Jason KingTwilight: New Moon ($16-)
November 19th 2009 10:10
:
BETTER THAN THE BOOK
Category: No Category
The wait is over Twilighters - it's time to don your team Jacob or team Edward kit and head out to do battle in the cinema queues. I entered the foray of female teenage hordes and popped in to watch New Moon after work today and besides my constant desire to rip holes in the throats of screaming teenagers through the entire film I was mind blown at how good this episode is.
Twilight, if you have just arrived from another planet, is the amazing amazing set of four books about the Romeo and Juliet styled love between a vampire and a human. This, the second book, NEW MOON introduces another layer to the tribe and throws in werewolves. Jacob is Bella's best young American Indian friend who lives locally on the reservation and when vampires start getting close to the reservations their genes kick in and some of them turn into wolves to protect the tribe and maintain order. Jacob is played by UBER HUNKY BUFFED UP HEARTHROB Taylor Lautner, who nearly missed out on the part due to not being buff enough. Dedication and constant diet and work out turned him from a cute young kid into a divine piece of manmeat, or dogmeat - whichever you prefer.
This episode of the franchise is by far the worst book in the series. You spend the first movie/ book meeting all the characters and falling in love with the angst and sexual tension between Bella and Edward and then in NEW MOON Edward decides to leave Bella for her own safety. So Bella mopes around, teams up with Jacob and then plays love tennis deciding which way to turn. While NEW MOON was quite a boring book, they have performed two movie miracles that are NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE to do. 1) They made the movie WAY BETTER than the book and 2) They made a sequal that SHITS all over the first film.
I never thought they could do it and was worried after the first film was good but could have been much better. I am a BIG Twilight fan (Team Jacob if you really want to know - haha) and by far the first and last books are leaps ahead of the rest. With limited budget and nothing to lose they went ahead and did a pretty good job of the first film under the direction of Catherine Hardwicke but it could have been much better. But the success of the first film was amazing - making well over $300MIL worldwide they got a bigger budget, bigger director (matter of opinion on this one - for crying out loud - he ruined The Golden Compass) Chris Weitz. And while Weitz slaughtered Compass, we can put that down to the studio perhaps, he is a master of CGI and exactly what was needed to make the wolf pack work. The CGI works well in this film and besides only two or three scenes I thought were borderline the effects work well and assist in the flow and believability of an in the story.
They got every single good part of the book into this movie and discarded all the boring bits - it was close to perfect for me, a Twilight fan. You have to know that this is written for teenagers and sometimes the script can have you giggling at how lame it can be but while it's being lame and soppy and bordering on Mills and Boone it has full effect by making teenage girls swoon. Everytime Jake was onscreen without shirt the roof of the cinema shook from teenage girl screams (and I suppose the lustful heartbeat from under my shirt) And every time Edward was onscreen similar things happened - girls screaming out "I Love You" were common. The good thing about this is it is not ashamed of being a soppy film - it embraces it and does it all masterfully.
I may get shot down for this and it hurts to say it but I did find Taylor Lautner's acting was a bit of a letdown. He is young, he is fucking incredibly attractive, and he pulled out amazing effort to secure this role. He is so buff he looks like a man now but really he is still a shy little kid, I had difficulty believing all the "man taking action" stuff from him. Do not get me wrong, he is good, but I found his acting below that of the other leads. But he does make up for it in looks. I do believe he will grow with the last two movies and find him just as important as Ed and Bella for the rest of the series. I have loved him in film since I first saw him in the kid's film Skark Boy and Lava Girl in 3D. He was that itsy bitsy teenage shark. He was also one of the kids in the Cheaper by the Dozen films. And these films will make him pure A list - I just hope his acting improves so we don't see him on "Where are they now" TV shows.
A few people maybe disappointed that there is not much of the Cullens in this film, but they have enough and I heaps preferred all of them in this film. Alice just rocks, Jasper is not as insane and has a couple of great lines and scenes and Carlisle is awesome as always. You can feel the film growing and building up to the climax of the last two books - it is coming and they are still in there with way more of them all to come. Bella's dad, Charlie Swan (Billy Burke) is actually more of a comic relief in this film and he had me laughing a couple of times.
Another impressive thing is the new characters, there are many and more to come in the last two books but highlights were Dakota Fanning, growing up nicely but still a child, as evil vampire, Jane and superbly acted Aro by Micheal Sheen, fresh from playing a lycan in all the Underworld movies to go to the other side and play a vampire leader in this one. Two of the characters I really like but wanted more of as they were only introduced in this one were Cameron Bright (Thankyou for Smoking, XMen, Ultrviolet) as Alec and Jamie Campbell Bower as Caius, he is incrediby attractive and looks just like an older, more attractive Malfoy from Harry Potter and surprise surprise he has just scored a part in the Deathly Hallows films.
