Good news for all you Twi-hards! Summit Entertainment has confirmed that the final book in the Twilight Sage, ‘Breaking Dawn’ will be made into two films. The first of the two films is scheduled to be released November 18th, 2011. Don’t sweat it my little Twi-guy and Twi-gals… Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner are in it to win it… as in, they are in the films until the end!
The third instalment ‘Eclipse’ is due in theaters June 30th…
And… now you can breathe!
First there was the choice between Photoshop and Pixenate or any number of other programs one could use to airbrush a photo. Then there was the choice as to how airbrushed Kristen Stewart should be. Do we airbrush coherence back into the gaze she’s giving us, or do we just let her be herself? Then there was the choice of how big to make the logo. We don’t want to make it too huge so as to draw attention away from our beautiful cast and the wonderful airbrushing work that went into making them appear all but absolutely fake.
All of those choices culminated, and what we have remaining is the latest poster for THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE.
Check it out:
So many choices to come up with something so bland.
ECLIPSE hits theaters on June 30th.
It’s been four, long months since NEW MOON, nearly a lifetime in the world of a teenage girl wanting her Edward/Jacob fix. And, judging from what I’m hearing, that 10-second clip from yesterday didn’t offer too much in the form of appeasement. What could? How about a full, 90-second teaser for the David Slade-directed ECLIPSE?
Now, I know what you’re saying. “Shut up, Mr. Talky Man, and let’s see this thing.” Well, if you really didn’t care about what I had to say, you would have scrolled down and watched it by now. For the rest of you, there is a fair warning going into this trailer. Not that I was paying all that close attention, but, from what I gathered, there’s a lot more of this…
…than there is of this…
Until the final, few frames of the trailer, Taylor Lautner keeps his shirt on while Robert Pattinson looks like he’s trying to keep from getting sick all over the flighty Kristen Stewart. Some of you may see this lack of skins in favor of shirts a hindrance, while others might be more inclined to watch the new trailer now.
Nonetheless, to the rest of us, those who really don’t care either way, this looks like more of the same, more bothersome drama in the love triangle between a teenage girl, a vampire without fangs and who can go out in sunlight, and boy whose character was, evidently, ripped off by some Benicio Del Toro film.
Courtesy of Yahoo! Movies, here is that new trailer. Enjoy!
This morning fan girls (and some fan boys) woke up like it was Christmas with the release of the first official footage from THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE. While normally this isn’t the most important thing for movie geeks, we still have to note that now millions of young kids have been turned on by the film entertainment thanks to these films.
Check out the 10 second teaser for THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE from MakingOf.com. Let us know what you think below. Will this surpass NEW MOON in terms of sales? Only a few more months to go.
That’s right boys and girls, we now live in a world where the above film does more business than this:
NEW MOON has officially taken down THE DARK KNIGHT as the biggest opening day in the history of cinema. $72.2 million is the new mark to beat, which is up from the previous $67.2 million set just last year. I guess that gives the third installment of the Christopher Nolan directed franchise something to aim for.
As if there was any doubt that this would happen, its now official; THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON is now the highest grossing midnight showing of all time. The previous record was held by this guy:
HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF BLOOD PRINCE took the record from THE DARK KNIGHT with $22.2 million over the summer. After taking the pot with its $26.3 million NEW MOON is now settings its sights on the next record of $67.2 million in one day, which is currently held by THE DARK KNIGHT. I don’t know who we are all kidding, this record is as good as broken with the swarm of fans young and old going out to see it tonight. We will update you tomorrow and let you know its status.
Mandi and Kristina saw the movie, without their guys, and offered up their opinions.
Mandi writes: We got to the theater early because we didn’t want to risk not getting a seat. (Getting a good seat was a nice reward for being there 2 hours early.) We were 5th in line and everyone was very nice and reading magazines all about NEW MOON, or had the books themselves that they were reading. We chatted with several people and everyone was excited. Security was very high, which kind of heightened the excitement for everyone.
