So I finally joined the Redbox craze and now I think I'm hooked. Here are a few of the movies I've watched lately that I've loved...
Before we headed to the movie we stopped and grabbed some food at Denny's(we weren't sure what would be open and knew Denny's was a sure bet) and had a lot of fun eating, talking and goofing off(you would've thought we were a bunch of teenagers!) I don't know if our craziness was a result of the time of day(night), or the fact that we were finally going to be spending some quality time with Edward, or the fact that there were no hubby's or kids around, or a combination of all! :) Anyway here is a more detailed review of the movie from my perspective...
Warning: There will be spoilers from this point on...
I loved...
The way the movie started. The first shot was a beautiful picture in the very green, wet Pacific Northwest forests. Then Bella starts narrating telling the story of why she was moving from Phoenix to Forks.
I liked the lines that were taken right from the book(at least the ones that weren't too cheesy.) I admit that I actually reread Twilight the week before the movie so I could see how well the movie followed the book. Also I needed a refresher because after reading all the books everything just kind of ran together for me.
Supporting cast(Bella's friends)-they were totally not how I expected(but I think I liked them more in the movie than in the book.) It made for a lot of humor. Who knew that Eric was Asian and a metrosexual? I thought the guy playing Charlie's character also did a great job.
The "baseball scene"-it was really cool with cool music.
The "kiss scene"(which they did get VERY right...it was really drawn out and you could feel the tension until their lips finally met.)
The first half of the "ballet studio" scene(before the venom sucking.)
The "prom scene" which was super duper romantic and beautiful. Finally the chemistry was oozing and the Edward that I wanted finally showed up.
I also liked how they showed Victoria at the end. I thought it was a great lead into New Moon(which is now officially going to be done.) The movie did $75 million just last weekend(which exceeded all estimations.) Kristen and Rob are reportedly getting $10 million for New Moon(they got $2 million for Twilight.) Lets hope they have a bigger budget and that the effects and such will be better. :)
What I thought was hilarious/cheesy...
The "biology" scene-I haven't laughed that hard in a long time! I died laughing watching Edward's reaction to Bella entering the room. Instead of trying to restrain himself because she was so irresistible he was covering his nose and acting like she had just walked straight to class after bathing in the sewer. Then she very obviously started smelling her hair. Seriously, I couldn't believe what I was seeing-it seemed like a spoof.
Jasper's facial expressions and awkwardness-you just have to see it to know what I'm talking about.
The Special Effects(vampires swift movements, tree hopping, sparkling Edward etc.) They weren't done very well and were really cheesy.
What I disliked/missed from the book...
The lack of romance, passion and chemistry between Edward and Bella(which is the basis of the whole story.) It moved way to fast but I guess that's what you get when you make a 2 hour movie out of a near 500 page book that is centered around the progression of their relationship. The focus was the events of the book, not the emotions of the book.
Bella could have showed a little more excitement once in a while(she was supposedly madly in love right?)
I don't think the danger of Edward and Bella's relationship was portrayed very well.
The lack of character development with all the characters.
The quality of acting was a little lacking.
I was really disappointed with the "meadow scene"(which is one of the ones that I was looking forward to the most.) It was really short and seemed really bitter with a glimpse of happiness as opposed to how it was in the book(very sweet, happy and exciting with a touch of the usual Edward induced hesitation.)
The second half of the "ballet studio" scene. It was really cool until Edward started(and couldn't stop, and was quite enjoying) sucking the venom out of Bella and pretty much had to be stopped by Carlisle in the cheesiest way("Edward, remember who you are!"), it was a little over done. Also in the background there was a strange happy dance around a burning James taking place.
There were some parts that were changed that I thought were unnecessary(like when Jacob was introduced, finding out from other sources what Edward was instead of Jacob telling her, Bella having a cell phone etc.) However I don't think they really effected the story in a negative way.
Summary...
You could tell it was a low budget film and I don't think there was enough development of Bella and Edwards relationship. The movie followed the book pretty well and there were even a lot of word for word phrases from the book. I think most of the characters were cast pretty well but not perfectly(for me.) Check out Caitlin's personal cast picks here(not bad!) Bella's friends(Jessica, Angela, Eric, Tyler, Mike) were completely different than I pictured but were pretty hilarious and acted like typical teenagers. The movie seemed to get better(as far as acting) as it went on and I loved the end. I had a hard time with Edward at the beginning of the movie but he gradually grew on me and I liked him by the end. I think those few people that haven't read the book might be a little confused during the movie. All that said I loved seeing my favorite story played out before me. Even though so many parts were hard for me to watch, I still loved watching it and will probably see it again and end up buying it so I can watch it in my basement on my big screen. :)
After the movie it took us forever to get out of the parking garage and then we got stuck behind a train that was barely moving. Needless to say it was a long fun drive home with three other very tired girls that couldn't stop laughing about various parts of the movie. I finally got home at 4:30am and for a very short couple of hours ended up dreaming about vampires. For real, I had my own family of Cullens.
I would love to hear what you all thought of the movie!
I'm a little slow on getting my Twilight movie review up. I'm waiting for my sister to email me some pictures. Hopefully I will have it posted today or tomorrow. In the mean time here are some yummy pictures from a photo shoot. This is the kind of chemistry(and passion) I was hoping for in the movie...
I am among the crazy girls that are going to one of the midnight showings of Twilight on opening night. We have a Girls Night Out planned and thought there were nine of us so we bought nine tickets. Turns out two can't make it so we have two extra tickets we need to sell. We are going to the 12:35 showing at the Gateway opening night or morning(however you want to look at it.) It is Thurs.(11/20) night-Fri.(11/21)morning. When we bought the tickets hardly any tickets were sold to the showing we picked and we got to choose the best seats. Anyway we got awesome seats(reserved-no waiting in line to just get crappy seats) on row G in the middle of the row. Pretty much almost right in the middle of the theatre. If anyone is interesting in joining us let me know. Tickets are $8.75 each. We will probably make a night out of it and go up earlier and eat or shop or something. Or if you would like you can just do your own thing.
