Friday, November 20, 2009

New Moon

*WARNING* Read at your own risk if you haven't seen the movie yet (or read the book).


New Moon was pretty much exactly what I expected it to be--meaning, the parts I thought would still annoy me did, and the parts that I thought would be so much better were.

The movie was already better than its predecessor as soon as it began, with the absence of the bluish, grainy, indie filming style that Catherine Hardwicke used for Twilight. Don't get me wrong, I like those types of movies too, but I was super excited to see the more action-packed, special effect-enhanced New Moon in clean, vibrant colors, filmed the traditional way.

This is what new director Chris Weitz brought to the saga. And I loved it. I'm excited he stayed on for Eclipse too (which is also done filming, FYI). But despite the aesthetic changes to the film,
enough stayed the same so that we still had our beloved Twilight.

Like, the actors. Everyone portrayed their character exactly the same. Unfortunately this held true for Kristen Stewart. I'm sorry, but for me, personally, watching her act is the equivalent of watching cousins go out on a date--horribly awkward. Instead of crying, she breathes heavily. When she's overcome with...feelings about Edward, she breathes heavily. When she's in physical pain, she breathes heavily and screams (a scream that makes me want to cut my ears off). The interesting thing is, this isn't her acting. This is her. (Have you seen an interview with her? I've never seen someone look so uncomfortable just being...alive.) My favorite scene with her, that I actually liked her, was when she was yelling at Jacob in the rain about his hair and tattoo. Because she was yelling. And showing emotion. And looking normal. It was great.

Speaking of Jacob (cue screaming girls) I won't spend time on the obvious, i.e. smoking hot body. I will say that it made me uncomfortable when I realized I was in a room full of primarily married women over 30 or teenage girls under 18 and knew we were all thinking the same things every time they showed Jacob with his shirt off. Moving on.

What I will say about Jacob, Movie Jacob, that is, is that I. LOVE. HIM. Let it be known that I am officially and will forever be TEAM EDWARD. In my opinion, if you are basing it solely on the books, it's a no-brainer. Edward all the way. But in New Moon, I would be lying if I said I didn't think Bella was a little bit deranged for choosing a hairy-chested-sickly-looking-scrawny-in-comparison-to-the-hot-buff-werewolf vampire over, well, Jacob. I think there was actually steam coming off the screen every time it showed him. (If you don't believe me, you should have heard the teenage girls behind me. Yikes.) Taylor Lautner is an AMAZING Jacob, and single-handedly made me consider Team Switzerland. He was awesome. Funny, light-hearted, heart-breaking, emotional, and of course, the aforementioned HOT. So, yay Taylor.

But I still love me some Edward, especially Edward played by Robert Pattinson. I still think he is the perfect Edward, I still think he is gorgeous, I still swoon every time he does one of his intense, emotionally-charged scenes, the parts of the books that made me fall in love with him. (It's okay--my husband knows this. Fortunately for me he's not threatened by fictional characters.) He is still the meat of this franchise and the reason I love it. I would choose you over Jacob, Edward, I would!

However, I'm interested to learn why he looked like the true corpse that he is for most of the movie. Albeit very effective, the sickly pallor he took on after leaving Bella actually made me feel sick just looking at him (or was that my migraine? Hard to tell.) But I'm wondering if anyone informed the makeup artists that Edward is a vampire. As in, dead. As in, no blood. As in, he wouldn't look any different, no matter how broken his dormant heart is. I appreciate that he was so unable to live without her that he looked physically ill, but, come on, people, it's just not vampirely correct. Besides, he looked like death on a stick. I never dreamed I'd be wishing for the lipstick to be back.

The supporting characters were still fab. Chief Comic Relief as I fondly refer to him (aka Charlie, aka Bella's dad, aka Billy Burke) is back, witty as always. Jessica Stanley (Anna Kendrick) is even funnier this time around, if possible. My biggest laughs came from her, as well as Eric (Justin Chon) and Mike (Michael Welch). Hilarious. The Cullen clan weren't really around long enough to leave much of an impression on me, except for Jasper, who...what the heck?! It's seriously as if the director didn't think he was weird enough in the first movie, so thought that changing his wig to a mop would help cure that. Congratulations, Chris Weitz, it was a success. And did I detect a southern drawl at one point? Funny. I don't remember Jasper having a southern drawl in Twilight. (Yes, I realize his character is from the south but that still doesn't explain the sudden transformation between the two movies.)

Of course I wouldn't be a true Twilight fan if I didn't hate every time the movie strayed from the books. Like, Bella hopping on the motorcycle with the scary guy? And Edward immediately telling Bella he still loved her after she saves him? And Bella emailing Alice all the time? And Jane (Dakota Fanning) having to say "pain" to use her power? I know that is minor but for some reason it bugged me because it was completely unnecessary. And what is the deal with Edward's car?! First it's a hatchback, now it's a BLACK hatchback?! Have these people no respect for the most crucial details of the books? Apparently not.

