The trailer really focused on the Whitford/Ferrara relationship, and her reaction to his forthcoming second marriage to a very WASP divorcee/widow (not specified in the trailer). The other three girls got comparatively short shrift.

I wonder if they'll change the title for British release, because I always snicker juvenilely when I hear it.

London TIMES:

CHRISTIAN conservatives in America are marshalling their forces against Sir Ridley Scott’s forthcoming crusader epic, The Kingdom of Heaven, claiming the film is insulting and unfair.

Scott, 67, received death threats from Muslim fundamentalists during filming in Morocco two years ago when King Mohammed VI, who admired his earlier work, Gladiator and Black Hawk Down, lent him troops from the royal bodyguard.

Yet it is Christian hostility that may ultimately prove more damaging at the box office. A spate of hostile reviews that are due to appear in the increasingly influential religious press this week will urge America’s 80m born-again believers to avoid the £100m film.

Scott said he has tried hard to be fair to both sides in his film, which depicts the 12th-century battle between Muslims and Christians for Jerusalem. He even employed Grace Hill Media, a Los Angeles public relations agency that markets potentially “troublesome” films to increasingly influential Christian opinion-formers. It organised a private screening earlier this month for Christian journalists at which Scott spoke.

Many of the resulting reviews have been poor. Bob Waliszewski, director of Plugged In Film Review, a programme heard on 300 US radio stations, said the film depicted Christians as “mean-spirited”, while Saladin, the Muslim leader, was shown as a chivalrous knight.

said the film depicted Christians as “mean-spirited”, while Saladin, the Muslim leader, was shown as a chivalrous knight.

Heh. Well, the Christians raped, slaughtered and pillaged. The Muslims couldn't believe how atrociously they behaved.

'Cause heaven knows we don't want to be historically accurate about this sort of thing.

edit: Orlando Bloom versus the zealots...

Actually, Saladin got great press from the Europeans in his day as a great hero and a man worthy of respect, not as the devil leader of the Moslem hordes. He definitely came out of the Crusades as the Big Kahuna on both sides--even Richard the Lion Hearted wasn't given such good reviews outside of England itself.

Scott said he has tried hard to be fair to both sides in his film

Getting hate mail from both sides is probably a good sign, then.

Sisterhood... is a story about four girls who are best friends spread all over during the summer, who keep in touch by sending these "magical" pants around. So there's four different stories going on, but the Bradley Whitford daughter is the narrator of the first book, which is why her story might have the greatest focus. I've read the first two books and the first one holds together much better than the second.

Bradley Whitford made me the most excited when I saw the trailer.

That's Kingdom of Heaven thing is interesting to me, because I heard an ad for the movie on the local Christian radio station earlier this week (I tune in occasionally out of macabre curiosity). The ad caught my attention because it compared the movie to The Passion first, and then secondarily to Gladiator. So the marketing angle amused me.

And Nutty, thanks. I do get what you're saying, and, as I said, I like getting different angles.

Has anyone heard anything about a movie called The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants? I happened to catch Coming Attractions on E! last night and saw the trailer for it. Looks rather interesting, especially with Bradley Whitford as America Ferrara's dad. I might go see it just for those cast members (loved Ferrara in Real Women Have Curves) alone, but Joan of Arcadia and Gilmore Girls fans will like that Tamblyn and Bleidel are also in it.

Apparently, the source material is a very popular book which I've never heard of (is it chick lit or teen fic?).

I briefly talked about it here, and here, as well as on my livejournal here and here and probably elsewhere.

I am very, very excited. Possibly more than for Batman, though it's close. I adore everything about that book and Amber Tamblyn, and think Alexis is pretty much perfect for her role.

ETA: Walking out the door to H2G2. Here's hoping it's as good as Jessica said.