Oh the bitter irony....

Rating: 7/10 (13 January 2009)

I read the books. I saw the movie. I laughed (really hard at some inappropriate times). I sighed. I love the movie - for it's horribleness. I am a "bad movie" addict. The books took you to a rainy, dreary small town where nothing ever happened (FOrks WA). Enter beyond-her-years Bella Swan. In the book she is a curiosity piece, in the movie she is almost a rock star instantly. And this is the way the movie continues. She is inexplicably drawn to also-kind-of-newcomer Edward Cullen who turns out to be a vampire. They fall in love, bad people come and Edawrd (and family) save the day. It is very quick and dirty, the whole movie I mean. It doesn't explain anything; leaving those who haven't read the book scratching their heads. I went to go see it with my husband (bless his patience) and I didn't tell him anything about the books. He had no idea what was going on. It was a drag for him until I explained all. It was such a let down to have him miss the subtleties that were poorly transfered from book to screenplay to film. But in this long explanation of the movie I gained a deeper appreciation for tacky, over the top movies. Catherine Hardwicke needs to hang it up. Thank goodness they replaced her for New Moon. The new director (Chris Weitz) did the screenplay for The Golden Compass released in 2007 (among being the producer for many other movies) which was adapted from the Philip Pullman's book bearing the same title. I also read those books (there were three in the series- amazing!) and found the screenplay/film to be spot on. This is hopefully indicative of his future venture with New Moon. Chris, don't let us down! New Moon is emotional and heart wrenching, I want to like this movie because it's good. Please.