Twilight, in Theaters November 21st

[lanceb]

Yeah for a book to movie transition it was well done  but I understand people not liking the movie because they have not read the book. The first book was from bellas POV and you could hear her every thought but to do that in a movie would totally destroy it because there would be to much information about the characters which would bore you.

[JoadJoVae]

So here's a brief, spoiler-free review (enclosed in a spoiler block nonetheless) from someone who hasn't read the books. If you don't want to hear anything but positive things about the movie, you may not want to read it...

[spoiler]It was a godawful movie. I've been straining my brain to remember the last time I saw such a lousy movie. The acting was terrible (the actress who played Bella showed basically no emotion throughout the entire movie). The writing was atrocious (seriously, shockingly bad... and incredibly disjointed). And the directing was so amazingly crappy that it should be a criminal offense to make someone watch this movie. I went in with low expectations and even those were far too high for what this dreadful movie delivered.

If you're a die-hard fan, you'll probably see the movie no matter what anyone says. But if you're somebody who's going to the movie because your friend(s) want to see it, do yourself a HUGE favor and skip this one. (Don't think I'm worth listening to? This movie's Rotten Tomatoes score is 44%, which puts it just slightly ahead of Beverly Hills Chihuahua.)[/spoiler]

So Yeah, I have to disagree
[spoiler]While its true its not the movie for some people, I know a friend of mine (who hasn't read the book) came with us last night and absolutely loved it. She thought it was good and decided to buy the complete works this morning. The acting in my opinion was great, Bella is supposed to be emotionless really, she is in a new place and Edward is the only thing keeping her there at this point that and Jacob eventually, but towards the end you can see her stress and her emotion much clearer as intended. When she yelled at Edward not to leave her this really showed. The story really starts to progress in books 2 and 3, book one really is just to set up the story and to get to know the characters, this being said I think they did a brilliant job keeping the movie interesting. Understandably not for some people, but still a good movie (imo) nonetheless.[/spoiler]

[Greg Hines]

So Yeah, I have to disagree
[spoiler]While its true its not the movie for some people, I know a friend of mine (who hasn't read the book) came with us last night and absolutely loved it. She thought it was good and decided to buy the complete works this morning. The acting in my opinion was great, Bella is supposed to be emotionless really, she is in a new place and Edward is the only thing keeping her there at this point that and Jacob eventually, but towards the end you can see her stress and her emotion much clearer as intended. When she yelled at Edward not to leave her this really showed. The story really starts to progress in books 2 and 3, book one really is just to set up the story and to get to know the characters, this being said I think they did a brilliant job keeping the movie interesting. Understandably not for some people, but still a good movie (imo) nonetheless.[/spoiler]

I'll certainly disagree again.

[spoiler]Kristen Stewart (Bella) was terrible. There's a large difference between an emotionless character and an actor incapable of emoting. People have won Oscars for playing emotionless characters. Kristen Stewart was as wooden as they come.

She wasn't the only one giving a bad performance. Even the decent actors in the movie gave sub-par performances. One example is Peter Facinelli (Carlisle). He recently had a role on the show Damages where he gave a very good performance as a person trapped between a rock and a hard place. In this movie, his lines all fell flat. The blame for that is shared by the writer and director.

The director has no place behind a camera. She's incapable of getting a good performance even out of good actors (she's similar to George Lucas in this sense). All of her camera tricks were pure amateur hour. She used handicams at times, which is not a problem in and of itself, but she always used them in the wrong places (notably in Edward's bedroom). There were also many inconsistencies that a competent director would have caught. Twice did Bella leave somewhere in mid-afternoon and arrive at her destination--just a few minutes away, by all accounts--in late evening. (Between the dress shop and the bookshop, and between the hotel and the ballet studio.)

The screenplay sounded like it was written by someone who's never heard another human speak in real life. All of the lines sounded forced and contrived. I may be several years from being a teenager, but I never knew any teenagers who talked like the teenagers in this movie. There were allusions to things that didn't even appear in the movie ("you speak like you're from a different time"... Edward never spoke one sentence that sounded like it belonged in the early 1900s).

The effects were also bad. The part where Edward climbed the tree with Bella on his back made me roll my eyes. I can easily suspend my disbelief when it comes to super strength/speed, but Edward climbed the tree without exerting any force on it (he merely slapped his hands and feet on the tree as he was hoisted upward by the rigging). And when the vampires jumped, they jumped great distances without losing any height. Vampires may be super-strong but they're still subject to the laws of physics. And the scene of the three antagonists walking quickly toward the baseball game looked very obviously like they were walking on a platform that was being pulled along the ground. Even a vampire can't move farther than their stride with each step.