This film will not win any serious awards, nor will any of the acting. Do not watch it for it's brilliance in anything but watch it if you want something fun, romantic, a succesful hit, a Twilight fan or you want to impress your partner. I do recommend that you do not watch this until you have seen the first film Twilight beforehand or have read the books.
Out now - if you managed to miss the entire planetry saturation of the HUGE marketing campaign. Congratulations also to Hoyts for the success of nabbing the distribution rights for this franchise as it will surely pay off in aces and skyrocket the distribution company into the top players of the Australian market. This film is going to mental - as the midnight screenings showed last night. Catch it early on a weekday morning if you want to avoid the screeming teenagers. Worth $16-
Twilight, if you have just arrived from another planet, is the amazing amazing set of four books about the Romeo and Juliet styled love between a vampire and a human. This, the second book, NEW MOON introduces another layer to the tribe and throws in werewolves. Jacob is Bella's best young American Indian friend who lives locally on the reservation and when vampires start getting close to the reservations their genes kick in and some of them turn into wolves to protect the tribe and maintain order. Jacob is played by UBER HUNKY BUFFED UP HEARTHROB Taylor Lautner, who nearly missed out on the part due to not being buff enough. Dedication and constant diet and work out turned him from a cute young kid into a divine piece of manmeat, or dogmeat - whichever you prefer.
This episode of the franchise is by far the worst book in the series. You spend the first movie/ book meeting all the characters and falling in love with the angst and sexual tension between Bella and Edward and then in NEW MOON Edward decides to leave Bella for her own safety. So Bella mopes around, teams up with Jacob and then plays love tennis deciding which way to turn. While NEW MOON was quite a boring book, they have performed two movie miracles that are NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE to do. 1) They made the movie WAY BETTER than the book and 2) They made a sequal that SHITS all over the first film.
I never thought they could do it and was worried after the first film was good but could have been much better. I am a BIG Twilight fan (Team Jacob if you really want to know - haha) and by far the first and last books are leaps ahead of the rest. With limited budget and nothing to lose they went ahead and did a pretty good job of the first film under the direction of Catherine Hardwicke but it could have been much better. But the success of the first film was amazing - making well over $300MIL worldwide they got a bigger budget, bigger director (matter of opinion on this one - for crying out loud - he ruined The Golden Compass) Chris Weitz. And while Weitz slaughtered Compass, we can put that down to the studio perhaps, he is a master of CGI and exactly what was needed to make the wolf pack work. The CGI works well in this film and besides only two or three scenes I thought were borderline the effects work well and assist in the flow and believability of an in the story.
They got every single good part of the book into this movie and discarded all the boring bits - it was close to perfect for me, a Twilight fan. You have to know that this is written for teenagers and sometimes the script can have you giggling at how lame it can be but while it's being lame and soppy and bordering on Mills and Boone it has full effect by making teenage girls swoon. Everytime Jake was onscreen without shirt the roof of the cinema shook from teenage girl screams (and I suppose the lustful heartbeat from under my shirt
) And every time Edward was onscreen similar things happened - girls screaming out "I Love You" were common. The good thing about this is it is not ashamed of being a soppy film - it embraces it and does it all masterfully.
I may get shot down for this and it hurts to say it but I did find Taylor Lautner's acting was a bit of a letdown. He is young, he is fucking incredibly attractive, and he pulled out amazing effort to secure this role. He is so buff he looks like a man now but really he is still a shy little kid, I had difficulty believing all the "man taking action" stuff from him. Do not get me wrong, he is good, but I found his acting below that of the other leads. But he does make up for it in looks
. I do believe he will grow with the last two movies and find him just as important as Ed and Bella for the rest of the series. I have loved him in film since I first saw him in the kid's film Skark Boy and Lava Girl in 3D. He was that itsy bitsy teenage shark. He was also one of the kids in the Cheaper by the Dozen films. And these films will make him pure A list - I just hope his acting improves so we don't see him on "Where are they now" TV shows.
A few people maybe disappointed that there is not much of the Cullens in this film, but they have enough and I heaps preferred all of them in this film. Alice just rocks, Jasper is not as insane and has a couple of great lines and scenes and Carlisle is awesome as always. You can feel the film growing and building up to the climax of the last two books - it is coming and they are still in there with way more of them all to come. Bella's dad, Charlie Swan (Billy Burke) is actually more of a comic relief in this film and he had me laughing a couple of times.
Another impressive thing is the new characters, there are many and more to come in the last two books but highlights were Dakota Fanning, growing up nicely but still a child, as evil vampire, Jane and superbly acted Aro by Micheal Sheen, fresh from playing a lycan in all the Underworld movies to go to the other side and play a vampire leader in this one. Two of the characters I really like but wanted more of as they were only introduced in this one were Cameron Bright (Thankyou for Smoking, XMen, Ultrviolet) as Alec and Jamie Campbell Bower as Caius, he is incrediby attractive and looks just like an older, more attractive Malfoy from Harry Potter and surprise surprise he has just scored a part in the Deathly Hallows films.
