The Da Vinci Code

[CryWolf]

One cannot switch on the TV or go to the movies without seeing the preview. TDVC hits the silverscreen May 19, 2006, I can't wait. THE PREVIEW LOOKS AWESOME!!!

How can a movie directed by Ron Howard go wrong with a cast like that:

Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon
Ian Mc Kellen as Sir Leigh Teabing
Jean Reno as Bezu Fache
Paul Bettany as Silas
Alfred Molina as Bishop Aringarosa
Audrey Tautou as Sophie Neveu

I, always the skeptical type, rarely goes with the hype. But when I picked the book, I couldn't put it down. I finished it in 2 days.

Then I read Angels & Demons. Dan Brown knows how to tell a story but he tends to lose track at the end and he has to hasten the pace and close the final chapter. Other than that, how millions of readers go wrong?

I just hope the movie surpasses the book, only 2 movies IMHO did that : Silence of the lambs and Marathon man.

 

[EagerBeaver]

CW,

Marathon Man was a great movie, especially when Laurence Olivier tortured Dustin Hoffman by drilling his teeth without anesthesia. Incredible scene.

As for the Da Vinci Code, I read the book and was not so impressed with it. I think what really made the book was the controversial theme. It did hold my interest, but it was hardly the best novel I have read in recent years. I think the movie probably will be better because they can hash out some of the wrinkles in the plot.

 

[CryWolf]

CW,

Marathon Man was a great movie, especially when Laurence Olivier tortured Dustin Hoffman by drilling his teeth without anesthesia. Incredible scene.

As for the Da Vinci Code, I read the book and was not so impressed with it. I think what really made the book was the controversial theme. It did hold my interest, but it was hardly the best novel I have read in recent years. I think the movie probably will be better because they can hash out some of the wrinkles in the plot.

What a movie. SIR Laurence Olivier was scary with those round glasses, so did you go to the dentist after seeing the movie? One of the best movies by D. Hoffman. What about Roy Scheider, what a way to die..

Regarding Dan Brown, after reading Angels & Demons, I didn't bother buy his other books. I already knew his style and also lost interest.

Paul Bettany as Silas is a scary dude...

 

[Doc Holliday]

I just hope the movie surpasses the book, only 2 movies IMHO did that : Silence of the lambs and Marathon man.

Ever hear of:

1) Gone with the Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
2) The Godfather (Mario Puzo)
3) Doctor Zhivago (Boris Pasternak)

 

[General Gonad]

Ever hear of:

1) Gone with the Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
2) The Godfather (Mario Puzo)
3) Doctor Zhivago (Boris Pasternak)

All great books and great movies. I would add "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (Ken Kelsey), one of the best books and movies of all time.

GG

 

[CryWolf]

Ever hear of:

1) Gone with the Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
2) The Godfather (Mario Puzo)
3) Doctor Zhivago (Boris Pasternak)

I never read Mario Puzo's novel but Godfather is my no. 1 movie.

Ditto for GWW and Doctor Zhivago.

When I mentioned Silence and Marathon, I was talking about my own taste and experience.

I'm not a literary expert as you are, Doc.

 

[CryWolf]

Nice contri, spidey!

 

[JustBob]

How can a movie directed by Ron Howard go wrong with a cast like that.

Because it's still Ron Howard. Expect solid but heavyhanded, manipulative, unoriginal, not very subtle work. Granted he did manage to show at least some restraint in Cinderella Man so who knows.

 

[CryWolf]

Trailer

http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/thedavincicode/

 

[mtlman2005]

Personnaly, I think the movie is going to do well in the box office because of the name and the actors, but I don't think its going to be as well.
When you read the book, you get to imagine everything. For those who have read the book and then go see the movie, I think we will be dispointed... Why? Because they we impose ideas about the movie that we would have thought different and in most cases better. You can't make a movie as well as the book. Its a known fact!

 

[chef]

I've got Angels and Demons in December 2004 as a Christmas gift and it took me about 3 days to finish the book. Then I moved to Da Vinci Code and it took me a few other days to finish the book. I was starting to be a fan of Dan Brown until I read his other book "Digital fortress". This book deals with a virus attacking the computers of the NSA . As computer science/engineering is my main field I noticed some flaws in the book. Minor falws, but still obvious flaws. So, I thought that "Da Vinci code" and "Angels and demons" might contain flaws as well.

.............................

S'man:

Have you read "Deception Point" ? I enjoyed it. I also enjoyed DVC & A&D. Have not yet read "Digital Fortress".

When addressing this note I could not help but think about the famous "Assman" episode of Seinfeld...enjoyed that !

 

[Left Coast]

Books vs Movies

When you read the book, you get to imagine everything. For those who have read the book and then go see the movie, I think we will be dispointed... Why? Because they we impose ideas about the movie that we would have thought different and in most cases better. You can't make a movie as well as the book. Its a known fact!

Normally, that’s the case. Like a few others in this thread, I was a huge fan of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. I then saw it as a play, which was outstanding. When I heard that the movie had Jack Nicholson playing Randle McMurphy, I almost got sick. How could a 5’ 9” 160-pound guy play the big, burly Irishman. Boy, was I wrong! Nicholson was amazing and so was the movie. So, it’s possible for movies to meet or exceed your expectations for an adaptation from a book, but it is quite rare. Anybody have other examples of favorite books that have worked well on BOTH stage and screen?

 

[Techman]

I prefer to read the book before seeing the movie version. It's amazing the changes made in characters, not to mention what is edited out altogether. If you have ever read Jurassic Park and it's sequel you will see that the movies had very little in common with the books other than the basic outline.
I am anxious to see the DaVinci Code but I haven't read the book yet. I'll have to pick it up before I see the film. But I think that people take it too seriously...it's just a work of fiction with little basis in truth. Kind of like the bible.

