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» Ship of Fools   » Things we did   » The Da Vinci Code   » Seen the film/going to see the film? (Page 1)

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Source: (consider it) Thread: Seen the film/going to see the film?
alexamenos
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# 11228

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On the trailers, on the posters, on the web site, the strap line reads 'Seek the Truth.' The day before the World Premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, on 17th May, I had the chance to watch the film's only UK press preview.

As a film, I think it's well made. The cast is excellent, headed Tom Hanks, Audrey Tatou and Sir Ian McKellen. Production and camera work are good, and there are some genuine 'jump out of your seats' moments. Most of the action takes place at night or in darkened buildings, and for me, this adds to the overall sinister and creepy tone of the film.

Its greatest weakness is that it doesn't know whether it's trying to be a thriller or a piece of propaganda for the worship of the sacred feminine. It is at its weakest when it loses its way as a thriller, and becomes propaganda.

The anti-Church propaganda, although still there, and still in your face, seems to have been watered down a bit from the book.

Something that I found more disturbing is the violence of the religiously obsessed monk Silas. There's a kind of kinkiness about this, which left me feeling uneasy. It's because of this violence, rather than because of the anti-Christian propaganda, that I wouldn't be too happy for children to see this film. The 12A certificate in the UK is on the generous side.

I'm sure it will be a huge blockbuster. Go and see it, but don't believe a word of it. It's a work of fiction. Seek the Truth.

There's a more detailed review on our web site at
Seek the Truth - pre-release review of The Da Vinci Code

[ 18. May 2006, 12:35: Message edited by: Louise ]

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Mertseger

Faerie Bard
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Most of the early reviews are not favorable so far it appears. Here's Defamer's roundup. And AICN has a bit on it which is euqally tepid despite Sony's barring of online reviewers from the press screenings.

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Go and be who you are:
The Body of Christ,
The Goddess of Body,
The Manifest Song of Faerie.

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tammierene
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Movie doesn't come out in U.S. til Friday the 19th. If I can't find a babysitter, I'll have no problem taking my 10 year old daughter to see it. She loves mysteries and puzzles, but I fear she might be bored to tears by the movie. I doubt she would ever ask me if any of it is true. She knows the difference between a movie and a documentary. She has said to me "So what if Jesus was married; it doesnt change anything." If Silas does anything that bothers her, she will cover her own eyes!! I figure movies are never as good as the books they are based on anyway, so I might be disappointed in the end. *sigh*

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Don't sweat the small stuff.

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Bernard Mahler
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It's 3.30pm on Thursday 18 May, and I've just got home from an afternoon session,this being Great Opening Day.
I found the film far too long and the dialogue so subdued (perhaps in reverence to the churches in which so much was delivered) that it was almost inaudible at times. There were some clever little historical flashbacks in black and white, including a macabre bonfire of Knights Templar, and a scene of acrobatically indignant bishops at Nicea, most wearing anachronistic mitres.
I had read the book, but even then the plot was hard to follow.
As for being regarded as an anti-Christian polemic, I'd say - Mission Improbable.

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"What does it matter? All is grace" Georges Bernanos

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da_musicman
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Well all the early reviews so far are saying its tripe. I'm definitely waiting for video now. (Still know my friend is going to think its amazing. [Roll Eyes] )
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starbelly
but you can call me Neil
# 25

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Heathen, you have to watch this sort of thing on the big screen.

Tickets booked for Sunday afternoon, for the space of one week there are pretty much only 2 films showing in Exeter!

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St. Punk the Pious

Biblical™ Punk
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I am most definitely not going to see the film. I am not going to reward people for putting out crap like this. In any case, I've been boycotting Sony since it came out that they were screwing over buyers of their CDs by not letting them copy music to their computers and by planting spyware on computers.

And the consensus from reviewers is that the movie is boring crap.

I hope all you who go to see it suffer, SUFFER! [Snigger]

--------------------
The Society of St. Pius *
Wannabe Anglican, Reader
My reely gud book.

