http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/...ay_ho.html

Quote:Originally posted: March 14, 2006
[SIZE="5"]And they say Hollywood has run out of great ideas [/SIZE]

"Welcome Back, Kotter" and John Travolta are headed for the big screen but not together. Variety reports that Ice Cube will star in "Welcome Back, Kotter" (as the title character originated by Gabe Kaplan), and Travolta has been tapped (though not yet signed) to play J.R. Ewing in the movie adaptation of "Dallas" alongside Jennifer Lopez (as Sue Ellen Ewing) and Luke Wilson (as Bobby Ewing).

Directing the "Kotter" movie for the Weinstein Brothers will be Tom Brady of "The Hot Chick" fame (no word on who’ll play Arnold Horshack), while "Monster-in-Law" director Robert Luketic is making "Dallas" for Fox.

With such high-powered talent involved, how could these remakes possibly stink? After all, the TV-to-movies bar was set pretty high with last year’s "Bewitched," "The Honeymooners" and "The Dukes of Hazzard."

(Gulp.)

If Travolta actually stars in "Dallas," filming will have to wait till he’s done stepping into Divine’s (and Harvey Fierstein’s) shoes as hefty transvestite Edna Turnblad in the musical remake of "Hairspray."

Travolta has been waiting years to star in a musical, trying to launch a "Guys and Dolls" or "Pal Joey" remake and turning down the Richard Gere role in "Chicago" because it wasn’t big enough.

Edna Turnblad, bless her heart, is big enough.

Yet somehow I picture Travolta calling career-revival specialist Quentin Tarantino after the double whammy of "Hairspray" and "Dallas" — unless someone offers him a "Gomer Pyle" movie first.

Ice Cube as Gabe Kotter?!?! WTF?!?!

So, I went to the local cineplex to check out the Sci-fi action flick known as "Ultraviolet" What I should have done was pulled my car up to the theater entrance, rolled down my window, extracted eight crisp one dollar bills, crumpled them up, threw them out the window, and sped off.

Written and directed by Kurt Wimmer of the Equilibrium fame, I was thoroughly looking forward to his next venture in film-making. I was a huge fan of the grittiness and comprimising look of the future, displayed in Equilibrium. Everything that made Equilibrium a great film, the excellent story, which seemed to be a tip of the hat to such literary works like 1984 and Farenheit 451, and the impressive acting was greatly lacking in Ultraviolet.

Another endearing quality from Equilibrium was the lack of a monsterous budget. Wimmer seemed to work better with the meager budget allocated to him prior to this film (Ultraviolet). It was a true testament to his ability as a film-maker. Ultraviolet seemed to have a bigger budget and this appears to have greatly hurt the film.

It appears that the movie was shot completely digital, so by me using the term "film" is not quite accurate. The colors were completely over-saturated, causing the characters to have a strange halo effect around their faces. I do not know if this was intentional, but it looked like pure shit. Fitting, since the script itself seemed to be written in human biological waste. If you are going to shoot a big-budget digital film, go ahead and splurge a bit for a decent camera, such as the new Genesis digital camera.

I would like to say that there was at least one saving grace to this movie. I have always found Milla Jovavich strangely attractive. But Milla, please, eat a damn sandwich already. And maybe a few hours in the sunlight wouldn't hurt either.

A bit about the story I suppose. In the future, the government is trying to eradicate a race of super-beings known as hemophages, or vampires. Not just your normal run of the mill vampires. These vampires can walk around in daylight, can be killed with a simple bullet or a sword, have fangs, but do not drink blood, and appear to be no stronger than your typical human, sans the title character who is virtually unstoppable. Ultraviolet intercepts a package from a courrier service which contains a weapon that could spell certain doom for all hemophages. Inside the small, flat package in a 12 year old boy...Huh?

The boy is a genetic expierement with altered DNA. Of course this DNA is the weapon mentioned just a moment ago. the little boy, named six is portrayed by the stoic Cameron Bright, previously seen in the absolutely craptacular film "Birth" starring Nicole Kidman. After Ultraviolet discovers the weapon, she has some decisions to make. This should have been the shortest film in history. She is a brutal killer; if she wants to survive, destroy the weapon. I wish she would have. I am opposed to films that portray gratuitious violence against children, but if it means ending my misery of sitting through the remaining hour of this movie, I say waste the little shit.

It was not meant to be though. Morals prevailed. My suffering continued.

If you have any friends who say..."Hey, lets go see Ultraviolet", gently lean over, and bite hard and deep into their cheek. Trust me, they will thank you later.

All right, like all sleazy advertising that's a bit much, but still: The very courageous Sgt. Gong employed the same trick Jack did in Infernal to stop a gunman. Apparently it's a technique taught to the NYPD. (Is this the trick F. Paul thanks Ken for in the book dedication?)

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/3...8495c.html

[SIZE="3"]Well, I just heard from Matt Venne, the scripter: Dario Argento will be directing "Pelts" for Masters of Horror. How cool is that?[/SIZE]

Here is the link:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Signed-limited-F-PAU...dZViewItem

Hey there all, just finished reading the Keep and i really enjoyed it. For me the only way i can describe it was good fun. I thi k it was agreat story with great heroes and villains alike. It got me hooked and kept me interested from the very beginning.

love the whole idea of the sword and beings from the first age and him not being a true vampire bloodsucker but a vampire of a different kind.

i dont know to me it all added up to page turning fun.

for my next endeavor i am going into Repairman Jack beginning with the Tomb which should be arriving from Amazon today.

and also, i am working on writing my own novel, not really in the horror genre more of an international spy mystery called Project Archangel but it is fun to do.

have a great day everyone and i cant wait to start thw Tomb

I see that Harbingers is in the coming soon section of the Fantastic Fiction website.

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/w/f-paul-wilson/

SPOILER!
SPOILER!
SPOILER ALERT!
P. 101:
Tom was laying it on thick. Jack knew he was being set up, but was curious as to where Tom was heading.
"You said you need my help. I'm baffled at [sic] to why? What can I do?"
"Help me disappear."