MOVIES - Aug. 2, 1988

Newspapers have entered the “Last Temptation of Christ” fray. It was reported Monday that the Birmingham (Ala.) News is refusing to accept any advertising for the controversial Martin Scorsese film, commenting only that such ads would “not be acceptable” to the paper’s publisher, V. H. Hanson II. Eddie Marks, vice president for advertising of Consolidated Theaters, which operates theaters in Birmingham, Huntsville and Tuscaloosa, said he thought that amounted to prior censorship, and added that his chain is still unsure whether it will show the film in its more than 100 theaters in the South. . . . Meanwhile, Scorsese tells People magazine this week that his film is “like a prayer. . . . It is my way of worshiping.”