In an interview with The Morning Mashup, Miley Cyrus disses Robert Pattinson and confesses her infatuation with Zac Efron. After being quizzed about People Magazine's "Sexiest Man Alive," Cyrus conceded that Johnny Depp did deserve to be called sexy, but if she had her way, Efron would top the list.
"...Zac Efron is the hottest person in the world. I really, really like him. And it's weird, I've kind of talked about it before and been like, it's weird because he's my friend."
However, the Disney sweetheart sang a different tune when it came to the subject of the Twilight movies.
"I think it's a cult. I think it's bad. I think it's like, just, people get too into it and like, for me I think it's like, I don't know, it's like when guys look at supermodels and they're like, that's the perfect girl. That's what those kind of movies do to us."
This article is from http://www.dailyfill.com
Showing posts with label Twilight New Moon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Twilight New Moon. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Twilight Saga: New Moon Director Chris Weitz ignores film critics
THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON director CHRIS WEITZ has chosen to ignore what film critics say about his latest movie - because he's more concerned with the opinions of the series' notoriously hard-to-please fans.
Weitz was brought in to replace Catherine Hardwicke for the Twilight sequel after she was sidelined by studio executives, but his take on author Stephenie Meyer's fantasy franchise was still met with mixed reviews.
But, now that he's managed to thrill Meyer's devotees, Weitz is happy - and he insists he doesn't need the opinions of film critics.
He tells Entertainment Weekly magazine, "Nothing surprises me in terms of reviews... If one could imagine their biggest fears, it would be complete rejection of the movie by the fans.
"What I've realised over the last week is I won't necessarily get good reviews for this movie. Having swallowed that, this was made for the fans, and if you don't get it, then you don't get it."
The Twilight sequel made a staggering $140.7 million (£87.9 million) in its opening weekend (20-22Nov09) in America alone to become the third biggest debut in American box office history.
This article is from http://www.contactmusic.com
Weitz was brought in to replace Catherine Hardwicke for the Twilight sequel after she was sidelined by studio executives, but his take on author Stephenie Meyer's fantasy franchise was still met with mixed reviews.
But, now that he's managed to thrill Meyer's devotees, Weitz is happy - and he insists he doesn't need the opinions of film critics.
He tells Entertainment Weekly magazine, "Nothing surprises me in terms of reviews... If one could imagine their biggest fears, it would be complete rejection of the movie by the fans.
"What I've realised over the last week is I won't necessarily get good reviews for this movie. Having swallowed that, this was made for the fans, and if you don't get it, then you don't get it."
The Twilight sequel made a staggering $140.7 million (£87.9 million) in its opening weekend (20-22Nov09) in America alone to become the third biggest debut in American box office history.
This article is from http://www.contactmusic.com
Twilight Saga: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, and Taylor Lautner use Twitter to thank fans
Written by: Monica Stern-Morales
The latest "Twilight" movie, "New Moon," was a huge success. It reached the top of the box office instantly, and earned over $140 million, possibly becoming the top-grossing film of the year, according to People magazine.
And the cast is thankful. Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, and Taylor Lautner are using Twitter to show their fans just how grateful they are for such success.
Pattinson, 24, also known as vampire Edward Cullen to his fans, tweeted "Thank you for making NEW MOON #1...It's very exciting to be a part of something embraced by so many people.
Stewart, 19, thanks her fans for supporting her character, Bella Swan, by saying "You have all proven you're the most amazing fans in the world once again."
And Lautner, or werewolf Jacob to his fans, tweeted "Thanks for your incredible support of New Moon."
And the Twilight saga is not over just yet. The cast looks forward to the next movie in the sequel, Eclipe.
This article is from http://www.thecelebritycafe.com
The latest "Twilight" movie, "New Moon," was a huge success. It reached the top of the box office instantly, and earned over $140 million, possibly becoming the top-grossing film of the year, according to People magazine.
And the cast is thankful. Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, and Taylor Lautner are using Twitter to show their fans just how grateful they are for such success.
Pattinson, 24, also known as vampire Edward Cullen to his fans, tweeted "Thank you for making NEW MOON #1...It's very exciting to be a part of something embraced by so many people.
Stewart, 19, thanks her fans for supporting her character, Bella Swan, by saying "You have all proven you're the most amazing fans in the world once again."
And Lautner, or werewolf Jacob to his fans, tweeted "Thanks for your incredible support of New Moon."
And the Twilight saga is not over just yet. The cast looks forward to the next movie in the sequel, Eclipe.
This article is from http://www.thecelebritycafe.com
Monday, November 23, 2009
New Moon shattered box-office records selling $70m (NZ$95m) of tickets on its opening day
Have you been bitten? If you're over 20, or happen to own a Y chromosome, the answer is probably not. But if you talked to a teenage girl at the weekend, or stepped into the crowded foyer of a cinema, you'll almost certainly have been touched by the all-conquering vampire phenomenon that is Twilight.
New Moon, the second instalment of this remarkably-successful series, began selling out cinemas on Thursday, and promptly shattered box-office records. In the US, it sold $70m (NZ$95m) of tickets on its opening day, more than any other film in history. By Sunday night, it had clocked-up global earnings of roughly $260m (NZ$355m, an opening-weekend figure only bettered twice.
Millions of "Twi-hards" with their T-shirts proclaiming allegiance to "Team Jacob" or "Team Edward" are duly turning this teenage fantasy into the biggest youth entertainment franchise since Harry Potter, with an overall value estimated to be in the tens of billions. British actor Robert Pattinson, the film's square-jawed male lead, may not be competing for Oscars any time soon; but he is nonetheless suddenly one of the most valuable men in show-business.
"What's refreshing is that it has not just drawn the usual audience of horror fans, but also appealed to a teenage girl sensibility. It has managed to draw much more widespread acknowledgement," said Ali Jaafar, the international editor of Variety in London. "The first in the series was big but this second one has built its success on new fans."
Setting the box-office showing in context, Tim Richards, chief executive of Vue Entertainment cinemas, one of the UK's largest commercial chains, said simply: "These were the largest attended midnight shows we have ever done. We were adding extra shows right up to the last moment to cope with the demand."
Not bad, you might say, given that the books that spawned Twilight, by US author Stephanie Meyer, were mercilessly panned by literary critics, with one British newspaper declaring them: "astonishing, mainly for the ineptitude of prose."
Not bad, either, given the lukewarm critical reception for both films: New Moon garnered just 37 per cent positive reviews on the filmranking website Rotten Tomatoes, which dubbed it "too long" and complained of its "clunky" storyline.
But who is making all the money? The most obvious first answer, of course is Ms Meyer, a devout, somewhat reclusive, 35-year-old Mormon who lives in small-town Arizona and claims the idea for the Twilight novels first came to her in a dream in 2003. Her four-book series, told from the breathless, girly perspective of Bella, has since sold more than 85m copies, and been translated into 37 languages, netting her an annual income that was recently estimated by Forbes magazine at $50m (NZ$68m).
This article is from www.nzherald.co.nz
New Moon, the second instalment of this remarkably-successful series, began selling out cinemas on Thursday, and promptly shattered box-office records. In the US, it sold $70m (NZ$95m) of tickets on its opening day, more than any other film in history. By Sunday night, it had clocked-up global earnings of roughly $260m (NZ$355m, an opening-weekend figure only bettered twice.
Millions of "Twi-hards" with their T-shirts proclaiming allegiance to "Team Jacob" or "Team Edward" are duly turning this teenage fantasy into the biggest youth entertainment franchise since Harry Potter, with an overall value estimated to be in the tens of billions. British actor Robert Pattinson, the film's square-jawed male lead, may not be competing for Oscars any time soon; but he is nonetheless suddenly one of the most valuable men in show-business.
"What's refreshing is that it has not just drawn the usual audience of horror fans, but also appealed to a teenage girl sensibility. It has managed to draw much more widespread acknowledgement," said Ali Jaafar, the international editor of Variety in London. "The first in the series was big but this second one has built its success on new fans."
Setting the box-office showing in context, Tim Richards, chief executive of Vue Entertainment cinemas, one of the UK's largest commercial chains, said simply: "These were the largest attended midnight shows we have ever done. We were adding extra shows right up to the last moment to cope with the demand."
Not bad, you might say, given that the books that spawned Twilight, by US author Stephanie Meyer, were mercilessly panned by literary critics, with one British newspaper declaring them: "astonishing, mainly for the ineptitude of prose."
