twilight

as a result of circumstances and timing i ended up seeing the 12:01 am showing of twilight on thursday night/friday morning, and my experience was mixed. i found that much like twilight: the book, i can't really explain why i liked twilight: the movie, but i did. enough to see it a second time in a couple of days. i've come up with a list of positives and negatives to help me sort through the dichotomy that is twilight.

on the negative...
1. jasper and jacob: jasper was by far the most poorly cast character. looking at him i was honestly baffled as to how he got this gig. can anyone say 'nepotism'? as for jacob, at the moment, i'm sad. i've always preferred him to edward, but this actor just isn't doing it for me. maybe by movie 2 when the character comes into his own i'll feel him a bit more, but i'm really skeptical at the moment.

2. money money money: i know this was low budget, and i didn't expect much. the two areas i felt could have been better approached, even on a low budget were carlisle's makeup and edward's twinkling. to the first, i just don't understand why 1) they made him so much paler than the others, and 2) where the makeup artist learned (or didn't learn) to blend. as cousin jenny pointed out 'i could SEE the line!' frankly, there's no excuse for that. as to the second, i just have to believe there was a better way to handle edward's 'i sparkle like diamonds in the sunshine' bit.

4. would you like crackers with that cheese: i knew the cheese factor would be high, although admittedly there was less than expected. however, when present, it was so sharp that it made me throw up a little in my mouth.

5. huge chunks of plotline/conversation left out: this is the fate of every book to movie journey, i know. but i felt like the bad guys vs. good guys portion of the story was inconsequential and irrelevant, included only to set a precedence for future plot lines, not because it actually had any merit on its own. i remember reading the books and feeling bella's fear while james terrorized her and edward's panic to protect her, but i felt none of that in the movie. i mean, so what he broke her leg. instead they spent sooo much time building the relationship portion, it was as if these other vamps were an afterthought. don't get me wrong, i loved the relationship building, i just thought the balance was off.

6. the soundtrack was trying to hard to be cool and failing (see #3 below for the one exception)

and on the positive...
1. edward, bella, alice, and jessica were all phenomenally cast: i'm semi-biased about pattinson because i had a crush on cedrick diggory long before he became edward cullen, but in general the casting was quite good. those named above are simply the 'stand outs' for me.

2. awesome chemistry between bella and edward: those stares gave me chills, and they definitely reminded me how intense and consuming it feels when you are a teenager in love.

3. a gorgeous piano piece (i downloaded it immediately - 'bella's lullaby', carter burwell) accompanying a perfect scene: honestly, if i had to pick one thing that sold the movie for me, it was this scene. i found it amazing that though there was no dialog and the scene was simply edward playing the piano for bella, you could feel her falling more in love with him. maybe i relate because i'm a sucker for men who play piano. i'd be falling more in love too!

4. huge chunks of plotline/conversation left out: it's no secret that in the book i found bella to be whiny and edward to be controlling. not having to hear bella's thoughts constantly, made me like her so much more! and rather than being a dominating chauvinist, edward got to be the white knight hero that he should have been in the book.

5. a few really great moments: there were some significant failures and some spectacular successes. i suppose to an extent i expected the failures, so the successes came as a wonderful surprise. there were a few moments i had to pause and acknowledge that something had been well played. standout moments for me included the baseball game (one of my favorite parts of the book), edward's sleep watching, billy's wheelchair antics, charlie (everything about charlie), and the scenes where edward and bella were talking, but all we heard was music. it was a brilliant way to advance the relationship without having to get too nitty gritty.

6. james looks like brad pitt, and that ain't bad.

now am i right, or am i right?

overall, i liked it. there is something to be said for low expectations, but given the parameters (a poorly written book and a low budget) i enjoyed the movie a great deal. i expect much more from the second movie, although despite my history with jacob, i am sort of sad now that edward will be missing for so much of the flick. that being said, i hope jacob can redeem himself, carlisle gets better makeup, somehow it will start making sense how jasper got cast, and that nobody messes with the stuff they got right this time around!