Wednesday, November 25, 2009

How Much I Loved New Moon...

To call this past weekend 'exciting' would be a bit of an understatement.
What a weekend!
To kick things off - I saw New Moon on Friday!! WOO-HOO!! I took the day off work to take Brittany, who was also off on a PD Day. We made sure we got to the Colisseum theatre in Ottawa early, as our showtime was 12:20 PM. Sure enough, by 10:30, the line-up was starting to form. Britt and I were fortunate to be at the head of the line, and got awesome seats, exactly where we wanted to be - last row, dead-centre.

It's impossible for me to write a re-cap that would fully capture how much I loved New Moon. So instead, I'm just going to give you a list of 20 reasons why I loved New Moon. And here they are, in no particular order.

1. Taylor Lautner takes his shirt off.
For those of you who don't know the story - Lautner plays Quileute native Jacob Black, Bella's childhood friend. Jacob becomes more than just a friend to Bella in New Moon - that's when the love triangle between him, Bella, and Edward begins to take shape. Edward has deserted Bella, in the hopes of keeping her safe from his dangerous world, but in his heart-breaking absence, Bella finds comfort in Jake. Lautner, only 17 years old, was in jeopardy of losing his role as Jacob in New Moon, but he fought hard to keep it by tackling a vigorous work-out & diet regimen that saw him pack on 30 lbs. of raw muscle for the flick.
And in the scene when Bella crashes her bike and Jacob first removes his shirt (you know, to help stop the bleeding on her forehead) - a very appreciative gasp went up from the predominantly female audience.
Yowzers. I've always been Team Edward, but I'm starting to appreciate where the Jacob fans are coming from...
2. OK. Now that I've got the Jacob drooling out of my system...Edward. Oh, sweet, sparkly, cold-as-ice Edward. He's beautiful. Rob Pattinson? Sexiest man alive. And even though we don't get to see him as much in New Moon, I'd still go see it just for the few amazing scenes and the "apparitions" he appears in. So awesome.
3. The Volturi - The creepy leaders of the Vampire world. Pretty cool to see them come to life. And Michael Sheen in the role of Aro was amazing - exactly how I imagined Aro should be.
4. The wolf pack - Jacob's brethren. In human form, they're all rather handsome young men who spend most of their time shirtless and in cut-off jeans. And when they're in wolf-form, they're pretty amazing CGI wolves. What's not to love about the wolves?


5. Bella's human friends, especially Mike & Jessica, add wonderful touches of humour to an otherwise somber, dark film. Both Michael Welch and Anna Kendrick sparkle - and even steal the few scenes they are in!

6. Taylor Lautner takes his shirt off. Mmmmm...
7. The movie has a pretty wicked soundtrack, which I downloaded last week in anticipation of the film's release. The only downside? No R. Pattz. Apparently Rob declined any offers to be on the New Moon soundtrack, despite pleasing his fans with two contributions to the first movie. Word is, he didn't want people to think he was cashing in on the movie, using it as a stepping-stone for his music, which he still considers his "back-up plan". Too bad, considering he's pretty talented on both guitar and piano, and is reminiscent of Ray LaMontagne with his vocals.
But, even without, Rob, we've got Death Cab For Cutie, OK Go, Grizzly Bear, Muse, The Killers, and Thom Yorke. No complaints!
8. Kristen Stewart! She does a fabulous job of portraying Bella - I can't imagine anyone else in the role. She portrays the pained-and-depressed side so well, but the bonus was that she got to smile a little more than her character ever did in the book. (And yes, I do believe her slightly more happy character might have something to do with Taylor Lautner taking his shirt off...)
9. The underwater scene. After Bella goes cliff-diving, and before Jacob rescues her, there's a dream-like moment underwater, where she lingers side-by-side with Edward. Kind of took my breath away.
10. Alex Meraz. He plays the role of Paul, one of Jake's friends in the wolf pack. Aycarumba!


11. Bella & Jacob's almost kisses. Never thought I would root for Jacob over Edward - and, well, I still don't - but when Edward was gone, it was very easy to get caught up in Jacob's hotness. And there were two scenes in the movie where they come very close to kissing! The two steamiest non-kisses I've ever seen in my life!

12. Bella's "date" with Mike and Jacob to the see the action movie Face Punch was priceless. Poor Mike. The guy is trying to compete with a vampire and a werewolf...he never stood a chance!

