The Twilight Saga_New Moon

Not even Summit thought The Twilight Saga: New Moon could do so well. The supernatural love story continues to enthrall millions and raked in $140.7 million at the box office this weekend. Not bad for a movie the critcs weren’t all that keen on, now is it? I do believe one paper called the sum “mind bending”! (umm, would that be the L.A. Times?) On the all time meter New Moon clocks in at #3, after only The Dark Knight and Spiderman 3 which both had summer release dates. I guess everyone at Summit will really be looking forward to Eclipse and Breaking Dawn, and I’m also sure more than just Stephenie Meyer is super glad she didn’t waste her dream!

Oprah Winfrey

Oprah announced she was leaving daytime. It was a sad day for long time loyal Oprah fans, even celebrities voiced their shock. Her last show will air in 2010, at the 25 year mark. Can you believe it has been that long? I was just a kid when I first heard of her show. Phil Donahue was still on the air! (Wow I’m old!) But, isn’t it better to go out on top? And it seems fans will not be the only ones to miss her. TV stations are in a dither as to what to do after her departure. However, Oprah will be launching OWN (formerly the Discovery Health channel) a.k.a. the Oprah Winfrey Network. Maybe she’ll shift her show that way. Either way, daytime will be a strange landscape for a while without the big O! Unless, of course, you tune into OWN!

The Twilight Saga_New Moon_Bella and Edward and the Cullens

This movie is not a disappointment and I thoroughly enjoyed it. That being said, unless you GET the books and loved them, meaning — you are just one of the millions of salivating and swooning Twilight fans — you may not be down with the darkly agonizing tone of New Moon, its length, or its drawn out two thirds, then fast and furious end. I watched the film with a more mature audience (though I may have felt right at home amongst a gaggle of salivating, swooning, squealing teenagers since I was completely indulging my own inner teenager — which is something I love to do, I might add! ), so I found the other movie goers a jaded lot who laughed at inopportune moments. ie. intense emotional sequences and a glimpse of Bella’s highly anticipated fanged future.

The film opens with Bella in the idyllic mountain clearing with Edward, staring across the divide at an aged woman she thinks is her grandmother. But lo, it is Bella herself, wrinkled and old, while beside her Edward is still, as always heartbreakingly beautiful and murmuring, “Happy Birthday, Bella.” You can imagine Bella’s horror, and she does indeed awaken from her nightmare to her dreaded birthday.

Now, we’ve all seen the birthday bash disaster scene and we know Edward is going to crush her heart when he oh, so very coldly breaks up with her, and he and his entire family leave Forks. I was left cold, and Kristen Stewart actually looks like she is going to quite literally die from a broken heart and lack of oxygen. And despite my best, stoic efforts not to shed a tear, Edward’s leave taking undid me somewhat, because I, like so many other fans, have read the book and I know what’s coming. Chris Weitz shows Bella’s descent into the dark abyss of depression with a slow spinning of the camera which mirrors Bella’s downward spiral, and will leave you feeling a wee bit off kilter.

New Moon_The Wolfpack

Enter Jacob, Bella’s own personal sun, who really does brighten the mood of the film and even Bella’s devastated heart to a certain degree. Jacob is tolerant of Bella’s budding kamikaze ways— the only way she knows how to trigger visions of her beloved Edward — repairing dirt bikes and reveling in the time he gets to spend with her, determined to show Bella that he can make her forget about him. But it is time that is short lived as Jacob’s happy disposition is taken over by loyalty to and the responsibilities of the pack, and he, too, leaves Bella in his desire to protect her. Yet he, unlike Edward, can’t stay away from Bella, and luckily for her, Jacob’s around to save her from a disastrous cliff dive into frigid waters.

But really, between lurking Laurent who’s off his animal diet, vicious Victoria who has a score to settle, and Bella’s knack for endangering herself, how can any of these suitors think Bella will be safe alone? It isn’t long before Bella knows the whole truth, that vampires and werewolves are not a thing of myth and legend. They exist, and Bella realizes she can’t live without either of them, but she must make a choice because lines have been drawn.