But despite this, I loved it. Every second of it. I can't wait to see it again. There were definitely things I thought they could have adapted better, but all in all I thought it was better than Twilight and totally worth the astronomical chore of getting 312 people to go with me so I could see it 6 hours earlier. If you haven't seen it yet...why not?! I'll totally go with you.

Movie Queen's Rating: PG


*Check my other blog later today for my review of my night.

13 comments:

MARISA said...

Wow, you are quick to review! Thanks you sooooooo much for organinzing the early movie time. It felt great walking out at 8:30pm, while the others were freezing in line.

I agree, Jacob is h to the o to the t! Kinda awkward that he is so young, but whatever. I really agree with your review. Jacob's chest hair is gross! Can't wait to see Eclipse either.

AOlson said...

First of all, thtnk you and Kim for organizing that for everyone. You guys rock!! Second, I have to say, I COMPLETELY agree with your review, 100%.

PRP said...

Thanks for pulling it all off, Alicia. We had a great time going at a normal time. I would be dead if we'd gone at midnight.

I agree with your review although I've always leaned towards Jacob rather than Edward. I liked him better in the books and now better in the movie. I know, it's practically blasphemous to say that here but either way, Taylor Lautner was fantastic.

And Jasper's hair? Seriously? Did no one see him come out of his trailer looking like that? Still bothered by it.

Vanessa said...

I love your review! I was totally uncomfortable with the fact that Taylor Lautner is younger than 18. Seriously, is he on steroids?

I thought the same thing you did about the lipstick for Edward. What was with Bella climbing on that guy's motorcycle? He was old enough to be her dad! Couldn't they have found a good looking guy? Not even a suicidal Bella would jump on a motorcycle with that loser.

I was surprised how much I laughed, they did a GREAT JOB with the script. No monkey references! The fake movie titles "Love spelled backwards is love" and "Face Punch" still have me cracking up today.

Busy Bee Lauren said...

Unfortunately, Chris Weitz isn't directing Eclipse. It's some other dude with the last name Slade? I know it starts with an S. All I know is that he directed some horror movie...and has a darker reputation. I am scared to see what he did to Eclipse.

Anyway...I loved it! I didn't mind that they added the "pain" thing to Jane. I think it will help others who haven't read the books, understand.

I was sad they made Edward look so sickly. They could have given him black contacts to translate that he wasn't eating. Not make him look like death. Sigh..

{ bRee } said...

Once again, an awesome review! You have such a talent cuz! Your paragraph about Jacob was hilarious! LOVED IT!

Amy J. said...

Alicia I am still impressed that you put that whole thing together last night...you did a great job!

I really enjoyed the movie, but not half as much as I enjoyed reading your review.

hatch said...

First of all THANK-YOU for making it possible for all of us to see that movie at a decent hour. I ran into my neighbor this afternoon who went to the mid-nigh showing, and she looked like death she was soo tired. So nice to enjoy the movie and be able to function still today!

"watching cousins go on a date"- You crack me up! You are right about her acting too.
Thanks again Alicia!

Amy said...

The night was awesome! I felt like I stayed out all night, and I was actually home before 11. I loved getting to see Leppert/Myers. Awesome.

As always, LOVE your movie reviews. They crack me up.

Marilyn said...

Alicia, I saw the movie last night here in Mexico and you would be happy to know that Twilight/New Moon fever is alive and well here south of the border.

The movie was sold out, people sitting in the aisles and the teenage girls screamed loudly...especially when Jacob came on the screen. It would be safe to say that the girls here are DEFINITELY team Jacob.

Anyways, I liked the movie, although K.S. just gets worse for me each time I watch her act. I would be completely fine if they switched her out for someone better.

I loved reading your review!

tharker said...

Your entire paragraph about Kristen Stewart is dead on!

Thank you so much for putting this together. I had a great time, and enjoyed the movie much more than Twilight. I could have done without Jasper's painful constipation face and his atrocious hair...but other than that I really enjoyed it.

ashley said...

Thanks for the review Alicia, I loved reading it, it's great. I also loved Chris Weitz as the director, the movie quality was amazing! There was definitely things I liked about this movie, and other things I didn't, but considering it was my least favorite book out of the series, I was really impressed! And was it just me, or was the actual screenwriting of the show so much better in New Moon? Things weren't as "cheezy" as in Twilight, and I felt that the story moved along really well.

I loved your paragraph about Kristen, that screaming thing was just awkward, I hated it. And I also didn't like the spinning filming, I got nauseous! But I did think Kristen looked beautiful in some of the shots.

Speaking of beautiful, Edward is still a babe! I loved him, and missed his character in this movie, along with all the Cullens. But I did love the chemistry between Kristen and Jacob, I walked out of the movie actually feeling bad for Jacob! Overall, I'm so excited to see Eclipse now...but what's with this horror director Lauren mentioned!? Yikes.

Kat said...

i totally agreed with everything about this review. what was up with jasper's hair? even more creepy then in twilight.

but the whole "team edward, but jacob's still hot" is so not right. my friend kim is excactly like that, she just announced this morning at school. my friend erika called her a betrayer, since she's team jacob all the way (so am i!).