Not bad, either, given the lukewarm critical reception for both films: New Moon garnered just 37 per cent positive reviews on the filmranking website Rotten Tomatoes, which dubbed it "too long" and complained of its "clunky" storyline.
But who is making all the money? The most obvious first answer, of course is Ms Meyer, a devout, somewhat reclusive, 35-year-old Mormon who lives in small-town Arizona and claims the idea for the Twilight novels first came to her in a dream in 2003. Her four-book series, told from the breathless, girly perspective of Bella, has since sold more than 85m copies, and been translated into 37 languages, netting her an annual income that was recently estimated by Forbes magazine at $50m (NZ$68m).
This article is from www.nzherald.co.nz
Sunday, November 22, 2009
"Vampires are metaphors for sexuality, but one of the reasons they're so popular in the Twilight universe is that they're safe," says Melissa Rosenberg
Edward, the undead hero of the Twilight movies and books, broods and simmers like a James Dean starter kit. Jacob, his werewolf foil, sports six-pack abs and looks as if he's been bench-pressing pickups. But they might as well be hanging out in a nunnery for all the action they get. Their chaste love interest, Bella, can only pine.
Then there's Sookie Stackhouse, the spitfire waitress at the heart of HBO's cult series True Blood (based on novels by Charlaine Harris). As Bella chills in the Pacific Northwest, Sookie gets hot and heavy with her vampire beau Bill in steamy Louisiana. No repression here: The deliciously campy True Blood, which enters its third season next year, just says yes. (It also indulges in every last one of HBO's relaxed content allowances. As the ads say, it's not TV.)
Sex was at the root of vampire mythology even before 19th-century novelist Bram Stoker sent unwitting Jonathan Harker off to Eastern Europe to close a big real-estate deal with that mysterious Dracula fella, only to find the Count was after his woman.
But desire can be handled in different ways.
And as Twilight creator Stephenie Meyer has discovered, along with the Twilight film team, vampire chastity means big business with teenage girls. The Twilight books have sold more than 70 million copies. The first movie, released last year, made $384 million worldwide. And the second one, New Moon, took in $72.7 million on Friday, its first day, to break the single-day domestic box office record.
"Vampires are metaphors for sexuality, but one of the reasons they're so popular in the Twilight universe is that they're safe," says Melissa Rosenberg, the screenwriter for the first two Twilight movies. "They're safe but tantalizing in their sexuality. Edward protects Bella from her own raging hormones."
Yes, one of the hunky stars (Robert Pattinson) plays a vampire, and the other (Taylor Lautner) is a werewolf. But sex appeal knows no such species boundaries in the Twilight world. And the Twilight world, not coincidentally, knows no sex.
Ah, repressed desire. Ah, unattainable monsters of my dreams.
Bella has to stifle her urges because she's a good girl. In Twilight , a reflection of Meyer's Mormon faith, sexual impurity is a no-no. The hot boys are vampires and werewolves; you don't want to get them too excited or who knows what might happen. Best not to find out. Even kissing is a dodgy proposition.
Past vampires might scoff at the Twilight gang's restraint. Vampires, after all, are known for their libido; when they drink blood they're not just quenching their thirst. Witness Dracula's three comely brides in the classic 1931 Bela Lugosi movie.
"That sexual connection has been there from early on in vampire stories," says Sean Griffin, an associate professor in Southern Methodist University's cinema-television department. "Our fascination with vampires has always been tied to a fascination and repulsion over sex."
How that fascination plays out depends on the vampire story. It can be as subtle as the admiration of a luscious neck in Werner Herzog's Nosferatu. It can be comically lurid: Recall the "Oops, I spilled red wine on my white shirt" scene that precedes Catherine Deneuve and Susan Sarandon's hook-up in The Hunger. It can be the point of the whole movie: The European erotic vampire film (West Germany's Vampyros Lesbos, the Dutch Daughters of Darkness) is a subgenre unto itself.
Women looking for a good time in True Blood frequent a vampire bar. (The subsequent encounters don't always end well.) Guys looking for a boost in the bedroom can score a vial of illegal vampire blood, or V, which makes Viagra seem like Kool-Aid. One of the show's non-vampires, Sookie's hot-to-trot brother Jason, drinks too much V and suffers consequences that should ring familiar to anyone who has seen a Cialis commercial. There's also the legal version, sold over the counter and at bars, which gives the show its title.
At the opposite end of the spectrum is Twilight's "No sex please, we're vampires" stance. Sure, other bloodsuckers want to sink their teeth into Bella. But they're bad vampires. Edward is a good boy. He even spends most of New Moon in a far-away world that plays like a series of outtakes from The Da Vinci Code. That way, he can't even touch his beloved.
"It is chaste," says Rosenberg. "But there's always a smoldering sexuality under the surface. To me, anticipating the act is more tantalizing than actually seeing it, and more erotic."
Maybe Twilight and True Blood say as much about us as they do about vampires. America's sexual attitudes are conflicted to say the least. On the one hand, we cling to puritan notions of virtue. Meanwhile, the commercial culture of beer ads, sitcoms and Viagra sales pushes libertinism to extremes.
The middle can be a lonely place. Even for a vampire.
The sexual attitudes of Twilight and True Blood extend to other differences between the franchises. For instance, both franchises deal with notions of assimilation, or what it's like for vampires to live in a human world. "True Blood creates a more complicated view of what assimilation means," says Griffin. "For Twilight it means white family, white clothes, white home, playing baseball. But True Blood is trying to make the metaphor to actual social situations very explicit."
The vampire population of True Blood has "come out of the coffin," as the show puts it. Characters are white, African-American, Latino, straight, gay. Bill's vampire friends ask where he's been keeping himself; he explains that he's been "mainstreaming." Vampire rights advocates debate anti-vampire missionaries on talk shows. The show's opening credits show a sign that reads "God hates fangs," a reference to real-life anti-gay propaganda. Assimilation and identity are explored as political issues.
Tensions and blood run thick on the show – as thick as the repression in Twilight and its universe of idealized purity. As Twilight plays it safe, True Blood keeps engaging the outside world – a world where sex isn't a four-letter word.
This article is from www.dallasnews.com
Then there's Sookie Stackhouse, the spitfire waitress at the heart of HBO's cult series True Blood (based on novels by Charlaine Harris). As Bella chills in the Pacific Northwest, Sookie gets hot and heavy with her vampire beau Bill in steamy Louisiana. No repression here: The deliciously campy True Blood, which enters its third season next year, just says yes. (It also indulges in every last one of HBO's relaxed content allowances. As the ads say, it's not TV.)
Sex was at the root of vampire mythology even before 19th-century novelist Bram Stoker sent unwitting Jonathan Harker off to Eastern Europe to close a big real-estate deal with that mysterious Dracula fella, only to find the Count was after his woman.
But desire can be handled in different ways.
And as Twilight creator Stephenie Meyer has discovered, along with the Twilight film team, vampire chastity means big business with teenage girls. The Twilight books have sold more than 70 million copies. The first movie, released last year, made $384 million worldwide. And the second one, New Moon, took in $72.7 million on Friday, its first day, to break the single-day domestic box office record.
"Vampires are metaphors for sexuality, but one of the reasons they're so popular in the Twilight universe is that they're safe," says Melissa Rosenberg, the screenwriter for the first two Twilight movies. "They're safe but tantalizing in their sexuality. Edward protects Bella from her own raging hormones."
Yes, one of the hunky stars (Robert Pattinson) plays a vampire, and the other (Taylor Lautner) is a werewolf. But sex appeal knows no such species boundaries in the Twilight world. And the Twilight world, not coincidentally, knows no sex.
Ah, repressed desire. Ah, unattainable monsters of my dreams.
Bella has to stifle her urges because she's a good girl. In Twilight , a reflection of Meyer's Mormon faith, sexual impurity is a no-no. The hot boys are vampires and werewolves; you don't want to get them too excited or who knows what might happen. Best not to find out. Even kissing is a dodgy proposition.
Past vampires might scoff at the Twilight gang's restraint. Vampires, after all, are known for their libido; when they drink blood they're not just quenching their thirst. Witness Dracula's three comely brides in the classic 1931 Bela Lugosi movie.
"That sexual connection has been there from early on in vampire stories," says Sean Griffin, an associate professor in Southern Methodist University's cinema-television department. "Our fascination with vampires has always been tied to a fascination and repulsion over sex."
