Sacrificial Lamb Chapter 17

New chapter is up at ff.net.  I’ll get 16 and 17 loaded here sometime today as well, lazy I know!

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5390243/17/Sacrificial_Lamb

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Twilight Fanfiction

I’ve already linked to several Twilight fan fics in comments on my other blogs but I figured I should make a blog with all I’ve read in one spot.  I’ll keep coming back and adding to this as I read more, but I wanted to get it started as I’ve devoured quite a bit in the last few weeks.  I went on a quest reading various vampire novels and while I found several series I really enjoyed, I didn’t find anything that spoke to me the same way that Twilight did.  So when I ventured into fanfiction I did so with a lot of skepticism, would other versions of Edward and Bella speak to me the way they did in Twilight?  And I found that they completely did.  It’s truly Edward that I love, I embrace him in all forms it seems.  Bella is often improved upon in the fics I’ve read as well, not to mention more substance given to Jasper and Carlisle and the rest of the clan I’ve fallen for.  I have four books sitting beside me to read but I’d rather hit the net and find the next fanfiction that speaks to me.  Thanks to Rameau for getting me started and AGO and Lady for throwing new stuff my way.  Without further ado, here’s the fics:

Wide Awake by Angstgoddess003.  This is the first big one that I read and it’s the one that got me hooked enough to continue in my research.  Edward and Bella are human next door neighbors who cannot sleep at night due to past traumas.  They bond in the night and find understanding and completion in one another.  Fabulous story with only a chapter and an epilogue left to go.  I’m dying for more.

Creature of Habit by EZRocksAngel.  In this one, Bella goes to work for the reclusive Edward Cullen, eccentric rich guy whom she rarely gets to see.  He’s a vampire here and her scent tortures him just as it does in Twilight.  He oversees his families charitable business by day and by night he tries to keep vampires from killing humans.  Love ensues.

The Red Line by WinndSinger.  Easily the hardest one for me to get through.  Edward is a stripper/male prostitute and Bella hires him to do a psychological study on.  He instructs her in the ways of sex and she teaches him that he’s worth loving.  Very heavy S&M punishment type stuff on some of Edward’s jobs, hard to get through.  I did like his interaction with Bella but it’s not one I would go back to.

Irritable Grizzly Adams by caligula42.  Supposes that when Edward left Bella in the woods in New Moon, he didn’t return to her.  He lied to her and to his family.  6 years pass and Bella becomes some wildlife student, working to study wolves.  She has a wolf/dog named Jake (HA) and goes with a professor to Alaska to meet with some colleagues and get a grant.  Edward and Carlisle are there to give money.  Confrontations and angst ensue.  This one isn’t finished but it’s decent, the issue I had was that Edward didn’t appear til the 6th chapter or thereabouts, I missed him.

Let Your Light Shine by LolaShoes.  These two are my favorites after Wide Awake.  Picks up on Bella and Edward’s honeymoon after she gets in the water.   LOTS of sex.  I mean LOTS.  No Renesmee.  Bella is transformed by Edward as a choice, not because she’s dying.  The Cullens are all there with her.  Great stuff.

A Life Extraordinary by LolaShoes.  Sequel to Let Your Light Shine.  Bella’s life as a vampire.  More bonding with the Cullens, particularly Jasper.  Lots more sex.  Cameos by Angela and Mike and Jessica and Aro.  Not yet finished but close to being done and she appears to be updating weekly.  These two combine to be the Breaking Dawn that I would have enjoyed.  Bella’s power is different as well and there’s good exploration of her ability.

Abbracciare il Cantante by Bratty-Vamp.  I loved this one too, up til the end which I felt was too rushed.  Supposes that Edward leaves Forks that first day that he smells Bella in biology class.  Picks up 3 years later in college at Dartmouth when she wanders into his class again.  This time he stays and a story ensues….

The Arrangement by manyafandom.  This one is another sexual one, threesome between Bella and Edward and Jasper.  They’ve all been best friends since they were 5 years old and they’re living together to go to grad school.  One drunken night Bella makes a move on Edward with Jasper watching and he joins in.  It gets complicated because Bella and Edward are secretly in love with one another and Jasper gets emotionally involved as well.  Not finished yet, lots of sex naturally and plenty of angst.

