Twilight The Movie

I finally caved in and watched Twilight today at Carousel. I hate to say this and I know its very cliché but the book is better. But before you come and rant to me about how I’m biased and stupid, I shall explain myself.

Firstly, my advice to everyone who has not read the book or watched the movie, please do yourself a favour and watch the movie before the book. Being an ardent fan of the Twilight series for nearly 2 years not, that is probably the best way to go. The plot of the movie felt rather short in comparison to the book. The days Bella spent with Edward did not take up a lot of time in the movie. I think that part was crucial to portray as it was what their relationship was based on. You can’t just cut scenes and add characters in the movie without changing the dynamics of the movie.

The book itself was very well thought out, the way Stephenie described the development of the characters and their relationships was brilliant. Fair enough, you can’t actually portray everything that Bella thinks, but for the most part of it I think it was very hard to read into her facial expression. I think also that adding the Whalen or Forbes (whoever that Butt Crack Santa guy was) is a bit weird. That part was never in the book, only some killings had been happening in Seattle. I was rather surprised when this person came out of the blue like that.

I think the movie is good in a sense that its sound effects and music were brilliant. Though there probably could be more sound effects happening in some scenes. I think I might be a bit nit gritty about the whole adding and chopping scenes as I have read Twilight and the partial draft of Midnight Sun. I balked when Tyler suddenly kissed Bella, I scratched my head wondering since when Bella carried a pot of cactus all the day from Arizona and I grimaced when I saw that in quite a few scenes that Bella was actually paler than Edward. When there was not a special meadow scene, I wa quite disappointed. Then again, I guess with budget and time constraints, there is only so much that one can do.

Though I must say, Robert Pattinson is quite a looker. I think that was what drew many people to the movie and books after that. Hey, pick the hot guys to star in the movie right?

At the end of the day, I didn’t pay for the movie since I had a gift card but I would say buy the DVD and sit in front of a really powerful sound system and watch it at home. And don’t read the book before you watch the movie! You will be disappointed.

Another piece of advice, once you have finished watching the movie, do go and buy all the books. The books are really worth the money spent on it. I guess I just might be a more wordy person than I am a movie-from-book kind of person.

Breaking Dawn

For those who do not know about the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer, it is a 4 book series (so far) that tells the tale about Isabella Swan who falls in love with Edward Cullen, a vampire. It sounds like your average teeny booper love story, but the way Stephenie spins the tale, you can’t help but be drawn into it, imagining the things spinning around in Bella’s head, reasons behind Edward’s actions and the irresistible feel of the love between those two.

The latest book in the series, Breaking Dawn, was released yesterday in Australia. I got my copy nice and early, so that I could sit at the court (another story in itself) and immerse myself in the much anticipated book. I started reading at about 9 am and didn’t finish till 11.30 pm. Throw in the lunch eating, the toilet breaks, dinner eating, showering, shopping and hair cutting, I managed to finish the 700+ page book in less tan 24 hours.

As I walked around the city, there were many people (all girls, strangely enough) that had their hands on the book and were walking and reading at the same time. It was amazing to see.

Anyway, with the court case, I was mildly amused that they took an early plea and saved me the trouble of having to testify but they could have at least let me know beforehand so that I wouldn’t have had to go. But then again, I’m happy that I went, I spoke to the prosecutor and I managed to get 2 hours worth of reading down while waiting

I’m posting spoilers here, so please be warned!

1. Bella is pregnant. This was probably the most shocking bit to me. I didn’t quite expect her to be pregnant with a vampire hybrid and most certainly did not expect her to carry it through. With the graphic explanation of her ribs breaking, I can only imagine how painful that must be. I’ve been hit in the ribs hard before, but have never broken them. Even then, it was horrendously painful and for Bella to be put through that pain and growing at such an accelerated rate, it was amazing.

2. Jacob imprints on Renesemee. This I sort of expected, since Jacob and Bella are so intertwined with each other sometimes I feel sorry for Edward who has to put up with Bella’s feelings for Jacob. The funniest part of this whole thing was when Bella found out that Jacob had imprinted on Nessie. I couldn’t help but laugh that one day, Bella and Edward would have Jacob as a son-in-law. And when Bella realises that, and attacks Jacob it was quite comical.

3. Bella turns into a vampire. The will power she had to not scream out loud when she was turning is amazing. But for Bella to have such strong will power and control to not kill a human, it was not something I’d anticipated.

4. Bella’s shielding power. I knew that she would have a power but I didn’t know that it had already taken form in her even before she became a vampire. The fact that she could shield all their witnesses against the Volturi, and prevent the slaughter of their innocent witnesses is truly well laid out. I’d say the nicest part about being able to control her power is that she could lift her shield from herself and allow Edward to listen to her thoughts were so romantic.

I guess the part that I found rather odd was that Bella is married to Edward and they are now husband and wife. I never referred to them as boyfriend and girlfriend before but to read that they refer to each other as husband and wife is thrilling somehow.

I guess I was quite careful to not imagine specifics so that I would not be dissapointed with the ending of the book.. I don’t like putting numerical values to the quality of the book, but this book satisfied the craving I had to know the ending. It was a well written book, with emotions poured out into it so well that you can almost imagine yourself with Bella and watching every step that they take. Possibly the best book I’ve read.

The Prestige

Went off to Garden City aka Garbo to get some Christmas shopping done along with watching a movie. Caila and I went off to Garbo food court for lunch and we bumped into Jon there. Which was good, since he tagged along to watch The Prestige.

I admit, I was half scared of watching the movie at first cause I thought it was a horror movie and I’ve had enough of that for my lifetime.

Anyways, that was one of the best movies I’ve seen this year, besides Pirates 2. I was watching in anticipation while the storyline developed and after I watched it for the first time, I wanted to watch it again because of the twist in the story which makes sense towards the end. Definitely worth the AUD$12 I paid for to watch the movie.

Besides the movie, Christmas shopping wasn’t very productive today, only managed to get gifts for Jolene and Angeline. It’s been my 3rd Christmas shopping trip and I still have yet to buy presents for half the people on my list. And I’m going to go so broke from all of this shopping before I even head back to Malaysia.

So once again, a reminder that I return to Malaysia on the 30th of December 2006 till the 12th of February 2007. Won’t be returning to Malaysia in a long, long time after that and there are definitely some people that I’m dying to meet up with, namely some of the Malaysian bloggers whose blogs I read often and of course my friends back home. I can’t wait till that day, which is getting closer and closer, but I still don’t know what to back in my bag and I have yet to clear up the mess in my room. Tomorrow shall be the day for that