo and there is
also going to be our annual Halloween Potluck Dinner and All-Nighter movie
time.
Costumes are encouraged!
NOV 10th THE RETURN
NOV 17th CASINO ROYALE
2006 ICS SCHEDULE
November 25 Jackie Chan Part 2 presented by Andrew Kent
December 30 (*) Yankee Swap (Oh Boy!)
Revenge Movies presented by Regina Vallerani
More exciting themes in 2007!!! Including our 100 meeting celebration!