Innocent, Vigilant, Ordinary by Oxymoronic8.  Supposes that the Cullens don’t arrive in Forks until Bella’s senior year.  She’s involved with Jacob, gave in to his desires to be more than friends but clearly though she loves him, something is missing.  Edward is a vampire in this one and they become tentative friends.  She’s torn between pursuing something exciting with Edward or going with the one she knows in Jake.  Not finished and hasn’t been updated in awhile which concerns me, but at least it ends in a good place if she doesn’t continue.

Hiding In Plain Sight by limona.  This one has Emmett as a cop who has to hide Bella in witness protection.  She ended up working for the Volturi family, notorious mob bosses, out of college and found out they were killing people.  Emmett’s brother, Edward, volunteers to let Marie (her real name, she changes it to Bella to hide) stay at his house and pose as his fiancee.  Jacob Black is his gardener, they bond a little which drives Edward crazy, he and Bella grow closer.  Also not finished but looks to be updated fairly recently.

Only Human by Amethyst Jackson.  Edward and Bella return from their honeymoon and the Cullens throw Bella another birthday party.  She makes a wish that she could give Edward human experiences and she’s transported to 1918 where she meets Edward Masen and his family.  In present time, Edward gets new memories as she and human Edward interact in the past.  I found this quite interesting and enjoyed getting to see human Edward and his parents.  Bella’s conflict of loving both human and vampire Edward was interesting.

Bonne Foi by Amethyst Jackson.  This one is still in progress but updated recently as well.  Here, Edward Masen is going to college and he is on the prowl for a lovely lady to kill.  He meets Bella and gets her alone with him but finds himself becoming more interested in her than her blood when they start talking.  It supposes that our virginal Bella would not be adverse to having sex with a virtual stranger, but I guess when he looks like Edward who cares?  He keeps her alive and enjoys sleeping with her, since he can’t hear her thoughts and get turned off.  After meeting her, he finds that he hears her voice whenever he is getting ready to bite a human so he turns to animals.  He ends up in Forks with her and meets Carlisle and learns that there are other vamps living off animals.  He tells himself that he’s only keeping Bella alive because he enjoys sleeping with her but his feelings are growing and he’s in denial.  Interesting one.

If Love Could Light A Candle by Pastiche Pen.  This one was different, flashed back to Edward hunting humans in the 1920’s and doing penance now by becoming a psychiatrist.  One of his patients is new girl Bella Swan and he is into her smell but also falls for her.  Only 6 chapters so far and it’s been awhile since updated but I found this one intriguing.  Edward was following Bella around and just fascinated with her, plus it was fun to see hunter Edward come out to play in his memories.  Hopefully she’ll update soon.

So that’s it so far, not that that’s not plenty to chew through!  Rameau links some on her site as well, some I mention here and some others I have yet to get to.  I picked up a lot from a Wide Awake fan forum, A Unicorn Ate My Fucking Cookie, which I recommend as their recommendations are the ones I’ve thrown at you here.  They know of what they speak, plus it’s a great place to discuss Wide Awake and Twilight.  I’ll post any new ones I read here below this paragraph so come back often, some of these fics I devour in one sitting so I’m quite capable of adding several in a week.  Happy reading to those of you who try this!

More:

Learning To Say No by ShilohPR.  Not yet finished and hasn’t been updated in awhile but her notes indicate she hasn’t abandoned anything.  Imagine Edward and Bella drinking and hooking up, that’s what you get here.  They have a hell of a time talking to one another unless lit up.  Some genuinely funny happenings though, I laughed with this one more than any other.

Midnight Desire by Twilightzoner.  A play on Midnight Sun, with Edward’s “monster” being his horny teenage boy status when it comes to Bella.  Also amusing and it made me feel guilty for all those make out sessions with my high school boyfriend, leaving him hot and bothered.  Sorry Chad!

The Best Man by Bratty-Vamp.  Jasper and Bella are best friends from childhood.  She comes back to Forks at his request and he tells her he’s marrying Alice.  He sets up a competition between her and his big brother, Edward, for best man in the wedding.  Bella’s crushed on Edward since they were kids.  Only 6 chapters in but it’s amusing.

The Office by tby789.  Porn.  Pure porn.  There’s really not much Edward and Bella about Edward and Bella in this story but it’s very porntastic.  Haha Edward is the boss, Bella is his assistant, they pretty much hate each other.  One night he makes a move on her and they have a lot of hate sex.  Feelings ensue.  Lots of underwear ripping.