I really didn't like anything about this movie. Nor did my friend, who read and loved the books. He was even more upset at the poor quality of the movie than I was because it was a ruined version of something he really enjoyed. I heard several of the other people in the theater complain about the quality of the movie as they were exiting, so I'm not the only one who thought it was pure tripe.[/spoiler]

[toadstoolssecretluvchild]

here's what i thought of the movie

[spoiler]I watched the movie last night. Ive never read the book but as I said I was a lil curious to see what the fuss was about the movie itself was, bleh and I couldve done without the useless squee-ing for no reason. The SFX were subpar and cheesy, you'd expect more from producers these days cause the running and sparkle effects were just terrible. Some of the actors Ive seen before in great stuff Greg said, and I love Nikki Reed, but they were acting so cardboard cut-out.  The story as a whole wasnt that bad, maybe a 7/10, but yeah the inconsistencies in time and abuse of vampire lore cannot be avoided. 

It was great gettin to hang out with some of the best Ndk girls that we have around this place though. And SLP comin to the movie as Rosalie, that was a highlight. Good job kiddo![/spoiler]

[Kari Kitsune]

Alright guys enough. You're definately ruining the high of the people who liked the movie, alright? Bottom line, EVERYONE HAS DIFFERENT TASTES. Get over it.Some people will love it, some will hate it, some will say it was ok but not great, it varies and there's no reason you should try to get attention for it. This EVENT thread is over, it is not a discussion thread, and if you want to rant about it go write a blog on your myspace page.

[Greg Hines]

A bit touchy, are we, Kari? There's nothing wrong with sharing one's opinion of the activity around which the event was organized. We never lock down threads the moment an event has happened to prevent discussion of the event.

I put my opinions in spoiler tags so anyone not wanting to read negative opinions of the movie could avoid reading them. toad opted not to do that, and that's fine. But as you said, Kari, everyone has different tastes. Get over it. Someone else's opinion of the movie should have no effect on your opinion of the movie and you shouldn't have a problem with other people expressing their opinions.

[Ifria]

*gigglesnort*

[Kari Kitsune]

Actually yeah, I am a "bit touchy". Lunara started this whole thing just to get some people who want to see the movie and go together and have some fun. We weren't trying to force people to come. And yet since it started people have come in here to interrupt our planning by trying to go off on how terrible it is. I think if you want to have your opinion, have it in an appropriate place, but let the people who like it plan in the place they were meant to plan.

[toadstoolssecretluvchild]

Gee Sorry I didnt give away any plot points and just gave a general synopsis that you would see from any type of review. and I did say that the story wasnt that bad, just the visual portrayal of it. and i also did say that i had a good time all in all too.

so just to make amends and not have Kari0chan gouge out my eyes I wen and hid my stuffy stuff,  so meh

[Kari Kitsune]

XD Hey hey hey, I would not gouge your eyes out I'm seriously not trying to sound like an angry fangirl, and no one has offended me, I just think that in the context of the rules that are the NDK forums this thread has "met it's match" so to speak, and just needs to be left alone. I can understand people have their own opinions, I just think there's a time and place for them. I hope that makes sense.

[Greg Hines]

Well, I don't mean to be argumentative, but we don't lock threads just because the event in question is over. Take, for example, the Final Fantasy concert meetup thread. There are two pages of posts made after the concert discussing what people thought of it--including a fair bit of criticism of it.

No, meetup threads run their course when people are done talking about the meetup or the event around which the meetup was organized. In this case, it's discussion about the movie itself. And people who enjoyed the movie are certainly welcome to post their thoughts about the movie, just as much as those of us who didn't are welcome to post our thoughts.

[Evil Badman]

Well, I don't mean to be argumentative, but we don't lock threads just because the event in question is over. Take, for example, the Final Fantasy concert meetup thread. There are two pages of posts made after the concert discussing what people thought of it--including a fair bit of criticism of it.

No, meetup threads run their course when people are done talking about the meetup or the event around which the meetup was organized. In this case, it's discussion about the movie itself. And people who enjoyed the movie are certainly welcome to post their thoughts about the movie, just as much as those of us who didn't are welcome to post our thoughts.

