HALLOWEEN SPECIAL – 
GREAT FILMS ON AMC, TNT SCHEDULE

TV NEWS
ENTERPRISE’S CAPTAIN SPEAKS OUT 
SARK CUTS IT SHORT 
WB SPEEDS ON WITH FLASH 
CBS EYES PRACTICAL MAGIC 
HE’S TARZAN, SHE’S JANE
NEW ANGEL BABES HMMMMM…

EVENT NEWS
Bubba Ho-Tep
The 29th Annual World Fantasy Convention
Chiller Theatre 13th Anniv. Halloween Extravaganza
Darkover Grand Council XXVI 
PhilCon 2003
Evecon 21 

LITERARY NEWS
NEW SANDMAN COLLECTION DUE 
KING WINS BOOK MEDAL

MUST SEE MOVIES 
THE HOUSE OF THE DEAD, TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, SCARY MOVIE 3, ALIEN   (Rerelease ), MATRIX 3, THE HAUNTED MANSION

DVD NEWS
ANIME DVD RELEASES

FAREWELLS
JOHN RITTER, Donald O’Connor, Igor Mozheiko, Sheb Wooley, Jack Smight, Jay Morton, Lyle Bettger, Gordon Mitchell, Elia Kazan,

THE LAST "WARD"

ICS CALENDER

SEPTEMBER MEETING PART 2 – DON’T MESS WITH THA ‘DAWG
    While some of us were hoping to hear Dean Martin break out into a song in the middle of a spy adventure, the club overwhelmingly voted for the 1966 classic, DEADLIER THAN THE MALE, starring Robert Johnson (best known for his role as Dr. Menard from Lucio Fulci’s ZOMBIE) as Bond imitator Hugh “Bulldog” Drummond, a tough guy insurance investigator. Elke Sommer and Sylvia Koschina were the campy female assassins of the title.  2002 FANEX guest, Suzannah Leigh, also had a pivotal role. 

WELCOME JEANETTE WOLFE
  Jeanette Wolfe, friend of Donna and Dava Sentz, is our newest member as of the September meeting.  Does Jeannette share the Sentz’s love of all things Christopher Lee?  There’s only one way to find out - introduce yourself and ask her!  Welcome to ICS, Jeanette – we’re glad to have you!

IF U CN RD TS…
  …then thank our new ICS Files proof reader, Jim Childs.  Jim’s promotion at work actually gives him more free time at home to help Betsy with the newsletter.
 Also, honorable mention goes to Mike Schilling, who will list the October TCM schedule of Horror Films.  Thanks, Jim and Mike!

POST-MEETING SOCIAL HOUR
    After the August meeting ended, several members stayed to watch GOJIRA X MECHAGOJIRA.   The film was not yet released in the US and many people wanted to see it.  However, at the September meeting, the club decided that the time after the business meeting should be used to socialize and not to show a second film (with the exception of the Halloween All Nighter).

HISTORICAL TAPES – GOT ANY?  WANNA BE IN ONE?
  Also, in honor of our 5th anniversary, Barry Murphy is video taping 20-30 second testimonials and anniversary messages from our members during the next meeting.  If interested, please see Barry at the next meeting.  Also, if anyone has any pictures or videos from previous meetings or VHS tapes of films we’ve viewed (it doesn’t matter if you presented the film or not), please allow Barry to borrow them.  When he is finished with his project, we should have a fun little tape to watch at the January 2004 meeting.

NEWS OF OUR NEXT MEETING: STARTING EARLY!
  Our next meeting will be held on Saturday October 25th at 5:00 P.M. at the church hall behind the Perry Hall Presbyterian Church located at 8848 BelAir Road. Take Baltimore Beltway exit 32 north on Belair Road. Turn left onto Joppa Road. Immediately past the miniature golf course turn left into the parking lot. If you miss it there are ample turn-around opportunities. If you get stuck call 443-570-6455. That's Dave Willard’s cell phone. He'll talk you in. 

 We are beginning a half hour early at 5:00 to open the kitchen to those who need to heat up their dishes.  Dinner begins at 5:30.  Bring your appetite! 
COSTUMES ARE OPTIONAL, BUT ENCOURAGED!

OCTOBER POTLUCK 
  The October meeting is our annual Halloween Potluck.  We are asking members to bring in a favorite dish or Halloween dish.  If cooking is not your thing, consider bringing sodas, ice or chips.  And remember come in costume and surprise us all!

Here’s our current menu:
 

OUR OCTOBER MEETING: THE ANIME SISTERS
  Blake and Taylor Sherbloom-Woodward have been waiting over a year to bring us a glimpse into the colorful world of Anime.  On October 25th, the wait is finally over.  We’ll kick off our Halloween meeting with a presentation on Anime and choice of Anime films.

OCTOBER ALL-NIGHTER
  As part of the ICS October tradition, we are featuring the infamous All-Nighter, beginning with the restored version of PHANTOM OF THE OPERA with Lon Chaney.  After that, we’ll continue to vote on member selections until either the final surviving ICS’r cannot stay awake any longer or Joe kicks us out!  So, take an early nap and bring in a movie for the All Night marathon!

CALENDARS SLATED FOR OCTOBER PICKUP
The theme for the 2004 calendar is TV Shows of the 60’s and should be available at the October meeting.  The calendar is $15 – if you want one, please leave your name with Dave Willard ASAP so he knows how many to order.  The calendars are printed in a limited number and as always, contain famous film dates and dates of the 2004 meetings.

AUCTION GOODS NEEDED FOR NOVEMBER!
  The Masked Auctioneer and The Minimum Bid Kid are making an appearance at the November meeting… and that can only mean one thing – we’re having an auction!  The club is auctioning off several films and miscellaneous goods that did not sell at the Fanex dealer’s table.  We also need auction goods – so clean out your closets and prepare to spend and laugh at the antics of our resident auctioneers.  The auction will begin at 5:00 on November 22.

YANKEE SWAP IS ON THE HORIZON
 In December we'll be doing our annual Yankee Swap. It's always a lot of fun. We'll be reviewing this in more detail in the December issue. This is a reminder that, if you're considering giving out an ICS Membership Gift Certificate you might want to see Regina at the November meeting. That will give you time to package it for the December meeting. 
    The ICS Certificate is $20 for individuals and $30 for couples. The Yankee Swap designated amount is $20.  We recommend bringing movie related gifts only. 

