Twilight "New Moon" Movie

Last Friday (in the earliest moments of the morning just after midnight), I joined the crowd for the midnight movie showing of "Twilight: New Moon" along with a couple of people closer to the film's intended target audience. I like the books and the first movie, but am not any kind of "Twihard", and can't imagine being one. I did not have a "Team Edward", "Team Jacob", or even "Team Esme" shirt, and I passed up the Twilight souvenir sale table set up outside the theatre. I'd never seen a souvenir sale table set up outside of a movie theatre. Not even at the numerous Star Trek and Star Wars premieres I've been to. Hint: Trekkies and Star Wars geeks, set one of those up at the next premiere.

The crowd was vast: filling a large proportion of the mall parking lot, and all 9 screens of the multiplex.

The web site for the theatre insisted that the movie started at 12:01 AM Thursday morning. They insisted that they did this because the software did not let them do otherwise. Regardless, it's pretty bad of the company to intentionally list the movie as starting on the wrong day. I would not be surprised if, as a result, there were half a dozen Twihards waiting forlonrly at 12:01 Thursday morning in front of the locked doors.

One reviewer said of it "It's a totally nonsensical, flat-lined chick flick that is infinitely worse than even that all-time stupid travesty "Serendipity". Well, I almost never see chick flicks, so a chick flick is more of a novelty to me. I just don't know chick flicks, having not seen any of the movies on this top 10 list of them. Not even "When Harry Met Sally", so I can't run this movie down in comparison to them.

I liked the Volturi sections. They take place in the Italian city of Volterra, which I just now learned is a real place as I wrote this. I've always liked the Volturi, because in several ways, including physical depiction and manner, they are like something right out of the Anne Rice vampire novels. Now I am curious where it was filmed, as I like visiting Italian cities, and seeing them in films also.

Taylor Lautner, whose parents are from Traverse City, MI (and I probably went to high school with one or more of his relatives) did better than I expected he would. When he turned serious (as opposed to being a giddy kid), he came off fairly believable. I guess he's not totally worthless as an actor. Robert Pattinson seemed to be sleepwalking through his role, and muttered his lines way too much. Kristen Stewart, as usually, had this drawn look to her face like she was fighting off a headache. This all is similar to the books, where of the three, Jacob is far more believable and human, despite his wolf-related temper problems.

Billy Burke (Charlie the cop) was in character and provided some comic relief, but he was more serious this time (as perhaps befits the material of what was going on with his daughter). But the laughs he caused in "Twilight" were pretty much missing. Graham Greene is like the Kevin Bacon of Native American-related movies. He's been in so many of them. His presence seens wasted in this one, and dies early (becoming bacon for a vampire), making me think of Ernest Borgnine's quickly-over role in "Lost Treasure of Sawtooth Island" .The soundtrack for "New Moon" wasn't nearly as good as the one for the previous movie. I liked a lot of the music for the previous movie, and like with many movies where little attention seems to be paid to the music, I can't remember a single note of the "New Moon" soundtrack.

The worst bit in the movie was a scene toward the end that was a "future vision" of Edward and Bella, happily ever after, both as vampires. They were skipping in slo-mo happily through the verdant forest, like something from a feminine hygeine products commercial. This scene did not work: everyone in the theatre laughed loudly. The earlier scenes of a future very old Bella with a still-young Edward worked better.

The vast crowd made it a quite enjoyable experience, especially the laughter at the intentional, and unintentional funny parts.

My ranking for "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" is two and one-half (2.5) Eberts, a ranking I use for movies that are "OK to watch once, and maybe again years later. Enough to make it worth watching to the end". I enjoyed the experience more than this ranking indicates, due to the fun of seeing the movie with a large and raucous crowd.