Earlier today, Lis and I finished up the Twilight Saga with Breaking Dawn Part 2.
Bella (Kristen Stewart) is now a vampire and a mother to Renesmee (Mackenzie Foy), who is developing quicker than a normal child because she is half-vampire. Before Edward (Robert Pattinson) even lets Bella see her daughter, he takes her hunting, and he has to stop her from attacking a mountain climber who has scratched his arm on a rock. While Bella adjusts to being a vampire, Jacob (Taylor Lautner) adjusts to being Renesmee’s soul mate, and the Volturi prepare to make their move against the Cullens.
I’m going to get in trouble with my sister for saying this, but I was a little disappointed with the second Breaking Dawn movie. It bothered me that the entire movie was about the Cullens bringing together allies for their inevitable battle with Aro (Michael Sheen) and the Volturi, but then, when the big battle finally happens, it turns out that it was just one of Alice’s visions, and they end up deciding not to fight. After two hours of everyone talking about this huge battle and how everyone had to be prepared to fight for the lives, it was anticlimactic not to have a real one. It seemed like the whole movie could have just been 30 minutes long without really losing anything important. I really didn’t see the point of splitting the book into two movies because hardly anything happened during the second one.
Breaking Dawn Part 2 might not work as a standalone movie, but it does work as an end to the saga. After four movies and the longest senior year on record, Bella and Edward are finally together and they’re happy. And Jacob is happy too. At the end of the movie, when they showed everyone who had appeared over the course of the entire saga, I was really touched.
And that’s it for the story of Bella, Edward, and Jacob.
Earlier today, Lis and I watched the second-to-last Twilight film, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn: Part One.
The movie starts with Bella (Kristen Stewart) finally marrying Edward (Robert Pattinson). They get married in the woods, and almost everyone from the entire saga is there, including Bella’s mother. Bella’s father (Billy Burke) and Jacob (Taylor Lautner) don’t approve of her marrying Edward, and Jessica (Anna Kendrick) thinks Bella is pregnant—why else would she be getting married at 18? I probably would have thought the same thing if I were at the wedding, but actually, Bella and Edward are virgins when they marry. Even though Jacob warns that a human could die having sex with a vampire because of how strong vampires are, Bella and Edward still consummate their marriage without Edward turning Bella into a vampire. Edward does not want to turn Bella for some reason. Lis and I agreed that Edward probably wants Bella to get old and die so that he can find someone else. There’s also a weird scene when Edward confesses to Bella that he briefly rebelled against his father and drank the blood of men in the 1920s. Bella says that’s fine because all the men were bad. Team Jacob is looking better and better.
Bella ends up getting pregnant with a hybrid baby. The pregnancy progresses at a faster rate than Bella’s body is prepared for. Edward tries to talk Bella into having an abortion, but Bella refuses. Instead, they return to Forks and stay with Edward’s family. Bella starts to drink blood so that the fetus will stop feasting on her. Jacob, meanwhile, tries to keep the wolf pack from killing Bella to prevent her half-vampire baby from harming anyone.
I have to respect that Twilight built an entire movie around one very difficult pregnancy. That’s probably why the acting in Breaking Dawn is considerably better than in the previous Twilight movies—there’s more at stake than just Bella missing her boyfriend or trying to decide between Edward and Jacob. Though I didn’t realize it until I rewatched the movie, Taylor Lautner really poured his heart into Jacob in this film. I also remember that, when I first saw this movie, I wasn’t comfortable with the “imprinting” scene, and watching it again, I still wasn’t comfortable with it. If you’ve seen the movie or read the books, you know what I mean.
After all this time, I don’t know if it’s really a spoiler to say that this movie ends with Bella opening her eyes and revealing that she is now a vampire. She got a husband, a baby, and immortality! Way to go, Bella!
Tomorrow, we’ll be finishing things up with Breaking Dawn: Part Two.
Lis and I have been rewatching the Twilight movies this October. Yesterday, we watched New Moon and then Eclipse.
In Eclipse, Edward (Robert Pattinson) and the Cullens have returned to Forks because Edward was just so depressed not being near Bella (Kristen Stewart), and Bella somehow flew all the way to Italy to be with him without getting in very much trouble with her father. Edward has asked Bella to marry him, but Bella is upset that Edward won’t “change me,” and she’s also wondering if maybe she and Jacob (Taylor Lautner) are meant to be more than just friends. The first time I saw this movie, I was Team Edward all the way, but now I see Jacob as being the better choice because he could provide her with a stable and protective home without having to transform her into a supernatural creature beforehand.