How that fascination plays out depends on the vampire story. It can be as subtle as the admiration of a luscious neck in Werner Herzog's Nosferatu. It can be comically lurid: Recall the "Oops, I spilled red wine on my white shirt" scene that precedes Catherine Deneuve and Susan Sarandon's hook-up in The Hunger. It can be the point of the whole movie: The European erotic vampire film (West Germany's Vampyros Lesbos, the Dutch Daughters of Darkness) is a subgenre unto itself.
Women looking for a good time in True Blood frequent a vampire bar. (The subsequent encounters don't always end well.) Guys looking for a boost in the bedroom can score a vial of illegal vampire blood, or V, which makes Viagra seem like Kool-Aid. One of the show's non-vampires, Sookie's hot-to-trot brother Jason, drinks too much V and suffers consequences that should ring familiar to anyone who has seen a Cialis commercial. There's also the legal version, sold over the counter and at bars, which gives the show its title.
At the opposite end of the spectrum is Twilight's "No sex please, we're vampires" stance. Sure, other bloodsuckers want to sink their teeth into Bella. But they're bad vampires. Edward is a good boy. He even spends most of New Moon in a far-away world that plays like a series of outtakes from The Da Vinci Code. That way, he can't even touch his beloved.
"It is chaste," says Rosenberg. "But there's always a smoldering sexuality under the surface. To me, anticipating the act is more tantalizing than actually seeing it, and more erotic."
Maybe Twilight and True Blood say as much about us as they do about vampires. America's sexual attitudes are conflicted to say the least. On the one hand, we cling to puritan notions of virtue. Meanwhile, the commercial culture of beer ads, sitcoms and Viagra sales pushes libertinism to extremes.
The middle can be a lonely place. Even for a vampire.
The sexual attitudes of Twilight and True Blood extend to other differences between the franchises. For instance, both franchises deal with notions of assimilation, or what it's like for vampires to live in a human world. "True Blood creates a more complicated view of what assimilation means," says Griffin. "For Twilight it means white family, white clothes, white home, playing baseball. But True Blood is trying to make the metaphor to actual social situations very explicit."
The vampire population of True Blood has "come out of the coffin," as the show puts it. Characters are white, African-American, Latino, straight, gay. Bill's vampire friends ask where he's been keeping himself; he explains that he's been "mainstreaming." Vampire rights advocates debate anti-vampire missionaries on talk shows. The show's opening credits show a sign that reads "God hates fangs," a reference to real-life anti-gay propaganda. Assimilation and identity are explored as political issues.
Tensions and blood run thick on the show – as thick as the repression in Twilight and its universe of idealized purity. As Twilight plays it safe, True Blood keeps engaging the outside world – a world where sex isn't a four-letter word.
This article is from www.dallasnews.com
Twilight Saga: Interview with Edi Gathegi
Edi Gathegi made quite a major impression in Twilight, providing plenty of creeps as the almost-gentlemanly yet dangerous vampire, Laurent. As fans know, Laurent only makes the briefest of appearances in The Twilight Saga: New Moon, but it's as memorable as it is short, with Laurent bumping into Bella (Kristen Stewart) in the woods of Forks, then having a close encounter with a few of Bella's werewolf friends. PopStar snagged a few minutes of exclusive interview time with Gathegi -- who was born in Kenya, raised in Los Angeles, and counts among his credits a recurring role on House M.D. and the films Gone Baby Gone and My Bloody Valentine 3D -- just hours before New Moon's spectacular Nov. 30th debut. Read on to hear Gathegi's thoughts about the Twlight experience, his big New Moon moment, and the reality that his work on Twilight is complete.
You couldn't have had a clue how popular Twilight was going to become. What has it been like to be along for that ride?
It's been a rollercoaster. A lot of ups and downs and mostly just thrilling. It's rare that any actor at any level will get to be a part of a pop culture phenom like this, so I'm feeling really blessed.
Based on your interactions with fans, based on your convention appearances and your Mall of America visit, what's your sense of the anticipation/mania for New Moon?
I've been getting a lot of tweets from fans letting me know how wrought with anticipation they are. It's the topic of a lot of conversations right now. When I say fingers crossed for this weekend, people laugh at me and give me a hard time.
In general, what's intrigued you most about Laurent as a character and how much of that have you been able to put across in the two films?
I've never really been a vampire fan, but I love the new mythology. It is exciting to play a character with super-human qualities. That's just cool.
Give us a feeling for shooting your big New Moon sequence? How long did it take? You had Kristen with you, but what else were you dealing with? Blue screen? A tennis ball? How did Chris Weitz guide you through the sequence?
There were a lot of technical elements that were new to me regarding the CGI, but we had the best people in the field guiding us. Kristen is great and we had a lot of fun doing that scene. The non-action part of the scene was shot in a day or two, I believe, and the second-unit action sequences, we spent over a week on them.
It's a really strong duet between you and Kristen. How did the two of you work on the scene and what was your sense of how she'd matured as an actress from one film to the next?
She knows her character very well and is constantly challenging herself, which is nice to see. My goal was to try to make her as uncomfortable as possible and I think that happened only once. But it did happen.
Assuming that you've seen the finished film by now, how satisfied are you with the way it's turned out?
I think it is everything that the fans expect and I think they are going to be repeat customers. Chris did a wonderful job.
How do you feel knowing that your Twilight ride ends with New Moon?
It's sad not being able to be with the gang again in that capacity, but the good thing is we all became friends. So hopefully these friendships will outlast the saga.
Written By Ian Spelling (Contributing Writer)
This article is from news.popstar.com
You couldn't have had a clue how popular Twilight was going to become. What has it been like to be along for that ride?
It's been a rollercoaster. A lot of ups and downs and mostly just thrilling. It's rare that any actor at any level will get to be a part of a pop culture phenom like this, so I'm feeling really blessed.
Based on your interactions with fans, based on your convention appearances and your Mall of America visit, what's your sense of the anticipation/mania for New Moon?
I've been getting a lot of tweets from fans letting me know how wrought with anticipation they are. It's the topic of a lot of conversations right now. When I say fingers crossed for this weekend, people laugh at me and give me a hard time.
In general, what's intrigued you most about Laurent as a character and how much of that have you been able to put across in the two films?
I've never really been a vampire fan, but I love the new mythology. It is exciting to play a character with super-human qualities. That's just cool.
Give us a feeling for shooting your big New Moon sequence? How long did it take? You had Kristen with you, but what else were you dealing with? Blue screen? A tennis ball? How did Chris Weitz guide you through the sequence?
There were a lot of technical elements that were new to me regarding the CGI, but we had the best people in the field guiding us. Kristen is great and we had a lot of fun doing that scene. The non-action part of the scene was shot in a day or two, I believe, and the second-unit action sequences, we spent over a week on them.
It's a really strong duet between you and Kristen. How did the two of you work on the scene and what was your sense of how she'd matured as an actress from one film to the next?
She knows her character very well and is constantly challenging herself, which is nice to see. My goal was to try to make her as uncomfortable as possible and I think that happened only once. But it did happen.
Assuming that you've seen the finished film by now, how satisfied are you with the way it's turned out?
I think it is everything that the fans expect and I think they are going to be repeat customers. Chris did a wonderful job.
How do you feel knowing that your Twilight ride ends with New Moon?
It's sad not being able to be with the gang again in that capacity, but the good thing is we all became friends. So hopefully these friendships will outlast the saga.
Written By Ian Spelling (Contributing Writer)
This article is from news.popstar.com
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Twilight Saga: The Roman Catholic Church calls Twilight series a "moral vacuum with a deviant message"
The Roman Catholic Church has expressed concerns over the growing popularity of the Twilight series, as Vatican officials have called the vampire franchise a "moral vacuum with a deviant message".
The worldwide hype of the series has drawn criticism from the Vatican, with officials urging parents to be more vigilant about the type of films their children are watching, reports imdb.com.
"The theme of vampires in Twilight combines a mixture of excesses that as ever is aimed at young people and gives a heavy esoteric element. It is once again that age-old trick or ideal formula of using extremes to make an impact at the box office. This film is nothing more than a moral vacuum with a deviant message and as such should be of concern," said Monsignor Franco Perazzolo of the Pontifical Council of Culture.
The second film in the vampire series, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, hit cinemas worldwide on Friday.
Vatican officials previously criticised the Harry Potter film franchise for its themes of magic and wizardry, as well as Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons for their depiction of the Catholic Church.
This article is from www.hindustantimes.com
The worldwide hype of the series has drawn criticism from the Vatican, with officials urging parents to be more vigilant about the type of films their children are watching, reports imdb.com.
