New Moon early screening...sometimes it really is all about who you know. ;)
I got lucky tonight... A friend of a friend of a friend (you get the idea) hosted a screening for The Twilight Saga: New Moon and the roommate and I went.
The film has it's good stuff - Bella and Jacob in comfortable space with great chemistry; it's bad stuff - the less good, less believable Bella/Edward chemistry; and the plain old ugly stuff - Rosalie and Jasper...ugh, and don't even get me started on the Volturi.
The film works. It's definitely better than last year's disastrous Twilight. Bella seems to have more depth and a lot less lip biting, and while Edward is still as maladjusted as ever and Pattinson lacks any real depth as this character, there are some nice scenes with he and Stewart, especially during and after the party scene.
Look, I'm sure Rob's a great guy, I LOVED him as Cedric Diggory and I know he's got talent, I just think he's not Edward...much like I think Kristen Stewart isn't Bella. I'll give them this, though - they try REALLY, REALLY hard to be believable.
Here's the thing...for all those Jacob haters and Edward lovers (and vice versa) the real star of New Moon is Jacob. Taylor Lautner does a heck of a good job as the lead to match Bella when Edward hits the dusty trail. I'd have happily sat through a third hour of TTS:NM if director Weitz had seen fit to give us more of that relationship on camera. Jacob is strong - physically and emotionally - and his acting has really improved. The little blips that you can catch, where things get a little too dippy, are really places where he's not in range. He's a young guy, playing a young guy...he's allowed to let the melodrama ooze occasionally to make his point. He looks great, he's believable and the only time that Stewart seems comfortable and natural in the Bella role is when she's sharing a scene with him. The two really seem to work well together - kudos.
The Volturi/Volterra scenes are a disappointment. Dakota Fanning isn't really good or bad, just there. The other pieces of the time in Italy are really rather boring and the scenes seem forced and ragged. There's not enough depth depicted in the scene that should have been filled with tangible fear - Jane attacking Bella. I wasn't scared of the Volturi, I was amused by their ridiculous hair and overly marbled digs. The scenes could have been a lot better but in reality felt thrown together.
Other things to watch for... The CGI wolves were really very good, the fight scenes are all well done and were better than I expected. The wolf pack is quite funny and entertaining for the few minutes they are on screen ("Wolf's outta the bag, now." hahahahaha!) and Charlie has some great lines in this movie.
New Moon was a much better movie than Twilight. The actors are each coming into their roles (though some more painfully slow than others) but the make-up is better, the clothes are better and Peter Faccinelli looks less like a soap opera vampire and more like a pale guy who dresses really well.
B+
The film has it's good stuff - Bella and Jacob in comfortable space with great chemistry; it's bad stuff - the less good, less believable Bella/Edward chemistry; and the plain old ugly stuff - Rosalie and Jasper...ugh, and don't even get me started on the Volturi.
The film works. It's definitely better than last year's disastrous Twilight. Bella seems to have more depth and a lot less lip biting, and while Edward is still as maladjusted as ever and Pattinson lacks any real depth as this character, there are some nice scenes with he and Stewart, especially during and after the party scene.
Look, I'm sure Rob's a great guy, I LOVED him as Cedric Diggory and I know he's got talent, I just think he's not Edward...much like I think Kristen Stewart isn't Bella. I'll give them this, though - they try REALLY, REALLY hard to be believable.
Here's the thing...for all those Jacob haters and Edward lovers (and vice versa) the real star of New Moon is Jacob. Taylor Lautner does a heck of a good job as the lead to match Bella when Edward hits the dusty trail. I'd have happily sat through a third hour of TTS:NM if director Weitz had seen fit to give us more of that relationship on camera. Jacob is strong - physically and emotionally - and his acting has really improved. The little blips that you can catch, where things get a little too dippy, are really places where he's not in range. He's a young guy, playing a young guy...he's allowed to let the melodrama ooze occasionally to make his point. He looks great, he's believable and the only time that Stewart seems comfortable and natural in the Bella role is when she's sharing a scene with him. The two really seem to work well together - kudos.
The Volturi/Volterra scenes are a disappointment. Dakota Fanning isn't really good or bad, just there. The other pieces of the time in Italy are really rather boring and the scenes seem forced and ragged. There's not enough depth depicted in the scene that should have been filled with tangible fear - Jane attacking Bella. I wasn't scared of the Volturi, I was amused by their ridiculous hair and overly marbled digs. The scenes could have been a lot better but in reality felt thrown together.
Other things to watch for... The CGI wolves were really very good, the fight scenes are all well done and were better than I expected. The wolf pack is quite funny and entertaining for the few minutes they are on screen ("Wolf's outta the bag, now." hahahahaha!) and Charlie has some great lines in this movie.
New Moon was a much better movie than Twilight. The actors are each coming into their roles (though some more painfully slow than others) but the make-up is better, the clothes are better and Peter Faccinelli looks less like a soap opera vampire and more like a pale guy who dresses really well.
B+