Movie Monday: The Devil's Backbone

Sorry it's getting late, so I'll make this short.

Pan's Labyrinth encouraged me to go check out The Devil's Backbone.

Very good movie. Pretty creepy, but still really great.

Watch it.

Movie Monday (Tuesday): Star Trek

I'm not much of a Star Trek fan, I've seen some of the older movies here and there throughout my life, but I never really sought out the story and I much preferred the galaxy far far away in the past over these stories of the future.

However, when Simon Pegg was cast as Scotty and J.J. Abrams was set to direct the reboot of the franchise, I decided to set aside my differences and go for it.

Turns out this was a good choice because it seems that Abrams would rather Star Trek be Star Wars too, and made this new movie as such. For those who doubt, go see it and you'll know what I'm talking about as soon as Kirk gets booted to Hoth.

Outside of all my baggage, it turned out to be a really fun movie. There was plenty of good one-liners and some fun action, although I do think that they could have slowed the movie down at a couple of points to give it some real time to delve into the characters. Not that they didn't do well enough establishing everyone in their positions on the U.S.S. Enterprise, but the movie was spent going at breakneck speed from one point to the next so that even at a two hour running time, I felt like I could have used more from the characters.

Overall, I enjoyed the movie a lot and it even got me interested in watching the old series (and subsequent movies), but I don't really know how long this interest will last considering it also made me really want to watch the Star Wars trilogy.

Movie Monday: Wolverine

My expectations were low going in to Wolverine, sadly they weren't low enough. It's not that it disappointed in the action department. Wolverine was full of useless explosions and people standing in positions that would result in a quick death during any fight, but nonetheless look "cool" to the person behind the camera.

The problems came in that the movie felt almost completely unfinished. There were moments (bathroom scene, I'm looking at you) where the CG effects seemed either unfinished, or crafted by a team working on a movie made for the Sci-Fi channel. Alongside this, the script was ridiculous. Things that might seem okay in a speech bubble in a comic book do not work out well in a movie with live humans. I take that back, that previous sentence was an insult to comic book writers. The lines given to characters were plain bad... and trying to add in a love story that gave no meaning to the movie, aside from giving Hugh Jackman one more chance to look constipated and yell, was a terrible idea.

Also, the movie suffered from a lot of the problems of the third X-Men movie (aside from sucking). By trying to toss in as many mutants as possible to appease the fanbase, they wind up ruining all of the fans' beloved characters instead of just one or two. The biggest example of this was Gambit. People have been clamoring for him to appear in an X-Men movie ever since the first one came out almost 10 years ago. But, when you take someone who looks vaguely like the character but has no charisma or actual Cajun accent, Gambit falls apart.

I don't want to say that Wolverine was completely terrible. It was actually fun to watch, and was at least as "good" as Dragon Ball: Evolution. Pick it up on DVD.

Movie Monday: Darkon

If I had the chance, I think I'd probably LARP.

LARPing, or Live Action Role Playing, is often seen as pretty dang high up on the ladder of geekdom. As such, it would be hard for me now (with all of the coolness points that I have amassed over time) to be able to truly enjoy LARPing without feeling self-conscious all the time.

Turn to the documentary Darkon. These people have no qualms with diving fully into their fantasy alter-egos. For this, I can honestly envy them. Every other part of the lifestyle going on at their weekends/adventures in Darkon, I'll gladly pass up for some regular tabletop D&D.

The movie follows the members of a LARPing community that is based around their world of Darkon, and the ongoing battles that are taking place both within the world, and some of the troubles that they face when they have to return to earth. To put it quickly, they go out to a forest over the weekends, camp out, fight with foam covered weapons for pieces of land that exist on their map, then go back home and return to work.

The escapism of their community is really nice. They get to abandon all thoughts of their regular life and immerse themselves completely into this imaginary world of elves and magic for a couple of days. I like the thought of it, but I think I would rather just go camping and beat up on someone with a stick without rules about how long I have to stay dead.

In honor of the movie and the members of the Darkon community, here is my imaginary world: Rethuaga.

Rethuaga is a primarily tropic world. The main race is a mix of tauntauns and ewoks, so they are both cute and easy to ride. Humans have been enslaved by the taunkwons and those that are free are being led by the charismatic Brakkatoa (me) who gets a critical hit with every swing of his flail.

Brakkatoa's encampment lies to the west of the great lake Huron (I'm running out of creativity) and they attack the taunkwons in the dead of night. They've slowly been growing in power as they reach and free more and more of the human slaves. Will they be able to finally free the humans from slavery? Only you can decide....

Movie Monday: Doomsday

I put Doomsday into my DVD player yesterday not really expecting much more than a bloody action movie. I got that, but it also turned out to be something completely different alongside.

It's kind of hard to explain because the movie winds up going all over the place. You start off with a zombie movie, which morphs into a sci-fi thriller, then to Mad Max, a medieval vibe, and then back to the sci-fi thriller with Mad Max all together.

Strangely enough, I think it worked really well. Don't ask me to explain the plot though, since I kind of gave up on that about halfway through. The action sequences and the whole feeling of the movie really worked for me. It was gruesomely violent at times, and at other times just laughably so.

I think the best way to describe how random this movie was is in the character of Sol. He's my favorite part of the entire film, and he's basically the leader of this group of vicious cannibals. He's completely insane and every time he does something, it's with this maniacal glee that makes you both creeped out by him and yet totally in love with his character. However, the randomness really comes from the fact that just about everytime you see Sol, he's got a gimp chained up with him. There's no explanation for him - he's just there for set dressing... it's random and hilarious.

I know deep down that Doomsday wasn't really a good movie, but I have to say that I enjoyed it extremely. Maybe it was me watching on a sleepy Sunday afternoon or because I just like a bit of the old ultra-violence. Either way, if you want something big, blowy-uppy, and pretty dumb, Doomsday is worth the 2 hours. Otherwise, you can be a pansy and watch some Rom-Com with Matthew McConaughey.

Movie Monday: Dragon Ball Evolution

To put it simply, Dragon Ball Evolution was stupid. Very, very stupid. Not only that, but it's pretty dang bad.

However, it was also incredibly awesome. I watched the Dragon Ball Z anime series on Cartoon Network's Toonami block all through high school (I saw the Saiyan saga and the Namek saga too many times to count) and so I was pretty ready for a movie that wouldn't exactly be high art.

Maybe it was the fact that I had watched Spy Kids 3D: Game Over twice before I even stepped into the theater (my God, what a bad movie), but when Dragon Ball Evolution started up, I was glad. All I had to do was turn my brain completely off and let the nonsensical plot wash over me.

The best I can say is that I had a great time at the movie and it would make a perfect MST3k film. For that reason, I suggest you go see it... at least on DVD, that way we can get a sequel starring Brad Pitt as Vegeta and Michael Clarke Duncan as Nappa.

Movie Monday: Ang Lee's Hulk

I've been trying to watch this movie for a good long while now, but only just got a chance last weekend when Katie and I were able to escape to the family cabin.

I can't remember if I already talked about it, but I really liked last summer's Hulk movie starring Edward Norton as Bruce/Hulk. So, going back in time to watch the Ang Lee/Eric Bana version I thought that it would have to be pretty horrible considering they rebooted the franchise after this one chance.

I was wrong. I don't know if I liked this version better than the new one, but it was definitely on par with it. I really enjoyed that Ang Lee was able to spend a lot of time not just focusing on Hulk smashing, but instead giving Bruce a reason for being and doing. I'll admit that it was a pretty cheezy and comic-booky backstory, but hey... it was a comic book movie. This allowed the movie to go more in depth into the character of the story, but it also kind of made the action suffer. The other thing that I really liked was the way that it really looked like a comic book. Lee would position scenes so that it looked like different panels onscreen, and the different focuses and colors really made me feel like I was watching a comic book.

The only thing that I really disliked about this movie was the battle at the end. I can buy that Hulk's dad has gotten powers too - even that his powers of absorption are kind of cool, but becoming a water-man and trying to drown Hulk? Come on. That was the good thing about the new version. Since they didn't really waste time trying to make it a thoughtful movie, the action scenes were huge and destructive (that and it had Tim Roth, who I've come to love thanks to Lie to Me).

Basically, I kind of like that there are now two versions of Hulk. This way if you want an action-packed flick, you can watch the new one and if you want a more comic-booky movie, you can go with the old version.

What about you? Have you seen them both? If so, which is better?

Movie Monday: My Name is Bruce

If you don't know Bruce Campbell, I'm sorry for you. If you do, then you (like all people) are in love with him.

It's okay to admit. No one will look down on you for loving BC. In fact, you will become highly regarded by everyone you know.

With this in mind, My Name is Bruce is a silly Bruce Campbell movie. It is directed by BC and it shows. From what I know, he's only directed one other feature (The Man with the Screaming Brain), but has also directed a number of Xena and Hercules episodes. The same sort of camp that follows Bruce everywhere is present in this movie, but because it is so self-aware (it's about a town calling Bruce for help... and not his character, but actually Bruce) I think it really sets itself apart.

Yeah the dialogue is cheezy and the plot is non-existent, but that's what I expected. All I wanted to see was Bruce Campbell making snide remarks and acting silly, and I got exactly what I wanted.

There is really no reason to rent/buy this unless you like Bruce Campbell and/or B-Movie awesomeness, but if you like either of those, it's pretty great.

On opposite ends of the spectrum, I watched Memento for the first time in about 5 years over the weekend. It's a phenomenal movie. So if you get anything out of this post, it should be to go watch Memento again... and then watch My Name is Bruce to wash it down.

Movie Monday: I Love You, Man

I like Paul Rudd and Jason Segel. Both are funny in their own separate movies (I liked Role Models and Forgetting Sarah Marshall), but I really think they are a lot better together.

The plot of the movie is predictable and therefore forgettable and even though I honestly can't remember a scene that really stood out, I know that I laughed enough to make it worth my while. I don't know if that can justify this as a good movie, but it would definitely be worth a rental.

On this subject, what makes a movie worth seeing in theaters? Most of the time comedies work just as well, if not better, at home where there aren't idiots talking, texting, and laughing at the wrong parts. But every once in a while, I like to see a funny movie on the big screen because it also seems to make it funnier. Having the screen take up your entire vision and the audio all around helps to get into the experience and tends to make me enjoy it more.

Other movies, like big dumb action movies, almost require a theater screening just so that you can let the explosions bust your ear drums. Comedies though... I'm just not sure. I'll continue to go see a good comedy in theaters a few times a year, but I don't know if I'll really go too much out of my way.

See I watched I Love You, Man in theaters on Friday and then Robocop at home on Saturday, and thinking about it made me really wish it could have been the opposite. Am I right? I can think of a bunch of good comedies that I saw in theater, but I can also think of the same number that could have waited. What say you?

Movie Monday: Run Fatboy Run

I love Simon Pegg. I'm sure that has been made evident by my drooling over Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead (multiple times), but outside of him being directed by Edgar Wright and slapped with Nick Frost at his side, I never knew how well he'd do.

Turns out quite well. Run Fat Boy Run was a pretty solid romantic comedy. There was enough funnies to keep me entertained and enough sappiness for someone who prefers that aspect. Part of this could have been that the script was written by both Pegg and Michael Ian Black (who I also find to be a funny guy), but I'm sure a large portion of my enjoyment came from my huge man-crush on Pegg.

Aside from this, I went in for my second Watchmen viewing last night and I have to say that it was even better the second round. I'm sure a lot of this came from me not wasting so much energy trying to analyze and see what was changed. I'm still one of the few people who prefers the squid ending from the book, but the movie ending works well within the confines of their plot. I also agree with the arguments that it is tons better that we got this faithful adaptation rather than some half-done piece of crap.

I'm really waiting to see the director's cut complete with Tales of the Black Freighter cut into it, so that it's a full 4 hours long (like the extended LOTR movies).

Anyway, Simon Pegg + Watchmen = good movie weekend.

Movie Monday: Watchmen

Straight off the bat, sorry for not posting on Friday, I had a nice depressing post about disappointment, when I realized it just wasn't in any way true or on point, so I scrapped it. On the other hand, I got accepted into the MDiv Program at the Candler School of Theology, so yay. Now, on to the good stuff...



I'm going to try to focus on the movie today, since tomorrow will be about the original comic. As it stands after my first viewing, Watchmen is a good movie. Not a great movie but not a bad one either. It's definitely a bit too long, and could have served from another rewrite in certain areas, but overall it does well.

While I think that the length could have been easily fixed by them making it into a nice 12 part HBO miniseries, what the movie had going for it was that it did well in keeping tight to the story. However, this was also part of the bad side too. By sticking so hard to the story, it was able to appeal to the fanboy in me, but it also felt to drag down in unnecessary parts. By trying so hard to stay true to the source material, it kept making me think why certain parts were in and others were out.

That being said, my main fear in the making of this movie was realized, and that is what really disappointed me. The violence exists in the comic, yes, but it is in very short and controlled bursts, that allow it to reach its full effect. In the movie, fight scenes are extended out to be sure to show shattering bones and tons of bloody hits. Yeah, that makes for a good action movie, but that's not what Watchmen is to me.

Alongside this was the (in my opinion) gratuitous sex scene. Yes, they have sex in the comic, but five minutes of thrusting and moaning didn't quite serve to move the plot along very well, when that piece of the plot didn't even seem to be much in focus during the rest of the film.

However, my main fanboy rant has to come with the change in the ending. It's not a bad change, in fact it works within the confines of the movie and maybe it is just because I've read the book so many times that it has become ingrained into my skull, but I really like Moore's ending and it makes perfect sense to me. I know that a big reason for at least part of the change is the "post 9/11 world" that we live in, but I don't see how this change was any different in relation to this, so why not keep it the same, or at least similar?

Those are just the downers though, the rest of the movie holds up really well. I like the choices for Nite Owl II and Rorschach, although I didn't much care for Silk Spectre II, that could just be me. And for all of this nagging, I still would like to see it again to pick it apart one more time, and I will agree with a lot of people that the opening credits sequence was quite possibly the coolest part of the entire film.

However, you can save yourself a lot of trouble with all this, if you just drop $15 and pick up the collection. Now that it's out on film, I'm sure you can find it just about anywhere. It is a fantastic read, but we'll get into that tomorrow.

Gaming Thursday... Kind of

Sorry I haven't updated all week in the normal fashion. I've been sick and while that never really kept me away from the keyboard, it has kept my head pretty muddled and so I haven't been able to compose anything worth reading (not like I ever do anyway).

Anyway, Movie Monday was going to be about Spider-Man 3, which I watched for the first time since theaters while at home sick. Maybe it was the wracking coughs or the fact that I was playing WoW at the same time I watched and therefore only gave it about 30% of my brainpower, but it really wasn't as bad as I remember thinking. Sure, it has some silly parts and a lot of the dialogue is really bad, but put altogether, I don't think it's a bad movie. Maybe I'll give it one more shot with my full attention and a non-fried brain, and we'll see how it holds up. That is, if I can find another 3 hours to sit down and rewatch it.

Bookish Tuesday was going to be about how I ordered tickets to see David Sedaris live this April and wondering exactly what to expect out of that. I love his essays and I've listened to both audiobooks and live performances and have enjoyed them a ton, but I've never been to a "concert" where you go to listen to someone read or tell stories, so I'm definitely hoping it will meet my extremely high expectations.

World News Wednesday would have been about nothing, because I haven't looked at the news all week with everything going on at work and home, so instead of trying to write something intelligent, I would have probably goofed off and written something stupid. Instead of wasting your brain reading it now, I'll give you the opportunity to make up something amazingly stupid that you imagine me to have written. That way we all win (don't question how, just accept it).

Finally, today's Gaming Thursday is about Street Fighter 4. Basically, if you grew up playing Street Fighter 2, it's an amazing game. If you never played SF2, or really couldn't care about fighting games, it's still fun, just not as awesome without all of the nostalgia attached (kind of like the Smash Bros. series). I'm sure once I get some serious time into it, I'll have better and more detailed impressions for you, but for now all I can say is that I love E. Honda (hoot toy!)

There you have it, four posts in one!!! I'll be back tomorrow for real with some religious stuff (well quasi-religious anyway), and next week I'm sure I'll be caught up in all the Watchmen discussions on Monday and Tuesday, so there you have it.

Movie Monday: The IT Crowd

Well, the Oscars wre last night. I didn't watch it, but I know that Slumdog Millionaire, The Wrestler, and Milk were already on my list of movies to watch. Sadly, living in a small town, getting movies like this anywhere near me doesn't exactly happen.

Anyway, in the past month, Katie and I have already watched the first two seasons of The IT Crowd twice. It's only twelve episodes, but each one is golden. As the title would suggest, it's a show about the IT department at a British company and their ineptitude with human relationships.

Now, I really don't like shows with a studio audience, but for some reason, I can get past it on this show. Maybe its because it is British and maybe because it's just that funny, either way I love it. When you add to it the fact that one character (Richmond) is played by Noel Fielding, of the equally hilarious Mighty Boosh.

Sorry, I thought I had a lot more to say about this show, but I'm completely distracted by The Shawshank Redemption. I know it's a good movie, but I always forget how good until I start watching it again.

Movie Monday: Dark City

Released a year earlier, Dark City is what I think The Matrix wishes it was. I'm not trying to be a Matrix hater, I absolutely loved the first movie and even liked the second and third ones but thinking about them now, I can't ever summon the will to watch them again.

But this is about Dark City, not The Matrix. Dark City is about a dark city that for some reason pauses everyone at midnight. Well, everyone but the main character. He's special for some unknown reason. The movie is kind of hard to follow for the first 30 minutes or so (at least for me - I was completely lost), but once the pieces of the puzzle start coming together I was really hooked. The ending is exactly what it should be, and the movie follows its own logical progression to bring you there.

I think that it is a movie best watched rather than talked about. It is an amazing movie and is even listed in Roger Ebert's "Great Movies" list. I think it might even be a movie that I go out and buy, which is saying quite a lot, since I haven't bought a movie since.... wow, I don't know.

Movie Monday: Man on Wire

I don't know what it is with me and documentaries lately, but I watched three in the past week, and have probably watched ten in the past month. The big one of last week was Man on Wire. It was a random pick that I think I read about on Roger Ebert's site or something, but I really didn't know much about it until we started watching.

Simply put, it's what documentaries should aim for. The narrative is strung together well and the subject material is exciting and interesting. It tells the story of Phillipe Petit, who's goal is to walk a wire that is strung across the roofs of the World Trade Center towers. Even though the poster (pictured above) gives away the finale, it really doesn't affect the telling of the story which is enthusastically narrated by Petit (he's quite the character).

Now that we have the movie out of the way, I've been wondering what has been drawing me towards documentaries recently. I know that it's easy to become interested in other people's lives, especially if it is something completely different than your own (like in watching Trekkies) or if contains stories about your dreams (like watching Pole to Pole or the Planet Earth series).

So, I guess I answered myself. Fiction is a great way to escape, but sometimes I just like to see what other people are doing with this life thing. I'll see what I can to not watch any documentary stuff this week (aside from working through Pole to Pole) and see if it changes how I view anything.... it won't.

Movie Monday: The Wire

I know I wrote a little bit on The Wire some weeks ago when I had finished Season 1 or so, but I never realized how dumb I was for trying to write about it at that point. I had been told by a number of sources that the show kept getting better and better, but for some reason I didn't quite believe them. I thought that the premise would get stretched anywhere beyond two seasons.

Well, I was wrong. Every season is pure gold. Each one analyzes a different piece of drug trade in the city of Baltimore and how it winds up affecting all citizens. Season 4 was my favorite and it went into the kids and schools of Baltimore and how a group of boys from the west side are affected by their proximity to the trade throughout their lives.

Without getting into too many specifics, it's really hard to discuss a show that goes into such depth with so many characters. I think that is what I loved so much about watching it though. No character was left off to the side to be a throwaway joke or wisdom-giver, instead they are all fully realized (and fully flawed). Because of that, I was so emotionally invested in the series that when Katie and I watched the final episode last night, I felt so tired. It was over, but I really didn't want it to end. I wanted to know what happened next. Everything was wrapped up well, but over the past few months, I've been so taken by the show, I really don't know what to do next with Netflix.

Really, I cannot recommend this show enough. I know it's a serious investment in time (and cash, if you don't use Netflix or something), but it was completely worth it. Watch it... then if you can tell me I'm wrong, we can discuss.

Movie Monday: Defiance

Daniel Craig is cool. He was a perfect pick for Bond, he made Casino Royale awesome and Quantum of Solace watchable. But the question remains: can he play a Russian Jew in the midst of the Holocaust, living out in the forest?

The answer is simply, yes. With the help of Sabretooth (Liev Schreiber), anything's possible though. The movie is more of a character drama than a war movie, surrounding the story of the lives of the Jews who have escaped to the forest and fell in with Craig and his Bielski family, who were basically bad-ass Jewish Russians.

The movie really made me want to read the book that it was based upon (which in turn is based upon a true story), in order to find out how much of it was true. I can say first off, that them speaking English in bad Russian accents was likely not true, but the rest of the story seemed just implausible enough to be based on a real story.

Aside from the reality of the story, it played out interestingly enough to keep my attention, although at times, I admit I struggled. The problem was that Matt and I had recently been talking about My Side of the Mountain, and I couldn't help but keep thinking that this movie was just that book with some Nazis in the background.

All joking aside, the movie was very well written, with plenty of food for thought on the ethics of survival and community. I only wish that it had been developed as a miniseries or something, in order to give more time to flesh out the camp aside from the few that we were introduced to. But then again, it was more a story about the Bielski family than the camp as a whole - and for that, the movie did a great job.

Movie/TV Monday: Around the World in 80 Days

No, not the Jackie Chan movie, or even the Oscar winning 1956 version, but instead a British series from 1989 starring Michael Palin (of Monty Python fame) in his attempt to recreate Phileas Fogg's journey around the world without the use of air travel.

