Hey, have you guys heard about this book series called the Twilight saga? It’s apparently really popular. So popular, they’ve already made two movies based on it and will soon release a third! Wow!

Of course, if you’re here you know about Twilight, but if you don’t, here’s a primer. So, with the sequel finally out on DVD and (more importantly) the Rifftrax crew releasing their commentary for it, I was able to enjoy this movie for myself. Still, what can I say about this movie that hasn’t already been said better by others? Well I’m going to divide this into 3 sections and rant (for too long) in them.

Acting

Among the grades I give to actors/actresses, there are two which are my most favorite. The first grade is where an actor treats their craft like a serious job. They work hard at what they do and bring such life to their roles that you just can’t get enough of watching them. They are “Michael Caine” grade. The Dark Knight is a movie full of Michael Caine grade actors (including the real Michael Caine). Other actors just plain have fun. Whether it’s crap or quality, they bring such joy to their roles that you can’t help but smile as each line delivered is like a wink to just you in the audience. They are “Reb Brown” grade. (need to know who he is?) Iron Man 1 was 100% Reb Browns.

In New Moon, I would give Charlie, Carlise and Dakota Fanning the Michael Caine grade. They do such a good job you wish they were just in their own movie about vampire buddy cops with their sassy secretary. Emmet, Aro and most of the wolf pack, meanwhile, seem quite aware they are in crap and are just having as much fun picking up their paycheck as they can. Some of the best Reb Brown grade acting I’ve seen in a long time. Then there’s Taylor Lautner who actually starts out as Reb Brown grade then shifts into Michael Cain grade later. Meanwhile, there’s poor Kristen Stewart. She has decent enough moments here and there, I don’t think her acting is at fault, it’s just the role itself does not have enough meat on it to sustain any movie.

I actually feel most sorry for Christopher Heyerdahl. Other than this magnificent work of literature, Mr Heyerdahl represents the first crossover between the Twilight saga and Supernatural. See, on the far superior show, Christopher played one of the most powerful demons ever: Alastair. Seriously, just watch him in this episode. During his scene in Twilight 2, I kept screaming at the screen, “Dammit man, you’ve fought angels! Just kick some ass already!”

But then it wouldn’t be Twilight if we didn’t waste the maximum potential every minute.

Relationships

So am I now some sort of team Jacob fangirl? No, I have no real care for who Bella picks, but is it too much to ask that the movie actually show us something of a relationship between her and Edward? And before anyone protests, I have a solid piece of evidence closing the debate once and for all:

Count how many times you see Bella really and truly smile while around Jacob then how many times she does so around Edward.

Guess which tally is 0.

Seriously, throughout this movie all you can think about is that Bella would have much happier 40 years with Jacob than an eternity with Edward. Really, what are she and Edward going to do when married? Screw each other and lay in meadows staring? I don’t care how in love you are, after a century that’s going to get boring. But in New Moon, we see a hint of what Bella’s and Jacob’s future could be:

“Well, Bella, we’ve raced across the country on motorcycles we built ourselves and climbed Mt Everest. What project should we start next?”
“We should see about getting some funds for it first,” said Bella chagrinly, shaking her empty purse for effect.
“What did you have in mind?”
“I take you down to the dog track…”

Canon

NOTHING IN THIS WORLD MAKES A DAMN BIT OF SENSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I said it before and I’ll say it again: why aren’t the vampires in charge. A big plot of this movie revolves around the vampires in charge (the Volturi) and their laws, such as: “Don’t be conspicuous.” And “Always look faaaabulous.” Why that first one? Why do these vampires care about remaining secret? Only the werewolves seem to be a threat and they seem to remain on their little corner of the world (seriously, why didn’t Jacob go with Bella, who was heading into the vamp den?).

You know what, fine. I’m making one up:

Meyerpires did rule the world once. But it was like the Beetles everywhere, all the time with them. Finally, they got so fed up with it they went into hiding. The Volturi dread the day meyerpires are exposed and their groupies return…

Bad movie! You’re not supposed to make me do that work for you.

