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FILM WRITERS TACKLE HEROES
       Superman Returns co-writer Michael Dougherty and Hostel director Eli Roth will each write an episode of Heroes: Origins, the upcoming spinoff prequel series to NBC's hit SF show. 
       Roth also will direct his episode of the series, which introduces new characters as they discover their extraordinary powers.
       Roth and Dougherty, both Heroes fans, join another big supporter of the show, Kevin Smith, who also is set to write and direct an episode of the Universal Media Studios-produced Heroes: Origins. 

SPIDERWICK HELMER LEARNED FAST
        Mark Waters, director of the upcoming fantasy film The Spiderwick Chronicles, said that his extensive experience didn't quite prepare him for the challenges of making the F/X-heavy movie. 
        Based on the books by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black, The Spiderwick Chronicles follows the Grace children (Freddie Highmore as the twins Jared and Simon and Sarah Bolger as Mallory), who embark on a great adventure involving sprites, boggarts, goblins and an ogre named Mulgarath (Nick Nolte) after they discover a book called Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You. 
        "There's no question that just the sheer apparatus of having hundreds and hundreds of animators working for you in post-production is something that I've never even come close to doing before," said Waters (Freaky Friday, Mean Girls and Just Like Heaven). 
       "I mean, I would say that the preparation that was good for working on this movie was that I've kind of worked with children before," Waters added. "I've worked with models before, which is like working with children, you know? So the idea of having Freddie Highmore have to act opposite himself ... he's a young man, and it's an extremely difficult part. And I was able to kind of like coax him through it. And all of these imaginary creatures he was acting opposite, which basically were acted by me opposite him to give him the proper feeling. That kind of work is not how you work with David Strathairn [who plays Arthur Spiderwick], and working with more experienced actors is a whole different mode." 
      Waters, whose experience in fantasy filmmaking is limited and whose familiarity with the intricacies of visual effects was even more limited, credits his Spiderwick Chronicles collaborators with helping him through the process. "I have Caleb Deschanel [National Treasure, The Right Stuff] as my [cinematographer]," he said. "Michael Kahn [most of Steven Spielberg's films, including Close Encounters] was my editor. Jim Bissell [300] is my production designer. James Horner [Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan] is doing the score. So I have had this incredible A-team put around me who've done these movies before, and I am not shy enough to [not] say, 'Hey, tell me how we can make this better.' Everyone's input has been great." 

JUSTICE LEAGUE GOES WITH MILLER
     Warner Brothers has announced that George Miller (Happy Feet, Mad Max) will direct the live-action feature film based on DC Comics' Justice League of America. The studio is eager to have the film, due in the summer of 2009, locked down in advance of an anticipated writer's strike in Hollywood. 
     The group includes all of DC's major superhero characters, including Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Aquaman and Green Lantern. Some of those characters currently have their own films in the works, complicating the development of Justice League, but the studio is so keen on the script, by Kieran and Michele Mulroney, it has put other projects—such as the next Superman film—on the back burner. 
      It has even been said that Christian Bale and Brandon Routh, who played Batman and Superman in recent solo films, will not appear in Justice League. Christopher Nolan, who directed Batman Begins and the upcoming Dark Knight, would prefer that Warners delay Justice League until after he finishes Batman projects in development; Bale has also let his uneasiness about Justice League be known. 
      The studio considered making Justice League as an animated film, but is determined that it will be an effects-driven, live-action film despite the potential difficulties in casting. 

HIGHLANDER’S PAUL GOES TO SOURCE
      Adrian Paul, star and executive producer of the upcoming SCI FI original movie Highlander: The Source, said that film five in the long-running film and television franchise examines the source of immortality. Paul reprises his role as the long-lived Scottish swordsman Duncan MacLeod in Highlander: The Source, which premieres Sept. 15 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. 
      "Everything has gone to pot, basically," Paul said in an interview. "The world is sitting in another place and time, and he's kind of lost hope as to ever being anybody or achieving anything. Everybody keeps saying, 'You're the one. You're the guy. But virtually everyone he knows has died, and so he's kind of like, 'OK, I don't know what to do anymore with whom I am or what I'm supposed to be here for.'" 
      Further complicating the situation, the love of MacLeod's life, Anna Teshemka (Thekla Reuten), has inexplicably left him. "And now his only intent is he just wants to find her," Paul said. "What ends up happening is that he finds her, but he finds her while she's on the quest with these other Immortals for the Source." 
        Paul said that The Source is different in structure from previous Highlander projects. "This was a more linear story," Paul said. "It had no flashbacks, which surprised me, actually, at first, because I always loved doing the flashbacks, and I know the fans loved them. I think the idea was really good, in the sense that ... it became a quest movie. All the others had a different feel to them and were a little more convoluted. This one has one storyline that goes all the way through." 

