Twilight: A Movie Review

Last Friday, I headed off to the theater with a bunch of girl friends. Our destination was "Twilight" (and Edward, in all his on-the-screen glory). All but one of us had read the Twilight books and we were very excited.

From the very first scene, I loved Kristen Stewart as Bella. She fit the role perfectly and really embodied how I had pictured Bella in my mind. It took me awhile to warm up to Robert Pattinson as Edward, though. I actually can't really think of a good reason why. By the end of the movie, I thought he was great. Maybe it was because I kept thinking of him as Cedric Diggory. Maybe it was because I didn't expect Edward to be quite so obviously tortured. Anyway, by the end, I was rooting for Edward and wishing that "New Moon" was already being filmed.

I read only one review before going to see the movie. It wasn't a terrible review, but it also wasn't a glowing review. Personally, this is how I prefer my reviews. Too good and I'm always disappointed by the actual movie. Too bad and I don't even want to go see the movie. This reviewer had a big problem with the special effects in "Twilight." And I agree, for the most part. The special effects are slightly cheesy and not that exciting. The part where Edward and Bella are sitting in a tree and talking is cool. The part where Edward runs up the tree with Bella on his back...not so cool. When I heard how much money the movie made during opening weekend, all I could think was, thank goodness, hopefully, they can afford better special effects for the next movie. The reviewer also had problems with the baseball scene. I personally thought it was really cool. Of course, that's probably because I was expecting it to be bad based on what the review said.

Perhaps the most telling thing about the movie, though, is that my friends and I all left the movie theater happy. One girl is a HUGE fan and we were worried that the movie wouldn't live up to her expectations. It did. One girl hadn't read the books and we were worried that she wouldn't get the hoopla. She did. She even gushed as we walked out, "I want to marry Edward!"

However, the best part of the movie for us was when Charlie shows Bella to her room in one of the first few scenes and the camera panned to a "Reading is Sexy" sticker on Bella's corkboard. My friends and I all have that pin and so we sort of squealed when we saw it. It was also pretty cool to see a bunch of people lined up outside our theater an hour before the next showing, sitting there and reading and talking about the book. I'm sure they were all thinking the same thing as me when I left the theater. Oh, I can't wait to see New Moon. (Although, how are they going to make Jacob age so much??!! He's such a baby face in "Twilight.")

Movie Rating:

Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer Book Review

Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
(Hachette, Hardcover)
Rating:

When last we left Bella, she was engaged to be married to everyone's favorite vampire, Edward. Jacob had ran off into the wilderness and the Volturi were minding their own business in Italy. Breaking Dawn begins with a wedding and ends with a supernatural throwdown. Basically, a little something for everyone.

Breaking Dawn started with a midnight party for me. I joined about 100 other Twilight fans and made tissue paper corsages, racked my brain to remember minute trivia, and dressed to the nines (okay, it wasn't exactly to the nines. It was a simple black dress, but I did have sparkly powder for my arms and face so I had a shiny, vampire glow). And then I didn't pick up Breaking Dawn again until two weeks later. When I did pick it up, I couldn't put it down.

The Good: Bella as a vampire. This was my favorite part about the book. It was so much fun watching Bella find her place in the world. I never really understood the perks and drawbacks of being a vampire until we witnessed it through Bella's eyes. Sometimes Bella's actions made her seem as if she'd been a vampire for centuries and sometimes she acted like a child with a new toy. That juxtaposition really drove home the fact that Bella was born to be a vampire. She has an amazing super power and becoming a vampire wasn't nearly as hard as she expected. Bella makes being a vampire seem fun, whereas Edward always made it sound undesirable. Jacob's section was another of my favorite parts. Without giving anything away, let's just say that the middle section of the book would have been boring if it had been from Bella's perspective. Jacob's voice gave it a sense of urgency and an element of fear.

The Bad: The plot was a little too crazy for me. If I hadn't already been invested in the outcome of the series, I probably wouldn't have gotten past the first section. There was a certain young character whose entrance in the story was weird, graphic, and not in keeping with the tone of the series. And who made Bella keep too many secrets from Edward, something that after reading the other books I'm not convinced that she could have done. The ending was also too neat. I'm not a fan of killing off key characters, but let's face it, books are better when there is loss involved. The sad parts make you appreciate the happy ending all the more. The loophole that Alice used to make the Volturi admit defeat just wasn't terribly exciting. Another silly thing that bothered me...I was hoping that Bella's dislike of blood as a human would be one of her super powers as a vampire. I thought it would be cool (and pretty smart) if she hated the smell of human blood and was never tempted to kill humans. And Renesmee's diet of "donated human blood" wasn't well thought out. If it was that easy, why wouldn't all the other vampires just do the same?

