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The Da Vinci Code (Variety movie review)
Variety ^ | May 16, 2006 | Todd McCarthy

Posted on 05/17/2006 10:05:58 AM PDT by siunevada

Posted: Tue., May 16, 2006, 5:40pm PT

The Da Vinci Code A Sony Pictures Entertainment release of a Columbia Pictures and Imagine Entertainment presentation of a Brian Grazer/John Calley production. Produced by Grazer, Calley. Executive producers, Todd Hallowell, Dan Brown. Directed by Ron Howard. Screenplay, Akiva Goldsman, based on the book by Dan Brown.

Robert Langdon - Tom Hanks Sophie Neveu - Audrey Tautou Sir Leigh Teabing - Ian McKellen Captain Bezu Fache - Jean Reno Silas - Paul Bettany Bishop Aringarosa - Alfred Molina Vernet - Jurgen Prochnow Remy Jean - Jean-Yves Berteloot Lt. Collet - Etienne Chicot Jacques Sauniere - Jean-Pierre Marielle Sister Sandrine - Marie-Francoise Audollent

By TODD MCCARTHY

A pulpy page-turner in its original incarnation as a huge international bestseller has become a stodgy, grim thing in the exceedingly literal-minded film version of "The Da Vinci Code." Tackling head-on novelist Dan Brown's controversy-stirring thriller hinging on a subversively revisionist view of Jesus Christ's life, director Ron Howard and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman have conspired to drain any sense of fun out of the melodrama, leaving expectant audiences with an oppressively talky film that isn't exactly dull, but comes as close to it as one could imagine with such provocative material; result is perhaps the best thing the project's critics could have hoped for.

(Excerpt) Read more at variety.com ...


TOPICS: TV/Movies
KEYWORDS: davincicode; movie
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Sounds boring.
1 posted on 05/17/2006 10:06:01 AM PDT by siunevada
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To: siunevada

Mega-turkey Alert! Having read the dreadful book, you couldn't pay me to relive my agonizing pain by watching the movie.


2 posted on 05/17/2006 10:09:45 AM PDT by FormerACLUmember (No program, no ideas, no clue: The democrats!)
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To: siunevada

As soon as someone knows who jesus's descendant is supposed to be, ( they laughed at it during the film festival) post it, so we can spread it around, insuring that fewer people will go to see it for such a crappy climax.


3 posted on 05/17/2006 10:11:52 AM PDT by Waverunner
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To: siunevada

Pretty anxious to read the book and then see the movie...Form what i have read, the only critics who didn't like it were, either religious or people who didn't read the book, and didn't understand a thing...But as per the critics of the book, the plot seems incredibly interesting.

Best regards.


4 posted on 05/17/2006 10:11:59 AM PDT by astoundedlib
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To: astoundedlib

The book consists of a lot of dialogue. On the page, this is pretty interesting, at least as opposed to pages of dry description. However, when translated to a movie, there is the danger of the story becoming too talky.


5 posted on 05/17/2006 10:14:24 AM PDT by Sans-Culotte (I hereby re-christen the Republican Party as "The Flaccid Party")
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To: siunevada

Well it's Wednesday...doesn't the film officially release on Friday? I doubt the bad press will do anything to prevent a 75 million dollar opening. All the brainwashed dunces who think this book is so amazing wil flood theaters to see it.

The book was boring in so many ways. I can't imagine the film doing anything to improve on that.


6 posted on 05/17/2006 10:14:35 AM PDT by My Favorite Headache ("Scientology is dangerous stuff,it's like forming a religion based around Johnny Quest and Haji.")
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To: siunevada

The Steven King Curse. Most of his richly entertaining books became boring movies.


7 posted on 05/17/2006 10:15:23 AM PDT by pabianice
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To: astoundedlib

The book is long and too much dialogue and details, even for me. I felt many of them were unnecessary.


