If god has issues, it won't be with what i've done
So last night was the big premiere of Angels and Demons.
Except totally not.
It was a private screening of the film with about twenty or thirty people in a very tiny theatre. I saw someone wearing Christian Louboutin shoes and nearly had a stroke. None of the stars were there. The reason they were doing the screening is because the company that helped Dad auction off ties for cancer research (Brioni) dressed Tom Hanks in the film, and invited Dad, Mom, and I to come see the film.
I was a fan of The DaVinci Code, even though I believe Dan Brown writes drivel. I thought it was mindless, literary fun. Tom Hanks is very good at getting me to believe strange things.
The FILM. IS. SO. PRETTY. Ron Howard's cinematographer needs to win at life. Frost/Nixon was just as gorgeous. I don't remember DaVinci code being this saturated. Probably because this took place in Rome and the colors just pop like kettlecorn there. All the reds and yellows. Ah, the pretty.
The film itself? Wowzers.
This film is BRUTAL. Blood, gore, explosions, rats eating flesh, and low-oxygen rooms shut off. And Tom Hanks in a Speedo.
Is it a good film? Hell yes. It takes the wordy, literary intrigue of The DaVinci Code and adds about four thousand pounds of blood and action and fireballs and immolation.
They apparently changed the timing of the film to make it a sequel rather than a prequel to the first movie. There are a few references to problems Robert Langdon had with the Vatican, which I can only assume had to do with the whole "Jesus was married" issue from the first film.
In other words? Fucking kickass film.
And Tom Hanks? Looking good, my friend.
A few things I loved:
1. Um, the fact that Stellan Sarsgaard is always the bad guy even when it turns out he's really the good guy. His voice in large doses could probably kill small children.
2. Tom's lack of a Scholar!Mullet. Thank GOD.
3. Vittoria Vetra. At first I thought she was going to be the bad guy, but that might be because she's Italian (I'm allowed to say that, I'm Italian). And the actress is gorgeous.
4. The little shots of humor through the whole thing (the lights going off as the grid stopped working, Langdon's increasing impatience with everyone around him, the security guard lighting up the smokes after they escaped the Archives)
5. ALL OF THE RELIGIOUS FUCKERY GOING ON. There was so much corruption it could've singed the wires in the theaters! I loved the ideas that it put forth about how science and religion, in the words of Langdon, are "two different languages speaking the same ideas."
I saved the best for last.
Ewan walks in and walks out with the movie. He's fantastic! At one point after the movie my dad said to me "which one's Ewan MacGregor?" And I said "The Camerlengo." And he looked at me and went "WHAT?! THAT guy?! I thought he was shaggier!" Well, yeah. But you try telling me who can play a heroin addict and the Pope's right hand man and convince you he's both? As I hadn't read the book, the twist hit me like a slap in the face. And his death was freaky as hell. I loved the screaming when he lit himself on fire, like "OH SHIT! JUST KIDDING! JUST KIDDING! OMG I'M ON FIRE!"
Except totally not.
It was a private screening of the film with about twenty or thirty people in a very tiny theatre. I saw someone wearing Christian Louboutin shoes and nearly had a stroke. None of the stars were there. The reason they were doing the screening is because the company that helped Dad auction off ties for cancer research (Brioni) dressed Tom Hanks in the film, and invited Dad, Mom, and I to come see the film.
I was a fan of The DaVinci Code, even though I believe Dan Brown writes drivel. I thought it was mindless, literary fun. Tom Hanks is very good at getting me to believe strange things.
The FILM. IS. SO. PRETTY. Ron Howard's cinematographer needs to win at life. Frost/Nixon was just as gorgeous. I don't remember DaVinci code being this saturated. Probably because this took place in Rome and the colors just pop like kettlecorn there. All the reds and yellows. Ah, the pretty.
The film itself? Wowzers.
This film is BRUTAL. Blood, gore, explosions, rats eating flesh, and low-oxygen rooms shut off. And Tom Hanks in a Speedo.
Is it a good film? Hell yes. It takes the wordy, literary intrigue of The DaVinci Code and adds about four thousand pounds of blood and action and fireballs and immolation.
They apparently changed the timing of the film to make it a sequel rather than a prequel to the first movie. There are a few references to problems Robert Langdon had with the Vatican, which I can only assume had to do with the whole "Jesus was married" issue from the first film.
In other words? Fucking kickass film.
And Tom Hanks? Looking good, my friend.
A few things I loved:
1. Um, the fact that Stellan Sarsgaard is always the bad guy even when it turns out he's really the good guy. His voice in large doses could probably kill small children.
2. Tom's lack of a Scholar!Mullet. Thank GOD.
3. Vittoria Vetra. At first I thought she was going to be the bad guy, but that might be because she's Italian (I'm allowed to say that, I'm Italian). And the actress is gorgeous.
4. The little shots of humor through the whole thing (the lights going off as the grid stopped working, Langdon's increasing impatience with everyone around him, the security guard lighting up the smokes after they escaped the Archives)
5. ALL OF THE RELIGIOUS FUCKERY GOING ON. There was so much corruption it could've singed the wires in the theaters! I loved the ideas that it put forth about how science and religion, in the words of Langdon, are "two different languages speaking the same ideas."
I saved the best for last.
Ewan walks in and walks out with the movie. He's fantastic! At one point after the movie my dad said to me "which one's Ewan MacGregor?" And I said "The Camerlengo." And he looked at me and went "WHAT?! THAT guy?! I thought he was shaggier!" Well, yeah. But you try telling me who can play a heroin addict and the Pope's right hand man and convince you he's both? As I hadn't read the book, the twist hit me like a slap in the face. And his death was freaky as hell. I loved the screaming when he lit himself on fire, like "OH SHIT! JUST KIDDING! JUST KIDDING! OMG I'M ON FIRE!"