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Letterboxd Reviews

So as you know, I stopped writing lengthy reviews on this site this year, keeping the blog as more of a film diary of sorts.  Lo and behold,...

Thursday, April 02, 2009

Movie Review -- Twilight (2008)

NOTE: Although in the past I've lumped dvd reviews together, I've decided to flesh out some of these reviews for particularly spectacular or simply popular films.


Starring Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson
Directed by Catherine Hardwicke
Written by Melissa Rosenberg

***Spoilers in this one***

I don't even know where to start with this one. This was by no means a good movie. There were so many things wrong with it that it was incredibly frustrating when I watched it.

But for some reason, I kinda sorta liked it.

And it wasn't because of the acting. Because the two leads lacked any type of charisma. Schoolgirl Stewart in particular was like a lump just sitting onscreen. Brooding vampire Pattinson started out awful, too, but he became slightly more appealing as an actor as the film progressed.

It wasn't because of the direction. I feel like I could've directed this thing better. There were scenes that were completely unnecessary. There were awkward pauses in dialogue. There were some horrifically awful shots in this thing -- one in particular that sticks in my craw is a scene where the camera pans around the two main characters in a circle, stops when it gets three-quarters of the way around, and then cuts to a shot looking at the characters straight on...um...you could have just continued that circular pan. And don't even get me started on the Matrix-ish slow motion and sped up action scenes (that baseball scene...unintentionally hilarious!). Fortunately, Hardwicke got kicked off of directing the sequel.

It wasn't because of the dialogue. With choice lines like "Hold on tight, spider monkey" and "Your scent is like a drug to me. It's like you're my own personal heroin," I was cracking up when I wasn't supposed to. And it wasn't just the dialogue...whole scenes were laughable. How about the scene where Bella drops an apple on the ground and Edward catches it with his foot and then kicks it up, catches it in his hand, and puts it on her plate? It was ridiculous when Tobey Maguire did that in Spiderman and it's still ridiculous here.

And it wasn't because of the silly ending where a rival vampire gets attracted to Bella's scent and follows her all the way from Washington to Arizona just to taste her sweet, sweet blood.

So, why the hell did I kinda sorta like this movie?

I honestly have no clue. Now, obviously this wasn't a good movie by any stretch of the imagination, and I honestly don't even think I can list off anything that I really liked about it.

But there was something weirdly appealing about the film...and I kinda sorta wanna see the sequel.

The RyMickey Rating: C-

Side Note: Can anyone explain to me the appeal of this Robert Pattinson guy?

4 comments:

  1. Awww. You want your very own edward.

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  2. I don't get that whole Edward thing. I mean, a) he's freakish-looking, and b) he really has no personality. (I mean, I could throw in c) he's a vampire and d) he's hundreds of years old, but I'll leave them out for the time being).

    Once again, I can list off the things I hate and can't really say a thing I like about it, but for some reason, it wasn't nearly as awful as I thought it was going to be.

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  3. YES!

    Just as mentioned before, It's like newsies in a weird way. You know it's ridiculous, but somehow it's kind of (or, in the case of newsies, awesomely) good.

    I laughed a lot in the theatre. alone. But the "you'd better hold on tight, spider monkey" part had others laughing as well. we bonded.

    The characters in the book are (I suppose, purposely) undeveloped/not described in detail. That way, as a 13-year-old girl, you can superimpose yourself and some boy/vampire in place.

    -meghan

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  4. I forgot your Newsies comparison...it is kind of like that...you know it's godawful, but there's something weird going on that forces you to like it somehow (although, I definitely don't feel the same way about Newsies as you).

    ReplyDelete