TWILIGHT was a far bigger success than I expected. The second week falloff for the James Bond film was larger than I expected, however it is not the best effort ever in this series according to numerous critics. THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PAJAMAS is probably easily the best film out there right now, but unfortunately did not play in enough theatres to make a major mark, but still might be considered as Oscar worthy I think.

And holding steady at 13 after 9 weeks, Fireproof, Ladies and Gentlemen! At 62x profit margin, obviously a success for it's producers. See Hollywood, you can make money off of a film that has a story people want to see. Just make good movies and leave the politics at home.

Chad, actually FIREPROOF is as much of a religious right political propaganda piece as you can get. And it's made a made-for-TV budget to top it off, and not a film in the league with real theatre movies in my view.

Religious zealot Kirk Cameron stars in this right wing propaganda piece that unfairly attacks Internet pornography, attempting to smear it up by claiming that it has somehow been so destructive to his marriage. What complete nonsense, if a marriage is troubled it has problems far beyond some guy looking at other women naked on the Internet one in a while. Kirk Cameron is such a zealot on the whole adult entertainment issue that he demanded that his female costar on GROWING PAINS be fired after she did a harmless pictorial for PLAYBOY. Mr. Cameron might think of himself as real religious, but I just think that he's a major league SOB, myself.

Another favorite piece of Kirk Cameron trash of mine was a funny video show that he hosted a few years ago where all of the videos were staged events unlike AMERICA"S FUNNIEST HOME VIDEOS where most videos that look staged are rejected except for the gag ones.

I'm sorry, Chad, but I just can't stand Kirk Cameron myself. He was very dirty to his costar on GROWING PAINS in demanding that she be fired. Nice people just don't do stuff like that.

There are many perfectly fine religious movies that have been made that I enjoy, and none of them have used right wing politics like the way Cameron usually works into his films it seems. But he's part of that radical political TBN crowd who just can't tell the difference between Jesus and the Republican Party, because they have no real discernment whatsoever.

"I'm sorry, Paul, I just can't stand judgmental commentators who claim to be progressive myself. He was very dirty to a fellow who made a principled decision in his early 20's and stood by his convictions. Nice people just don't do stuff like that."

Does it work the same when you change the content in the blanks, but just assign judgment to some other view than your own? Just wonderin'.

(1) I'm just gonna wager a guess here and say that, Paul, you've done almost no research or had many personal encounters with the boatloads of people who have troubled or ruined marriages and relationships because of pr0n. And I doubt you've much personal experience counseling people who find themselves in those situations. I could be wrong...like I said I'm guessing. It does ruin marriages. Is that always the only issue? No. Significant and often the root issue? Absolutely!

(2) And speaking, as you do, of a "lack of discernment," yes, Kirk sounds evangelical and on the right socially (& probably politically), but if you can't tell the difference between his positions and the way he holds them and the TBN crowd, then your comment is much of a "'progressive' political propaganda piece as you can get."

I expected you to have a greater ability to nuance stuff.

:-| sheesh.

Paul, you missed the whole point of the movie. Yes, internet pornography was one of the signs of the failing marriage in the movie, but it was more of a sympton, and not the reason. Saving up for "his" boat when his wife's parents needed monetary help for a wheelchair was also another symptom. It was about putting God first and putting your marriage in the right place to make it work. Obviously, you missed that point. Mr. Cameron has talked many times about things he did as a young christian, and how at the time he may have gone about things the wrong way and not shown the love of God the way he should, he's very open about that. People make mistakes, at least he realizes he should have done things differently. I don't get the reason for the vehemence of your dislike for this movie. Yeah, it's low budget, but that's all they had to work with. I don't think you can argue that it's all that bad of a movie. Yeah, it's not Hollywood, but I found it refreshing. A movie with a story that most people can RELATE to. What a novel idea.

Sheesh and Chad, my opinion of Cameron would change when I see something positive from him, and just not more of his own judgmental Christian right propaganda and politics. FIREPROOF is a very cheap film made at less than a cable made-for-TV movie. It is not a great film by any means, but the Christian right community did run to see in respectable numbers.

And no, I still don't buy that if some guy likes to look at naked women on the Internet once in a while, then his marriage is going to heck in a hand basket. What is his wife so emotionally insecure that she doesn't realize that normal men look at other women once in a while? The truth is that two presidential Commissions on Obscenity and Pornography failed to prove any real harm from this type of material to normal adult persons. But this FIREPROOF Christian right propaganda film still tries to make this absurd point regardless of any real evidence. The truth is that most porn is boring and cheaply made crap, and not really all that exciting, so it is really difficult to see many men wanting to quit work and sit around all day in front of their computer in their bathrobe and watch this cheap junk all the time. Most normal men probably surf for dirty stuff out there every once in a while, but hardly spend their whole life watching this cheap sexual crap. Cameron's film expects the viewer to believe that a fireman would rather watch this stuff than fight fires or work on his marriage with his real woman and wife until it's nearly on the rocks. How absurd.

If porn ever really hurt anyone, then you'd sure expect massive lawsuits and busy lawyers from people claiming to be victims looking for money. Yet I never know of a single lawsuit by a self-proclaimed "porn victim" ever. The truth is that it's little more just trashy entertainment, and hardly any more harmful than cheap horror movies, action films, or any other form of cheap exploitation-film media that profits from cheap trash produced at low costs that makes big money. Hey, what do you know, that's the same profit formula of FIREPROOF. Spend $500,000 on a very cheap Christian right movie, and gross $31.5 million.

But entertainment is a to each their own item in my view. Some people think that Michael Bolton is great entertainment, while I prefer Hendrix by comparison. If some think that FIREPROOF is a great film even though only 39% of serious critics polled by Rotten Tomatoes agree, then so be it. But a film like THE BOY IN STRIPED PAJAMAS is Oscar worthy material by comparison, and really cinema at it's very best. FIREPROOF might be a little better than most of the garbage that Cameron has done. I'll give him that much, though. But that's sure not really saying too much.

Once again Paul, you missed the ENTIRE POINT of the movie. It wasn't the porn that was ruining the marriage, or the saving up for "his" boat. It was the fact that he wasn't putting his marriage first that was what the story was about. I hate to break it to you, but you missed the point of the movie. Basically, you didn't like it. Ok, I get that, but I don't see where you get "right" christian out of it. Christian, yes, but why throw in the "right"? There's no politics in this movie. NONE. Saying that I think looking at porn is bad makes it a "right" vs. "left" argument? This movie had nothing to do with right and left, and YOU are the one interjecting politics into the discussion. Faith is faith, there is no right and left. Please, take a mental trip back to when you saw the movie, and look at what it was really about. If you can't see what I'm talking about, we'll just have to agree to disagree, I'll quit extolling it's virtues, and you can quit bashing it.