Your overly hyperbolic negative review of a movie you "were dragged to" and "had low expectations" juxtaposed in the middle of everyone else having a good time was borderline trolling. The incredible extremes you went to deride said movie were ridiculously uncalled for compared to majority of posters who had enjoyed the event and movie. If anything, you came off as an elitist film critic pointing out the the blatant flaws in everyone's favorite movie ever, just because you have that right.

Yes, I understand your creed of "everyone has an opinion," but you should have the common sense, especially as a moderator, of not trying to flame bait an entire thread just because you didn't have a good time like everyone else. Your opinion may be valid, but your delivery was unnecessarily stand-offish considering the constituency of this thread.

"I did not like this movie" is an opinion.

I've been straining my brain to remember the last time I saw such a lousy movie ... it should be a criminal offense to make someone watch this movie.

Is a thinly veiled attempt at provocation and baiting.

[Garion]

This doesn't only seem like conflicting opinions, it seems like a conflicting criteria of what makes a movie "good".  Greg did use some harsh words, but to his credit he put his opinion in spoiler tags and even said it wasn't positive so people who didn't want to read it didn't have to.  I felt that Greg's only problem was that he didn't like the production, he didn't even mention the story which is why everyone went to see the in the first place...  Wasn't it?  I don't think I've heard anyone say "I just loved the directing/acting/special effects" I usually hear "Woo!  Edward! <3" so I don't think the people who gave it a positive review were picking apart ever aspect of the movie, they just wanted to see the characters that they had in their minds on the silver screen.  It's like when I saw Speed Racer, I didn't go expecting to see a great performance and a perfect example of modern film, I wanted to see da cars go fast!  I think it's sort of a similar thing here, people went to see Twilight because it was based on their beloved book series, not because they were expecting to be wowed by a genius director.

Heck, I didn't see Harry Potter because I felt that Rupert Grint would give me a stellar performance or that Chris Columbus would wow me with his directing skill.  I wanted to see one of my favorite books on the big screen.  I can tell you right now that I couldn't give you a very honest opinion about it.  I just liked the story and wanted to see what the movie producers would do with it.

Greg:  I understand that you didn't like it, but I'm not entirely sure why you went to see a movie you had low expectations for anyway.

Also, as far as the troll accusations are concerned, I will refer to the old adage "Don't feed the trolls."

Anyway, I think this conversation has gone on long enough.  The bell's ringing so it's time for closing statements and for everyone to move on.

After all, aren't we getting a little off-topic?  

[JoadJoVae]

Ok here is the last of my thoughts on the topic. Greg, in my opinion the difference between posts such as yours and the others on this thread, as some have said, you took the movie apart based on the aspects of the movie/screenwriting/directing, I argued this point and you completely denied anything I said. You addressed maybe one or two of my points and then just went on another rant as to how much you disliked the movie. I tried to make it a point to suggest that I could understand how this movie would not be some a favorite for some people and yet you completely rejected the other side. Some of us have been waiting YEARS to see this movie. I read the first of the books several years ago and when I heard they were coming out with a movie I was ecstatic. Seeing my favorite characters and story on the screen was enough to make me happy, some parts were off from the story but I still enjoyed it. If you didn't like the aspects of the movie then say so once but there is no need to repeatedly mention just how much you hated this movie, that is bound to cause conflict. Also, when one person tried to tell you that she felt you were being in the wrong there is no need to call her "touchy" and attack her and what she has said directly, this could easily be taken as you just trying to argue for arguments sake once feelings are already high as a result of wanting to protect a favorite movie. I would appreciate it if this thread were to be locked or all discussion here would stop. We do leave topics open for discussion until the topic has run its course, it gets too far off topic, or until it becomes a problem, all of which seem to have happened. If you don't lock it then fine, I am not a mod, but there is no need to continue an argument just for the sake of arguing so if it isn't locked, lets get back on topic shall we?

As a side note, as brought to my attention by a friend, I didn't mean that you didn't respond to my points directly greg I simply felt like my post was irrelevant because you had already made up your mind thus decided not to argue the point farther.

[Greg Hines]

You're right, JoadJoVae. This thread has veered away from the movie and has become about my opinion of the movie. It's gotten off-topic (irrevocably so, I suspect) and I'm locking the thread as a result.

While I wouldn't mind continuing the debate about the contents of the movie and whether my expressing my opinion was appropriate, doing so at this point (before I lock the thread) would be unfair. If someone else would like to continue the discussion, please feel free to post a new topic about it in the General Chatter section.