Eclipse - The Non-Biased Movie Review

I'm such a liar....

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (Movie Review)

I really don't think I could give a non-biased review. But really what is that? There are fans of the series (the book readers). Fans of the series (movie goers only). And then the non fans... ;)

I did not see the 3D version...think I've had enough of those. 


PJVs QUICKIE POV: While I like the movies, I've never been impressed with them. They were good representations of the books and they didn't disappoint but I wasn't WOWed. The books so outrocked the movies, which is usually the case. I've never met a movie that outdid it's book counterpart. That being said, Eclipse had to be the best of the three movies. I was finally impressed. My first statement to my fellow movie watchers was, "Our little babies have grown up and gotten acting lessons!" All the slight kinks an inadequacies that were too prevalent in Twilight & New Moon seemed to be happily iron out in Eclipse.

REVIEW: The movie covers most of what the book sets-up. Edward's constant persistence of marriage, Jacob's cold shoulder (they showed the note with all the scratch outs), the deaths in Seattle, the protection of Bella by both the wolf pack and Cullen clan and then the subsequent show down and newborn war. There was a lot of ground to cover in this movie, including a lot of back stories, Rosalie, Jasper, the story of the Third Wife, but it was handle nicely, rather compact, but they had a lot of information to shove into 2+ hours.


Improvements that I noticed:

• New Moon's make-up was horrible, and while Rosalie and Alice still looked a bit pasty, the boys make-up was much improved. In New Moon I felt the Cullens would flake away.
• Kristen's blinking has come to an end! Yeah you go girl.
• Both Robert Pattinson & Taylor Lautner's acting skills greatly improved. Not to mention Taylor's voice deepened so he doesn't sound like the prepubescent kid on steroids anymore.

What I really liked about the movie:

• Jasper's sexy little twang. Yum!
• Billy Burk (Charlie) has always been solid in the films and he was excellent as usual in this one
• The mountain scene (Jacob's trick) was hot and probably my favorite scene
• The proposal was sweet
• THE WAR! Egads crunch crunch. Die Victoria!

What disappointed me:

• Bella's anger was missing, she was always getting angry in Eclipse. The "first kiss" between her and Jacob was almost a rape, and they kinda of downplayed that. Bella would get mad about that, then she was mad about the bed...and it would go on and on....that was missing. The focused on the Jacob/Edward hatred
• Victoria. I miss the other one. Her hair was terrible too. Like a big permed rug.
• And refresh my memory please, but I really don't remember Jessica being the valedictorian? But I could be wrong.

This is kind of it for me, which is a shame. Not really excited to see the two Breaking Dawn movies, even though I will. In all honesty I was not a huge fan of Breaking Dawn the book. Disappointed as I was in Meyer's easy out with the whole Jacob imprint thing.  It kind of ruined the whole book for me and I thought it was well just creepy. Not to mention I was never a big Jacob fan in the books. Which leads me to the question, how can you be TEAM EDWARD between the pages, and TEAM JACOB on screen?






So that is my take on the movie. I really do believe that you must have at least seen the first two movies to enjoy the third movie. Reading the book of course makes the experience that much more....

What has always impressed me, above and beyond, has been the music of the Twilight Series. I now have all three soundtracks, and I haven't found a song that I do not like on this one. There is good range of musical tones on this one...leaning towards Indie. I also like that I've been introduced to a few knew artists that I've never heard of. A great purchase if you are up in the air about spending the money. What I don't like about it... on iTunes there are only like 3 songs you can buy separately.  But, the whole album is great, so really not a big deal. I bought the delux edition.
 

What did you think of the movie? Link up your reviews:

Twilight: The Graphic Novel

Twilight: The Graphic Novel, Volume 1 (The Twilight Saga) Stephanie Meyer, illustrations by Young Kim

I bought this graphic novel as if compelled by the inner obsessed fangirl that I try very hard not to be. But you know, walking through Wal-Mart, that Jacob (Taylor) poster is always open and displayed...which usually makes me choke (in a surprise you pedophile type of way, not in a disgusted way). Then they had the books next to it, so I casually snuck one in the basket. Can't have enough Twilight...*sigh*

In high school I would have scoffed at the Twilighters (I was cool. Not A-Pop *Alpha Popular* cool, but I was the chick in the combat boots, that was BFFs with a 6'5 bouncer on Bourbon Street so I could get all my friends in...you know I thought I transcended high school popularity...LOL) I so would have slammed a Twilighter into the lockers and then quoted Anne Rice or something monumental. Yeah I was odd. Luckily for me (and my husband) I have grown out of that faze, but it did have it's residual effects...hence my Urban Fantasy obsession. Like those kick ass chicks.

This graphic novel wasn't exactly kick ass. Cool, but I wasn't like "oh rock out." I don't know, romantic teen novels just don't translate well into graphic novels. Well that is at least my opionion. There is only so many times you can do a face close-up to show teen angst.

