New Moon The Movie

I liked this picture, what can I say? Obvious reasons. Take her out, insert me, happiness.

So, know that this is my initial blog post on this movie and I’ll either come back and edit, add or create a whole new blog after subsequent viewings.  I don’t think I wrote my Twilight blog for about 4 months after the movie which I had seen 20 odd times by then.  So, needless to say, I had a lot more to say then.  But we’ll go with what I feel right now and then expand as needed, okay?

So, my first initial reaction?  After I have a couple of kids with Rob I would gladly pop out a little one in honor of Chris Weitz.  Yep, he earned a child in my eyes.  Now, you don’t think this because you don’t watch football with me, but about a decade ago, when my teams were good, I used to promise players children if they would do something I appreciated.  Thankfully I was never held to said promises, because I would have a hundred or so kids by now, but you get my drift.  It’s a high honor that I bestow on the worthy.  Weitz is worthy.  He got it.

The last movie I broke down on various points so I think I’ll do that again.  It worked well for me last time.

If you didn't know, Paul is on the left. He is yummy. I approve of the shirtlessness, heartily.

The Aesthetics

• How about that shit, Chris Weitz knows what a meadow is!  Flowers, lots of pretty multi-colored flowers surrounding our young lovers in Bella’s dream.  I’m quite glad he didn’t go with Hardwicke’s spot of grass with some dandelions stuck in it or whatever the hell that crap was.
• Sparkling!  You could actually see the sparkles when Edward stepped into the light without the aid of high def TV that was required with the first movie.  Not to say the sparkling was magically cool, but at least it looked better.
• Make-up.  So much better.  The vamps looked more natural, particularly Carlisle who I thought looked terrible in the first movie.
• Hair.  Still not great, but somewhat better except in the case of Jasper.  His curly girly ‘do does not work for Jasper, at all.  Go straight and shaggy and maybe a little long and he’d be perfect.  Well, better anyway. hehe No, still not in love with Jackson Rathbone but I disliked him less this go-round.

• Camera work.  One of the things that most drove me nuts in Twilight was that the camera work was shoddy at hell.  Take the pivotal non meadow scene where Edward is in the tree and telling Bella that he wants to eat her.  Half of those shots you’d see only part of Rob, if any of him, one shot you randomly see his body for no particular reason, other shots you have half his face…watch that scene again and tell me that’s not crappy.  I didn’t have a scene that stood out that way this time around, there was some cutting between Edward/Bella during the break up scene that I would rather have seen both their faces but it didn’t bug me.
• Shirtlessness.  You can never really have too much male shirtlessness in a movie, at least in my book.  Did any of the wolves ever wear shirts?  Only Jacob I think.  Hilarious really.  No complaints though.  And you know I always like Rob to be undressed, so bonus points for that.

What? Like I wasn't going to use more Edward pics than anything else?

Casting

• The newbie vamps?  No complaints whatsoever.  Aro was made of awesome, I really want him to have an expanded role in subsequent films even though he’s not even in the book Eclipse as I recall.  Damn, I have depressed myself.  Caius and Marcus, bit parts but well represented, still would prefer an older Caius but I thought the actor did a good job in limited role.  The other vamps were all good, particularly Dakota Fanning as Jane, but I love her so that was to be expected.  Felix was hot, Demetri would have been hotter with black hair but I still liked him, Alec was rather cute for a vamp, hehe.
• The wolves?  Hello Paul.  It’s nice to meet you and your abs.  I wanted to lick him, sorry if that’s an overshare but it’s my blog and I’ll drool if I want to.  Liked the new Sam a lot.  Quil didn’t fit my image of him but liked all the rest.  Emily I expected to be prettier but she wasn’t bad.
• Charlie Swan, again, was made of awesome.  I am rather in love with Billy Burke.  He just adds a layer to Charlie that the books did not, he’s funny and sarcastic and loving and sweet and really fatherly.  Probably too fatherly if we’re looking for being close to the book but it doesn’t matter.  He was very good, again.
• Edward…what more can I say?  Rob is Edward in my book and I thought he nailed the tortured soul yet again.  He looked pained saying goodbye to Bella and so defeated when he thought she was dead that it took my breath away.  I didn’t cry but I came damn close.
• Bella.  If you read my Twilight blog you know that I didn’t care for KStew’s Bella at all.  I may have used the word hate somewhere in there, it wouldn’t surprise me.  This time out?  I still don’t love her and I can still think of many other actresses I would rather be her but she was somewhat better.  I’m not sure if this is because Bella is numb for so much of the movie and that’s an emotion that KStew can actually do or if she’s learned a little.  I will say that I liked the way Bella kept pushing Jake away and felt that it was made clear that despite all the time she was spending with him, Edward was still everything to her.
  

