Twilight/New Moon
I went to see New Moon with my sisters on Friday. Overall, New Moon was a disappointment. I had high hopes for it because it was obviously getting a bigger budget and would presumably be better because of the extra money to play around with. This movie proves that big budget does not equal better movie.
First thing I noticed, the soundtrack was not good. Carter Burwell did the Twilight score and that was at least one-third of the magic of the movie. The score was incredibly atmospheric. The soundtrack music was also excellent. We sisters all have the soundtrack and score on various listening devices because it was THAT GOOD. In contrast, for New Moon they replaced Carter Burwell with someone else who unfortunately suffers greatly by comparison. Completely uninspiring forgettable score. And the songs picked for the songtrack were equally forgettable. In fact, I can't remember the music at all right now. Blech.
For Edward lovers, and there are a myriad Edward lovers, this movie was already going to be a tough sell because of the almost complete lack of Edward. He cruelly leaves Bella at the beginning of the movie and then returns for the last 15 minutes, with tiny little sequences scattered throughout of ghostly warnings to Bella to stop being reckless and endangering herself. Overall impression of Edward in this movie: Wimpy. Although there was one incredible fight scene between him and enforcer vampires which was kick-ass awesome.
Jacob looked super hot. He obviously did some sort of body building boot camp to get ready for this movie. Noticeably larger than in previous film. It also seemed probable he had taken some intensive acting courses between films, because his acting was also noticeably better than previously. Very appealing character whose cheek you want to pinch while saying, "isn't he adorable?" If it were up to me, Bella would dump Edward for Jacob.
Bella stopped mumbling for this movie. So, that was good.
Wardrobe. When even I lean over to my sister and say, "what is up with Alice's outfit?" you know it's bad. I just didn't get it. They had all this money, and they hired someone with my level of fashion sense to outfit people??? Alice's hair, Jasper's hair! What. Were. They. Thinking? Poor Jasper looked like a girly dork, and he's supposed to be their best fighter.
Finally, the makeup at least was better. Other than Alice, the female vamps' hair looked better. Bella looked good, a bit softer. And the big budget's only positive contribution to this film was the sparkly skin of the vampires when lit by the sun. Much, much more effective.
There wasn't much plot. The book New Moon had a lot of relationship building between Bella and Jacob which was accomplished while sitting around fixing up motorbikes. Also, a lot of emotional angst from Bella about Edward which was all pretty much done in her head. So, it suffered because it by necessity meandered without getting a lot accomplished. If the book had been written from Jacob's perspective, there would have been a lot more going on, because he's the one who was doing a lot of character advancement, what with changing into a werewolf and all. But that wasn't the focus of either the book or the movie.
At any rate. If you're a Twilight fan, you have to see it, but you won't enjoy it too much.
Why Twilight was so good:
First thing I noticed, the soundtrack was not good. Carter Burwell did the Twilight score and that was at least one-third of the magic of the movie. The score was incredibly atmospheric. The soundtrack music was also excellent. We sisters all have the soundtrack and score on various listening devices because it was THAT GOOD. In contrast, for New Moon they replaced Carter Burwell with someone else who unfortunately suffers greatly by comparison. Completely uninspiring forgettable score. And the songs picked for the songtrack were equally forgettable. In fact, I can't remember the music at all right now. Blech.
For Edward lovers, and there are a myriad Edward lovers, this movie was already going to be a tough sell because of the almost complete lack of Edward. He cruelly leaves Bella at the beginning of the movie and then returns for the last 15 minutes, with tiny little sequences scattered throughout of ghostly warnings to Bella to stop being reckless and endangering herself. Overall impression of Edward in this movie: Wimpy. Although there was one incredible fight scene between him and enforcer vampires which was kick-ass awesome.
Jacob looked super hot. He obviously did some sort of body building boot camp to get ready for this movie. Noticeably larger than in previous film. It also seemed probable he had taken some intensive acting courses between films, because his acting was also noticeably better than previously. Very appealing character whose cheek you want to pinch while saying, "isn't he adorable?" If it were up to me, Bella would dump Edward for Jacob.
Bella stopped mumbling for this movie. So, that was good.
Wardrobe. When even I lean over to my sister and say, "what is up with Alice's outfit?" you know it's bad. I just didn't get it. They had all this money, and they hired someone with my level of fashion sense to outfit people??? Alice's hair, Jasper's hair! What. Were. They. Thinking? Poor Jasper looked like a girly dork, and he's supposed to be their best fighter.
Finally, the makeup at least was better. Other than Alice, the female vamps' hair looked better. Bella looked good, a bit softer. And the big budget's only positive contribution to this film was the sparkly skin of the vampires when lit by the sun. Much, much more effective.
There wasn't much plot. The book New Moon had a lot of relationship building between Bella and Jacob which was accomplished while sitting around fixing up motorbikes. Also, a lot of emotional angst from Bella about Edward which was all pretty much done in her head. So, it suffered because it by necessity meandered without getting a lot accomplished. If the book had been written from Jacob's perspective, there would have been a lot more going on, because he's the one who was doing a lot of character advancement, what with changing into a werewolf and all. But that wasn't the focus of either the book or the movie.
At any rate. If you're a Twilight fan, you have to see it, but you won't enjoy it too much.
Why Twilight was so good:
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