Well, this thread will either die under the cold stares of my peers, or flourish. So then, Twilight. The movie. I've seen it. I liked it. Wait, no, I loved it. It was a great book-to-movie conversion, casting was stellar, and chemistry was great between actors.
But most of all, I have a weakness for "superpowered at rest/play". X-men sometimes satisfies this, but is often too concerned with the "save the world" aspects to linger on it as much a I would like.
So the baseball scene in Twilight officially put it on my favorite scenes of all time.
So, anyone else? Love it? Hate it? Opinions? Comments? Rabbits?
Twilight is a recent novel series that sort of re-defined vampires (and werewolves, but thats later in the series). I'm quite interested in the effects it will have on the current generations communal image of vampires as time rolls on as opposed to the image we have via Anne Rice and Brahm Stoker.
The story is a sort of star-crossed lovers tale, about Bella, the accident prone human girl, and Edward, the "vegetarian (aka animal blood) vampire, and the relationship between them. The story is mostly character relationship driven, with little in the way of action/hunting that you would expect from a vampire story. Which is not to say there isnt any, its just not really the focus of the story.
Personally, I find it quite brilliant for what it is. I like the re-take on vamps (they don't go out in sunlight not because its harmful, but because they light up like diamonds, and thats bad for low profile) and the overall ideas presented are fresh and the characters engaging. The books suffer from some pacing issues at points, but that the only real major flaw.
The movie was quite faithful to the books, and as I said before, were very well executed in terms of the casting and chemistry/potrayals of the various relationships.
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Ok, my wife rented this movie. Oh, dear God, Brom must be rolling over in his grave. First the make-up was horrible. If you are going to use a powder of some sort please, please, make sure if they have a open collar that it covers the body.
Ok, now for my BIG b@**!. Sparkle..... Are you f'n kidding me? Even the Ed Wood movies got this right. Vampires DO NOT, DOOOO NOOOOOT, Sparkle when Sunlight hits them.
Well, this thread will either die under the cold stares of my peers, or flourish. So then, Twilight. The movie. I've seen it. I liked it. Wait, no, I loved it. It was a great book-to-movie conversion, casting was stellar, and chemistry was great between actors.
But most of all, I have a weakness for "superpowered at rest/play". X-men sometimes satisfies this, but is often too concerned with the "save the world" aspects to linger on it as much a I would like.
So the baseball scene in Twilight officially put it on my favorite scenes of all time.
So, anyone else? Love it? Hate it? Opinions? Comments? Rabbits?
I watched the movie in the theater and wasn't impressed, but then time went by and I thought about it a lot, then I bought the bluray and watched it. Well my honest opinion is that it's a freakin awesome movie. I think the music is perfection, they honestly couldn't have done any better with the music. It made a serious impact on the movie. The acting while not amazing was very good, uh well overall. Ok well it had it's ups and downs but hey it was acceptable. The FX budget.....woeful. Very bad. But all things considered it's one of my all time favorites and i'm honored to have it on bluray in my collection. It's about as good as I think they could do with the book. I mean all the complaints I've seen are not actually with the movie but the book. Like the infamous "glitterboy" scenes. Hey that's how she made her vampires, that's not the movie's fault. It's important in the books. They couldn't edit that out.
Well uh that's all I think. Maybe I rambled around there a bit.......
Considering that Twilight vampires are basically solid rock, from all the various direct and indirect descriptions, to me it makes sense that they sparkle. I mean, if the vampire's skin has the density of stone, but they can easily cut their own skin with their teeth, that means the teeth must be incredibly sharp. Possibly even diamond edged sharp.
Many stones like marble and granite sparkle, due to microcrystals within them. I'd cry no more or less shenanigans if someone said an earth elemental summoned in a marble quarry was sparkly. To me its a non-issue.
I guess we need the author to definitively describe the transformation process as a sort of crystalization. Maybe that would provide some "justification" for the nay-sayers. Then again, maybe its just a bunch of people who think glittery things are silly and thats the end of it.
My only beef with the movie was that the "big brother" of the vampire family, Emmett, was not nearly big enough. In the books he was portayed as massive, almost impossible to pass as a high schooler. I would have casted the guy who played Collosus in X-Men, but thats just me.
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I just saw this movie tonight, and going in with pretty low expectations (it's sad, but I'm gradually getting too old for teen drama), I was prepared to leave if it got too silly--I had been warned it was subtitled Vampires of Dawson's Creek (a tv show whose first three seasons I found more than very enjoyable, but I like Eastenders, too, so go figure).
Fortunately, I was very pleasantly surprised. Excellent movie (I particularly like the scintillation factor, by the way), and I'm looking forward to the followup.
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My only beef with the movie was that the "big brother" of the vampire family, Emmett, was not nearly big enough. In the books he was portayed as massive, almost impossible to pass as a high schooler. I would have casted the guy who played Collosus in X-Men, but thats just me.
A couple of the castings were odd, in my opinion.
Emmett was never described as being an Eminem wanna-be.
They needed a smaller actress to play Alice, though the portrayal of Alice's personality was excellent.
