This page is dedicated to bringing you the latest in movie news hosted by the best character on SCTV (which by the way has been showing on NBC in lieu of "Later" and will continue to do so until the middle of January), played by the excellent Joe Flaherty.
AAAAaaawwoooo! I bid you....welcome to issue #18 of Count Floyd's Movie News. Well, I have been waiting for "The Faculty" to open ever since I found out my favorite director Robert Rodriquez was working on this film. I had a chance to see it so good or bad here we go.
I don't remember character names well but I enjoyed the way they were introduced in the opening scene. As you may have guessed by the title, most of the action takes place at a high school. As the main student characters walk through campus and bump into each other their name or nickname is splashed in blood on the screen. Little do they know now that they will team up later. There is the usual cast of characters: the pretty girl, the sports jock, the nerd, the misunderstood chick, the new girl from out of town and the smart but underachieving bad boy. The premise is that each of these kids notice something has changed with the faculty and they band together to figure it out.
If you are going to see it I won't give away any secrets, but I will say I felt it was "Dawson's Creek Goes Sci/Fi". The film was written by Kevin Williamson who thrilled you with "Scream" and "I Know What You Did Last Summer". Robert Rodriquez showed you his camera work in "Desperado" and "From Dusk Til Dawn". Unfortunatly they both got it half right this time out. The first half hour was done well in showing the relationships between the students and the change within the faculty.
The middle 30 minutes or so lagged for lack of action while the students tried to figure out what was going on. The rest of the film was cool especially the special effects and the confrontation scene. I felt that Rodriquez was holding back on his signature style that I thought was so cool. Has he gone mainstream? I hope not. The film will appeal to the teenaged moviegoer and if it wasn't for the sagging middle portion I'd have to say it would have appealed to the teenager in me. It's a close call but I'd say wait for the video version of this one.
Rrrring. Oh, that's the bell. I must be off to study hall. Please enjoy the movie news, won't you?
Jurrasic come back - A third installment to the dinosaur fest will hit the screens by the summer of 2000. The film will be produced by Steven Spielberg who directed the last 2 films.Full Monty II is in the planning stages at Fox. The script is being prepared by Simon Beaufoy and the film will be produced by Uberto Pasolini. The original cast has signed on except except Robert Carlyle who played the lead role in the last movie. The film will deal with their lives before the stripping incident. I think moviegoers would rather find out what happens to these guys after the strip show but that is my humble opinion.
Silence of the Lambs II may be stalking you at a theater near you. Anthony Hopkins has expressed an interest in the project. This was before he announced his exit from show biz which I hope is just a temporary stick up his "A". Jodie Foster is also said to be interested in the film. The original author Thomas Harris is in the process of writing the sequel which has a working title of "Morbidity of the Soul".
X-Files II is being considered for production since the recent hit will earn an estimated $185 million worldwide. It is possible it will be in the theaters in late 2000
Norman Fell, best remembered as Mr. Roper from the television series "Three's Company" and "The Ropers", died on 12-14-98 of cancer at the age of 74. He passed away at the Motion Picture and Television's retirement home in Woodland Hills, California. He also appeared in "The Graduate" and "Catch-22" and the detective drama "Dan August" which starred Burt Reynolds and ran from 1970-1975. He will be missed.
Mystery Science Theater 3000 has been showing up less and less on The Sci/Fi Channel lately. It is rumored that their February season start has been pushed back to April. If you have enjoyed the show in the past please e-mail them (keep it clean) to let them know you still watch. You can e-mail The Sci/ Fi Channel at: program@scifi.com
In this issue I'd like to recommend an older film that still gives me fond memories. It is called "A Shot In the Dark" starring Peter Sellers. This is the 2nd film to feature Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau. The film was originally intended to be a British murder mystery but Sellers was not happy with the project and wanted to back out. The producers hired Blake Edwards to direct the film and he decided to make it a Clouseau vehicle coming off of the popularity of the 1st Clouseau film "The Pink Panther". Peter Sellers was gung-ho on that idea and decided to stay with the project.
The film was made in 1964 and Sellers would not play Clouseau again until 1975. "A Shot In the Dark" deals with a murder mystery with Elke Sommer playing the beautiful maid accused of the crime. More bodies fall as the film progresses. Herbert Lom appears for the 1st time as Clouseau's not so patient boss. The music was perfectly supplied by Henry Mancini. My memories of this film take me back to a time when my mom and dad took me to see the film. The theater was packed and when Sellers did the thing he does so well the theater rocked with laughter. This one may be hard to find but if you do find it grab it and enjoy.
Congratulations go to Glenn St.G. for becoming the new Triviameister of Mellonville by being the first person to answer the following trivia question correctly: "Which actor appeared in "Revenge of the Nerds" and "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure?". The correct answer is Bernie Casey, who played Tri-Lam president U.N. Jefferson and the history teacher Mr. Ryan. Kudos go to the following folks who also answered the question correctly: Xrys, Tony B., Charles D., Alan G., Matt C., Ellen C. and Evan P.
The new Triviameister of Mellonville asks the following trivia question: "In what film did Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson first appear together?". You can become the triviameister by being the first person to correctly answer the trivia question. Please click here to register you answer. Good luck.
The survey question from the last issue was "What is your favorite John Carpenter film?". The survey SAYS:
AAAaaawwoooo! Count Floyd will return in issue #19 titled "Lice To Qwell" due out on 2-21-99 or so.
