Posted on 05/17/2006 7:19:19 AM PDT by Reaganesque
Quotes from early reviews of "The DaVinci Code" at Cannes:
"CANNES, France - "The Da Vinci Code" drew lukewarm praise, shrugs of indifference, some jeering laughter and a few derisive jabs Tuesday from arguably the world's toughest movie crowd: critics at the Cannes Film Festival."
"One especially melodramatic line uttered by Hanks drew prolonged laughter and some catcalls, and the audience continued to titter for much of the film's remainder.
Some people walked out during the movie's closing minutes, though there were fewer departures than many Cannes movies provoke among harsh critics. When the credits rolled, there were a few whistles and hisses, and there was none of the scattered applause even bad movies sometimes receive at Cannes."
Yahoo News
"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. Enormous public anticipation worldwide will result in explosive B.O. at the start in near-simultaneous release in most international territories, beginning May 17 in some countries -- day-and-date with the official Cannes opening-night preem -- and May 19 in the U.S. and elsewhere."
Variety
" Several whistles instead of applause were all that greeted the end of Ron Howard's 125-million-dollar film, and worse than that, the 2,000-strong audience even burst out laughing at the movie's key moment.
"I didn't like it very much. I thought it was almost as bad as the book. Tom Hanks was a zombie, thank goodness for Ian McKellen. It was overplayed, there was too much music and it was much too grandiose," said Peter Brunette, critic for the US daily The Boston Globe. '
Breitbart.com
"Bottom line: A jumble of historical myth, religious symbology and international thriller-action makes for an unwieldy, bloated melodrama."
The Hollywood Reporter.com
National Treasure was great. My wife and I have watched it numerous times.
The number of historical errors in the novel were legion. I will no longer go see any film associated with Ron Howard or Tom Hanks. Both the novel and the movie are blatant attempts to sow unbelief.
I still haven't figured out the appeal of the book.
Anti-Christian/Christian values bashing movies lose money for hollywierd, but they keep making them. OTOH, movies with pro-Christian values tend to be quite profitable.
...Seems the god-hating lefties never learn...they must be blinded by their agenda.
Great movie, and very appropriate for younger children. I watched it with my 6 year old daughter, she really got into the story. It also piqued her interest in US history.
I'll see your Ishtar and raise you one Waterworld.
Puh-leeze. The way it got laughed off the screen by the critics simply confirms my prediction that it will get blown off the screen by X-Men III: The Last Stand and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.
Bad reviews at Cannes mean very much to American movie critics, who would rather cut off their right arms than be thought by their brethren to have lowbrow tastes. That in turn will percolate down to the Teeming Millions.
There will be a reasonably good opening as people are suckered in to see what the fuss is about, followed by a total tanking that will be painfully evident even before the Memorial Day crop of openings hits the theaters.
But that alone ups the silly factor significantly!
You're off topic.
Huh? I checked and it's currently showing at ZERO percent (admittedly with only seven advance reviews so far, but still...).
I see your Gigli and raise you one Battlefield: Earth.
The percentage changes. It was 20% earlier today.
That's often the case, however I would have thought that this particular story would have lent itself well to film.
It has a lot of visual imagery that could be portrayed well on film, and seemed to have less content that was crucial to the story that would be difficult to portray on film than many other good books I've read.
I did read the book, and did think that it was a well written work of fiction.
I did find the plot needlessly offensive to core Christian beliefs, including my own, but I did think it was well written.
I have two guesses on why it may have been receive badly at Cannes.
The film sufferers from poor acting and/or direction that was so bad that the Audience at Cannes didn't overlook it to support it's Christianity bashing.
Or what I feel is more likely. It's a story that has been told at least in part so many times that it just wasn't original enough, and the story has to lose a level of intrigue and mystery when some of the places mentioned are places they have seen in person.
My guess is that it's the latter: an equivocal review (perhaps the one referenced by puroresu in Msg#73 -- "the most positive is the one that describes it as just short of being boring") was formerly listed as "fresh" but upon reconsideration is now listed as "rotten".
I haven't seen that one, so I'd have to take your word for it. But can it take down "Glitter"?!
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