Time for another batch of quickies.<\/span><\/p>\n 1.<\/a> The Hollywood Reporter<\/a><\/i> has confirmed the rumours and says it\u2019s true: Karl Urban<\/a> and Chris Pine<\/a> will play Dr. Leonard H. McCoy and Captain James T. Kirk, respectively, in Star Trek XI<\/i>.<\/p>\n 2.<\/a> Variety<\/a><\/i> reports that Wolverine<\/a><\/i> has been postponed \u2014 again \u2014 to May 2009, and it has a newer, longer title: X-Men Origins: Wolverine<\/i>. Hmmm, do you think they\u2019re gonna make any other<\/i> \u201corigin\u201d movies featuring characters from this series? Liev Schreiber is in talks to play a younger version of William Stryker, the villain played by Brian Cox in X2: X-Men United<\/a><\/i> (2003).<\/p>\n 3.<\/a> MTV News<\/a> says Harry Potter<\/a><\/i> author J.K. Rowling has talked a little bit more about the Christian elements in her books:<\/p>\n While Rowling said that \u201cHogwarts is a multifaith school,\u201d these quotes, of course, are distinctly Christian. The second is a direct quote of Jesus from Matthew 6:19, the first from 1 Corinthians 15:26. As Hermione tells Harry shortly after he sees the graves, his parents\u2019 message means \u201cliving beyond death. Living after death.\u201d It is one of the central foundations of resurrection theology.<\/p>\n Which makes it a perfect fit for Harry, said Rowling, who was talking about those quotes for the very first time.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re very British books, so on a very practical note Harry was going to find biblical quotations on tombstones,\u201d Rowling explained. \u201c[But] I think those two particular quotations he finds on the tombstones at Godric\u2019s Hollow, they sum up \u2014 they almost epitomize the whole series.\u201d . . .<\/p>\n \u201cDeathly Hallows\u201d itself begins with two religiously themed epigraphs, one from \u201cThe Libation Bearers\u201d by Aeschylus, which calls on the gods to \u201cbless the children\u201d; and one from William Penn\u2019s \u201cMore Fruits of Solitude,\u201d which speaks of death as but \u201ccrossing the world, as friends do the seas.\u201d No other book in the series begins with epigraphs \u2014 a curious fact, perhaps, but one that Rowling insists served as a guiding light.<\/p>\n \u201cI really enjoyed choosing those two quotations because one is pagan, of course, and one is from a Christian tradition,\u201d Rowling said of their inclusion. \u201cI\u2019d known it was going to be those two passages since \u2018Chamber\u2019 was published. I always knew [that] if I could use them at the beginning of book seven then I\u2019d cued up the ending perfectly. If they were relevant, then I went where I needed to go.<\/p>\n \u201cThey just say it all to me, they really do,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n But while the book begins with a quote on the immortal soul \u2014 and though Harry finds peace with his own death at the end of his journey \u2014 it is the struggle itself which mirrors Rowling\u2019s own, the author said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe truth is that, like Graham Greene, my faith is sometimes that my faith will return. It\u2019s something I struggle with a lot,\u201d she revealed. \u201cOn any given moment if you asked me [if] I believe in life after death, I think if you polled me regularly through the week, I think I would come down on the side of yes \u2014 that I do believe in life after death. [But] it\u2019s something that I wrestle with a lot. It preoccupies me a lot, and I think that\u2019s very obvious within the books.\u201d . . .<\/p>\n For her part, Rowling said she\u2019s proud to be on numerous banned-book lists. As for the protests of some believers? Well, she doesn\u2019t take them as gospel.<\/p>\n \u201cI go to church myself,\u201d she declared. \u201cI don\u2019t take any responsibility for the lunatic fringes of my own religion.\u201d . . .<\/p><\/blockquote>\n John Granger<\/a> comments on this story at HogwartsProfessor.com.<\/p>\n 4.<\/a> The Hollywood Reporter<\/a><\/i> says a straight-to-DVD spin-off of the Mummy<\/a><\/i> and\/or Scorpion King<\/i> movies is in the works:<\/p>\n \u201cThe Scorpion King: Rise of the Akkadian\u201d . . . follows the events before \u201cScorpion,\u201d the 2002 summer hit that starred Dwayne \u201cThe Rock\u201d Johnson as Mathayus, the fearsome warrior king of an ancient desert empire.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Huh? It follows<\/i> the events before<\/i> the other film?<\/p>\n 5.<\/a> The Hollywood Reporter<\/a><\/i> says Lionsgate, an indie studio that may be best known for the Saw<\/a><\/i> franchise (2004-2007), has struck a deal with the Indelible Creative Group \u2014 and this is not the first faith-based content provider to strike a deal with the studio:<\/p>\n Earlier this year, Lionsgate forged a partnership with Thomas Nelson Inc., making the publisher of Christian books the exclusive distributor of Lionsgate DVDs in the retail market.<\/p>\n Lionsgate has also previously acquired North American documentary DVD rights to three works based on the writings of Christian author Lee Strobel, including last month\u2019s DVD release, \u201cThe Case For Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n Lionsgate\u2019s other forays into faith-based films includes the upcoming theatrical release, \u201cChurch Boy<\/a>,\u201d based on the true story of gospel star Kirk Franklin, and a feature adaptation of the Thomas Kinkade painting called \u201cThe Christmas Cottage.\u201d<\/p>\n The company also has seen success with a trio of films from writer-director-actor Tyler Perry<\/a>: \u201cDiary of a Mad Black Woman,\u201d \u201cMadea\u2019s Family Reunion<\/a>\u201d and \u201cDaddy\u2019s Little Girls<\/a>.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n 6.<\/a> Kyle Smith<\/a> quotes a hilarious bit from Adam Gopnik\u2019s essay on DVD commentaries in the current New Yorker<\/i>:<\/p>\n Gopnik says that on these commentaries, the conflict between the miserable director\u2019s doomed grasp for art and the studio head\u2019s yowl for profit is often a more interesting drama than the one contained in the movie you\u2019re watching.<\/p>\n For instance. Gopnik lists in withering, hilarious detail all of the detail the director Allen Coulter breathlessly trumpets on the DVD commentary of the so-so drama \u201cHollywoodland,\u201d about the suicide of a guy who played Superman on TV in the 1950s (\u201dI was thinking about the Japanese Noh theatre, which begins with the clacking on the side of a drum,\u201d Coulter says of the movie\u2019s ordinary opening shot). The movie stars Ben Affleck as George Reeves, the depressed actor who played Superman in saggy tights and either killed himself or was murdered; his story, in flashback, is intercut with that of a detective on the case, Adrien Brody. The major problem with the movie is we don\u2019t care about anything Brody\u2019s uninteresting stock character does; we just want to get back to the main story, which is only half the movie. Gopnik calls the overall effect \u201cunbelievably dull\u201d and goes on to mock Coulter\u2019s revelation that he drew up a \u201cflow chart of gum-chewing, marking the dramatic trajectory on which the Brody character does and does not chew gum, and thereby revealing his moral growth.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I am not sure whether that last quote comes from Gopnik or from Coulter himself. I would love it if it came from Coulter, though.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Time for another batch of quickies. 1. The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed the rumours and says it\u2019s true: Karl Urban and Chris Pine will play Dr. Leonard H. McCoy and Captain James T. Kirk, respectively, in Star Trek XI. 2. Variety reports that Wolverine has been postponed \u2014 again \u2014 to May 2009, and it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1116,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n