Book Review: Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

Book Review: Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

The book Twilight is hugely popular and not without reason, since there are about ten million copies of the books in circulation (the fan base is that huge). This is the story of Bella, the female lead and Edward who is a gentleman during the day and a vampire at night. Twilight can be finished in just a few sittings, and the readers are likely to forget their real surroundings and become a part of the fantasy world created by Stephenie Meyer. While one can agree it is not a literary masterpiece, readers would find it fun to become lost in the world created by the author.

Entertaining and Fast Paced

 

Overall it is an extremely entertaining and fast paced story all about romance and suspense. Considering the fact that it is a vampire love story, Twilight content still remains on the cleaner side (you need not worry about the teenagers). The author Stephenie Meyer has also come up with the concept of good vampires which is intriguing and unusual. There are, however, times when the writing is clunky. Especially the way Edward’s character has been portrayed, it’s unbelievable for any character to be so perfect. The relationship between Bella and Edward also at times does not appear equal.

Bella Falls for the Other Worldly Grace of Edward

 

The narration of the book is in first person, and is told by Bella herself. The book Twilight is the story of romance between Bella and Edward, who has other worldly beauty and grace and Bella falls for it. Some unexpected events also happen because (after all) Edward and his family members are vampires. They have chosen to resist the urge to drink human blood as they quench their thirst only with the animal blood. But Bella soon finds out all the vampires in her life do not observe these rules and that the world is more dangerous than she thought.

Different Treatment to Female Sexuality

 

The book Twilight has treated the female sexuality differently, since there is plenty of sensuality and yearning, yet there is no sex or alcohol or drug use. Edward doesn’t agree to Bella’s demands to turn her into a vampire as he doesn’t believe it is the right thing to do. Twilight is easy and enjoyable and the readers just keep the pages turning. While the book is truly unique and entertaining, it’s not flawless. The book is not likely to attract the male readers either. Some critics however do suggest the book portrays the female sexuality in an unhealthy manner and that if presents a bad example for the teenage girls the book is targeting.

Movie Review: Twilight (2008)

Movie Review: Twilight (2008)

You Better Hold On Tight, Spidermonkey

Arguably the best line in the movie, “You better hold on tight, spidermonkey,” says Edward as he climbs up the bark of a redwood with Bella on his back. And as they continue on through the forest, jumping, flying, arriving at high mast to overlook a scene of enormous, mountainous beauty, you would never guess that it was all CGI. These days, however, I’m beginning to accept that most of it is. See: Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, although Harry Potty is worse in that it’s overly colorful and horribly childish. It’s actually quite disturbing to find so many comparisons of Twilight to Potter, most presumably due to the furor engulfing followers of both. Is it too much to recognize the vast difference between the two? If I were part of the production of Twilight, I’d be pretty annoyed at America (although I can think of a kajillion other reasons to be annoyed at America, but that’s beside the point).

Fans of the book would be horrified at the adaptation on the screen. What is a clumsy, humorous protagonist character in the book is portrayed as sullen and lost, only to be found by her true vampire love (awe), which was probably what Melissa Rosenberg (screenwriter) wanted and Stephanie Meyer (novelist) hates. If you hadn’t read the book (and I hadn’t, sorry) then you might actually enjoy it far more (like i did).

The problems in the movie have nothing to do with acting or portrayal; nobody overdoes it, nobody falls short. Neither does any cinematography exhibit a lack of skill. The downfalls are found in the teeny-bopper, sexy soundtrack and the tag-line dialogue in the villains. This is a movie for 13 year old girls. And its overtones of sexuality are a little.. vague. My point being that if you’re going to go that route, why not go all the way and have some lesbian kissing? That way you’d reel in not just the girls but the boys too!

Alas, I’m glad you didn’t, because while the ridiculousness of the plot — girl is lonely, girl meets boy, boy is vampire, vampires are dangerous, girl learns the hard way.. and nothing has a logical explanation to it… maybe that’s what makes it good, that it’s a fantasy.

One of the most important concepts some filmmakers have trouble understanding is the color scheme of the storyboard. Twilight does not make this mistake. While it’s vivid, dreamy, and dark it’s also very colorful without losing faith in itself, a forest hue bundle that never fades. Another great example of this is Memento and, in fact, there’s some talk of it in the DVD extras. Ultimately, color-scheming is a marketing ploy and you can see the same scheme on the website for New Moon, although New Moon has a more sepia tone drawn in. Yet another example is The Illusionist. Come to think of it, the color scheme is exactly the same in the Illusionist.

Anyhoo, this is not an A1 movie. Neither is it bottom-of-the-barrel. The toughest part on the filmmakers must have been squeezing a 544 page book into a two hour movie, which is sort of long for teenagers. However, it reels in your inner teenage girl and doesn’t tire, even through the credits while Radiohead plays (scarily) and then moves to one of the worst Linkin Park songs I think I’ve ever heard.

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Movie Review – The Twilight Saga: New Moon

Movie Review – The Twilight Saga: New Moon

7 out of 10

I have to admit after watching the first Twilight I didn’t really understand what all of the buzz was about.  I chalked this up to the fact that I’m not a teenager and I also don’t have a vagina (although sometimes I wish I did).  Don’t get me wrong, by no means did I think Twilight was bad; it was merely okay.  I’ve seen better, I’ve seen worse.  New Moon is a marked improvement upon the first film and I actually found myself getting wrapped up in this modern day retelling of Romeo and Juliet with a supernatural twist.  New Moon still isn’t the best movie I’ve ever seen, but if I were a fourteen year old girl, I’m sure it would be.

