The summer of the Da Vinci Code SNOBS has begun

[underpants]

I posted rather eloquently about this in another forum but this has more to do with what will apparently be one the the topics of interest here on our beloved DU this summer, in the lounge at least.

Aside from how much it is going to piss off the fundies and how much they will use it to further line their pockets we get to see all the SNOBS of literature and the cinema (say both in your most obnoxious voice)on full display.

Look the book was very popular and seems pretty interesting even if it is just another murder mystery (see how you need to uncomplicate things?). The movie will probably be just as entertaining hell Ron Howard directed so you know it will be well done.

Oh I know you probably want some HIGH LITERATURE like some boring ass period piece or Shakespeare (talk about group think- that is an industry unto itself of nothing but pompous delusions of self grandeur). Maybe you want some gritty "indie" :eyes: crap like "Buffalo 66" or "Boondock Saints" are whatever derivative greasefest the unwashed masses are told is the coolest ever this year.

So everyone will start them up a thread deriding the death of CINEMA and how they remember when they couldn't hear everyone laughing at them.

Do yourself a favor and save the bandwidth.

[Gildor Inglorion]

1. "derivative greasefest " ... my new favorite phrase; thank you!

I enjoyed the book and expect to enjoy the movie. :toast:

[Hugin]

2. I *like* being pompous!

Anyway, from the previews I've seen... Looks to be fairly true to the book.

Nice touch Ron!

Should be some spectacular scenery too.

I'm GOING! *snap*

... WHERE'S MY TRENCHCOAT?

[underpants]

3. PRAG!!

:grr:

:hi:

[Hugin]

5. .

I still think George Clooney should've been the lead.

:P

[KitchenWitch]

4. Bravo!

:applause:

Awhile back, I had posted that I was reading "The DaVinci Code" and was enjoying it. I got piled on by all kinds of snobs, from the history buffs to the High Literature snobs. I guess I am simple. Pardon my commonness.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

6. I did not read the book

All of my friends who read it said pretty much the exact same thing: it was a thrilling page turner, but the writing wasn't all that great and seemed like a novelization of movie.

This alone wouldn't be enough to make me skip reading the book, but once I found out they were making the book into a movie, it seemed natural to just go see the movie seeing as everyone kept telling that the book reads like a movie treatment.

However, the advance criticism I've seen seems to go against what I've heard and what you're talking about. The heaviest piece of criticism is that they took an entertaining murder mystery and tried to turn it into the stuff of HIGH LITERATURE; the advance buzz is that everyone just stands around talking to one another and that there's very little action.

Which is the worse crime? Complaining about the artistic merits of a summer blockbuster? Or taking a story that was made to be a summer blockbuster and turning it into an arty gabfest?

[underpants]

7. Interesting

About reading the book I had the same input from my wife and others and then I heard it was going to be a movie so I didn't read it.

Hmmm that is surprising from Ron Howard I guess we will see.

[tigereye]

20. hey UP!

you haven't even read it and you're trashing those who did and found it wanting? :D

[Mutley]

8. Why do people think one can't enjoy high literature *and*

stuff like the Da Vinci Code? I like both. :shrug:

[Blue-Jay]

11. They're called "snobs", "bores", or "bungholes".

They're all over the place.

[Mutley]

14. bungholes...

:rofl:

:thumbsup:

[Critters2]

13. Nope

Gotta choose...what's it gonna be, Dan Brown or Jane Austin?

Fence sitter.

[Mutley]

15. I don't like Jane Austin anyway so...

:P

(No, not even Sense and Sensibility x( )

[grace0418]

40. Absofuckinglutely Mutley! That drives me nuts, from BOTH sides of

the fence. I love tons of indie/arty films as well as a few totally mainstream films. I enjoy poetry and literature as well as some books read just for laughs. I'm a certifiable foodie and a pretty excellent cook, but I also enjoy Cheetos now and then.

Music? My collection contains everything from opera to Abba, funk to salsa, industrial to folk.

TV? Six Feet Under is my favorite show of all time. And I love all the well-written, non-laugh-track comedies, but I also laugh my head off at Friends.

