twilight movie review

(warning: long post ahead).

i LOVED it! yes, the special effects were horrid and some of the dialogue was laughable, but nothing could make it less thrilling to see twilight acted out on the big screen. i think the special effects issue could be resolved in the subsequent movies with more money (they made this movie with only $36 million - really low budget for a part-action movie) and there were only a few lines that were cringe-worthy.

robert pattinson as edward was so PERFECT that i didn't even care about his mile-high hair. i loved his intensity and his tortured voice and his eyes and his "crooked" smile and his chemistry with kristen stewart was great. i loved the little kissing scene in bella's bedroom - definitely hot, but not so hot that there's nothing left to build up to.

kristen stewart as bella was terrific as well, but not as terrific as edward. i remembered her being a little more light-hearted in the book and she was definitely very serious in the movie and not so "swoony." her hair was the perfect red-brown color and so lush and thick. her clothes were great, too - sensible but fitted. she interacted really well with the high-schoolers but was definitely not as dramatic as she is in the book.

alice was dead-on and she actually did wear leggings and flats like i thought she would. i loved how she would lift her leg like a ballerina when she pitched during the baseball game (which was awesome).

like my sister said on her blog, rosalie was so not up to par. not just her looks, but her clothes and how she carried herself. she had the anger right because she's constantly glaring at bella but if you hadn't read the books, you wouldn't know that everyone was supposed to be intimidated by her beauty. she's been in 2 of the director's other movies so there's the explanation for that.

i didn't expect the movie to be so funny! the director really understood teenage humor and the boys vying for bella's attention was so funny and so true. her frenemy, jessica, was sooo perfect and was like the comic relief for the whole movie. jacob was great and has this blinding smile and you could tell there was real chemistry between him and bella that would be really useful and accurate for the later movies.

there were some parts that were funny but were definitely not intended to be. when edward was running, his torso was stationary but his legs looked cartoonish - like in that roadrunner cartoon how the bird's body stays still, but the legs are blurred and fast. and the part where edward's sucking the venom out of bella's hand to save her, and carlise tells him to stop, and edward looks up at him with these bulging eyes and and it just looked weird, and as my mom put it, rodent-ish. oh, and when bella walks into the biology class and edward smells her for the first time, he does those bulging eyes again and it looks funny instead of intense.

there were some parts that i was looking forward to that were missing, which was sad but okay. understandably they can't put everything in or else the movie would be 5 hours (which would totally be okay with me). for example, when she wakes up that first morning after she finds out edward's a vampire and he's sitting in the rocking chair and he says her hair looks like a haystack and that he likes it and then she says "you stayed!" and throws herself across the room into his arms. that would have been cute to see. and i was totally looking forward to seeing the cullen vampires looking smokin' hot at the prom in their fancy get-ups and they weren't even there. and they didn't even let esme (who was PERFECT) explain with her one sentence that she had nearly died because she had thrown herself off a cliff because she had lost a baby. really? you couldn't put in that one line for esme? oh, and there was literally no mention of how jasper can influence people with his moods, which was weird because that's a huge part of his character. and i would have really enjoyed more build-up before edward reveals he's a vampire and i felt that went way too fast, but again, they had to cut and trim everywhere and i kept telling myself that the first harry potter movie was pretty rough concerning the editing but that the next movies got better so i have hope.

OH! and the stupidest thing? victoria (who, with laurant and james, was perfect as well) shows up at the prom and watches edward and bella menacingly from upstairs while they dance in the gazeebo - this was definitely not in the book and doesn't fly because, duh, edward would have heard victoria's thoughts and reacted to them, which he didn't. but edward and bella both looked beautiful in the final prom scene and i cannot WAIT for the new moon movie - which is now officially being made due to summit entertainment's announcement on november 22nd. hooray! (for the full article, paste this in your search bar: http://www.mtv.com/movies/news/articles/1599994/story.jhtml)

so, overall, there were definitely some serious errors and oversights but that didn't stop me from squealing in my seat (along with the 14-year olds next to me) when edward made his first appearance in the cafeteria or sighing in appreciation when they kissed for the first time in her bedroom. i am definitely taking paul to see twilight again next week.

stylista

has anyone seen this show on the cw? it's a new series right after top model and i'm kind of addicted to it. it's bascially like a reality show of the devil wears prada. a group of "stylistas" compete for an assistant editor position at elle magazine, a year's supply of h & m clothing, and a year's lease of a new york apartment while they work at elle. those prizes sound a lot cooler than top model's prizes. do you ever notice that the losers on top model are more successful than the winners? that's because it's all political and they don't really choose the person that has the most talent/potential. for example, they usually always have a plus-size girl just to prove that they're p.c. but then she always gets eliminated because, duh, high fashion models are twigs. but last year it was cycle 10 and they probably felt they needed to amp up the show's appeal, and kept on pushing through the plus-size model even though she was kinda blah, didn't take good pictures, etc. it's like the other girls that season didn't even have a chance because miss tyra had an agenda. ugh, and why does her voice always go 3 octaves higher when she's handing them their photos? she makes it all breathy and high and it's such an obvious change from when she's dicussing the photos with judges and smacktalking on the girls. gag, she's annoying but she is the executive producer for stylista so i guess i can forgive her, but i will NEVER forgive her for the evil spawn that is the tyra banks show. blech, blech, blech. there aren't words to describe how awful that talk show is.

