The whole time I was reading and rereading Twilight, I was hoping for a movie. I am a much more visual person than a reader. It takes like six hours to read a book. I can watch a movie in two hours. My time is valuable to me. I also like the all-around viewing experience of the actors, costumes, special effects, music, and script. I like how they work together to provide you with a visceral reaction that no one element could give you on its own.
Twilight
I really enjoyed the movie Twilight. I have heard others repeatedly knock it. I don’t think a low-budget is a reason to knock a film. Although I have come to loathe the casting decision of Kristen Stewart as Bella. She doesn’t hold up on multiple viewings. I LOVED both the soundtrack and score from the first movie. I bought them both on CD. (Yes, I’m Old School.) Some good shots got relegated to the DVD deleted scenes, but it was good. My favorite parts are when Bella pictures Edward biting her, as if they were in a movie, and the beginning of the end credits with the Coldplay song and the black and white shots.
New Moon
When I first read New Moon, I hated it. After all, I was Team Edward and it was a book that Edward is only in about a third of. It is all Jacob and he is sooo annoying (in the book)! (Although Taylor Lautner is a fine actor.) But then I began to enjoy Bella’s pain and longing. My favorite part is when they are on the plane flying back from Italy and Bella just knows that Edward will leave her again, but she savors these moments together like a drowning man savors his oxygen.
I did like how in the movie they gave you a more fulfilling reason for Harry Clearwater’s death. In the books, Harry Clearwater is a close friend of Charlie’s , keeping him stocked in homemade fish fry. Harry is just suddenly snuffed out with a heart attack at a convenient plot transition. In the movie, Harry’s heart attack is brought upon my seeing and being confronted by Victoria the vampire. And right behind Charlie’s unsuspecting back. A very nice twist to add details to the bare-bones of the story the book tells.
“Edward stared right back at me, his dark eyes soft, and it was easy to pretend that he felt the same way. So that’s what I did. I pretended, to make the moment sweeter.”
“I touched his face, too. I couldn’t stop myself, though I was afraid it would hurt me later, when I was alone again. He continued to kiss my hair, my forehead, my wrists…but never my lips, and that was good. After all, how many ways can one heart be mangled and still be expected to keep beating? I’d lived through a lot that should have finished me in the last few days, but it didn’t make me feel strong. Instead, I felt horribly fragile, like one word could shatter me.”
– New Moon (Little, Brown and Co., Hachette, 2006)
And, of course, the movie cuts those scenes, those feeling of impending abandonment out altogether. And New Moon (the movie) has the most GOD AWFUL soundtrack! There are whole parts I have to mute when I watch it because the music is so horribly distracting. (Just before Edward leaves Bella in the forest and the spinning room are the worst.) So, while New Moon is my favorite book, it is my least favorite movie.
Eclipse
Eclipse is an OK movie. I love the part where Edward gets right in Jacob’s face after Jacob kissed Bella. I sooo want Edward and Jacob to kiss there. Then there is the awkward and obvious absence of one of the best Twi-universe quotes: “I refuse to be affected by territorial disputes between mythical creatures.” (I almost bought a shirt with that on it once. I totally should have. Where did I park that Time Machine…) It isn’t even in the DVD extras. Bummer. I liked that they beefed up Riley’s part.
Breaking Dawn-Part 1
Breaking Dawn-Part 1–> who paid how much for that to get a PG-13 rating? The birth scene makes it one of the most disturbing movies of all time. First you have Bella digitally emaciating (which I didn’t realize right away. I felt better when I realized it was not real, only a computer trick.). Then Edward is chewing open her uterus. Ew. Ew. Ugh. Then they show her bloody form following birth (which an actual O.B. pointed out in a print article was not nearly enough blood to be realistic!). There was not enough sex to balance out the gross factor. Although it is tame compared to what was in the book. They did a great job of cutting out lots of Jacob’s whining that was in the book. The wolves talking to each other in wolf form felt awkward, but that is how it is presented in the book.
Breaking Dawn-Part 2
I can’t wait for Breaking Dawn-Part 2. Although I did hear that Stephenie Meyer and Melissa Rosenberg (screenwriter) dreamed up something new for the final third of the film over dinner. (Entertainment Weekly, Aug 17/24,2012) That worries me a little. Will the Volturi be defeated with giant meatballs? I can’t spoil it, because I don’t know what it is.
It will be nice to see Jacob happy instead of mooning over Bella. And maybe the rest of the Cullen family will have more to do in this movie than just stand around like statues. (In some movies I have wondered if it was Elizabeth Reaser or a mannequin playing Esme.) I hope Edward and Bella’s cottage doesn’t look as lame in the movie as Stephenie Meyer describes it in the book. And Alice really needs to quit trying to dress up Bella. And will THIS be the movie where Alice gets spiky short hair as it is actually described in the books?
To tell you the truth, I got my son’s name from the Twilight books. (But it wasn’t because I am such a hard-core obsessed fan. It is just one of the few names my husband and I could agree on. Now you are all trying to remember a name that starts with “M”, aren’t you?) Come back Wednesday for my retelling of how Peter Facinelli chased me across a stage;)
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