First, I must say I am not a huge fan of books about vampires. It's been done to death lately. YA lit is awash in the supernatural right now thanks to Harry and the resurrection of LOTR and Narnia. I have avoided the Twilight series simply because it was about vampires. But I figured as a hopeful YA writer, I should see what the fuss was about. So I bought a cheap copy of Twilight at Walmart since the Library never had any copies available. (mild spoiler alert) When I finished I was thoroughly annoyed. It wasn't particularly well written. Bella was annoying, Edward was just weird, but Jacob Black had won me over. It was probably his character that kept me reading. Imagine my delight when the next installment was mostly about Jacob. The writing was a little better. Edward and Bella were still annoying in the same way Romeo and Juliet are annoying. For some reason I find love that takes itself so seriously to be annoying. But that's probably just me, I tend to see the absurd in everything. Eclipse was my favorite. There was more action, more of all the characters, and Jacob finally has his moment with Bella. I knew she would never be his, but I'm glad he got his chance. Breaking Dawn is one I need to read again. It was so oddly different from the other books. I guess because it moves from the real world mixing with the vampire/wolf world, to being largely about the vamp/wolf world. As a whole I found I liked them. But I never really could like Bella.
Then I realized that Bella is truly the "everygirl." What girl has not found herself utterly in unexplicable love. That all consuming can't eat, can't sleep, can't keep your eyes off him love. Obsessive, maddening, and then it turns out he feels the same way. The joy, the rapture, the awkwardness, the nervousness. You are afraid to believe it is true, that you might wake up from a dream.
And this, I think, is the appeal of the saga. It's not the vampires, it's the love story.
I watched the movie trailers on youtube. I was strongly reminded of an afterschool special. Do they do those anymore? Then my sister had the idea of going to the 12:01 showing. It seemed like a fun idea. We don't get out much :). We had a blast. They had 7 theatres open at the AMC. We went to no. 13. We got there around 10, and there were quite a few people there. It was fun to see everyone in their t-shirts taking pictures and generally making an event of the evening. My sister's 13 yr old son went with us. He was relieved to not be the only guy. He wanted to show his ticket stub to all the girls at school the next day.
The movie finally started, and thankfully there was only a small contingent of screamers in our theatre that were quickly hushed. My initial reaction of thinking of an afterschool special was dead-on. The beginning was hokey, awkward, and exactly what real high school is like. We're weren't sure(I'm still not) if they meant it to be so campy or if it just came across that way. Somehow I suspect it was supposed to be a bit campy. How can a teen melodrama not be campy? But as hokey as parts of it were, there were also brief moments of brilliance. Robert Pattinson had some perfect moments of Edwardness. He also had moments when he seemed to be channeling the character of "Roman" from Days of Our Lives(the dark brooding eyebrow lift look). Overall, once all the character introductions were over, the film settled into itself. With the actual film, I thought it needed some editing help, especially at the beginning. Some of the scenes and transitions were choppy and shot at strange angles. There were a lot of close-ups. It was strangely like the book. You were totally immersed in Edward and Bella's obsession with one another. I guess that was the point. There was a lot of giggling in the audience at some of the moments of intense "looking." You knew you shouldn't be giggling, but it was comical and endearing at the same time. Especially if you remember giving and receiving those looks. I'm still not sure about the casting of Jacob. Taylor Lautner is definitely cute, and has the sunny disposition of Jacob in the first book, but I wonder if he can handle the intense Jacob of the latter books--if he is recast in the role. Kristen Stewart was totally Bella.
I really wished they had made it a little longer. It could have used 30 more minutes. I suppose we'll get all the cut scenes on the DVD. It was certainly not a piece of artistic cinema, but the first Harry Potter was pretty bad, too. But it still drew us in and made us part of their world, hokey parts and all. I would see it again just because it was fun. They don't make enough fun movies anymore that aren't full of potty humor and swearing. It was so refreshing to see a movie with no swearing. And where the characters don't immediately fall into bed upon their first glance. I personally think the suspenseful sort of physical relationship is much more interesting to watch than people just jumping into bed. I hope they get a bigger budget for the next movie. I think it has a chance of being much better than this one.
oops, I almost forgot to add that once I read the excerpt of Midnight Sun(Twilight from Edward's perspective) on Stephenie Meyer's website, I liked Edward. Robert Pattinson's portrayal made me like him better, but reading from his perspective made me like him alot. I still think Bella is annoying.
Don't be fooled by the sad look. I was told that he was eavesdropping on his cousin's video game conversation. And yes, he needs a haircut, too.
And yes, his shirt is on backwards. He has some sensory issues(which is why I wait as long as possible between haircuts). I guess I should cut his tags out. Though I'm not sure why it bothers him less to have the tags in the front. 
Hanging out in the fig tree
