The Twilight Saga: Eclipse Review, Pt. Two - Pros and Cons

Quick Update: What a memorable fourth of July I'm having. Female parental and loser boyfriend got in a fight, so I went with said female parental around the block, saw/heard a couple colorful explosions, and then back home it was. Fun. Still, happy Independence day to all, I suppose.

So, as promises, here is the second installment of my opinion on the third installment of the The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. (There's a tongue twister).

I decided to go with a overused tactic...PROS AND CONS OF THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE!

I never fathomed how small/short Kristen Stewart was...

Pro: Scenes like Bella and her mother, Jasper/Rosalie/Quileute stories, Bella's proposition to Edward, and the fight scene between Victoria and Edward were kept rather similar and intact to the original book.

Con: Yes, but scenes like, per say, Edward and Bella's note-passing, Jacob accidentally stabbing his hand and Bella's dangerous "fit", Alice's excitement over the wedding, and Jake ditching Forks at the end...nada.

Pro: Half the movie is not just Bella, Edward, and Jacob competing in emo staring contests *cough* Not that New Moon and Twilight were...

Con: Half the movie was instead spent flipping back and forth between short, cut scenes and never quite focusing on just one. Whatever happened to character and relationship development?

Aww...how romantic....

Pro: Pretty much any scene with the Newborns was friggin' amazing. Such as when they were making a mess with their food, or when their heads turned to dust under the grasp of an enemy.

Con: Er...why exactly did Bella CUT HERSELF in the movie? In the book she was about to, she had a jagged rock ready, but never actually CUT HERSELF. Can we say WRIST-SLITTERS!?

Pro: Werewolves forgot their shirts a lot.

Con: Vampires remembered.



Pro: There was actually a part where Bella expressed emotion (punching Jacob).

Con: Well...it didn't exactly last long.... (no offense, Stewart's awesome, just not in the the Twilight Saga).

Pro: Charlie and Jacob's lines had the entire midnight showing audience laughing their intestines out. I.E "And let's face it...you know I'm hotter than you".

Con: Plenty of corny screenwriting as well, enough to fill the bucket of greasy popcorn. I.E "I'm gonna fight for you."

And lastly...

Main Pro: The actors really got a chance to show off their skills. I suppose after their stints with Remember Me and the Runaways, Robert and Kristin at least proved they could act, and were willing to show it off. And, yeah, the fight scene was wicked cool.

Main Con: As always, the atmosphere and screenplay clashed. Honestly, the books are more light and fluffy than dark and full of angst. The first movie was depressing in both screenplay and setting. The second had a light atmosphere...but extremely depressing screenplay. And this movie had the funny screenplay it needed...but there was still some gloomy/angry performances that weren't always necessary. Hint: stop speaking in the monotone every other minute! Much thanks to Robert Pattinson for listening to that for this movie. He was nearly alone though.



Well, hope my opinion angered no one. I still loved this movie, and would recommend it first when deciding which Twilight flick to watch. Sadly, David Slade will not be directing Breaking Dawn *sob* but with Breaking Dawn being split into two films, hopefully the newbie will have common sense to do them right!

Hope you liked this post, and know what to expect of the Twilight Saga: Eclipse if you have yet to see it. Tune in tomorrow for a new post...still not entirely sure of its subject though, actually. Bye!

Yep, I Saw The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, And...

Quick Update: Um..okay, all blog posts have been postponed until now due to A) lack of internet, B) lack of connected keyboard, and C) my own procrastination. Hope no one is too displeased.

So, the theater is dark. A preview for Charlie St. Cloud plays (and doesn't look too bad), my female parental is quickly outside taking one last smoke of her cigarette, butter is pretty much pasted on my fingers, and I'm up at one o'clock in the morning to watch some romantic film called the Twilight Saga:Eclipse. Is it worth it?



...Hell yes.

