Movie Reviews!
To begin with, a movie that I couldn't be disappointed with, because I had no high expectations for it to begin with: Twilight (and, subsequently, New Moon).
I must confess, I read the books eagerly. I just had to know what the fuss was all about! Unfortunately (or perhaps less so, because I was happy my assumptions about them were right), the books were less than great, in both writing style and plot. Thus said, I was expecting a cookie cutter movie. Once again, my assumptions were right.
This has to be said, though, Twilight was never a big budget movie to begin with! The movie producers clearly told the public that Twilight was low budget, which, in movie-speak, generally means that the screenplay is less than superb and the acting is sub par.
Twilight was no exception.
Now, I know there are a lot of Kristen Stewart (affectionately called KStew by some) and Robert Pattinson (RPattz) fans out there, most even since BEFORE the Twilight series hit the big screen, by I honestly, honestly do not see the appeal. Even in Harry Potter, when Robert played Cedric Diggory, he did nothing for me. This being said, I don't think he did a horrible job playing the role of Edward. He did admirably badly. It was not an easy roll to take on, what with all the screaming Team Edward girls (don't even get me started on that subject!) on the sidelines. Kristen Stewart, I've seen, has done much better in acting out other roles than the so-called lovable Bella Swan. Even in Jumper, where she only appeared for less than 30 seconds, she acted better than in the entire Twilight movie.
While the role called for a clumsy, shy girl, it did not call for her to look constipated throughout almost the entire movie, or for her lines to come out choppy and forced as opposed to passionate and fierce. And while we're on the subject of forced lines and shoddy acting, Robert didn't leave much room for praise, either. His American accent was, admittedly, very good, but the way he spoke said "I don't really want to be doing this but I'm getting paid pretty well so I'll give it half a shot". I do know he can do better than this. I've seen it done.
As for the secondary characters, I only had a problem with Jessica. She, too, gave off the air of not wanting to be there, shooting those scenes, and it showed. A lot.
As for the overall movie, well...The screenplay is basically just the book read aloud. I know, sometimes this can be a good thing, but more often than not...it's not. The only excusable lines would be the lion-lamb quotes and possibly a few other, more quirky ones, but if you're going to just rewrite the book in screenplay-speak, then it's like reading the book with your ears instead of your mind.
Overall rating: **/*****
Since that review is more than long enough, I'll leave this post as is. Hopefully next time I'll pick a movie where I can better contain myself. x)
--Cassy <3
I must confess, I read the books eagerly. I just had to know what the fuss was all about! Unfortunately (or perhaps less so, because I was happy my assumptions about them were right), the books were less than great, in both writing style and plot. Thus said, I was expecting a cookie cutter movie. Once again, my assumptions were right.
This has to be said, though, Twilight was never a big budget movie to begin with! The movie producers clearly told the public that Twilight was low budget, which, in movie-speak, generally means that the screenplay is less than superb and the acting is sub par.
Twilight was no exception.
Now, I know there are a lot of Kristen Stewart (affectionately called KStew by some) and Robert Pattinson (RPattz) fans out there, most even since BEFORE the Twilight series hit the big screen, by I honestly, honestly do not see the appeal. Even in Harry Potter, when Robert played Cedric Diggory, he did nothing for me. This being said, I don't think he did a horrible job playing the role of Edward. He did admirably badly. It was not an easy roll to take on, what with all the screaming Team Edward girls (don't even get me started on that subject!) on the sidelines. Kristen Stewart, I've seen, has done much better in acting out other roles than the so-called lovable Bella Swan. Even in Jumper, where she only appeared for less than 30 seconds, she acted better than in the entire Twilight movie.
While the role called for a clumsy, shy girl, it did not call for her to look constipated throughout almost the entire movie, or for her lines to come out choppy and forced as opposed to passionate and fierce. And while we're on the subject of forced lines and shoddy acting, Robert didn't leave much room for praise, either. His American accent was, admittedly, very good, but the way he spoke said "I don't really want to be doing this but I'm getting paid pretty well so I'll give it half a shot". I do know he can do better than this. I've seen it done.
As for the secondary characters, I only had a problem with Jessica. She, too, gave off the air of not wanting to be there, shooting those scenes, and it showed. A lot.
As for the overall movie, well...The screenplay is basically just the book read aloud. I know, sometimes this can be a good thing, but more often than not...it's not. The only excusable lines would be the lion-lamb quotes and possibly a few other, more quirky ones, but if you're going to just rewrite the book in screenplay-speak, then it's like reading the book with your ears instead of your mind.
Overall rating: **/*****
Since that review is more than long enough, I'll leave this post as is. Hopefully next time I'll pick a movie where I can better contain myself. x)
--Cassy <3
Comments
And I'm so sick of all the Team Edward/Jacob bullshit. She's never gonna be with Jacob. End of story. Books are over, not gonna change, done. Period. Ugh.
But I do think that Stephenie Meyer is a really good writer if she has the right material. Twilight was written like a bad Mary-Sue fanfic in my opinion, but if you read what she's written of Edward's version of Twilight, Midnight Sun, she's phenomenally better. I think that if she got together with JK Rowling, they'd write one awesome book.
JK has the plots, Meyer has the writing. I love the HP series, but it's a bit drably written...I dunno. I think the only reason it was great to read was because it was easy and the plot was so great. But if she wrote another book, I don't think I'd be able to read it...
Anywaaaay
thanks for the comment. x) I might be doing a lot more movie reviews cause I watch way too many movies and I have waaaay too many opinions about them to shut up about it. ^^
I haven't seen New Moon yet, but my roommate owns it so I'll watch it later and put up my own review soon. lol.
And about the screaming fangirls, must I point out that the three of us were fangirls at one point? Not toward Twilight but Draco Malfoy, Captain Jack, Will Turner, etc.
But all in all, Chloe, I love the review. You did a good job on it. Two thumbs up doll.
We were fangirls, but not SCREAMING fangirls. We never shouted "TEAM JACK!" or "TEAM WILL!" Also, we never stood outside theaters and screamed our heads off just because we were about to see the sexy leading men...
and blech, James! He wasn't good looking in this movie at all. Cam Gigandet is really handsome, but he just looked weird in Twilight. Everyone looked weird in Twilight. Perhaps with the exception of Jackson Rathbone (Jasper), because he kind of always looks weird, and Taylor Lautner, cause he's hot no matter what. haha
^^