8 posted on 05/17/2006 10:16:51 AM PDT by Ptarmigan (Ptarmigans will rise again!)
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To: astoundedlib
You don't really consider Variety an organ of the Christian right, do you?
9 posted on 05/17/2006 10:19:20 AM PDT by Mr. Lucky
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To: Waverunner
As soon as someone knows who jesus's descendant is supposed to be


10 posted on 05/17/2006 10:19:22 AM PDT by steve-b (A desire not to butt into other people's business is eighty percent of all human wisdom)
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To: astoundedlib
"Pretty anxious to read the book and then see the movie...Form what i have read, the only critics who didn't like it were, either religious or people who didn't read the book, and didn't understand a thing...But as per the critics of the book, the plot seems incredibly interesting. Best regards."

I'm with you. Those wacky religious zealots at Cannes make me sick. They want a theocracy, not a democracy. And they own stock in Diebold. And they drowned the passengers of Flight 77 in the Atlantic to cover the Predator drone that slammed into the Pentagon on 9-11....

11 posted on 05/17/2006 10:20:11 AM PDT by eureka! (Heaven forbid the Rats get control of Congress and/or the Presidency any time soon....)
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To: My Favorite Headache
I doubt the bad press will do anything to prevent a 75 million dollar opening.

Yeah, there really isn't much competition. Nothing similar as far as new releases. A slasher and a PG animated. MI III will still be selling some tickets.

In a couple of weeks it will be Memorial Day weekend and the DVC movie will be old news.

12 posted on 05/17/2006 10:28:37 AM PDT by siunevada (If we learn nothing from history, what's the point of having one? - Peggy Hill)
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To: Waverunner
As soon as someone knows who jesus's descendant is supposed to be, ( they laughed at it during the film festival) post it

Let's post our guesses of Christ's descendant (apparently the last one, a statistical improbablity) alive on earth today. The person is probably French. Is Jaqueline Bisset French? Bridgette Bardot? It couldn't be Jacques Chirac, could it?

13 posted on 05/17/2006 10:29:08 AM PDT by Draco
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To: Draco

Maybe its Oprah.


14 posted on 05/17/2006 10:32:01 AM PDT by joylyn
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To: siunevada

This review points out some similarities between "Da Vinci Code" and "Protocols of the Elders of Zion".

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NDY0YmNhMjc5YThmZWIxY2VjNmM3MWE0YjU1MDFhYTg=


15 posted on 05/17/2006 10:33:34 AM PDT by Califelephant (Liberals: "We've always been soft on criminals, but now we're soft on terrorists too.")
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To: astoundedlib
Pretty anxious to read the book and then see the movie...

I tried to read it, but the writing is at the third-grade level.

The fact that it is so popular is because so many people who read it were functionally illiterate and reading a novel for the first time in their lives.

Naturally they would think it was great.

16 posted on 05/17/2006 10:34:33 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum (Islam Factoid:After forcing young girls to watch his men execute their fathers, Muhammad raped them.)
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To: siunevada
Tomorrow's (VARIETY) headline today:

Code -- a Dud!


17 posted on 05/17/2006 10:36:11 AM PDT by Revolting cat! ("In the end, nothing explains anything.")
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
The fact that it is so popular is because so many people who read it were functionally illiterate and reading a novel for the first time in their lives.

Bears repeating. The lowest common denominator is the winner every time in mass popular culture.

18 posted on 05/17/2006 10:37:48 AM PDT by Revolting cat! ("In the end, nothing explains anything.")
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To: Revolting cat!

"The lowest common denominator is the winner every time in mass popular culture."

Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public.

- H.L. Mencken


19 posted on 05/17/2006 10:41:13 AM PDT by brownsfan (It's not a war on terror... it's a war with islam.)
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To: siunevada
Click here to automatically create another new Dan Brown novel, each one just as good as the next. Hit the refresh/reload button on your browser for as many automagically created Dan Brown novels as you want. It's great fun!
20 posted on 05/17/2006 10:41:32 AM PDT by Petronski (I just love that woman.)
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