ICS IS AT THE SENATOR
  ICS is renting out the balcony at the Senator Theater on Saturday, January 24, 2004 to celebrate our 5th anniversary.  Admission is $10 and is limited to 40 members – turn in your money to Regina at the next meeting.  The reservations are held when the payment is received. 
The attendance list is:
 

     A succession of white dots cross a darkened screen, and the final one stops, expands, and enlarges into what we realize is the telescopic scope of a sniper’s rifle.  The scope slowly follows a dark silhouette of a man across the screen.  The man turns, and in a slight crouch, draws a gun and we see the flash and hear the sound of a pistol being fired, followed by a curtain of red, which slowly blacks out the screen….JAMES BOND IS BACK!
    These opening images, originally created by Maurice Binder, have thrilled audiences over a period of 40 years as they sat in anticipation for what would be the latest entry in the continuing adventures of Ian Fleming’s super spy.  It’s a testimony to the planning and care put into the series, that the creators have managed to keep Bond coming back time after time, through major changes in the political and social climate of the decades.
     United Artists and producers Albert Brocolli and Harry Saltzman weren’t initially greeted with success.  The first James Bond film, DR. NO  (1962), was widely criticized and panned by London critics.  Sean Connery’s portrayal of Bond was hailed as a “violent thug, little better than the villains he goes up against…”,  “a woman – hater”, and so on.  When the film came overseas to the U.S., the distributors weren’t sure of how to handle it, and so DR. NO shared the fate of numerous Roger Corman and Samuel Z. Arkoff low budget exploitation flics – it went straight to the drive-in theatres! 
   The public, however, knew what they liked and so Bond returned in FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE  (1963), which had gained some advance publicity by Life magazine’s printing of President John F. Kennedy’s current favorite reading list – the Ian Fleming novel of the same title was #9 on the list.  The film came out with similar critical response, but again, the public ate it up and the first James Bond fan clubs started springing up around England.
    In 1964, James Bond #3, GOLDFINGER, came out – and the dam burst wide open!  The world was going secret agent crazy.  Spy chic’ was everywhere  - in advertising, fashion, music and toys.  The TV and film studios wanted to jump on the bandwagon and capture some of that magic for themselves.  They came up with shows like The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Mission Impossible, Danger Man (a.k.a. Secret Agent Man), The Wild, Wild West (James Bond in the 1800’s!), The Girl From U.N.C.L.E., Get Smart, and my personal favorite – The Avengers.
     As for the film studios, that’s what my presentation was about in the September meeting of the ICS.  Every film studio rushed into production their own particular take on what was one of the hottest movie trends of the time.  Unlike United Artists and the Bond producers, these studios weren’t in it for the long run, and so a glut of “James Bond wannabes” came out with mixed results.  We took a look at a small number of what I considered to be some of the better efforts.

    OUR MAN FLINT (1966)  From 20th Century Fox, the best American takeoff of the Bond films.  James Coburn,stars as independently wealthy, jack-of-all-trades Derek Flint, who, although he isn’t a secret agent by profession, goes on a mission to save the world, after an assassination attempt is made on his life.  Flint goes up against GALAXY, an organization of scientists who have masterd control of the weather.  Directed by Daniel Mann, with a very cool  Jerry Goldsmith score.
     THE SILENCERS (1966)  From Columbia, Dean Martin as Matt Helm in the first of 4 lightweight movies based on the character created by author Donald Hamilton.  Baring little resemblance to the literary Helm, we follow the adventures of Matt Helm, full time glamour photographer, part time reluctant operative for I.C.E., who, in this film, goes up against  “Big O”, and oriental villain who’s out to destroy the American Missle Defense Program.  Costarring Stella Stevens, Victor Buono and Beverly Adams as Helm’s secretary/housekeeper and personal assistant, Lovey Kravezit.
     THE LIQUIDATOR (1966)  MGM presents Rod Taylor as a character named Boysie Oakes, a regular guy mistaken for a lethal killer,  who is recruited by the British government to root out and assassinate double agents.  Basically a comedic thriller as Oakes, enjoying the perks of his new career, has to cover up his ineptness as carrying out his assignments.  Costars Trevor Howard, Wilfrid Hyde White and “actress” Jill St. John.
     LE MAGNIFIQUE (1973)  From France, Jean—Paul Belmondo stars as super agent Bob St. Claire, in a clever satire of the spy film genre directed by Phillipe De Broca. Co-starrring Jacqueline Bisset as the alluring Tatania. Filled with dark humour and some explicit violence (but all in good fun!).
     WHERE THE SPIES ARE (1966)  A nice little thriller from MGM, starring David Niven as Dr. Jason Love,  a British country doctor persuaded to go on a diplomatic mission to Istanbul by a covert organization.  The mission, of course, turns deadly and Dr. Love has to use his wits to survive and save the day.  Costarring Francois Dorleac, John Le Mesurier and Cyril Cusack, directed by Hammer alumnus Val Guest, from the novel Passport to Oblivion.
     DEADLIER THAN THE MALE (1966)  My personal favorite of the James Bond – inspired thrillers, this movie from the British Rank Organization stars Richard Johnson as an updated Hugh Bulldog Drummond, investigating the mysterious deaths of top level oil company executives.  Costarring lovelies Elke Sommer and Sylvia Koscina as lethal assassins for the crime syndicate behind the murders, and featuring a gigantic robotic chess board, this film was directed by Ralph Thomas, from a screenplay by another Hammer alumnis, Jimmy Sangster.
     The number of films I had to present wasn’t limited so much as by choice, but rather by availability.  There were a lot of other good spy films that came out during that early period, but that just haven’t come out on video.  The only way you can hope to catch some of them, uncut, is by catching them on Turner Classic Movies or on the Fox Movie Classics channel.  Forget American Movie Classics – that station should have gone off the air ages ago.

     If you enjoyed the presentation, or weren’t present at the meeting, I intend to do a follow-up in September, 2005, covering spy movies of the later years.  If you’re a fan of the spy genre, there are several excellent TV series currently running and available on video. 
     LA FEMME NIKITA    Season One  Based on the Luc Besson thriller, starring Peta Wilson as Nikita, code name Josephine.  This was broadcast in the late 90’s and was the first TV series to confront the topic of international terrorism.  Nikita works for a covert organization known as Section One, which is the final word in terrorist elimination.  This incredibly violent and stylistic thriller series was broadcast on USA, and was producer Joel Surnow’s warm-up series for the next show on our list.
      24    Seasons One & Two.  Going into season 3 at the end of October, 24 is the most incredibly suspenseful continuing TV series I have ever seen.  To explain it to somebody who hasn’t been with it since Day One is difficult, at best.  Starring Keifer Sutherland as Agent Jack Bauer, with an incredible ensamble cast.  Recommend investing in Season 1 on DVD, and if you love it like I do, you’ll be out the door and on the way to Best Buys to pick up Season 2.  I had to hold off watching it earlier this year until I could get through the first 24 episodes, and I’m glad I did – it all ties together.
     ALIAS.  Season One.    This is another series, still being broadcast, that I took a chance on and am so glad I did.  Starring Jennifer Gardner as agent Sydney Bristow, a college girl recruited into the C.I.A. (or so she thinks…) and costarring Victor Garber as her father, also an operative, in a series with more twists and turns than Aunt Annies’ Soft Pretzels!  Like 24, this is a series that has to be seen from the beginning.