I did laugh when Bella met the Volturi receptionist (a vampire fangirl). The scene plays out like this is sort of horrible, there’s something wrong here.

…EXCEPT IT’S EXACTLY THE SAME DEAL WITH BELLA.

Yes, for a moment in this movie, there were 2 Bellas on screen. You know, if it had been Jacob & Bella passing her, it would have been better. It would have given them increased motivation for wanting to fight the Volturi and reinforced how Bella made the right decision.

Only she doesn’t.

So the scene has no impact.

The scene with the tourists was spine-chilling though. Oh, except where our ‘heroes’ didn’t do anything.

You know what makes a hero? What a person does (in real life or fiction). What makes a true and noble hero is one that doesn’t give up, no matter what, no matter how effective. Superman, Batman and Spiderman are three of the greatest examples. Another one is from the movie Kung Fu Hustle. The protagonist has finally grown as a character; he’s not the failing crook he was at the beginning. In one scene, the biggest, baddest villain is beating up on this older couple of Good martial artists. Although he has no chance, the protagonist attacks, distracting the villain in order to let the other two escape. He promptly gets beaten – BADLY. Yet though he is literally pounded into the floor, he picks up this little piece of wood, and lightly taps the villain on the forehead with it. That is a hero.

In this movie we see Bella play at being a hero for one moment as Edward is getting thrown around the Volturi chamber. She can’t do anything to help him and Kristen really does play this scene as someone who is dying to do something, even though she can’t. Her pleading does save him though. Yet, all that serves to make the scene with the tourists even more enraging! Bella, Alice and Edward can’t really save the tourists, we know this, but do you see Bella put up even a fraction of the fight for them that she did for Edward? Do we see them being dragged out of the building kicking and screaming in protest? Do we see them make an effort to save even just one of the children that were in the group?

NO!

Which is why you’re not a hero Bella and neither are you Edward! Jacob, with everything he does in this movie, is ten times the hero the two of you put together are! And Charlie’s twice the hero that Jacob is.

Why couldn’t the movie been about him? GAH!

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Comment

  1. falconempress on 3 April 2010, 12:07 said:

    OMG you know who Reb Brown is. You, sir, are a gentleman and a scholar. And you have my admiration because I had to walk out of the room where me and my roommate were watching the movies somewhere around the halfway mark, I just could not take it. Respect.

  2. Danielle on 3 April 2010, 13:47 said:

    “Well, Bella, we’ve raced across the country on motorcycles we built ourselves and climbed Mt Everest. What project should we start next?”
    “We should see about getting some funds for it first,” said Bella chagrinly, shaking her empty purse for effect.
    “What did you have in mind?”
    “I take you down to the dog track…”

    You win so many internets for this. Had that been the original story—Bella and Jacob as a supernatural Bonnie and Clyde—I might have actually enjoyed that book.

  3. LucyWannabe on 3 April 2010, 14:31 said:

    Darn it, Danielle posted basically the same thing I was going to! XD

    Ah, well, in any case—Nate, what you’ve written up there are the reasons why I haven’t Netflixed this movie yet. The first was just…hurrrr…I can’t imagine sitting through this one, especially since I could only make it halfway through the second book before I had to set it down and grow back the missing brain cells.

  4. NeuroticPlatypus on 4 April 2010, 19:58 said:

    My cousin was going to have me watch New Moon with her yesterday, but there was no time and other people were complicating the plan.

    She’s seen it a million times, so I was going to get to make fun of it the entire time with no consequences.

    Oh, and good article.

  5. Nate Winchester on 4 April 2010, 21:20 said:

    Lucy, you’re lucky. I’m still missing those… brain… thought… thingies.

  6. Magus on 4 April 2010, 23:45 said:

    You made a typo in the last paragraph. You said “Charlie” when you meant to say “Charlie’s moustache”.

  7. fffan on 5 April 2010, 00:30 said:

    I curse your links, Nate. I used up nearly all of my braodband from going onto youtube and watching the best of Rifftrax. >:(

  8. Steph (what is left) on 5 April 2010, 22:05 said:

    Really, what are she and Edward going to do when married? Screw each other and lay in meadows staring? I don’t care how in love you are, after a century that’s going to get boring.