Despite taking place in a world of vampires and werewolves, at its core, Twilight has always been a soap opera.  Call it Transylvania 90210.  As this chapter begins, Bella (Kristen Stewart) and Edward (Robert Pattinson) are still madly in love.  When Edward’s vampire family, the Cullens, throw a surprise 18th birthday party for Bella, things take a bad turn and Edward realizes that the only way to keep Bella out of harm’s way is to never see her again.  Bella falls into a deep depression and only through her friendship with Jacob (Taylor Lautner) does she begin to heal.  Jacob wants to be more than friends and although she has feelings for him, Bella’s heart still very much belongs to Edward.  To complicate matters further, Jacob is a werewolf who spends his free time hunting vampires.  New Moon really is Romeo and Juliet meets West Side Story wrapped in a supernatural candy shell.

This installment has more story, better performances from all involved and more humor, not to mention more action.  Twilight’s core group of fans may be young women, but given a chance, New Moon should have no trouble winning over legions of young men as well.  The action scenes are done very well and are quite thrilling.  The special effects are seamless and I was very impressed with the look of the werewolves.  CGI creatures sometimes look too fake, but the werewolves in New Moon are done really well and have a very realistic quality to them.  Director Chris Weitz has truly improved upon Catherine Hardwicke’s original in every way.  To be fair, I tend to always enjoy the second installment of a series more than the first.  I’ll debate anyone that disagrees that Empire Strikes Back, Spider-Man 2, Superman II and The Dark Knight (just to name a few) aren’t superior to the first films of those series.  Of course there are exceptions such as The Matrix Reloaded and the second Pirates of the Caribbean film, but New Moon definitely falls into the former category.

The thing I liked most about New Moon is its use of humor.  The first film was a bit too dour for my tastes and I kind of felt like I was trapped in this boring, emotive, Goth world.  It is amazing how just a few funny lines can breathe life into a film; even ones that center around a love triangle between a teenage girl, an old vampire and a young stud werewolf.  Despite the injection of humor, New Moon is still filled with plenty (if not too much) teenage angst and melodrama.

Just like the Harry Potter cast, all of the actors have grown in their respective roles.  No actress is better at emoting teenage angst than Kristen Stewart.  She has a “real” quality to her that makes her stand out from most young actresses.  She seems like someone you went to high school with.  Unfortunately the character is a bit of a downer.  It would be nice to see her loosen up a bit.  She is so emotionally draining that I almost had to wonder why all of these men are so taken with her.  Robert Pattinson is much looser in this film than in the first and as a result gives an all around better performance.  I also now understand why Bella is so in love with him.  I still don’t understand why every teenage girl in the world thinks he is so handsome.  To me he looks like someone smashed his face in with a shovel, but who am I to judge?  The real stand out in the film is Taylor Lautner as Jacob.  Despite playing the character in the first film, Lautner almost lost the role in the sequel because the producers felt he was too young to pull off the emotional range of the character.  The actor is completely vindicated here, displaying great maturity and strength in the role.  I know the big debate among Twilighters is Jacob or Edward and after seeing this film, I fall firmly on the side of team Jacob. 

The film is a bit too long.  They could’ve cut out quite a few scenes of Bella being depressed.  Otherwise, New Moon is a solidly entertaining film that even those who are not diehard fans of the series can enjoy.  After seeing the first one, I had no real interest in seeing the sequel.  This time around, I have to admit, I’ll be looking forward to part three.  Hell, I might even read the books. 

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Twilight Movie Review

Twilight Movie Review

I saw the twilight movie when it first got released when my friends recommended it after they had read the twilight book, I have to say it was on the best movie I have seen for a very long time. I am not a big fan of vampire movies, however this turned our to be essentally a love story and it looses none of it’s integrity from either the genre. I was amazed at the on screen chemistry between Bella and Edward, it was execellent, and helps make the movie take the form of an epic love story which can be compared to Romeo and Juliett. Hats off to the casting directory for getting these two characters so perfectly right. I also found the scenery absolutely breath taking and give the film a real vitality. Its almost worth seeing the scenery alone regardless of the story.

Something suprising that came of from this movie was the desire to read the book, I was certain its impossible to get all that is being said in the book into a 2 hour movie. I was wrong , the essence of the book is captured beautifully and completely and it has to go back to the chemistry between Bella and Edward. If you are thinkin you have to read the book, then my suggestion to you is, you don’t have to. The twilight movie does an excellent job of telling the story on its own. The only difference between the book and the twilight DVD is the time settings, the book is set over an entire year and the twilight DVD is tells us about a month, which is worth remembering if you are wondering why Bella and Edward go from frosty to talking about forever quite so quickly in the film.The extra scene that I did, however, absolutely love was when Edward took Bella up into the trees – great effects, absolutely amazing scenary and you got a real sense of the romance between them – I really missed it when I read the twilight book!

I can conclude that the twilight is an absolutely brilliant movie, well worth seeing. It’s one of the very few.

Twilight DVD can be bought on

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