In Conclusion: Overall, this is a fun book if you've read and enjoyed the first three. Stephenie Meyer once again does what she's good at, leaves cliffhangers at the end of each chapter in order to keep you reading. Edward fans will rejoice and Jacob fans will find a new object for their fervor. Although Breaking Dawn feels like it completes the story arc, I wouldn't mind reading a book about Bella (and Jacob and Renesmee) that was set ten years in the future.

Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer Book Review

Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
(Hardcover, Hachette)
Rating:

In Eclipse, Bella is torn between her love for Edward and her friendship with Jacob. A group of vampires is hunting for Bella, and Edward and Jacob are determined to protect her, even if it means forging an unlikely alliance. The other conflict that has been ongoing in the series and continues in Eclipse is Bella's desire to become a vampire and Edward's wish to keep her human. This was probably my least favorite of the three books because I'm not too keen on the love triangle aspect. I mean, Jacob is a great guy but I can't really picture him as anything other than a friend to Bella. I also kept wishing that Bella would become a vampire. I understand Edward's desire to have her not miss out on any human experiences, but geez, if he doesn't change her then she is eventually going to die and he will supposedly commit suicide then. Come on, wouldn't an eternity of being vampires together be way better than getting old and dying or committing suicide? Plus, I've got this idea that Bella's aversion to blood will mean that once she is a vampire she won't want to feast on humans.

Aren't the covers amazing?

My review of Twilight
My review of New Moon
My review of Breaking Dawn

New Moon by Stephenie Meyer Book Review

New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
(Hardcover, Hachette)
Rating:

New Moon starts off with immediate suspense and Bella is put in danger. Wanting to protect her, Edward decides that his presence is what puts Bella at risk and so he leaves town. Bella slides into a deep depression and the only thing that saves her is her friendship with Jacob, a boy from the local reservation. Jacob is also a werewolf, the archnemesis of vampires.

I think New Moon is my favorite book of the series. I've heard people say that they don't like it because Edward isn't it in as much, but that didn't really bother me. Probably because of that amazing character development of Stephenie Meyer's. Bella's depression was crucial to my understanding of how much she loved Edward and how imperative he is in her life (otherwise, the events and declarations in Book 3 would have seemed a little false). What really struck me was the use of white space on the page to show not only the passing of time but also Bella's bleak outlook. Pages 85-92 simply contain one word on every other page: October, November, December, and January. And then the next chapter is titled "Waking Up" and consists of 5 sentences starting with "Time passes". It's such a bleak and desperate few pages. I have only one word for this - GENIUS.

My review of Twilight
My review of Eclipse

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer Book Review

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
(Hardcover, Hachette)
Rating:

I'd read review after review of Stephenie Meyer's book Twilight and I was even aware that some stores hosted Harry-Potteresque-midnight-parties for the release of the third book in the Twilight series, Eclipse. But I had never read them until this December. I always said, nah vampires aren't my thing. Boy, was I wrong. I started reading Twilight because someone had given me a copy of New Moon and I hate to start series in the middle. After the first 15 pages, I was completely sucked in. Bella is immediately lovable with her clumsiness and new-girl-in-school worries. And Edward, let's just say he's probably most girls' dream guy. Handsome, brooding, intelligent,and willing to stand between a careening vehicle and Bella. The main conflict in this first book is that Edward simultaneously wants to be with Bella and drain Bella's blood from her. Oh, and while he's trying to control himself, he also has to protect her from other blood-sucking vampires. Interestingly, Edward and his vampire family are "vegetarians" and forgo human blood.

The reason I found this book so compelling is, quite simply, Stephenie Meyer's writing. She moves the plot along at a speed that both allows you to enjoy the text and also keeps you furiously flipping pages to find out what happens next. I also enjoyed the literary references to Romeo & Juliet. Perhaps the most engaging feature of this series is her character development. Stephenie Meyer shows the very worst sides of her characters, yet still manages to make them likable. Their problems become our problems and their wishes become our wishes. Definitely worth reading even if you're not into vampires.

My review of New Moon
My review of Eclipse