The DaVinci Code — The Movie

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Worse than the book?

That’s what the review on Slate said: the movie was worse than the book. I didn’t believe it.

Silly me.

I also poo-pooed Mike’s cousin Ricky, who didn’t want to see the movie because it had only gotten 1-1/2 stars. (I don’t know where he saw that rating.) It couldn’t be that bad, I argued. I’d seen a positive review just that morning on a network news show in our hotel room.

Ricky was stuck with us — he missed his flight on Sunday morning and called us to rescue him from the airport. We dragged him to dim sum in Fort Lee and around New York’s SoHo and south Village — which he seemed to enjoy — and then to the Battery Park Regency 11 Theater for the movie.

A few weird things about this particular theater. First of all, it’s on the 5th (or so) floor of the building. You buy your ticket at street level, then proceed up a series of escalators, one of which takes you at least two floors up. The escalators run along the east side of the building where windows look out — right at Ground Zero. (More on that in another post.)

The movie was boring. It seemed to follow the book pretty closely — I read the book about two years ago, so I don’t remember it perfectly well. What’s weird about the movie is that the book is so widely read that you’d expect everyone in the theater to know the punchline — that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene, who bore his child after the crucifixion. Yet that punchline wasn’t delivered until more than halfway through the movie. I guess it makes sense because it was probably delivered halfway through the book, too. But when the information was presented in the movie, I felt like saying, “Yeah, and…?” As if there should be more. But there wasn’t.

I think Tom Hanks’s acting capabilities were completely wasted on this movie. There wasn’t much real acting to do. Just deliver the same lines that were in the book — poor dialog to begin with. There was an awful lot of tell rather than show. In the scenes in Teabing’s house, it appeared that Hanks’s character already knew much of what Teabing told Sophie — if that was the case, why didn’t he just tell her before? Of course, this is a book complaint — not a movie complaint — because the movie followed the book. I guess if you make a movie that closely follows a bad book, you’ll end up with a bad movie.

The guy who played Teabing — who also played the bad guy in at least one X-Men movie — did a much better acting job. But I think that’s because his character wasn’t flat and lifeless like the other characters in the book.

Flashbacks were distracting and overused, especially the historic ones. It was like watching a History Channel documentary. You know the kind. Where they get actors to re-enact scenes from history?

I left the movie feeling as if I’d gained nothing from the experience of seeing it.

Ricky said the movie’s music was overpowering. He said that was a sign of a bad movie. I liked the soundtrack, but agree that it sometimes did more work than it should have.

But I wasn’t impressed with the movie at all. It was just a visual representation of what was in the book. And since what was in the book wasn’t anything that needed to be visualized, the movie wasn’t anything special.

Did you see The DaVinci Code? What did you think? Use the Comments link to share your thoughts. I’d be interested in reading what other people who read the book and saw the movie have to say.

Baumgart’s

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A Chinese restaurant with a difference.

When we lived in Harrington Park, NJ, we discovered Baumgart’s, a Chinese restaurant in nearby Englewood. We ate there quite often during the 11 years we lived in New Jersey.

Baumgart’s isn’t your typical Chinese restaurant. First of all, it occupies the space once occupied by a good, old fashioned luncheonette — the kind with a counter and soda fountain. I’m not sure, but I think the old luncheonette had the same name. When we took my grandmother there for dinner one night, she told us that she used to have lunch there years ago while waiting for a bus to or from New York City, where she worked.

I’m not sure if it’s still true, but when we lived in New Jersey ten years ago, you could still get luncheonette food at the restaurant during the day — breakfast and lunch, that is. I’m talking about things like egg salad sandwiches and pastrami sandwiches and ice cream sodas. Mind you, this is a Chinese restaurant with Chinese — or at least Asian — people working at the counter, in the kitchen, and at the tables.

At dinner time, the menu is primarily Chinese food — but not the typical chow mein and fried rice you’d find in a Chinese restaurant. Instead, there are other dishes prepared in the Chinese way — in a wok with Chinese sauces and seasonings. On Friday night, we had noodles with sesame sauce (a Chinese restaurant standard) and a mixture of Chinese eggplant, chicken breast, squid, and shrimp in a tasty sauce. My favorite item from the old menu — it wasn’t on the current menu — was eggplant stuffed with shrimp. They also used to serve broccolli stems sliced into small chunks and marinated in some kind of garlic concoction. It was so different and tasty that most of the folks we took to eat there never even realized they were eating the least desirable part of broccoli.