     I’ll tie this all up by saying that originally I had intended to do a presentation on the Bond movies, themselves.  However, with the 40th anniversary of 007 last year, there is a wealth of material out there, both in print and on the Bond DVD’s, that encompasses so much more than I could possibly cover in a short amount of time.  There has never been a better time than now for Bond and spy movie fans, as far as availability of resourses. I invite any comments or inquiries, although they may just endanger your life!!!!!

 And as Dirk Bogarde said in one of my favorite spy films, AGENT 008 ¾., 
“Hot enough for June?”

Can you solve the Bond puzzle - who said what in the movie GOLDFINGER…
“You like a close shave, don't you?”

“I never joke about my work, 007”. 

“My dear girl, there are some things that just aren't done, such as drinking Dom Perignon '53 above the temperature of 38 degrees Fahrenheit. That's just as bad as listening to the Beatles without earmuffs!” 

“Don't touch that!...That's my lunch!”

“My name is Pussy Galore” 
“I must be dreaming”

“Man has climbed Mount Everest, gone to the bottom of the ocean. He's fired rockets at the Moon, split the atom, achieved miracles in every field of human endeavor... except crime!” 
 

A HALLOWEEN CELEBRATION ALL MONTH LONG!
By Mike Shilling
   Ok folks, it's that time of the year again, and do we ever have a lot of watching to do! Make sure you're stocked up on tuned-up VCRs, blank tapes, and jiffy pop..and please check your manual about how to program your timer, unless you plan to be up 24-7.
   The following is a listing of genre-oriented movies for the month of October on Turner Classic Movies. 
   Due to time and space considerations, it is far from exhaustive.  I urgently recommend all of you with access go to www.turnerclassicmovies.com for full descriptions of actors, directors, running time, formats, synopsis, et al. 
   Also, I have edited this list based on my own preconceived notions of what is Halloween-ish and what isn't, which may not be yours.  For example, I've left off the list many good pictures that feature angels, plus many good mystery pictures that may feature supernatural elements. 
   However, I have included some non-genre movies that feature Boris Karloff and Lon Chaney, Sr., simply based on who they are. 
   For the purposes of this listing, the air date begins at midnight (the day begins at 6 AM on the web site). For example, if the 1931 DRACULA is scheduled for midnight Halloween nite, it would be listed as 12:00AM November 1.
    By the way, an abridged listing of features being run on AMC on Halloween week is being done separately for all you completists out there.    All set? Then let's get ready to watch classic horror until our brains turn into mush......
 

SARK CUTS IT SHORT 
   "They've kind of had a rift," said David Anders, about his on camera former boss Arvin Sloane (Ron Rifkin) and his character, the enigmatic Mr. Sark on ABC's ALIAS in the show's upcoming third season.  "I mean, Sark's been in prison for two years, and Sloane's turned over a new leaf. So he's kind of becoming his own man."
   As part of his character's new direction, Anders now sports an ex-con-chic buzz cut and said that he's already hearing negative comments from fans about his new look.  "It's a whole new Sark," he said. "I've heard that some female fans have expressed a disinterest in my hair, but I dig it.  It was [creator J.J. Abrams'] brainchild."
   Co-star Greg Grunberg, who plays Agent Weiss on the show reminds about creator Abrams' previous bad luck with haircuts (ratings fell sharply on Abrams' previous show, Felicity, when star Keri Russell cut off her famous curly locks). 
   "I love it," Grunberg said. "[But] J.J. has a history of cutting hair and losing ratings.  So hopefully this won't happen."

WB SPEEDS ON WITH FLASH 
   The WB has ordered a pilot for a TV series based on the DC Comics series The Flash.  Todd Komarnicki (Resistance) is writing the pilot and will executive produce the project via Warner Brothers Television and his Guy Walks Into a Bar.  The WB has attached a hefty penalty to the project if it's not picked up to series.
   The Flash, which centers on a man with superhuman speed, is the Frog network's latest attempt to reimagine a comic or literary classic for prime time, following its Superman-inspired Smallville and this season's upcoming Tarzan, the trade paper reported.
   As with Smallville, the new Flash will have a "no tights, no flights" philosophy, which means the character won't be clad in his classic red suit.  The new show will also reportedly incorporate a time-travel element: The hero will be a fresh-out-of-college Gothamite who discovers he has the ability to move so fast, he can travel backward or forward in time.
 

CBS EYES PRACTICAL MAGIC 
    CBS and Warner Brothers TV are developing an hour long drama series based on Sandra Bullock's 1998 fantasy movie PRACTICAL MAGIC.  The two companies are working with producer Denise Di Novi, writer Becky Hartman-Edwards and Bullock's Fortis Films.
   As in the movie, the series will center on two sisters who struggle with the blessing/curse of magical abilities.  Hartman-Edwards (American Dreams) will executive produce and write the pilot, which will be based on the Griffin Dunne novel that served as the inspiration for the movie.  Bullock and Di Novi will also executive produce the CBS show.

HE’S TARZAN, SHE’S JANE
   . “Jane was a woman who was very forthright and sharp-minded for the time she was in” says Sarah Wayne Callies, who plays NYPD detective Jane Porter in The WB's upcoming new series Tarzan.   She adds that her character bears some resemblance to her jungle-dwelling forebear in Edgar Rice Burroughs' original Tarzan stories.  "Burroughs' original ... was published in 1914 and was about something that happened, I think, in 1881," Callies said " And she's updated appropriately. And she's retained that same relationship to the time she was in, even though it's now."
   In the WB's contemporized TARZAN, Callies' Jane is a New York cop who finds herself caught up in events surrounding a mysterious young man, John Clayton Jr. (Travis Fimmel), who was discovered living in the jungle and has been brought back to New York by his rich relatives.  One other thing is different about this new Jane, Callies added. "She's wearing more clothes," she said. "I'm not kidding.  She's probably got more clothing on than if you stitched together every square inch of fabric every [movie] Jane has ever worn. ... 

