Movies

[summer_jackel]

1. 'Bolt' was shockingly good. I went with illucian, eclipsegryph and kynekh_amagire, who were gracious enough to let me drag them to a cutesy talking animals flick that they'd barely heard of on short notice. Thanks, guys! I liked the film. It was basically Buzz Lightyear + The Truman Show + The Incredible Journey, but it was sweet and exciting with sympathetic characters (well, other than the hamster, who I kept hoping the cat would eat) and really pretty art. Disney, why did you not promote this film better? You did such a good job on it.

2. Kestrel and I also saw 'Twilight.' It too was much better than I was afraid that it would be, though when reading the thing I did think that it would make a better movie than it did a book. (It does; its simple plot lets it be largely a mood piece, which is its strength). The movie is pretty and fun and really quite sweet, although this is the most sanitized and bloodless vampire story I've yet encountered. The audience of sighing and tittering adolescents was pretty entertaining, too.

EDIT: THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH MAY HAVE VERY MILD SPOILERS
...not enough for me to put it under a cut, though. /shrug/ I don't know that anyone reading my journal will care, but
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Still, I had the same main problem with both versions of the story: why do these two kids fall for each other so hard, fast and completely? It's not like there is any convincing chemistry between them, although the idea that Edward likes Bella precisely because he can't read her thoughts...if he could, she'd be as boring as everyone else...causes me dark amusement. Alas, the author doesn't seem to be going anywhere so interesting as this. Stalking=sexy disturbs me a bit, too. Oh yeah, and why is the whole vampire family so keen to welcome a human? I thought they didn't like the idea to begin with? Where is this turmoil that gets mentioned at the beginning and then pretty much completely ignored?

All of this 'huh what?' factor that kept coming up for me in the book made so much more sense after reading This highly amusing lj entry. Apparently, the author is a Mormon housewife, and the story, either deliberately or unconsciously, fits handily into Mormon belief systems like predestined life mates and the family that decides as one in perfect agreement. OK, so they are Mormon vampires. That explains everything.

Wait, Mormon vampires are the "in thing" right now?

...really?

/giggles helplessly/

go watch Bolt, especially if you're a furry type or a pet lover.

Comments

[summer-jackel.livejournal.com]

/facepalm/ dude, he cuts her brake lines?!

[summer-jackel.livejournal.com]

The thing is, I think that Edward's stalking/cutting brake lines/any other abusive crap he pulls would be really interesting, scary and suspenseful if author lady presented them that way. I mean, he's supposed to be a dangerous, scary vampire, right? All of these plot elements could do a great job adding to the audience's (and ideally, fem lead's) discomfort and ambiguity over whether this relationship is a good thing, and whether the vampire will be able to redeem himself.

They don't, though, because Mr. Vamp is perfect and their love is perfect and all of the potential conflict in this book is conveniently ignored because they are *Mormon* vampires. Sheesh.

Movies

[alexandria24.livejournal.com]

I saw both of those this weekend too. Unlike you I loved the hamster, I loved him before I even saw it, just from the previews alone.

As for Twilight, I was disappointed they didn't have more Alice/Bella bonding (I tend to read the Alice/Bella fanfics a lot), but even more Alice would have been nice, she was a neglected character. As for the chemistry, you are right, I don't see it. Well, I did for one moment during the movie when they made out, it was like it was suddenly turned on, just for that scene.

Hey, you could start writing again :) Bella/Alice slash needs a new writer and you clearly have read them. Well, I don't know if you could do it without killing Bella though, you're control is almost as suspect as theirs.

Re: Movies

[summer-jackel.livejournal.com]

LOL! I fear that I have no intention at all ever of penning a 'Twilight' fanfic...even for you, my dear. ;) Although...killing Bella...hmmm....

I am starting to write again, although not so much the fanfic.

[kimberly-t.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the link! I've spent a good chunk of the morning reading Stoney's synopses of the series, and laughing myself silly when I wasn't seriously disturbed by the implications (the implications of millions of women loving this tripe, that is.) Like you said, the author's strict Mormon background sure does explain a lot about that series!

[summer-jackel.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, totally hysterical and at the same time really scary stuff. Before I spent much time thinking about it, I'd written off these books as simple but cute vampire stories aimed at young audiences, featuring relatively simplistic and poorly developed relationships. I mean, Anne Rice's early stuff is about 1,000,000x better.

It's definitely feeling more sinister after more thought. Perhaps the overwhelming popularity of these stories sheds light about those aspects of human psychology which lead so many of us to take refuge in very controlling religions to begin with.