Edward’s Eclipse by Vixen1836.  Various chapters of Eclipse told from Edward’s point of view, including the first time Bella sneaks off to see Jacob, the engagement scene and the scene in the tent with Jacob.  My only complaint with this one is it didn’t cover the kiss and aftermath, though it’s probably a good thing because I would have lost it dealing with Edward’s pain in those moments.  Very much Midnight Sun Edward here, loved it.

Mr. Horrible by algonquinrt.  This one is not the Edward and Bella we have grown to know, not at all.  But it might very well be the funniest of the fics I’ve read.  I don’t even know how to describe it to be honest.  Edward is a rich kid with his own internet company and she’s a temp and fanfic writer.  She marches to the beat of her own drum and manages to wrap him and his whole family around her little finger.  It’s amusing and like in Wide Awake, has liberal use of the word fuck and fucking.  I’m always appreciative of that.  Oh, and it includes drag queens and drunken grandmothers.  What more could you want?

Cascade & Cyanide by americnxidiot.  Bella moves to Forks and is promptly warned to stay away from the psychotic Edward Masen.  She’s his bio partner and drawn to his quiet and sad demeanor.  She makes an effort to draw him out and help him deal with some deep issues.

The Nymph & The Waterfall by Pastiche Pen.  Bella moves to Forks and becomes fast friends with all the Cullens, except for Edward.  Waterfalls and gnomes are featured.  Lots of build up to the romance but in a fun way.

Follow You Into The Dark by Guineapigbarbie.  Very interesting concept.  Bella’s mother leaves her at the hospital at the age of 5 with a note asking for someone to provide her with a family.  Carlisle takes her in and she’s raised with all the Cullens, minus Edward who had gone off to work with the Volturi a couple months before she came to them.  When she turns 18 he comes home and they fall for each other, naturally.  Edward’s work with the Volturi comes into play and Bella winds up in danger.  It was a very interesting idea but too short, she used 18 chapters to make them meet and fall in love and establish this problem with the Volturi.  Worth a read but will leave you feeling a little sad at what could have been with double the chapters.

Carpe Noctem & Fiat Lux by queenofgrey.  To say this story has me intrigued would be an understatement.  To say that I am craving new chapters and am mad at myself for reading this one before remotely completed is also an understatement of epic proportions.  If you like dark and angsty, this is the story for you.  Edward moves alone to forks and happens upon Bella working in a bar.  He attacks her, causing her injury but not biting her.  He bites himself instead.  Bella, bored with her lot in life, decides to go confront him rather than turn him in.  He calls in the reinforcements and they work on training him to deal with her scent because she’s not going away and he’s not going to either.  Bella’s lack of self preservation leads her to keep seeking him out despite the obvious danger.  Alice starts acting as a go between and the two start exchanging letters as a form of communication while he works on desensitizing.  It’s captivating, really.  She appears to be writing and posting quickly at least but like I said, I’m anxious already for the next chapter.

Betwixt by queenofgrey.  What can I say, I liked her other story so thought I’d hit the other one she’s writing.  Totally different feel.  Alice and Bella become best friends freshman year and Alice tells her their secret.  We pick up senior year and Bella is an honorary Cullen, Edward being the only one who dislikes her.  Carlisle has found a way to possibily bring back the humanity of the Cullen kids and Bella has to be part of it as the only human who knows their secret.  Edward is against trusting her but as senior year chips away he starts to change his mind and let her in.  No idea if the Cullen kids will actually become human but it’s another good read.

The Burning Shade And The Fading Light by hexumhunnie311.  This one supposes that Bella is the vampire.  She and best friend Alice have been hunting bad humans…Alice still has her future seeing abilities and Bella has Edward’s mad mind reading skills.  They nearly attack a little girl and decide that they need to get off the blood lust path.  Alice has visions and they head to Forks, where they’re drawn to an apartment housing none other than human Edward and Jasper.  They are both intrigued but then head to a mansion Alice sees and meet the Cullens and learn about vegetarianism.  It’s only 5 chapters long so far but it’s kinda fun to have the shoe on the other foot with Bella being the vamp and Edward being the human.  Very little interaction at this point but I’m sure it’ll ramp up soon.

