Don’t want to go on this Cruise

I am a comparatively late arrival to the novels of Lee Child, having read my first 61 Hours, just late last year. I have read two more since then, Killing Floor and Die Trying, both of which I liked more than the first one I read, and am know starting my fourth, Tripwire. While reading these books I couldn’t help but wonder why anyone hadn’t optioned them for a motion picture.

Now I learn that not only has someone decided to bring Jack Reacher, the hero of Child’s novels, to the big screen but they are intent on ruining the entire experience by casting Tom Cruise, of all people, as Reacher.

Wrong! Wrong! Wrong!

Look: Jack Reacher stands 6-feet, 5-inches tall. When they were married, Nicole Kidman towered over Cruise (she still does, in more ways than just physical stature, but that’s a story for another time). Cruise is, shall we say, charming. Reacher is anything but.

Dolph Lundgren is too old to play Reacher by about 10 years, but that’s what’s needed — a Dolph Lundgren type, a James Arness type. Hey, if someone could teach him to act, the NBA player formerly known as Ron Artest could be an interesting choice. And, if he couldn’t act, he would still be a better choice than Cruise. How about European rugby star Lawrence Dallaglio. Examine his picture on this page and if you've ever read a Lee Child novel you have to admit he's Jack Reacher and not Tom Cruise.

Cruise at 6-5? Are they going to cast Munchkins in all the other roles?

Ayn shrugged

Ayn Rand

As a writer, Ayn Rand, to put it kindly, was a hack. I don’t think even her most ardent admirers will go so far as to praise her craftsmanship. What they dig is her political philosophy. Now that a really bad film has been released based on her trite and boring novel Atlas Shrugged, it is the perfect time to take a closer look at Rand.

When will that "Road" open?

I've finally gotten around to reading Cormac McCarthy's Pulitzer Prize winning "The Road." I'm about a third of the way through it as I write this. I have put it off for a long time mainly for personal reasons -- I really didn't think I should be reading anything that depressing in the mood I was in. Another side, the side that eventually won out, wanted to read it before the film version was released.

Now the question has become when will the film be released. It was originally supposed to open in wide release around Thanksgiving and then it was moved to December. Now it turns out the film starring Viggo Mortensen, Robert Duvall, Charlize Theron and Guy Pearce may not open this year at all. A couple of reasons have been mentioned for the delay, but I think the real reason revolves around what drives all Hollywood decisions: money. If the movie is anything like the book I'm reading, this is really going to be a downer and I don't think people will flock to the theaters around the Holiday period to see something like this, especially if the economy remains as bad as it is now, and there is every reason to believe it will -- or get worse.

I've also heard that you can add "The Soloist" and "Defiance" to the list of films being pushed to 2009 and thus probably scrapped from this year's Oscar race. From the polling I had done, both Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx were receiving support for acting nominations for "The Soloist." Probably not so much now.

Want to get off welfare? Just write a series of best selling books that become a movie franchise

That's what J.K. Rowling did. The former single mother on welfare raked in a whopping $300 million just last year alone because of her Harry Potter series, making her the world's best-paid author by a wide margin. Since her first novel came out just 10 years ago, she has sold 375 million books and the box office on some of those books (there are still three more movies to come) has amounted to $4.5 billion.

Second place on the list of best paid authors is James Patterson, who cranks out an average of two novels a year, and last year earned $50 million, according to compilations reported in Forbes. Stephen King is third ($45 million), Tom Clancy fourth ($35 million), and Danielle Steele is fifth ($30 million). Remember, these figures are just for the last year.

The rest of the top 10 is Nicholas Sparks, Janet Evanovich, John Grisham, Dean Koontz and Ken Follett.