Oh, Twilight…the movie

As I have stated before in previous blogs, I really don't care for the Twilight series at all. I did like the first book to a certain extent but then it all went downhill as each next book went along. All the people who dissuaded me from reading the fourth book, you were so incredibly right. I can't even begin to describe how utterly…dreadful it was. So I caution you, for those who haven't read it and are interested in reading it, read it at your own risk. I personally believe it can cause IQ lowering by a significant degree. You're probably wondering why I even bothered to continue reading the last three books if I hated the first one so much. Well, that's just me and my OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder). I have to finish whatever I start doing, even if I don't like it.

So if you haven't seen or read Twilight and don't want to be spoiled, don't read the rest of this post.

I did not expect anything from the movie. Since the books are extremely lame I was expecting the movie to be equally or just as lame. I was pleasantly surprised when I found myself actually enjoying the movie. For a book to screen adaptation, it was done very tastefully. I really like the fact that the director and the producers did not try to put in everything that was in the book into the movie, which is a mistake that happens all the time, especially in the HP movies. That's not to say the movie was perfect. Because this is a variation of Twilight, you cannot escape the cheesiness that's found in some of the dialogue, certain scenes, and what not. And some of the transitions from one scene to another were really awkward. Regardless of that, I ended up loving it. This is just my personal opinion, but I honestly think the movie is so much better than the book.

Here are the reasons why:
+The Soundtrack: The soundtrack to this movie is really great. 'Super Massive Black Hole' is such a great song and I'm so happy that was used in the baseball scene. And I really love 'Flightless Bird, American Mouth.' It's such a mellow, soothing song. Heck, all the songs were amazing, including both of Paramore's songs.
+Robert Pattinson as Edward Cullen: Oh, Edward *sighs*. I do not like book-Edward at all. Book-Edward constantly broods, shows off his so-called perfection, and keeps giving Bella mixed signals. Movie-Edward, get this, is happy most of the time. And Rob plays a much more convincing happy Edward than dark, brooding Edward. Not to mention, Rob is drop dead gorgeous so major points go to him for that.
+Kristin Steward as Bella Swan: Hate book-Bella, LOVE movie-Bella. Book-Bella seemed to me, very self-involved, arrogant, and has some kind of motor coordination problem. Movie-Bella wasn't like that at all. I really like the fact that Kristin downplayed her clumsiness because in the book, I really had a hard time believing that someone as "perfect" as Edward would fall for someone as inept as her. With Kristin's Bella, I can actually see what's attractive about her. But Kristin does need to work on varying her facial expressions.
+Charlie (and his mustache): Billy Burke as Charlie was dead on. Talk about perfect casting. He's probably the best actor in the entire movie. Not only was he witty and funny, but he rocks the mustache.
+The Human High-Schoolers: Unlike the kiddies found in the book, the Forks High Schoolers in the movie were actually so hilarious and, I admit it, cool. Especially Eric. In the book, he's described as the geeky chess club type but in the movie, it's a complete 180. He's the cool Asian. The constant one-liners were great. I'm either a Team Mike or Team Eric shipper. Why? Because they're awesome in all their humanness.
+Jasper: Everything he did in the movie was pure genius. His facial expressions were so dead on, it was great. He really did look like he was in pain the entire time, which made it all the more fun to watch and point out.
+Overabundance of Eye-Candy: The amount of male hotness in this movie really made my day, especially the vampires. Of course, Rob is a given but Peter Facinelli (Carlisle) is also very handsome. And Cam Gigandet! Talk about good-looking! I automatically love him because he did us all a great favor and killed Marissa in The OC. Muahahaha.
+There's humor. Lots of it: There was a lot of humor and funny scenes in the movie that were severely lacking in the book. Surprise, jokes are thrown all around in the movie, which made it all the more enjoyable to sit through and watch. Yes, a lot of them were corny but not to the point of being plain out idiotic.
+A lot of the pointless passages in the book were cut out from the movie. This includes the majority of the dialogue between Bella and Edward that goes like this:
o Bella: I love you!o Edward: I'm so dangerous.
o Bella: I still love you!
o Edward: But I'm so DANGEROUS!
o Bella: It doesn't matter. I love you! OMG, you're so HOT!
Or this:
o Edward: I should leave you but I can't.
o Bella: Don't go! Don't leave me.
o Edward: I won't but I should because I'm selfish.
o Bella: I'm glad.
o Edward: You're stupid because you're happy.
o Bella: I don't care, you're still so HOT!
*facepalm* For real, 200 pages of this. At one point, I shouted into my book, "Eat her already you bi-polar freak and put us out of our misery!" But yes, this is NOT in the movie, thank goodness.

