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Show Monday # November 24, 2008 M O V I E B3|| A movie for teen girls and lonely middle-age women R E V I E W Twilight Summit Entertainment Bella and Edward, the famed young lovers in Stephanie Meyer's book series, now star (played by Kristin Stewart and Robert Pattinson) in the movie Twilight. Summit Entertainment Romeo and Juliet, Antony and Cleopatra, Bella and Edward? The teen-love vampire movie Twilight opened Nov. 21 An alright Twilight •BRITNEE NGUYEN I News editor The epic love story that has been read by millions in the book Twilight was utterly bland when it came to the big screen. Bella Swan played by Kristen Stewart and Edward Cullen played by Robert Pattinson are two individuals who fall in love despite Edward's innate vampire desire to kill Bella for her blood. Unfortunately, the love chemistry just wasn't there in the film. To start, Stewart has a man voice that would only become manlier during the dramatic scenes when she was temperamental or argumentative. As for Pattinson, he did look the part of Edward at certain angles. But he mostly didn't live up to the perfectly gorgeous vampire that was described in the book. Also, one can't help but laugh when watching Pattison's poor acting in the scene where Bella comes and sits by him in science class and he tries to act repulsed by contorting his face, but instead makes himself look even more unattractive. His constant flipping between his British and American accent was distracting as well. Aside from these two main characters, everyone else in the film was enjoyable to watch, such as Bella's group of friends at school and the Cullen fami- ly members. There was also a variety of humorous moments, much of the humor originating with Charles Swan, Bella's dad who is played by Billy Burke. The film has a dramatic feel due to the large use of close-up shots in what seemed like every scene. The music soundtrack also fit well into the feeling of the film, two of the songs actually written by Pattinson. Basically, this movie could have been much better if the two lead actors had been different. Yet, the movie does have enough good parts that I'd recom-' mend seeing it . . . when it hits the dollar theater. More movie reviews Luke Hickman's movie reviews hitting the net on Wednesday, Nov. 26. Reviews to be posted at www.uvureview.com and www.lukehickman.blogspot.com Australia Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman star in the new romance epic written and directed by Baz Luhrmann, the guy who gave you Moulin Rougel and Romeo + Juliet. . Find out if it's worth all the hype. Yahoo.com Four Christmases When their flight to Fiji gets delayed for a day, Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon get stuck spending Christmas Day with their separated parents and siblings, testing the strength of their relationship. Based on a book made for people who have never read a good book before L LUKEHICKMAN ;! Life writer No matter how bad any review for Twilight is, the movie will still make millions of dollars; there are so many blind fans of Stephenie Meyer's books, the movie is critic proof. 1 can't convey to you how awful this movie is. Don't waste your time or money in supporting this talent-less entertainment. The story Twilight tells the story of an awkward teen named Bella Swan who moves to a small town to live with her dad. It doesn't take long for Bella to fall for outcast classmate Edward Cullen. After Edward shows supernatural speed and strength while saving her life, Bella questions his powers. She then finds out that he and his family are "vegetarian" vampires, feeding only on animals. Instead of being afraid, Bella falls in teenlove with Edward. The real plot and conflict doesn't enter until 90 minutes into the movie when a trio of evil vampires who feed on humans introduce themselves to the Cullens. After catching a whiff of Bella's flesh, they determine to drain her veins. Problems with the story Twilight could have been a great story. But it's not. It's boring. The way the story is told is insulting to the audience. While leaving the theater, I asked my 14-year-old Twilight know-it-all sister-inlaw if my predictions on each of the next three storylines were correct. I was dead-on. Meyer decided to rewrite the classic vampire mythology. Her vampires can go out during the day. Sunlight touching their skin only makes it look sparkly. Stakes through the heart don't kill vampires; heads and limbs must be removed before they are set inflame. Asking an audience to continually suspend disbelief asks a lot. Expecting us to believe that two vampires will travel over a thousand miles to feed on one specific human when they easily could have feasted many times on the way there, you've got to give a good motive for it. Don't ask us to accept it just because you say it. Considering the anticipation of this movie, there should have been more thought put into this production. Problems with the movie Had Twilight been given good studio treatment (including rewriting, casting bigger stars,'and earning a big budget), it could have been a decent, if not great, movie. But it was made by a tiny independent studio, and it shows. Certain moments of Twilight are well done and work perfectly. But those moments are few and far between. The majority of the moments between the memorable good ones are so awful that they disqualify the good ones. Casting nearly all noname actors was a brave decision. Kristen Stewart, known mostly for her role in last year's Into The Wild, is a fantastic young actress bringing the most acting talent to the movie. In the moments of the film that work, she's exceptional as Bella. But in the moments that don't work, she's bland. Robert Pattinson, known only for his role in the Harry Potter film franchise, brought nothing to the role that couldn't have been done by any awful young actor from the CW network. The majority of the movie he acts like he's trying to act like the lab-created hybrid child of Jason Bourne and James Bond, but is completely unsuccessful at reaching any level of their badassness. Twilight was directed by Catherine Hardwicke, who directed such horrible flicks as The Nativity Story and Lords Of Dogtown. The tone and feeling of the movie is never consistent. Most of the time it feels like a blend of an episode of Supernatural, a bad horror movie and any given Michael Bay blockbuster. My dreams have better direction than this film. No review of this movie is complete without mentioning the lack of decentlooking special effects. The stunts involving gravitydefying jumping or climbing look just fine — we're used to wire-flying in movies. But the scenes involving computer-generated effects look downright terrible. In one scene, Edward throws Bella on his back and has a high-speed dash up a mountainside. The final product ends up looking like an oldschool Looney Toons chase, blurred legs and all. Conclusion Twilight is awful. I'm not the only critic who feels this way. Even my die-hard sister-in-law thought it was just so-so. If you go to Twilight and come out ranting and raving about how good it was, you're a liar. You want it to be that good so bad that you're in denial. Twilight's not worth the hype. It's made for teenagers and middle-aged lonely women who haven't realized that life isn't the fairytale they wanted it to be. It's for people looking for a fake romance that doesn't exist in this exaggerated form. If you're that curious to see Twilight just to figure out why it's such a sensation, go to a theater, buy a ticket for anything else, then walk into Twilight. Don't you dare buy a ticket that will put money in the hands of people who don't deserve it. If you've never read the books and you see Twilight in the opening weeks when the theater is filled with Meyer fans, then you'll probably hate the experience. Women and girls will be giggling at inside jokes from the books that you wont understand. Be prepared to be annoyed. NEW MOVIE THEATRE NOW OPEN! Yahoo.com Synecdoche, New York Charlie Kaufman, writer of Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind and Being John Malkovich takes the director's chair in a film about a lonely guy (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) whose life falls to pieces, causing him to lose his grasp on time and reality. UNIVERSITY HALL Located at State St. & University Pkwy. 1010 South 800 East • Orem, UT 1-800-FANDANGO + EXP CODE 2148# 14 SCREENS • ALL DIGITAL PROJECTION ALL STADIUM SEATING • DIGITAL SOUND Yahoo.com Transporters Jason Statham is back as the only driver with a 100 percent delivery track record on driving sensitive packages on treacherous road trips for mysterious men. This time, he's forced into the situation and given a tracking bracelet that will explode if he goes farther than 75 feet away from his Audi. The Family Entertainment Destination • Sign up online & stay informed with Cinemark's weekly Showtime Email I N E M A R Yahoo.com 1 - cinemark.com • : < |