13. Taylor Lautner takes his shirt off. YUM.
14. The Cullen Family. They don't get a lot of screen-time this time around, but Edward's pseudo-family of vampires also provide a bit of the comic relief - Kellan Lutz as Emmett, especially. If you had to be a vampire, I'm thinking they'd be a pretty cool bunch to hang out with.
15. Dakota Fanning as Jane, the little vampire girl who can cause anyone horrific pain with just a glance. For so long, we've seen Dakota as the sweet little wide-eyed child-star - it was sort of neat to see her looking vicious with the blood-red eyes. And while I did not enjoy her causing my beloved Edward such pain, her acting resume has definitely been ramped up with this effort.

16. Edward & Bella's reunion in Volterra. When Alice whisks Bella off to Italy to save Edward, she must make her way through a throng of red-cloaked festival-goers, across a busy square, and through a fountain before finally flying into his arms and embracing him. Passionate does not begin to describe it. Seriously awesome.
17. Edi Gathegi & Rachelle Lefebvre reprise their roles as nomadic vampires Laurent and Victoria. Laurent tries to kill Bella before she's saved by the wolves, and Victoria's relentless pursuit of Bella is still not completed by the end of New Moon. It's just too bad Cam Giagandet didn't make it to the second film (his character, James, was killed in Twilight). That was some serious evil vampire hotness...

18. Billy Burke is back as Bella's overprotective dad, Charlie, and he's another scene-stealer in a flick where it's pretty hard to steal scenes from the likes of Pattinson, Lautner, and Stewart.

19. Back to Edward...Possibly my favourite part of the movie was a very simple one - at the very beginning, on the day of Bella's birthday, she's hanging out in the school parking lot with her human friends, when Edward pulls up and gets out of his car. He walks towards her, all gorgeous and slow-motion-y, and I think my heart might have just stopped, he was so beautiful. *sigh*
20. Oh. Did I mention Taylor Lautner takes his shirt off?

OK. So I intended this blog to be a re-cap of both my exciting weekend events - New Moon and the Murder Mystery. However, I think this is long enough for today. Look for the re-cap of "Up the Creek" in the next few days!

PS - If anyone wants to go see New Moon - I'm so up for going again! Let me know! :)

13 comments:

Sharon said...

Great Blog Jill! Once I am done my Sophie Kinsella book (20's girl) I plan on embarking on the Twilight band wagon : )

SR

Jill said...

Oh cool! I really think you'll like it! I never would have thought it would be my cup of tea, but Edward ... he's so hard to resist! lol

I read Twenties Girl! Lindsay gave it to me for my birthday - I really liked it! (Well, that, and I loved that the great-aunt's name was Sadie - because that's my "demon" name...haha)

Anonymous said...

Dear Jilly....
I just can't jump on the 'ol New Moon bandwagon....guess I'm too old. My vampires were brad pitt and tom cruise (pre scientology craziness)
Seriously, don't your vampire guys look like Chippendale wannabee's? (*Gay* Chippendale's to be exact) Not that there's anything wrong with gay chippendale's!! Anywhoooo, just love to stir the pot, if you will....and perhaps a wee bit envious that the MM was upstaged in your blog by a bunch of underfed, pale boy toys!
Love as always,
Lol
“If you have no critics you'll likely have no success" - Malcolm X

Jill said...

hahahahaha!!...Thanks for keepin' it real, Lol. But no, my vampire boy is delicious, and in no way reminds me of a gay chippendale!

And MM was definitely not upstaged by Edward and Jake - I'm just keeping things in chronological order, y'know? ;) But as much as I loved all my cast and how amazing you all were...well, none of you could make me drool like Edward OR Jacob (LOL), so I just had to get that out of my system first! MM Recap to come!!

B said...

I agree with Lolly, I looked at the pictures and thought "Geez, Jill took my daughter to a skin flick!!!"

Jill said...

hahahahahaha!!

So much to love about New Moon, for so many different age groups... :) :)

Anonymous said...

I knew you were professional enough to take the heat!! Can't wait for further blogs.....(I am a faithful reader, aside from my sharp critique's)
And don't you tell me that PC's flowing mane and broody, dark wit didn't make your heart beat just a little bit faster.....oh, wait, that was probably the wine!!
lol

Jill said...

Yes, Lolly, I won't give Carty any extra credit...it was definitely the wine! HAHA!

Stacy said...

now that i am back - good blog but not a Twilight Fan

Jill said...

Glad you're back Stace!

Kathleen said...

so y'all really want to tap these boys?

Ashley said...

Good recap Jill, makes me want to see it that much more.
Did Taylor take his shirt off by chance? ;)

Jill said...

I must've forgot to say that, Ashley - Yes, Taylor did take his shirt off! ;)