in which I want movies to be something else

Finally getting around to The Da Vinci Code, me and two women the full audience at this late date. I enjoy seeing a summer blockbuster that is about intellectual problem-solving. Doesn't mean it's good. I'm always game to watch a little mortification of the flesh (seems to me the easy way to obtain Grace), too. I'm willing to accept Audrey Tatou as the descendent of Christ; makes more sense than anything else. It's nice to have a movie that pisses off the Christians, in general, that isn't striving to be a work of art (or is it? I'm never sure how seriously Ronny Howard takes himself)--one doesn't feel compelled to be its defender. It doesn't matter to me who boycotts it--also, no one is willfully misunderstanding it. The lipservice to "maybe it's all true after all" at the end (like Santa Claus' cane in the corner) isn't fooling anyone. I just wish it was more deeply felt by Dan Brown and Ronny. It's just a mildly ripping yarn in the form of a not-quite-scholarly dissertation. A few days ago I mourned an absence of real faith in modern movies, but I mourn every bit as much an absence of real atheism. Also, a sense of humor would help most movies, but this one perhaps a little more than most. And, yes, since this is a US film, there's a nice shot of the Eiffel Tower to establish the Paris location.
Final shot: Hero in pensive pose.
And Wordplay: I wanted to like this a lot more, but it was only mildly amusing. The one moment I loved had nothing to do with crossword puzzles: a crossword addict who is also a piano accompanist tells about playing "It Might as Well Be Spring" for an auditioner, and starting to diverge from the sheet music because he knew the vocalist could handle it. It made we want to be there, or anywhere, where people were singing rather than filling in little boxes.
Final shot: collage of principle subjects (in the shape of a crossword puzzle).
Then to see a Shakespeare in the Park production of As You Like It directed by my Best Friend. Despite opening myself up to charges of nepotism, I think it was an absolutely delightful production of a play I've never considered one of my favorites. Other than an unnecessarily action-obscuring set design in the opening scenes, there was little to distract from the pleasure of the play. The director has jettisoned the misogyny aimed at Audrey by giving some of her lines and all of her function to Corin the shepherd, thereby making this a sort of Brokeback As You Like It. It works very well is relatively unobtrusive. My favorite line, from Jacques: "I can suck melancholy from a song as a weasel sucks eggs." Bring on the Morrissey!