That’s right, I saw Eclipse with my Dad this weekend. You know, the newest installment of the movie franchise where the alpaca and the Easter Island statue fight over the miserable girl who no one in their right mind would be fighting over. I couldn’t even get halfway through the first book because I hated the character of Bella Swan so much. But the movies were fun in their own ridiculous way, although the melodramaticness (totally a word) is enough to make me want to drown myself in a bath of tween tears. Before I continue, let me present this quote from the awesome show Vampire Diaries:
Caroline: Hey, how come you don’t sparkle?
Damon: Because I live in the real world where vampires burn in the sun.
So how was the movie? Well for starters it was definitely the best of the three. All the annoying melodramaticness was still there, and unfortunately so was Kristen Stewart, but at least there was a bit of plot this time to move things forward and OMG actually a decent amount of action! I know, I know, action in a movie about vampires and werewolves? What is this world coming to? The final confrontation between the vampires and werewolves and the fight at the top of the mountain were actually really well done, which I think is thanks to director David Slade who directed an honest to goodness vampire movie with 30 Days of Night. I think the important thing here was actually making the vampires deadly, which never seemed like the case in the previous sparkleriffic movies.
Like I said, the romance (and the acting) still leaves a lot to be desired, but at least this time there was a bit more humor thrown in, which I felt at least acknowledged the ridiculousness of it all. I also enjoyed the Cullen family dynamic, which I felt was missing in New Moon and made the original Twlight better in my opinion, and was glad they played a bigger role this time around. I also really liked the Rosalie flashback, and wouldn’t terribly mind a whole movie of her exacting Uma Thurman type revenge for 90 minutes. Oh, and I was sad that Rachelle Lefevre wasn’t Victoria this time around because she actually had the best scene in New Moon and Bryce Dallas Howard just didn’t have the edgy look Victoria had in the previous movies.
All in all, I’d say that if you’ve seen the others and survived, give this one a shot and you may be pleasantly surprised.
I think I’m gonna put these on my Netflix queue, simply so I can watch the shirtless alpaca. I might even watch them on mute, cause when I’m looking at his abs, I don’t really care what, if anything, he’s saying.
And how aDORable is it that you and your DAD went to see a supernatural romancey type chick flick movie together?
HUGS…
Believe it or not, I actually enjoyed this book. Mostly because all the backstory in it with various characters and the fact that Bella finally grows a spine and draws boundaries.
Yes, I’m reading them, but a friend of mine has to read Harry Potter.
And agree with Polt. You and your dad? Priceless.
Can’t do it, can’t watch them. The kidlet read all the books and enjoyed them up until the last one but she wants nothing to do with the movies and I’m supporting her in that.
I HATE Kristin Stewart with a PASSION!! But even after that, the movie was not bad.
Craig – have you seen The Last Airbender yet?
I’m half excited and half annoyed they’re remaking “Let The Right One In” into “Let Me In”. I really liked the original movie and the trailer for the remake doesn’t seem bad but obviously they had to turn up the horror and action for american audiences. Most wouldnt be able to take the slow pace and lack of action of the original.
Melodramaticity? I still like The Oatmeal’s explanation of the whole phenomenon best.
Yeah, my Dad is a total Twi-hard.
No, I haven’t seen Last Airbender yet. Probably going to see it this coming weekend despite the wretched reviews.
GoKitty: I’m with you on “Let The Right One In”. Why did they remake a movie that isn’t that old and was good to begin with. They did the same with “Rec”.
The acting in these movies is nearly as bad as the dialogue, it’s just awful. I will say, they do a good job of creating a supernatural mood throughout the films, but the acting is just horrendous.
Oh, and that alpaca picture totally makes me laugh every time.
I haven’t seen or read anything from Twilight (other than snippets), so I’m going to talk about the Sookie Stackhouse novels instead. One of my friends loaned me the first book, and I mostly enjoyed it. One of the things that annoyed me was Sookie having four men trying to be with her. Edward v. Jacob is one thing. Bill v. Eric v. Sam v. some other random guy the TV series rightly cut is over the top Mary Sue.
Other than the fact that I would never wish Bella Swan on anyone, would Jacob make a good partner or is he just as creepy as Edward?
Jacob gets a bit creepy in this one. Not quite controlling creepy like Edward, just persistent creepy.
Also, it’s not just Edward and Jacob. There is also a (human) student named Mike who wants her and in the books I believe another one of her human guy friends asks her out. It was frustrating.
The guy who plays Mike takes pictures of varying degrees of cuteness:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0919616/mediaindex
What? You and your Dad went to see Eclipse without me?! How could you?!
Totally kidding of course. I would much rather have been watching yummy Robert Downey Jr. in Hearts and Souls over lama and dead boy anyday.
If you want to see a (hopefully) scary movie with me, Predators is coming out this weekend..