While Bella is trying to choose between Edward and Jacob, vampire Victoria Sutherland (Bryce Dallas Howard) is gathering an army of “newborn” vampires to attack the Cullens and kill Bella to get revenge for the death of her lover, James, in the first Twilight film. Alice (Ashley Greene) is having visions of the newborns attacking. The Cullens enter an alliance with the werewolves to keep Bella safe.
There’s a lot going on in this movie. I feel bad for anyone who watched Eclipse as their first Twilight movie because they probably had no idea why Dakota Fanning showing up with her red eyes was such a big moment. Even while Bella is trying to pick between Edward and Jacob and get ready for the big battle, life goes on in Forks. She goes to her high school graduation, where Jessica (Anna Kendrick) is the valedictorian. She’s living both the life of a teenager and being vampire-stalked at the same time. Her father even tries to have “the talk” with her, but it’s not necessary. Edward doesn’t want to turn her into a vampire and he doesn’t want to have sex before marriage. He’s a 104-year-old virgin. That’s how strongly he believes in waiting for someone you love. That’s one of those things that seems sweet the first time you hear it and then obsessive the second time.
I liked Eclipse, even if parts of it seem pretty dumb now. My sister and I both agreed that it was foolish of Bella to ask Edward to make her a vampire before she even knew if they were sexually compatible. Becoming a vampire is an even bigger commitment than going exclusive. But it’s a fantasy. The big battle at the end is exciting and it actually happens instead of just being Alice having a vision. Edward proves that he can fight just as well as Jacob. I still think Jacob would be the better provider.
Today, Lis and I continued to rewatch the Twilight movies on Netflix.
New Moon was the second part of the Twilight Saga. Because people in town are starting to notice that he hasn’t aged in ten years, Carlisle (Peter Facinelli) decides that the Cullens need to move to a new location. Edward explains to Bella that the worst thing a vampire can do is allow humans to discover that they exist. Edward also says that Bella can’t come with the Cullens because it would raise suspicion and it would also put Bella in danger, since even the members of his family are tempted to drink her blood. Bella says, “Change me!” and Edward says not unless they’re married.
The Cullens leave and Bella has a breakdown, and even her father wants to send her back to Florida to live with her mother. Finally, Bella starts hanging out with Jacob (Taylor Lautner), a member of the Quileute Tribe who is also revealed to be a werewolf. Werewolves and vampires hate each other, but the Forks werewolves had arranged a truce with the Cullens where they wouldn’t attack them as long as the Cullens didn’t bite any humans. If Edward had changed Bella, the truce would have been canceled and the werewolves would have had to attack Bella.
When Alice (Ashley Greene) misinterprets a vision of the future and thinks that Bella is dead, Edward leaves wherever it is he’s living and goes to Italy to ask the ruling vampire council to destroy him. Even though Jacob’s in love with her, Bella goes to Italy to try to save Edward’s life.
I remember really liking New Moon when I saw it because I was in a long-distance relationship and I could relate to what Bella was going through. When we rewatched it, I had forgotten how long the movie was and how little actually happens until Bella goes to Italy, which doesn’t even happen until the movie’s nearly over. The other thing I forgot about this one was that they really overdid the vampire makeup on Robert Pattinson at the start of the movie. He was so pale and wearing so much lipstick that everyone should have been able to figure out that he was a vampire just by looking at him.
When this movie came out, everyone was either Team Jacob or Team Edward. I was Team Edward because, again, I was in a long-distance relationship. But rewatching it, I realized that I should have been Team Jacob because he really was nicer to Bella and he wasn’t constantly sulking about everything like Edward. Jacob came with a lot less baggage and he was part of that tribe where you’re apparently not allowed to wear a shirt. No one in the tribe wore a shirt and they all looked like models. They probably all were models. This movie knew what we wanted to see.
I still enjoyed rewatching the movie. The men were all sexy and brooding. Anna Kendrick was funny. Dakota Fanning had red eyes and sent psychic pain waves. Bella said, “Change me,” and Edward looked tortured. It wasn’t as good as I remembered and it probably could have been cut down to 30 minutes without really losing much of the plot but it’s Twilight. If you know, you know.
