Early Discussion of ANGELS & DEMONS

We still have until May 15 until this movie comes out, but I think it's time to dis-cuss some opinions and thoughts on this movie. Tom Hanks returns and Ron Howard, nominated for a RAZZIE in 2006 for Worst Director for The Da Vinci Code (and lost to M. Night Shymalan deservingly), are back in this sequel to The Da Vinci Code. This time, Hanks teams up with this cast that includes Ewan McGregor, Ayelet Zurer, Stellen Skarsgard, etc. Just like its precedor, this movie will most likely end up being on the ballots. Back in 2006, a lot of us have expected it to bomb at the Box Office, but it ended up making $217.5 million domestically on a $125 million budget, with an additional $540.7 million oversees, which make it a Box Office hit, but it was still a critical disappointment. Please feel free to post your thoughts and opinions on this movie.

Ah, after Christians hitting us over the head with "C Me Dance" and "Fireproof", now we non-believers get a turn of having people pay to see our beliefs on screen in an attempt to convert people. And yes, I do think the movie's plot about how the Church would kill to keep their secrets because why would you want to lose the world's best money making scam, er, I mean, the most successful and socially accepted cult?

This movie is giving me the same kind of nightmares that I was having last spring prior to the release of Indy Jones and and the Kingdom of Ridiculous Alien Skulls. Is it too much to hope for a nuking the fridge scene?

It's the kind of thing that gets the really nutty listeners to the A.M. Coast to Coast radio show all stirred up. All summer long, they are going to be raving about aliens and the Illuminati and Richard Hoagland is going to be cheerleading with weird stories about secret organizations running the world from the backrooms of Old Navy Stores. (No kidding folks, he really said that once and he was dead serious.)

I didn't mind the first book or movie all that much...the basic plot was at least plausible and even a little thought provoking. But this one seems to be red meat for the lunatic fringe and that sort of thing always makes for a long summer for me reading emails. They come from people who somehow break away from talking to lamposts long enough to flood the mailboxes of anyone working in a scientific field just to accuse us of being involved in some mammoth conspiracy. Typically,  participation in it is. from any rational perspective, wildly against our own interests, both professional and financial, but we participate anyway because we are, of course, just fundamentally evil.

I think that some of the religious organizations are finally starting to catch on...sometimes you are better off just ignoring the attacks. Then when the reporters come and ask you about it, you can always just say, "Sorry, we haven't seen it and based on what we have heard, we see no reason to dignify this nonsense with a response."

That approach tends to work better than inviting everyone within earshot to see for themselves.

Agreed...DaVinci Code wasn't a great movie, but it was a long way from being worst of the year. I think we have seen adequate demonstration that the credibility of the IMDB crowd is pretty low.

Originally posted by Michaels ...but it was pretty good compared to say "BloodRayne", which came out that same year.

Most movies were pretty good compared to Bloodrayne. Hell, getting kicked in the teeth while simultaneously being bludgeoned to death with a large metal pipe is better then Bloodrayne.

Originally posted by dEd Grimley What I never got about Da Vinci is that it's really not THAT anti-religious... It's rather ambivalent, actually. Angels and Demons seems kinda bleh to me... The whole church assassin thing is pretty hard to believe. If they haven't come after ME yet, there's clearly no such thing.

What DaVinci did, was spread a message that was against Catholic (and I think all other Christian sects) Dogma. And everyone knows, you don't with the Pope.

Also, I think the church assassins would have reason to go after me, too... I am not on their list of preferred individuals...

Originally posted by dEd Grimley I dunno, it still just seems like the moral was, "Do you believe or don'tcha? Up to you." It just didn't feel all that anti-Catholic to me. Meanwhile, I still wonder why when attacking religion, so many go after Catholicism, which is really one of the more moderate religious institutions, these days. I mean, go after the crazy mega-church Baptists if you're going after Christians.

Why go after Catholics? Other then the priests and their... unorthodox desires? Besides their constant need through the years to decry scientific advances as evil? Not including the fact that they see themselves as the end all be all of everything?

Sure, every group has their problems, but you go for the ones you are most familiar with.

And as far as nothing "Anti-catholic" in DaVinci Code, the whole plot of the movie is fairly "Anti-catholic" In so far as it says that certain parts of the catholic faith (and all other christian faiths that I know of) are lies. It says that the church specifically mislead the public, and was willing to kill to keep that secret, thus vilifying the institution.