  TL bulked up nicely but still doesn't entirely work for me. I do hate him less though. High praise! hehe

• Jacob.  I was not overly happy that Taylor Lautner was returning as Jacob and though he won me over a little bit I still would rather they recast.  He’s still so damn short…in his brief scene with Rob I just felt like I was watching the child he actually is instead of the manchild he’s supposed to become.  And yes, his muscles are quite impressive, but he’s so short.  It kills me.  Beyond that, though, once he lost the wig he looked pretty good and the acting was fine.  I actually felt bad for him a time or two and anybody that knows me knows that I don’t feel bad for Jacob.  Not in the books anyway.
• Alice.  Loved her.  I liked her in the first movie in her limited role but this time around she got a chance to shine a little and Ashley Greene took it.  She actually sounds like Alice, you know?  I loved her snark at Jacob, actually made me think of Rosalie in Breaking Dawn more than Alice but it worked.
• Jasper.  I still don’t get the Jackson Rathbone love that I see in fandom but I will say that Jasper got to have a snarky line or two and I thought he delivered them well.  He still doesn’t look right but I liked the voice he used and enjoyed him in the voting scene because of it.
• The rest of the Cullens?  Still can’t stand Nikki Reed as Rosalie but she might have had two lines in the movie so it’s not a deal breaker.  Loved the little Emmett we got, including a scene that reminded me of my fic Emmett and pleased me highly.  Carlisle and Esme were fine in their minimal scenes as well.

The Story

• Very close to the book with a few deviations that worked.  This is spoilery so if you haven’t seen it yet, this is the portion of the blog you might want to skip by the way.
• I liked that they made Victoria responsible for Harry Clearwater’s death.  That totally did not happen in the books but having her more or less frighten him to death while he was helping Charlie hunt the wolves was a pretty cool addition I thought.  Knowing that one of the wolves (Jacob?) thought they saved him adds weight down the road, should they decide to mine that, with resentment from the wolves to the vamps.
• Loved that after the Cullens left Bella sat at their lunch table alone for the months they were gone up until Charlie threatened to send her to Jacksonville.  It was a nice touch that worked instead of the books version of her sitting with her old friends and not talking. Made a more powerful visual.
• The humor.  Instead of B&E watching Romeo and Juliet alone at her house, having them do it in the classroom and seeing the teary reactions to the movie by Angela and much more hilariously Eric gave me a giggle.  Also, anytime you’re going to have the teacher call out Edward and have him recite some Shakespeare is made of win in my book.  Yum.
• There were a couple quick cuts wherein we were in one place, like class, with Edward telling Bella a little about the Volturi and then all of a sudden we were at their house and he finished telling them about them.  It was alright, not too jarring but a little choppy for my taste.  Would rather he have done it all in once place.  I guess I could have put this in the few complaints I had but it didn’t take me out of the movie so I’ll leave it here.
• The action.  SO good.  The Jacob/Paul fight scene was easily my favorite and you could almost feel the ground shaking the way it was shot.  Really good.  Also enjoyed the Volturi fight and of course the wolf/vamp hunting.  I have no complaints about the effects, that’s for sure.
• The movie within the movie.  I enjoyed Bella’s outing with Jacob and Mike Newton.  Face Punch?  Awesome, totally want to see that cheesy ass movie. hehe
• I did like the ending, cliffhanger or no, leaving it with Edward asking Bella to marry him if she wanted him to change her made me feel warm and happy inside!
• Addition #1.  Major fail for me, I forgot to mention that I really LOVED the way that instead of the Bella voiceover chatting at us when Edward was gone, she was writing to Alice via email and reading it to us that way.  It felt so sad and lonely…awesome.

 

I needed more for the reunion, can't help it.

Complaints

• I don’t have a lot to bitch about this time out, which is a nice change, but of course I do have some issues.  Most of them are Jacob/Bella related because I’m an Edward girl, what can I say?  I didn’t care for the near kiss scene because their lips were actually touching, albeit barely.  I am not supposed to endure a B&J kiss until Eclipse and that’s going to be very difficult for me, so I didn’t approve.
• Bella telling Jacob she loves him right in front of Edward.  Um…no.  First of all, she doesn’t utter those terrible words until Eclipse.  I should know because I’m doing my fic rectifying that shit.  Yes, she did follow it up by telling him that if he asks her to choose between him and Edward there is no choice, it’s always Edward, which pleased me.  But still.  No I love you, especially when they’re so stingy with giving me those three words between E&B.
• The Edward/Bella talk when reunited.  One of my favorite scenes in the books and one of my least favorite in the movie because it was too damn short and Bella was too quick to accept it.  No, I’m not saying that we should have been left to wonder about whether she would take Edward back, but the self-doubt was not apparent then like it was during the break up.  Her belief that he couldn’t possibly love her carries into Eclipse and it’s pretty important.  It just felt like he said sorry, I lied and I love you, always, and she was on board.  I needed more from that scene.

Wow, so I think those are all my complaints and that’s not too bad at all, really.  The first two were to be expected as a B&E fan so not a surprise.  The movie felt like it was over too quickly despite its 2:10 minute running time and I felt like walking right back into the theater and seeing it again, so pretty good endorsement huh?  I’ll be seeing it at least once more this weekend and likely twice, so I’m sure I’ll have more to say when I’m not as swept up in subsequent viewings.

I was thrilled to discover that New Moon blew away the opening night record and bought in $26 million overnight.  That’s awesome.  And for going to a 9:40 AM movie, it was pretty damn crowded this morning as well.  Mostly adults, too, though there were some kids who were clearly skipping school.  Ahhh, good times.

Anyway, I give the movie and Chris Weitz a ringing endorsement, especially when compared to Twilight.  I wish he had been in charge of that one too because I bet we would have had a much better movie, budget woes or no.  That’s neither here nor there, I guess we’ll see what David Slade can do with Eclipse.  Here’s hoping BD finally gets it’s green light and I’d be more than okay with a Weitz revisit if they decided to go there.  I’ve rambled enough for now, I’ll add more later.

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