Miscelaney

(author’s note: do yourself a major solid and hit “play” on the vidoe clip attached in this post…it’s nice music to listen to while reading).

photo credit: PR Photos / Albert L. Ortega

I’m a Twilight fan. I’m old, proud, and definitely not alone. On a recent trip to Arizona I was reading Breaking Dawn. Interestingly, my seat mate was reading New Moon. On my return trip (still reading Breaking Dawn….hey, it’s a thick book) my new seat mate was reading New Moon, in Spanish. If that doesn’t say something about the popularity of this vampire frenzy, I don’t know what does.

Feeling rather under the weather last week (and after finishing Breaking Dawn), I had license to lay around all day and do nothing.  I felt it was a happy coincidence I could order Twilight the movie On Demand. I was a little hesitant that seeing the movie might soil my flawlessly resplendent, phantasmically self-designed vampire microcosm, however after watching the trailer to New Moon over and over, I had the confidence the movie(s) would be true enough to the book(s) and was prepared to bring someone else’s visuals, and Hollywood,  into my unspoiled mental fabrication of the beautiful undead.

I have to admit, I watched it twice, back-to-back. Not because I loved it so so much (although I definitely seemed to thirst for it..still do), but felt the first time around I was straining too hard to compare book to movie and studying Edward’s performance. Felt maybe I didn’t view the movie as a fluid whole and perhaps missed too much. While I thought Bella (Kristin Stewart) was absolute perfection and completely and utterly captivating, I wanted more from Edward (Rob Pattinson)…although I was strangely drawn to (and forgiving of) his occasionally over-controlled (acted?) performance of a character who was penned to be the pinnacle of perfection at all times. But he’s beautiful to look at and his character is a tortured teenage vampire after all, so I suppose he needed to work the constant angst through out the movie.

There are some beautiful, beautiful moments in the movie (cinematography, set design, visual effects, soundtrack), and the director really brought the audience in emotionally close with the teen angst and first love thing. But I think if you haven’t read the book(s), I can imagine this movie seems a bit…hard to sink your teeth into. But then again, considering the throngs and throngs of loyal readers who have been aching for this movie, what do they care? I’d cater to this already sold-out crowd myself.

I hear they brought in a new director for New Moon. I imagine this will shift the underlying focus of this next movie towards more special effects and won’t bathe so much in the up close, raw emotion of forbidden love and teenage life. Either way I think the movie franchise is air tight and I’ll freely admit I can’t wait until November 20 (which seems like forever). I look forward to seeing Edward (Rob Pattinson) own this role in entirety this time. He definitely has the attitude, and the unique look, he just needed the overwhelming confidence (ie. practice) to play perfection from start to finish.

Sign up to receive Miscelaney on e-mail or by RSS feed.