John's Blog

Anybody other than me expect the much hyped, soon to be released The Da Vinci Code to be a clunker? Sure, it's got great DNA, with Tom Hanks, Ron Howard, and based on the entertaining Dan Brown novel. How could that go wrong? But how many books that worked well in that format have EVER translated into a movie that was satisfying to the fans of the novel?

Seldom, if ever can a moviemaker bring forth all the detail that is essential to the books' success and winds up with a screenplay that's like a Readers Digest version of the original. Even the more successful translations (like the movies based on John Grisham books for example) usually leave something to be desired. When I read the Grisham stuff, most of the time I feel like he's writing it with one eye on the screen already. I usually find fault with those screen adaptations only because I've "cast the role" in my mind differently than the screen version. And please, don't even MENTION Steven King, since the memories of the movies from his books are too painful to recall.

I certainly hope I'm wrong since I'd like this to be an enjoyable movie. I'll just wait till the DVD comes out to pass judgment. Till then, here's a little interesting da Vinci trivia to tide us over: 20 Things You Didn't Know About Leonardo da Vinci. Includes such gems as the fact that he beat a sodomy rap, and was the first person to explain why the sky is blue!