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alkiwifromnz
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I dont intend on seeing the film

a complete waste of time in my book

One thing the movie does do Is
draw attention Back to Jesus
How come one Man supposed to have been dead
for over 2000 years still commands sooooo
much attention ? [Angel] [Angel] [Help]

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Zorro
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I hear the critics in Cannes were actually laughing, during the premier.

Bearing that in mind, I can't see myself rushing off to the cinema.

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It is so hard to believe, because it is so hard to obey. Soren Kierkegaard
Well, churches really should be like sluts; take everyone no matter who they are or whether they can pay. Spiffy da wondersheep

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Vikki Pollard
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Not sure yet. Crits haven't been good here. And I never saw Amelie cos of Audrey Tatou so whether I can sit through TDVC is in question. Er... wasn't Silas supposed to be disturbing? He was in the book, if a little 2-dimensional.

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"I don't get all this fuss about global warming, Miss. Why doesn't the Government just knock down all the f**king greenhouses?" (One of my slightly less bright 15 year old pupils)

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Rossweisse

High Church Valkyrie
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I attended a press screening yesterday, and I thought it was one of the worst films I've seen recently -- boring, pretentious, poorly acted, poorly written, poorly directed....have I left out anything?

And that's ignoring the risible source material, which I'm sure has been thoroughly discussed here.

I didn't know whether to snore, to cry, or to giggle through the whole thing. My advice is to save your money.

Ross

[ 19. May 2006, 03:57: Message edited by: Rossweisse ]

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I'm not dead yet.

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CraigS
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I quite enjoyed the film - didn't find it boring at all. A couple of things surprised me. I've written a full review on my blog. ( click here )
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Vikki Pollard
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Heard another negative crit today, re Tom Hanks. Comments, anyone?

I can't understand how it's got a 12A certificate if it's as violent as people say.

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"I don't get all this fuss about global warming, Miss. Why doesn't the Government just knock down all the f**king greenhouses?" (One of my slightly less bright 15 year old pupils)

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babybear
Bear faced and cheeky with it
# 34

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Last night a friend was asking me if I was going to see the film. I wasn't planning to as I had been so annoyed with the book. It was very badly written and had many inaccurancies (facts as opposed to matters of belief). I didn't get beyond the first few pages.

However, my friend was of the opinion that she would rather take the chance and waste 2 hours of her life on the film rather than the many hours it would take to read the book.

Given what people have been saying here I haven't changed my mind about going to the cinema.

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Rossweisse

High Church Valkyrie
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Babybear, the movie, at 2.5 hours, wasted more minutes of my life than reading the book did; I think I finished it in about two hours, on a flight with nothing better to do.

I still begrudge those minutes, too.

Ross

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I'm not dead yet.

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babybear
Bear faced and cheeky with it
# 34

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How on earth can you read a book so quickly?
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Gwai
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We take the words lightly. I skimmed a book by Dan Brown on a plane and I finished it too because I wasn't reading seriously. That may not be how Rossweisse reads quickly though. The one thousand page nonfiction book I'm reading now has taken me weeks (at the rate of 75 or so minutes of reading a day on the subway.)

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A master of men was the Goodly Fere,
A mate of the wind and sea.
If they think they ha’ slain our Goodly Fere
They are fools eternally.


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Rossweisse

High Church Valkyrie
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quote:
Originally posted by babybear:
How on earth can you read a book so quickly?

I'm a fast reader, with high comprehension. (That's how I survived college.)

But "DVC" is designed to be a fast read -- that page-turner thing....

Ross

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I'm not dead yet.

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Jack the Lass

Ship's airhead
# 3415

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I've just come back from having seen it - I hadn't read the book, but I understand from some of the people I was with who had read it that it was basically pretty faithful to the book (with one or two minor things that didn't really make that much difference). I went in with low expectations, guessed many of the plot twists ages before they happened, picked my brain up again on the way out - what can I say, it wasn't earth-shattering or life-changing, but I didn't mind it as bit of mindless silliness for a couple of hours. A couple of bits did make me jump, but then I'm an arch-wuss so that's no big surprise, I always jump out of my skin in the cinema.