NEW ANGEL BABES HMMMMM…
   David Boreanaz, who returns as the vampire with a soul in The WB's ANGEL said that two new women will add bite to the show's upcoming fifth season: new office secretary Harmony (Mercedes McNab) and Wolfram & Hart liaison Eve (Sarah Thompson). 
   Boreanaz added that the women would replace the comatose Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter) and beheaded Lilah (Stephanie Romanov), both of whom won't be back
   Boreanaz added, "Cordelia's character took off in a direction that was different from what anyone probably expected.  Harmony will be a little bit more like Cordelia was at the beginning of BUFFY than Cordelia was on ANGEL. Harmony is there to spice things up a little."
   Boreanaz said that McNab's Harmony-by virtue of being a vampire and having a history with Spike on BUFFY-will bring an "edge" to ANGEL.  Eve, by contrast, will be less harsh and abrasive than Lilah, the star said.

The 29th Annual World Fantasy Convention
October 30th — November 2nd, 2003
Celebrating 75 years of Writing
http://www.seahunt.org/wfc/
Author Guests of Honor
Brian Lumley and Jack Williamson
To Register: http://www.seahunt.org/wfc/membership.htm

CHILLER THEATRE EXPO October 31 thru November 2
Held in Rutherford NJ, you can find here three days of Horror Movies, great guests and Dealers Room Galore!  Check the site out for the phenomenal guest list.  What a great place to spend Halloween!!!!
Guest List Click Here

2003 DARKOVER GRAND COUNCIL MEETING XXVI
NOVEMBER 28 - 30, 2003
TIMONIUM, MARYLAND

PhilCon 2003
December 12--14, 2003  Marriott Center City Philadelphia
Principal Speaker: Jack McDevitt
Artist Guests Of Honor: Greg & Tim Hildebrandt
Special Guests: Peter David & Harry Harrison
http://www.philcon.org/

Evecon 21 
December 26 - 28, 2003 -- Frederick, MD

KING WINS BOOK MEDAL
   Stephen King was awarded by The National Book Foundation its 2003 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters.  King joins a list of previous winners that includes John Updike, Philip Roth, Saul Bellow and Toni Morrison, the wire service reported.
   The 55-year-old King has more than 300 million copies of his books in print, including The Shining (1977), Pet Sematary (1983) and Misery (1987), all of which were made into popular films, the news service reported.
   The award, given by the organizers of the National Book Award, carries a $10,000 prize (which King said he would return to the foundation for charitable purposes) and will be bestowed at the annual National Book Awards ceremony on Nov. 19 2003.

A TALE OF TWO LIZARDS 
   Fox Animation and Blue Sky Studios are finalizing a deal to bring the children's book The Iguana Brothers: A Tale of Two Lizards to the big screen as an animated feature, with John Leguizamo voicing and producing.  Academy Award nominee Jeremy Pikser (Bulworth) is adapting the screenplay, which will also be produced by director Robert Luketic and Fonda Snyder .
   Iguana, based on writer Tony Johnson and illustrator Mark Teague's book, tells the story of Dom and Tom, two laid-back iguana brothers living in Mexico, who embark on adventures.

BATMAN CHOSEN 
   Christian Bale (Equilibrium) has been cast in the starring role of Bruce Wayne in Warner Brothers' upcoming new BATMAN movie, to be directed by Christopher Nolan and produced by Emma Thomas, the studio announced on Sept. 11.  Jeff Robinov, president of production for Warner Brothers Pictures.
   Principal photography on the film is expected to begin in early 2004.  The movie is written by David Goyer and Nolan and will follow the early career of The Dark Knight.
   "What I see in Christian is the ultimate embodiment of Bruce Wayne," Nolan said in a statement.  "He has exactly the balance of darkness and light that we were looking for."
   Bale has starred in REIGN OF FIRE, LITTLE WOMEN and AMERICAN PSYCHO.
   News of Bale's casting comes in the wake of reports that the studio had recently held a "bake-off" of virtually all eligible young actors in Hollywood for the coveted role.
   British-born Bale joins Michael Keaton, George Clooney and Val Kilmer as the latest actor to put on the cowl and cape.  The upcoming BATMAN film will be the fifth in franchise.

WISEMAN STRETCHED UNDERWORLD
   Len Wiseman, director of the upcoming vampire movie Underworld said that years of experience with music videos came in handy when trying to stretch the budget of his feature-film debut.  Wiseman said that he strove for the look of a $60 million movie on a budget a third of that while shooting on location in Budapest, Hungary.
   "I kind of [built] my career off of the word-of-mouth that said, 'Oh, this is the guy. You could give him $100,000 and make it look like $600,000,'" Wiseman said in an interview.
   UNDERWORLD stars Kate Beckinsale as a gun-toting vampire on the front lines of a centuries-old war against a race of werewolves.  The movie combines Matrix-style stunts with the popular mythology of vampires and werewolves.  "I was out to make a living, breathing graphic novel," Wiseman said. "I wanted the audience to sit down and, with the exception of turning the pages themselves, feel as though they were watching a comic book play out."
   Wiseman also talked about his recent engagement to Beckinsale, which was revealed after the film wrapped production.  "You get to know somebody over the course of working on a movie, and right upon meeting Kate, [I found] we got along immediately," he said. "We find the same things important, the same things cheesy, the same things cool.  We realized we're in the same frame of mind.  We ended up liking the same movies and having the same sense of humor.  You spend 15 hours a day working with somebody on a movie, and after awhile you find out you're the same person."
   So it's not surprising that Wiseman is thinking of helming a sequel to UNDERWORLD, not to mention an upcoming action ghost story called Black Chapter. 

