Chickster vs. New Moon

Dec 1, 2009 by The Chickster Team    3 Comments    Posted under: Chick Flick Picks, Lost in Translation

It’s probably no secret by now that these Chicksters have succumbed to all the sparkly Twilight hysteria. We admit it. We’re addicts of the books and the movies. So it’s only fitting that after seeing New Moon that’d we want to gab about it together.

K: Edward’s hair was not poofy enough. I liked his Goku-like hair in the first movie and was disappointed that it got shorter.
S: I didn’t really mind the hair being shorter, primarily because all my attention was focused on his jawline throughout the movie. It’s pretty incredible.
C: His hair was impressive in the first movie, but I didn’t mind the change. Maybe I was distracted by all the sparkling?

K: I missed all the music from the first movie. They couldn’t keep that really cool angsty reoccurring song? It really set the mood. I also missed Edward and Bella’s piano song and thought it should be in there somewhere.
S: Definitely preferred Carter Burwell’s score from last time around, but honestly, I preferred the soundtrack this time. I thought all the sadder sounding songs fit the tone really well, and the placement was nice.
C: While I liked how Debussy and Bella’s theme played into the first movie, I thought French music composer Alexandre Desplat’s piano work this time around was gorgeous and really set the tone. Some of my personal soundtrack highlights were Lykke Li’s “Possibility” (used nicely in the movie I thought, with a sweet circling camera to show passage of time while Bella sits unmoving in her chair staring out her bedroom window), Grizzly Bear with Victoria Legend on “Slow Life” and, of course, the Bon Iver and St. Vincent pairing on “Roslyn”.
S: Can I add the Editors’ “No Sound But the Wind” to the soundtrack highlights? I’ve been listening to the soundtrack a lot, and it’s really a lot better than it has any right to be, considering the last one included Linkin Park.

K: I also liked how Twilight was filmed in cool blues and kinda missed that. Why did they fire that first director anyway? She obviously made a good movie! It was popular and just flowed well.
S: The look of this movie was totally different. I wonder if they intentionally used warmer and richer tones since Jacob is supposed to be Bella’s sun in this one. (Did anyone else wish they’d left that line out? The sun/moon mixed metaphors that Stephenie Meyer seems hellbent on using annoy the crap out of me.)
K: I do agree that they used more browns because of the werewolves and that probably is appropriate.
C: I agree they shouldn’t have been so quick to dismiss Catherine Hardwicke, she helped create a lucrative movie franchise from something that was supposed to be just a low budget cult film. That being said, I liked the richer and more vibrant look of this movie, and the fast forward and slow down shots totally beat the cheesy sped up sprint shots from the first film.

K: I didn’t like Alice in this movie. She seemed really off. Her voice was different. Her acting seemed strange and she dressed like a grandma in the scene where she should’ve been wearing something awesome because she was in a fast sports car!
S: Dude, we were so different on this! I liked Alice much more this movie. She seemed more girly, which I thought was more in keeping with the book. Speaking of looks, did Kristen Stewart get a new make-up and hair artist? Her make-up and hair looked really different this time around.
C: I was eager to find out more about Alice in the first movie, she seemed quite mysterious. I didn’t feel she was quite as odd this time around, and that was a little bit of a disappointment. Honestly, I don’t know why she would want to be such good friends with Bella…
S: Haha, I don’t get why anyone wants to be such good friends with Bella. She’s so whiny. But yeah, I wish they would have put some of Alice’s backstory from the first book into one of the movies. Or any of the Cullens’ backstories. The only one we really got was Edward’s.
K: I liked Alice in the birthday scene but then not as much after that and I kept wondering if she were even the same actress. Her voice sounded wrong to me! And was she so hostile towards Jacob on the book? I don’t remember that. I remember Rosalie being the problem. Bella’s hair and make-up were awesome. I think it was different because she was depressed so her hair was greasy and her make-up looked as if it wasn’t there…
C: I always like it when actresses actually look like they are going through a tough emotional time. I dug the dark shadows under her eyes…I mean it’s supposed to be tragedy.
S: I actually meant I thought she looked prettier this time, haha. I guess depression suits her.

K: Other than that I thought it was really good actually. Jacob’s character was executed perfectly. They really followed the book which I loved. Dakota Fanning was AWESOME as Jane and so perfect for that part. I liked the whole Volturi cast.
S: Amen about the Volturi being awesome! Loved Michael Sheen and Dakota Fanning. And yeah, I never liked Jacob in the books and have really not gotten the whole Team Jacob thing, but he was great in the movie. And I think I’d rather rewatch the movie than reread the book, if only because Bella’s whining got distilled to one hour instead of dragging on for 300 pages.
K: She was only supposed to hear Edward’s voice not see him. I thought that was corny-looking but obviously they did it to keep the teenie boppers from freaking out since he’s bascially only in the beginning and the end.
S: I hate to admit this, but I was kind of grateful that they did that. He’s just so nice to look at.
C: I am with Kelly on this, I hated that Edward kept popping up all shimmery and then fading away. Come on! Isn’t it enough that he sparkles? Edward left! He needs to deal with the consequences, even if it means less face time on screen. Should have thought of that before he LEFT Bella to be EATEN like a heartless bastard.

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