    That’s just because you don’t understand the relationship between Bella and Edward. It’s something that transcends mere love…

    Aside from that glaring error, this was very entertaining, as always, and I must now go and find out who Reb Brown is.

  9. LucyWannabe on 6 April 2010, 00:39 said:

    @Nate: …I’m sorry. Perhaps it’ll return someday?

  10. Stephenie Rowling on 4 July 2011, 22:15 said:

    Wow Jacob a hero? For real? Your Jacob love is blinding you. Didn’t he asked Bella to stay behind to let Edward die? What sense of justice is that? An innocent guy was going to kill himself because he couldn’t pass her the phone…and he decides is okay. Yeah great heart that one.

    No to mention the scene gets cuts right after Bella understands what the tourists are going in.

    I would agree that the movies don’t show all the moments Bella and Edward have fun but that is Melissa Rosemberg script trying to play up the only attribute that Jacob has, that he is funny. So she cuts all the funny moments between Bella and Edward because it will take from Jacob. Also Hollywood is famous for playing the true love as angsty so its not surprising.

    Also Bella wants to a be a good vampire that drinks animal blood, Gianna wants to eat people. I think there is a huge different in each girl goals.

  11. Nate Winchester on 4 July 2011, 22:47 said:

    StephR, what’s funny is how appropriate your comment will be for the next Twilight & Philosophy chapter.

    Wow Jacob a hero? For real? Your Jacob love is blinding you. Didn’t he asked Bella to stay behind to let Edward die? What sense of justice is that? An innocent guy was going to kill himself because he couldn’t pass her the phone…and he decides is okay. Yeah great heart that one.

    Well werewolves and vampires are naturally enemies so… maybe not actively killing Ed is a step up. XD

    No to mention the scene gets cuts right after Bella understands what the tourists are going in.

    That kind of makes Bella seem stupid – I mean she took that long to figure out what was happening? And it still makes Ed & Al seem heartless that they don’t even glare at the Volturi.

    I would agree that the movies don’t show all the moments Bella and Edward have fun but that is Melissa Rosemberg script trying to play up the only attribute that Jacob has, that he is funny. So she cuts all the funny moments between Bella and Edward because it will take from Jacob.

    I dunno… the beginning of the movie has Bella & Edward laughing a little bit, talking about her birthday. Still would be nice for the writers to show us Bella is happy with Edward instead of telling us she is.

    Also Hollywood is famous for playing the true love as angsty so its not surprising.

    Oh no argument there – but I still don’t approve of that message no matter how cliche it is. If anything, it only seems to emphasize that being with Jacob would be better for Bella’s stress levels, heart, etc etc.

    Also Bella wants to a be a good vampire that drinks animal blood, Gianna wants to eat people. I think there is a huge different in each girl goals.

    Well in the movie at least, we’re not shown much about Gianna so we don’t know whether she really wants to eat people or would be willing to adopt Carlise’s animal diet. At any rate, I’m not convinced that any particular diet is a “goal” of either lady. Both of them (from what I could tell) seem concerned with one feature (or all of them) with being a vampire: Eternal youth & beauty. Drinking blood (ignoring the source a moment), is just a “cost” of those features.

    It raises a fascinating question, though (one that was brought up, but not addressed in a T&P chapter): what if animals weren’t an option? What if the meyerpires HAD to drink human blood? Maybe the Cullens maintain protagonist status by only drinking from dangerous criminals. Or maybe Carlise works with assisting elderly patients that want to die (and he gets a meal out of the deal). Would the semi-cannibalism be enough of a deal-breaker for Bella to refuse to be a vampire? I’m not convinced… but then she’s such a cipher I’m not confident in any character judgement of her.

    Other Steph (that is left) – your one of our residents that has actually read the book series (or admits to it). What would you say to these hypotheticals?

  12. Stephenie Rowling on 5 July 2011, 04:38 said:

    That kind of makes Bella seem stupid – I mean she took that long to figure out what was happening? And it still makes Ed & Al seem heartless that they don’t even glare at the Volturi.