HOLD ON ANDREW – TRANSFORMERS 2?
       Despite recent comments from producer Don Murphy and director Michael Bay, it appears Paramount has set a release date for Transformers 2 -- June 29, 2009. It's still a long while off, which means anything can happen.  Who would have thought? 
 

MEMBERS JUST LIKE US – ICS Members answer ‘5 in a Row’

There will be a brief, one page 5 question interview each month with and ICS member. 
This month John Weber has stepped up to participate and answer some questions.

1.  Favorite rock band tee shirt? 
The Beatles - the classic "Meet The Beatles" black-and-white half-shaded faces on a black T-shirt. I just recently bought it from Amazon.com, and boy is it sweet! 
 

2.  Favorite movie animal?
Milo - Jim Carrey's dog in "The Mask". An obedient and loving Jack Russell Terrier, who would do anything to help his master, even while under the influence of the mysterious mask himself. (More info about Milo and a small photo can be found at this Jack Russell Terrier site: http://www.jack-russell-terrier.co.uk/fun/famous_jack_russells.html) 

3.  Favorite Tote bag?
My big black "Dark Shadows" tote bag with the extra-special bonus of having a zipper, to keep out the elements on rainy days and to protect my valuable collectibles on my show-and-tell nights at ICS meetings (which is EVERY meeting, pretty much).
 
 

4.  Most inspirational for you Movie poster in your house? (and picture) 
"Time After Time" - still my favorite movie poster (original 30x40 on heavy cardstock - NEVER folded), and it's been framed on my living room wall for over 10 years now (except for that one day last month, when I had to temporarily take it out of its frame so that Malcolm McDowall could sign it at Horrorfind.) 
 
 

5. Favorite Dark Shadows episode - name just one 
Original "Dark Shadows" episode #230 (first telecast on 05/12/67). From the black-and-white "early Barnabas" period, when he was still pretty nasty. Barnabas summons the recently-bitten Maggie to Eagle Hill Cemetery, where he plans to make her his vampire bride. But Willie has a crisis of conscience, and defies his master by calling Maggie's friends (while cleverly disguising his voice) to tell them where to find her before it's too late. Help arrives just in time, forcing Barnabas and Willie to hide in the Collins Mausoleum. After Maggie and the others depart, a furious Barnabas realizes that Willie must have betrayed him. Barnabas then punishes Willie by beating him with his wolf's-head cane. Wow! Great fun for the whole family! 

(Here is a link to a short YouTube clip featuring all the best parts from this particular episode! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex-HDeIib5w&mode=related&search) 
(And more info about this particular episode and the ones that immediately follow can be found at this link: http://www.collinwood.net/episodes/67-07.htm)

(Betsy is still pondering how Kong, the great Ape, lost to a Jack Russell Terrier?)

MEDUSA MOVIE MADNESS MEDUSA MOVIE MADNESS 

Reviewed by our own ICS Medusa

What do you call a British slasher flick steeped in black humor and gore with the tag line  'Another bloody office outing' - besides brilliant?  "Severance".

 Released in 2006 it's directed and co-written by Christopher Smith.  This film is just the way I like them. It's inventive and original in so many ways you won't be able to guess what's next, and the title says it all. 

Seven staff members for an arms dealer travel to a remote lodge in Hungary for one of those irritating team-building weekends.  Everything starts to go wrong from the get-go.  The cool thing is you just don't how or who or when.  Smith's directing keeps you on the edge without the usual cheap teasers.  The characters aren't stereotyped and you get a small glimpse of their personalities through the dark humor. But you don't get so invested that you end up rooting for them. And once the carnage begins, it's executed relentlessly in unusual and different ways. 

In the end it didn't matter to me who came out on top in this movie.- I was just along for the ride and what a wild one it was. Lots of surprises and lots of dark fun! 
For even more surprises don't read any reviews or even the Netflix description beforehand.  Go in blind and come out laughing. 

I rate this movie a "full head of hissing snakes". 
 
