Comments on: Review of “Stigmata”…

By: nickpelling

nickpelling — Tue, 19 May 2009 08:01:02 +0000

I finally caught the Da Vinci Code movie the other day too.

Diabolical.

Ron Howard managed to turned a breathless page-turner built on fake history into a leaden lump of unconvincing visual nonsense, with a complete absence of any lightness of touch – but it’s not just the director who was at fault, everyone involved should be ashamed of themselves. Why ever was the gravitas-free Tom Hanks cast as the lead? Awful, simply awful.

By: nickpelling

nickpelling — Tue, 19 May 2009 07:53:48 +0000

I saw a standup once who was adamant that “sticking it to the man” is shorthand for “I have unresolved childhood issues with my father’s lack of attention which I’d like to take out on the world around me, if that’s OK with you?”

Or perhaps I just dreamt that, I’m not sure.

Similarly, “good conspiracy” is probably just a shorthand for “why let bad history get in the way of good fiction?”

I’m sure you can think of plenty of other examples!

By: Dennis

Dennis — Tue, 19 May 2009 05:26:28 +0000

Thanks, Nick! This sounds like a good movie. It’s been noted of the movies produced nowadays (the last year or so) that the scripts are weak but the actors are strong enough to carry them. It sounds like the visual art carried this one.

I never did bother to see the “Da Vinci Code” movie myself. I told you about Revelation, which has been unjustly neglected.

I’d never made the connection between the Renaissance and the HBHG craze – thanks for a wonderful insight! It certainly would explain the appeal of Hermeticism – which I must confess I find interesting myself.

I have a plot for a Da Vinci code ripoff of my own that a friend has been urging me to commit to paper. I’ll have to discuss it with you sometime. ATM I’m too busy with my VMs PDF project.

Cheers,
Dennis

By: Emily

Emily — Tue, 19 May 2009 00:44:55 +0000

I think one near-constant feature of human culture is that we love a good conspiracy(it helps to make sense of a seemingly senseless world) and many of us love the idea of “sticking it to the man”.

By: nickpelling

nickpelling — Mon, 18 May 2009 13:29:02 +0000

You’re right, I should have noted that the music was good too!

By: infinitii

infinitii — Mon, 18 May 2009 13:23:09 +0000

Nothing to add, except I really like ‘Stigmata’– and it’s special to me because of the fabulous Natalie Imbruglia song ‘Identify’– whose music video by Samuel Bayer is almost worth the price of the dvd by itself.