If you hit the comfort of your bed between 3am and 4am this morning, you might have just been someone out past closing time at your local Cheers bar or perhaps you were just someone who got lost in the excellent choices of Thursday night television over at a friends place - but most likely you were actually a die-hard Twi-hard, just getting out of one of the multiple midnight showings of New Moon. If you were of the latter, then you should have been pleasantly surprised to find that having to wait all night for the comfort of your bed was, many times over, worth the wait (unlike the last time that you might have put forth the effort to see a midnight showing of another certain vampire themed love story).
Late last night, gaggles of twittering, giggling teenage girls piled into the multiple theaters at the Atlantic Station Regal that would house the premiere of New Moon. They began to fill the seats around nine o'clock, the most hardcore of the fans arriving hours early in order to procure the perfect seating arrangement for the special event. The proceeding hours were spent gossiping about Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart, swooning over thoughts of Taylor Lautner's chiseled abs and debating the pros and cons of Team Edward verses Team Jacob. High school students, grad students and adults who should know better, from all over the Atlanta area, came together to celebrate their love/obsession for everything Twilight - and let's face it, that's pretty much just Edward. Morgan King (18), Brein Millea (19), and Kiersten Smith (18) were just one of several groups of girls that arrived at the theater early enough to claim some prized front-and-center seats. They confessed to being all Team Edward but differed on their opinions on the much-criticized Twilight. "I loved it because I'm a true fan...A lot of people think that the movie sucked because it didn't do the books justice but I think that if you love the characters, you love the movie anyway", Morgan argued. Brein and Kiersten had slightly different thoughts on the first film. "The acting, we thought the acting was quite comical but we still enjoyed it. We still had fun. It was just more hysterical laughing, most of it". No matter their differing opinions on Twilight, they could all agree upon their excitement about seeing New Moon. "There's a different director right, so I think that it's going to improve and I'm looking forward to that", Brein and Kiersten agree.
A slightly older group of women could be found a couple rows up. Twilight Mom Gina Roche (39) and sisters Tina (24) and Katie Hrinda (24), all Atlanta locals (and incidentally all Team Edward), took time away from their smartly packed Twilight-themed crosswords and word-searches to discuss the merits and downfalls of having read the novels before seeing the films. "I was not a huge fan [of Twilight]. I was slightly disappointed but I loved the books so much, I think that had a large part to do with it", Tina said. However, she is was still very excited about seeing New Moon. "It looks like they did a much better job on it". Katie agrees wholeheartedly with her sister. "I was not a fan of the first movie. It was very disappointing." Katie is taking a unique approach to the viewing of New Moon. "I'm trying not to be too excited so I won't be disappointed if it's not good", she reasons. Gina, mostly likely one of the very few in the crowd who has not read the books, had a very different opinion on the first movie. "Because I did not read the books, my perspective is, I loved it! But if I read the books, I would be interested to see how I felt afterwards".
As for the film itself, shockingly after the quality of the first movie, it was a stirring and quite thrilling ride, even for those who already knew all the twists and turns. Under the gentle and knowledgeable ministrations of director Chris Weitz, the acting was elevated several notches from the previous film's performances, which was extremely helpful in taking down the level of cheese and corniness and allowing for more time to "ooohhh" and "ahhhh" instead of giggling uncontrollably. Most prominent in the improvement area were the three main actors, Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and young Taylor Lautner. Lautner, though young and still in need of some polishing, gave both an uplifting and heartbreaking performance as Jacob Black. Not only did he obviously train physically to keep his role, he also proved to be someone worth watching over the next few years, showing that he has what it takes to become an excellent and versatile actor. Stewart and Pattinson also both showed signs of having got to know their characters on a much deeper level than for Twilight. Stewart's Bella was much warmer and much more accessible in this film and Pattinson proved Edward could be more than what the swooning girls force him to be, which is merely an objectified sexual being. As for the developing relationship between Bella and Jacob, Weitz's tendency towards close-ups and medium close-ups gave the audience an intimate and emotional view of their story - most likely with the effect of giving those of Team Edward a moment of doubt over their chosen alliance.