After Bella’s near fatal cliff dive, a near encounter with Victoria in the turbulent waters of the ocean, and a nick of time rescue by Jacob, Alice shows up unexpectedly at Bella’s house, much to Jacob’s disgust. After getting in a bit of a spat with Alice, Jacob shares a moment with Bella, which nearly ends in a kiss (that unlike the book, never happens on screen, which is a bit of a disappointment), but is disrupted by a phone call from Edward. That fateful call is what revs up the action of the film, sending Alice and Bella to Italy on a desperate race against time to save Edward from destroying himself, because he thinks Bella is dead and he can’t live in a world where she doesn’t exist.

New Moon_The Volturi

Bella and Edward’s reunion is everything one could have ever hoped for and cements the realization that these two are hopelessly inlove, and refuse to live without each other. But their heart stopping reunion is regrettably brief, though intense, and enter the Volturi. The Volturi are convincingly and satisfyingly corrupt. Michael Sheen‘s Aro is decadent and chilling, Jane is played to perfection by Dakota Fanning, and Aro’s cat and mouse games effectively put the fear of God in you if the rest of the Volturi henchman do not. Top it off with an awesome fight sequence in the Volturi audience room between Edward and Felix, and Bella’s heroism and selfless love for Edward, and there you have it! And of course we know that love conquers all…for now.

New Moon is peppered with shirtless werewolves, a shirtless Edward (I had to mention this to get it out of my system!), werewolf fights and chases, humor and struggle. It is a movie about love, loss, tough choices, pain and unrequited love. It’s as different from Twilight as werewolves are from vampires, but no less filled with longing and conflict. It stays as true to the book as it can, and I must admit you really have to read the books to truly understand and enjoy the movie. I think Twilight fans fell inlove with the novels, inlove with the story, with Edward, Bella and Jacob — all secretly dreaming that someday they would see the world of Twilight on film. That’s it. Dream come true. So I give New Moon a thumbs up because I loved the books, I loved the characters, and I love literature that moves me (and my inner teenager) on film.

Eclipse At Amazon

New Moon is a movie breaking box office records already, yet is getting mixed reviews from critics who just need to remember, this isn’t a movie meant to stand alone. It is just the second part of a beautiful and unforgettable love story.

The Twilight Saga will continue with Eclipse in June 2010. Let the countdown begin!

~P.S.~ Doesn’t Bella kinda sorta remind you of a young and fictional Stephenie Meyer? I’m just sayin’.

New Moon

Or I predict it will. Apocalyptic devastation can’t hold a candle to the fang-demonium inspired by the vampires of theTwilight Saga.

New Moon_Edward and Bella

Advance ticket sales for New Moon are the highest ever! In all of history! Outselling even the Dark Knight, Star Wars, Harry Potter, AND (gasp!) Lord of the Rings! Well, less than 8 hours on this coast before New Moon opens in theaters people! I can’t remember a time when more people were more frenzied for the release of a movie. And whether you’re Team  Edward or Team Jacob, if you’re a TwiHard — or someone who just revels in indulging their inner teenager — this will be a most delicious movie event! And it will start all over again with Eclipse in June 2010. So, I think New Moon will oust 2012 from the box office throne this weekend along with any other movie unfortunate enough to open on Friday, November 2009. What do you think? Viva Le Vampire!

New Moon_Bella

New Moon_Edward

~P.S.~ Twilight has been playing in some theaters before the midnight showing of New Moon, and according to reports, it was Thursday’s second highest in ticket sales. I wonder if New Moon will be the highest grossing weekend box office hit of all time? Most likely. (Sorry, Batman.) I wonder if New Moon will have the stamina to overthrow Titanic from the coveted spot of Top Grossing Film of All Time? It very well could happen.

2012_IMDB

Talk about bringing home the bacon! 2012, the movie all about the end of the world, blew up theaters this weekend taking in about $65 million stateside and about $160 million across the big water! Wow! Humanity seems to have a morbid curiousity about our own demise! What is it about armageddon and the end of the world that holds our fascination? It seems almost every year  there is a movie predicting the extinction of life as we know it. The movie is directed by Roland Emmerich, and although the cast seems solid — spearheaded by John Cusack — I think it was the subject matter that rocked our cinema world this weekend! So what about you? Will you be entertained by the catastrophic extravaganza that is 2012 and go see the flick? 2012 is in theaters now!