HARRY POTTER IS AT COLLEGE HERE IN MD
   Harry Potter is in college -- as a subject, not a student. 
   "The Science of Harry Potter," a three-credit honors seminar new this fall at Frostburg State University, offers fans of J.K. Rowling's popular fantasy novels and the movies an opportunity to study the links between magic and science. 
   Can antigravity research produce a flying broomstick?  Can Fluffy, the three-headed dog, be explained by genetic engineering? 
   Those are some of the questions physics professor George R. Plitnik is exploring with 15 students, mostly juniors and seniors.  He says the class is not all fun and games, despite his penchant for dressing up as Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. 
   "This is not something where you just show up and talk about Harry Potter books and get a grade," Plitnik said before donning his black wizard's hat and robe for a recent session.  "This is a college-level class." 
   Frostburg State, a public school in western Maryland with average annual undergraduate enrollment of 4,300, isn't the only institution of higher education offering a scholarly take on the Potter phenomenon.  The books were featured in a "Literature for Young Adults" course at Kent State University in Ohio, and Cerritos College, in Norwalk, California, has an introductory composition class, "Words and Magic:  Harry Potter and Vocabulary," this fall. 
   Plitnik's seminar may be the first science-based Harry Potter class offered for college credit, although other schools, including Penn State University, have developed similar programs for children's summer camps. 
   Plitnik designed his course after reading "The Science of Harry Potter: How Magic Really Works," by London-based science writer Roger Highfield.  The book, published last year, uses Rowling's fanciful creations as springboards for what The New York Times Book Review called "an enjoyably indirect survey of modern science." 
   In the book, one of two required texts in Plitnik's class, Highfield discusses Muggle (ordinary human) technology capable of approximating such magical effects as walking through walls and regrowing bones.  He covers the latest research on teleportation -- "apparating" in the Potter books -- and devotes an entire chapter to Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans and the science of taste. 
   Plitnik's students must do similar research for their final project, a written and oral presentation on a scientific topic with a Harry Potter theme.  It accounts for a fifth of their grade.  Other grading factors include two written exams and daily quizzes on assigned reading in the Highfield book and in a collection of critical essays, "Reading Harry Potter," edited by Giselle Liza Anatol, an assistant professor of English at the University of Kansas. 
   They are not required to have read all five Potter books.  Four of the 14 students at one recent session acknowledged having done so, although all had read at least one or seen one of the two Harry Potter movies. 
   Plitnik tempers the serious approach with sometimes zany teaching methods.  The bearded, 61-year-old acoustics expert is renowned on campus for his costumes, props (a rubber chicken is never far away) and other gimmicks.  Last year, he invited a Brazilian colleague, Leonardo Fuks, to lecture one of his classes and lead them in a bicycle-riding musical performance. 
   "I get bored doing the same thing," Plitnik said.  He said he had read most of the Potter books for pleasure before conceiving of the class.  They are lighter fare than the nonfiction he usually reads, but Plitnik said they made a good hook for a class. 
   Michael Dorsey, a junior, is taking his second Plitnik-led class.  "I think he takes it very seriously," Dorsey said.  "He's real energetic and seems to know what he's talking about." 
   With Plitnik in charge, Frostburg State President Catherine R. Gira said she isn't worried that some may view a Harry Potter class as trivial. 
   "Irrespective of the specific title of the course, the 'magic' in the fiction is being analyzed by applying concepts of physics, chemistry, biology and engineering.
 This honors course creatively packages scientific principles in a contemporary way that will interest today's students," Gira said. 

DVD DRIVE INS COMING TO A CITY NEAR YOU
   Alan Ackerman is convinced he has hit on a new growth industry: drive-in movie theaters.
   Laugh if you will at the idea of this staple of the Eisenhower era – now a shadow of its former self - having a renaissance.  He's not doing it the old way.  For one thing, he's not showing film.
   This summer, the Carroll County entrepreneur took the unusual step of opening a digital drive-in, possibly the first in the country to use DVDs instead of 35 mm. 
   His staging area is a large parking lot at the Mason Dixon Dragway southeast of Hagerstown.  The popularity of drive ins and the wonderful clarity that digital now brings us makes this idea in his eyes like combining ice cream and pie. 

October10th   THE HOUSE OF THE DEAD 
Starring Jurgen Prochnow, Jonathan Cherry, Ellie Cornell, Clint Howard 
   A group of college students on spring break in Seattle make plans to hit a rave on a remote island just outside the city. But when they arrive late - having missed the main boat - they discover the island deserted and no revelers in sight. Finally they meet two trembling students who say the rest of the kids were attacked and eaten by zombies.

October 17th  TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 
Starring Jessica Biel, Eric Balfour Andrew Bryniarski (Leatherface), R. Lee Ermey (Sheriff Hoyt), John Larroquette (Narrator), Andrew Prine (The Old Man) 
This is a remake of the 70s slasher film we all know and love.  Set in the 1970s.  Not much more to say other than think about it – John Larroquette as the narrator.

October 24th    SCARY MOVIE 3 
Starring Anna Faris, Charlie Sheen, Anthony Anderson, Pamela Anderson, Peter Boyle, George Carlin, Simon Cowell, Fat Joe and countless others
   A young orphan goes on a journey with mystical powers.  Spoofed are Signs, The Ring, Matrix Reloaded, and some LOTR.  Two other movies that get roasted this time around are The Hulk and The Others.  Again, not much more to say.

Oct 31st  HAPPY HALLOWEEN! 
ALIEN   (Rerelease )
   On the big screen again.  This is the first of the science-fiction horror movies that made Sigourney Weaver, as Officer Ripley, a star and launched a franchise.  Ridley Scott directed this original, about the crew of the commercial spaceship Nostromo and all they encounter during their journey home to Earth.  Remember: In space no one can hear you scream.

NOV  5TH   MATRIX: REVOLUTIONS
Starring: Keanu Reeves (Neo), Carrie-Anne Moss (Trinity), Laurence Fishburne
(Morpheus), Hugo Weaving (Agent Smith)
  Time to tie up the trilogy.  What more needs to be said?  Black leather, sunglasses, bullets flying in slow motion…yep, its Matrix!

NOV 26th   THE HAUNTED MANSION 
Cast Eddie Murphy (Jim Evers), Terence Stamp, Aree Davis, Marc John
Jefferies (Michael Evers), Don Knotts,
   Another Based on a Disney ride movie….A man (Murphy) and his family (Thomason, Jefferies) encounter a ghost while visiting a haunted house during a job interview.

WITCH HUNTER ROBIN volume 1, released by Bandai Entertainment, 10/07/03. 125 minutes, special edition, 59.98, regular edition (disc only), 29.98
   The world of WITCH HUNTER ROBIN is one where people are witches not by choice, but rather born that way, with special powers. There are those who abuse these powers, which is where the secret organization Solomon comes in to clean things up. Not every witch abuses their power though, and some, like Sena Robin, actually help in capturing witches.
   Robin doesn't have it easy though, she's just been transferred to the Japanese branch of Solomon, STN-J, where she has to learn a new set of rules, and to cope with the fact that the man who's supposed to be her partner wants nothing to do with her. And of course she's sure to learn some of the dark secrets surrounding Solomon, because let's think about it, what secret organization that tracks people with psychic powers doesn't have a few skeletons in their closet?
   Undoubtedly one of the most anticipated releases for this year, WITCH HUNTER ROBIN is a triumph of style. The entire show has a dark gothic feel, and the art style is well blended with some CGI backgrounds. Also, the cast of the show are not only impeccably dressed, they're also intriguing and believable. Amon, Robin's partner, is dark, mysterious, brooding, and dare I say it, darn good looking. There's the 16 year old hacker Michael, who's virtually a prisoner of STN-J, unavailable to ever leave the building, whom Robin keeps company. And there's also the rookie Sakaki, the flaky Doujima and the more responsible Miho Karasuma, who's also a witch. WHR also features one of the best opening animation sequences ever. Really, no, the opening credits simply kick butt, and the song 'Shell' is great too. The pacing of the show seems a little slow at first, but it's helps to establish the mood, and heighten the tension for the later drama.DVD features include, original Japanese audio, English subtitles, English dub, Textless opening and ending, STNJ Personnel Files, Liner Notes, Maelifica, Reversible Cover, Interactive Menus, and trailers
   The special edition includes a collectors box to hold a six DVDs, a 'beverage" glass, which is really a shot glass, but Bandai representives have insisted that we not call it that, a t-shirt, a cel (which can't really be a cel, since WHR is mostly digital animation, so who the hell knows what they mean calling it that), and a soundtrack. The soundtrack, which is probably only one of the two originally released in Japan, is definitely a good extra, since Taku Iwasaki's score for this is fantastic and really fits the mood.