    The issue here is that they can’t win against the Volturi specially in Volterra. I know you like your heroes sacrificing, but acting irrationally will get them killed, even if the Volturi weren’t trained to kill entire covens they had no allies in the vampire world aside from the Denalis every other vampire drinks human blood, they are the outliers. They need to lay low to make sure Aro won’t try anything against them. The whole issue with Reneesme and Bella was just the excuse they needed. Edward and Bella know that any mistake will make them Aro’s bitch. You are dealing with normal people that were turned into vampires. Heck even Peter Parker needed Uncle Ben to die before choosing active heroism, Batman also had a personal loss and Superman was raised to be kind and save people. You are assuming that superpowers = instant heroic. If you watched first class one of the things I liked was the scene when Sebastian Shaw assaults the FBI headquarters to get the mutants they are shit scared and unable to do anything and that is actually very realistic young people without training and purpose will not act heroically instantly, YMMV.

    I dunno… the beginning of the movie has Bella & Edward laughing a little bit, talking about her birthday. Still would be nice for the writers to show us Bella is happy with Edward instead of telling us she is.

    The books are better at this, but their sense of humor is kind of wry so maybe Rosemberg couldn’t do it, she was the original creator of the “spider monkey” line so yeah…Can’t argue with that. I hated that with Lana and Clark in SV he seemed to had more fun with, Alicia, Chloe heck Lex and yet…Let’s not go down there I haven’t ife watching that crappy show.

    Would the semi-cannibalism be enough of a deal-breaker for Bella to refuse to be a vampire? I’m not convinced… but then she’s such a cipher I’m not confident in any character judgement of her.

    That is a nice hypothesis but that will never happen in the Twilight world. To begin with it Carlisle would had never allowed himself to live enough to eat a human (he probably would had jumped in a volcano or something) and without Carlisle the only vegetarians are the Denalis (and they only accept blond girls into their coven) all other Cullens were created by him so no Esme, Rosalie, Edward or Emmet. Only Alice and Jasper would had existed and Jasper followed Alice because she saw the Cullens and a better life so they probably wouldn’t had paired up without her visions, and she probably would had been a lonely good vampire feeding on people that were about to die anyway or something like it. And then Bella would had gotten killed shortly after arriving to Forks. She was in her own Final Destination universe (I actually like to imagine that Bella took the wrong plane and the one she was supposed to take exploded in midair) the only difference is that she finally died to turn into a vampire so the Death of that universe must be majorly pissed off, at she escaping her clutches :p.

  13. Nate Winchester on 5 July 2011, 09:21 said:

    The issue here is that they can’t win against the Volturi specially in Volterra. I know you like your heroes sacrificing, but acting irrationally will get them killed,

    Not exactly irrationally, but I like to have my heroes demonstrate at least some reason for me to root for them.

    A good example would be from the internet’s favorite doctor. The set up is pretty similar to this one (hero is in a kind of “no-win” scenario) and in this case, he at least gives a glare and a verbal warning. Edward put up a hopeless fight for Bella, but we can’t see him even register displeasure at the killing of other innocents?

    even if the Volturi weren’t trained to kill entire covens they had no allies in the vampire world aside from the Denalis every other vampire drinks human blood, they are the outliers. They need to lay low to make sure Aro won’t try anything against them. The whole issue with Reneesme and Bella was just the excuse they needed. Edward and Bella know that any mistake will make them Aro’s bitch. You are dealing with normal people that were turned into vampires.

    Well 1) Normal people to extraordinary things all the time. 2) They’re normal people that have all lived for centuries. After all that time, they haven’t learned anything? Or realized the value of human life – not just in not killing someone, but in actually trying to save them? Heck, Carlise is a doctor which means he tries to save people every day. Despite all that, he doesn’t feel any urge or desire to reign his own kind in? I mean, if not – ok, just don’t expect me to care one wit about them.

    Heck even Peter Parker needed Uncle Ben to die before choosing active heroism, Batman also had a personal loss and Superman was raised to be kind and save people. You are assuming that superpowers = instant heroic.