"The theme of vampires in Twilight combines a mixture of excesses that as ever is aimed at young people and gives a heavy esoteric element. It is once again that age-old trick or ideal formula of using extremes to make an impact at the box office. This film is nothing more than a moral vacuum with a deviant message and as such should be of concern," said Monsignor Franco Perazzolo of the Pontifical Council of Culture.
The second film in the vampire series, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, hit cinemas worldwide on Friday.
Vatican officials previously criticised the Harry Potter film franchise for its themes of magic and wizardry, as well as Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons for their depiction of the Catholic Church.
This article is from www.hindustantimes.com
Twilight Saga: Moms love New Moon too
Early Friday morning, I dropped a carload of kids at school and pretended I was going to work as usual. But I drove madly back to Tempe Marketplace, where I met up with a group of 40-something friends outside Harkins Theatres.
We had a date with a vampire.
We were an hour and a half early for the first daytime showing of "New Moon," the second movie in the "Twilight" saga about teenage Bella Swan and her love for vampire dreamboat Edward Cullen, but the theater already was packed with women our age. The air was thick with pheromones. (Is it hot in here - or is it just me?)
OK, technically, we're a little old for "Twilight," a series of four books and now two movies geared toward teenage girls. But moms got sucked in, wanting to know what their daughters were devouring so voraciously. Next thing you know we brought it to book club and were wearing T-shirts emblazoned with "Team Edward" and necklaces that say "Bite me."
We remember what it was like to be 17 and madly in love for the first time. "Twilight" lets us relive it. It's the kind of story a girl can sink her teeth into. (And, as grown-ups, we can go to the movies on a school day and edge out the teenagers for the best seats.)
"I'm so excited!" coos Stacy Nelson of Tempe, an otherwise normal, 40-year-old mother of two.
She started reading the books last summer after hearing her teenage niece and sister-in-law go on about them, and saw "Twilight" at the top of the New York Times best-seller list for weeks. She got the first book, "Twilight," at the library, read it in a day and half and then went right out and bought the next two, "New Moon" and "Eclipse."
"I was addicted," Stacy says. She told her husband to take the kids out for dinner without her and read late into the night. She says, "For me, it was just a nice reality escape. Sometimes life is just so serious and so busy."
We've got jobs and kids, and we're happy with the women that we've grown to be. But "Twilight" lets us travel back to that time when all that mattered was whether our lab partner was cute and if someone (please) would ask us to the prom. Yes, we know it's corny, but it's also so much fun.
Jennifer Howell, 32, of Queen Creek, understands us. She and her friend, Esperanza Lumm, 33, of Phoenix, are obsessed with "Twilight." They met a year and a half ago at Arizona TwilightMOMS, a book club of women dedicated to the series.
"All of us remember first love and how it's all-consuming," says Jennifer, a mother of two who has been married to her high-school sweetheart for 12 years. (Her husband gave her "New Moon" pajamas for her recent birthday.)
She and Esperanza are "Twi-hards," among the most hard-core fans, following the author and cast on Twitter and going to cast appearances, conventions and book-release parties. Seems there is safety, if not sanity, in numbers.
"We talk about them like they're our best friends. That's how obsessive we are," Jennifer says. She and Esperanza saw the movie at its midnight release.
Esperanza likes the romance and that the books are written by local author Stephenie Meyer, a Cave Creek mother of three.
After reading "Twilight," Jennifer and Esperanza began reading other young-adult fiction and now write reviews and host author chats on their Web site, L8bloom eronline.blogspot.com.
In the new movie, Edward leaves Bella, thinking she'll be safer if he moves away.
Bella, near zombielike from the abandonment, spends time with her very cute friend, Jacob Black, who turns out to be a man-wolf. In the end, Bella must save Edward from doing himself in after he mistakenly thinks she's dead. (Shakespeare, what are you doing here?)
Edward (played by actor Robert Pattinson) is insanely dreamy. Don't grimace; this is not a case of robbing the cradle. Edward is 109 years old despite his youthful appearance. So, technically, he's more than twice my age.
(However, I gasped along with the rest of the audience when Black, played by 17-year-old actor Taylor Lautner, took off his shirt. I felt so dirty.)
My friend Shannon (last name withheld because she should've been at work) is into vampire Jasper Cullen (played by Jackson Rathbone), who can regulate the emotions of those around him, bringing peace when things get tense. Shannon, a Maricopa mom of three, settles into her seat and says, "I told my husband I'm going to see my movie husband. He knows not to bother me about my Jasper obsession."
Her real husband, Merle, decided last minute to join us and showed up just before the movie started.
"I at least have to be here to revive her," he says.
Shannon read the first "Twilight" book in one night. Merle bought her the next two books the next day. When the fourth book, "Breaking Dawn," was released in 2008, Shannon lined up early at Costco, even though she had preordered it on amazon.com. She couldn't wait.
At Jasper's first appearance on the screen, Shannon let out a breathy "Whoo!" Merle just chuckled.
When the theater lights go up and our heart rates go back to normal, we glance at our cellphones for a time (and reality) check. Edward will have to go on without us. Heavy sigh. The kids are calling to be picked up from school.
This article is from www.azcentral.com
We had a date with a vampire.
We were an hour and a half early for the first daytime showing of "New Moon," the second movie in the "Twilight" saga about teenage Bella Swan and her love for vampire dreamboat Edward Cullen, but the theater already was packed with women our age. The air was thick with pheromones. (Is it hot in here - or is it just me?)
OK, technically, we're a little old for "Twilight," a series of four books and now two movies geared toward teenage girls. But moms got sucked in, wanting to know what their daughters were devouring so voraciously. Next thing you know we brought it to book club and were wearing T-shirts emblazoned with "Team Edward" and necklaces that say "Bite me."
We remember what it was like to be 17 and madly in love for the first time. "Twilight" lets us relive it. It's the kind of story a girl can sink her teeth into. (And, as grown-ups, we can go to the movies on a school day and edge out the teenagers for the best seats.)
"I'm so excited!" coos Stacy Nelson of Tempe, an otherwise normal, 40-year-old mother of two.
She started reading the books last summer after hearing her teenage niece and sister-in-law go on about them, and saw "Twilight" at the top of the New York Times best-seller list for weeks. She got the first book, "Twilight," at the library, read it in a day and half and then went right out and bought the next two, "New Moon" and "Eclipse."
"I was addicted," Stacy says. She told her husband to take the kids out for dinner without her and read late into the night. She says, "For me, it was just a nice reality escape. Sometimes life is just so serious and so busy."
We've got jobs and kids, and we're happy with the women that we've grown to be. But "Twilight" lets us travel back to that time when all that mattered was whether our lab partner was cute and if someone (please) would ask us to the prom. Yes, we know it's corny, but it's also so much fun.
Jennifer Howell, 32, of Queen Creek, understands us. She and her friend, Esperanza Lumm, 33, of Phoenix, are obsessed with "Twilight." They met a year and a half ago at Arizona TwilightMOMS, a book club of women dedicated to the series.
"All of us remember first love and how it's all-consuming," says Jennifer, a mother of two who has been married to her high-school sweetheart for 12 years. (Her husband gave her "New Moon" pajamas for her recent birthday.)
She and Esperanza are "Twi-hards," among the most hard-core fans, following the author and cast on Twitter and going to cast appearances, conventions and book-release parties. Seems there is safety, if not sanity, in numbers.
"We talk about them like they're our best friends. That's how obsessive we are," Jennifer says. She and Esperanza saw the movie at its midnight release.
Esperanza likes the romance and that the books are written by local author Stephenie Meyer, a Cave Creek mother of three.
After reading "Twilight," Jennifer and Esperanza began reading other young-adult fiction and now write reviews and host author chats on their Web site, L8bloom eronline.blogspot.com.
In the new movie, Edward leaves Bella, thinking she'll be safer if he moves away.
Bella, near zombielike from the abandonment, spends time with her very cute friend, Jacob Black, who turns out to be a man-wolf. In the end, Bella must save Edward from doing himself in after he mistakenly thinks she's dead. (Shakespeare, what are you doing here?)
Edward (played by actor Robert Pattinson) is insanely dreamy. Don't grimace; this is not a case of robbing the cradle. Edward is 109 years old despite his youthful appearance. So, technically, he's more than twice my age.
(However, I gasped along with the rest of the audience when Black, played by 17-year-old actor Taylor Lautner, took off his shirt. I felt so dirty.)
