f13.net

Cast (in credits order) 
Tom Hanks ....  Robert Langdon
Audrey Tautou ....  Sophie Neveu
Ian McKellen ....  Sir Leigh Teabing
Alfred Molina ....  Bishop Aringarosa
Jean Reno ....  Bezu Fache
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Paul Bettany ....  Silas

Oh my god. Ok, the Da Vinci Code was terrible, shoddy bullshit wrapped in a big thick cover and sprawled across about 500 too many pages. That said, it's quite obvious that book was made solely to become a movie. This cast makes my inner movie fanboi drool all over itself. Paul Bettany? Yes, plz. If you didn't know - Paul Bettany can make ANY movie better. Alfred Molina? Don't just judge him on Dr. Octopus. He was brilliant in Coffee and cigarettes. Jean Reno. He and Audrey Tautou need no props.

I know this is old news but goddamn does Hanks have an amazing cast behind him.

I think I'm boycotting this movie just 'cause the book stunk and the author has totally "sold out".

Tell me the movie was amazing and I'll rent it.

No no, you see, I'm convinced now. The book sucked because it was a money grab for a screenplay. They have a decent screenwriter come in and make it palatable. Makes perfect sense.

Dan Brown sucks. Paul Bettany doesn't. It's easy math.

I've been boycotting the book because every half-brained twit I know has recommended it to me.  I figure if thats the type of person who finds this book deeply thought provoking and powerful then I should abstain because it's likely to be seriously damaging to my ability for cognizant thought.

Dan Brown can't write.

And I refuse to enter another discussion where Schild has an outlook on a movie.  It just gets pointless...

LOOK AT THE CAST! Aside from Tom Hanks who I just want to Go Away (TM), that cast is positively wonderful. I would be happy to pay money down for that movie if it were a biopic about three unfortunate children hit by mustard gas back in WWII. That's just a good fucking cast, man. Ts'all I'm saying.

You can polish a turd all you want, but at the end of the day all you have is a shiny piece of shit.

What he said.

Did Lucas teach you nothing ?

Why not? He gave an excellent Doc Ock interpretation. Just because some comic versions of the Doc makes him look more square-faced does not mean he has to be. The "intelligent arms" plot device was not the actor's fault.

It is one thing to take a book with a lot of visual potential and turn it into a movie, but The DaVinci Code is 99% about the scholarly mystery. Reading Fellowship of the Ring doesn't ruin the movie because of the tremendous visual element added on film. The same thing applied to Jurassic Park.

What about this book screams movie (other than its monetary success)? What does a film version add? No one reads The DaVinci Code twice since the mystery is the whole point.

I always pictured Sophie Marceau while I was reading it. Although to be honest, I picture Sophie Marceau a lot  :evil: :evil: :evil:

I thought Molina did a great Doc Ock, and had no problems with the intelligent arms thing. Molina is one of the better and more versatile character actors out there, IMO.

He wasn't too shabby in "Maverick", either.

Wasn't he also in Boogie Nights?

Yes (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000547/)

He was also in the masterpiece "Dudley Dooright"

In the opening bankrobbing sequence, I'm the bandit with the ponytail (was a long time ago) on the steps to his left nodding my head..

Not that anyone will ever see this, since I've never even seen the shitasticular movie available on DVD. He did play a very convincing Snidely Whiplash though.

I posted this January 24th: http://forums.f13.net/index.php?topic=1959.msg52268#msg52268

Just sayin.

Tom Hanks is golden.  I am finding Schild and I agree about zero on movies.

I've rented many a semi-crappy French action movie on account of Reno, and McKellan was fucking BRILLIANT as Gandalf, but the story and the rest of the cast are pure blah.

Impossible, I've seen just about every movie possible - if it's out on a video format. There has to be SOME crossover. Maybe 1 or 2?

And you can polish a turd to be more than shit. Paul Bettany did it for Knight's Tale. Shannyn Sossamon being pretty helped too.

What's the Davinci Code about anyway? The same kind of people who read the fucking AWFUL Left Behind series have been recommending it to me, and that's why I've sayed way the fuck away from it.