    No, I’m not talking or assuming anything related to superpowers (see above – that other doctor doesn’t have any powers, he’s only a ninja), I’m talking about narrative roles. If a character is a protagonist and I’m supposed to look at them in a positive, even inspiring light, then they should be positive and inspiring.

    Let’s take Spider-man for example. Quoted from one of my favorite internet essays:

    However, one hero has his own special wing in the museum. When all of the other heroes were either killed, or driven off world, he continued the fight for humanity alone. After his demise, the war-like Martians honored him as “The Last to Fall.”

    Some of the more ugly aspects of the story aside (the Marvel heroes being all dead, and Spidey’s blood being used to rejuvinate an alien), this is actually a nice little tribute to our hero, paying homage to his strength, intelligence, determination, and survival skills – a combination that allowed him to continue fighting long after all of his peers were gone. I suppose from the perspective of a Spider-Man fan, it would be interesting to see a story where he watched his society, culture, and race destroyed all around him, and how he fought on until the bitter end, but we’ll probably only see that in the realms of fan fiction.

    Edward might be able to defeat Spidey in a grudge match, but he’s not even a quarter the hero Peter Parker is.

    If you watched first class one of the things I liked was the scene when Sebastian Shaw assaults the FBI headquarters to get the mutants they are shit scared and unable to do anything and that is actually very realistic young people without training and purpose will not act heroically instantly, YMMV.

    I’m actually going to move up my review of X:1stC. Hope to have it done… probably tomorrow as I want to be better rested before posting it.

    the only difference is that she finally died to turn into a vampire so the Death of that universe must be majorly pissed off, at she escaping her clutches :p.

    Hey that reminds me! XD

  14. Stephenie Rowling on 5 July 2011, 10:59 said:

    Edward might be able to defeat Spidey in a grudge match, but he’s not even a quarter the hero Peter Parker is.

    I think another thing you are missing is that before Uncle Ben was killed Peter was exactly like Edward. What is missing here is a hero origin a reason for them to step up from mere surviving and using their powers for personal issues. The Cullens so far don’t have that issue also Peter had the advantages of being able to sport a secret identity. The Cullens need a real reason to start this because they are alone in the vampire world. It must be something strong enough to overcome their survival instincts, YMMV.

    I’m actually going to move up my review of X:1stC. Hope to have it done… probably tomorrow as I want to be better rested before posting it.

    Hey that reminds me! XD

    Sorry I don’t read Twilight Fan fic…or fan fic of any kind whatsoever I have a love/hate relationship with fanfiction.

  15. Steph (what is left) on 5 July 2011, 11:39 said:

    It raises a fascinating question, though (one that was brought up, but not addressed in a T&P chapter): what if animals weren’t an option? What if the meyerpires HAD to drink human blood? Maybe the Cullens maintain protagonist status by only drinking from dangerous criminals. Or maybe Carlise works with assisting elderly patients that want to die (and he gets a meal out of the deal). Would the semi-cannibalism be enough of a deal-breaker for Bella to refuse to be a vampire? I’m not convinced… but then she’s such a cipher I’m not confident in any character judgement of her.

    Other Steph (that is left) – your one of our residents that has actually read the book series (or admits to it). What would you say to these hypotheticals?

    kkkkay.. so. Edward used to maintain protag status in his own eyes about ten years after he was changed by Carlisle. He was trying to rebel against Carlisle’s self-restraint by drinking human blood, but at the same time, wanted to be ‘good’, and live up to Carlisle’s standards. So he compromised and only drank blood from killers, rapists, etc. He basically played God. Vigilante!Edward, if you will.

    Carlisle and the elderly residents… it’s an option with some leeway in it, but my gut feeling is that he’d never take away another human being’s life. He’s never drunk a human’s blood (Edward says in Twilight that when he was first changed he starved himself (practically dead without actually dying, because meyerpires don’t die from lack of blood. They just get reeeeaaaally thirsty and weak) until on an overwhelming hunger impulse he lunged at a deer and realised that he could drink animal blood. You gotta admit, that’s commitment to a way of life.