My friend Shannon (last name withheld because she should've been at work) is into vampire Jasper Cullen (played by Jackson Rathbone), who can regulate the emotions of those around him, bringing peace when things get tense. Shannon, a Maricopa mom of three, settles into her seat and says, "I told my husband I'm going to see my movie husband. He knows not to bother me about my Jasper obsession."
Her real husband, Merle, decided last minute to join us and showed up just before the movie started.
"I at least have to be here to revive her," he says.
Shannon read the first "Twilight" book in one night. Merle bought her the next two books the next day. When the fourth book, "Breaking Dawn," was released in 2008, Shannon lined up early at Costco, even though she had preordered it on amazon.com. She couldn't wait.
At Jasper's first appearance on the screen, Shannon let out a breathy "Whoo!" Merle just chuckled.
When the theater lights go up and our heart rates go back to normal, we glance at our cellphones for a time (and reality) check. Edward will have to go on without us. Heavy sigh. The kids are calling to be picked up from school.
This article is from www.azcentral.com
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Twilight Saga: "...[New Moon] this angst-ridden mush is best-suited to 13-year-old girls"
The new Twilight film comes with a new director (The Golden Compass's Chris Weitz), and an increased budget.
Gone is the indie feel of director Catherine Hardwicke's original, in favour of a more cinematic, action-packed approach: a wise move, in fact, since it effectively enlivens and condenses the excruciatingly protracted dialogue of Stephenie Meyer's second book.
This time, our vampire Romeo, Edward (Robert Pattinson, left with not much to do but pose – no bad thing), has broken up with his mortal Juliet, Bella (Kristen Stewart), because he thinks it'll be sensible.
Of course it's not; she gets depressed and seeks adrenalin rushes by jumping off cliffs and tearing around on motorbikes.
Waiting in the wings is Jacob Black (newly buff Taylor Lautner, proudly whipping off his T-shirt every two seconds), who cheers Bella up and wants to be more than a pal until... doh! He finds out he's a werewolf.
Which is OK, because she's used to weirdos and doesn't love him like that.
It's sweet enough, with Stewart and Pattinson's chemistry still a potent force on screen, but this angst-ridden mush is best-suited to 13-year-old girls or those seeking hot flushes from all the bare-chested eye-candy.
And don't get too excited about the posters advertising appearances by Michael Sheen and Dakota Fanning: both are woefully underused.
This article is from www.metro.co.uk
Gone is the indie feel of director Catherine Hardwicke's original, in favour of a more cinematic, action-packed approach: a wise move, in fact, since it effectively enlivens and condenses the excruciatingly protracted dialogue of Stephenie Meyer's second book.
This time, our vampire Romeo, Edward (Robert Pattinson, left with not much to do but pose – no bad thing), has broken up with his mortal Juliet, Bella (Kristen Stewart), because he thinks it'll be sensible.
Of course it's not; she gets depressed and seeks adrenalin rushes by jumping off cliffs and tearing around on motorbikes.
Waiting in the wings is Jacob Black (newly buff Taylor Lautner, proudly whipping off his T-shirt every two seconds), who cheers Bella up and wants to be more than a pal until... doh! He finds out he's a werewolf.
Which is OK, because she's used to weirdos and doesn't love him like that.
It's sweet enough, with Stewart and Pattinson's chemistry still a potent force on screen, but this angst-ridden mush is best-suited to 13-year-old girls or those seeking hot flushes from all the bare-chested eye-candy.
And don't get too excited about the posters advertising appearances by Michael Sheen and Dakota Fanning: both are woefully underused.
This article is from www.metro.co.uk
Twilight Saga: Students love New Moon
Reyven Williams walked into a social studies class at San Gorgonio High School on Thursday with a well-thumbed copy of the fantasy romance novel, "New Moon" under her arm.
At lunch and in breaks between classes she hoped to finish the book in time for the release of the movie of the same name, "The Twilight Saga: New Moon," in theaters today.
Districtwide, San Bernardino middle and high school students could barely contain their excitement that the second movie in the Twilight series had finally arrived on the big screen.
"Girls like romance and being in love and I like that the main character falls in love with a vampire," said Williams.
"New Moon" is the second movie based on one of the four Twilight novels penned by Stephenie Meyer.
In this installment, Bella Swan, played by Kristen Stewart, is upset after breaking up with the vampire she loves, Edward Cullen, played by Robert Pattinson.
To try and forget, she seeks comfort in her friendship with Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner) who is in actuality a werewolf.
Students were not the only ones counting down the minutes Thursday. People of all ages started lining up early to see the movie at the Krikorian Premiere Theaters in Redlands and other Inland Empire locations.
Indeed, the series is so popular that the books fly off the shelves of libraries in San Bernardino City Unified School District schools.
Teenage girls around the same age as Bella are particularly drawn to the books, which have a message of both romance and abstinence.
San Gorgonio student Denise Morales, 15, said she was eager to see the movie because she has a big crush on Jacob.
"I think he is so cute and I can't wait to see the movie to find out what happened where the last one left off," she said.
deborah.pfeiffer@inlandnewspapers.com
(909) 386-3879
At lunch and in breaks between classes she hoped to finish the book in time for the release of the movie of the same name, "The Twilight Saga: New Moon," in theaters today.
Districtwide, San Bernardino middle and high school students could barely contain their excitement that the second movie in the Twilight series had finally arrived on the big screen.
"Girls like romance and being in love and I like that the main character falls in love with a vampire," said Williams.
"New Moon" is the second movie based on one of the four Twilight novels penned by Stephenie Meyer.
In this installment, Bella Swan, played by Kristen Stewart, is upset after breaking up with the vampire she loves, Edward Cullen, played by Robert Pattinson.
To try and forget, she seeks comfort in her friendship with Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner) who is in actuality a werewolf.
Students were not the only ones counting down the minutes Thursday. People of all ages started lining up early to see the movie at the Krikorian Premiere Theaters in Redlands and other Inland Empire locations.
Indeed, the series is so popular that the books fly off the shelves of libraries in San Bernardino City Unified School District schools.
Teenage girls around the same age as Bella are particularly drawn to the books, which have a message of both romance and abstinence.
San Gorgonio student Denise Morales, 15, said she was eager to see the movie because she has a big crush on Jacob.
"I think he is so cute and I can't wait to see the movie to find out what happened where the last one left off," she said.
deborah.pfeiffer@inlandnewspapers.com
(909) 386-3879
Twilight Saga: Online scammers use Twilight/New Moon
Fans of “Twilight” and “New Moon” already have plenty to be scared about – vampires, werewolves, a swirling debate over the feminist values of Stephenie Meyer’s hit series.
But what about malware? According to reports from the around the Internet this morning, the Twihard set was recently targeted by a group of online scammers, who sought to profit off the “New Moon” hype.
Here’s how it went down: If you searched for “Stephenie Meyer” on Google yesterday, one of the results that popped up was a listing for “Stephenie Meyer at 365Multimedia.com.” Sounds fairly innocuous. Clicking on the link launched a security scan, which told users that their computer was at risk of malware infestation.
Of course the whole thing was a scam, and those unlucky enough to click through the prompts were asked to purchase a cleanup program for $80.
80 bucks! That’s a lot of movie theater tickets. Or a lot of copies of Stephenie Meyer’s books. Either way – it’s a bad way to lose a hefty chunk of change.
So how can you avoid falling prey to this kind of stuff in the future? In an interview earlier this year, Dave Marcus, director of security research and communication at McAfee Avert Labs, told the Monitor that the best precaution is common sense. Don’t click on strange links, and don’t download anything from an unfamiliar website.
Marcus also suggested a list of precautions all users should follow: run regular antivirus scans; invest in prepackaged security suites marketed by companies such as Symantec, McAfee Avert, and Panda; pay attention to site advisories, and track reports of new viruses.
And stuff some garlic in your shirt sleeves.
This article is from features.csmonitor.com
But what about malware? According to reports from the around the Internet this morning, the Twihard set was recently targeted by a group of online scammers, who sought to profit off the “New Moon” hype.
Here’s how it went down: If you searched for “Stephenie Meyer” on Google yesterday, one of the results that popped up was a listing for “Stephenie Meyer at 365Multimedia.com.” Sounds fairly innocuous. Clicking on the link launched a security scan, which told users that their computer was at risk of malware infestation.
Of course the whole thing was a scam, and those unlucky enough to click through the prompts were asked to purchase a cleanup program for $80.
80 bucks! That’s a lot of movie theater tickets. Or a lot of copies of Stephenie Meyer’s books. Either way – it’s a bad way to lose a hefty chunk of change.