I loooooove Heart and Souls. Glad you enjoyed it!
I’m with Polt and Howard on the father-and-son-chick-flick thing. Hilarious
Normally I’d be pedantic and remind you the word is “melodrama” but in fact these movies don’t DESERVE a real word, and “melodramaticity” is far more appropriate.
I believe I’ve already commented elsewhere about what a disturbing message these books/movies send to girls — romanticizing the whole idea of having a creepy, stalking, controlling boyfriend who separates you from your friends and family and sneaks into your bedroom to watch you sleep and makes you pack a bag to disappear without even saying goodbye to your father, etc.
Nonetheless, I’ve seen the first two movies and will watch this one (though probably wait until it comes onto On Demand). I enjoyed the first two in their own little way, even though I find alpaca boy highly bag-over-the-head-worthy and Robert Pattinson as a chalk-faced ginger is just ick. The only cute guys in this franchise are Kellan Lutz, Billy Burke (Bella’s dad), and yes, the kid who plays Mike, who I thought was the cutest guy in the first movies bar none and still think is pretty damn cute!
When are we getting our Last Airbender review?
Oh, and Ryan — can you really tolerate the writing in the first Sookie Stackhouse book? I found it borderline unreadable. I bought it after watching the first season of True Blood when I was in massive withdrawal and I *still* can’t believe they made gold out of that dross. I’m **LOVING** season 3 so far. Every episode has been awesome IMHO.
Good call on the Easter Island resemblance. I always thought RObert Pattinson’s face looked smashed in.
Even though Kristen Stewart (can’t stand her) is playing Bella Swan (can’t stand her), I’m still going to let myself be dragged to see it.
I agree with GoKitty and john (of course). The originals are just fine. Take that remake money and make a movie we haven’t seen before (a Wonder Woman movie, for instance…?).
And I’d take Damon over Stefan any day!
Justin: Part of it was probably due to the trouble I had getting the eBook loan to work. This meant I had a day and a half to read the entire book and was highly motivated to finish it. I also enjoyed making comparisons between the book and season one. Having finished it, I found that I missed the way the TV series fleshes out the non-Sookie characters. I hate levitating vampires. I found the final scene to serve no point other than to emphasize how many men Sookie had slobbering over her. The inclusion of Bubba was bizarre. I wasn’t sure how to react to the racial themes. However, I did like the way the climax played out better in the book than in the show, and I think there were some benefit to not knowing what Jason was doing even if on the whole having multiple perspectives was better.
You definitely liked it better than I did. I found Sookie borderline intolerable as a character — she seems much more full of herself in the book than in the show. In the show, she’s certainly a strong woman, very strong-willed and independent, but in the book she comes across (to me) as self-satisfied. She’s very aware of how “hot” she is and how many men she has slobbering over her and I find it quite irritating. I much preferred the way they had Bill kill the embezzling vampire and that his trial was the reason he had to disappear to the very weak idea in the book that he disappeared in order to be appointed sheriff. I also think the addition of Jessica as a character in the tv show a big improvement. On the whole I thought virtually *everything* in the tv show was a vast improvement over the book and every change or addition or elision (especially bubba) they made was for the better. I can’t say I’m motivated to read any of the other books. I’ve read about some of the differences between season 2 and the second book — especially about Godric — and it’s clear that they improved his character greatly in the show as well.
I also think the Rene character was weaker in the book than in the show and I missed the revelations about his having to learn how to speak in a Cajun accent from a tape, etc. I don’t remember the climactic scene being any better in the book than the show — I thought the show’s version was friggin’ awesome
I liked Sookie doing more to save herself than being rescued by Bill.
Hm. I could have sworn she killed Rene herself in the show — with the shovel. But maybe I’m confused; it’s been a while.
I think you are right, but I remember Bill being involved.
In the show I think he just came out during daylight and got badly burned and then Sam and Jason buried him.
The “Twilight” posters are seriously more airbrushed than all of Mariah Carey‘s and Kelly Clarkson‘s cover shoots combined!
… which is a good thing, given that we don’t want to have to look at the alpaca and the Easter Island statue in all their natural glory
*SOME* of us may not want to look at the alpaca in all it’s natural glory. Other’s of us want to look at thim any way we can, and at as much of him as we can.
Just sayin…
We know, Polter-skee-doodles; we know.
Saw the Last Airbender film with the boys (who are totally into the cartoon). I had no expectations, having watched maybe 45 minutes of the cartoon total. I thought the film was okay, and the kids liked it well enough.
We saw it in 3D, and I’d estimate that 85% of the screen time was 2D (or so subtle that it was indistinguishable). So if you can save money by watching the 2d version, I’d recommend that.
Anyone else watch Eureka on SyFy? James Callis (Gaius), from BSG, is on this season.
Ooo! I didn’t notice that. There are a bunch of cute guys on that show.