Oh, Twilight! How we missed you, with your blue-tinted view of the world and your romantic bloodsuckers!
After her mother remarries a minor-league baseball player, 17-year-old Bella (Kristen Stewart) moves from sunny Arizona to gray, wet Washington State. She lives with her father, the police chief (Billy Burke), and starts at a new school. Her friend is played by Anna Kendrick! How cool is that? She has a crush on Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson), and Edward has a crush on her, but Edward’s also a vampire, and he’s been seventeen since the Spanish flu epidemic. Bella discovers that she loves Edward, Edward loves Bella, and Edward’s family loves Bella, but there’s a group of vampires who want to feast on Bella. Also, Bella’s friend Jacob (Taylor Lautner) doesn’t like Edward, but we won’t find out the full details about all that until the next movie!
Lisa and I watched Twilight on Netflix earlier today, and yeah, it’s bad, but it’s just so addictive that you can’t look away. Even today, it’s hard to know whether to laugh or swoon. I usually end up doing both because the longing and smoldering way that Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson look at each other makes up for the fact that it’s a long movie where not much really happens. I was so excited waiting for the baseball scene, but I had forgotten how long it takes before Edward’s adopted family plays vampire baseball in the middle of a storm. Sign them all up for the Rangers, I don’t care if they glow. A sensitive ball player? Go ahead and bite my neck! Edward might seem mopey but when Bella needs to be protected from the other vampires, he and his father (Peter Facinelli) are right there and showing they know what to do. He’s a fighter, that Edward Cullen! And he’s a dream of a prom date too.
Twilight is what it is, and everyone who makes fun of it has a point, but I don’t care. I’ll be watching the second movie tomorrow.
In 2001, Erik Weihenmayer became the first blind man to reach the summit of Mount Everest. Touch The Top Of The World is the story of how and why he did it.
Starting out with Erik (played by Peter Facinelli) and his friends already climbing Mount Everest, Touch The Top Of The World sets the stakes early with a scene of Erik trying to cross a rickety ladder that’s been laid across a mountain chasm. With every step, the ladder shakes and, of course, Erik can’t see where to place his feet. He’s having to do it on instinct and also by listening to the instructions shouted by his friends. Later, someone say that, of those who have tried to climb Mount Everest, one in six died in the attempt. Now imagine trying to do it without being able to see where you’re going. I wouldn’t have the courage but Erik is determined to show what can be accomplished through determination and teamwork. Erik isn’t just climbing for himself. He’s climbing for disabled people everywhere.
Flashbacks show how Erik was born with a degenerative eye disease that caused him to go blind when he was a child. His mother (Kate Greenhouse) and father (Bruce Campbell) never stop believing in him and, after his mother is killed in a car accident, Erik becomes determined to live up to her faith in him. He becomes a high school wrestler and then a teacher and eventually a climber.
Peter Facinelli gives a good performance as Erik but I know most people will probably be watching because Bruce Campbell plays his father. Bruce Campbell is great in the role, always supporting Erik and encouraging him to never give up. He’s the perfect father figure. He may not be able to climb Mt. Everest with his son but he’s still with Erik every step of the way.
Touch The Top Of The World was made for television and it has its moment when the sentiment is poured on pretty thick. I was worried when I saw that “Includes Music By The Dave Matthews Band!” on the cover of the DVD. Ultimately, it didn’t matter. It’s such a wholesome and heartfelt movie that it’s impossible not to get caught up in Erik’s mission to touch the top of the world.
I have to admit that cults have always fascinated me, largely because I can never really comprehend what would lead to someone joining one.
Seriously, how is it that otherwise intelligent people end up in a position where they not only become brainwashed but they also voluntarily give up their own individual personality, all so that they can belong to something that doesn’t make much sense. Myself, I’ve always been fortunate in that not only am I very confident in my talents and my beliefs but I’ve also never felt the need to have a mentor or any other type of life guide. Fortunately, I value my independence above all else. I’m also lucky enough to have ADD so severe that there’s no way I could actually spend more than 5 minutes listening to a lecture designed to brainwash me. I did go to one self-help seminar in college that seemed to be kind of a cultish but I was so bored that I left about halfway through. (Add to that, I was also annoyed by how much everyone else seemed to be enjoying it.) I’m immune to brainwashing, or at least I would like to think that I am.
