ANGELS in the Out-House....

I read The Da Vinci Code, and although Dan Brown was good at hiding certain facts from the reader in plain sight, I found the book to be literary fluff tailored for the many conspiracy theorists I've encountered. 

I tire of conspiracy theories quickly.

I still haven't seen the movie, but since most of the book was spent talking about what things meant and how they related to the conspiracy theory treated as fact, I couldn't see the resulting movie being any better than a blah-blah-blah with some action.  I'm not surprised what I've read says that's what happened.

I brought up Angels & Demons almost a year ago.  The controversy of the Roman Catholic Church blocking any filming within its churches was brought up then -- it's way old news, although the CNN link in the original post is now dead.  The only reason they made this move is because The Da Vinci Code made over $750 million worldwide.  Based on what I've seen in the trailer, despite most everybody being back on board, it seems they've listened to previous criticisms and improved it in ways that mattered, including Tom Hanks' hair. 

As such, I'd expect Angels & Demons to have a better rating at Rotten Tomatoes than The Da Vinci Code.  But I also expect another blah-blah-blah with some action.  But this time around, it seems they've punched things up better.  So, expect the current RT rating to go down once several more critics weigh in.

RESPONSE from Head RAZZberry: I just visited the other movie review compendium site, MetaCritic, and saw that, with 4 reviews counted, ANGELS & DEMONS currently has a lower approval rating than NEXT DAY AIR. This, too, will likely change as more reviews come in, but it does suggest ANGELS is unlikely to be a smash by any stretch...

 

The film's getting good reviews. As of right now, it's 60%. Not necessarily a good thing, so we'll see come Friday whether or not Angels and Demons is better, worse, or equal to The Da Vinci Code.

I love the idea the film takes place in one day. I didn't realize that, which helps the pacing move a little faster, and with less talky scenes...

 

Mediocrity is better then some of the crap that gets shoveled into the summer movie season... I still cite Speed Racer as perhaps the worst summer movie that I have ever seen... and likely will ever see...

Well, it has received high accolades... Too bad it isn't the worst that the season had to offer, because then the bar would be pretty high....

I'm fairly surprised with the promotion machine on Angels and Demons. I saw Tom Hanks on both Good Morning America and The Daily Show on the same day, and Ron Howard was on The Colbert Report the same night. I know they all hit the others (Letterman, Leno, Ferguson, Conan) for this kind of thing more regularly, but yea... They're on a roll. Tom Hanks has brought back his whole comedy thing for it even, although maybe a little old school.

I am personally rooting for STAR TREK to kick ANGELS & DEMONS where the nuns don't shine. To me, TREK reigns as 2009's most perfectly crafted "popcorn movie," while ANGELS looks like a bunch of guys who offered us a crud buffet a coupla years ago who think we're dumb enough to ask for seconds on sh*t sandwiches.

What matters here is not whether ANGELS sux as bad as DA VINCI did, it's the idea that we're expected to forget how disappointing CODE was and pay good money to see a second film from the same folks who effed up the first one.

I suggest, if DEMONS is of any interest to you (and if you're a RAZZIE® Voter, it sure looks like it should be) that you wait and rent the DVD...  

When The Da Vinci Code came out, many of us were expecting it to bomb at the box office, but to our surprise, it made money at the box office both domestically and worldwide. As for this one, we'll have to see how much it will make starting with this weekend.