anyways, this new show, stylista, is worth watching. they have to do all these stressful tasks like creating a theme for the editor's neice's birthday party or construct a fashion shoot to showcase a desginer's dress and the designer is the guest judge and so on. at least i think it would be way stressful because you could totally be praised for one idea and then be in the doghouse for the next - you just never know what's going to please the editor. all the people have different backgrounds in editing, retail, fashion and i love the mix of people they have on the show. i think half the fun is just seeing what they wear. oh, and in addition to performing a task the elimination process is also based on a one-page layout they have to make from pictures taken during their task. the editor who is the main boss does this awful wannabe meryl streep impression from the devil wears prada. it's so funny - she has this dry voice and snooty attitude and frosty blonde hair. the drama is okay; this season there's this one girl, kate, who drives me and everyone on the show nuts. she's just super ditzy and rude and immature and doesn't work well with anyone and you're just itching to slap her the entire episode. i hope the shows stays - i'd love to see the next batch of people next season.

so...watch it! and then we can be stylista friends.

twilight opens in 4 days!!

i am soo excited. probably more than i should be. my sister and i bought tickets over a week ago (at a place where you can buy reserved seating) and we got pretty good seats. the husbands are gonna stay home and watch da babies so me and lana can enjoy without any distractions. we actually have to see it on saturday, the day after it opens, because seating was already sold out for friday opening night. they say there's already been millions of dollars generated for pre-sale tickets. crazy! all i hope is that the movie stays true to the book. from what i've seen of the trailers, it looks like how i imagined it in my head with the mossy green forests and overcast weather...except i still think i'll be disappointed in how the vampires look. i don't know who their hair stylists and wardrobe people were, but for pete's sake i think I could have done a better job. for your reading pleasure (or boredom), here are my views on the looks of the vampires (and bella):


1. edward: i pictured his hair as shaggy and not sticking straight up. it's too poofy. his face is perfectly angular and his clothes are pretty good.

2. bella: perfect.


3. rosalie: psch, her "blonde" hair is too yellow and she has dark roots! the actress is pretty but she looks like the average popular girl at a high school - they really should have gotten a model. this girl better be a dang good actress to compensate for her less-than-rosalie looks. and her clothes are boring - they look kinda dowdy and not hot enough.

4. alice: her hair is waaay too long and poofy. it needs to be shorter and edgier, like selmar blair's short 'do. perfect face, but her clothes look like she's a hippie. i kinda pictured black leggings and ballet flats, like an audrey hepburn pixie style.

5. jasper: his hair looks too crunchy and curly. the curly i don't mind really but it's too...big. i think he's got a cute face- they could've chosen anyone really.

6. emmett: he was just described as big and they got that right enough. he's got a good face, too and i like his dark hair even though you can tell it's been dyed.


7. esme: perfect, although i thought her hair would be lighter, more honey-colored and not so brown. i like her classy and simple clothes.

8: carlise: i guess he's pretty handsome, but his hair is bleachy-yellow like rosalie's. and it's all gelled back and looks like a stiff marshmellow.


9. james: i hate his long, yellow hair. he's supposed to look ordinary, not like a pirate. and i keep thinking of him as the dope who killed mischa barton's character in the o.c.

10. laurant: awesome. love the dreads.

11: victoria: LOVE her wild red hair. her face and wooly, shag-coat thingy are perfect. i think she is the most perfect match out of all the vampires.

so...obviously i care way too much about this and i know these characters all look different in everyone's mind, but dang it, stop giving everyone the opposite of their natural hair color - it's so obvious and kinda tacky looking. anyways, these are just small grievances - i'm sure the movie as a whole will be awesome.

24 years (me) and 2 months (penny)

i turned 24 on the 7th and it was such a nice day. it was overcast and rainy outside so i just snuggled with penny on the couch, made hot chocolate, and watched some of my favorite movies. then nate and claire came over that night and we went out to eat at my favorite restaurant, a thai place called kaiman. so freaking good. afterwards my brother, jordan, and his wife, kjersti, stopped by and we had cake and ice cream. i got such awesome prezzies! borders giftcards (thanks nate and claire and reece and lacey) and playstation stuff (thanks paul and jordan and kjersti) and some sweet birthday cash (thanks parents).

we're not really "gamers" but i had wanted the dance, dance revolution game for forever but i didn't know you had to have the playstation to play it - i thought it was just a dvd or something. paul surprised me with not only the dance, dance revolution game but playstation 2 and a tetris game (because that's like the only video game i can play).

nate and paul dancin' it up.

nate and claire. can you find penny?

there she is! claire had her all wrapped up in this big blanket, it was pretty cute.

me and my 2-month old (as of today).

her favorite pasttime.

more, yet drastically different, halloween pictures

for halloween night we hung out with lana and kris. they live in a neighborhood with tons of young families with little kids so their doorbell was ringing nonstop all night. it was so fun to hand out candy and see all their costumes.

penny's halloween daytime outfit supplied by grandma larsen.

"mine."


kitty cousins. penny's halloween nighttime outfit supplied by aunt lana. (the halloweiner costume was fun but would've been hard to carry around all night).