Once we got into the theater (about 30 minutes before start of the show) you could feel the excitement build. There were lots of young ladies there, but there were several sets of guys there as well, besides the ones that were drug there by wives and daughters! As the lights started to dim, everyone cheered and you could hear the little giggles from everyone with anticipation. (I know that all the giggling didn’t come just from me!) We were afraid that there would be lots of noise and swooning but were very surprised by the lack of it. There were several whistles and hoots when first looks of the new and improved Jacob took his shirt off, but that died down quickly and we went on with the movie.
Overall, THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON was great! So much better then TWILIGHT that there really is no comparison! Where TWILIGHT kind of felt disjointed and there was no chemistry at all between any of the characters, NEW MOON just rocked with that kind of lusty feeling that you wanted Jacob to have for Bella. My friends and I have talked a lot about why TWILIGHT was just not the movie it should have been and now having seen NEW MOON, which had the same screenwriter and the same actors, the only thing we could come up with is the difference in directors.
Chris Weitz did an amazing job making the movie stick to the book. I could count only a few places that diverge from the book. These didn’t feel out of place at all. It was like you could see this having happened in the book as you read it. Making a movie based off of a first person narrated book must be very difficult. The Alice e-mails were a great way to put you into that feeling you got when you read the book. You got to hear her thoughts just like you were reading and it was much easier to feel her pain and heartache.
The wolf transformation was wonderful! Not cheesy or overly CG at all. You could almost feel the ground shake when they all transformed. At times, they were even kind of scary. They fit in perfectly with the surrounding area and they never looked out of place in all the nature shots. They were pretty much exactly like what was described in the book and the way I pictured them in my head. Jacob (Taylor Lautner) did a wonderful job. He played his part well enough to “almost†make me change from Team Edward to Team Jacob, at least for the movies!
If there was one bad part of the movie I would say it would be all the close-up face shots all the time. I got kind of tired of having to literally look back and forth on the screen in order to see both people on it. That could have been because we were sitting pretty close to the front of the theater and we were in the MegaPlex. It also made me feel kind of like we were intruding, instead of just watching.
Overall, I thought this was a win-win for everyone. It was a pretty good stand alone movie, it way out-shined the first movie so, as a sequel it was tremendous, and as for following the book, it did great!
Kristina writes: So, after waiting for months and months, I’m finally sitting in line to see the preview of THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON. I have arrived two hours in advance to ensure a good seat in the theater (we were fifth in line) and I am glad I have come prepared with popcorn, candy, and a wonderful friend to chat with. Minutes pass and a few more people wander into the line. It wasn’t until about an hour before the show when the mass crowds started to show up. Even though I felt a little old as well as tall, it was nice to know that I share the same affection for The Twilight Saga with so many different people. Just minutes before letting our line into the theater, the sound in the lobby was deafening by all the excited fans. Once in the theater, we were impressed by the selection of seats available (all made possible by getting there two hours early). Once the lights came down, I was so giddy with excitement that I could hardly stand it!
The NEW MOON movie definitely passed my expectations. As a die hard fan of the books, I was worried at first that the movie would be dull and drag on. I was also worried that as someone who is “Team Edwardâ€, the movie would be lacking with the absence of one of the main characters. Director Chris Weitz did a wonderful job of incorporating Edward as an image in Bella’s head when she would come across danger. However, as much as “Team Edward†I might be, I couldn’t explain the excitement I had once Edward had left Bella. Most of “Team Edward†can’t stand reading this portion of the book but I was ready to see Jacob as well as the rest of the wolf pack. The actors did an amazing job buffing up for their roles. Even the CG of the wolf transformations was astounding and in some portions of the movie, the wolves are almost scary! The movie ended with a “cliffhanger†(unless you’ve read the books) and I’m sure the next seven months until ECLIPSE will seem like forever!
