Tag: movies

DINNER 139: Friday, May 19, 2006

DINNER 139: Friday, May 19, 2006

I flew by the house this evening after work to let the dogs outside then left again pretty quickly. Since Wendy had LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS at Falcon Theater tonight, I’d decided to go see THE DA VINCI CODE at my local multiplex. I’d purchased…

DA VINCI CODE review

DA VINCI CODE review

DA VINCI CODE

IMDB

Year: 2006

Writer: Akiva Goldsman (screenplay), Dan Brown (novel)

Director: Ron Howard

Producer: Columbia Pictures

Length: 149

Category: Drama

Media: Film

Studio: Imagine Entertainment

Distributor: Sony Pictures Releasing

Rating from MPAA: PG-13

Cast:

  • Robert Langdon: Tom Hanks
  • Sophie Neveu: Audrey Tautou
  • Rating: 3 out of 5

    Review from 67rocks.

    Four words – wrong star, wrong director.

    Hanks and Howards best work, both together or separately, have been when they embrace intrinsically American values in their films. All their most memorable movies have involved individuals overcoming hardship through an unshakable belief in love and courage, usually set against an outwardly US-centric interpretation of events. Think Apollo 13, Forrest Gump, Cinderella Man, Saving Private Ryan – all fine films, all centred on an American hero rising above their circumstance.

    What is conspicuously absent from either man’s resume is a European-set, religious-themed mystery thriller. Having sat through their arduous, laborious adaptation of Dan Brown’s novel, I can now see why.

    The plot is total bunkum – a hodgepodge of “what ifs” and “oh my god” moments spun on the ludicrous premise that Leonardo Da Vinci had some sort of insight into the life of Christ – but loopy story lines have not stopped many films from being enjoyable.

    What makes The Da Vinci Code so deathly dull is the heavy-handed, oh-so-serious approach Howard applies to the material. Combining with his cinematographer to give the film a sleepy nocturnal feel (not so clever given the 150min running time), Howard’s film is just a constant flow of expository clues that fail to create any tension or engender his leads with any human qualities. Even for those that haven’t read the book, a couple of obligatory ‘big twists’ in the story are very obvious from early-on.

    Hanks (looking more like Jim Belushi than ever) and McKellen blather on and on and on about knights and saints and symbols and God as if they were giving a lecture at some Ivy-league school for the supernatural; Audrey Tautou is lovely but has little to do in a role that is plot- not character-driven. Jean Reno ambles thru another of his token French cop parts (he was better in the Pink Panther); Paul Bettany’s evil albino Silas at least got some audience reaction, though giggles and guffaws were probably not what he was hoping for.

    Whatever sense of fun and excitement the book provided is fully-drained from this adaptation. Come credit time, I had the realisation that all this hokey, airport-novel religious hooey and B-movie plotting would’ve made for a great X-files episode in that series heyday. As the end-product of a publishing phenomenon and carrying the tag “Years Most-Anticipated”, its a boring dud.

    DINNER 225: Sunday, August 13, 2006

    DINNER 225: Sunday, August 13, 2006

    Today, Wendy & I ran some errands — getting new luggage for our upcoming trip to Mexico, buying another bookcase to load with books (mostly culinary books and cooking magazines. When we bought the bookcase, Wendy made me promise that she could have one shelf before I filled it!), and a bit of grocery shopping — before we headed to the nearby Ford plant to watch the local sports car club’s Autocross event.

    Parnell, a friend of ours, was racing in the event and invited us to attend as spectators. We saw loads of cars — I happily noted lots of Miatas (they did very well overall) — and watched lots of races. Parnell’s Mustang Cobra GT did nicely as well.
    After baking ourselves in the parking lot, Wendy & I met up with Dave & Robin to see NIGHT LISTENER at the local multiplex. It was an …okay… movie. The performances were okay, the story was okay, and the ending was, well, less than satisfying. But it was nice spending time with Robin & Dave.
    Wendy & I came home and we peeled a bunch of carrots (and had a knife skills lesson, too) and made a simple carrot soup for dinner.

    Scott's Best and Worst Films of 2008

    Scott's Best and Worst Films of 2008

    My college buddy Scott sees movies. LOTS of movies. He’s seen more movies in the last 15-20 minutes than you will see all year. He also writes up an annual best-and-worst report of the movies he’s seen each year, and kindly gave me permission to…