Breaking Dawn Part 1

If you are looking for a teen sex movie with no plot, go see Breaking Dawn Part I.

I have to say that I expected more out of this movie. After Eclipse, which I thought was brilliant (see my review) I thought the Twilight Saga movies had finally taken a turn for the better. Unfortunately, Breaking Dawn Part 1 harks back to the bad acting, shallow plot, awkward blocking, and poor characterization of Twilight and New Moon, in fact surpassing Twilight and taking the title of worst movie in the Twilight Saga. Overall I give it a 4 out of 10.

Right from the beginning I could tell that Breaking Dawn wasn't going to fit well with the rest of the series. The director chose to create odd scenes that really didn't fit with the rest of the series.

In Eclipse, the directors focused on characterization and because of that, the plot naturally flowed. In Breaking Dawn it fell like they focused on plot and forgot the characters (the most important part) and because of this the plot felt haphazard and forced.

Bella was flat and emotionless throughout most of the movie, but it was most noticeable at the wedding. She seemed forced and it really made it hard to connect with Bella at all.

The scene where the wolves were all talking to each other and Jacob creates his own pack was not done very well and that was really a shame since it is one of the climaxes of the story.

I expected them to do very well with the birthing/transformation scene since this director seems to enjoy presenting shocking and/or surprising shots. It was pretty gory, but again they failed to capture the emotion of what actually was going on in the book. They talked about a delicate balance between getting Renesme out and changing Bella but when it came down to it Edward almost ignored Bella until she was already dead. I was okay with them changing the storyline a little to integrate Jacob into the birthing scene but the fact that they butchered it made me upset anyway.

I expected them to do a horrible job with Jacob's imprint on Renesme and I was dreading the moment but when it happened I was happy with it. It wasn't too cheesy and they didn't drag it out too long. This was probably one of the best scenes in the entire movie (sadly).

The nudity was not necessary for little kids to see and it did nothing to further the plot.

On a superficial note: If you are going to make a crappy movie at least have some hot chicks in it. Bella was pretty nasty the whole time and Alice lost her pixie-like allure with her poor new haircut and bossy/mommy attitude.

In short, we already know that Breaking Dawn Part II will be better since it can't get much worse than that. Besides, Alec and Jane (two of my favorite characters) will be there. Breaking Dawn was my favorite book in the series and I hope they wrap up the ending of this series better than they started it.

Real Steel

I realized I haven't done a post since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II came out. Perhaps it is because I am lazy and perhaps it is because nothing was worth talking about until now. Nobody will ever know.

I decided that I really needed to do a post about Real Steel because I feel like it is the most underrated movie of the year. Reviews were terrible and I didn't even get an "it was okay" from any of my friends. This was a real bummer because I was looking forward to this movie. After seeing Real Steel (finally!) I have to give it a 9 out of 10.

Real Steel tells the story of a washed up boxer who now does a poor job of training boxing robots. When his ex-wife of 11 years dies unexpectedly he ends up spending the summer with a son he never knew. Max loves boxing robots and the two help each other be successful as they make their way to the biggest robot fight ever.

Hugh Jackman did an excellent job. He was true to his character and the dynamic between father and son was different than any I had ever seen in a movie before. Rather than one person trying to build a relationship and the other evading, neither character tried to get to know the other but they were brought together by a common interest. They inevitably grew together along the way.

I have heard that many people think that the boxing robots were kind of cheesy and lame. On the contrary, I thought it was interesting and exciting watching the matches. Having never been a boxing fan and being a little sick of robots (mainly from the last 2 Transformers movies which were fails) I expected to be a little fed up with this. I looked forward to every fight and I was never disappointed.

The supporting characters had just enough involvement to be "supporting characters" but most of the time was saved for Max and Charlie to develop their relationship. I enjoyed a movie that was more about character than about plot and that presented it in a new way for me. The movie is definitely not for everyone, but I think it makes a great film that guys and girls could agree to watch together.