Activists will go on a fast unto death if the government fails to take action against anti-Christian movies. You can't make fiction on a religious figure.

My immediate urge to know if anyone's scheduling the Jesus-heavy episodes of South Park to air there pretty much brands me as evil, right?

Also from IMDB:

Tucker Becomes Highest-Paid Actor, Says Report

New Line has agreed to pay Chris Tucker $25 million to appear in Rush Hour 3, making him the highest-paid actor in Hollywood, according to FoxNews.com's Roger Friedman. Friedman commented that the figure is all the more remarkable considering the fact that Tucker has starred in only two other films -- both of them the Rush Hour movies. Friedman observed that Rush Hour 2 holds the record for the highest gross of any comedy and that the total worldwide take for the first two films is about $600 million. Both the previous Rush Hour also star Jackie Chan alongside Tucker.

This is fucking ridiculous, and begs two questions.

1) Who actually went to see either Rush Hour, or Rush Hour 2, for Chris Tucker???

2) Who actually avoided either Rush Hour, or Rush Hour 2 because of Chris Tucker?

The only reason to see either movie is Jackie Chan but since Chan isn't given the chance to properly strut his stuff, it's still not a compelling reason.

I thought Rush Hour was absolutely hysterical, and loved it to bits. I chalk that up to both of the leads.

The sequel was ho hum, which is why I'm surprised he's getting this much for the third. But it's obvious that the general public doesn't agree with me.

However, if they can't make it without him (and I agree they can't), $600m is nothing to sneeze at.

Oh, and re: DaVinci Code -- according to E, that article is incorrect, or at least incomplete. The press screenings in NY/LA will be held at the same day/time as the Cannes premiere, which will give critics 2 days to review it before the US release. Sucks for monthly/weekly magazines (and freelancers with day jobs), but newspapers will be fine.

It felt like the Papacy was being assaulted to me, but my memory is fuzzy.

Hey, you can attack Catholicism and still be Christian! Heh. But I think I know what you mean -- if I remember right, the church in the books resembles the Catholic Church in structure. But I don't think we get a whole lot of their doctrine beyond the fact that they believe in god, and they believe in sin. If it was an attack on a particular faith, I'd expect there to be something to identify which one, and why that one sucked but others were okay, y'know? I guess, if it's only about Christianity, it seems like Jesus should at least get mentioned somewhere.

Still kept reading, because, well, I'd started, and I only stop when I'm bored.

This is me with the Wheel of Time books. I'm invested enough in the (original) characters (I could give two craps about the 500 ancillary characters he introduces in every book.) to want to know how it ends, but I'm not really thrilled about trudging through everything to get there.

As for Chris Tucker getting $25 million, that's ridiculous. While I enjoyed Rush Hour, going in, Chris Tucker was a major negative rather than a draw for me. (He annoyed the crap out of me in The Fifth Element.) RH managed to change him from negative to neutral. I still wouldn't see a film with him in it unless there was someone in it I wanted to see, but at least he wouldn't drive me off.

I always thought of the series as children to young adult.

But, now that I think about it, His Dark Materials is for the same age range, huh?

Nevermind. Cancel the fantasy novel exploring. Still reading children's books.

Aims, honey, those books are very much fantasy. Just because they're aimed at kids or young adults doesn't change that. Quite a great deal of fantasy (and to some extent, sci-fi) are written as kid or young adult books.

You know, it never occurred to me until it was pointed out here today that these books were written for a YA audience. It makes perfect sense, but I just never considered it.

Has there been discussion in this forum about the supposed first draft of the Golden Compass script, specifically about how it's going to deal with the overt anti-religion stance, or am I remembering another forum I'm on?

I thought Rush Hour was absolutely hysterical, and loved it to bits. I chalk that up to both of the leads.

I wouldn't call it hysterical, although I did think it was very funny. However, I think the "Detective James Carter" character could've been played by a number of other actors and been just as funny, and a lot less annoying.

eta: Few, if any other than Jackie Chan, could've played "Chief Inspector Lee".

(He annoyed the crap out of me in The Fifth Element.)

I'm the opposite, I thought he was brilliant b/c the character was perfect for his persona. Outside of that "Ruby" character and he's annoying as hell.

I'm all over a Miami Vice movie. I just wish the trailers said more.

Me, too. I signed on to see it when I saw Michael Mann was directing.