New Moon, my review

Before I start, I must say that I did not like the adaptation of Twilight at all. Having read the books several times over, some scenes did not come out as I imagined them to be. Yeah, visually – things are great but the story was not what I read, Twilight the movie was another version of Twilight the novel.

I re-read (7th time) the New Moon book before watching the movie and finished it last night so everything is still very clear.  The movie is loyal to the book.. if those who said they read the book but still expected something “smashing” I am sorry you were disappointed. New Moon is full of cheesy lines . The characters are expected to be awkward (except for Jacob) -  Jessica hooks up with Lauren who was anti-Bella, Charlie was dead worried about Bella, Jacob’s dad  about Jacob’s transformation, Alice because she wasn’t allowed to come back…   how else would you portray/show awkward? broken-hearted, nervous, hallucinating? How would you behave when you know that the girl is completely lost to another and you do not even have a slightest chance to have her for yourself? eh?

The flow of the story is good (though not perfect) and the atmosphere is very different from the first film. This one is more “real”,  the saturation toned down a lot more. Although, I would’ve liked to see some atmosphere in the forest when Edward left Bella. Some fog or something to really make that bit memorable. They managed to add some humour which is a great, a welcome surprise. The fight scene is great, I love the way Edward gets tossed around by Felix.

There were slight changes; like Bella’s “kiss me” after the accident and Harry’s heart attack. Also some missing bits like when Alice and Bella took the plane to Italy – that conversation explains a bit somethings or when Alice bribed the police in Italy or their arrival back home – I’ve imagined that arrival from Italy many times and I was disappointed it wasn’t included.  Oh, I was wondering whether they’s include the “bonfire” when the Cullen’s left or Bella’s confrontation with her Dad about Sam or her defense of the pack afterwards. Those were not shown, nor her insistence that her father allow Edward in or Edward telling her about the photos under the floorboard,  and when Jacob remembered Sam’s memory of Bella when he found her in the forest around Edward. They also forgot to mention the Denali, which is important to the fourth movie. Because Laurent formed a bond with one of the Denali vampires and when Laurent was killed that  vamp was left emotionally unwell.

What was often forgotten by some audience is the fact that Bella and Edward are mates – made for each other, one cannot survive without the other.  Like Carlisle  to Esme or Jasper to Alice or James to Victoria.

I really think this movie was done well.  If you consider the general awkwardness of the characters in the book , the portrayal of the characters in the movie is okay.

About the abundance of bare-chested men with rippling muscles. I won’t say I did not like seeing all those muscles… boys you are just jealous!  Boys who complained, don’t watch the next movie… there are a lot more of that in the next movies!

If you were thinking of watching and you’ve read the book, I advise you to re-read the book to remind yourself that this movie is about a broken heart, loyalty and friendship. Nothing romantic at all.

If I were to make a list of things in each book then see below:

Twilight

• Bella and Edward meet, they are mates, not the Australian word for buddy.
• Bella get terrorised by another vamp (James)
• James was killed and his mate victoria want vengeance
• Bella and Edward were back in Forks

New Moon

• All goes well until Bella’s b-day.
• Accident happened.
• Edward felt he need to get away to keep her safe. So he left
• Depression (who haven’t thought of suicide after a break-up with a “real love”?).
• Getting Edwards back.
• Marriage proposal.

Eclipse

• Graduation
• Tense relationship with Jacob and Bella trying to mend it ti keep her best friend
• Attack by Victoria’s new-born vampire army
• Their promise to the Volturi.
• Wedding preps

Breaking of Dawn

• Jacob sulking,
• Wedding and honeymoon
• Pregnancy
• Childbirth and Bella’s transformation
• Bella the Vamp and her baby
• Volturi

mom… says…

I wanted to post this a while ago and always forgot… so here it is

Travel through time

We took the family to Greenwich and somewhere in the park is the set for the filming of the movie “The Duchess” starring the lovely Kiera Knightley. Above are some props, like travelingback ages ago when markets are like this, the meat (pork and poultry) were hanged in carts.

Forest Festival

On Sunday the 2nd of September, we went to the Forest Festival on Chingford Plain close to the Queen’s Hunting Lodge as well as Chingford. At 10.30AM, we managed to find a parking for free in front of the Butler’s Retreat. We were early for once and were able to enjoy some peace and quite walking around the stalls before everyone arrived!

It was a fun day, I only saw Rooney by the HighLift but did not meet the others. There were lots to do and try. My son held a Garter Snake in his hand and let it clamber on his arm – Nope, I refuse to have it on mine. Anyway, went to enjoy the view at 100ft from the the ground of the forest and London with the Highlift, then literally ogling at the radio controlled toys such as the helicopters and the airplanes. I am glad my son likes them too! That makes another hobby all three can do. Definitely went on to try the Archery imagining someone’s head on the target (always work with me) and got 2 of 5 arrows on the blue and 1 on the black. The two others went to the net further away.

On the main arena, there’s the Dog Agility show where dogs run around, jump through hurdles and hoops. This was followed by the Jousting by the Knights which turned out to be very entertaining indeed! I was disappointed a bit by the dancing digger but it still wowed the little boy It would’ve been  really impressive if there were at least 4 diggers and loud music! The driver of the is a nice man and even let Devlin on the controls! The little cheek asked if her can make it run, imagine that!

The little girl was running around like a mad thing bumping to anyone and is comfortable on the grass in the way of everyone!

There were a couple of vintage cars on display such as this one…

This is a Fairlop Woodturner at work. Very fascinating to watch

Radio controlled helicopter… I want one!

The Highlift. A 120K£ toy with wireless control and goes up to 100ft!

We were waiting for the jousting to begin and I recognized Rooney’s top on the lift

Trust me, he is an evil man!

My son holding the snake

This little girl refused to walk, pretended to sleep, then kicking her legs up and bumping on anyone coming!

The Bridge to Terabithia

Today we decided to go to the cinema as a family – the chosen film is Terabitha. We brought along my 4 year old son and my 18 month old baby. They were well behaved during the film and both children’s interest were caught. Well, I guess it’s because it is a story about children and their strong imagination.

Personally, I like it. After being disappointed with Eragon, my expectations for American fiction movies were rather low. This however gave some respect back. It is a movie that shows a story of pre-teen boy and girl with domestic and school pressures. And this story is also about friendship and imagination, the highs and lows of school life, etc. It is great, it touches the person watching it. My son enjoyed it and my 18month daughter just watched, never got distracted. As a responsible parent, I believe there is nothing wrong with this movie, it is both happy and sad but life is like that too and even worse! It is well done because the story is easy to understand – not too complicated, also the message got through, it made the viewer smile, laugh and cry. But most of all it teaches a lesson and that’s what ALL movie should be about.

From my point as a viewer, there is no pretentious  animations, everything fits well.

If by any chance you saw the trailer, please keep your mind WIDE OPEN because nowadays the trailers are hacked parets of the movie rearranged into a different story.