They needed a better-looking actress for Rosalie. The book describes her as being, literally, stunning to look at.
Really, of the vamps, only Carlysle and Esmee were dead-on.
They needed a better-looking actress for Rosalie. The book describes her as being, literally, stunning to look at.
From behind, with those white sweats on in the baseball scene....mmmm
Ok Seriously. I loved the first two books. (the less said about the 'wrap up' and that friggin baby's cheezy name, the better). The actor playing Carlysle grew on me, the first scene at the hospital was bad, but the makeup evened out in the later scenes. Didnt get enough Esme to make a judgment. Emmett, I was ok with, mostly because he got the coolest car. Alice was divine! a pure pixie! Oh Alice...
**EDIT: forgot about the boy playing Jasper. Whoa! No thanks.
Didnt like either of the main actors, they were meh. Though I loved her old man and Jacob and his dad. they were pretty much what I had in my head (except I had Charlie a little older and more out of shape, but the attitude/personality was spot on). Bad guys were pretty good.
As for blaming the book, it is difficult to film 'He gazed at her longingly for 3 hours' and make it interesting...Dunno how to fix that. 'Spider monkey' was cheez-o-rama, as was the 'road runner' style speed. That shouldve been done like a 3rd person shooter with haste applied or something. Oh and the sparklevision shouldve SPARKLED LIKE THE FRIGGIN SUN! not make him look like a sweaty extra on a Duran Duran video.
Totally agree that the music was the best part! Especially using Muse for the baseball scene!!! wow. Also surprised by the Linkin Park song. (not that 'hip' on their music, would not have thought they were capable of a ballad).
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Just read this little exchange on DeviantArt. It was in response to this picture. It made my day (the discussion, not the picture):
*tasastock - oh sweet flaming s$&& on a stick whyyy??
~ACW-IV - I can tell you why. Our children have no self esteem. Depression is the new cool. Stephenie "the most egotistical author I've ever had the displeasure of meeting" Meyer writes a book in which the most "beautiful" (it's key that she uses this particular word to describe Edward's looks over and over again and no adjective) creature in the universe falls so madly in love with the plain-Jane quiet self conscious depressed girl(despite the fact that the actress who plays her is absolutely gorgeous) that he is willing to risk both of their lives. Our sad-sack teenager emo loser girls latch on to this complete break from reality in such a way as to depress them further. So far in fact that they enable each other with websites, etc. into truly believing in that world, shunning the real one, like this girl. It's sad and it makes me sick.
*tasastock - i mean, i got totally obsessed with Lord Of The Rings when I was a teenager, but I never had a huge-ass crush on any of the actors/characters from it. I did retreat from the real world with it, but thats because i do that often, i hate reality, it kinda sucks. its mundane and boring, i want a world where magic is real and there's still some mystery left in life. and although my room had 4 huge posters in it, i never got loads and loads of merchandise, and started believing that the characters were real. although i do joke that Valinor is out there. if only that were true!
i havent actually read the books. my best friend has, and i trust her judgement. she said she got pissed off with the first book because the only problem they apparently have to overcome is this vampire who wants to kill Bella.. apparently no reason is really given for why he ends up costing his friends their lives and losing his own life. just because "he wanted to" basically.
i hate books with no conceivable plot. or where the author clearly has little imagination.. I can't make my own opinion, since i havent read the books, and i havent read the books because they really arent my kinda read. but this hype is just pathetic!
~ACW-IV - I've read The Hobbit through the Return of the King at least once a year since 1981. I added The Silmarillion a year or two after that and Book of Lost Tales in the late 90's.
For some people, it's Star Wars, or Star Trek, or Harry Potter. We are all fanboys and fangirls for something. It's healthy for humans to take themselves out of the real world and into their own imaginations on a regular basis.
But for so many of the "Twihards" it IS their reality. It is all they talk about, read about, write about or draw pictures of on DA. Just search Edward Cullen and you'll get over 60000 pieces on DA. It replaces reality for them.
Tolkien is my obsession, too. But I come back to reality when I shut the book or hit save and close on the fan fiction I like to write sometimes. You and I and any non Twilight-freakout-person understand the difference. These girls actually get depressed when they think about the fact that it's fiction.
Just so that you know I did read the first book. I worked a Borders for a while before I decided to become a stay-at-home dad and I read it a few pages at a time on breaks. And I feel the same way. The first conflict was at the end and it was a non-event as just when the fight was about to happen (in the book, which is told from Bella's perspective) she gets knocked out and doesn't come to until it's all over. Ugh! I wish I had that time back to use for something more worthwhile, like watching grass grow.
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Just read this little exchange on DeviantArt...
Part 2 of discussion (unrelated / spurious posts by other users edited out for length's sake):
~Razi-Tobias - Unfortunately I have to agree that ACW-IV was right... even if he was a bit harsh on his description of today's youth. You really gotta look where it's all coming from though. Girls are being forced to see that buys only pick the best looking girls because that's who they're pressured into choosing because of our culture today. AND, I can tell you exactly where that idea came from. Why only the Playboy Bunnies and the Porn movement. Seriously, look into it and you'll see I'm right. We live in a sad, sad world these days....
