Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Laura Sees Movies: The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1

Well this is it. The review you all have been waiting for. The Twilight film tetralogy is peaking with the final book that I've been told by readers "get weird." Many people have told me Breaking Dawn is "terrible," "my least favorite of the books," "jumps the shark," "takes a left turn," etc.


I, having read the summary of the Twilight book series on Wikipedia once by accident, was aware it was about to graduate to a significantly more adult level, however, I was curious how they would handle it on screen. After all, their bread and vegan butter is a teenage audience, and violent vampire sex plus the birth of a demon baby seem like R material to me.

No worries Team Jacob fans. Taylor Lautner's shirt comes off in the first 10 seconds of the movie. Seriously.

SPOILER ALERT: the dialogue is terrible. Honestly sometimes I can't believe these were ever books. To enjoy the Twilight series purely as a set of bad vampire teen movies is one thing but every time I remember someone actually read this drivel I get super depressed.

Breaking Dawn showcases the authors socially conservative beliefs even more than the previous stories. They wait for marriage to have sex, and once pregnant, Bella is horrified at the idea of an abortion and hardly considers it. Edward constantly dominates Bella and the most annoying thing Twilight does is hide this sexism under the guise of romance. It was easier for me to take it's blatant disregard for women lightly when it's just sexy boys fighting over having tense unfulfilled moments around a girl, but now that marriage and babies are involved it gets too deep and honestly I think the message these movies send is probably doing more harm than good.

Teenagers adore these boys because they say amazing things and that's quite powerful before you've learned how much people will lie. They're also hot. It's all sexy all the time and Bella, although exceptionally beautiful, is very much an every girl. I absolutely understand the obsession with this phenomenon. If I was younger, or maybe less bitter, I would be right there with those screaming teens.

Still, if I had a demon baby inside me, I don't think I would carry it to term, especially if it was killing me. And I wouldn't let my vampire husband boss me around either just because he might drink my blood.

Whatever. Robert Pattinson's hair looks good, Taylor Lautner is almost old enough for me to stop feeling guilty for wanting to slap him with my panties, and we are finally headed toward the payoff that the previous films have been so dramatically building up. Luckily part 2 is released in one year and then hopefully all these young fans will realize that people can be full of it and that Stephanie Meyer wove some really sick messages into her fiction.

It's a polarizing feeling to love terrible movies and simultaneously hate the message one is sending to young female minds. It's probably not doing nearly as much damage and I imagine.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Laura Sees Movies: Like Crazy



I am extremely fond of this movie.

My favorite movies list for 2011 is quite short, and Like Crazy has made the cut. An incredibly down to earth, refreshingly honest piece that portrays a complicated journey. A literal and simple examination of trying to make long distance work, Like Crazy minces no words, and is no fairy tale.

This couple is presented with the obstacle of attempting to maintain a relationship when our British heroine, Anna, driven by her passion for our American hero, Jacob, violates her student visa by staying a few months past it's expiration. Following this incident, our lovers are kept apart by inconvenience, red tape, and new sexual relationships with people who aren't halfway across the world.

Two young people are as capable of deep love as anyone, and you hope for our sweet couple throughout. However, you empathize with their attempts to have a normal life as well. As you watch, it's impossible to know what's best for anyone, and naturally, you begin to wonder if location is more powerful than love. Maybe hearts eventually travel to wherever our feet are, even if that's not necessarily where we would like them to be.

Without any spoilers I will say that the ending will surprise you, but Like Crazy does not have anyone skipping out of the theater. The performances are excellent, the dialogue is lovely, and it is shot in a delightfully uncomplicated manner which compliments the realistic style. It's about love, really.