New Moon

[superhero]

By all accounts I think most of the reviews coming out are quite good, well at least it's an improvement on the first film, Twilight, but still it's heavily aimed at young girls.

[Beate]

http://www.viewlondon.co.uk/films/the-t ... ewsletters

The ViewLondon Review

Review by Matthew Turner
18/11/2009
Opens Friday 20 November 2009

Three out of Five stars
Running time: 130 mins

Enjoyable sequel to last year's smash hit with a stronger plot and better performances, though it still suffers from the occasional dodgy moment and some amusingly rubbish special effects.

What's it all about?
Directed by Chris Weitz, The Twilight Saga: New Moon is the sequel to last year's smash hit Twilight, based on the series of bestselling books by Stephenie Meyer. As the film opens, Bella Swan (Kirsten Stewart) is having nightmares about growing old while her vampire boyfriend Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) stays the same age, but she's devastated when he announces that he's leaving her in order to protect her, despite the fact that both Bella and the majority of the Cullens are in favour of her becoming a vampire and joining their family.

With Edward away, Bella finds herself growing closer to her best friend Jacob (Taylor Lautner) but she's unaware that he has a supernatural secret of his own. Meanwhile, an equally heartbroken Edward is planning a drastic action that will bring him in front of the Volturi, a powerful group of ruling vampires, led by the charismatic Aro (Michael Sheen, switching sides from the Underworld series).

The Good
The acting has improved enormously since Twilight, particularly in the case of Taylor Lautner, who delivers a strong, likeable performance as Jacob and has genuine chemistry with Stewart. The plot is much more engaging this time round too, both emotionally and dramatically, though Pattinson's legions of screaming fans may be disappointed by his relative lack of screen time.

Pattinson and Stewart are both good and there's strong support from Ashley Greene (as Alice Cullen) and Anna Kendrick (as Bella's non-vampire friend Jessica), whilst Dakota Fanning makes a memorable impression as Jane, a sinister member of the Volturi.

The Bad
The main problem is that Bella's whiny thrill-seeking (because Edward appears to her whenever she's in danger) is both unconvincing and laughably stupid, such as when she goes for a ride with the world's nicest Hell's Angel-type. Similarly, the script goes a little overboard on the Romeo and Juliet parallels.

In addition, the CGI wolf effects are good in some scenes but terrible in others, most notably in the first appearance of the pack. It's also a shame there's no werewolf equivalent of vampire baseball.

Worth seeing?
The Twilight Saga: New Moon is an entertaining, well acted sequel that sticks closely to the events of the book and won't disappoint the fans.

[anakin]

There was an article in Stylist magazine (Page 37: http://issue.stylist.co.uk/Stylist-styl ... f3d012.cde) about Twilight Mum's which are basically women over the age of 25 often married and or with kids, who spend crazy amounts of time reading the books and essentially neglecting their kids just to absorb any related info from the net, mags or whatever, even just re reading books etc.

I saw the first film and didn't think that much of it (and try as I might can't see what the fuss about RPatz - what a stupid name - is all about), though I can understand teens often latch on to anything (we've all been there) and the surrounding hype must have something to do with that... but what on earth is going on with these women?! I can't believe that the "pure love story" and the lack of s3x is what it's all about.

Oh and for Beate's sake.... WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

[lovesitx]

A lot of people do say it isn't Rob Pattinson that there in love with its his character Edward Cullen, personally i find Edward's character a little creepy and after the fourth book i find Jacob Black disgusting so i am no way going to obsess over either of them. I do think that Rob and Taylor are attractive but out of the whole cast i woud have to say Kellan Lutz is the one who does it for me.
I'm going to see it in a bit before all the tweens get let loose from school, i just hope that Kristen Stewart isn't as cr@p as she is in the first one, as an actress she does nothing for me.

[Beate]

Personally I thought Pattinson is the weakest actor. He is incredibly wooden and all he does is stand about with this supposedly brooding look on his face and mumbles something at Bella. There is this scene where he is led to believe that she is dead and I was waiting for the pain and anguish of this revelation to show on his face and make me care for him - but there was nothing.

[anakin]

I was waiting for the pain and anguish of this revelation to show on his face and make me care for him - but there was nothing.

Too busy looking (and I use the term loosely) "hot" for the masses, perhaps?