As for the actors, I felt that the chemistry between Bella and Edward was a little lacking, even before the big birthday scene. I know there is a huge struggle within Edward between loving Bella and protecting her, but I was just hoping for a little more emotion from Edward. Once Edward left, I was able to feel Bella’s heartache. As for Bella’s growing relationship with Jacob, that could not have been hotter! The chemistry between Bella and Jacob was exhilarating and did a great job of swaying me to “Team Jacob†for the majority of the film.
So, I have asked myself… with both Twilight and New Moon being wonderful books, what makes the NEW MOON movie so much better than TWILIGHT? My only answer is the director. Twilight is a wonderful story, but unfortunately I don’t think Catherine Hardwicke knew what she was getting into and missed a lot of opportunities to get creative with the film. In my mind, Chris Weitz has redeemed The Twilight Saga. By sticking well to the book but also enhancing some things, I believe he has made his fans (at least this one!) very happy. Now I believe the pressure is on for David Slade and Eclipse. Only seven more months!
Coop: Let’s get one thing out of the way here, although it may be obvious considering my genitalia: I am in no way, shape or form a TWILIGHT fan. I have not read any of the books, nor did I dare watch the first film. All I know is the general concept and the fact that Robert Pattinson’s head is freaking huge.
Leah: Hey! I know some male TWILIGHT fans; don’t be such a hater. As for myself, I’m on Team Edward and have been from the start! Sure, R Patz has a huge head but his chiseled abs and sparkly skin make up for it. NEW MOON was absolutely true to the book in every way, shape and form. That said, I hated the book when I read it. The movie perfectly encompassed Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) pining over Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson), looking for any outlet to fill the void he suddenly leaves in her life. That’s all it was, to be blunt. Bella whining for 2 hours out of the 2.5 hour running time.
Coop: We’re talking about the second book/movie. NEW MOON. Correct?
Leah: Correct.
Coop: Then maybe you can elaborate on something for me, which I heard grumblings about after the first film’s release. Does anything actually happen in the novel? Because Chris Weitz’s film is loaded with such an unbearable sense of inertia it never goes anywhere. I could be referring to the endless slo-mo shots of Cullen that pepper the film, but really the whole thing feels that way: drowning, or at least, barely treading water.
Leah: The fact that Edward leaves Bella, his “one true love,” is the main conflict in NEW MOON. They were supposed to be the couple to stand the test of time, but after a bloody mishap, he hits the road. So, Bella is left to fend for herself and naturally, she goes to her best friend for help: Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner) and his pack of warm-blooded mutts. The werewolf stuff is supposed to be the big shocker in NEW MOON. But that’s no surprise if you A) read the book or B) saw the trailer. By the time we adjust to the fact that “vegetarian” vampires are running around trying to save the inhabitants of Forks, WA from the regular vampires we are then thrown a curve-ball … there are more monstrous creatures that have only been spoken of as folklore! It’s high school drama at it’s best.
Coop: They should have hired you on their marketing team. I will say that I didn’t despise the film for everything it’s worth, but it’s just sort of there. And I didn’t dislike it for the reasons I thought I would, either. Robert Pattinson was fine. And after watching Kristen Stewart in ADVENTURELAND, I got myself into a mindset of acknowledging her as a decently talented performer — I love that film. The problem here really isn’t hers, it’s just that she’s given nothing to do throughout the film. Her character is a hollow shell to be filled with the lonely desires of preteen girls. Which isn’t inherently a bad concept, because escapism is totally fine. But this isn’t truly escapism: the screenplay leaves Bella to sit in a chair and rot away once her stoic lover leaves her side. The message here is awful. The downfall of the film is in the screenplay, along with Taylor Lautner, whose level of acting is flat as a pancake.
Leah: As a faithful member of Team Edward, I have to say that I despised how much Jacob was on the screen. It’s not just the fact that he can’t act, it’s that he can’t do anything. He can’t even stand there without looking like a lost puppy. In the book, Jacob is supposed to be strong, handsome, and captivating. In the film, he fell short and came off as a lonely, misguided teeny-bopper. I know you’re a fan of Ms. Stewart, but I don’t think the role of Bella is the issue. I think she’s been type-casted as the awkward little plain Jane who somehow always seems to get boys to fall in love with her despite being so painfully ordinary. Don’t get me wrong, she does a great job at being exactly that! But I have to agree with you entirely on the escapism front. Stephanie Meyer only manages to convince the pre-teen-girl audience that without a boyfriend, you might as well just sit in your room for months on end, watching the seasons change.