The Blessing and The Curse by The Black Arrow.  Dear Lord.  Imagine Benjamin Linus playing Edward Cullen.  This Edward is a manipulative, controlling, possessive prick.  If you thought Edward was possessive in Twilight, haha, well you’re in for a world of shock at a real possessive Edward.  Edward and Bella were born 3 hours apart and grew up best friends.  He regarded her as his possession and cut short any guy that tried speaking to her as they grew up, either verbally or physically.  Fast forward 6 years and Bella returns to Forks because Esme is dying.  She’d helped raise Bella since Renee died when she was 5 and Bella’s there for her.  Edward’s there as well and back to trying to make Bella back into “his”.  It’s disturbing how he is about her but I will not deny that there’s something hot about it.  Rose calls him creepy hot and that’s pretty dead on.  I, like Bella, need therapy.  Still, really WELL written and quite fascinating.

Coming To Terms by GinnyW 31.  In this one, Bella and Edward meet and have an apparent one night stand.  She’s transferred to Seattle and finds out that that night led to a baby.  She tracks down Edward and he goes from happy to irate over her news.  Turns out there’s a past….etc.  This one is near done but not quite.  Edward is a complete douche for a lot of the story and as an Edward lover that’s hard to deal with but she does redeem him some and validate some of his reactions.

Metamophosis by LivesAmongTheStars.  Wow.  Just wow.  This is the 3rd part of Breaking Dawn written in Edward’s point of view, from Bella’s transformation up til the confrontation with the Volturi.  She’s cut off as they show up in the clearing, so there’s probably only 2 chapters left.  She captures Edward perfectly and we experience his joy in Bella’s happiness and his angst over the danger to Renesmee.  It’s beautifully done and she adds little scenes that bring out more in the characters.  Couldn’t recommend it more, hope she updates soon.

Bella Swan: Kidnapper by Kambria Rain.  This is another funny one.  Bella’s a single mom and she runs across a woman yelling at and preparing to hit a couple kids.   She takes them, hence the kidnapper.  Turns out that their dad is Edward Cullen.  Sarcasm and pranks ensue.  It’s a fun story that kept me grinning constantly.

The Doll House by Kambria Rain.  Completely different from her other story, this one is Twilight meets Friday the 13th.  Bella and a bunch of the Forks folks all go into the moutains for spring break.  There she meets mysterious mountain man Edward.  Her friends start dying and disappearing, they’re being hunted.  Appearances by most of the main and secondary characters.

And yet another:

Tropic of Virgo by In.a.blue.bathrobe.  I really enjoy this one.  Edward and the rest of the Cullens are in a band, Breaking Dawn, and Bella moves to town.  Edward hears her sing and becomes instantly smitten with getting her in the band, then with getting her.  Unbeknownst to the two of them, they are communicating on the internet through their blogs, his for song writing and hers for poetry.  They communicate back and forth about getting together and cutely Edward is jealous every time she gets a text updating her on a new message from her online pal.  It’s a good read, 28 chapters in so far.

The Vampire in the Basement by michellephants.  I love that I’m still finding really good stories to read, even though I feel like I’ve read about a hundred or more at this point.  This is another nominee for the Eddies & Bellies so I checked it out and I’m entranced yet again.  In this one, Bella is friends with all the Cullens, they’re vamps.  Alice saved her from an attack by James and that’s how she was brought into their world.  One day, Emmett and Jasper and Carlisle find a body lying in the river, they assume it’s a dead human but on closer inspection find it to be a vampire, badly injured.  They take him to the basement as he is a potential danger.  Bella comes to the house despite orders not to and goes to the basement and finds him and goes to him despite his growling at her and his obvious threat.  She’s the only one who can remotely calm him as they try to figure out how a vampire became wounded and starving.  Watching Bella and Edward grow closer is just beautiful really, I don’t have any other words for it.  Highly recommend it.

Just One of the Guys by SorceressCirce.  If you ever wanted Edward Cullen to be your boyfriend, and I will admit I have, this is definitely an Edward to have.  Bella and Jasper are best friends living together.  She has a trauma in her past that makes her afraid of most males.  Jazz and Alice start dating and Alice convinces Bella to go to the movies with them and her brother, who is asexual according to her.  He was badly hurt in high school and she thinks he’s been away from women since.  There is almost insta-love in this one but it works with the characters.  Jasper is all kinds of awesome too.  Written by an Engish teacher and a good read.