All in all, the film was far more enjoyable than its predecessor and certainly worth missing bedtime for. Feel differently or want to throw your weight into the yay-New Moon camp? Make your opinions heard below.
Late last night, gaggles of twittering, giggling teenage girls piled into the multiple theaters at the Atlantic Station Regal that would house the premiere of New Moon. They began to fill the seats around nine o'clock, the most hardcore of the fans arriving hours early in order to procure the perfect seating arrangement for the special event. The proceeding hours were spent gossiping about Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart, swooning over thoughts of Taylor Lautner's chiseled abs and debating the pros and cons of Team Edward verses Team Jacob. High school students, grad students and adults who should know better, from all over the Atlanta area, came together to celebrate their love/obsession for everything Twilight - and let's face it, that's pretty much just Edward. Morgan King (18), Brein Millea (19), and Kiersten Smith (18) were just one of several groups of girls that arrived at the theater early enough to claim some prized front-and-center seats. They confessed to being all Team Edward but differed on their opinions on the much-criticized Twilight. "I loved it because I'm a true fan...A lot of people think that the movie sucked because it didn't do the books justice but I think that if you love the characters, you love the movie anyway", Morgan argued. Brein and Kiersten had slightly different thoughts on the first film. "The acting, we thought the acting was quite comical but we still enjoyed it. We still had fun. It was just more hysterical laughing, most of it". No matter their differing opinions on Twilight, they could all agree upon their excitement about seeing New Moon. "There's a different director right, so I think that it's going to improve and I'm looking forward to that", Brein and Kiersten agree.
A slightly older group of women could be found a couple rows up. Twilight Mom Gina Roche (39) and sisters Tina (24) and Katie Hrinda (24), all Atlanta locals (and incidentally all Team Edward), took time away from their smartly packed Twilight-themed crosswords and word-searches to discuss the merits and downfalls of having read the novels before seeing the films. "I was not a huge fan [of Twilight]. I was slightly disappointed but I loved the books so much, I think that had a large part to do with it", Tina said. However, she is was still very excited about seeing New Moon. "It looks like they did a much better job on it". Katie agrees wholeheartedly with her sister. "I was not a fan of the first movie. It was very disappointing." Katie is taking a unique approach to the viewing of New Moon. "I'm trying not to be too excited so I won't be disappointed if it's not good", she reasons. Gina, mostly likely one of the very few in the crowd who has not read the books, had a very different opinion on the first movie. "Because I did not read the books, my perspective is, I loved it! But if I read the books, I would be interested to see how I felt afterwards".
As for the film itself, shockingly after the quality of the first movie, it was a stirring and quite thrilling ride, even for those who already knew all the twists and turns. Under the gentle and knowledgeable ministrations of director Chris Weitz, the acting was elevated several notches from the previous film's performances, which was extremely helpful in taking down the level of cheese and corniness and allowing for more time to "ooohhh" and "ahhhh" instead of giggling uncontrollably. Most prominent in the improvement area were the three main actors, Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and young Taylor Lautner. Lautner, though young and still in need of some polishing, gave both an uplifting and heartbreaking performance as Jacob Black. Not only did he obviously train physically to keep his role, he also proved to be someone worth watching over the next few years, showing that he has what it takes to become an excellent and versatile actor. Stewart and Pattinson also both showed signs of having got to know their characters on a much deeper level than for Twilight. Stewart's Bella was much warmer and much more accessible in this film and Pattinson proved Edward could be more than what the swooning girls force him to be, which is merely an objectified sexual being. As for the developing relationship between Bella and Jacob, Weitz's tendency towards close-ups and medium close-ups gave the audience an intimate and emotional view of their story - most likely with the effect of giving those of Team Edward a moment of doubt over their chosen alliance.
All in all, the film was far more enjoyable than its predecessor and certainly worth missing bedtime for. Feel differently or want to throw your weight into the yay-New Moon camp? Make your opinions heard below.