This film will not win any serious awards, nor will any of the acting. Do not watch it for it's brilliance in anything but watch it if you want something fun, romantic, a succesful hit, a Twilight fan or you want to impress your partner. I do recommend that you do not watch this until you have seen the first film Twilight beforehand or have read the books.
Out now - if you managed to miss the entire planetry saturation of the HUGE marketing campaign. Congratulations also to Hoyts for the success of nabbing the distribution rights for this franchise as it will surely pay off in aces and skyrocket the distribution company into the top players of the Australian market. This film is going to mental - as the midnight screenings showed last night. Catch it early on a weekday morning if you want to avoid the screeming teenagers. Worth $16-
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Comment by JESUS
What's Love?
It was awful at best, terribly performed, some of the "acting" in the film caused people to laugh out loud in the cinema!
Definetly tainted
Comment by rix
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Taylor does look like a dog! A handsome husky, a canine nevertheless. Hilarious. I liked Kristen Stewart's brief roles in Into the Wild and What Just Happened, I hope to see her in something I'm compelled to see in the future ... and it may be Eclipse (only cos David Slade is directing), but somehow I doubt it.
I seriously doubt I'd impress my partner (wife) taking her to this movie Jase ... I can think of more romantic things to do than sit for two hours watching forlorn teenagers mope around wondering if they should fuck or maybe just mope some more ... I'm being facetious I know, I just can't resist when you give this movie $16 and gush like a schoolboy in lust ... LOL
You want a vampire romance that really throbs? Near Dark eclipses the entire Twilight Saga in the bat of an eyelid ... Even The Hunger does in its thousand year sleep.
And, for the record, the CGI looks dreadful. Give me Dog Soldiers any day over Twilight or Underworld: Rise of the Lycans.
Okay, enough of my two cents ... back to the fans
Comment by Jason King
Sydney Table
Salty Popcorn
Total Randomness
Comment by What's Your Story?
What's Your Story?
Big Day Plunge
I haven't seen New Moon yet. It was my least favorite in the series too, Eclipse being my fave. I'll probably see this next week. Even though I know it'll be nothing great, I'm just excited to see how they translated it into film.
And I want to see the hot Wolf pack. Rawr. LOL!!
Comment by Jason King
Sydney Table
Salty Popcorn
Total Randomness
Comment by Jason King
Sydney Table
Salty Popcorn
Total Randomness
Huskies are my second favourite dog
Kristen Stewart spun me out - when she was in Panic Room with Jodie Foster I thought she was a boy.
My comment about partners was more aimed at the teenage crowd who are Twilight obsessed - I must still be 17 on the inside.
I will have to suss out Near Dark and The Hunger - thanks for that - AND I LOVE DOG SOLDIERS - way awesome surprise DVD hire I had with that one.
Gushing horny schoolboy signing out
Comment by Jason King
Sydney Table
Salty Popcorn
Total Randomness
The wolfpack rocks
And I found the movie great - as you can see above and an awesome movie translation - if you are a fan I think you will enjoy it.
It is kind of funny though when Ed takes his gear off at the end - it's the climax and off comes his shirt to laughs and giggles as we have just watched the buffed up Jacob for 2hrs and then scrawny "junkie" looking Ed reveals himself. It was funny.
Comment by What's Your Story?
What's Your Story?
Big Day Plunge
Comment by RubySoho
Music Zone
Thought Zone
I'm sorry to say I don't get all the hype around this "saga". I just don't get it. Just because it's based on a series of children's novels and is aimed at fans of said novels, doesn't mean it should get excused for being poorly written, poorly made and poorly acted.
But each to his own.
Comment by Jason King
Sydney Table
Salty Popcorn
Total Randomness
And it is not being excused for anything. I never once believe it is shocking - it is like a trashy airport novel - you love them at the right time. I love this story - it goves you the Bold and The Beautiful/ Melrose Place kind of mixture but put out as a thrilling tale. I point out the things I dislike - and like I said to Sean at work, like ANY film, it could have been done better.
It is all about the suspension of belief - if everything had to look amazing, be written superbly and acted brilliantly - then there would NEVER be anything on TV. Seriously - I find Dr Who the most hideously acted and visual sci fi I have ever seen - but watch 3 episodes and you are hooked and your belief in the show grows.
People will walk into this film knowing whether they can like it or not. Bryn is honest and up front - wouldn't touch it with a barge pole. Jesus - he knew he hated it so watched it that way. Sean, a friend from work, was forced to watch it with his girlfriend - he was dreading it before he walked in and spent 2 and a 1/4 hrs tearing it apart - no point in even watching or attempting to enjoy if that is the case.
And superbly finished with your last line. You should read the first book - I want to see you converted - haha