amatyultare

My life for the past week has been pretty boring - I've just been reading, hanging out, making Christmas present lists, and watching movies, all in a pleasant 'I don't have to write every day!' haze.

Quick Twilight note - as I mentioned in a previous entry, I did quite enjoy the movie for what it was, and overall I thought Catherine Hardwicke (the director) did a decent job making it LESS ridiculous than the book. Therefore, I find it odd that Catherine Hardwicke was "fired" from the Twilight sequel movies. (This link comes from cleolinda, of course.)

There are many ways this could go, but many of them are bad. For example, a director who let SMeyer have EVEN MORE say in the whole process (to the best of my knowledge, SMeyer was the one behind keeping that stupid 'lamb fell in love with the lion' line). Some have even suggested that SMeyer would be allowed to direct the movie herself, although I kind of doubt it (but if it somehow happened, I would camp out at the movie theater for tickets. COMEDY GOLD, people.)

Argh, must get to bed.

Guys, seriously? Seriously. No.

Just the other day, [Rob] Pattinson realized, "there were some girls who had scratched ... the side of their necks so [they were] freshly bleeding when they came up to get a signature.

"They were like, 'We did this for you.' I didn't know what to say. 'Um, thanks guys?'"

Work yesterday was ridiculous, not least because I was exhausted after getting only a couple of hours of sleep. And I'm behind on my NaNo because I didn't manage to get any written since Wednesday (yeah, I suck). But oh, it was worth it for the lulz alone.

I am speaking of course, of the Thursday night/Friday morning midnight premier of the "Twilight" movie.

First, let me say up front that if you haven't read or really heard of the books, don't go watch the movie. It is mediocre at best and you really won't get it. Nor, honestly, do you want to.

However, if you have read the books, heard tons about the books, etc., I actually do recommend the movie. There are two reasons.

1) In many if not all ways, it's better than the book. (If you don't mind spoilers, this sums it up pretty perfectly. I especially recommend #17, and also #20-22.)

2) There is a LOT of humor in the movie (and some of it is even intentional!) For real, watch this, the famous sparkling scene - the sparkling is extremely underwhelming, BTW, so you can barely see it on that video - and try NOT to laugh when RPattz says "It's like a drug to me". Try, I dare you.

My random notes on the movie below the cut.

( Read more... )

Okay, I'm done. Bedtime, and tomorrow is a write-in so maybe I can wash 'Twilight' out of my brain and catch up on my NaNo.

But let me leave you with these words of wisdom:

THIS IS THE SKIN OF A KILLER!!!!

Bwahahaha.

And so, goodnight.

Midnight movies are always fun...although work today is going to be sort of painful. Perhaps I'll call in...I need to pack anyway for graduation this weekend.

So I caved and went to a midnight release of Prince Caspian. I was excited to see it, even though the grumblings in the 'purist' fandom (see narniasues, for example) was that it looked very much altered.

I tried to put my thoughts together all the way of the drive back (the showing was in a town about an hour and a half away--ah, central Maine) but it's late/early and I'm not totally coherent, so here are some semi-random thoughts about the movie. I'm trying to avoid movie spoilers, but there WILL be plot spoilers for those who haven't read the books.

( Things I Liked )


( Things I Wasn't So Crazy About )

My overall thoughts: It's a very enjoyable movie. And parts of it (specifically, Lucy's part of it) I felt stayed very true to the heart of the book. But I'm slightly depressed by the overall thrust of the story.

There's a whole lot of fighting, to which I take exception, and not only because it's not canon. The Chronicles, among other things, trace a gradually more complex understanding of morality and sin. In LWW, the story is very simply about good defeating evil, which is why a battlefield is a natural choice for where the story ends up. You have the two sides, and they fight.

In PC, the story is more complex. Narnians cannot always be assumed to be good; not everyone who is against your enemy is 'on your side'. And I don't think it's an accident that while there are several large battles during the time period spanned in PC, none of them really appear 'on-screen' for more than a moment or two in the books. I know that the beautiful insanity of the Romp would be difficult to film and present well, but surely they could have done something else besides fight scene after fight scene?

I sound negative...maybe it's just because it's really late/early. I really, honestly did enjoy the movie a LOT, and I think it's more than worth seeing. I just wish the director and screenwriters had thought a bit harder about how their mania for 'realism' could harmonize with, rather than drown out, the original themes of the book.