Although Tolerable, 'Eclipse' Cannot Shadow My Hate For The Twilight Craze

Despite my title, I will still point out the positives of the film, but that will not take long.

When watching it, I had to have some help from my sister, who loves the books (not obsessively, please don't think badly of her haha) to fill out the blanks for my un-Twilighted head. I only have very little knowledge of the first book, which I actually did read when I was given the bookset as a gift.

So yes, I do own the books, but they are simply just gathering dust at the moment.

In 'Eclipse' we find that Bella (Kristen Stewart) is, once again, in another pickle. A scorned, female vampire, Victoria (Bryce Dallas Howard), has sworn to kill Bella after Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) ripped apart James, her mate, in the previous installments. Victoria wants Edward to feel the depth of her pain of a lost lover.

However, getting to Bella is not an easy task for Victoria. Bella is protected by not only the Cullen clan, but also by Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner) and the rest of the werewolves. To get to Bella, Victoria creates a "Newborn Vampire Army" by going around Seattle and turning innocent victims into vampires against their will with the help of her first Newborn Vampire, Riley (Xavier Samuel)

You'd think an "I Want You" poster would be enough

Despite this terrible dilemma, we also see the relationship of Edward and Bella unfolding, getting stronger, while Mr. Puppy Eyes, Jacob, watches in heartbreak.

So Edward wants to marry Bella and Jacob doesn't want that to happen because he "can give Bella the life she needs and deserves."

Pretty much the whole movie now, so I will tell you what I think.

'Eclipse' was not that bad...in the action scenes. I thought they were well-paced and actually kind of cool to watch. Near the end, I was actually genuinely interested in what was going on and I was amazed by feeling that way. I also liked the backstories for vampires, Rosalie Hale and Jasper Hale.

I would like to point out that everytime I saw Jasper Hale (Jackson Rathbone) I kept being reminded of the horror that is 'The Last Airbender' (Rathbone plays Sokka) and because of that, I had the strongest urge to punch him in the face.

Jasper and film-Sokka: both punchable

Don't get me wrong, Rathbone did a good job in 'Eclipse' because it fit the seriousness of the movie. Yet, Rathbone brought in that same seriousness, mixed it with M. Night Shyamalan's directing and writing, and put it in the character of Sokka, who is supposed to be funny, sarcastic, and only serious when he needs to be. And for that, Rathbone must be punched.

Now back to the film: I honestly could care less to see Edward and Bella or Jacob and Bella together. I have no teams or preference...I am what Bella says, "I'm Switzerland." And if you didn't get that, she means, "I'm neutral."

I just don't care for the romance part, but I think to be fair, I don't care for the FILM'S romance. When I read the first 'Twilight' book about a year ago, I didn't mind it that much. The writing is simple, yes, but it's easy, if you have a va-jay-jay, to get into the story.

So, in defense of the books, it's not that bad. The movies and the craze, however, not my thing.

'Eclipse' was still a good watch to me and I tried VERY hard not to be bothered and biased, other than 'The Last Airbender' thing.

I still HATE the craze about these films and honestly, Robert Pattinson? You were so much cuter in 'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.' What the heck happened to you? Yuck.

Because of that hate, I refuse to give a rating and will just say:

The film's action scenes are good, but not enough for me to embrace the 'Twilight Saga' just yet.

Rent worthy? If you're absolutely bored and you have a little curiosity about it, the film is somewhat interesting on those days you have nothing better to do.

DVD/Blu-ray worthy? If you love the films/books, you don't need me to tell you to go out and buy them. For me, I'm not getting it. I'm satisfied enough for giving it a chance.

Are you a Twi-hard? Are you a Twi-hater? If you love the Twilight Saga, did I summarize the movie right?

Keep on watchin'

The Little Critic

'The Last Airbender' Did Not Blow Me Away

This little critic watched the movie. This little critic was not happy.

'The Last Airbender' follows the story of a young 12-year old monk known as Aang who is found frozen in an iceberg by two Southern Water Tribe siblings named Katara and her brother, Sokka.

We learn that he is not only the last Airbender in the world (hence the title, duh), but we also learn that he is the Avatar, the only person who can connect with the Spirit World and master bending all four elements. (Water, Earth, Fire, Air) It is up to him to restore peace to a world at war for 100 years, but to do that, he must master the other elements and the Avatar State (the time when his eyes and tattoo glow blue) and try not to get captured by banished Fire-Nation Prince Zuko and his uncle, Iroh. All this at age 12.

All I had to worry about when I was 12 was what I was having for lunch at school and filling up my Pokedex in the Pokemon Crystal game.

This movie is based on the hit Nickelodeon series 'Avatar: The Last Airbender.' Due to friggen James Cameron and the blue people, they had to remove 'Avatar' from the movie title.

Damn you, blue people. Look at his smug face.

But I can't stay mad at James Cameron cause there's another director that throughly pissed me off: M. Night Shyamalan.

"Could this be my directorial comeback? Let's raise the hopes a little bit and..NO, IT'S CRAP AGAIN! And I made you pay for it, mwhahaha!! Aight, I'm gonna write the next script on the money ya'll gave me."

I had faith in Shyamalan. I really did. I recently got into the cartoon series a few months ago and loved it. I avoided it many times in the past and ridiculed my little sisters. If I knew a crazy scientist with a time machine DeLorean, I would go back in time and slap myself in the back of the head and just make myself watch it. This is a series where I thought, "This would make such a great film. They need to make it!"

I got my wish, along with millions of other fans. When I heard it was Shyamalan doing it, I felt skeptical, but I thought, "This cartoon is so good. There is no way that even SHYAMALAN can screw this up and I liked 'The Sixth Sense'...'Signs' was all right...I actually liked 'The Village.'"

So, from a perspective of someone who is familar with the show, what's the big deal and problem about this movie?

This was supposed to be a movie to get those who avoided the cartoon to be familiar with the series' well-developed and surprisingly mature story through live-action.

I followed the movie well. I knew what was going on because in my mind, I filled in the gaps with the events from the cartoon that the movie had missed.

Yet, despite that, I felt robbed. Why? Cause those who didn't know the story, did not get the big picture of Aang's journey. This is a child. He doesn't want these responsibilties at first. He just wants to be a regular kid and everyone expects so much of him. The movie and actors failed to portray that emotion and I think that is what makes the cartoon seem more human.






















"Oh, I see, the column on the left is the cartoon and the column on the right are the actors cause there's a lot more depth and emotion to their faces."

I'm not asking Shyamalan to put in every single detail from the cartoon into the film. I know how hard it is to condense stories. I had to do it once for an adaptation of 'Peter Pan.' It's a pain in the Avatar. You have to pick and choose which parts and characters are more relevant and more important to the story. Yet, he changes things and removes things that matter...except for the name-pronounciations...that didn't matter at all and he still changed it.

It's like remaking 'Star Wars' and giving the Jedis guns instead of lightsabers. Why do that? It'd just piss people off and do absolutely nothing to the story.

What I am saying is, this movie deserved better and it just didn't get it from M. Night. Nice try, but I'm honestly hoping for a reboot. The Hulk got it, The Punisher got one, Spider-Man is (unnecessarily) getting one, why can't Aang?

2/5

One point for trying, one point just cause I'm nice. That's right, Shyamalan, you have my pity.

What are your thoughts about this? Anything that grinds your gears about the film/director/actors/script?