That being said, the illustrations were very good and I really liked Bella's illustration. Not too impressed with Edward's though, Jacobs...nice. I did notice some inconsistencies in the design and there were a few awkward poses.

I'm not sure if I agree with keeping the illustrations mostly black and white and sepias through the entire book.  Young Kim did add color for the sparkly field scene which added so much more to the illustrations, why wasn't it all in color? I understand it was for effect, but I would have like to see the thing in color.

I was nice though, and I don't regret buying it. But I wouldn't recommend a none Twilighter to pick this up...you have to read between the lines on this one. A few lines of text will not convey the book.

On a personal note, my darling husband whom has made fun of me consistently over my Twilight obsession actually saw this on the table and said "Oh cool, I can read this one." Huh????

Eclipse Trailer...

The latest one, they might pull though. So enjoy now. I like this trailer so much better...oooh can't wait for the crazy fight scenes! Eeek.

Eclipse Teaser Trailer Released Today

The Host Blog with Bite Discussion Questions

1. Have you read Twilight? How did The Host compare to Meyer's YA series?
1. Yes, I've read Twilight. I don't know if she would have written under a pen, that I would have recognized this as Meyer's writing. The only thing comparable was the self-sacrificing heroine. This was such a scifi novel...so very different from the Twiligh Series.
2. A lot of readers have expressed dislike for the immense amount of inner dialogue in The Host. Did you feel the novel lacked action?
1. I went int thinking that it would drive me crazy, but it seemed well done and I enjoyed it.  The inner dialogue is very integral to the plot of the novel, I really don't think there would be any way else to have done it.
3. Do you feel the ending hinted at a sequel? If so, would you read The Host #2?
1. I did feel it hinted at a sequel, and yes I will probably read #2 if it comes out. SM has been quoted by MTV as saying that there would be two more books, "The Soul," and then "The Seeker."

Parajunkee's New Moon Review

Better late than never...

Jealousies raged on Twitter on Thursday as quotes from other vampire series authors came through bashing Team Edward tweets and sneering (if you could sneer via a font) at Team Jacob twits.  This had me laughing as I read the reports of the teaming masses that went out and watched this movie over and over again this weekend.   $26.27 million The Hollywood Reporter claims New Moon racked in the FIRST NIGHT.  Over 140 million this first weekend.  Pretty impressive for sparkly "sissy" vamps - as I saw they were called.

Even at my work the IT boys have pics of Keifer with handwritten notes underneath them that say, Vamps Don't Sparkle.  But whom did I see in the theater as I looked over - hiding in the masses of middle aged cougars and hyper tweens? One of those IT guys - not with a girlfriend or wife either - he brought a boy bud.  LMAO. So...what is it? There is just something about those damn sparkly vamps.

Alright enough of my rants - on to my thoughts.  First opinion.  Kristen Stewart got herself some acting lessons.  Bravo. No more erratic Tourette's like blinking and stuttering to show high emotion.  I really was digging on her.  The Edward/Bella interaction was a little strained, but I think it was a Rob Patz issue and not a Kristen thing.  Rob's struggle throughout the movie was a bit more intense in this one - and I really don't think he did as good of a job in New Moon as he did in Twilight.  Probably stemming from the fact that he wasn't in this movie as much - and there really wasn't a way for him to build up the character. 

Second opinion.  Wolf boys.  Now while I am not complaining about hotties #1, 2, 3, 4, 5... I was very pleased with the eye candy, but their acting skills were a bit lacking.  The Emily house scene seemed amaturish.

Third.  I really enjoyed watching the Bella/Jacob relationship play out.  It was well done, and while Taylor had some moments (his voice needs to grow in to his body) for such a young actor he did rather well.  He definitely had the audience thrumming. 

Fourth.  The vamps.  OMG. The casting of the vamps was superb.  It was the most intense part of the film.  Dakota was great, I didn't see the little girl from The Cat in the Hat - I saw JANE. Scary!

I can't wait for Eclipse to see more of these vamps.  The vamp battles were the best part, so I can only imagine what Eclipse will be.  The wolf/Victoria interactions were done so well, the cinematography had me dizzy at points but I still enjoyed it.  Bryce Dallas Howard will be Victoria in Eclipse - which should be a big deal because it is mostly action sequences and not a lot of lines.


Don't wait...run to the theater.  You gotta see this one.

The Host by Stephanie Meyer

I was a late blooming Stephanie Meyer fan. Yet, it started, like most of my other YA author obsessions with a friend who’s 12 year old wanted to read the books. “Rach, you read, right?” (I love that line) “Have you read this Twilight series? Its supposedly got all the kids in Melanie’s class going nutty, but I don’t want to get it for her if I don’t know what its about. Something about vampires.” The first thing that came to mind was, “pick up the book and read it yourself!” Yet, vampires, excited twelve years olds… hey it sounded like my cup of tea. So, I tore through the first novel gave my thumbs up to the illiterate mommy and quickly succumbed to the world of Twilight. Now my co-workers look at me a little strange – even though you know they read those books too!