~ACW-IV - Hey that's a first! Someone admitted that they agree with me! The old curmudgeon usually goes off a bit too much for anyone to admit to even part of anything I say. Kudos to you for sticking your neck out.
However, I have to beg to differ on one point. Playboy has been around for 65 years and porn has existed since Roman times. Also, teenage girls have always swooned over their favorite actors/musicians. 16 and Bop magazines have been around for decades for just that reason. However, the level of obsession is much deeper with this generation (however, at my 20th high school reunion there was a discussion among some of the nearly forty-year-olds about their excitement for New Moon). Since the 90's children have been over protected in the name of self esteem, not allowed to endure the minor bullying and teasing that happens in elementary school, not allowed to lose at sports (the youth soccer league in my community doesn't even keep score), they make them wear helmets to ride their training-wheeled bikes in circles in the driveway because they aren't allowed to stray down the side walk or heaven forbid in the dirt somewhere. Consequently, they don't have to overcome the teasing and bullying, they don't fall down and get skinned knees, they don't have to work hard to bounce back after a loss. All these lessons are lost on these teen-aged girls (and your average emo boy). So when they get to high school and mommy and daddy can't control everything for them, like guys asking them out or not getting picked for the cheerleading squad or the elite choir or for that lead in the school play, etc. they don't know how to handle themselves. They get depressed... at an astounding rate. The use of SSRIs in college-age kids is staggering. Why? No mommy or daddy to make their bed, put food in front of them, to rock them to sleep when the workload gets overwhelming and they have no social life.
Read Dennis Leary's "Why We Suck". It's humor, yes; but there some very valid points contained therein.
Vampires and Werewolves do not exist. The most beautiful guy or girl who's ever existed is not going to pursue a romance with you against all odds just because you smell good (or like dinner). You'll have to be patient. You'll have to work at it. You'll have to fail and be rejected a few times. But eventually, you'll find someone for you. Someone with flaws, just like you. Someone who has been through the trials you have. Someone you can relate to. Let go of the fantasy, wipe off the inch-thick black eyeliner, burn the skinny black jeans and the XXL black hoodie. Stop dying your hair black, take a shower, and start talking to real people. You find one or two you like, even if they don't sparkle or run 100 MPH.
~Razi-Tobias - Unfortunately I have to agree that ACW-IV was right... even if he was a bit harsh on his description of today's youth. You really gotta look where it's all coming from though. Girls are being forced to see that buys only pick the best looking girls because that's who they're pressured into choosing because of our culture today. AND, I can tell you exactly where that idea came from. Why only the Playboy Bunnies and the Porn movement. Seriously, look into it and you'll see I'm right. We live in a sad, sad world these days....
~MishraFathom - fact is twilight is porn for girls no different to the chick flicks in the past just with vampires following the smae themes just slightly changed to lookj different but still its the girl that is the stranger or just strange and suddenly get attention from the most popular guy. and the undelaying vampier theme that keep them apart would not change if it where some kind of STD. but yeah porn for girls just look at the second one all the guys run around half naken for no reason!!! WTF,. and sadly this idea is not original at alll.... im sure all you know about true blood well its bassed off a book a few years older then the twilight saga,. no to mention both have horrid acting.....
makes me angry that there is actually nothing likable about the books or the movies... poor acting and if the woman was going to re-write vampire lore she could have rather called them something else like they are fish people.... atleast would explan the glittering kinda....
The best scene from the movie.
HAHAHA, awesome. My girlfriend asked me to watch this movie since I refused to read the books, and I read far better written books than these anyways ;)
But the movie was awful. The acting was crap, the actors were so awkward around each other, and it looked like they kept forgetting their lines and were trying to remember them all the time. The special FX were a joke and the story had almost no point whatsoever.
Count me out for new moon :) I won't even see that now if it was free.
I like my vampires scary and vicious, not bi-curious ambercrombie models.
I'm never seeing these movies. Meyers and Chris Weitz flat out pissed me off with this story.
First off, and I had suspicions about this when I first heard about Twilight, Stephanie Meyers making werewolves a metaphor for gays and homos was insulting. I did a bit of research on this, and what else does the line "It's not a lifestyle choice, Bella. I was born this way." mean besides a shallow "I'm Gay!".
Why not have him say: "What other choice do I have, Bella? Sure, I could just let myself go and do whatever the hell my insticts urged me to do, but you know what, I will not. I've got more self control than that. Vampires like Edward barely have that kind of control. They exist only to feed on humans, just like you. How else can you explain his actions when he smells blood?"
Do I need to go further on this subject? Yes, I will. Jacob's pack all come off as girly men attracted to each other from what I've found. Sure, they hunt vampires, but what else do they do? Taunt one of their own for having a potential "girlfriend". What the hell? Real men don't do this, unless they exist in bad films or television shows.
So, considering that, what other conclusion could you draw, other than lycanthropy is Meyer and Weitz's way of bringing a gay undertone to a lackluster story?
This is why films like this are sucking at the box office. People are catching on to this crap, and it shows. We're not stupid, Hollywood.