INFINITE RYVIUS  volume 1, released by Bandai Entertainment, Special edition, 10/14/03, MSRP 49.98. Regular edition, 10/21/03, MSRP 29.98
   Yet another Platinum release from Bandai, and another much anticipated one. The initial concept for this show is supposedly described as "Lord of the Flies' in space, so hey, how could it be bad?
   In the year 2225, a group of teenagers are forced to abandon the space station they've been training on when an act of sabotage kills all the adults and sends the station itself towards a strange phenomena called the Sea of Geduld that will destroy the entire station. Taking refuge aboard a ship, the Ryvius, the young students have to find their way back home, and learn to trust each other.
   Limited Edition includes the Collector's Box, Exclusive Ryvius PLUSHY, Mini-shitajiki (pencil boords), Promo Clip, Textless Opening, Textless Ending, Commercial Collection, Ryvius VJ Mix #1, Ryvius Illusion, Trailers
Usual audio selection here, Japanese, English, subtitles...you get the idea.

ANGELIC LAYER volume 1. Released by ADV films, 10/14/03. Special edition (comes with collectors box, coupon to get a free t-shirt) 39.98, regular edition (disc only), 29.98.
   This is the other big show starting up. Created by Clamp, ANGELIC LAYER is sort of like their take on the sports genre of anime. And it's so darn cute! Misaki arrives in Tokyo to go live with her aunt, and she immediately becomes interested in the game Angelic Layer, where people use mechanical dolls, called angels, to...uhm...fight other angels. The game seems kinda like Barbie Deathmatch actually, which just means that someone has to hurry up and invent this in real life, because I want to play too.
   Anyway, Misaki of course, ends up getting her very own Angel and begins to have matches, and while the show is predictable in so many ways, it doesn't stop it from being cute or funny. The show really isn't about who wins the match, but the lessons learned from it, and how Misaki's overwhelming kind spirit helps others. So with a little bit of the Pokemon- style-winning-competitions-by-having-cute-things-fight-for-me spirit, with a nice heavy dose of I-haven't-seen-my-mother-in-years angst, and a wacky scientist helping Misaki out, a lot of neat friends, and well, it becomes easy to see why Clamp is so popular.
   DVD Features: original Japanese art, voice actor commentary, production sketches, clean opening and closing animation, and previews. Typical audio selections, Japanese, English, subtitles.

MILLENIUM ACTRESS, released by Dreamworks, 10/28.03. MSRP 19.98, total running time 87 minutes.
   Satoshi Kon returns with another film, one that like his debut PERFECT BLUE is about a star, and also seems to blur the lines between realities. In this case though, this is an original work, whereas his previous was based off of a novel.
   A documentary filmamaker sets out to find the legendary actress Chiyoko Fujiwara, who disappeared from the public eye att he height of her career. She agrees to an interview, and as she recollects her past experiences of her movies and of her lost love, the filmmaker himself finds himself caught up intensely in the memories as if they were the present. no English dub on this release, just Japanese audio, English, Spanish, or French subtitles.

SOUTHERN CROSS SET released by ADV films, 10/28/03, 575 minutes.
   Yet another piece of the Robotech Saga, in it's original uncut form, and beautifully remastered. In the year 2120, humans have colonized the planet Gloire becaase of the devastation on the Earth. Unfortunately the original inhabitants of the planet have returned, after leaving long ago because they also once destroyed their own planet. No one wants to negotiate, so I guess that means it's time to bring out the transforming weapons and try to kick some alien butt.
   The DVD set also has a booklet with interviews and information on the series, production sketches, clean opening and closing animation, and previews.
No English audio here either, the closest you'll get is watching the second arc of Robotech. Just Japanese with English Subtitles.

PATLABOR ORIGINAL SERIES 1 COLLECTION released by Central Park Media, 10/14/03, 49.98, total running time 210 minutes.
   Ah, the old school classic. Big Robots, but in a more practical police tool kind of way. The first 7 episodes on two discs.Extra features include commentary track by director Mamoru Oshii, BONUS episode of the Patlabor TV Series, Art Gallery, Patlabor Trailer, Previews.Japanese or English audio, English Subtitles.

ALIEN 9 ULTIMATE COLLECTION released by Central Park Media, 10/28/03. MSRP 59.98, totla running time 100 minutes.
   Includes both the OAV, and the graphic novels. So this way the incomplete ending of the show won't bother you so much, because you'll have the manga it's based on right nearby. It should be mentioned though that despite having the appearance of a cute fluffy middle school drama, there's actually supposed to be a little bit of a darker element to this show, which would explain some of it's popularity.
   Yuri has just started sixth grade and unfortunately for her, it's her job to fight off the aliens that try to invade the school every day. If that part wasn't bad enough, in order to fight them, she has to wear this weird alien symbiote on her head. (and you thought your middle school years sucked....).

Also coming out- Volumes one of SAINT SEIYA (the original version of a show titled KNIGHTS OF THE ZODIAC), FINAL FANTASY UNLIMITED (for all the folks who like the game). Both released by ADV films, and have the option of coming with a collectors box.

Charles Bronson, who starred as Roger Corman’s MACHINE GUN KELLY and was one of THE MGNIFICENT SEVEN and THE DIRTY DOZEN, has died.  He was also the
claustrophobic “Tunnel King” in THE GREAT ESCAPE and the star of the highly popular DEATH WISH series.  ICSers will remember him for his roles in the genre pictures THE HOUSE OF WAX and MASTER OF THE WORLD, both with Vincent Price. 
He first achieved stardom in Europe in the late 1960s and went on to a successful career here in the states.  Among Bronson’s later films are HARD TIMES, BREAKOUT, ST. IVES, FROM NOON TILL THREE, DEATH HUNT, TELEFON, LOVE AND BULLETS and MURPHY'S LAW, as well as TV movies, including RAID ON ENTEBBE and ACT OF VENGEANCE.  He was 81.