Coop: Don’t get me wrong, there are redeeming aspects to an otherwise flat film. Michael Sheen from FROST/NIXON runs circles around everyone else onscreen in his brief appearance, while Edward’s sister Alice (Ashley Greene) is cute as a button. And despite looking fairly made-for-TV, there’s one sequence scored to great Thom Yorke vocals that’s pretty visually superb. In the end, though, it doesn’t matter what we say — the fans will devour it, just as I blindly devoured STAR WARS EPISODE III years ago. Everyone is allowed their franchise. What’s your final verdict, as more of a fan?
Leah: I couldn’t have said it better myself. Everyone is going to see this movie. All of the helplessly devoted fans that read the books are currently in line waiting for the midnight release to start. Their friends, who may not have read the books or seen the first film will go anyway just to see Edward and Jacob without their shirts on. Boyfriends will be dragged to the theaters, and it will certainly be at the top of the box office this weekend without a doubt. All in all, I’d say it’s definitely worth checking out. I give it a solid 6/10.
Coop: 4/10 for me. Not worthy of being average, but not offensive enough to drive me up a wall.
Okay, all you TWILIGHT-ers out there. It’s time to avert your eyes, because the Haterade is about to flow like a pierced jugular. This week, yes, in honor of NEW MOON’s release, we are counting down our collective top 10 of the worst vampires in film history. These are creatures of the night so goofy, so lame, and so odd, they make us dream of the days of Max Schreck. Hell, they make us long for the days of Willem Dafoe playing Max Schreck. So hear you are, sans Nicolas Cage from VAMPIRE’S KISS, even, the ten worst vampires in motion picture history.
10. Zandor Vorkov as Dracula in DRACULA VS FRANKENSTEIN
Universal monster team-ups of the 1940s, director Al Adamson’s 1971 low budget paste-up job DRACULA VS FRANKENSTEIN (Adamson combined footage from a uncompleted biker film with the monster pairing) is considered one of the worst horror films of the 70’s, but it’s also a hell of a lot of fun if you take it in the right spirit. The Frankenstein monster is bad enough, with his blue face like a misshapen wad of pounded meat, but it’s the depiction of the Count that makes DRACULA VS FRANKENSTEIN a towering achievement in cult movie madness. ‘Zandor Vorkov’ was actually the stage name of Adamson’s stockbroker, a fellow named Roger Engel who’d never acted in a film before. Engel, who looks like a cross between Frank Zappa and Borat, covers his face in clown-white greasepaint (though his hands and arms are tanned), has plastic fangs that bulge out of his mouth, and sports an afro, huge sideburns, and beard. He shoots laser beams from his ring and his voice is processed through a cheap echo device that makes him sound like he’s trapped in a large bathroom. In one scene, he magically appears in a car driven by ‘Famous Monsters of Filmland’ editor Forrest J Ackerman. “Who are you?” asks Forry and Dracula’s sinister response is; “I have been known as the Prince of Darkness- now turn left here!”. Priceless. There’s also Lon Chaney, J. Carroll Naish, Russ Tamblyn, and midget Angelo Rossitto falling on an axe. If you’ve never seen DRACULA VS FRANKENSTEIN, what are you waiting for?