Unfortunately, that’s not true for everyone. We tend to think of a cult as being a group of weird people living in a compound but the truth of the matter is that there are cults all around us. Basically, any organization that demands that its members sacrifice their own individual thoughts in order to “serve a greater cause” or please a certain being is a cult. Go on Twitter right now and you’ll undoubtedly be able to find several different cults fighting with each other. Cults appeal to people who, otherwise, feel empty. They provide a home and a group of ready-made friends but, of course, they also demand complete obedience and punish any hint of individuality. There’s no room for dissent. You see that a lot today and it’s a shame. People no longer think for themselves and instead, they believe whatever they’re told to believe. People have lost their damn minds over the past few years, both figuratively and literally. Sadly, it seems that once someone loses the ability to think for themselves, it’s gone forever.
I found myself thinking about this last night and this morning as I watched the latest “ripped from the headlines” Lifetime film, Escape From The NXIVM Cult: A Mother’s Fight To Save Her Daughter. NXIVM, which was founded and controlled by Keith Raniere (played, in a wonderfully creepy performance, by Peter Facinelli), presented itself as being a “personal development company” but, as everyone now knows, all of the self-help seminars and corporate doublespeak was actually a cover for a pyramid scheme that also served as a recruiting tool to supply Raniere with sex slaves. Among those who worked with Raniere was former Smallville actress, Allison Mack (played by Sara Fletcher in the film).
The film focuses on the true story of actress and minor royal Catherine Oxenberg (Andrea Roth), who spent a year helplessly watching as the NXIVM cult brainwashed her daughter, India (Jasper Polish). The film shows how the cult (and, more specifically, Allison Mack) preyed on and manipulated India’s own insecurities and used them to take her away from her family and her friends. In perhaps the film’s most disturbing scene, India returns home on her birthday and spends the majority of her own birthday party trying to recruit people to join NXIVM. It’s disturbing because we all know someone like India, someone who has become so obsessed with politics or religion or fandom that they view every occasion as just being another recruiting opportunity.
The film follows Catherine as she uncovers the truth about NXIVM, which is that it’s essentially a large-scale criminal racket that, because it’s targeted the children of the rich and famous, has also become immune to prosecution. When Keith is informed that Catherine has been publicly denouncing NXIVM and threatening to expose them, Keith smugly just says that they’ll sue her until she’s silent, just “like the others.” All of the sordid details are presented here — from the branding of Keith’s and Allison’s initials on their slaves to NXIVM’s casual and infuriating misogyny to the way that Keith used blackmail to manipulate both his followers and those who he considered to be a threat. But what makes the film ultimately memorable is not just the portrait of how NXIVM operated but also the film’s celebration of Catherine Oxenberg’s refusal to give up when it came to rescuing her daughter.
All in all, it’s a well-done movie and certainly one that has an important message. Be vigilant and beware any organization that claims that the key to happiness is sacrificing your own individual spirit.
Chicago in the 1920s. Booze may be illegal but that’s not keeping people from drinking and gangsters from making a killing. When an amateur boxer named Jack McGurn (Sean Faris) joins the mob, he befriend an up-and-coming criminal named Al Capone (Milo Gibson). While Capone rises through the ranks, McGurn is always by his side, usually firing a tommy gun. When Capone finally becomes the boss of Chicago, McGurn becomes his second-in-command and a leading strategist in the war against Capone’s rival, George “Bugs” Moran (Peter Facinelli).
If you’re looking for a historically accurate film about 1920s Chicago, look elsewhere. Today, “Machine Gun” McGurn is best known for being the mastermind behind the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre (which, of course, is recreated in Gangster Land) but it’s doubtful that he was ever Capone’s second-in-command. Famed Capone associates like Frank Nitti, Gus Alex, and Murray Humphreys are nowhere to be found in Gangster Land, nor is Eliot Ness. Instead Jason Patric plays the righteous and fictional Detective Reed.
What the film lacks in historical accuracy, it makes up for in gangster action. There’s enough tommy gun action, car chases, and showgirls to keep most gangster film aficionados happy. All of the usual Capone stuff is recreated: Johnny Torrio is assassinated, Dion O’Bannon is killed in his flower shop, and the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre scandalizes the nation. Though the film never displays anything more than a Wikipedia-level understanding of the prohibition era and there’s not a single gangster cliché that isn’t used, Gangster Land is briskly paced and makes good use of its low-budget. Sean Faris is stiff as McGurn but Milo Gibson (son of Mel) is better than you might expect as Al Capone and the underrated Jason Patric makes the most of his limited screen time. Fans of The Sopranos may want to watch for the chance to see Meadow herself, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, as McGurn’s showgirl wife.