Beloved star of Television and Film died suddenly at the much too young age of 54
.
Donald O’Connor, actor, singer, dancer who was probably film’s 3rd best known screen dancer behind Fred Astair and Gene Kelly. He was 78.

Igor Mozheiko, Russian writer of science fiction and screenplays under the pseudonym Kir Bulychov, died Friday, September 4.
Born in Moscow, he graduated from the Moscow Teachers Training Institute of Foreign Languages and worked as a translator and correspondent. He began to write science  fiction in 1965 and translated many English language stories into Russian.
Although he wrote more than 20 screenplays, and wrote adult science fiction, he was best known for young adult stories about Alice Selezneva, a girl from the future. The stories were collected in English as Alice: The Girl From Earth. He was 69.

Sheb Wooley, one of the four gunmen in HIGH NOON, trail scout Pete Nolan on TV's RAWHIDE and writer and singer of the biggest novelty recording hit of the 1950s with "The Purple People Eater," has died. 
He appeared in more than 60 movies, including THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES, THE WAR WAGON, DISTANT DRUMS and GIANT.
Wooley also appeared in some 50 television shows, ranging from THE LONE RANGER to MURDER, SHE WROTE to HEE HAW. 
But it was as a singer and songwriter that most knew Wooley best. He had a decade of singing and writing country and pop songs behind him when he wrote and recorded the silly, Sputnik-era pop song that became his biggest hit. "The Purple People Eater", spent six weeks at No. 1 and sold 3 million copies in 1958.
He also wrote and performed a string of popular song parodies and humorous songs as Ben Colder. In 1968, the Country Music Assn. gave Wooley its Comedian of the Year Award.

Jack Smight, a director whose films include HARPER with Paul Newman and THE ILLUSTRATED MAN with Rod Steiger and also directed extensively in television, including episodes of THE TWILIGHT ZONE, has died.
Among his other feature films were THE SECRET LIFE OF HARRY FIG, NO WAY TO TREAT A LADY and NUMBER ONE WITH A BULLET. In the 1950s, '60s and '70s, Smight also directed episodes of THE ALFRED HITCHCOCK HOUR, ROUTE 66, COLUMBO and BANACEK.
 "I love movies with a surprise around every corner," Smight told the Los Angeles Times in 1968 while filming THE ILLUSTRATED MAN. He added, "With all the technicians and equipment at your disposal, it's such a temptation to indulge yourself. You've got to be careful not to be like a woman putting on too much jewelry." He was 78.

Jay Morton, a onetime writer and artist who went to work for the Fleischer animation studios in 1937 has died at the age of 92.
It was Morton who coined the famous "faster than a speeding bullet" introduction for the animated SUPERMAN cartoon. He wrote about 25 of the SUPERMAN cartoons, in which he initially described the comic book superhero as, "faster than a streak of lightning, more powerful than the pounding surf, mightier than a roaring hurricane, this amazing stranger from the Planet Krypton, Superman." But he soon reworked the introduction to the now-familiar: "Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound ".
As an artist, he also worked on FELIX THE CAT, BETTY BOOP, POPEYE and other cartoon characters.

Lyle Bettger, who played a variety of supporting roles in movies such as UNION STATION, THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH, NEVADA SMITH and played Ike      Clanton in THE GUNFIGHT AT THE O.K. CORRAL, has died. 
Born in Philadelphia in 1915, Bettger was the son of St. Louis Cardinals third baseman
Franklin Bettger. He made his film debut in 1950 in NO MAN OF HER OWN, starring Barbara Stanwyck. He also made numerous television appearances including an episode
of THE TIME TUNNEL and as Dr. King on the March 22, 1965 episode The Creature on VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA………….Hendo.
He was 88.

Also passing away recently were: 
Gordon Mitchell, bodybuilder turned actor who appeared in some 200 B movies, primarily “sword and sandal” epics.
Elia Kazan, influential director and controversial HUAC figure of the 1950s at age 94.