Breaking The Silence by SparklingTwilight.  I don’t usually throw a recommendation to one that I have yet to finish, but this one is causing me to make an exception.  I read another story by this author and like her style and this story has me quite interested.  Bella is a foster kid taken in by Esme and Carlisle.  She hasn’t spoken a word in 5 years.  Renee and Charlie were killed and Bella injured.  She blames herself for that and while she has a lot of internal dialogue, she doesn’t speak it but to the reader.  She lives back in Forks, where her family lived when she was younger.  She used to be best friends with Edward, Emmett and Jasper along with Angela, Jessica, Lauren, Mike and Tyler, but when she returned after whatever happened to her family, she pushed them away by not talking to them.  The story takes place right before junior year of high school.  Alice moves in next door and befriends Bella despite her lack of speaking.  She manages to bridge the distance between Bella and Carlisle and Esme and gets her out of her shell a bit.  We find out through Edward’s viewpoint that he truly loves Bella and that none of them know what happened to her or why she won’t talk to them.  I’m 18 chapters in, it’s 75 chapters long and complete (they are pretty quick chapters though) and completely captivated.  I already adored Alice but I love her all the more here and I feel for Jazz, Em and Edward because they still truly love Bella but don’t know how to reach her.  Excellent so far.

I have added another fanfiction blog, here’s a link:

https://nolebucgrl.wordpress.com/2009/08/03/more-twilight-fanfiction/

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Twilight: The Movie

Edward & Bella

Whenever a well known book is made into a movie, there are legions of fans wanting certain aspects included.  We don’t all get our ways, of course, but we do go in with a preconceived notion of how things will be and when expectations are not fully met, it can and does leave a bad taste in our mouths.  I’ll admit that the first time I saw Twilight, I did have an adverse reaction.  Subsequent viewings have elevated the movie somewhat in my viewpoint but I’ve never let go of certain reactions.  I thought I’d go over here what I liked and what I didn’t.  The what I didn’t like stuff will be more heavily discussed here, but keep in mind I didn’t hate the movie by any means.  I have 3 different copies due to different extras and offers, so clearly I continue to be psychotically attached to any and all aspects of the Twilight world. I’ll break things down into casting, storyline and directing just to cover all the major bases.

Casting

I thought Robert Pattinson brought coolness and charm to Edward.

For me, they got one lead role right and one lead role very wrong.  Can you guess which way I’m going here?  Probably if you’ve read any of my other blogs but we’ll flesh it out anyway.

Robert Pattinson as Edward worked for me on almost every level.  Looks, charm, sense of humor, an underlying self-loathing that was not obvious but was there if you looked at him.  I loved the little smirks he would throw in when he was amused by something.  As an Edward groupie, I was predisposed to either love or loathe the casting with no in-between, luckily I fell on the love side and honestly, the first time I saw the movie the only reason it worked for me at all was because of him.  That’s not to say that he was perfect, there were some missed beats and some strange expressions that could nearly throw me out of a scene but overall I thought he did a good job.  My mother saw the movie with me and she walked out of the theater saying that she thought the actor did a good job appearing as something other (she has not read the books) so that says something to me.  She also thought he was far too good for Bella, which leads me to….

The kiss was hot, Kristen Stewart as Bella was not.

Kristen Stewart as Bella Swan.  The first time I watched the movie, I couldn’t stand her as Bella and it took me a long time to figure out why.  I thought maybe it was a visceral “Don’t touch my man” thing or a she can’t act thing, which it kind of was the latter for me.  In subsequent viewings I was able to pinpoint it a little more accurately; Kristen played Bella as entirely too hard of a character.  I didn’t really get a sense of fragility or vulnerability from her at all.  Sure, she weighs like 2 pounds so she looks fragile, but the character’s inflections just had an edge to them that I didn’t feel Bella had at all.  I’ve seen interviews with Stewart wherein she talks about how strong Bella is and that one throws me for a loop too.  Maybe she gets stronger as the series goes, but in Twilight she didn’t strike me as particularly strong.  Trusting, fish out of water, stubborn and passionate maybe, but not strong.  Maybe I read that wrong, I don’t know.

I also felt the actress did not portray her love for Edward well enough.  That complete and utter desperation and dependence upon him did not come through at all.  I think she tried in the hospital scene but she wasn’t very good.  The two leads did show good chemistry in the bedroom kissing scene and at the prom, but again I didn’t feel her need to be with him.  I know it’s hard to portray that level of longing but I think it fell flat.