9. Jim Carrey as Mark Kendall in ONCE BITTEN
Jim Carrey as a vampire… UGH. This was young Carrey trying to break out in Hollywood. I mean the movie hit in 1985 and suffers from all the problems a bad comedy from the mid-80s would suffer from. Worst part is that Jim Carrey wasn’t a very good actor in the 80s. Once Bitten is almost like the vampire version of Teen Wolf but without all the memorable moments or competent acting. Jim Carrey’s performance as young vampire/high school student Mark is just forgettable and that’s the worst part. He’s not wacky enough as he was in the early 90s, and he’s not a good enough after like he is now, so instead you have this in between Carrey who doesn’t seem like he knows what he’s doing most of the time. It’s hard to care for anyone in a movie if you see how terribly they’re performing, and Carrey’s no exception. Just a boring dull vampire trying to be funny but falling flat.
8. Richard Roxburgh as Count Dracula in VAN HELSING
Dracula is a terrible creature of the night, that has always been equal parts intrigue and death. He needs to be able to have some kind of charm, irresistibility and always seem dangerous. Instead of a Dracula that we could actually care about or fear, Richard Roxburgh’s performance of Dracula is 100% camp. It’s all camp all the time. He’s never frightening and never seems as though he’s any kind of real threat to our hero. In fact, his bride’s in this awful tale often seem more dangerous than he does, if for no other reason than they rock some amazing cleavage which can be seriously distracting in a fight. Dracula’s plot to have an army of little bat children is one of the dumbest ideas I’d ever seen on film, and at no point does Roxburgh sell the idea that Dracula really need to carry out this plot, or even care about it. Instead he prances around and walks on walls… it’s a mess
7. Angie Everhart as Lilith in BORDELLO OF BLOOD
There is a finite number of cut-and-dry certainties within the realm cinema criticism, but one of them is arguably this… while Tales from the Crypt’s DEMON KNIGHT was friggin’ hard-core awesome, their follow-up movie BORDELLO OF BLOOD was about a lame as they come. Now, while she isn’t God’s gift to acting, I find it runs against my very nature to criticize Angie Everhart. She’s a tall, leggy, sexy red-headed Goddess but she can’t act her way out of a paper bag. With that in mind, consider that she’s playing an evil vampiress with a twisted sense of humor and what could have been a fun ride became a ridiculously pointless bathing in bad writing, worse acting and what appeared to be a pointless clearinghouse of blood and guts effects thrown everywhere on set, as if they needed to use them up before they expired.
6. Dominic Purcell as Drake in BLADE: TRINITY
Again a version of Dracula that’s pretty far from anything that’s come before. Instead of being a suave, devilish fiend, he’s a total monster. Quite literally too! The over muscled, under whelming performance by Dominic Purcell as the first vampire is one of the douchiest thing I’ve ever seen. Do they call him Dracula? No of course not. Instead he’s Drake and he’s out for blood. And to top it off he can hang out in the day light too! Why? Because he’s the first vampire! Purcell isn’t exactly a good actor and he always just looks like an angry bouncer at a club. And when the final battle between Blade and Drake hits, it’s just lame. Purcell’s Drake is boring, flat and uninteresting, and for being the ultimate vampire he comes off as a complete dolt and rather bro-ish.
5. Kristanna Loken as Rayne in BLOODRAYNE
Kristianna Loken was fine in TERMINATOR 3 but judging by her performance in BLOODRAYNE, playing a robot seems to have best suited her ‘skills’. In director Uwe Boll’s ghastly-bad 2005 disaster (based, like all of Bolls films, on a video game), Loken plays a carnival freak named Rayne, a half-vampire, half-human (they call them “dhampirs†!) who travels through 1700s Transylvania on a quest to stab her hated vampire father, Kagan (Ben Kingsley), with her lethal sword-crutch. Loken’s dialog is garbage, her performance crushingly amateurish (her lines are all delivered in the same flat monotone), and she’s physically clumsy as well (but she does get naked in a completely gratuitous sex scene so it’s not a complete waste of time). Boll is about the most despised director in the industry and I feel sorry for Loken that he did this to her perhaps-promising career. The poor girl wasn’t even invited to return for the 2007 sequel BLOODRAYNE 2: DELIVERANCE!