And here are the things in the movie that were still lame, some of which parallel the book:
-The Sparkle Scene: I still cannot wrap my head around the fact that in these books, the vampires sparkle in the sunlight. It's just so…bizarre. And in the book, Edwards sparkles out diamonds and rainbows. Um…ok, what the hell. So I was expecting this scene in the movie to have sparkles galore but nope, it didn't even close to that. In fact, it just looked lamer. He didn't look sparkly, he looked hairy which is infinitely worse!
-The CGI in general: I'm just going to come out and say it, the special effects were crap. This probably had to do with the limited budget they had to deal with, which isn't necessarily their fault. But I still think they could've done some things differently to make it look not so bad.
-The 'Lion and the Lamb' Dialogue: I absolutely hate that line because of the deeply religious connotations it has. For those of you who are not familiar with this, it's basically a metaphor or symbol depicting Jesus Christ as being both the lamb that was slain on the cross for our sins and then rising and reigning again as the lion. This is why I cringed when I heard this in the movie because it's taken completely out of context and is just so…wrong.
-The 1st half of the Ballet Studio Scene: When Edward and James fought in the ballet studio, it wasn't really fighting at all. It was basically them throwing each other around and knocking each other into mirrors. I know that Cam is a Krav Maga expert so I was expecting something much more than that. And to me, it looked like James was easily overtaken, which makes me question why didn't Edward, Emmet, and Jasper triple team him in the beginning to save all this complicated running around all over the country if it was that easy to kill him.
-The Non-Sex Scenes: To make up for the complete lack of sex in the movie, the director/writers/producers decided to have these long scenes of Edward and Bella just stare and gaze at each other as if they were having sex. And I am talking about the meadow scene. I really don't know what to make of that. It was so awkward and out of place, even the way their bodies were positioned while lying down. That scene should have just been cut out entirely, especially since we got a second dose of Edward's hairy sparkles.

Favorite Scenes:
~The Wind Scene: I laughed so hard during this part of the movie. Ok, this is when Bella first walks into Biology class and she walks in front of the fan, thereby resulting in the 'wind scene.' It's like those scenes you see in Anime, with the slow motion and the hair blowing in the wind. But unlike the whole 'love-at-first-sight' thing that happens in Anime, for Edward it's more like 'love-at-first-bite.' His expression was absolutely priceless. He really did look like he wanted to jump her.
~The Port Angeles Restaurant Scene: This is probably one of my favorite scenes in the movie. In the book, the waitress that flirts with Edward was described as alluring and gorgeous. BUT, in the movie, she wears tight purple leather and is sporting some outrageous bouffant hairdo. Another reason why I like this scene is because of the way Edward tells Bella that he can read minds. He looks around to a few people in the restaurant and says, "Money…sex…money…sex…cat." Not even kidding, it was a riot.
~ The Tree/Piano Scene: This scene in general was absolutely breathtaking. Basically Edward takes Bella up into the trees and it's a lot of aerial shots of the surrounding forest scenery. This then goes into Edward playing the lullaby he composed for her on the piano. It's such a lovely, sweet scene and I bet you every girl would love for that to happen to her. FYI, Rob is playing the piano for real in this scene but he DID NOT compose the song.
~The Kiss Scene: This was probably the longest kiss scene in cinema history but oh boy, it was so sexy. I bet you every girl in the theater (including myself) wanted to be Bella at that moment. And Rob does look like he'd be an excellent kisser. And it was great how Edward flung himself across the room when he realized things were getting too steamy. Moral of the story: dating a vampire = no sex. Parents everywhere breathe a sigh of relief.
~The 2nd half of the Ballet Studio Scene: The way that Emmet, Alice, and Jasper do off James is really awesome. How do they do it? Emmet and Jasper hold both of his arms, then Alice jumps onto his shoulders and she rips his head off! That's the greatest vampire death I've ever seen.
~The Prom Scene: Book-prom was set in the high school gym. Movie-prom was set in this really nice inn, complete with an outdoor gazebo decorated with white Christmas lights. It was really very lovely. And it was so incredibly sweet when Edward placed Bella's feet on top of his and when they started dancing. The inner romantic side of me went, "Awwww!" And I absolutely loved the ending kiss. Again, I wanted to be Kristin and kiss Rob!

Alright, so that wraps up about what I thought of the movie. I didn't realize it was so incredibly long so I hope you all enjoyed reading it. Feel free to leave your own opinions, comments, what not. I'm not the type of person to totally bash on someone for having a difference in opinion. In fact, I welcome it because it can lead to some interesting and healthy discussions.