I just don't fucking understand it. Why does everyone insist you must be one way or the other? I thought Da Vinci Code was a great read, I zipped through it in a day or two and thoroughly enjoyed it. Was it great literature? Absolutely not, but it was interesting and suspenseful. I may not see the movie in the theater but I'll probably throw it on my Netflix queue.

Good lord, I thought we were all opposed to the whole black and white viewpoint thing. Shades of gray people, shades of gray.

[Initech]

9. Forget the Da Vinci Code, watch the Da Vinci Delusion.

:evilgrin:

http://www.traditionalvalues.org/da_vinci_delusion.php

[Critters2]

10. "Unwashed masses"?

Now who's being a snob?

[underpants]

22. Ah you found it

I was going to say the "purposely unwashed masses" or the "former suburban unwashed masses" meaning the tragically hipster doofuses as it is just so cool these days.

That is what I meant. I debated editing it but decided not to.

[Goblinmonger]

25. Me likey

"purposely unwashed." I'm going to steal that and pass it off as my own amongst my friends. The good news about that is the number of friends I have that will find that funny is 1.

[underpants]

1

:bounce:

[Goblinmonger]

12. You don't like the snobs or the unwashed masses

Who's left?

FWIW, from a HS English teacher, the DaVinci book was pretty much entertaining but not overy good literature (couldn't even really see great from where it stands). I expect the movie will be the same level. Nothing wrong with that.

[underpants]

23. see post above

#22

[japple]

44. Hey, Teacher, you misspelled ovary! n/t

[Goblinmonger]

49. Yeah

Happens. During the day, most of my posts are made during prep time when time is short which means little time for looking back and editing. Pretty funny typo, really.

[ghostsofgiants]

16. Oh boo-hoo, indie snobs think The Da Vinci Code is going to suck?

Well isn't that just horrible? If you like it, fine, doesn't mean film "snobs" aren't allowed to not like it.

[matcom]

17. is it snobby to buy Snow Caps to eat during this Movie?

cause i plan on buying Snow Caps when i go see this movie.

[Critters2]

18. Chocolate is so gauche

I'll be sneaking in some clams in a rich white sauce, with a nice pinot noir.

[matcom]

19. ooooo littlenecks?

maybe some linguini? :bounce:

[Midlodemocrat]

26. Clams? Now who's being gauche?

Lobster tail and filet, thank you very much. With a lovely cabernet.

[matcom]

27. Cabernet? with SURF & TURF?

:eyes:

[Midlodemocrat]

29. Hey, I happen to LIKE cabernet.

and I have a lovely bottle from the Silver Oak WInery that just begs for surf and turf. :eyes:

[matcom]

30. i like Cabernet too!

but you drink a nice Pino with surf & turf, NOT Cabernet

*sheesh*

[Midlodemocrat]

32. Not when you have a $300 bottle of cabernet sitting around.

:eyes:


:P

[matcom]

34. right take it to the movie theater

maybe you'll get lucky and they will have those NASCAR plastic cups for you up at the refreshment counter :bounce:

:D

[Midlodemocrat]

35. YAY!!! I hope so!!!!

I LOVE those plastic cups! That way I don't have to buy any of my own. I just reuse those!@@!!!!!

:bounce:

And, if you were nicer, I would share my cabernet with you. Too bad.

[underpants]

24. No snow caps are fine

they are in fact the people's treat

[Orsino]

21. Summer of Reviewing Movies We Haven't Seen Yet

I'll give Superman five stars. :+

[peekaloo]

36. I'll go see that one.

Kevin Spacey as LL.

Jebus couldn't fly.

[Spider Jerusalem]

28. But isn't antisnobbery just another form of snobbery?

And isn't ragging on people who don't share your tastes just as bad as what you accuse them of? :shrug:

The way I look at it...if you don't like something, don't read it or see it. Some people are going to, which is fine. Some people like Shakespeare, Jane Austen, and 'artistic' French cinema. Some people like Stephen King, Dan Brown, and action movies. Some people may actually like all of the above. No point arguing about it.