[Beate]

http://www.totalfilm.com/reviews/cinema ... a-new-moon

The Twilight Saga: New Moon (12A)
Robsessed? Prepare to swoon. Nonplussed? Prepare to scorn…
The Twilight Saga: New Moon
BY: Jane Crowther
Nov 17th 2009

In the wake of the international pant-dampening hysteria generated by Twilight last year, Summit Entertainment certainly knew they had a cash cow on their hands.

So before you could say ‘kerching!’ they were churning out the second of Stephanie Meyer’s dreary books following the teen romance between vampire Edward (Robert Pattinson) and human Bella (Kristen Stewart) as they negotiate the perils of breaking up and resisting blood-lust (seriously, what does he do when she has her period?).

When Bella is nearly scoffed by one of Edward’s siblings, he dumps her and leaves her to recover with the help of jailbait hottie Jacob (Taylor Lautner) – who also happens to be a werewolf. And then there’s a unicorn who… no, not really.

But if this sounds preposterous already, New Moon is not for you. It’s aimed unashamedly at fans looking for Pattinson porn and willing to b*y into the Meyers mythology with a straight face.

Where original Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke successfully tapped into primal teenage sexual longing, replacement Chris Weitz (The Golden Compass) makes the glossy follow-up slavishly faithful to the over-ripe book, loaded with operatic performances and a portentous tone that that is never far from being snigger-inducing.

Edward struts everywhere (and even skips through the woods) in eye-candy slo-mo. Everyone… (frown) talks with (lip-bite)… overly dramatic pauses. God, everyone is MISERABLE. And the CGI wolves are a bit rubbish.

But like Marmite, what some will hate, others will love. Book devotees will be thrilled by Rosenberg’s attention to Meyers’s florid dialogue and key scenes; Twilight movie fans will get moist for R-Pattz stripping and Lautner’s physical transformation from boy to lupine stud; and casual viewers will enjoy Michael Sheen’s entertaining scenery munching as a vampire law-maker.

Yes, it’s not as unquantifiably hot or audience-transcending as Twilight, but New Moon is still a guilty pleasure that should keep fans across the spectrum happy, without being a stand-alone great film.

Besides, the cliffhanger ending to the next instalment (2010’s Eclipse) promises room for improvement. And it’s only eight months away…

Verdict:

Depending on your gender, age and Twihard-ness, this good-looking angst party is either a solid Meyer adaptation with quiver-worthy moments of hotness; or a wet, ludicrous, unintentionally-funny pile of steaming bathos.

Two Stars

[lovesitx]

Haha personally i thought the film was hilarious, i know it was unintentionally funny but still it made most of my cinema laugh a lot.
Got to say they did very well to stick to the book as much as they did, got to say its a very good adaption of the novel.
Thankfully there was no "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH" (as Beate would say!) in my screening, though there was a loud gasp as Jacob took off his shirt. Think i went at a time when the school kids wouldn't have quite finished school so i am glad for that but i have to say i am suprised at the amount of older people and groups of guys that went to see this.
I really enjoyed it and probably will go again now i can't wait for June and Eclipse!!

[susancs]

I too loved Beate's review....so funny.

I did not go to see the film as just recovering from an ear infection and could not face the screaming. My 12 year old daughter went with a friend (whilst I sat drinking coffee in the foyer) and they both reckon it is to quote them "the best film ever". They came bounding out with all the other excited girls of a smilar age, saying "wow". They went on Friday and luckily I booked tickets online the day before as all performances after 4pm were sold out. We arrived about 40 mins before the film was due to start, as they were so afraid we would not make it!!! They then joined a long queue to get in. I asked if there were screaming girls in the screening and apparently there were. Also have a feeling my daughter and friend may be amongst those screaming, but they did not admit that. According to them the acting was the best, the story line brillant and the spcial effects awesome. Asked for a score they said 10/10.

[JordanFRAV]

I was surprisingly dissapointed considering I quite enjoyed the first 'Twilight' film, as there was really nothing I could say I enjoyed about this film and this is a perfect example of why you should never change directors during the creation of a film franchise (see; 'Raimi/Spiderman'). Yet with that said my 9yr old twin cousins thought it was and I quote; "really, really, really, really, really, *girlish squeak* really, really, GOOD!" Heh.