I just came out though amazed that anyone could take something so corny at all seriously. As one of my friends said at the end: "I could have knitted it myself".

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"My body is a temple - it's big and doesn't move." (Jo Brand)
wiblog blipfoto blog

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Caz...
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# 3026

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I'm also just back from seeing it and hadn't read it, and interestingly my party felt it was quite significantly not true to the book in a few areas!

I guessed a lot of it very early on too, despite not knowing much about it - still, thought it was a good film, for what it was.

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"What have you been reading? The Gospel according to St. Bastard?" - Eddie Izzard

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Golden Key
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# 1468

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I saw it today. I'm still processing it, so for now I'll just say:


--DO NOT TAKE KIDS!!!
Someone mentioned earlier planning to take a 10 yr. old. Don't do it!!! There are things in the movie (and the book) that a child shouldn't know about, much less see.

--It's worth seeing.

--Take whatever preconceptions you have, and put them aside when you see the movie.


Disclosure: I loved the book, for reasons I've stated on other threads.

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Vikki Pollard
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...and so far the Christian Church is still surviving?

Phew! [Killing me]

--------------------
"I don't get all this fuss about global warming, Miss. Why doesn't the Government just knock down all the f**king greenhouses?" (One of my slightly less bright 15 year old pupils)

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tammierene
Apprentice
# 11405

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I was the one who mentioned taking my 10 year old, but am rethinking it. Actually Im rethinking going at all. I havent heard one good review. Ive heard "Its okay" and "Its not too bad" but that doesnt count as good. I enjoyed the book, but there has seldom been a movie made from a book that really works. Joel Segal, movie critic from Good Morning America said that all the movie's naysayers should have just waited because the movie is so bad that it will ban itself. ha!

Perhaps Ill save my $8.50 and spend it on X-men next week. My ten year old will appreciate that movie more, I'm sure. It doesnt matter if X-men is good or not....it's all about gazing longingly at Wolverine. [Snigger]

Tam

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Don't sweat the small stuff.

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Jack the Lass

Ship's airhead
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I totally agree a 10 year old would prefer to see X-Men 3. I remarked as I left the cinema last night that as a 12 year old (DVC has a 12A certificate here which means that under-12s can only see it if accompanied by an adult) there were a few bits which would have really freaked me out. Admittedly that was over 20 years ago and I was pretty sheltered and sensitive, and it may well be that many 12 year olds these days would find it tame considering some of the other stuff they're exposed to, but I'm sure there are still plenty of sensitive kids who would find parts of the film quite disturbing. And the other bits they'd probably just find boring, I think.

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"My body is a temple - it's big and doesn't move." (Jo Brand)
wiblog blipfoto blog

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Golden Key
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quote:
Originally posted by tammierene:
I was the one who mentioned taking my 10 year old, but am rethinking it.

Let's put it this way...everything that Silas does is shown in full, gory detail. Then there's the ritual. And a few other things.
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Rossweisse

High Church Valkyrie
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For a wide range of critical opinions, check out RottenTomatoes.com. As of this moment, only 18% of professional critics have much good to say about DVC -- and some of the reviews are an absolute hoot.

Ross

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I'm not dead yet.

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Eutychus
From the edge
# 3081

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Oh come on, lighten up, folks. It was a good evening's entertainment, voilà tout.

Making Paris police behave like American ones and giving them weaponry to match were by far the most irritating aspects to my mind. Plus the incredible inability of ace symbiologist and police cryptologist to grasp anagrams quickly - but that was in the book already.

Also wondering why Sophie's Smart was registered in the Morbihan. Maybe something to do with the Arthurian legend.

I think there would be far better ways of extrapolating to matters of faith than attempting to debunk the pseudohistory of the plot as most christian publications aimed at it seem to be doing.

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Let's remember that we are to build the Kingdom of God, not drive people away - pastor Frank Pomeroy

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Rossweisse

High Church Valkyrie
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quote:
Originally posted by Eutychus:
Oh come on, lighten up, folks. It was a good evening's entertainment, voilà tout. ...

.... [Snore] [Snore] [Snore]

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I'm not dead yet.