De gustibus non est disputandum.

[Midlodemocrat]

31. No. Only if you are a republican.

When we do it, it's cool!!


:bounce:

[underpants]

33. De gustibus non est disputandum

French huh? :grr:

[JohnKleeb]

37. In an ironic way yeah

I really don't care though when it comes down to it. If people want to see the movie and read the book that's cool, if you don't like that, then that's also cool. I always like a balance in what I read and watch. I can read Remarque's classic All Quiet on the Western Front then I can watch a film like Anchorman. Balance is the key to me at least to living a fun life.

[JohnKleeb]

38. Ah live and let live

I agree with your basic point though that some people need to stop being so snobby over film, literature, and life as a whole but as I said live and let live. If they want to act like snobs let em. I have the freedom to see an obnoxious movie, read episode guides to TV shows as reading material, and to watch Monday Night Football.

[Bridget Burke]

39. Rotten Tomatoes has 7 reviews so far. All bad.

And not from particularly snobbish sources: www.rottentomatoes.com/m/da_vinci_code/

Sir Ian McKellen's performance seems to be the high point. (No surprise there.)

[grace0418]

41. It's just as snobby to roll your eyes at "indie crap" as it is for other

folks to roll their eyes at the Da Vinci Code. I like both, thank you very much.

[NashVegas]

42. I'll Wait to See the Movie Before I Knock It, Underpants

Just like I waited and read the book before I commented on that.

I don't see how the movie could be worse than the book; the novel had zero, nada, absolute zilch in character development - that was my #1 beef with it. This little distinction made it perfect for the movies - all you needed was a good piece of cardboard who could spew all the exposition in the dialog.

Oh, yeah. The dialog: people don't interact with each other the way they did in this novel. Their/our conversations contain more than information, information, information. They/we talk about what they/we think, what they/we do, what they/we like.

[Rabrrrrrr]

43. "Ron Howard directed so you know it will be well done" - uh, NO!

Ron Howard directed, so you know it will be turned into uncompelling and empty swill.

I was very excited about the movie until I found out who was directing it.

And it's too bad the snobs will be out - and I admit, I *am* a snob. BUT, even the book isn't great literature, it was a hell of a good read and I enjoyed every fucking word of it. SO I had hoped to see a neato movie about it, even though I knew a movie of the book could not be "great", because the book isn't great. But I had hoped at least for two hours of entertainment that was worth my money, and that would be something that I would buy on DVD for those evenings when I wanted entertainment, but didn't want to think.

BUT - NO - they had to ask that asshole to direct the film. I'll still see it, but I bet I won't buy the DVD. The only Howard DVD I have is Beautiful Mind, and that's only because it was about a mathematician and *I didn't know it was ron howard* until I sat through the DVD and said, "Who directed this shit?" and then the credits rolled and I saw that non-talent's name, and I said, "Yes - of course - this is exactly his kind of perfected non-artistry".


But, you never know - the book is just the kind of empty, non-highly-artistic stuff that Howard turns his movies into, even when he's given amazing stuff, so this might be his first good movie: the marriage of inelegant writing with inelegant directing might make for a perfectly entertaining movie, and perhaps Howard will have realized his true niche: doing movies of stories that aren't particularly well done.

[underpants]

46. Yes!!! the fly comes into the web

Just kidding but your post on another thread did inspire this.

I hope you don't take offense it wasn't meant at you really.

[ghostsofgiants]

48. That about sums it up.

I saw the Da Vinci Code trailer and thought "hey, that kinda seems cool." Then I saw Ron Howard's name. Sigh. If it akes me a snob, then I guess I'm a snob.

[jonnyblitz]

51. exactly. ron howard means I won't like it, PLUS tom hanks. BLEH

just my personal opinion/tastes. anyone can label me as they wish for having this view. :hi:

[patcox2]

45. But it stars the insuferable Tom Hanks.

I hate that man, its not snobbery. Yuck. he thinks he went to the moon and invaded Normandy. What a load.

[Blue_Tires]

47. well played, sir....well played!

[underpants]

50. Thank you sir

:bows: