Discussing Film, Music, TV, Books, Video Games and More
Zac: The Twilight Saga has come to a close and Bill Condon, arguably, has made the best entry yet into the series with Breaking Dawn – Part 2.
Heather: Seriously – you think this is the best Twilight movie yet?! Did we even see the same movie?
Lauren: No Heather, don’t worry, he’s joking… [waits patiently]… Wait, you’re not joking? Oh… [Read more...]
Two nights ago I had a dream that winged creatures were attacking my school, which for some reason looked like a castle. As my friends were devoured in front of my eyes by hungry jaws (RIP Cassidy), I could not cower in fear because I had a mission. That’s right, thanks to weeks of seeing Breaking Dawn – Part 1 trailers on TV, my dreams were being infiltrated, this time with Kristen Stewart. As I did everything in an attempt to save her, I ended up sacrificing myself. Clearly I should have gotten her to promise that she would not waste her life, because after seeing Breaking Dawn Part 1 I am really afraid I dream died in vain. [Read more...]
The Twilight Saga is coming to an end with Breaking Dawn: Part 1 and while some are counting away the days till it is out of their lives it should be remembered as a series that missed opportunities to actually be interesting. [Read more...]
When I speak of my love of the vampire genre I always throw out references to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Underworld, 30 Days of Night, True Blood…the list goes on and on. However, unless directly asked I would never admit to having read all of the Twilight novels in a week or owning one of the two prior films. Maybe it is the mushy soap opera nature, or maybe it is how much the fanatical Twihards creep me out; but no matter the case, I was embarrassed to admit that I find some level of enjoyment from these stories. But after watching The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, I can now say with no shame that I am a fan of the Twilight series.
This entry into the series sees a lot of established storylines built into the previous films coming to a head as Bella moves closer to graduating high school. As far as the love triangle is concerned, Bella has yet to answer Edward’s proposal of marriage and Jacob is still stubbornly persisting in his hopes of convincing her that he is the right supernatural being for her. Also, Victoria has yet to give up her grudge over the Cullen family making a bonfire out of her life-after-death mate at the end of the first film, constantly trespassing into their territory. [Read more...]
The third film in the quadrilogy (yes Breaking Dawn is splitting in two, but it is really one movie) known as The Twilight Saga, Eclipse is actually good, in fact it is really good, and is a huge step forward for the franchise before the finale.
Now, the film takes no time to try and catch up the outsiders and I won’t try to do so either. Bella and Edward are busy going back and forth over the vampire’s marriage proposal while Alice sees a vision that will set the film’s plot into motion. A growing threat in Seattle threatens the supernatural, and human, inhabitants of Forks and while the Cullens try and figure out what is going on up north in Seattle they must also try to keep Victoria and the Volturi from Bella. The circumstances force the vampires and werewolves of Forks to form a loose alliance for the best of all of them and Jacob makes one last attempt at the heart of Bella whom he loves.
I still stand behind the fact that I am not a fan of this day, but Valentine’s Day has at least warmed my heart enough to be capable of acknowledging it as an acceptable holiday. But just this once.
In a nutshell, Valentine’s Day takes a group of characters that tie together in simple ways and depicts the relationships in their lives, whether they be familial, budding romances, friendships, till death do you part relationships, or what have you. The stories are all familiar and never veer from what is expected of them (except for one storyline), but the humor and the majority of the casting are enough to keep it entertaining and enjoyable. With the predictable stories the film also occasionally dips into the cheesier elements of the romcom genre, but it was at least not as sappy as the trailers that were shown prior to the film. [Read more...]
Valentine’s Day is a bunch of good actors, looking pretty, and doing decent work in paint by numbers plot and unimaginative entry into the rom-com genre; whose formula has been done much better in a few films still fresh in the memory.
Now, this film is bound to bring in the bank for a number of reasons; lots of big name stars, appropriately timed release over the romantic holiday weekend, and its familiar plot lines a plenty being peddled in the film’s trailer. Now beyond this surface assessment people can make from the trailer and the poster, the film will gel with audiences once in the theaters because it offers up plenty of comfort food for the average viewer in a multitude of so obviously planned elements it is almost laughable. This is how I imagine some of the production meeting going on this film;
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Even with director Catherine Hardwicke’s take on bringing the first book of this series to screen, Chris Weitz fails to do little more than use her vision as a guidebook on how to direct The Twilight Saga: New Moon, and therefore, recreates a lot of the problems that plagued the first film while simply trying to appease the salivating masses of obsessed fans.
If you have read the books of this series, then you know exactly what happens in this ridiculously faithful adaptation. For those of you who haven’t, New Moon begins with Bella’s 18th birthday, which proves to be just as traumatic as she believed it would be. [Read more...]
The Twilight Saga returns with a new director, a new set of monsters, and a New Moon, but the film feels rather rehashed and far to similar to previous film instead this time it is girl meets wolf; compare to girl meets vampire.
Everything starts off alright, in fact it was making me feel quite positive about everything unfolding. Chris Weitz’s direction is far stronger and more confident than Twilight’s Hardwicke, with the camera doing far more interesting things. The focus seems to be solely on Bella, her father, and Edward and the Cullen’s as it should be and pushing all the unnecessary characters to the background. The actors seem to be doing better; everything seems to be going in the right direction and then the Cullen’s leave. The most, and almost only, interesting thing about these films is taken away for the majority of the film and only return in the final few scenes to save the film from being a fairly bad experience.
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The hotly anticipated adaptation of the hit teen vampire romance series is a fairly successful adaptation to the big screen.
Bella (Kristen Stewart) lives happily in Phoenix but is forced to relocate back to her home town of Forks, Washington, the wettest and most cloud covered city in the country. Moving in the middle of second semester of school, she is quickly thrown into a who’s who of the school by her new friends she makes upon starting up at school. Everything is the norm as a twelve year old’s view of high school, all except an odd family of kids that stick to themselves, the Cullen’s. Bella is first introduced to the only single member, as the rest of the siblings are oddly ‘together’, Edward (Robert Pattinson), who appears repulsed and disgusted by the sight, smell, and presence of her; so much so that he misses a week of school before coming back. Upon his reappearance, Edward, is fairly polite and charming, though remaining fairly awkward from time to time. They begin to form a bit of a friendship with seemingly potential for more, when an incident in the school parking lot causes Bella to begin to inquire about the history of the Cullen’s. [Read more...]
The first non-micro budget feature from the Duplass brothers keeps the realistic tone, gets great performances out of their leads, and knocks the humor out … (more...)
The Fast & Furious franchise is back with its sixth entry, and whatever the series has done for you so far will most likely hold true for this … (more)
The Hangover Part III is a step in the right direction, it is just such a long walk back to being good after Part II. … (more)
Kon-Tiki is a pretty straight forward biopic in its construction, but it tells an incredible story that allows some gorgeous imagery. … (more)
J.J. Abrams is back for another trek into Star Trek and fans of his first entry will have little to complain about with Into Darkness. … (more)
Baz Luhrmann brings The Great Gatsby to the big screen with a style and visual wonder that is irresistible, even when the story doesn't connect as … (more)
Love them or hate them, Vampire Weekend’s latest album Modern Vampires of the City is a must listen of 2013. … (more)
Allison Weiss latest effort Say What You Mean brings a punky charm to a rather plastic singer/songwriter scene. … (more)
Iron and Wine continues his road down the glossy, highly produced road with Ghost on Ghost. This time around, however, he knocks this album out of … (more)
Kid Cudi third rap album Indicud reminds us just how unique and fun the former G.O.O.D. Music artist is, as he rides in and out of the most unique … (more)
Fall Out Boy comes out of hiding to release Save Rock and Roll, their highly anticipated fifth full length that doesn’t fall flat when it comes to … (more)
Daenerys army continues to grow, Samwell Tarly displays his brave side, Ser Davos becomes literate and Sansa's last name is Lannister in this … (more)
As I wipe the tears from my eyes, I think it is safe to say that Arrow knows how to end a season. … (more)
Right before our eyes, Jaime Lannister has gone from being one of the most hated, to one of the most respectable characters in the Game of Thrones … (more)
The new HBO show from Christopher Guest and his gang gets off to a great start that shows a lot of promise for the future. … (more)
Apparently, modern day witch hunts do exist. In case you haven’t heard the story of the West Memphis Three, now is your chance to read all about … (more)
Ross Matthews is right about one thing – any self-confidence he feels about his writing skills is without a doubt delusional. He’d have to be … (more)
Yes, this might possibly be (i.e., definitely is) yet another World War II book review that you by now have probably come to expect from me; but … (more)
I am really struggling to come up with an introduction that does this book justice, because to me, Me Before You was perfection. … (more)
Ken Levine deserves some kind of medal. First, he introduced us to the world of Rapture, where we would kindly roam the halls of a forgotten city … (more)
Plagued by delays and shortcomings, 2012 was an up-and-down year for video games. We saw triumphant returns to form, fantastic new IP's, and some … (more)
For future reference: when skydiving, be sure that your projected landing zone doesn’t happen to be an island full of evil pirates that are more … (more)