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Ancient Mariner

Sip the ship
# 4

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It should be re-named The Da Vinci Coma.

As Rossweisse says '... one of the worst films I've seen recently -- boring, pretentious, poorly acted, poorly written, poorly directed....have I left out anything?'

You have, R. Through the blessed Dan Brown we learn the answer to the vexed question 'What Would Jesus Drive?'

A Smart, at tyre-screeching speed - in reverse.

But that's [Snore] about [Snore] it.

[ 21. May 2006, 09:39: Message edited by: Ancient Mariner ]

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Ship of Fools' first novel, Rattles & Rosettes, is the tale of two football (soccer) fans: 16-year-old Tom in 1914 and Dan in 2010. More at www.rattlesandrosettes.com

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cliff
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I agree that this was a bad, and beyond that, a stupid movie. People who lose their faith because of this movie, have lost their brains long ago. If Jesus was only human, then why all of the spiritual compulsion to pray at his wife's tomb? This movie attempts to sweep away centuries of belief through a complicated web of stupid anagrams reminiscent of "National Treasure" or "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and to replace it with "All that really matters, Sophie, is what you believe." Truly brainless. Ron Howard should stick to demented mathematicians.
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Qoheleth.

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From Ian McKellen, at a Cannes press conference:
quote:
"I'm very happy to believe that Jesus was married. I know the Catholic church has problems with gay people, and I thought this would be absolute proof that Jesus was not gay.
[Killing me]


Q.

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The Benedictine Community at Alton Abbey offers a friendly, personal service for the exclusive supply of Rosa Mystica incense.

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Rossweisse

High Church Valkyrie
# 2349

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quote:
Originally posted by Ancient Mariner:
...You have, R. Through the blessed Dan Brown we learn the answer to the vexed question 'What Would Jesus Drive?'

A Smart, at tyre-screeching speed - in reverse. ...

Ay-min, brother, ay-min! Pray-uz the Lard!

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I'm not dead yet.

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RuthW

liberal "peace first" hankie squeezer
# 13

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quote:
Originally posted by tammierene:
Perhaps Ill save my $8.50 and spend it on X-men next week. My ten year old will appreciate that movie more, I'm sure. It doesnt matter if X-men is good or not....it's all about gazing longingly at Wolverine. [Snigger]

Without even having the excuse of being able to take along a 10-year-old, I will definitely be seeing X-Men 3 rather than DVC. Tom Hanks, not buff, apparently having been encouraged to phone in the role, and sporting a bad haircut vs. Hugh Jackman, very buff, chewing up the screen, and sporting -- okay, a bad haircut. Still, an easy choice!
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Ancient Mariner

Sip the ship
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quote:
Originally posted by cliff:
I agree that this was a bad, and beyond that, a stupid movie. People who lose their faith because of this movie, have lost their brains long ago. If Jesus was only human, then why all of the spiritual compulsion to pray at his wife's tomb? This movie attempts to sweep away centuries of belief through a complicated web of stupid anagrams reminiscent of "National Treasure" or "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and to replace it with "All that really matters, Sophie, is what you believe." Truly brainless. Ron Howard should stick to demented mathematicians.

Cliff, this is your first post, FIVE YEARS after registering.

[Eek!]

An unbeatable record?

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Ship of Fools' first novel, Rattles & Rosettes, is the tale of two football (soccer) fans: 16-year-old Tom in 1914 and Dan in 2010. More at www.rattlesandrosettes.com

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Ferijen
Shipmate
# 4719

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Flipping 'ec, it was DULL...

I expected something in the same style as the book - a couple of hours of pappy entertainment with an interesting ish story. But definitely one of those occasions when the book as far better than the film.

ETA: ages since I read the book - but even if you can prove through DNA testing that you're Mary Mag's offspring, how does that prove that Christ was married?

[ 22. May 2006, 08:33: Message edited by: Ferijen ]

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Athrawes
Ship's parrot
# 9594

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quote:
Originally posted by Ferijen:

ETA: ages since I read the book - but even if you can prove through DNA testing that you're Mary Mag's offspring, how does that prove that Christ was married?

