there's no pressure, play all day
so after some angst due to the movie theater fucking with me, i managed to get to the midnight showing of twilight with jen, d, and and their smith friend sarah who i met at d's birthday party. i was not disappointed in the slightest by the movie - it was deliciously terrible and i enjoyed every minute of it. it should be categorized as a romantic comedy really, because the whole theater was laughing consistently throughout the film, and mostly when we were not supposed to be. i didn't really like any of the performances other than billy burke as chief swan - he was quiet and sympathetic the whole time, he and kristen stewart worked really well together. stewart i actually didn't like much - i felt like she rushed through most of her lines, like she didn't really want to be there (which she probably didn't). robert pattinson got better as the movie went on, but in the beginning he was hilariously over the top, though that's probably more of the director's fault than his. the characterization of edward benefits a lot from rpattz's natural awkwardness - instead of playing him like the perfect man that he's originally written as, rob goes for more of the vampire-who-is-not-used-to-socializing-with-humans-and-therefore-comes-off-as-a-complete-freak type, which is far more enjoyable to watch. he drops lines like dead weights and leaves conversations in deafening silences, much like i imagine a 100-year-old virgin would.
but the acting in the movie was nothing compared to catherine hardwicke's bizarre directing and editing choices. the film felt like a game of redlight/greenlight - bolting forward one second, then coming to a jarring halt for no apparent reason. hardwicke also seemed to have a hard time deciding whether she was on the side of realism or expressionism - some scenes were so overly stylized they felt totally out of place, whereas others seemed hardly thought through and resembled the awkward pauses in porn. i admire their attempt to establish the villains earlier so that it doesn't feel like a tacked on conflict the way it does in the book, but the review on spill.com (which basically rags on the whole movie, even though they gave it a matinee) points out that if they were going to do that they should've fleshed out the villains as characters as well, because it still felt hollow. overall, this is a crappy film, but a fun experience, especially when it comes paired with a sleepover and lots of hanging out :-)
and since i've started things out with one shallow pop phenomenon, might as well end with another. jim sent me the new leaked britney spears' album, circus, the same way he sent me blackout when that was leaked. like twilight, its not spectacular but enjoyable, though in the case of circus it technically hits all the right cues for a success whereas twilight is a failure on paper. there's nothing on it that's really addictive or engaging, its just good. there aren't any risks taken, nothing new done, so to me its inferior to blackout, though i'm sure it will be much more successful, and i'm so watching the documentary on her that's happening tomorrow night. i don't know, i thought i had more to say about it, but its the kind of album that's really just...there. at least songs like "phonography" and "if u seek amy" get stuck in my head, whereas by the next morning twilight was fading fast from my brain, and i has left with a confused phantom urge to discuss it but found nothing to talk about. hmmm, i should download the two robert pattinson songs that are on the soundtrack.
but the acting in the movie was nothing compared to catherine hardwicke's bizarre directing and editing choices. the film felt like a game of redlight/greenlight - bolting forward one second, then coming to a jarring halt for no apparent reason. hardwicke also seemed to have a hard time deciding whether she was on the side of realism or expressionism - some scenes were so overly stylized they felt totally out of place, whereas others seemed hardly thought through and resembled the awkward pauses in porn. i admire their attempt to establish the villains earlier so that it doesn't feel like a tacked on conflict the way it does in the book, but the review on spill.com (which basically rags on the whole movie, even though they gave it a matinee) points out that if they were going to do that they should've fleshed out the villains as characters as well, because it still felt hollow. overall, this is a crappy film, but a fun experience, especially when it comes paired with a sleepover and lots of hanging out :-)
and since i've started things out with one shallow pop phenomenon, might as well end with another. jim sent me the new leaked britney spears' album, circus, the same way he sent me blackout when that was leaked. like twilight, its not spectacular but enjoyable, though in the case of circus it technically hits all the right cues for a success whereas twilight is a failure on paper. there's nothing on it that's really addictive or engaging, its just good. there aren't any risks taken, nothing new done, so to me its inferior to blackout, though i'm sure it will be much more successful, and i'm so watching the documentary on her that's happening tomorrow night. i don't know, i thought i had more to say about it, but its the kind of album that's really just...there. at least songs like "phonography" and "if u seek amy" get stuck in my head, whereas by the next morning twilight was fading fast from my brain, and i has left with a confused phantom urge to discuss it but found nothing to talk about. hmmm, i should download the two robert pattinson songs that are on the soundtrack.