Some years back, Baumgarts broke through the wall of the space next door and expanded the dining room there. They chose an art deco decor that included old movie posters and pastel colors. Not my idea of good decor for the 1990s and certainly not for the 2000s. But the booths are big and comfortable and the place is bright, even late at night.

We went for dinner at nearly 9 PM, hoping to stay on Arizona time (6 PM) for the entire length of our stay. The restaurant was just starting to empty out after what had probably been a busy dinner hour. Restaurants in the metro area don’t close at 8:30 or 9:00 — that’s when the night is just beginning for many people. The streets don’t roll up, either — outside was a continuous stream of people strolling past, the smell of Greek food from the restaurant across the street, and the sound of life.

After our meal, we shared a baked apple with homemade vanilla ice cream and real whipped cream. On some nights, they also offer fresh baked apple dumplings — if you go there when that’s available, I highly recommend it.

I miss restaurants like Baumgart’s — restaurants that offer more than just the usual fare. It was nice to go back.

But I do miss that shrimp-stuffed eggplant dish.

I’m Back

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I return from a long weekend in New York.

Just got back from a 4-day weekend in New York. Our activities included:

  • dinner at Baumgart’s in Englewood, NJ
  • a birthday party for my husband, Mike, in Glen Cove (on Long Island)
  • dim sum in Ft. Lee, NJ
  • an afternoon in SoHo and the south Village, including a quick look at the new MacBook laptop in Apple’s SoHo Apple Store
  • getting rained on just enough to remember the pleasure of a spring rain but without getting wet enough to be miserable about it
  • Italian pastries and coffee at a real bakery
  • a viewing of The DaVinci Code at a theater across the street from Ground Zero (my first trip down there since before 9/11)
  • tapas at a Spanish restaurant in Englewood, NJ with our old next-door neighbors
  • real bagels and lox at my mother-in-law’s apartment in Queens, NY

Seems like we did a lot of eating. We did. I’m still stuffed.

I hope to write a bit about some of the things we did — and show some photos — later this week. Stay tuned.

Stupid Girls

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Some reading material for those who care.

A while back, I wrote a quick blog entry about a girl sitting next to me on a flight to New York. In it, I marvelled at her apparent lack of intelligence and willingness to spend most of the flight “sucking face” with her pimply companion.

I just read an article on Salon.com that put this in perspective. It’s called “Return of the Brainless Hussies” by Rebecca Traister and it discusses, among other things, that there simply aren’t any good role models for today’s girls. Celebrities like Paris Hilton, Jessica Simpson, and the Olsen twins are teaching young girls that it’s cool and sexy to be dumb.

The article also references a recent video called “Stupid Girls” by someone named Pink. I’d heard of Pink, but had no idea who she was — or in fact that she was a she rather than a he or a they. (I really don’t keep up with this stuff. My music tastes are permanently stuck in the 70s and 80s.) The song mourns the rise of stupid girls and the video mocks the celebrity examples out there. It’s a sad commentary, but one I’m glad is out there. Maybe someone will learn something from it.

Or maybe not. Today’s youth is too caught up in celebrity activities, fashion, and consumption. Ms. Traister’s article is a nice, objectively written piece that brings things into perspective. If you’re a parent of one or more young girls, read it and learn.

The Weather in Newark

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I get an e-mail for online check-in that includes a weather report.

I’m going to New York this weekend. It’s for a surprise birthday party for my husband, Mike. He knows about it, of course. His blabbermouth brother managed to keep it a secret for all of ten minutes.

Anyway, we’re flying out there. On Continental Airlines — their hub is in Newark. And I just got an e-mail message from Continental offering online check-in.

The e-mail included a graphic image with the weather forecast. Here it is:

Weather in Newark

Should I be upset that they’re forecasting rain the whole time I’ll be out there?

Or should I be glad to feel the rain on my face and in my hair (and down my back) again? After all, we haven’t had any significant rainfall here in a while and I rather miss it.

Will report back next week.