That, and I don't really read novels anymore.

Some old guy gets murdered, leaves behind clues. 
Some intellectual guy(Capt. Harvard) and the murdered guy's granddaughter(Sophie) solve clues to uncover a secret known only by a secret society that has kept it clandestine for a long long time.  It's religious, it has to do with Mary.
An evil albino chases Capt. Harvard and Sophie during their trek.
TWIST.
Happily ever after.

It's very formulaic, but to someone that hasn't read a lot of Dan Brown, it would likely be very exciting.  If you've read Angels and Demons, it's 600 pages of deja vu.  It's religious version of a Clive Cussler book: completely on rails, resembles a filled in mad-lib, easy and enjoyable to read.

Not a bad waste of time, but not quite robot jesus that some people (that don't read a lot normally) proclaim it to be. 

A much better book is Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco.

Please tell me that character's name is your idea of a joke. Because, that's on the level of Count Fucking Dooku or Dexter Jettster. Or is it supposed to be hopelessly and unfunnily Alanis Morrisette Ironic?

Just sayin'.

Joke, his name as mentioned in the first post is Robert Langdon.  I just call him Captain Harvard because they always go to great lengths to mention his intellectual background and  Brown always has him doing some sort of near super human activity in every book.  Like in Angels in Demons he survives a fall out of a helicopter from way high up.

Edit: Angels and Demons would have made a better movie. 

I have not read the Davinci Code, but I bet I know what the punchline to the "mystery" is: Jesus didn't really die, he was smuggled out of Judea to France or Spain, where he and Mary Magdelene had kids.  The secret society is "protecting" the only objective proof of this, rather than destroying it and letting the whole damned mystery be just one more ridiculous conspiracy theory.

How'd I do?

--Dave

Pretty damn close, except not quite as exciting.

Also, Dave was wrong on the lack of death, and smugglage of Jesus. In the book's history Jesus and MM have a relationship over a period of years while he's preaching the good word and whatnot.

Digital Fortress feels more like a movie than A&D or Davinci Code.

That's to say it's dumb as shit and should have gone straight to theatres. Putting that shit on paper is a waste of trees.

Audrey Tatou was adorable in Amelie and that other so-sweet-it-hurts-yer-teeth flick, but she was pretty meh in Dirty Pretty Things. I didn't read the book, but I'd hazard a guess that the only way she could pull off the (or any) character is if she's demure and gives lots of innocent sidelong glances and bites her lip and shit.

Women should bite their lip in every movie. It's just about one of the most cute things a girl can do. I probably wouldn't think that if most of my generation didn't have the skillset "Shitty Actor."

Agreed. What ever happened to the triple threat? Any more, the only way an actress can skyrocket her career is to have an amazing set of tits and show 'em.

Edit: And speaking of triple threats, can we take this opportunity to make fun of Hugh Jackman for trying to out-diva Aretha muhfuh Frankiln?

Paul Bettany and Clive Owen are triple threats. Unfortunately, today, the third threat is "accent."

Yeah, the ability to dance has been rendered somewhat impotent, what with musicals being gay and all.

Mel Gibson definately peaked dancing to, I think it was, Mack the Knife in What Women Want.

Well said.  And I read Cussler books.  Sometimes I like a mindless retro-adventure in the 1960's silly vein.

Brown's next book is an expose on us Masons.  I'm all a-flutter with apprehension.  I suspect it will have all the historical depth of National Treasure...  :roll:

I watched National Treasure this weekend. I kept waiting for the guy that had been with him the whole time to "suddenly" turn into the bad guy.

Other then that - it was a perfect adaptation of a Brown book... Only he didnt write it.

National Treasure was okay, reminded me of The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes, and fited about that mentality.  Course, Russell is a much better actor than Cage.

I enjoyed National Treasure very much because I knew going in it was going to be stupid and I turned my brain off at the ticket counter.

That's pretty much how I approach every movie theatre.  Hence why I'm never disappointed and have a nice mental vacation for ninety minutes.  When I want art I pick up a book or go to a play/museum.