    Throughout the Twilight saga, he’s always tried to save lives (from his POV, although really, turning dying people into meyerpires is a warped definition of ‘saving’ them) rather than end them. Just based on precedent, I’d say Carlisle wouldn’t do it. He’s not a euthanasia kind of guy.

    If they HAD to drink blood, Carlisle’d rather die first. Everyone else, however, I think would do it. Even Esme.

    On to Bella… You said she was a cypher, and most people think that, but I think Bella’s only a cypher in the romantic sense of things. She’s the squee-conductor of the book. In other areas, she actually has quite a bit of character. It’s just extremely passive, so it’s easy to miss. I’m going to explore her character before I talk about her reactions.

    She is not interested in others, thinks she’s better than most people (and better than she actually is), hates pain of any kind (physical, emotional, or mental stress), has a martyr complex where in her universe, she has to do some things (eg cook tea for her dad) and feels like she’s not worth enough to be anything but a slave—but feels entitled to grump about it—and she lets her emotions rule her decisions. And finally and most importantly, she waits for decisions she doesn’t want to make to sort themselves out/other people to take the lead. Hence a lot of the conflict in the series comes from Bella indirectly because she never does anything.

    Through a quirk of fate, she’s become the sort of person things happen to rather than the person who makes things happen.

    Anyway, I’m getting off-track. As long as she wasn’t confronted with the actual doings of vigilante!vampires, she probably wouldn’t be too concerned about becoming a vampire and doing the same as the others. It wouldn’t mean anything to her. But she’s not a vengeful person. She might whine and grump and ignore a lot, but she’s got no conscious, bubbling malice in her to drive her to do it. I think the main factor is though that she’s got such a weak character and she’s never been brought up to expect the bad guy to die (just go to jail), that she just can’t conceive of taking fatal revenge on somebody whether for herself or somebody else. That would be too much like agency.

    However, if Edward did the neck-snapping, and she didn’t have to hear the screams/knew that these people wanted to die anyway, she could and probably would drink guilt-free. And Bella’s the type to be guilt-free. If she doesn’t know the person and can’t hear or see their death, then she doesn’t care too much. Generally she treats the deaths of these people, even if caused by something she’s close to, fairly cavalierly. The only exceptions are when she hears the tourists in New Moon being killed (and mostly it’s her personal discomfort that she can’t bear), and I think there’s some pity for five murdered people who were named in the paper in Eclipse (and she doesn’t want to think about them).

    Replace the word ‘deaths’ with ‘problems, hopes and dreams’, and you see how this is close to Bella’s personality at school.

    All this of course is assuming that Edward hasn’t actually reformed much since he came back to drinking animal blood—that he’s done it for some reason other than a guilty conscience, such as wanting to be right with Carlisle; and also assuming that him killing people only matters to him as far as what other people think of him for doing so (which I personally think is true).

    … um. Yeah. I’m so embarrassed that I know what I’m talking about inside and out here. Why did I have to be a Twilight expert? I’m going to have nothing to do once Breaking Dawn II: Renesmee Boogaloo comes out.

  16. Nate Winchester on 6 July 2011, 09:06 said:

    I think another thing you are missing is that before Uncle Ben was killed Peter was exactly like Edward. What is missing here is a hero origin a reason for them to step up from mere surviving and using their powers for personal issues. The Cullens so far don’t have that issue also Peter had the advantages of being able to sport a secret identity. The Cullens need a real reason to start this because they are alone in the vampire world. It must be something strong enough to overcome their survival instincts, YMMV.

    That’s exactly it. I’m not seeing much of a character arc with these people and this is movie two by this point. Give me a reason to like these people, movie.

    Sorry I don’t read Twilight Fan fic…or fan fic of any kind whatsoever I have a love/hate relationship with fanfiction.

    You should make an exception for this one. It’s not long.

    … um. Yeah. I’m so embarrassed that I know what I’m talking about inside and out here. Why did I have to be a Twilight expert? I’m going to have nothing to do once Breaking Dawn II: Renesmee Boogaloo comes out.

    Thanks for the input Steph (what is left)! And don’t be like that, we’ll still need your input for the horrors of Australia.