 

Till next time – 
Hugs and hisses, MEDUSA 

MOVIE MEANDERINGS
By Mike Schilling

STARDUST

Once every great while I run across a movie that reminds me why I go to the movies to begin with. In my earlier years, my Dad and I would look to spend some time together at the local movie house. We would go to laugh, to be thrilled, to be dazzled by faraway places that featured larger-than-life characters, but above all we would go just to have a good time in general, not just between us two, but with all the other folks sitting there together in that magical enclosure of an auditorium where anything and everything could happen. 
Watching STARDUST, both the movie itself, and the experience of checking it out in the theatre, reminded me of those days. I hate to tap into a huge keg of cliché’, but it seems apropos to say that they don’t make ‘em like this much anymore. The good guys are good, yet likable. The bad guys (or gals) are REALLY bad, (and they like it that way), the settings are absolutely dazzling. And, yes, the good guys can still win the day...but not without a world of trouble coming their way first.
     Stardust features a number of interlocking characters and storylines that would make explaining the plot both time-consuming and a great disservice to the potential viewer. The basic framework is that our young hero, in order to prove his love for a lovely but venal local girl, must find and bring back a fallen star that has plummeted to Earth outside his protective little village called Wall, so called because of the large wall that surrounds it and acts as a barrier between it and the magical and dangerous outside world. 
However, not just the hero, Tristan, seeks the star for their own ends. A trio of witches wants to capture her as well and literally devour her heart so that they can re-attain their youthful beauty, and they will stop at nothing to attain it. Meanwhile, the special locket that is around our heroine’s neck can determine the next king of the local monarchy called Stronghold, therefore a whole team of opportunistic siblings are winding their way through the countryside to claim their prize. With these pieces in place, what follows is a grand and thrilling adventure that combines all of the best elements of fantasy, sci/fi and fantastical love story that makes for a genuinely crowd-pleasing experience of the first order.
     The cast is uniformly excellent. I cannot recall the names of all of the lead actors, sadly. However, all fit their roles well and seem completely committed to telling the story without any shortcuts. Claire Danes is wonderful as our heroine. Initially, of course, you notice her beauty. But as the movie progresses she seems to take on her own glow, and that’s not just because of the great effects work in the picture. She uses a combination of innocence, wit, and warmth to quickly work her way into the heart of our hero and the audience itself. 
As a secondary, but still very central, character in the film, Robert DeNiro plays Captain Shakespeare, who happens to command a magnificent airship that is instrumental to Tristan and his unique charge during the unfolding of their story. DeNiro has been such a superlative actor for so very long in so many “important” pictures that I think we as an audience may have missed out on the idea of him actually having fun with a role...and he is definitely getting into it for all he’s worth as the gruff and grizzled captain who definitely is not all that he appears to be. His captain is such a joy to watch that the audience can’t help but follow along with anything that comes his way. Peter O’Toole makes a cameo as the outgoing King of Stronghold, and his presence definitely further legitimizes the entire cast, as does the dulcet tones of Ian McKellan as the narrator. 
Beyond all this is Michelle Pfeiffer as the witch-sister who is chosen to seek the star and literally rip her heart out. In all her various guises, weather she is a frightful hag with wads of hair falling out, or as her delicious younger self, Ms. Pfeiffer has never been more alluring or vicious. Regardless of whether she is playing for laughs or straight scares, you find yourself completely commanded by her screen presence. In my opinion, she’s never been better...a true movie star, through and through.
     Besides the memorable actors and characters involved, the movie is also helped a great deal by some dazzling effects work, which embellishes, yet doesn’t detract, from the story. Also, the musical score is very exciting and well-matched to the adventures on-screen.
     So, in short, what we have here is a movie that, quite simply, has a little something for everybody. Great cast, wonderful characters, classic good vs. evil storyline, good music, and solid effects. If you love fantastical movies, you’ll have a hard time finding better than STARDUST this year…or most any other year, for that matter.
 
 

farewellsfarewellsfarewells Good bye farewellsfarewellsfarewells

William Tuttle, Makeup genius died at the age of 95 last week. Having spent some 35 years working for MGM, Mr. Tuttle worked extensively on the original Twilight Zone, and, amongst others, did the incredible transformation of Tony Randall in THE 7 FACES OF DR. LAO, the Morlocks for George Pal's THE TIME MACHINE and transformed Peter Boyle into the lovable monster in YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN.

Joel Fein, Oscar-nominated sound mixer for The Buddy Holly Story. He was also a recording sound mixer for Blade Runner and Fletch Lives and the restorations of Bridge on the River Kwai and Spartacus. As a sound re-recording mixer, he worked on Back to the Future II, Midnight Run, The Hard Way, Ghost Dad and Gary Sinise's Of Mice and Men, and as a score mixer, he worked on Bachelor Party. Later in his life he concentrated on television work, for which he won an Emmy and was nominated twice more. He died September 22 in Wichita. 

Alice Ghostley, Character actress (pictured) best known for her television roles on Bewitched and Designing Women. She is familiar to Grease fans as the film's automotive shop teacher, Mrs. Murdock. She also appears in The Graduate, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Flim-Flam Man, The Odd Couple II and as herself in the documentary Broadway: Beyond the Golden Age. She died of cancer September 21, in Studio City, California.

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