The DaVinci Code

[holden]

Originally Posted by Kennrr

yeah, holden. stupid, guilable people. the same people that believe the blair witch project is real. if your talking about originality, are you talking about the writer who sued brown? The book was good, loved the story and premise.

also, isn't the whole point of a movie is being able manipulate your emotions? you want to root for the hero, you want to hate the villian... or I miss you point competely.

Adam got my point right on. It is a fine line between good storytelling/moviegoing and manipulation, but movies like "Cinderella Man", "Apollo 13" and "A Beautiful Mind" definitely took creative licences with real stories. Surely "Da Vinci Code" isn't truth, but it also claims to be based on facts. There are tons of gullible people who will buy it all hook, line and sinker. They already have. The fact that there are lots of websites, study groups, tv documentaries, other books based on it, trying to explain it, debunk it, whatever, is proof that people already bought this for something bigger than it is: an entertaining work of fiction. Comparison with "Blair Witch" is limited, because, except for that film's festival debut which took some by surprise, it was revealed to be fake and the buzz died. Did anyone bother with Blair Witch 2? Nope.
Maybe the movie and books are good things in that they get people discussing matters of faith rather than just accepting what they're told. I'm just saying the opposite also applies: people will blindly accept Da Vinci Code as well-researched fact. Woops!
Just my opinion, though! Like i wrote in prev. post, it'll be a huge hit film! Enjoy it!

[adam]

I like Ron Howard - I thought he was great on both Arrested Development and The Simpsons. Apollo 13 was pretty fun, too. But his movies tend not to be much more than brain candy - like Spielberg's. They are consistently well done, but they tend to be manipulative (in the above sense) and fairly simple.

[cured]

"Blair Witch" was something to be enjoyed and talked about...what the studio was thinking when they thought they could recycle every other horror movie and attach "Blair Witch" to the name and have it sell is beyond me but it's just another one of those bad Hollywood moments.

I enjoyed watching all the publicity MTV was giving the movie, though...it was such a perfect marriage.

A LOT of people I know have read "The DaVinci Code" and, yes, many of those people have used their Dr. Phil skills to come up with their own conclusions about what's true and what's not.

I just hope to be entertained. Magneto is usually worth the price of admission by himself

[b.miller]

i dunno.. I would compare DaVinci more with movies like From Hell or National Treasure... they have realistic backdrops but are pretty clearly just theories or outright yarns weaving them together. Of course neither of those movies made nearly as much money as DaVinci will ... but still, I'd say something like a Michael Moore movie has much more of a chance of being misinterpreted as the truth... at least Ron Howard doesn't pretend his movies are documentaries... he takes as much license as any other "based on real events" movie in hollywood...

Howard does succumb to sentimentality though... I personally think that's why Cinderella Man was such a bomb... everyone smelled the depression-era boxer's triumph a mile away and wasn't in a mood for any heartstring pulling of that magnitude. He's a good storyteller though and DaVinci is more of a fast-paced mystery than anything with character or love so the movie should be fun. it HAS to be better than Poseidon.

[adam]

I think Holden's just assuming that's the case because everyone is assuming the novel is real, which is definitely happening, and a little freaky.

[grady]

I can't wait to see National Treasure 2: European Adventure - the da vinci code later this week.

As far as Opie directing good films, that remains to be seen. I didn't see his western he made a couple year back. I didn't see Cinderella Man as it looked like setimental crap pleading for some gold statues. The oscar he won for A Beautiful Mind further proved the ineptitude of the Academy and their ability to award mediocrity.

Then there is Gladiator. The film directed by Ridley Scott that won Russel Crowe his oscar he so rightly deserved for his performance the previous year The Insider.

But all my reservations aside, I'm looking forward to Da Vinci. It will be interesting to see how they made all the real locations look and compressed the story.

[ffolkes]

Originally Posted by grady

Then there is A Beautiful Mind. The film that won Russel Crowe his oscar he so rightly deserved for his performance in The Insider.

wrong, he was nominated for a beautiful mind but didn't win. the oscar went to denzel washington (rightfully so) for training day in 2002.
russell won his golden statue a year earlier for gladiator. i agree on your comment about the insider though

on another note, i'm not too excited about da vinci code. after seeing a documentary about the whole dan brown's novel phenomena, i kinda saw everything worth seeing (plus the debunking of the whole theory as well).

it's a bit like seeing a trailer for a movie that shows all the best bits... you're not really keen on seeing the rest as it seems just a filler.

oh and fuck ron howard too.

[Kennrr]

okay I understand what you mean with movie examples like Pearl Harbor, Cinderella Man, etc. I never watched either of those movies but yeah, its meant for middle america to feel good about something.

Regardless, I dig reading the book and Tom Hank hasn't failed me yet so i'll be watching it.

sort of off topic, but did anyone catch Tom Hank on SNL? very funny stuff

[jOHN rODRIGUEZ]

Hey Kennrr, long time no hear! I'm in Texas now so I don't see meeting up in Pheonix too close in the future, your info in the past was more than appreciated, thanks again.

I did see the SNL with Hanks and if was a return to form for the show. I haven't watched SNL in ages, but Massive Attack in Denver has broke the bank for at least a month. I'll be watching the next SNL's to come for awhile, hope they're as good the Hanks show.

[Kennrr]

John - hows it going? its unfortunate we never got to hang out. I actually like the new cast of SNL'ers. I'm sure they took extra attention considering its Tom Hanks that week. the song he did was hiliarious.

back to the movie discussion. take it for what it is and you'll enjoy this a whole lot better. I can't judge it yet since I haven't seen it yet, but come on a film with Tom Hanks and the girl from Amelie. isn't that enough? :-p

Its funny how the church worries about this film. it shows how much faith the church has in their followers to decide if the film is just make believe or a documentary!