TWILIGHT 3.5**** ( The 1st of the Meyer books made into a movie (2008)…just saw it on the DVD..the 2nd is now out and I’ll be seeing and reviewing it soon)


Okay, now I know what ALL the fuss is about. I understand. And I liked it a lot. This is a beautiful, lush movie with a beautiful, moving love story. And unless you’ve been stranded on a deserted island for the past 3 years, you will already know that the story has to do with vampires..but, as it turns out, not your traditional vampires… now they still like blood, but can go for different varieties, and they’re still super strong and fast and have that washed out look on their face with the color-changing eyes. As for how they’re different…can’t tell..you need to discover that from the movie.

The story is set in a small town, Fork, in the State of Washington…thus why everything looks so lush from all the rain…also a perfect home for vampires since the sun almost never comes out due to the constant clouds and overcast. The setting is high school where the main characters are juniors. The female lead, Bella (played quite well by Kristen Stewart) moves there to live with her father..her mother has remarried and is on the road a lot because the new hubby is a baseball player. Bella hits it off quite easily and quickly with the other kids and in the process meets a mysterious and dazzlingly beautiful Edward Cullen. ( played quite well by Robert Pattison ) Edward is nothing like any boy she's ever met. He's nothing like anyone she's ever met, period. He's intelligent and witty, and he seems to see straight into her soul Oh, and to no one’s surprise, he’s a vampire. The surprise, however, comes in discovering what kind of vampire he is and how the relationship between Bella and Edward develops and whether it can last.
The movie is directed by Catherine Hardwicke, who also directed the teen films Thirteen, Lords of Dogtown and The Nativity Story. She chose her leads wisely: the pretty Stewart is a questioning, questing presence; the Pattinson, a sensitive-stud dreamboat. And Hardwicke is faithful to the book's chaste eroticism. The couple must put off having sex because, well, it could kill Bella. Yet waiting has its own delicious tension. So, even if Twilight isn't a masterpiece, it sweetly rekindles the warmth of great Hollywood romances, where foreplay was the climax and a kiss was never just a kiss.
So although I am a man and far from 13 years old, and even though I have not read any of the books in the Twilight series, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and look forward to seeing the sequels. However, my next movie will be “Fight Club” on DVD which I haven’t seen yet…so as to get my testosterone level back up to He-Man levels.

Twilight (120 ) is rated PG-13 for violence and a scene of sensuality.

Clark

TRIVIA NOTES

1.Over 5,000 actors auditioned for the role of Edward.

2 Kristen Stewart turned eighteen while filming the movie and was rewarded with a birthday cake - and a full night of shooting. Kristen Stewart has naturally green eyes. She wears brown contacts for filming to match Bella's eye color.

3. Stephanie Meyer claims these authors partially inspired her: Jane Austen, Orson Scott Card, Shakespeare, and Charlotte Bronte. The author of the books has a Cameo part and can be seen next to a laptop ordering a vegetarian sandwich in the diner at the beginning of the scene where Charlie asks Bella if she likes the boys in town.

4. Robert Pattison performed two songs in the movie, however only one of these songs, "Never Think," appears on the soundtrack. His other song, "Let Me Sign", is a bonus track. He actually plays the piano in the scene where Edward is playing "Bella's Lullaby".As soon as Pattison was cast, he moved to Oregon and began working on his character, both physically and mentally. He worked out five hours a day with a trainer: learning to fight, play baseball, and do stunts. He also had to learn to drive and get an Oregon driver's license.

5.In the movie when Bella and Edward are lying in the meadow, the sun coming through the trees makes a heart between them.

6.. With its $69.6 million opening weekend gross the movie had the biggest opening ever for a film directed by a woman, and also for a film starring a woman.

7. When in the movie, at the cafeteria salad bar, Bella drops an apple which Edward picks back up and then cradles in his hands, copying the cover image of the Twilight novel. Director Catherine Hardwicke said that took 13 takes to get it right… see photo below..