WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS! Don't say I didn't warn you.
After trying and failing to get last minute tickets for my brother and his girlfriend, I discovered that my theater, which was showing New Moon on every single screen in the building (that’s 21 HUGE screens, people) was completely sold out of every single ticket. Since I’m terribly paranoid, my mother and I drove over around 6 to get good seats. We ended up being the first people there. Kind of embarrassing, but totally worth it. We sat around, made some friends, played Yahtzee and Uno, and around 8:30 they opened the doors to let us sit, which made me really happy. So instead of sitting out in the crammed hallway floor for hours upon hours, they let us take our comfy seats.
The theater was crazy. There was a riot in the lobby that the police had to break up after a theater which had already seated every seat was told to move to a different one- meaning everybody that had came early for good seats basically lost theirs to last minute arrivals. Complete chaos. But anyway, on to the actual movie ..
I loved it. Plain and simple. It was so true to the book that I was completely amazed. I can’t remember (though I’m sure there’s a few) any scenes from the movie that weren’t included in the book. And if they changed or added something, it was so insignificant but so awesome. Example- correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t remember Victoria being the cause for Harry Clearwater’s death as it is in the movie. But like I said- so small but so workable into the movie series that it blew me away.
The actors were so much better this time around. Bella wasn’t so blinky and fumbling and ridiculous, and Edward wasn’t so stiff and awkward. I especially loved the Quilete boys. Though their parts were small, they were a very great addition to the cast.
One thing in particular that I loved- Bella’s failed yet continuous emails to Alice. If the movie would’ve went on without them, it would’ve taken too much away from Bella/Edward’s story. Don’t get me wrong- I know this is primarily a Jacob tale, but Alice was an important part of Bella’s life and I appreciated that they included that when Stephenie didn’t.
And the ending. OH MY GOD. Perfect place to stop it. Though the mixing-up of the scenes kind of gives me a headache (Edward doesn’t suggest marriage until Bella is begging him for sex in Eclipse) the final scene had every single person on their feet and gasping. If that doesn’t make you want to crawl for the next movie, I don’t know what will.
Overall, I thought it was pretty amazing. It flowed wonderfully, wasn't too fast nor too slow, kept the essence of the first film but completely transformed into something better. Catherine Hardwicke tried entirely too hard to make Twilight into some unique, indie project when it shouldn’t have been construed that way at all. Chris Weitz and the cast did a beautiful job on this one and I’m hoping they bring Weitz back for the fourth. Bravo, bravo! (By the way, I’ve read some of those critic’s reviews. And if you plan on skipping New Moon because of them- you’re missing out. I was a bit nervous after reading those, but they’re completely false. The movie was awesome. End of story.)
And as we're walking out of the theater, we were treated to a little Eclipse teaser action all over the walls. It was pretty exciting, so in case you haven't seen it yet, here it is-
This week's fan art is inspired by the amazing novel- The Dark Divine by Bree Despain- which is being released on December 22. I had a hard time trying to decide who to use, but after seeing Bree's post on The Tenners about Emma Roberts & Taylor Kitsch, I did my best with them. It was the youngest picture of him that I could find and I think it turned out pretty good. (But the fan art that I'll be posting next Friday is definitely my favorite. Can't wait for you guys to see it!) Okay, on to the fan art ..
