“Twilight” movie a disappointment to even the most devout fans
November 24, 2008
By Min Qiao
<mqiao@hilite.org>
The phenomenon that is Twilight is amazing. As a devout follower of Stephenie Meyer’s series, I can vouch for the incredibly magical, yet believable plot that Meyer has crafted throughout her first three books. The story of Twilight begins when Bella Swan moves to the small town of Forks, WA to live with her father. At school, she is introduced to a clique of kids, the Cullens, who stand in stark contrast from the rest. After a considerable amount of nosing and probing, Bella finds out that they are, in fact, vampires. Throughout all of this, Bella finds herself falling in love with Edward Cullen, one of the vampires. Twilight is a classic tale of girl meets boy with a perfect mix of supernatural and thrill that leaves the reader eager for the sequel.
Unfortunately, the movie version of this story loses something in the translation. If all the magic and subtleties of Meyer’s work were translated to the movie, then “Twilight” might actually be halfway decent. Of course, like most book-to-movies, all of the elements that made the book such a phenomenon were swept away in a sea of epic background music and dramatic close-up shots. Director Catherine Hardwicke has overdone herself, trying to please the followers of the Twilight religion so much that the average, initiated movie-watcher would be lost in this whirlwind of events in which all the transitions were forsaken for another close-up of Edward and Bella, staring longingly into each other eyes, obviously shot for all those Team Edward fans . The star-crossed romance of Bella and Edward was rushed and chopped up into a couple of hackneyed scenes that looked like a bad job of cutting and pasting from the books with none of that chemistry that Meyer crafted. In fact, the only way the audience would even know that Bella and Edward are an “item” is because Bella’s annoying cop-out of Meredith Grey’s narration quoted the book saying “About three things I was absolutely positive: First, Edward was a vampire. Second,there was a part of him–and I didn’t know how dominant that part might be–that thirsted for my blood. And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him.”
Of course, the fact that Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart had absolutely no on-screen chemistry did not help. The light-hearted bantering between Edward and Bella in the books was replaced with an awkwardness that most would cringe at. Perhaps this has something to do with the fact that Pattinson looked pained and constipated in most of his scenes as he delivered his lines through clenched teeth. Yes, I understand that Edward is known for his tortured soul act, but Pattinson’s portrayal of that was definitely sub-par. And while I commend Hardwicke for trying to incorporated some of the humor that made Bella and Edward’s romance believable into the books, it was an utterly dismal attempt especially when combined with Pattinson’s constant state of agony.
As for special effects, let’s just say that it looked a bad episode of “Charmed” and the ashen-faced vampires closely resembled geishas. The one scene that I was looking forward to was the romantic scene in the meadow where Bella gets to see Edward sparkling in the sun for the first time. And they butchered it. Where it was supposed to be romantic, it was violent and clichéd. Where it was supposed to be magical, well, it looked like they decided to dunk Pattinson in a tub of glitter.
The only thing that somewhat salvaged this movie was interactions between Bella and her father. The awkwardness and cluelessness of Charlie came to life in the movie as he struggled to raise a teenage girl in a dangerous town. One of the funniest scenes in the movie was when Bella tells her father that she would be going on a date with Edward. Charlie responds with a couple of skeptical retorts before finally saying “Bring him in” and then snaps his rifle shut.
Despite its best attempts, “Twilight’s” crudely stringed together patches from the book gave no consideration for the crucial transitional details that made this impossible tale such a success for Meyer. This, mixed with the bad acting, lame attempts at humor and a healthy dose of ’80s special effects makes for a third-rate film and leaves the audience resigned to simply staring at the eye candy. Oh, no wait. They butchered that too with Pattinson.
Overall:
D
“Twilight” movie satisfies gushing fans with brooding, brooding and more brooding
November 24, 2008
By Meher Ahmad
<mahmad@hilite.org>
The much anticipated “Twilight” movie was released on Nov. 21, and among crowds of worshipping fans, I was one among many who left with a sense of disappointment, shock and perhaps even hilarity.
The film version of the hit book series described the romance between the brooding vampire Edward and the brooding mortal Bella, both of whom continue to brood in various settings for roughly 78 percent of the movie. The characters are hardly dynamic, upholding the same aura of mysteriousness throughout the whole film.
Although I have read the first book, I haven’t re-read it until every detail was clear in my head. The plot-line in the movie was followed roughly in the same order as the book, but the romance between Bella and Edward was obviously rushed. The book creates tangible tension between the two characters, who dance around each other for a good month until they actually approach each other. In the movie, it only took a few scenes of awkwardness for the two to progress into staring longingly at each other lying in a field of flowers and proclaiming their undying love.