4. Leslie Nielsen as Count Dracula in DRACULA: DEAD AND LOVING IT
There’s a reason DRACULA: DEAD AND LOVING IT is Mel Brooks last film, to date, at least. Released in 1996, the film tried so hard to be his second coming of YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, but it failed on so many levels. Possibly the main reasoning for this is the casting of Leslie Nielsen as Count Dracula, who looks, sounds, and acts like…well, Leslie Nielsen dressed as Count Dracula. He tries to play the laughs as hard as he can, but it’s kind of hard when there are no laughs to speak of in the first place. Sad when Nielsen seems convinced he’s making them roll in the aisles with his fang brandishing and over-the-top brooding. He brings nothing to the table other than a chintzy Bela Lugosi impersonation that slips throughout. Possibly the only redeeming quality of the film and of the character as depicted in this film is his utterly ridiculous transformation into the bat. It’s a bat with Leslie Nielsen’s face. That’s the height of comedy with this one. As for the character, what more can you say about a Count Dracula who is accidentally killed by his Renfield. That’s Dracula Fail if ever I’ve seen it.
3. Aaliyah as Queen Akasha in QUEEN OF THE DAMNED
What was a movie that had potential to be one of the most awesome vampire sagas ever put to film, QUEEN OF THE DAMNED failed in nearly every way. Saturated with overly-stylized camera and special effects, as well as music popular with the MTV crowd at the time, what resulted was a 101-minute music video mess. As for the film’s star Aaliyah, this is an unfortunate end to a relatively young acting career. Her performance was underwhelming, but what there was of it was overshadowed by the ridiculousness of the film’s execution. The star, that is to say the Queen of all vampires for Pete’s sake, should be sexy and extremely dangerous. Well, I suppose you could argue Aaliyah brought one of these traits to the table, but intimidating, frightening or convincingly unstoppable… these are traits not seen in her performance. Likewise, the star’s performance was somewhat out-shined by her male co-stars (Townsend and Perez) and especially by Leno Olin. Here’s a suggestion… if you’re going to adapt an Anne Rice vampire novel to the big screen, do so with respect (a la INTERVIEW WITH A VAMPIRE) or don’t do it at all.
2. Eddie Murphy as Maximillian in VAMPIRE IN BROOKLYN
It was before the Internet gave us every indication of a film before it came out. When Wes Craven’s VAMPIRE IN BROOKLYN was coming out, all we knew was that it was a vampire movie…directed by Wes Craven. Oh, yeah, and it starred Eddie Murphy. We should have considered ourselves warned. Neither scary nor funny, Murphy’s Maximillian is trying so hard to be as suave and as cool as the vampires of Universal or even Hammer past. He doesn’t even muster up enough freshness to be considered on the same plane as BLACULA. Murphy has no idea what kind of a film he is in here, and it shows. It’s could almost be played as a straight, horror film, if not for the fact that Murphy has to show up as more than a few characters throughout. He should have taken more cues from Christopher Lee here and less from Jerry Lewis. Luckily, Craven bounced back a year later with SCREAM. Murphy was never the same again.
1. Robert Pattinson as Edward Cullen in TWILIGHT
Evidently $383 million worldwide against a $37-million budget just isn’t enough for some studios. Summit Entertainment announced today it will be re-releasing TWILIGHT, the first film in the franchise, into theaters on November 19th. The film will play this date, the day before the release of the second film, NEW MOON, on select theaters around nationwide.
Even though TWILIGHT has been tearing up DVD players for months, expect it to rake in some major cash from this re-release, as well. Fans of the series are sure to be frothing at the mouths to get back into theaters to prime their engines for release of the new film.
Be sure to check your theater listings before slapping in your faux fangs and heading out the door. Oh, right. I almost forgot. These vampires don’t have fangs. And they can go out during the day. And they don’t drink blood. Which makes them…not vampires?
Anyway, in related news, director David Slade also announced via his Twitter Page that the third film, ECLIPSE, has wrapped production. Expect official stills to come soon from that film, as well, I’m sure, as a trailer that is sure to run in front of NEW MOON upon its release on November 20th.