So how can you avoid falling prey to this kind of stuff in the future? In an interview earlier this year, Dave Marcus, director of security research and communication at McAfee Avert Labs, told the Monitor that the best precaution is common sense. Don’t click on strange links, and don’t download anything from an unfamiliar website.
Marcus also suggested a list of precautions all users should follow: run regular antivirus scans; invest in prepackaged security suites marketed by companies such as Symantec, McAfee Avert, and Panda; pay attention to site advisories, and track reports of new viruses.
And stuff some garlic in your shirt sleeves.
This article is from features.csmonitor.com
Who would enjoy a series of books about a whiny teenage girl (Bella Swan) desperately in love with a vampire minus fangs (Edward Cullen)?
Stephanie Meyer awoke from sizzling fantastical dream of a girl accompanied by a sparkly vampire in a beautiful meadow. Her dream was so vivid that in the midst of a hectic life of motherhood, she wrote a book. And then another.And then a third and a fourth. The result is the Twilight Series.
Who would enjoy a series of books about a whiny teenage girl (Bella Swan) desperately in love with a vampire minus fangs (Edward Cullen)? Apparently every other whiny teenage girl and their mother. It became a cultural phenomenon overnight and has been turned into two full-length feature films that have surprised the box office.
The second book, “New Moon,” starts out where Twilight left off. Bella still loves Edward with all of her soul and believes they could not survive apart. She gets a very rude awakening when after his brother (still adjusting to the “vegetarian,” or no human blood, diet of the Cullen clan) attacks her at her birthday party and Edward decides for the both of them that Bella would live a lot longer if he wasn’t around.
They had me at “Goodbye Bella.” I hate to admit it, but Meyer had me crying like a baby and feeling that heartbreaking angst right alongside Bella. It’s amazing when a book can draw you in and I found myself never wanting to put it down during those first few chapters.
People ask me what makes Meyer a good writer, and when I read “New Moon” I realized it’s that she refuses to play it safe. She didn’t just make Bella pine for her lost love, but she created an entirely new character for the book. Bella went coo-coo and became a totally different person. She keeps Bella in her head, thinking about Edward, having visions of him, rarely ever letting anything else intrude in her mind, even hunger.
“I knew this was the stupidest, most reckless thing I had done yet. The thought made me smile. The pain was already easing, as if my body knew that Edward’s voice was just seconds away.” Bella convinces herself that the reason she can see Edward in her mind is because of adrenaline. To prove it, she dives off a cliff. This behavior is too extreme for impressionable teens. Okay, your boyfriend dumped you so hey, jump off a cliff. You can have a mental breakdown and have your happily ever after in your head.
The issue of Jacob Black, Bella’s wolf/best friend, was expected because the groundwork was laid out perfectly in the first book. I didn’t think he was going to turn into an actual wolf who’s in love with a whiny teenage girl and color blind. He doesn’t see a single red flag Bella throws at him. It’s all more groundwork for the third book, “Eclipse.” Once you read that book, it will all make sense and the sad part is, you know it and it makes it really difficult to keep reading “New Moon.”
I had a hard time finishing the book and I started scanning a few chapters in the future to see if Edward ever comes back. I was having withdrawal and the book was starting to lose my interest.
Meyer anticipated this and knew I was developing a case of A.D.D. and flipping through the pages searching for my, I mean Bella’s, Edward. The book transitions back to focusing on the vampire aspect of the Jacob-Bella-Edward love triangle. It becomes what’s described as a modern day, human/vampire, Romeo and Juliet-esque type story. This is how it goes…boy saw girl commit suicide in dream…boy is torn apart…girl is saved…boy doesn’t know it…boy wants to die because he see’s no reason to live if girl is dead. Insert a clan of very, very, very…very old vampires and boy should be able to get what he wants easily. Except there’s a third and fourth book of the series so do you really think anyone dies?
I have a serious problem with the layout of this book. I understand that every story has a beginning, middle, and an end. However, this book seemed more like a placeholder. I enjoyed getting to know Jacob better than I did in “Twilight” and I also got a kick out the new vampires introduced in “New Moon.” Compared to the other three in the series, it didn’t have enough substance though. Meyer could have easily split it in half and included the first part at the end of “Twilight” and the second part in the beginning of “Eclipse.”
Overall, I enjoyed the book and it set me up perfectly to start reading “Eclipse.” Meyer sends her readers into a direction that unequivocally creates the path she intends them to go down in order to understand the last two books of the series. And I guess this generation did need a hot vampire; after all, I had Lestat (Interview with a Vampire, by Anne Rice).
This article is from www.advocate-online.net
Who would enjoy a series of books about a whiny teenage girl (Bella Swan) desperately in love with a vampire minus fangs (Edward Cullen)? Apparently every other whiny teenage girl and their mother. It became a cultural phenomenon overnight and has been turned into two full-length feature films that have surprised the box office.
The second book, “New Moon,” starts out where Twilight left off. Bella still loves Edward with all of her soul and believes they could not survive apart. She gets a very rude awakening when after his brother (still adjusting to the “vegetarian,” or no human blood, diet of the Cullen clan) attacks her at her birthday party and Edward decides for the both of them that Bella would live a lot longer if he wasn’t around.
They had me at “Goodbye Bella.” I hate to admit it, but Meyer had me crying like a baby and feeling that heartbreaking angst right alongside Bella. It’s amazing when a book can draw you in and I found myself never wanting to put it down during those first few chapters.
People ask me what makes Meyer a good writer, and when I read “New Moon” I realized it’s that she refuses to play it safe. She didn’t just make Bella pine for her lost love, but she created an entirely new character for the book. Bella went coo-coo and became a totally different person. She keeps Bella in her head, thinking about Edward, having visions of him, rarely ever letting anything else intrude in her mind, even hunger.
“I knew this was the stupidest, most reckless thing I had done yet. The thought made me smile. The pain was already easing, as if my body knew that Edward’s voice was just seconds away.” Bella convinces herself that the reason she can see Edward in her mind is because of adrenaline. To prove it, she dives off a cliff. This behavior is too extreme for impressionable teens. Okay, your boyfriend dumped you so hey, jump off a cliff. You can have a mental breakdown and have your happily ever after in your head.
The issue of Jacob Black, Bella’s wolf/best friend, was expected because the groundwork was laid out perfectly in the first book. I didn’t think he was going to turn into an actual wolf who’s in love with a whiny teenage girl and color blind. He doesn’t see a single red flag Bella throws at him. It’s all more groundwork for the third book, “Eclipse.” Once you read that book, it will all make sense and the sad part is, you know it and it makes it really difficult to keep reading “New Moon.”
I had a hard time finishing the book and I started scanning a few chapters in the future to see if Edward ever comes back. I was having withdrawal and the book was starting to lose my interest.
Meyer anticipated this and knew I was developing a case of A.D.D. and flipping through the pages searching for my, I mean Bella’s, Edward. The book transitions back to focusing on the vampire aspect of the Jacob-Bella-Edward love triangle. It becomes what’s described as a modern day, human/vampire, Romeo and Juliet-esque type story. This is how it goes…boy saw girl commit suicide in dream…boy is torn apart…girl is saved…boy doesn’t know it…boy wants to die because he see’s no reason to live if girl is dead. Insert a clan of very, very, very…very old vampires and boy should be able to get what he wants easily. Except there’s a third and fourth book of the series so do you really think anyone dies?
I have a serious problem with the layout of this book. I understand that every story has a beginning, middle, and an end. However, this book seemed more like a placeholder. I enjoyed getting to know Jacob better than I did in “Twilight” and I also got a kick out the new vampires introduced in “New Moon.” Compared to the other three in the series, it didn’t have enough substance though. Meyer could have easily split it in half and included the first part at the end of “Twilight” and the second part in the beginning of “Eclipse.”
Overall, I enjoyed the book and it set me up perfectly to start reading “Eclipse.” Meyer sends her readers into a direction that unequivocally creates the path she intends them to go down in order to understand the last two books of the series. And I guess this generation did need a hot vampire; after all, I had Lestat (Interview with a Vampire, by Anne Rice).
This article is from www.advocate-online.net
Twilight Saga: New Moon better than Twilight
Sexier, darker and funnier, "New Moon" rises well above the anemic 2008 film version of Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight."
New director Chris Weitz ("The Golden Compass") injects more humor and visual style than Catherine Hardwicke did in the original, but "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" sags and lags like the first one as it senselessly runs on for more than two hours.