  17. Steph (what is left) on 6 July 2011, 09:12 said:

    Yeah, you know those cute kangaroo thingies?

    They’ll try and kick your face in. Stay away.

  18. Stephenie Rowling on 6 July 2011, 14:11 said:

    That’s exactly it. I’m not seeing much of a character arc with these people and this is movie two by this point. Give me a reason to like these people, movie.

    Its a sequel and an adaptation from a book,tricky business if you think this is a movie about anything but feelings.

    You should make an exception for this one. It’s not long.
    Thanks but no thanks.

  19. Nate Winchester on 6 July 2011, 14:17 said:

    Its a sequel and an adaptation from a book,tricky business if you think this is a movie about anything but feelings.

    Then I’ll say I don’t “feel” any attraction or admiration or identification or [etc etc] for these people. X3

  20. Stephenie Rowling on 6 July 2011, 16:17 said:

    Then I’ll say I don’t “feel” any attraction or admiration or identification or [etc etc] for these people.

    Mm interesting I seen this in many critics of the story. I can relate, understand, sympathize, connect,admire, identify to everyone in the saga (except for Jacob and Renee) so I guess that also helps in my case. But I think I can “get” a story even if I didn’t felt anything for a particular character if the story is good. I felt nothing for anyone in Black Swan for example but I still liked the concept. I’m a story nazi if the story works everything can be sacrificed, including grammar. ;)

    Heh everyone hated X3. But I think this is a different case, X3 not working is mostly out of the fact that the changed the behind the scene people and they didn’t did their homework, which is something I think happened with the twilight movies as well. Direction wise I think only Catherine actually understood what she was telling, but Melissa was “improving” the material so in the other movies, directed by men, they kind of tell a different story.
    For example I asked Chris why he started New Moon so gloom and melancholic when in the book Bella is giddy and has spent the best time of her life dating Edward and Edward likewise at the beginning, so the movie should had been happier in the beginning so when Bella falls into depression you can see why and root for Edward to come back, like happens with the book. He told me he wanted to save the sun for the ending in Volterra, but I think it would had made more sense to to have sun = happy in the beginning, gloom=depressed and then finishing with sun again and I think a woman probably would had seen it that way, YMMV,

  21. Nate Winchester on 6 July 2011, 16:38 said:

    Well… I wasn’t referring to the movie X3, but the emoticon. It didn’t show up under textile as well as I hoped. It’s a bit of a mischievous cat emoticon.

    At this time I can’t find any pony pictures appropriate for the feeling.

    For example I asked Chris why he started New Moon

    Wait… you’ve interviewed people involved in this movie?

    Hmmm… that might be of some interest around these parts.

    I think a woman probably would had seen it that way,

    Or anyone who understand narrative and things like acts, contrast, etc. Like Pixar! And how they showed us the happiness & joy of the supers so that the (following) crushing drudgery of Bob’s life would strike us that much harder.

  22. Stephenie Rowling on 6 July 2011, 17:05 said:

    *Wait… you’ve interviewed people involved in this movie?

    Hmmm… that might be of some interest around these parts.*

    Heh not something like that. I have his twitter account and he is been answering fans questions for over a year now. Actually everyone involved in this movie try to connects with the fans, so we can ask questions all we want and they answer as long as they have time for it and you are not trolling. Is actually very interesting to ask about details, I’m always fascinated by stylistic choices of creators and storytellers.

    Or anyone who understand narrative and things like acts, contrast, etc. Like Pixar! And how they showed us the happiness & joy of the supers so that the (following) crushing drudgery of Bob’s life would strike us that much harder.

    Good point I remember the behind the scene of the Britney Spears video Stronger and I do remember the director asking to have Britney first shot to look innocent and sweet, so when we focus in the cheating boyfriend she wins our empathy for her it was less than 5 seconds but I totally understood what effect he wanted to create. And he indeed was a guy.
    But in Chris defense he also said that the weather was also an issue. Still I recently did a Twilight movies Marathon and David Slade used a lot more light so who knows…aesthetic choices and all that.