How would they know, anyway? Who has some of MM's DNA to compare it to?? And, again, how would you *know* who the father was?? Wouldn't you need his DNA as well? Are these questions answered in either the movie or book?

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Explaining why is going to need a moment, since along the way we must take in the Ancient Greeks, the study of birds, witchcraft, 19thC Vaudeville and the history of baseball. Michael Quinion.

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starbelly
but you can call me Neil
# 25

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Saw it yesterday afternoon, was a welcome relief from the rain! I thought it was fun, it was fine, not worth the hype, but for 2 and a half hours a fun bit of escapism. of the 15 films I have seen in the cinema this year it ranks about 13th, but still, I had a good experience, the audience laughed when it was cringeworthily bad, but some bits were really creepy and atmospheric. It is always nice to see Paris on the big screen, Audrey looked great, and that is the first cinematic Smart car chase I have seen.

Far from the worse, most dull film of the year (Memiors of a Geisha anywone?), but yes, no masterpiece either.

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Ferijen
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# 4719

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quote:
Originally posted by Athrawes:
quote:
Originally posted by Ferijen:

ETA: ages since I read the book - but even if you can prove through DNA testing that you're Mary Mag's offspring, how does that prove that Christ was married?

How would they know, anyway? Who has some of MM's DNA to compare it to?? And, again, how would you *know* who the father was?? Wouldn't you need his DNA as well? Are these questions answered in either the movie or book?
I presumed that was the point of having the tomb.

I thought the 'zooming in' shot at the very end was particularly interesting.

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ORGANMEISTER
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I saw the film yesterday. Not as truly bad as some of the reviews had suggested. Sir Ian McKellen is far and away the best actor in the film. Alfred Molina, a fine actor, is totally wasted as the Opus Dei Bishop. He does the best he can with a role that was poorly written. Same with Jean Reno, another fine actor whose character in the book is much better that the film.

Silas, the mad monk, starts out being a little scary, and the corporal mortification scenes are gruesone, but he ends up looking like "Death" in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure.

I can't imagine Langdon and Sophie just walking into the crypt at Rosslyn Chapel and walking around a sign that says "Private" and there in front of them is the entire secret library of the Priory. Everyone knows that the Rosslyn crypts are sealed, and people have been diggin around and under the chapel for years and havent found anything.

It's not a great movie but it wasn't a bad way to spend a cool rainy Sunday afternoon.

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Matrix
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I disagree about the McKellen comments. The part called for a great british eccentric - what we had was a cynical, obviously scheming, boring academic.

The film was far too plodding - and it seems to me that Ron Howard couldn't decide whether it was a whodunnit, a conspiracy thriller, or some other thing, and so it failed to be anything.

Alfred Molina made the least of his role, and Paul Bettany struggled to decide at times whether he was meant to be spanish, french or what sounded like polish!

The largest travesty with those two characters, for me, was that the film robbed them of any kind of sympathetic ending.

Hanks & Tatou - Razzies for them both i'm guessing. The whole movie for them was either 1) looking confused, 2) running, or 3)speaking in large blocks of exposition that flowed about as well as set concrete. Hanks' hair, however, deserves medals of merit for its fine performance.

The only good thing i can think of to say about the film is that actually managed to make the book seem less awful than i first appraised it to be...

M

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Maybe that's all a family really is; a group of people who miss the same imaginary place. - Garden State

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Ann

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quote:
Originally posted by Athrawes:
quote:
Originally posted by Ferijen:

ETA: ages since I read the book - but even if you can prove through DNA testing that you're Mary Mag's offspring, how does that prove that Christ was married?

How would they know, anyway? Who has some of MM's DNA to compare it to?? And, again, how would you *know* who the father was?? Wouldn't you need his DNA as well? Are these questions answered in either the movie or book?
Even if you had MM DNA to compare, there's a numbers problem. You inherit 1/2 of your DNA from each parent who inherit 1/2 from each of theirs; so you inherit 1/4 from each grandparent and so 1/16 from each great-grandparent. If no branch of your family tree marries (or otherwise) another branch and assuming four generations per century, that's 2 raised to the fortieth power ancestors (about 1 trillion (US)), of which one was MM. Even with intermarrying you're unlikely to get more than a millionth of your DNA from any one person living in the first century. And I doubt DNA testing is that good.