The film especially stumbles when the friendship between that vampire-lovin' Bella (a strong Kristen Stewart) and wolf-boy Jacob (Taylor Lautner) starts to heat up.
With sullen Edward (Robert Pattinson) literally out of most of the picture -- in an attempt to avoid his Bella bloodlust -- the romantic burden falls on the insanely broad shoulders of Lautner to perform pretty boy duties.
Lautner looks spectacular shirtless, and will undoubtedly make many tween hearts flutter. But he might have considered spending more time beefing up that acting muscle rather than perfecting his impeccable six-pack abs.
He and Stewart do have a nice chemistry at the start, but when Jacob reveals he's actually a wolf in tight clothing the script requires the actor to show some range of emotion, and it's no longer pretty to behold. Lautner doesn't have the acting chops of Pattinson.
Weitz and screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg ("Twilight" and TV's "Dexter") do their darndest to spruce up the material with clever references to "Romeo and Juliet" and "Little Red Riding Hood."
They even poke fun at the "Twilight" story. WhenJacob exp lains to Bella why he's hanging with his buff wolf buddies, who frolic shirtless together, he emotes: "It's not a lifestyle choice." Cute.
When Bella hops on a plane to chase after Edward in Italy, she's on Virgin Atlantic. Nice.
These touches, along with key supporting performances from Michael Sheen ("Frost/Nixon) as head of a vampire mob and scene-stealer Anna Kendrick as Bella's verbose friend, make "New Moon" shine bright.
"The Twilight Saga: New Moon"
Starring: Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner, Ashley Greene, Kellan Lutz, Dakota Fanning, Michael Sheen
Director: Chris Weitz
Rating: PG-13
Running Time: 2 hours, 10 minutes
Where: Opens midnight today at area theaters
**1/2
This article is from www.mercurynews.com
New director Chris Weitz ("The Golden Compass") injects more humor and visual style than Catherine Hardwicke did in the original, but "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" sags and lags like the first one as it senselessly runs on for more than two hours.
The film especially stumbles when the friendship between that vampire-lovin' Bella (a strong Kristen Stewart) and wolf-boy Jacob (Taylor Lautner) starts to heat up.
With sullen Edward (Robert Pattinson) literally out of most of the picture -- in an attempt to avoid his Bella bloodlust -- the romantic burden falls on the insanely broad shoulders of Lautner to perform pretty boy duties.
Lautner looks spectacular shirtless, and will undoubtedly make many tween hearts flutter. But he might have considered spending more time beefing up that acting muscle rather than perfecting his impeccable six-pack abs.
He and Stewart do have a nice chemistry at the start, but when Jacob reveals he's actually a wolf in tight clothing the script requires the actor to show some range of emotion, and it's no longer pretty to behold. Lautner doesn't have the acting chops of Pattinson.
Weitz and screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg ("Twilight" and TV's "Dexter") do their darndest to spruce up the material with clever references to "Romeo and Juliet" and "Little Red Riding Hood."
They even poke fun at the "Twilight" story. WhenJacob exp lains to Bella why he's hanging with his buff wolf buddies, who frolic shirtless together, he emotes: "It's not a lifestyle choice." Cute.
When Bella hops on a plane to chase after Edward in Italy, she's on Virgin Atlantic. Nice.
These touches, along with key supporting performances from Michael Sheen ("Frost/Nixon) as head of a vampire mob and scene-stealer Anna Kendrick as Bella's verbose friend, make "New Moon" shine bright.
"The Twilight Saga: New Moon"
Starring: Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner, Ashley Greene, Kellan Lutz, Dakota Fanning, Michael Sheen
Director: Chris Weitz
Rating: PG-13
Running Time: 2 hours, 10 minutes
Where: Opens midnight today at area theaters
**1/2
This article is from www.mercurynews.com
Twilight Saga: More details on New Moon
NOW that television is screening Alan Ball's True Blood, the vampires in Stephenie Meyer's Twilight Saga seem more anaemic than ever.
True Blood's vampires have sex. Twilight's brood about not having it - which for their fans, of course, is an integral part of their appeal.
Meyer's hero, Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson), is a gentleman vampire. Having been brought up on animal blood, he's sworn off the human kind. He and his mortal girlfriend, Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart), dare to kiss but whenever they do, Edward quivers delicately, preserving the possibility that smooch could suddenly deepen into love bite.
New Moon, the second film in the series, finds Edward and Bella settling into life as high school sweethearts in Forks, Washington, although she's already worrying about future complications. She wakes on her 18th birthday from a dream in which she's turned into her own grandmother, while 108-year-old Edward has remained his perennially youthful undead self. This scenario has become common lately. We've seen variations on the theme of time playing tricks and ageing men and women at differing rates in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Time Traveller's Wife and Dorian Gray. Welcome to the Botox generation's defining nightmare.
In Bella's case, this fear has strengthened her curiosity about what it would be like to join Edward's team and become a vampire. He doesn't think it's a good idea. Noble as ever, he wants only to protect her and we're not far into the story before he and the rest of his family decide that they must leave Forks. For him and Bella, it's the end, he tells her. She will not be going with them. Instead, she will stay behind to subside into a chronic sulk. Admittedly, this means no more than a slight adjustment to Stewart's performance, which is already arranged around her pronounced gift for slouching and mumbling, but the prospect of watching her carry a large chunk of the film without her co-star is far from enticing.
There is help at hand, however, in the shape-shifting form of Bella's friend Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner), a son of the local Native American tribe, the Quileute. He has long fancied her and, with Edward out of the way, he sets out to show her what a nice guy he is. And for a while all goes well. Stewart produces a few flickering smiles of appreciation as well as squeezing out one or two sentences of at least six words. Things are looking good - up to the moment when she discovers she's been dating a werewolf.
The film is a lot more ponderous than the first one, which was directed by Catherine Hardwicke ( Lords of Dogtown). Given the extreme lassitude of her two leads, Hardwicke did have some trouble with the story's potential for co-ordinating a little black comedy with its purple passion but her successor, Chris Weitz ( The Golden Compass), hasn't a clue. For long stretches, it seems as if Edward's sister, Alice (Ashley Greene), is the only member of the cast who has been licensed to laugh. And while the high camp elements haven't been eliminated, it's impossible to tell if Weitz can see them.
Jacob and his fellow wolf men, for instance, are pretty funny, with their buffed bodies and fondness for wandering bare-chested through the forest while lustily picking fights with one another, but I suspect that we're meant to take them seriously. The only certainty is that they make a change from Edward, who can't venture into the sunlight for fear of being coated with fairy dust and made to melt away.
The werewolves occasion a few computer-generated brawls as they go hunting a team of bad vampires but it's not until the denouement that we see any real action. This takes place during a brisk trip to Tuscany, where Bella and Alice head off in pursuit of Edward, who has gone to consult the Volturi, an ancient family of vampire aristocrats. Their leader is played by Michael Sheen, who's done a lot of shape-shifting of his own recently, having been cast as Tony Blair in The Queen and David Frost in Frost/Nixon. This time, he's in 18th-century court dress with white facepaint and red contact lenses. He looks like a hung-over pixie who's spent too long at the bottom of the garden.
There is one thing to be said about the way Weitz handles time travel. He can make two hours and 10 minutes seem like a thousand years.
This article is from www.smh.com.au
True Blood's vampires have sex. Twilight's brood about not having it - which for their fans, of course, is an integral part of their appeal.
Meyer's hero, Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson), is a gentleman vampire. Having been brought up on animal blood, he's sworn off the human kind. He and his mortal girlfriend, Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart), dare to kiss but whenever they do, Edward quivers delicately, preserving the possibility that smooch could suddenly deepen into love bite.
New Moon, the second film in the series, finds Edward and Bella settling into life as high school sweethearts in Forks, Washington, although she's already worrying about future complications. She wakes on her 18th birthday from a dream in which she's turned into her own grandmother, while 108-year-old Edward has remained his perennially youthful undead self. This scenario has become common lately. We've seen variations on the theme of time playing tricks and ageing men and women at differing rates in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Time Traveller's Wife and Dorian Gray. Welcome to the Botox generation's defining nightmare.
In Bella's case, this fear has strengthened her curiosity about what it would be like to join Edward's team and become a vampire. He doesn't think it's a good idea. Noble as ever, he wants only to protect her and we're not far into the story before he and the rest of his family decide that they must leave Forks. For him and Bella, it's the end, he tells her. She will not be going with them. Instead, she will stay behind to subside into a chronic sulk. Admittedly, this means no more than a slight adjustment to Stewart's performance, which is already arranged around her pronounced gift for slouching and mumbling, but the prospect of watching her carry a large chunk of the film without her co-star is far from enticing.