Okay, so you could say this is a biased review. I mean, there's the fact that I've been part of the fandom since the first flick came out, that I'm a teenage girl, or the blueprints I have of Robert Pattinson's house (totally joking on that last part). But aren't the haters also biased? If they disliked the previous movies, there's a weight that carries onto this film. So maybe a positive review would be nice, eh?

First off, David Slade is brilliant. I only saw a half hour of 30 Days of Night (grrr, had no choice, it was on TV) but there are a couple music videos of his that I love (Stone Temple Pilot's SOUR GIRL and AFI's GIRL'S NOT GREY, to be exact). He did an above average job at bringing a more vampire-ish atmosphere and horror elements to The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. Scenes - like the opening clip of newborn Riley writhing in agony on the harbor, or the fighting scene in which the Cullens and werewolf pack snap heads clear off the enemy - would have scared original director Catharine Hardwicke silly.

Isn't the Twilight Saga: Eclipse's Xavier Samuel (as Riley) fine? *cough* Um, back to the review.

I personally love how Slade gave the actors more leniency. It's brutal honesty, but in the first two movies characters were pretty one-dimensional and emotionless. Maybe Stephanie Meyer's writing style isn't flawless, but she had at least managed to create more fleshed-out characters (whether Bella is a "Mary Sue" character or not, she did have a sarcastic point-of-view sometimes, and tended to be scared easily, for instance). Robert definitely got in more time to be a rough, protective vampire (see scene below, between Edward and Jacob after Jacob steals a smooch from Bella). If anything, it was Taylor who lacked as much flavor in his one-liner deliveries, as funny as they were. Here is where Edward threatens Jacob (video is not mine):



My favorite part of this third installment was definitely the back stories, and how they played out on-screen. Eclipse is my favorite book in the series, mostly for this same reason. There are chapters that focus just on the histories of Rosalie, Jasper, and the werewolves as a whole. And while not every detail made it in, the dramatics were amazing. We got to see Rosalie take her ironic bride's revenge out on her fiance, Jasper kill newborns for Maria and how much it pained him, and the "cold ones" when they first conflicted with the "spirit warriors".

Heehee, my first funny image of Twilight Saga: Eclipse. Captions are pretty cheap though.

That said, it has its flaws. Kristin doesn't get Bella's torn feelings across that well. Not that we have enough time to see her go back and forth between Edward and Jake (though a part where Edward makes a show his kissing abilities with Bella when the dog's watching). And a lot of the funnier parts seemed to have too much intensity with them. Take the scene embed earlier; in the book, it's a funny and ironic one. Jacob immaturely kissed Bella, and she got pissed in a way only a teen girl could. and there was a string of insults that followed as she had Edward pick her up. And yeah, he got protective, but he also had a funny, CALM monologue about what he'd to Jacob should he ever harm Bella again.



This post is starting to get too long, so I'll put the review to a halt for now. Tune in tomorrow (and yes, I promise tomorrow there shall be a post!) for more pros and cons on The Twilight Saga: Eclipse ! For now, other blog posts are waiting to be read!

Oh, and a major thanks to my new followers. I don't now how to repay the fact, except for following you back! :) Hope people reading this enjoyed!

TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE #1 - The Maniacal Volturi

Quick Update: My friend and I went in hysterics during a late-night (midnight-ish, and hey, we're teenagers, we're allowed) after a fan video she made for one of the stars for Twilight was re-tweeted by the celebrity himself. So, inspiration struck!

Twilight.

What do you automatically think of when I say that? You have four options:

A) Wha-what! But I do believe it's still early afternoon!
B) AH! OMG! OMG! I LOVE IT! I LOVE IT! I LOOOOOOOVE IT!
C) Ick. Really? Are we going to talk about this? F*** YOU!
D) Eh. Whatever. Not sure how I got here anyways... *quickly erases any searches for Robert Pattinson shirtless on Google History*

Okay, mostly Twilight brings to mind the subtle-plotted, somewhat dramactic blockbuster series (both book and movie series) about some bookish chick who has the hots for an immortal. However, as a fangirl there are two details about this mega-hit that I do like...1) awesome soundtrack/score songs, especially Paramore's "DECODE", some Muse songs, and Carter Burwell piano ballads to make us seem all "sophisticated". And 2) ATTRACTIVE MALES! (For a small note, people whose reaction was choice A or C will probably snort and/or make some noise of disgust at this).