She just did not work for me, at all, as Rosalie.

Another casting that I loathed was Nikki Reed at Rosalie.  This will sound pretty bitchy of me I suppose but over and over we were told that Rosalie was the epitome of beauty.  The most beautiful person they could find was Nikki Reed?  I know she has a history with Hardwicke and that’s what got her the role, but come on.  They could have found a gorgeous blond wearing a bitchface to plug into that role that would have been more effective.  I’m predisposed to hate Rosalie anyway but they could have cast someone that made her believable as some intimidating gorgeous force of nature who hates her life.

Jasper with that constipated look upon his face.

I wasn’t overly fond of the Jasper casting either; nothing against the actor but all he put into the role was a look of constipation.  I get that was supposed to be his discomfort and desire for blood but it just cracked me up.  I did like his bat handling skills in the baseball scene though, I bet that’s why he got the role.  He just didn’t look like Jasper to me.

The rest of the Cullens all worked for me to a point.  Esme was pleasant enough and so was Carlisle, though they were a lot older than the book made them out to be.  I can deal, they wanted them to look more like parental figures.  I did enjoy the bits of Alice we got to see and I found Emmett interesting.  Loved his friendly wave to Bella while holding the knife in the kitchen.  That is how I imagine Emmett behaving, so it worked for me.

Chief Swan was funnier and more lovable in the movie.

My favorite casting had to be Billy Burke as Charlie Swan.  He’s the only one of the entire cast that actually improved upon the book character for me.  He was gruff but hilarious and I thought he did a great job of showing Charlie’s love for Bella coupled with his inability to express it.  He was given the funniest lines and expressions and he worked them.  Kudos to Billy Burke.

I save Jacob Black for last because he was such a minor role in this book and he had little screen time.  I thought Taylor Lautner looked stupid as hell with that hair and I’m glad that it gets cut off in New Moon cause that wig was just bad.  I am one of the people who thinks Jacob should have been recast for the next movie, for I fear they’ll have to spend all of their budget on making him look like he morphs into a real man.  The kid is barely taller than Kristen Stewart and midway through New Moon he’s supposed to look about 25, so I have real reservations about keeping him in the role.  I’ve seen interviews and I do like the actor and think he has charm, which could translate well on screen when he’s given something to do.  I just don’t know if he’s going to be believable or not.  I remain cautious on this one but I  would have recast him, seeing as he only had about 3 minutes of screen time in Twilight, but we’ll see.

Storylines

I had two huge issues when it came to this movie.  The first was Kristen as Bella and the second is storyline related.  I understand that they couldn’t stick to the book 100% .  I can deal with that.  However, to me there are certain scenes that are sacred, one of them being my favorite in the entire series.  When you mess with those, well, I’m not going to be happy.  I did feel that Twilight stayed very true to the book, using most of the story lines, I just felt that the timing could have used a lot of work.  A lot of it.

Does that look like a meadow to you?

The big one for me was the lack of the meadow scene.  That’s the scene that started the whole series, the scene Meyer dreamed about.  So to me, it should have been there in it’s entirety.  Firstly, it’s hot.  It’s a sexy little scene wherein Edward tests his ability to be close to Bella.  Secondly, it’s the scene where the trust is completely built and established.  She puts her life in his hands, he tells her just how much he wanted to attack her and why and she stays.  She chooses to stay right then and there despite knowing that her blood calls him more potently than any other.  I wanted desperately to watch him touch her face, to watch her feel that passion and desire she had for him.  I wanted to watch her touch his face as she’d longed to do since the first time she saw it and for him to feel the warmth of a humans touch.

Did I get any of that?  No!  What I got was her stomping past him at school and informing him that she knew what he was and then the terrible glittery chest scene.  I got the lion and the lamb line, sure, and I even liked how he had her caged between his arms and the tree for it, but it wasn’t enough for me at all.  The touching was kept to a minimum and the meadow consisted of them lying and looking at each other while he sparkled in bad CGI (Side note, it actually didn’t look as bad on my high def TV as it did in the theater, I don’t know if they improved it for the DVD or if my TV just rocks.)  They weren’t even holding hands!  It annoyed me greatly, as you can see.

