"Breaking Dawn"

I don't quite get the midnight show appeal. I went because Larry's boss's wife asked me to go (and asked and asked!) Now I can check that off my Bucket List.

I really enjoyed the movie, but my advice is don't go to the midnight show if it bothers you when people talk during the movie. Holy cow. You'd think people who go to that much trouble to see a movie would show it more respect. And I'm not talking about whispering either.  Super annoying.

I'm sort of embarrassed, but not really, to admit that I went again on Sunday.  I hadn't planned to, but a friend who didn't want to go to the midnight show with me on Thursday was planning to see it with a third friend on Saturday, but they didn't end up going.  So I went with her on Sunday, just to be nice, but I didn't mind seeing it again.  I definitely got more out of it without the distracting audience.  (Bonus - my friend paid on Thursday and I used a gift card that I got for my birthday on Sunday, so I saw the movie twice for free!!)

I thought that the movie was really beautiful.  I thought so when I saw it the first time, and still thought so when I saw it again.  Bill Condon made a very pretty film.  He made excellent use of the locations (Brazil and Washington), judicious use of aerial shots, and he just has a great eye, or a great DP (probably both).

I thought the wedding and honeymoon were lovely and romantic and satisfying.  Overall, the first half of the movie was wonderful.  The second half had more flaws, but was still enjoyable.

As always, I thought they left out important elements, and I thought they underplayed some key moments.  One example is the Morning After conversation that Edward and Bella have on Isle Esme - in the book, they're lying together in bed talking, in the movie, they're standing in the bathroom (!); and how could they leave out one of the very best lines in the book - "Why am I covered in feathers?" and his answer - "I bit a pillow or two."  I felt robbed.  Another good example is when Jake first finds out that Bella is pregnant.  It's a very effective scene in the movie, but in the book it's much more wrenching.  Maybe they think the book is too melodramatic, or maybe they think it will come across as too melodramatic on film.  Or maybe Melissa Rosenberg is just a dope (case in point, I heard in an interview she said her favorite moment was the wedding toasts she added, which I thought were awful, except for Edward's.)

I thought the birth scene was very effective, but it was also way overly sanitized.  Twice the camera pulls back to show Bella afterwards and it wasn't nearly bloody enough.  Even a normal birth would be messier than that, but in the book it's described as a river of blood.  I understand their constraints, but I would have preferred that they keep the camera close in, rather than making the scene so unrealistic.  It took me away from the moment, which couldn't have been their intention.

I loved the place and the way they ended.  The exact cut-off point between the 2 films has been the source of much speculation, and I think they chose, and executed, perfectly.  The way they depicted Bella's transformation was wonderful and very effecting.

I also have to say that I loved the music.  Several pretty songs, and just superb reuse of songs from the first movie, especially during the wedding, and Bella's theme, later in the movie. I read somewhere that Carter Burwell, who wrote music for the first movie, was back this time, so the music is closer in sound to the first movie - must be at least part of the reason that I like it. It's definitely on my holiday wish list!

The only really bad thing is having to wait a whole year to see the rest!