The topic of this thread will be snarky writing and not the religious implications of the works of Dan Brown and/or the Vatican.
From today’s online New York Times.
Holy Mystery!
By A. O. SCOTT
Published: May 15, 2009
Since “Angels & Demons” takes place mainly in the Vatican, and is festooned with the rites and ornaments of Roman Catholicism, I might as well begin with a confession. I have not read the novel by Dan Brown on which this film (directed, like its predecessor, “The Da Vinci Code,” by Ron Howard) is based. I have come to believe that to do so would be a sin against my faith, not in the Church of Rome but in the English language, a noble and beleaguered institution against which Mr. Brown practices vile and unspeakable blasphemy.
The only thing funnier than Dan Brown recasting “Holy Blood, Holy Grail” and making a zillion dollars from it is the cottage industry that followed. Going into a bookstore and seeing how many titles could somehow reference the DaVinci code in the blurbs.
You know, the real indicator of what a stinker the whole thing is, is that this is the ONLY movie I have seen where I didn’t like Tom Hanks acting. I usually think he’s talented and funny but the emotional range displayed in that movie was marginal. I really don’t care to see the sequel.
I believe Angles and Demons was before the daVinci Code.
They’re both good reads, really action-packed. I think two is enough, though. The action becomes boring after awhile, and I’ve had about all of Brown’s pontificating I can take.
Oh, and the movie was horrible. The book was like a Crichton book in that it read almost like a movie script (but with lots of pontificating between the scenes). The movie should have been good, but someone messed up big time. The casting was pretty awful; Tom Hanks isn’t the first name that comes to mind when casting a thriller.
The book Angels and Demons, which was written
first, is vastly superior to The Da Vinci Code, IMHO.
The writing is still pretty bad, and you want to shake
the title character by his smarmy lapels because he’s
giving art lectures to his sidekick while people’s lives
are on the line, but still, it’s a more interesting read.
I enjoyed both books for what they were, but I would say that DaVinci Code was better, actually. A&D had that bit of ridiculousness near the end (I won’t spoil anything. If you’ve read, you probably know what I mean) that took me out of the plot a bit.
But yeah, the movie was very mediocre.
Given the theme and setting of the movie, “pontificating” is an appropriately ironic choice of words…
(that smiley’s hat was the closest I could find to a Pope’s mitre)
the word "Festooned"…festooned… 
how.. festive…