 

[CryWolf]

Vatican's boycott

By Philip Pullella
Fri Apr 28, 11:10 AM ET

ROME (Reuters) - The Vatican stepped up its offensive against "The Da Vinci Code" on Friday when a top official close to Pope Benedict blasted the book as full of anti-Christian lies and urged Catholics to boycott the film.

The latest broadside came from Archbishop Angelo Amato, the number two official in the Vatican doctrinal office which was headed by Pope Benedict until his election last year.

Amato, addressing a Catholic conference in Rome, called the book "stridently anti-Christian .. full of calumnies, offences and historical and theological errors regarding Jesus, the Gospels and the Church."

He added: "I hope that you all will boycott the film."

The movie, which is being released by Sony Pictures division Columbia Pictures, stars Tom Hanks and premieres next month at the Cannes film festival in France. Sony Pictures is the media wing of Japanese electronics giant Sony Corp (NYSE:SNE - news).

Amato said the book, written by Dan Brown, had been hugely successful around the world thanks in part to what he called "the extreme cultural poverty on the part of a good number of the Christian faithful."

The book has sold over 40 million copies.

The novel is an international murder mystery centered on attempts to uncover a secret about the life of Christ that a clandestine society has tried to protect for centuries.

The central tenet of the book is that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and had children.

In his address to the group, Amato said Christians should be more willing "to reject lies and gratuitous defamation."

He said that if "such lies and errors had been directed at the Koran or the Holocaust they would have justly provoked a world uprising."

He added: "Instead, if they are directed against the Church and Christians, they remain unpunished."

Amato suggested that Catholics around the world should launch organized protests against the "The Da Vinci Code" filmjust as some had done in 1988 to protest against Martin Scorsese's "The Last Temptation of Christ."

LATEST BROADSIDE

Amato's broadside was just the latest blast against the book and the film.

Just before Easter, another Vatican official railed against it at an event attended by Pope Benedict, branding the book and its film version as just more examples of Jesus being sold out by a wave of what he called "pseudo-historic" art.

Catholic group Opus Dei has told Sony Pictures that putting a disclaimer on the movie stressing it is a work of fiction would be a welcome show of respect toward the Church.

In the novel and film, Opus Dei is characterized as the latest in a series of secretive groups that worked over the centuries to obscure truths about Jesus Christ.

Opus Dei is a controversial conservative Church group whose members are mostly non-clerics and are urged to seek holiness in their everyday professional jobs and lives. It has rejected criticisms that it is secretive and elitist.

With the movie's opening less than a month away, Opus Dei and other Christian groups have been sponsoring Web sites and events telling people the novel should not be believed.

The book is a thriller in which the main characters must uncover clues they hope will lead them to an important religious relic. Their adversary is an Opus Dei member.

 

[CryWolf]

Article from BBC NEWS

======================================================

Catholics form Da Vinci film team

The film will be premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on 17 May

Leading UK Catholics and members of Opus Dei have formed a group to respond to the negative impact the Da Vinci Code film is expected to bring.

The Da Vinci Code Response Group, which also includes a Benedictine abbot and two priests, has condemned Dan Brown's book as "fiction trading as fact".

The group criticised its "damaging and grotesque" account of their faith.

The comments come just weeks before the film version of the novel, starring Tom Hanks, is due to be released.

'Deceived'

The book, which has sold 40 millions copies worldwide, has been attacked for portraying the Catholic Church as a shadowy organisation that has spent 2,000 years covering up Christ's bloodline.

The response group is being co-ordinated by Austen Ivereigh, the director for public affairs of Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the Archbishop of Westminster and head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales.

In a statement the group said: "We believe the Da Vinci Code is fun and harmless in so far as it is treated as fiction. We do not believe in condemnations, boycotts or protests.

"Prickliness on the part of Christians leads us into the trap laid by Dan Brown - that the church is on the defensive because it is engaged in a cover-up.

"But we are also exasperated that many people without a good understanding of the Catholic Church and its history have been understandably deceived by Dan Brown's claim that the Da Vinci Code is based on facts and respectable theories.

"That deception is likely to be reinforced by the film because images are much more powerful than words."

Disclaimer plea

Opus Dei, a conservative Catholic group with 86,000 members worldwide, are particularly angry about their order being portrayed as murderous and power-crazed.

The organisation has arranged special information evenings in London for the public and has asked Sony Pictures, which produced the new film, to include a caption explaining the film is fiction.

Sony has previously declined to reveal whether the film would carry such a disclaimer.

Opus Dei's communications director Jack Valero said he believed it was important to make it clear.

"The book is obviously trying to present fictional things as factual, and trying to deceive people in that way," he said.

"That's why Opus Dei asked for a disclaimer at the beginning of the film just to say this is pure fiction, and then that's fine, you can say what you like.

"But if you're trying to get people to believe it's fact when in fact it's fiction, then that's cheating really."

The film will premiere on 17 May at the Cannes Film Festival before going on general release worldwide on 19 May

 

[gizmo]

not a good movie

I saw the movie and I will put it like that,
if you are the kind of guy that liked ' national treasure' with Nicolas Cage, then, dont miss this movie.
If dont better go for the x-men.
Gizmo

 

[Snapmonkey316]

Saw "Code" Last Night..........................

.........................and I wish I had brought some paper and a pen. It felt like I was doing calculus while wading through the plot.

Sometimes books don't translate well into movies because the focus gets taken away from the main plot. I think that was the problem with this one. What I love about movies like "The Godfather" and "Jaws" is that they streamlined the story and didn't get sidetracked. "Don't bore us, get to the chorus". I found this one to be uneven and anti-climactic.

Not to mention the guilt pangs I got for finding one of Jesus's descendents to be a total babe. And I do love french accents.