Starring: Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner. Genre: Action/Romance/Drama IMDb: Twilight: Eclipse Released: July 1st, 2010 (New Zealand)

If you’ve read the books then you won’t need any introduction to the three main roles in Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series so we’ll cut to the chase. The third movie was really a bit of a snore-fest (and that’s coming from a fan!) because I’m pretty much over the whole shirtless Jacob and sparkly-skinned Edward thing (actually, I was never really a fan of either of those aspects of the movies). In fact, the storyline seemed something of a paper-thin, watered-down version of the book so in other words – lacklustre and pretty awful.

The only redeeming feature that Eclipse held for me was the great special effects work and the action sequences which were exceptionally well-done. And what really ruined it for me was the fact that I really enjoyed reading Eclipse and actually think it’s one of the best books in the series. The movie however, does nothing for it.

So if you’re a fan, you’re likely to be a little disappointed (unless you’re one of the devout fanatics who drool at the very sound of RPatz’s voice), and if you’ve never read the books then you’re going to miss out on alot. I know that books really can’t be entirely adapted for film but honestly, there’s alot that the movie didn’t capture – and things that I thought were over-accentuated and just plain cheesy.

Yes – people WILL get sick of seeing Jacob running around without a shirt on (as cut and healthy-looking as he is) and yes, people will get sick of the drooly, love-scenes between Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart that lack any sort of REAL chemistry. I’m pretty sure that if any genuine feelings between the two actors existed, their on-screen love connections would be just a little more impassioned. Actually, just thinking about that, their on-screen chemistry was off the chart in the first movie. Maybe that’s because back then, there was something real, however minute it may have been. But whatever it was, it’s not there any more. Now they really are just actors pretending to be in love for a pay cheque and doing a very poor job of it.

I’ll finish what I started and see the other two movies only because I like to finish things. But I’m hoping that the script writer will actually do a better job for the last two movies because Eclipse was definitely eclipsed alright – eclipsed by the dollar signs floating around in the Hollywood air… oh yeah, and one last thing – the wigs the cast wore – they were terrible!

PCR Rating:

Yes, please don’t hurt me. I am a Twilight fan. I’ve read all the books and I actually enjoyed them and I don’t mind defending the franchise if someone decides to call them crap – the franchise has a certain appeal. You either like it or you don’t.

So the midnight session I’ll be going to was completely sold out and I was really lucky to get tickets. I’ve seen the trailer and to be honest, the trailer doesn’t do the books justice. I only hope that the script doesn’t stray too far away from the original story. I feel that the script is alot more watered down in terms of intensity than the books which makes sense as the movies are dealing with a different audience. The movies are good but fail to capture what I think is crucial to the Twilight story – the intensity and the sense of loss; loss of ones’ innocence, loss of loved ones, loss of humanity.

Now it just feels like everyone involved in the Twilight project is trying to cash-in on the success of the franchise and that’s kinda lame. I’m glad I read the books if only to understand the original story which is a whole lot more compelling in alot of ways than the movies will ever be. There’s a whole lot more to Twilight than two good looking teenagers, even if one of them is undead…

A new day dawns and so the vampire creeps, creeps, creeps its way slowly back into the shadowy depths of mythology. Or does it? Has Hollywood had its fill of blood-letting and bloodlust? Do we finally bid farewell to Edward Cullen, Angel, Eli and Bill Compton? Or does the vampire continue to dig its nails into the everlasting flesh of Hollywood, holding it in its eternal embrace.

With Daybreakers just released in the US (doesn’t arrive on NZ shores until March this year), it’s possible we’re about to see a huge decline in vampire related movies/books/tv shows and the like. Obviously True Blood has found its niche and with current trends aside, will probably continue for a few seasons yet, given its popularity. Other than the continuance of the Twilight movies this year (Eclipse releases in New Zealand in July), it seems the vampire may have had its time in the limelight. Perhaps Hollywood really has had its fill of vampires. Let’s take a quick recap over the last few years and look at just how popular the vampire has been in the entertainment medium:

1. Twilight (books and movies) – based on the books by Stephanie Meyer. Made vampires look hip again and even trendy caus’ they mention google
2. Let the Right One In (movie based on the novel) – back to more traditional roots, you can’t deny the understated creepiness and allure of Eli, the 12 year old vampire that befriends a lonely boy on a swing. Just awesome.
3. True Blood – bringing the vampire wayyy down south made this TV show with its raunchy and sexy appeal something to really sink your teeth into. Also based on books and starring New Zealand starlet Anna Paquin in the lead role.
4. The Vampire Diaries – also based on books and started a little bit of controversy when it was revealed by the author’s legal representation that Stephanie Meyer allegedly plagiarised parts of the book to create her own. Wow, vampire politics even!
5. Daybreakers - features Ethan Hawke as a cool looking vampire dude who befriends a group of humans. Kinda weird when you think about a world populated by vampires where humans are the endangered species.
6. The Vampire’s Assistant – apparently we didn’t get enough of the teenage vampire running amok with Twilight. The Vampire’s Assistant does however feature some other freaky looking people like Salma Hayek with a beard!
7. The Underworld trilogy – started off so very well with Kate Beckinsale bringing sexy back to the vampire that fights werewolves. So much promise with this story but not too sure what happened along the way. Even the brilliant Michael Sheen couldn’t save this vampire story from the harsh critics of hollywood.