While I stuck this on my Netflix instant watch queue on a complete whim, it turned out to be a truly good series. Palin is funny when he needs to be and completely serious the rest of the journey, giving you a very unique look at travelling around the world. Much of his time is spent on different cargo ships (since there just aren't that many passenger boats anymore), and he meets some of the most interesting people during the travels.

Matt and I have already planned to start watching his next series Pole to Pole this week, and I hope that it's as well put together as this series was. I enjoy travel shows for the simple fact that I (like most people) wish that I could have a camera follow me on my journeys throughout different cultures and provide my own voice to the opinions of how beautiful this is or how good that tastes.

Too bad that will never happen, but at least by watching shows like this, I can get a taste of the rest of the world so that when I come into a massive amount of money I can actually go out and experience it.

Movie Monday: TRON

I knew deep down that at some point in my life I had seen TRON before, but since my most recent memory of the movie stems from my playthrough of Kingdom Hearts last year, I didn't know what all I was expecting.

What I do know is that the story may be a little weak, especially with how much is widely known about computers in current times, but the effects are still pretty well done. I can say that the inside of a computer never seemed so inviting until I was watching this. Well, not so much inviting since it was so deadly, but definitely good looking.

Having Jeff Bridges playing the main character of the movie doesn't hurt either. Even though I kept thinking about The Dude, I really think him being Flynn is really what makes the movie watchable. Having him back for the recently announced sequel is enough to get me back into the theater to see it.

I hope that the sequel focuses on a Nigerian computer manned by an evil scammer who sends spam e-mail throughout the interwebs and Flynn is forced to come up with an awesome e-mail filter program who smashes spam left and right. The climax of the movie will come when the deposed Nigerian prince finds a loophole in the internet and takes over every website, forcing Flynn (and Tron too) to fight their way all the way through pop-up porns and click here to win a Wii banners in order to restore order to the wild world of the world wide web.

...Yeah, that movie would reek of awesomeness.

Movie Monday: Twilight

Since we'll be talking about the book tomorrow, I'll try not to waste too much time today on what was changed and how bad the movie is in comparison.

That being said, as an adult male (well, adultish anyway) going into this movie, there was very little made for me. I'm not talking huge action blowing up sequences, but just some character depth and some non-moody teenage girl dialogue. When Bella begins to fall in love (I almost put love in quotation marks, but I thought it was too cheezy) with Edward, it lacks any sort of rhyme or reason. You could maybe attribute it to him being a vampire, but then why don't the rest of the girls in the school become as obsessed as Bella does.

Oh, sorry for spoiling the movie. As a brief synopsis for anyone who might not know, the movie is based on a book about a girl who moves to Washington and falls in love with a vampire. After she discovers his secret, she then tries to be accepted by him and his family and hopes to be turned herself so that she can spend the rest of her life (would it still be considered life, or just undeath?) with Edward.

Aside from the plot itself being pretty silly, there were a number of points throughout the movie that Katie and I laughed out loud at... and they weren't meant to be funny. First of all, vampires are okay with being outside in the sun, the only problem is that they sparkle like diamonds when the sunlight hits them. Seriously, what the hell? What sort of survival/predatorial mechanism is this? Supposedly this drives Bella wild with love (or lust, it's hard to tell with her acting), but all it would make me do is laugh at him for sparkling like a diamond (say it in an effeminate voice, that's what makes it funny).

The rest of our laughs came from the ridiculous dialogue, my favorite being "hold on tight, spider monkey" (thanks to Brian for the heads up on that one). When you added it to the nonexistent chemistry between Bella and Edward, it left most of the movie in shambles. You are supposed to believe that Bella is an interesting and different teenager, but she's so wrapped up in herself and her interactions with everyone outside of Edward are so short and undeveloped that I never really felt like she was anyone special.

I also found that the climax seemed to really just be thrown in so that there was a big ending. It doesn't serve much purpose outside of showing that Edward protects Bella and doesn't want her to turn into a vampire. I'll admit that I like the idea of the other vampires in the world, but without giving them time to develop, I found their appearance and the supposed tension they bring to the story to be lacking.

Basically, what I'm saying is that this movie is probably perfect for the teenage girls that it is aimed at, but I didn't exactly care for it. Tomorrow, we'll go further into vampire lore when I get to talk about the book and more about why I don't care about Bella, but for some strange reason I'm already over halfway through the second book.