When the Host was released the cover was intimidating. I knew Meyer was a good writer, but I wasn’t that impressed with her prose to think she could pull away from the vamps and venture into something as deep as what the summary of the book was touting. Meyer’s characters are what make her book, their emotional reactions and their unique perspectives of their environment. The vampire world she created, while having a few different takes on the usual fiction was nothing new. The world of The Host was out of the fantasy and deep into the sci-fi and it takes talent to paint the picture well. This explains why it took me picking the novel up 5 or 6 times, reading the jacket – then putting it back down, for me to actually buy the book. Then once I bought it, I let it sit on my coffee table for nearly a month. I was intimidated. I was intimidated by the concept – hated the Body Snatchers movie, and I was scared that it was going to really really bad and my respect for the author would go out the window.

But then I started reading. I couldn’t put the book down. The story is in regards to a human called Melanie Stryder. Melanie lives in a world that has been peacefully invaded by a parasitic alien race. Melanie is what the aliens call a “wild” human, and the last thing Melanie wanted was to become a new home for an alien parasite. To Melanie’s unfortunate, that is exactly what she becomes, following a very violent “death” that includes her falling/throwing herself down an elevator shaft.

Melanie’s body is repaired and the alien Wanderer is inserted into Melanie’s body. So begins the symbiotic relationship of Melanie and Wanderer. Most humans fade from existence when the aliens are inserted into their bodies, but Melanie, being strong willed and stubborn refuses to leave. She is violent, noxious and determined to not succumb to Wanderer. Wanderer herself is a strong creature, but she was inserted specifically in Melanie’s body because they think she will be able to infiltrate the human resistance. Melanie desperately wants to protect the other wild humans she left behind so she refuses to let go and give up her memories. Melanie’s love for her brother Jamie and a man named Jared are so strong that through dreams and shared memories, Wanderer finds herself yearning for the two humans. Wanderer is so taken aback by these strong emotions that she literally throws everything she has ever known away and sets off in a journey to find these humans and discover what love is really all about.


The first part of this book is a very drawn out inner dialog. Wanderer is confused by her feelings and even more thrown off by Melanie herself. She questions everything around her and even her sanity as she struggles with first trying to get rid of Melanie and then finally accepting that Melanie has become a part of her. The story is a multi-leveled love story, the first part is the friend/hate relationship that forms between the parasite and the human. Then as memories are shared, the brotherly love for Jamie and then the love affair with Jared.

When Melanie/Wanderer is finally reunited with Jared and Jamie, you don’t know if you should cheer or cry, the relationships are so complex. There is no definitive line of who is right and who is wrong. At first you are excited about the reunion but then as the humans reactions to Wanderer become hostile and scary you don’t know who to side with.

As the story emerged the complexity of the situation deepened, the true good of Wanderer becomes evident and reveals the true nature of what it really means to be “human”. New relationships form and Wanderer discovers who she is now that she is part Melanie and part “Wanda”. There has been some questioning on the relationship part of the story, most people think that it is hard to believe that a love relationship could form between a human and the alien, but really in life anything can happen. If people can fall in love over the internet, with a picture and pretty words, a human can most likely fall in love with a parasite dressed up in human’s skin. Wanderer is shown as a very gentle soul, and her eagerness to help the humans and become like them draws the others to her. Its actually very moving, showing that we can surpass our differences and learn to love people/things that we really thought we hated, if we just took the time to learn about them.

During this very long novel you are kept at the edge of your seat. There is always underlying tension, whether emotional or violent. I really began to care about what happened to both Melanie and Wanderer. Even the supporting characters became larger than life. The character interaction is well done. There are no explicit or implied sex scenes so this book is also safe for teens. There are a few moments of kissing and lustfulness, but nothing graphic or overdone. The ending was well done and I almost sighed in relief when I finished the last sentence. The epilogue also implied that there could be a sequel, or at least other novels set in the world, Meyer created.

Overall the book was well done, nothing profound, but very very entertaining. There were a few threads that weren’t followed through on, and some character reactions were very unbelievable. Wanderer was sometimes frustrating in her naïveté and how she was always trying to sacrifice herself. The Seeker – Wanderer’s antagonist was a little unbelievable also, I would think that her behavior would have been noticed in her position, but it did set in motion Wanderer’s escape into the human world. Nothing to turn me off from the novel though. Over all, cheers for Ms. Meyer and I hope this shows that she has a lot more in her to impart on this world, aside from those pesky and sexy vamps which we love her for. I give this novel 4 glasses.