So if Vampires have had their day (or is that night?), what -  if anything, could replace them? We’ve got Wolfman with Benecio Del Toro and Emily Blunt clawing its way to theatres soon but I doubt that’s going to spawn a million and one stories/books/movies about werewolves. And without the vampire in hollywood, things just wouldn’t really be the same. Or would they? I guess only time will tell but one thing’s for sure, the vampire has had one hell of a ride over the last few years. Maybe it’s time the vampire got some of that eternal rest we keep reading about… you know, until hollywood needs to feel its cold, vice-like grip on its throat once again.

I just couldn’t resist posting this here because a) it’s funny and b) every man and his dog are talking about New Moon right now so here’s my contribution:

New Moon as seen in the Sims universe

Enjoy:

It’s a little over two months away from the release of New Moon in New Zealand (19 November) so this will probably be the last glimpse we’ll get to see before the release. And each and every time a new trailer for Twilight goes online, the internet gets that much slower… it’s a pain!

Here’s Edward, Bella, Jacob and the volturi doing what they all do best… kicking ass and looking great while they do it!

Check out the new trailer for New Moon: The Twilight Saga thanks to TA.

Images of the new cast members for Twilight: New Moon have been revealed. Dakota Fanning as Jane and Michael Sheen as Volturi leader Aro are pretty cool.

You can check out all the images here at Cinematical.

Dakota looks exactly how I pictured Jane would look. She actually makes one good looking vampire. As for Michael Sheen swapping his werewolf talons for the vamp-look – very tasty!

Thanks to Cinematical for the images.

Thanks to the genius of Jonathan McIntosh, here’s a rather refreshing view of what could happen should Edward ‘Twilight’ Cullen ever meet his true match in Buffy ‘TheVampireSlayer’ Summers.

I found this via twitter and it’s pretty cool. I can’t embed it here as the author has placed certain copyrights on his work (fair enough) but here’s the linkage.

Enjoy.

As much as I enjoyed reading the Twilight books (and liked the movie even more), Buffy the Vampire Slayer is beyond coolness as far as cult tv shows go. Twilight would be lucky to acquire the cult following that BtVS has and quite fankly, Joss Whedon is a genius.

So Joss Whedon was interviewed about what he thought of Twilight mania and gave it the thumbs up. But he also thinks hands down that:

“Robert Pattinson is really cool. Angel would kick the s**t out of him. He’s Angelus.”

I’ve got no reservations in agreeing with Joss on this one. Whilst Robert Pattinson’s Edward can be pretty primal when he needs to be, it doesn’t come close to the scary, demonic looking Angelus in BtVS:

And if you had to have a vampire ripping into your neck, who would you rather it be? Personally, I’d like to keep my neck firmly free of any bites, thanks – I mean, think of all the diseases you’d get… eww!

Thanks to MTV for the goss.

So we have the story of Bella Swan who falls in love with the vampire Edward Cullen, a student at her school from the Twilight book series. Now it’s the Vampire Diaries also based on a series of books by author L. J. Smith which is about a girl named Elena who falls in love with a vampire named Stefan, a student at her school. Stefan’s older brother shows up on the scene and decides that he also wants a piece of lovely Elena and the battle for Elena’s attention (or should that be veins?) ensues.

Now at first I thought I was writing the same exact plot description for two different books twice, but no. As it turns out, the Vampire Diaries was released well before Twilight (Wikipedia lists the books as being written in 1991 – doh!).

Regardless, this looks like it will be yet another tweenage melo-drama about a vampire-human love affair that never really seems to go anywhere (well, not if you compare it to the hot, steamy loving that’s going on in True Blood). But we’re not biased, not at all! We look at all vampire-human love stories equally… and there’s so many of them now, it’s getting difficult to choose which one to follow.

Take a look at the trailer for Vampire Diaries and let us know what you think.

We know you’ve all been clamouring for the latest Twilight fad to hit stores and the wait is finally over. ‘Twilight’ the graphic novel (or manga as we’d like to call it) is being created by manga artist Young Kim and will be published by Yen Press.

Finished illustrations of Edward, Bella and Jacob will be released by EW magazine this Friday in the States but we’ll just have to do with the above image for now.

I suppose it could be worse… they could be making Twilight whoopie cushions…