Calaidescope World

Vampires to the left of me, vampires to the right of me!

Yes, I read "Twilight". And yes, I'm waiting for the movie. It won't come out here until next Wednesday, but considering that I've been trying to read "Breaking Dawn" for over two months (I've finished many other books since I kind of gave up on that one. Neil Gaiman's "The Graveyard Book" is very highly recommended!), I'm sure I can wait until next Saturday to see the supposed movie event of the year. I only need to know if my favorite line from the 3 books of the series that I've read is there: "You are exactly my brand of heroin." If you've seen it, please let me know! I'll watch it just to hear that. Or maybe even if it's not there. But I so love that line.

I've been going over the online reviews (I'm not afraid of spoilers since I already know what's going to happen), and they're mixed. Of course, I'll still see it even if it gets tons of bad reviews. But in trying to find a review for someone who hasn't read the books, I came across Massawyrm's negative one on aintitcool.com (he's one of my favorite critics. I just trust him. Lord knows why). I laughed out loud when I read, "His [Edward's, the vampire] undying, inexplicable love keeps him from killing her [Bella, the stupid human]. You get it now? You see why the ladies are all about this? He’s the ultimate unattainable bad boy. An immortal killer who is sexy, strong and very protective. Oh, yeah. And he’s incapable of having sex and doesn’t sleep, so he just wants to stay up all night and talk." Mismo!

What really surprised me, though, was a comment from Harry's review (also from aintitcool.com. Yeah, feeling close na kami). Director Catherine Hardwicke was at a screening he attended and someone from the audience asked her about how she chose what to keep from the book and what to edit out. Note that one of the coolest things about "Twilight" is all the mind games, so conversation plays a big part. As Harry described the Q&A, "Well, in Catherine’s answer she revealed a shallowness about the film... She talked about how she didn’t want to make the film just 'talking heads'. As she said this, there was this smirk on Richard Linklater’s face. And the thought hit me, 'My god, I can’t believe that Catherine Hardwicke is saying that Talking Heads and Romance is patently uncinematic while standing next to the director of BEFORE SUNRISE and BEFORE SUNSET!'” Boo! I love those movies! And the conversations are exactly why they worked! I'm still watching "Twilight", though. Haha!

Another vampire movie that I doubt will ever show here is an award-winning independent Swedish film called "Let The Right One In". Yesterday, I ordered the book it was based on, and I'm picking it up this weekend. Basically, it's a coming of age story about a bullied 12 year old boy who falls for...well...a 200 year old vampire trapped in a 12 year old girl's body. I'm pretty sure there's a dibidi of that somewhere in The Ruins (excuse me, High School/College friends attending this year's Christmas Tradition! You can get that for me as part of our exchange gift. Plus "Once" and the first season of "True Blood". All of that should cost around Php500. Thank you!)




So vampires are back, it seems. I like vampire lore, but could only take so much of Lestat before I gave up on the genre (I thought Louie was the more interesting character). "Twilight" was a good re-introduction. I'm keen to see what "Let The Right One In" has in store.

posted by Calai @ 9:52 PM