There is help at hand, however, in the shape-shifting form of Bella's friend Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner), a son of the local Native American tribe, the Quileute. He has long fancied her and, with Edward out of the way, he sets out to show her what a nice guy he is. And for a while all goes well. Stewart produces a few flickering smiles of appreciation as well as squeezing out one or two sentences of at least six words. Things are looking good - up to the moment when she discovers she's been dating a werewolf.
The film is a lot more ponderous than the first one, which was directed by Catherine Hardwicke ( Lords of Dogtown). Given the extreme lassitude of her two leads, Hardwicke did have some trouble with the story's potential for co-ordinating a little black comedy with its purple passion but her successor, Chris Weitz ( The Golden Compass), hasn't a clue. For long stretches, it seems as if Edward's sister, Alice (Ashley Greene), is the only member of the cast who has been licensed to laugh. And while the high camp elements haven't been eliminated, it's impossible to tell if Weitz can see them.
Jacob and his fellow wolf men, for instance, are pretty funny, with their buffed bodies and fondness for wandering bare-chested through the forest while lustily picking fights with one another, but I suspect that we're meant to take them seriously. The only certainty is that they make a change from Edward, who can't venture into the sunlight for fear of being coated with fairy dust and made to melt away.
The werewolves occasion a few computer-generated brawls as they go hunting a team of bad vampires but it's not until the denouement that we see any real action. This takes place during a brisk trip to Tuscany, where Bella and Alice head off in pursuit of Edward, who has gone to consult the Volturi, an ancient family of vampire aristocrats. Their leader is played by Michael Sheen, who's done a lot of shape-shifting of his own recently, having been cast as Tony Blair in The Queen and David Frost in Frost/Nixon. This time, he's in 18th-century court dress with white facepaint and red contact lenses. He looks like a hung-over pixie who's spent too long at the bottom of the garden.
There is one thing to be said about the way Weitz handles time travel. He can make two hours and 10 minutes seem like a thousand years.
This article is from www.smh.com.au
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Twilight Saga: What's New Moon About?
Starring Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner, Michael Sheen and Dakota Fanning. Directed by Chris Weitz. 130 minutes. At major theatres on Friday. PG
It's fangs for the memories in The Twilight Saga: New Moon, as the love between human teen Bella and her vampire beau Edward becomes even more of the mind than the body.
There's no sophomore slump here, quelling fan fears that a controversial switch of directors from Catherine Hardwicke to Chris Weitz might bite into the emotional continuity of this unorthodox romance.
The stakes are higher and the intensity deeper this time, despite a plot that approaches the ripest of melodrama – and which occasionally provokes unintended laughter, as does the terribly twee soundtrack.
Strong acting across the board and a convincing bond between the two main lovebirds override any objections to the script.
Picking up where franchise starter Twilight ended, and sure to earn as least as much box office gold when screenings begin at selected theatres Thursday (the full rollout is Friday), New Moon's main drama begins at the 18th birthday party for Bella (Kristen Stewart).
A seemingly innocuous accident provokes an unforeseen and potentially fatal response, prompting Edward (Robert Pattinson) to move his vampire kin out of the soggy town of Forks, Wash.
As in movie romances of old, serious gentleman Edward has the best of intentions, nobly choosing to separate from his undead heart's desire rather than facing the grim possibility of her destruction by forces beyond his control.
Just when it seemed that he and Bella might be able to cross the divide between the shadowy vampire realm and the fragile human domain, Edward is forced to confront the limitations not only of their risky love, but of his own weaknesses.
As he grows increasingly confused and depressed, Edward decamps from the northwestern U.S. for Europe, seeking a violent destiny of his own choosing.
The split is the catalyst both for heartbreak and the deepening of desire. An emotionally crushed Bella discovers she is able to connect with Edward on an astral plane whenever her heart rate is peaked by perilous pastimes, but another distraction weakens her focus and her resolve.
Her native American friend Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner), briefly seen in Twilight, becomes entangled in both a love triangle and an progressively more volatile supernatural world, in which werewolves rise to do battle with the vampires.
Lautner obviously prepared for his beefed-up role, since he now sports pecs that the Wolfman himself would envy.
New Moon is not all love and hisses. Although tangled romance is more the emphasis this time out – Romeo and Juliet allusions are driven home like a stake through the heart – there are action set pieces designed to thrill genre movie lovers.
They'll likely scare the daylights out of everyone else. The CGI creatures aren't always first-rate, but they get the job done.
Edward's trip to Europe brings him to a postcard-perfect Italy and into the dangerous company of an ancient coven of vampires called the Volturi, led by a suavely evil royal bloodsucker named Aro (Michael Sheen). When Aro discovers what Edward has been up to with the humans, he is not amused.
But the scariest figure may be, no joke, young Dakota Fanning, who is no longer a kid. She's Jane, a ruby-eyed Volturi guard who uses illusions of pain as an instrument of torture.
With the exception of a new fight scene created for the movie, Weitz (The Golden Compass) and screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg remain for the most part very faithful to the story by Twilight creator Stephenie Meyer, whose best-selling novels started this latest vampire craze.
They well serve an evolving and involving love saga that gives us a lot more to chew on than the typical teen romance.
This article is from www.thestar.com
It's fangs for the memories in The Twilight Saga: New Moon, as the love between human teen Bella and her vampire beau Edward becomes even more of the mind than the body.
There's no sophomore slump here, quelling fan fears that a controversial switch of directors from Catherine Hardwicke to Chris Weitz might bite into the emotional continuity of this unorthodox romance.
The stakes are higher and the intensity deeper this time, despite a plot that approaches the ripest of melodrama – and which occasionally provokes unintended laughter, as does the terribly twee soundtrack.
Strong acting across the board and a convincing bond between the two main lovebirds override any objections to the script.
Picking up where franchise starter Twilight ended, and sure to earn as least as much box office gold when screenings begin at selected theatres Thursday (the full rollout is Friday), New Moon's main drama begins at the 18th birthday party for Bella (Kristen Stewart).
A seemingly innocuous accident provokes an unforeseen and potentially fatal response, prompting Edward (Robert Pattinson) to move his vampire kin out of the soggy town of Forks, Wash.
As in movie romances of old, serious gentleman Edward has the best of intentions, nobly choosing to separate from his undead heart's desire rather than facing the grim possibility of her destruction by forces beyond his control.
Just when it seemed that he and Bella might be able to cross the divide between the shadowy vampire realm and the fragile human domain, Edward is forced to confront the limitations not only of their risky love, but of his own weaknesses.
As he grows increasingly confused and depressed, Edward decamps from the northwestern U.S. for Europe, seeking a violent destiny of his own choosing.
The split is the catalyst both for heartbreak and the deepening of desire. An emotionally crushed Bella discovers she is able to connect with Edward on an astral plane whenever her heart rate is peaked by perilous pastimes, but another distraction weakens her focus and her resolve.
Her native American friend Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner), briefly seen in Twilight, becomes entangled in both a love triangle and an progressively more volatile supernatural world, in which werewolves rise to do battle with the vampires.
Lautner obviously prepared for his beefed-up role, since he now sports pecs that the Wolfman himself would envy.
New Moon is not all love and hisses. Although tangled romance is more the emphasis this time out – Romeo and Juliet allusions are driven home like a stake through the heart – there are action set pieces designed to thrill genre movie lovers.
They'll likely scare the daylights out of everyone else. The CGI creatures aren't always first-rate, but they get the job done.
Edward's trip to Europe brings him to a postcard-perfect Italy and into the dangerous company of an ancient coven of vampires called the Volturi, led by a suavely evil royal bloodsucker named Aro (Michael Sheen). When Aro discovers what Edward has been up to with the humans, he is not amused.
But the scariest figure may be, no joke, young Dakota Fanning, who is no longer a kid. She's Jane, a ruby-eyed Volturi guard who uses illusions of pain as an instrument of torture.
With the exception of a new fight scene created for the movie, Weitz (The Golden Compass) and screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg remain for the most part very faithful to the story by Twilight creator Stephenie Meyer, whose best-selling novels started this latest vampire craze.
They well serve an evolving and involving love saga that gives us a lot more to chew on than the typical teen romance.
This article is from www.thestar.com
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