Unless the Priory of Sion married brother to sister in a Pharaohesque manner ...

[If I'm talking numbers, it would be good to get them at least nearly right]

[ 22. May 2006, 15:52: Message edited by: Ann ]

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Ann

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Ann

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It's even worse - I should have said 2 to the 80th (4 generations times twenty centuries) which is 1,208,925,819,614,629,174,706,176 ancestors.

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Ann

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If you're testing only for mitochondrial DNA which is inherited only from the matriarchial side you could cut that number in half.......but it's still an enormous number.

I saw a recent DV related show on the History Channel in which they located bones from several Merovingian queens and extracted some DNA fragments. The fragements were compaired with DNA from current populations in the middle east. Theoretically, if MM was an ancestor of the Merovingian royalty they should have been able to find genetic markers indicating descent from middle eastern ancestors. They did not. The Merovingian DNA indicated the these persons were descended from populations typical of Europeans. Interesting!

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Bernard Mahler
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Ho! Ho! Ho! The film has been banned in Samoa (pop, c. 100,000). The censor was leaned on ny the RC Archbishop and a spokesman for the Congregational Union. Such unanimity! Such ecumenical co-operation! I must find out from local Samoan friends here in NZ how many have been to see it here, and whether others will not go. News seems to suggest an influx of pirated DVD's to Samoa to be likely.

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Margaret

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I'd love to know how the film's going down in Utah - a few months ago I remember posting something on a thread about when the idea that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married first started. I said that the earliest reference I could find was in nineteenth century Mormonism (why did Jesus appear to her first after his resurrection? Because you'd naturally want to say hello to your wife...) and St Sebastian posted to say that his partner had assured him that Mormons still believe it today.

So are the cinemas of Utah full of smug Mormons delighted that Hollywood has caught up with them at last?

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mr cheesy
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I just saw it - having not read the book or anything.

It was ok - some wooden acting and a wildly meandering plot. Nothing particularly to write home about really.

C

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Fortunately, I had a willing accomplice who went to watch the film for me. Rossweisse gets closest, apparently!

Euty, my accomplice failed to notice the non-local registration plate, seems like a bit of a school-boy error.

I wanted to see the film to find out how the dealt with the poor grasp of Parisian geography in the book -- the car chase in particular. How were they going to represent the American embassy, which is quite literally across the road from the Louvre? Answer -- they used a building on place St Georges, a good half hour away. And which just happens to be the building in which said accomplice works. Problem solved, £6 saved, job done.

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Gold from Egypt is still gold -- St. Augustine of Hippo

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-lucy-
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Well I saw it yesterday and really enjoyed it. I thought it was a bit long and could have been cut down a lot but it didn't bore my friends which I was pleased about since they were moaning about it before we even got into the cinema.
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Just got back from the cinema - think I may have annoyed fellow patrons by laughing somewhat throughout. Especially at the 'flashback' to the Council of Nicea, which was apparently conducted by rowdy bishops with outrageous beards throwing things at each other (in what looked like Santa Sabina in Rome?)

Still, there was a trailer for the new Bond movie beforehand, so that made it worth my while.

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"When man has finished he is just beginning, and when he stops he is still perplexed" - Sirach 18:7

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finally saw it - was ok - i think i'm not capable of being a neutral on this, as i spent the whole film going 'oh thats sooo made-up', instead of just watching the film!!! [Biased]

*spoiler*
When he knelt over MMs 'tomb' at the end, i was almost joining in his prayer, though ... while is a sign of my gullability in the face of the movies .. and listening to people coming out, they felt the same ... alot of the adults were sounding ponderous (!) 'yes, but the facts are there, this just lays it all out for us' etc etc !!!

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... 'but Father, Jesus drank wine at Cana and danced' ... 'Not in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, he didn't', Father replied

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