Another big change that I didn’t appreciate was Edward just blurting out that he could read minds in the restaurant.  I get that it was supposed to be cute, him telling her what everyone was thinking; sex, money, cat; but it annoyed me because Bella figures that out on her own.  I liked that she was watching him closely enough to figure it out and I know that Edward liked that about her too.  Her perception when it came to him was part of her appeal.  I didn’t like how that was handled, nor could you really tell he was reading minds up til that point.  They showed him seeming to hear things a couple of times but that could have been written off to vampire hearing abilities if you hadn’t read the book.

I mentioned this a little already but I didn’t care for the way the vampire information was revealed either.  I liked that she told him in the car on the way home in the book and what it meant that she was actively choosing to ride with him knowing he was a vampire, not her going home and researching and then telling him in the woods outside of the school.  Little thing and I didn’t mind the scene overly much accept that it overlapped and became the meadow scene, but I just would have preferred it to be done as it was written.

Where is the love?

Also, other than the lion and the lamb comment, we never ever heard either character say that they loved one another.  That was a huge deal and I really missed the scene where Edward spends the night for the first time and Bella sees him there in the morning and jumps into his lap, overjoyed that he’s still there.  He tells her she said she loved him in her sleep and she burrows into his neck and tells him again.  He tells her outside of the baseball game.  I know, I’m nitpicking a bit but this is a love story, we should be hearing some declarations of love.

I understood the need to ramp up the action in the movie so I didn’t necessarily mind the bad vamps hunting additions.  It was good to establish how different the Cullens were and to set up the future conflicts with James, Laurent and Victoria.  What I did mind was having Charlie and the cops hunting down the killers and figuring out that they were human.  One of the fun things about the books is that Charlie is entirely clueless up until Breaking Dawn.  His days are spent playing cards and rounding up the occasional truant, not tracking deadly vampires.  Are they gonna drag that all through the rest of the movies?  I like clueless Charlie!

I did enjoy the baseball scene and the final fight scene between Edward and James.  Aspects were cheesy of course but overall they were fun to watch and pretty well done.  One thing I didn’t like though was when Edward was sucking the venom out of Bella and Carlisle had to tell him to stop and that he was killing her.  One of the signs of his love for her is that despite how her blood tastes to him, he’s able to quit on his own.  It was a small but major thing to me that they had Carlisle saying that he was killing her.  They could have had her pass out and us still wondering if she was okay without that addition.

Directing

I gotta say, when they announced they were getting a new director for New Moon I was not in the least bit upset by that news.  I know that the budget on this film wasn’t huge but I thought the special effects and CGI could have been much better done.  I lay the casting snafus directly on Catherine Hardwicke, for every character she cast well was balanced out by one she didn’t I thought.  I blame her for the lack of a meadow scene and the lack of an I love you scene.  I blame her for not giving Kristen Stewart direction to act like she was swept away by love.  I also blame her for showing Bella to be entirely too comfortable in her own skin.  She quickly seemed to become a leader among her circle of friends, she didn’t feel like an outsider to me and I consider that hugely important to her character.  For someone who was so enamored by the books, I felt she really left a lot unaddressed or inadequately covered.

I did like the foreshadowing to the conflicts with the wolves, thought that was a good set up heading into New Moon.  That will be the hardest movie for me personally, as an Edward fan, but I have high hopes that it will be an improvement on Twilight.  They’ll have a bigger budget and hopefully a cast that is more comfortable with their characters.

Again, I would like to say that I didn’t hate this movie, I’m just overly critical because of how much I loved the book.  Had I seen it in a vacuum I don’t know if it would have worked better; I think I would have been confused about the mind reading and the overall state of their relationship but I can’t say that with any accuracy.  I was really left disappointed that some of my favorite scenes were not in the movie and were changed.  Some worked alright despite that, some didn’t.  It’s hard to see a movie made out of a book you’re passionate about I guess!

Anyway, I’m interested to hear what everyone else thought.  Was I too critical?  Are there things you would have changed that I didn’t address?  I’m really looking forward to hearing what my fellow Twilighters thought.  This will probably be my last Twilight blog until New Moon comes out; I think I’ve covered the stuff I wanted to discuss, but if you think of anything else you’d like to see me tackle let me know, god knows I’m always open to discussing this series!

PS.  For those of you that have the movie on DVD, I highly recommend watching the movie with the DVD commentary.  Rob is hilarious to listen to!

All pictures from TwilightPoison.com

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