 Charles Bronson died recently.  That news in itself was a cause for sorrow among many film fans, but as these things are inclined to do occasionally, it set me to thinking about someone else entirely.  His name is Walter Hill, and he's still alive.  Thank goodness.
 I read the Bronson obituaries and quickie bios with interest, smiled over my memories of THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN and THE GREAT ESCAPE.  Then stopped dead when I read that Bronson's mid-'70s film HARD TIMES, a splendid character study of a New Orleans street brawler during the Depression, was Walter Hill's first directing job.
 Walter Hill's run as an action director has extended over nearly three decades, included everyone from Bruce Willis to John Candy (?), and made millions of dollars, and yet a quick search through my copy of the St. James Film Directors Encyclopedia turned up nothing.  Hill wasn't even listed.  I went to the IMdB to get some basic details and refresh my memory on Walter Hill's career.  I was amazed to rediscover so many titles I had forgotten Hill had directed.  Here's a guy who really hasn't gotten his due from the critics, or even the public, I guess.  (The "millions of dollars" I mentioned before was pretty much the result of one particular movie.)  Hill's done a few flicks that I really haven't enjoyed.  But for the most part, his career has been a solid showcase for exciting, character-driven movies.  (Even with Schwarzenegger.)
 After HARD TIMES, Hill directed Bruce Dern and Ryan O'Neal in a mostly forgettable chase movie called THE DRIVER.  He followed that with THE WARRIORS, one of my very favorite movies of the late '70s.  THE WARRIORS was a dynamite action thriller playing off a weirdly futuristic "what if?" scenario: what if all the street gangs in New York City banded together for a common purpose?  In this case, it was to hunt down a single gang trying to find its way home after being wrongfully accused of murder.  Hill made it easy for us to tell the gangs apart, giving each of them identifiable quirks, none more so than the Baseball Furies, a bunch of toughs in Yankee pinstripes and KISS-style face paint, wielding Louisville Sluggers as their weapons of choice.  The movie featured Michael Beck as the leader of the Warriors, and a young James Remar as his hotheaded second-in-command.  Remar would return several years later as the sleazy villain in Hill’s biggest hit 48 HRS.
 THE WARRIORS was followed by Hill's first western, THE LONG RIDERS, a retelling of the Jesse James story.  The twist here was that each group of brothers in the film -- the James boys, the Youngers, the Fords -- was played by a real-life set of brothers: the Quaids, the Carradines, and the Guests.  THE LONG RIDERS received surprisingly warm praise from the critics, but very little audience response.  I confess that I have missed this picture, as well.  (If anyone out there has it on VHS or DVD, I'd love to borrow it.)  But Hill's next picture, SOUTHERN COMFORT, started a string of ten straight Hill-directed movies that I enjoyed - some much more than others. 
 SOUTHERN COMFORT was one of those who-will-survive thrillers that I think owed a lot to THE LOST PATROL, the classic John Ford film from 1934 that starred Boris Karloff and Victor McLaglen.  In both movies, a group of soldiers are isolated and picked off one by one, by a mostly faceless enemy.  In the Ford film, it was the French Foreign Legion; Hill's movie dumped a group of National Guard "weekend warriors" into the Louisiana bayou and put them up against a bunch of barely viewed Cajuns who didn't take kindly to intruders.  Keith Carradine and Powers Boothe were the leads, and you were never quite sure if they would make it; they spent most of the movie running (or slogging) for their lives.
 It was Hill's next movie that proved to be his only bona-fide blockbuster: 48 HRS.  The director did catch the lightning in a bottle in the persona of Eddie Murphy.  It was certainly also one of those movies where everything worked: a co-star (Nick Nolte) with chemistry, a solid supporting cast, a great villain (James Remar as the sadistic Ganz), and a flawless combination of thrills and laughs.  Violent and profane, to be sure, but a formula that worked.  It's possible that the buddy cop movies that came afterward -- everything from LETHAL WEAPON to TANGO AND CASH -- might have died on the vine if not for 48 HRS. 
 Unfortunately, Hill didn't capitalize on this good fortune.  He took nearly two years to come up with his next film, STREETS OF FIRE.  This one was billed as a rock and roll fable, but it had a feeling of "otherworldliness" to it.  The streets themselves were underpopulated, as if Hill wanted to convey the artificiality of the backlot setting, and a lot of it seemed cobbled together from other movies...and even a comic book or two.  Mid-'80s movie star Michael Pare seemed to use up just about all of his 15 minutes of fame on this movie as a "mysterious loner" who saves singer Diane Lane from the evil clutches of leather-jacketed gang leader Willem Dafoe.  I remember Amy Madigan really grated on my nerves as Pare's female-mechanic sidekick.  I think the top-40 songs on the soundtrack made more money than the movie did.
 And speaking of money...Hill's next movie was a real change of pace, a complete surprise from the director based on what had come before.  He made a remake of the screwball comedy BREWSTER'S MILLIONS with Richard Pryor as a baseball player trying to win an inheritance, and John Candy as his buddy.  This one died quickly.
 I was beginning to get the idea that Hill was one of those directors who didn't want to be pigeonholed.  His next film, CROSSROADS, solidified this notion for me.  If STREETS OF FIRE could be considered a rock and roll fable, then CROSSROADS would have to be considered a blues fantasy.  There was a touch of The Devil and Daniel Webster about it.  Ralph "Karate Kid" Macchio played a young musician who meets up with an ancient blues artist (Joe Seneca), and together they meandered their way to New Orleans (I think) and a "battle of the bands."  The price being Macchio's soul if his guitar playing didn't measure up to that of his satanic competition.  Macchio was never much of an actor, but I liked his chemistry with Seneca (who later played the head scientist in the remake of THE BLOB.) 
 Hill's next picture was the first of his movies I saw after moving to Baltimore, and I think I saw it in one of those shoe boxes at Golden Ring Mall: EXTREME PREJUDICE.  This was a modern-day western, Hill's homage to Sam Peckinpah.  Nick Nolte, looking tan, lean, and mean, played a border town lawman up against his childhood buddy Powers Boothe, now the drug kingpin below the border.  Thrown into the pot was a bunch of covert-ops goons headed by Michael Ironside, looking to pull off a big bank heist.  They all came together in Boothe's Mexican stronghold for the final apocalyptic gun battle, one of those bloody slo-mo shoot-outs that were Peckinpah's trademark.
 Next up for Hill was a chance to work with Schwarzenegger just as he was hitting his stride as the number one action star on the planet.  The movie was RED HEAT, and while there were some good moments, I got the feeling that Hill was trying to mine the very buddy cop genre that he had kick-started with 48 HRS.  Schwarzenegger was the fish-out-of-water Russian cop working with Chicago detective Jim Belushi.  It wasn't one of Schwarzenegger's better movies, which is probably why you can find it in the $5.99 DVD rack at Best Buy.
 This started a run of less-than-stellar pictures: JOHNNY HANDSOME, with a greasy Mickey Rourke back from the dead and looking for revenge, the disappointing sequel ANOTHER 48 HRS., in which Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy held a contest to see who could look more bloated, the violent face-off movie TRESPASS, with greedy firemen Bill Paxton and William Sadler looking to score loot out from under the noses of gang lords Ice-T and Ice Cube, and two more little-seen westerns:  GERONIMO and WILD BILL.  I skipped the last two, wondering if Hill had passed his prime.
 Hill reappeared with yet another remake: LAST MAN STANDING, a '30s-gangster version of the Kurosawa classic (and former ICS flick) YOJIMBO.  Lone gunman Bruce Willis strolls into a dusty Texas town ruled by two warring gangs, and proceeds to pit one against the other.  It wasn't very original, but it had touches of the action thrillers I had enjoyed before.
 Hill disappeared from the movie screen for a few years, working on things like HBO's Tales from the Crypt.  But he came back in a big way last year with the prison drama UNDISPUTED.  Ving Rhames played a thinly-disguised riff on Mike Tyson as a heavyweight champ sent to prison on a rape charge; he comes up against Wesley Snipes as the prison boxing champ.  The two are goaded into a fight by various prisoners, including Peter Falk in a great supporting role as an old mob fixer.  Snipes and Rhames played their roles perfectly; UNDISPUTED turned out to be one of the quality sleepers of the year.  It was a pleasure to see that Walter Hill hadn't lost his touch.
 But I guess losing your touch isn't much of a concern if most of the movie-going public doesn't pay attention to you in the first place.  Walter Hill is one of those solid, fairly dependable directors without a particular style or trademark, and doesn't draw a lot of serious criticism.  He also doesn't draw a lot of attention.
 Which is pretty convenient (and refreshing) if you've never heard of the guy.  Then it's like discovering and enjoying an author who has been writing books for years; you don't have to wait a year for his next one, because the racks at Barnes & Noble are full of his stuff.
 So lets go ICSers hit the road for Best Buy or Blockbuster and look for something by Walter Hill, because he's been doing this directing thing for a long time.
 And the racks at Blockbuster are full of his stuff.

OCT 17th  TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 

OCT 24th    SCARY MOVIE 3 

OCT 24th   Bubba Ho-Tep
7:30 p.m

OCT 25TH 5PM   ICS MEETING – Starts Early – a Special ALL nighter!
                                  Wear costumes if you would like and bring food to share!

OCT 31st  HAPPY HALLOWEEN! 

   Have a Happy Halloween all you ICS boys and girls!!!