Oddly enough, the late 90s and early 2000s saw a lot of movies about teenagers that all had strangely generic names. She’s All That, Down To You, Drive Me Crazy, Head Over Heels, Get Over It, Bring It On … the list is endless.
And then you have the 1998 graduation party-themed Can’t Hardly Wait. Can’t Hardly Wait has such a generic name that, when you first hear it, you could be forgiven for naturally assuming that it stars Freddie Prinze, Jr. Of course, if you’ve actually seen the film, you know that it features almost everyone but Freddie Prinze, Jr. This is one of those films where even the smallest roles are played by a recognizable face. In fact, there’s so many familiar actors in this film that a good deal of them go uncredited. Jenna Elfman, Breckin Meyer, Melissa Joan Hart, Jerry O’Connell, and Amber Benson may not show up in the credits but they’re all in the film. In fact, you could argue that Melissa John Hart, playing an impossibly excited girl who is obsessed with getting everyone to sign her yearbook, and Breckin Meyer, playing an overly sensitive lead singer, provide the film with some of its comedic highlights.
(That said, perhaps the most credible cameo comes from Jerry O’Connell. He plays a former high school jock who ruefully talks about how he can’t get laid in high school. He’s so convincingly sleazy and full of self-pity that you find yourself wondering if maybe O’Connell was just playing himself. Maybe he just stumbled drunkenly onto the set one day and started talking to anyone who would listen…)
Can’t Hardly Wait takes place at one huge high school graduation party, which is actually a pretty smart idea. The best part of every teen movie is the party scene so why not make just make the entire movie about the party? Almost every member of the graduating class is at this party and we get to see all of the usual types. There’s the stoners, the jocks, the nerds, and the sarcastic kids who go to parties specifically so they can tell everyone how much they hate going to parties. Eric Balfour shows up as a hippie. Jason Segel eats a watermelon in the corner. Sara Rue’s in the kitchen, complaining about how everyone’s a sheep. Jamie Pressly drinks and assures her best friend that she’s at least as pretty as Gwynneth Paltrow. (“And you’ve got way bigger boobs!” she adds, encouragingly.) Outside, Selma Blair frowns as someone hits on her with bad line.
Of course, Mike Dexter (Peter Facinelli) and Amanda Beckett (Jennifer Love Hewitt) are the main topic of conversation at the party. For four years, Mike and Amanda were the school’s power couple but Mike decides to dump Amanda right before they graduate. Mike feels that he’s going to have a great time in college and he doesn’t need any old high school commitments holding him down. His best friends all agree to dump their girlfriends too. Mike spends the party watching, in horror, as all of his friends go back on their promise. Amanda, meanwhile, wanders around and wonders who she is now that she’s no longer Mike Dexter’s girlfriend.
Preston Meyers (Ethan Embry) struggles to work up the courage to tell Amanda that he’s had a crush on her ever since the first day he saw her. Meanwhile, Preston’s best friend — the reliably sarcastic Denise (Lauren Ambrose) — finds herself locked in an upstairs bathroom with Kenny “Special K” Fisher (Seth Green). (Needless to say, Kenny is the only person who actually calls himself “Special K.”) Kenny is obsessed with losing his virginity. Denise, meanwhile, won’t stop talking about the sweet and dorky Kenny that she knew way back in elementary school.
And then there’s William Lichtner (Charlie Korsmo). He’s spent his entire life being tormented by Mike and he specifically goes to the party looking for revenge. However, he has a few beers and quickly becomes the most popular senior at the party. He even gets a chance to bond with Mike…
Can’t Hardly Wait is a favorite of mine. It’s one of those films that doesn’t add up too much but it’s so so damn likable that it doesn’t matter. It’s full of smart and funny scenes and all the actors are incredibly likable. If you’re not rooting for Preston and Amanda by the end of the movie then you have no heart. In fact, Can’t Hardly Wait is a lot like Empire Records. They may not be much depth to it but it’s so sincere and earnest that you can forgive it.
