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Movie Monday: Breaking Dawn, Part 1
I think that it's heartbreakingly sad and hypocritical that an 18 year old gay student (Tyler Clementi) committed suicide because his 18 year old roommate (Dharun Rai) videoed then streamed the video of the student's homosexual encounter with another student. So sad because two young men have had their lives shattered; so hypocritical because our Gov in NJ just vetoed the bill allowing gays to marry in the state. I won't go into the insanity of his suggestion that gay marriage be put to a referendum so the voters could decide, as, he also suggested, civil rights should have been in the 1960s. (Sure, let the South decide if blacks should be kept as second-class citizens. That's a no-brainer.)
However, once again we have elected officials displaying knee-jerk deep prejudices with their craven "Pontius Pilate"decisions while expecting 18 year old kids to make the correct ethical and moral decisions.
What a crock! The Gov just told the state that he's not going to lift a finger to even the playing field for gays. It's a message he has no problem sending but takes no blame for the tragic drama which played out between Clementi and Ravi because of the poisoned atmosphere decisions and thinking like this create.
And then there's Breaking Dawn Part 1. In a moment of guilt?, madness?, sheer exhaustion?, I bought the DVD for the girl and she insisted we sit down immediately and watch it. (She already had the privilege of a movie house viewing of BD; I didn't.)
I sat expecting the worst. Awful, awful, awful; I was ready. But then, about 15 minutes into the movie when I realized Jacob was not appearing, (except for the obviously campy seconds-long-in-duration opening shot of him tearing off his shirt and morphing), I relaxed and mentally said: Without Jacob's bad acting, it's not bad.
Even knowing that Jacob would appear eventually, I did enjoy the Condon touches. I thought he worked in some sweet and not-so-sweet touches (Bella's vision) into the whole wedding prep and ceremony. Once you realize this is not epic film making (except perhaps in the minds of pre-teens) it was pretty easy to "go with the flow."
But then, of course, Jacob must appear. And...... wait for it........ he wasn't that bad. Acting lessons or better direction may have helped but there was a maturity in him which came through even with some awful dialogue.
Of course, there were howlingly silly parts like the wolves speaking among themselves. If this final shot was the best they could do, this scene had to be a mess to film and edit. However, the honeymoon scene was nicely played. I liked the part in the book where Bella does everything to postpone meeting Edward on the beach and I'm happy they kept in that including her decision to shave her legs.
What has been lacking through all the movies is a community of characters. That is, everyone hits their mark and says their lines but you don't feel they're communicating with much more than the camera. That's why I liked the very brief scene when during the travails of Bella's pregnancy Jacob walks in and discovers her and Edward laughing together. It was a nice "human" touch.
While Condon missed with the wolve's talk, he nailed the imprinting. Imprinting is a yucky subject since it smacks of pedophilia and I never thought he could pull it off. However, as Jacob imprints with the CGI baby (who looked awful in this scene but I know they are very, very strict with how you handle infants in movies so perhaps that was the best they could go with the state of CGI today) the use of a montage of photos showing Nessie at all ages even into adulthood, lessened the impact of this controversial subject.
Of course the movie was flawed but now that I've seen it I am surprised by the almost universal negative howl that greeted it upon its release. This may be faint praise but it is the only Twilight movie since the first which I could see again.
Next week: Perhaps Dogville and Manderly. No, I haven't forgotten them; it's just that I'd like to sit through both together and, time-wise, that's not working.
I think that it's heartbreakingly sad and hypocritical that an 18 year old gay student (Tyler Clementi) committed suicide because his 18 year old roommate (Dharun Rai) videoed then streamed the video of the student's homosexual encounter with another student. So sad because two young men have had their lives shattered; so hypocritical because our Gov in NJ just vetoed the bill allowing gays to marry in the state. I won't go into the insanity of his suggestion that gay marriage be put to a referendum so the voters could decide, as, he also suggested, civil rights should have been in the 1960s. (Sure, let the South decide if blacks should be kept as second-class citizens. That's a no-brainer.)
However, once again we have elected officials displaying knee-jerk deep prejudices with their craven "Pontius Pilate"decisions while expecting 18 year old kids to make the correct ethical and moral decisions.
What a crock! The Gov just told the state that he's not going to lift a finger to even the playing field for gays. It's a message he has no problem sending but takes no blame for the tragic drama which played out between Clementi and Ravi because of the poisoned atmosphere decisions and thinking like this create.
And then there's Breaking Dawn Part 1. In a moment of guilt?, madness?, sheer exhaustion?, I bought the DVD for the girl and she insisted we sit down immediately and watch it. (She already had the privilege of a movie house viewing of BD; I didn't.)
I sat expecting the worst. Awful, awful, awful; I was ready. But then, about 15 minutes into the movie when I realized Jacob was not appearing, (except for the obviously campy seconds-long-in-duration opening shot of him tearing off his shirt and morphing), I relaxed and mentally said: Without Jacob's bad acting, it's not bad.
Even knowing that Jacob would appear eventually, I did enjoy the Condon touches. I thought he worked in some sweet and not-so-sweet touches (Bella's vision) into the whole wedding prep and ceremony. Once you realize this is not epic film making (except perhaps in the minds of pre-teens) it was pretty easy to "go with the flow."
But then, of course, Jacob must appear. And...... wait for it........ he wasn't that bad. Acting lessons or better direction may have helped but there was a maturity in him which came through even with some awful dialogue.
Of course, there were howlingly silly parts like the wolves speaking among themselves. If this final shot was the best they could do, this scene had to be a mess to film and edit. However, the honeymoon scene was nicely played. I liked the part in the book where Bella does everything to postpone meeting Edward on the beach and I'm happy they kept in that including her decision to shave her legs.
What has been lacking through all the movies is a community of characters. That is, everyone hits their mark and says their lines but you don't feel they're communicating with much more than the camera. That's why I liked the very brief scene when during the travails of Bella's pregnancy Jacob walks in and discovers her and Edward laughing together. It was a nice "human" touch.
While Condon missed with the wolve's talk, he nailed the imprinting. Imprinting is a yucky subject since it smacks of pedophilia and I never thought he could pull it off. However, as Jacob imprints with the CGI baby (who looked awful in this scene but I know they are very, very strict with how you handle infants in movies so perhaps that was the best they could go with the state of CGI today) the use of a montage of photos showing Nessie at all ages even into adulthood, lessened the impact of this controversial subject.
Of course the movie was flawed but now that I've seen it I am surprised by the almost universal negative howl that greeted it upon its release. This may be faint praise but it is the only Twilight movie since the first which I could see again.
Next week: Perhaps Dogville and Manderly. No, I haven't forgotten them; it's just that I'd like to sit through both together and, time-wise, that's not working.
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