The tension described in the book was instead replaced by unbearable awkwardness. Perhaps romantic tension reads better in books than in films, but I was uncomfortable in my seat watching the increasingly awkward encounters of Bella with various people of Forks, WA.
The rushed plot line was only half of the problem, however. Director Catherine Hardwicke attempted to create an artsy style of presenting the gushing romance but instead created an obvious gimmick. There were several sepia-toned montages in the movie, narrated of course, by question and answer sessions with Edward and Bella. The camera focused many times on only the actors’ eyes, then panned out into a glamour-shot pose with wind blowing in their hair, an evident gift for crazed fans. The epitome of cheesiness, however, was the scene where the ever-brooding Edward played DeBussy on a grand piano in an empty warehouse with a dramatic light shining at an angle over his chiseled jaw as Bella looked on dreamily.
In order to keep the viewer informed, the director sacrificed a sense of unity in the movie by cutting to scenes without any introduction to them. More than once, the audience left the brooding face of Bella or Edward suddenly to see a group of vampires attacking someone, and then abruptly returning to the ongoing brooding.
The only aspect of the movie I enjoyed was the sweeping shots of the North-Pacific landscape accompanied by some surprisingly interesting music, with songs by Iron & Wine and Muse. Hardwicke created a bluish tinge to the entire movie, creating a beautiful surrounding for the characters to gaze into each others smoldering eyes for prolonged periods of time.
Accompanied mostly with dramatic, theatrical music, however, most of the film appeared to be a slow-motion, angst-y music video rather than a coherent movie. In fact, I would say that most of the hour-long shows on television do a better job of creating an enjoyable work of entertainment than “Twilight.” It felt more like a prolonged episode of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” with less dialogue and more, you guessed it, brooding.
Overall:
F
Media specialist wins Pfeiffer Service Award
November 23, 2008
By Lauren Mugavin
<lmugavin@hilite.org>
On Nov. 19, media department chairperson Bonnie Grimble won the Peggy L. Pfeiffer Service Award at the Indiana Library Federation awards dinner. She received the award for her overall work and service as a media specialist.
“I feel quite honored and proud,” Grimble said. She received this award for her 30 years of commitment to the library media organizations of Carmel High School and Warsaw Community Schools. She has been a media specialist at Carmel for 14 years.
“The experience of working with my state and national assossiation has made me a better media specialist in so many ways,” Grimble said.
State tickets on sale in Activities Office
November 23, 2008
By Cathy Chen
<cchen@hilite.org>
After its 38-3 win over Penn on Nov. 21 at Semi-State, the football team will play against Center Grove at 7 p.m. on Nov. 29 at the Lucas Oil Stadium for the State title.
According to athletics director Jim Inskeep, tickets for the State game will be on sale in the Activites Office on Nov. 24 and 25 from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and from 6 to 8 p.m. and on Nov. 26 from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tickets cost $15 and are good for admission to all three games at the Lucas Oil Stadium on Nov. 29, including the Bellmont v. Evansville Memorial game at noon (Class 3A State championship) and the Bishop Dwenger v. Cathedral game at 3:30 p.m. (Class 4A).
German club visits authentic restaurant Nov. 20
November 20, 2008
By Meredith Boyd
<mboyd@hilite.org>
On Nov. 20, the German Club is scheduled to go to Heidelberg Haus after school. Heidelberg Haus is an authentic German restaurant located on the east side of Indianapolis.
Despite its small size, it also serves as a German bakery and gift shop filled with all sorts of treats imported straight from Germany. Read more
Media Center offers discount ‘Twilight’ tickets
November 18, 2008
By Maggie Brandenburg
<mbrandenburg@hilite.org>
The Media center will offer a showing of “Twilight” at the Village Park Cinema 17 at 2222 East 146th Street this Friday at 4:15 p.m. Tickets are available for a discounted price of seven dollars and either a nonperishable food item or items suitable for day care. According to media specialist Connie Mitchell, the 100 tickets available are selling out very quickly.
The items donated will go to Belle’s Chapel Church at 42nd and Mitthoeffer Street where a recent fire destroyed a day care, a food pantry and various other facilities. The supplies collected will go towards helping the 150 children affected by the incident. An information sheet is also available in the Media Center.
Mitchell hopes that the large amount of excitement over the book series and the movie based on the books will invite discussion over the similarities and differences between the two.
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