Steve D
Johnny Zero made its debut last night on Fox TV. An ex-con, caught between the mob and the FBI, helps people solve their problems. Yep. Another original. No cliche was left unturned. Nice look to it though--noirish.

Okay, Vegas seems to be in for a helluva shocker! I don't wanna jinx anything, but according to my TV, the Jets just might beat the Steelers tonight. 10 minutes left in the fourth and they're up by 7??? I was hoping they would turn that fumble into 7 more. . . . I love underdogs!
Of course, the Colts will still take all, but . . . . . . . .

I really love the movie The Natural. It contains what, for me, might be the best direction shot on film. In the final sequence at the ball park, with the sparks falling from the lights, an amazed Pop Fisher looks out into the field from the dugout, and you see the sparks reflected in his glasses as they fall to the ground, and darkness begins to cover the stadium. Combined with the music and the emotion this scene creates, this is an image I cannot forget.

Sean

I first discovered Jack in Legacies, and thought him the most enjoyable, fresh and captivating adventure hero I'd seen in many a year. Then I went back to The Tomb and read the novels in order. I just finished Haunted Air and would like to get some feedback before I continue.

A big problem arose with Hosts. Jack suddenly turned as dense as a lead block. Here's a guy with a sharply-honed sense of paranoia, capable of picking up the subtlest indicators of trouble in time to turn the table on the Bad Guys (F'rinstance, the arsonist siblings from the aforementioned Hosts). Yet, despite the fact that he knows perfectly well by that novel that The Otherness is gunning for him, depite being repeatedly clubbed over the head with increasingly obvious indicators of what he was up again, he remained utterly clueless through 80% of the book.

He was significantly quicker in Haunted Air but still slow on the uptake. Things of a significance that would have put him on immediate alert if he'd been dealing with ordinary criminals don't even register when The Otherness is involved. And by now, those are the type of indicators a person of Jacks cautious nature would be most on the watch for.

I love Jack. But this sort of sloppy storytelling is beginning to really annoy me.

Before I go out and invest a few dollars and several hours in Gateways and Crisscross I'd like to get some reassurance that FPW has returned to the smarter plotting I've known him for and that Jack returns to at least reasonable competence.

Input?

When I was little in the mid-80s there were a few shows I loved that no one seems to remember. Sci-Fi has since rebroadcast episodes of Manimal, but there were also two other shows, Automan and Misfits of Science (starring Courtney Cox and Kevin Peter Hall) that no one seems to remember. Automan was a computer character brought to life by his creator and Cursor could turn into any vehicle. Misfits of Science was a bunch of young X-Men types and the coolest one was this guy who could shoot electricity from his hands. Kevin Peter Hall is this 7' tall guy who could shrink himself and I forget what Courtney Cox could do. But anyone else remember these or have their own no one else remembers?

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

The Aviator, Written by John Logan, Miramax Films


Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Screenplay by Charlie Kaufman, Story
by Charlie Kaufman & Michel Gondry & Pierre Bismuth, Focus Features


Garden State, Written by Zach Braff, Fox Searchlight Pictures


Hotel Rwanda, Written by Keir Pearson & Terry George, United Artists


Kinsey, Written by Bill Condon, Fox Searchlight Pictures



ADAPTED SCREENPLAY


Before Sunset, Screenplay by Richard Linklater & Julie Delpy & Ethan Hawke,
Story by Richard Linklater & Kim Krizan, Based on Characters Created by
Richard Linklater & Kim Krizan, Warner Independent Pictures


Mean Girls, Screenplay by Tina Fey, Based on the Book "Queen Bees and
Wannabes) by Rosalind Wiseman, Paramount Pictures


Million Dollar Baby, Screenplay by Paul Haggis, Based upon Stories from "Rope
Burns" by F.X. Toole, Warner Bros.


The Motorcycle Diaries, Screenplay by Jose Rivera, Based on the Books "Notas de Viaje" by Ernesto Guevara and "Con el Che por America Latina" by Alberto Granado, Focus Features


Sideways, Screenplay by Alexander Payne & Jim Taylor, Based on the Novel
by Rex Pickett, Fox Searchlight Pictures

I was just on Brian Lumley's website and Necroscope has been optioned for a movie. Anyone want to make a wager on whether that will be made before the Repairman Jack movie?

Steve D
Go see this movie. It's the latest work by the guy who did Amelie. The backdrop is World War I (in flashbacks) and 1920 France (in real time). The gruesome battle scenes contrast the funny detective story and the odd characters involved in finding an MIA. There's a subplot with an assassin who's killing all the...(well, if I told you, that would be a spoiler). If you liked Amelie, go see this flick. Don't let the title, A Very Long Engagement throw you. There's a double meaning to the title.

BTW: if we get enough posts to this thread, then maybe we can post some spoilers. I'm dying to tell you about...

FPW,

In the introduction to "Defenitive Therapy" in "The Barrens and Others", you made reference to actually having done some comic book work. While I knew you were a fan, I was never aware you had actually wrote for that field before much less that issue of Marvel's short lived sci fi shorts "Open Space".
Do you read any of the current stuff out there regularly?
Looking forward to your return with the graphic novelization of "The Keep" (gotta be coming from IDW or Dark Horse).

EG

For publicity, Matt Damon came to Japan. The Bourne Supremecy released in Japan at Jan29.

http://wmp.mainichi-msn.co.jp/MSN/2005/01/13/0042.wmv

Also, yesterday, George Clooney and Brad Pitt visited to Japan for publicity. For Ocean's Twelve.