For further reference, yes, I do find something appealing in those "ugly, hairy morsels" that "call themselves actors", should you be some hater. Now that we got that out of the way, let's focus on a particular breed among them...THE VOLTURI.

Okay, let's have a hasty review for those not in-the-know: the Volturi, in the Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer, are the evil, red-eyed rulers of their kind that judge too harshly and make decisions that never really seem to better anyone (sounds like our governement - hey, who said that!...) They'd brought into the storyline after Edward (you know, Robert Pattinson, 108-year old virgin vampire, get out from under that rock you're under before you suffocate!) decides to kick his own bucket when he believes Bella (I'm not going to explain this anymore, just Google it for crying out loud) is dead. After all, only vampires can kill other vampires (except for werewolves, but totally another story) and it's not like Edward can politely ask his brothers and sisters "Oh, my ex-girlfriend who I said I'd forget is probably dead, so can one of you please, please kill me so I don't have to suffer?". Yeah, not going to happen. So, his next choice is the Volturi - break one, itty bitty rule and they come running with fangs ready. See here in one of the small cips from THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE, featuring a minority of the Volturi.



To cast the Volturi, however, they brought in a wider variety of thespians to play the parts, everything from Sweeney Todd actors to child-stars-made-A-Listers. Here are the four Volturi we'll get to see in THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE. All the quotes from the books are thanks to Twilighters Anonymous, since for some stupid reason I left my Twilight books at home before I came to Tucson for summer vaca. :(

DANIEL CUDMORE as FELIX. Felix is somewhat of a body-guard for the Volturi. Strong, gigantic, angry, that sort of thing. What are some other movies that you can find him in? Small parts in ARE WE THERE YET?, DRIVEN TO KILL, and ICARUS, as well as a bigger role in X-MAN: THE LAST STAND as both Peter Rasputin and Colossus.



DAKOTA FANNING as JANE. Her character is an evil, little girl, who has this creepy ability to cause extreme, mental pain with her super-duper vampire powers. She does so on Edward around the end of the Twilight Saga: New Moon. Dakota's been in way too many movies for her own good; some of her most recent work is THE RUNAWAYS, CORALINE, PUSH, THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES, FRAGMENTS, and CUTLASS. Those are the ones where she'll be nearest to her actual age - sixteen.



CAMERON BRIGHT as ALEC. As Jane's evil twin, he has demonic abilities of his own, only they're physical, as he can blind enemies instead of torture them. To see more of Cameron Bright, check his moderate and minor roles in flicks like AN AMERICAN AFFAIR, X-MAN: THE LAST STAND (with his castmate Daniel), and THANK YOU FOR SMOKING. He also had a small role in one of my favorites, JUNO. Sorry. Just had to include that. :)



CHARLIE BREWLEY as DEMETRI. A.K.A, the blonde hunk who caused our ruckus on Twitter last night. Demetri (who in the picture is holding back petite Alice, or Ashley Green) is another body-guard sort of character, only he has an ability of his own: tracking. As in, once he catches your scent, he can follow you like a dog wherever you may go. Charlie hasn't had much of a resume (according to my friend, he's been in a couple movies like Ectasy) but his Twilight Saga role has already changed things.

Really, I'd planned on doing just the Volturi in the Eclipse movie, so perhaps I should stop now, as this blog is already a bit lengthy. However, my schedule has changed a bit - stay tuned to SOME SCREAMING FANGIRL DOT BLOGSPOT DOT COM for a whole string of blogs until the day THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE is released! I'm sure I can find more things to talk about when it comes to this amazing series in less than two weeks' time!

So, tuning out now! Be sure to read the next couple of weeks for other Twilight-related blog posts.

Here's my friend's fan video for Charlie Brewley: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BYjCo82h6g