On Friday I went to the movies with my friend Lacee and her friend Monica and we settled in for a double feature. The first movie we saw was Footloose – a remake of the 1984 dance flick starring Kevin Bacon. I've never seen the original movie, but I thought the remake looked fun, so that's why I wanted to see it. The movie was really fun and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.
The criticism I have with the movie, however, is that it's geared towards teenagers, but quite a bit of the content (like language, innuendos and some suggestive dancing) is questionable for young teens. I'm pretty conservative and I don't think I would allow my teenager (especially a young one) to watch this movie. Teens are so impressionable, and I know they will find out about the ways of the world soon enough, but that doesn't mean I have to be the one to expose them to it. It's too bad when a good movie is tainted with things like excessive swearing. Gratuitous swearing is one of my biggest pet peeves in movies! Heather's rating: 6/10 stars
Like I said, I've never seen the original Footloose, but after watching the remake it inspired me to get on YouTube and look up some of the iconic, well-known dance scenes from the original movie. I thoroughly enjoyed watching a very young Kevin Bacon strut his stuff!
One difference I noticed while watching my side-by-side comparison of the Footloose movie clips was that Kevin Bacon's character (a senior in high school) was smoking in the original movie. I know lots of high school kids smoke, but thankfully, you don't see nearly as much smoking by teens in movies today. (Movies made in past decades had a lot more smoking in them.) I'm glad people have started to wisen up to the fact that smoking is not only a disgusting habit, but one that will kill you. There are still way too many people that smoke, but I think it's something that is fortunately on the decline.
I thought Breaking Dawn was actually pretty good, as far as the Twilight Saga goes. Granted, the acting is pretty laughable, especially by some of the actors/actresses, but the movie was pretty good. The movie was pretty true to the book, but that's largely due to the fact that the final book is split into two movies. Heather's rating: if I'm rating this movie based on the other Twilight movies, then this would get 8/10 stars, but if I were rating it compared to movies in general it would only get 6/10 stars.
Here are my major hangups with the books/movies: #1) the writing style of the books is awful! I'm sorry Stephanie Meyer, but you seriously need to work on your dialogue! In my opinion, for a book to be classified as "well-written," the dialogue needs to sound natural. Some authors really struggle with writing natural sounding dialogue, and it ends up sounding contrived or "too perfect." I'm not really that tough of a critic when it comes to books, but phony/cheesy dialogue is a definite dealbreaker!
#2) the main character, Bella, is one of the most annoying, whiny characters I've ever come across in all the books I've read in recent years. It would be one thing if Stephanie Meyer were intending the character to be annoying, but she's not. I find many of the characters in the Twilight books to be annoying in some way or another, but Bella is by far the worst of the bunch!
#3) the actor and actress that portray the main characters, Edward (Robert Pattinson) and Bella (Kristen Stewart) are not very good actors, at least in the Twilight Saga of movies. It's almost painful watching them interact because they have awful on-screen chemistry. Just my humble opinion, of course, but there you have it!
#4) the plot, relationships and interactions are all so unrealistic! Yes, I'm aware that this is a book about vampires and werewolves, but I think it gives such a slanted and unrealistic portrayal of what love/life is really like.
Why did I read all of the books and why do I keep subjecting myself to the movies, you might ask? Well, let's just say I have a love-hate relationship with the Twilight Saga. What can I say, I'm a glutton for punishment, but I like to see something through to the end once I start it, for better or for worse. I guess that can be blamed on my loyal side! So, yes, I'm sure I will be going to see Breaking Dawn, pt. 2 in the theater next November. (Especially if Lacee has anything to do with it!) ;)
The criticism I have with the movie, however, is that it's geared towards teenagers, but quite a bit of the content (like language, innuendos and some suggestive dancing) is questionable for young teens. I'm pretty conservative and I don't think I would allow my teenager (especially a young one) to watch this movie. Teens are so impressionable, and I know they will find out about the ways of the world soon enough, but that doesn't mean I have to be the one to expose them to it. It's too bad when a good movie is tainted with things like excessive swearing. Gratuitous swearing is one of my biggest pet peeves in movies! Heather's rating: 6/10 stars
Like I said, I've never seen the original Footloose, but after watching the remake it inspired me to get on YouTube and look up some of the iconic, well-known dance scenes from the original movie. I thoroughly enjoyed watching a very young Kevin Bacon strut his stuff!
One difference I noticed while watching my side-by-side comparison of the Footloose movie clips was that Kevin Bacon's character (a senior in high school) was smoking in the original movie. I know lots of high school kids smoke, but thankfully, you don't see nearly as much smoking by teens in movies today. (Movies made in past decades had a lot more smoking in them.) I'm glad people have started to wisen up to the fact that smoking is not only a disgusting habit, but one that will kill you. There are still way too many people that smoke, but I think it's something that is fortunately on the decline.
The next movie we saw was Breaking Dawn, pt. 1. I didn't have a strong desire to see this movie in the theater, but my friend Lacee really wanted to go, and since she and I have watched all of the other movies together in the theater I thought, "Why not?!" I admit it, I have read all of the books, as painful as it was. Since I've read all the books I like to see the movies to see how the movie portrayals compare to the books. The first movie was downright awful, but each one has progressively gotten better, partly due to the fact that there's a bigger budget for better special effects.
I thought Breaking Dawn was actually pretty good, as far as the Twilight Saga goes. Granted, the acting is pretty laughable, especially by some of the actors/actresses, but the movie was pretty good. The movie was pretty true to the book, but that's largely due to the fact that the final book is split into two movies. Heather's rating: if I'm rating this movie based on the other Twilight movies, then this would get 8/10 stars, but if I were rating it compared to movies in general it would only get 6/10 stars.
#2) the main character, Bella, is one of the most annoying, whiny characters I've ever come across in all the books I've read in recent years. It would be one thing if Stephanie Meyer were intending the character to be annoying, but she's not. I find many of the characters in the Twilight books to be annoying in some way or another, but Bella is by far the worst of the bunch!
#3) the actor and actress that portray the main characters, Edward (Robert Pattinson) and Bella (Kristen Stewart) are not very good actors, at least in the Twilight Saga of movies. It's almost painful watching them interact because they have awful on-screen chemistry. Just my humble opinion, of course, but there you have it!
#4) the plot, relationships and interactions are all so unrealistic! Yes, I'm aware that this is a book about vampires and werewolves, but I think it gives such a slanted and unrealistic portrayal of what love/life is really like.
Why did I read all of the books and why do I keep subjecting myself to the movies, you might ask? Well, let's just say I have a love-hate relationship with the Twilight Saga. What can I say, I'm a glutton for punishment, but I like to see something through to the end once I start it, for better or for worse. I guess that can be blamed on my loyal side! So, yes, I'm sure I will be going to see Breaking Dawn, pt. 2 in the theater next November. (Especially if Lacee has anything to do with it!) ;)
So, what did you think of Breaking Dawn, or what do you think of the Twilight books in general?
Great post! I wasn't sure if I wanted to see "footloose," but you've convinced me to not. And thanks for the shout out! :) love you!
ReplyDeleteI'm a Twilight fan Heather. I like the movie; and I loved the books. I like the fantasy of it.
ReplyDeleteLove Your Utah Friend,
Tina
I read all the Books because I wanted to know the end, the story had me hooked, but I totally agree that they are poorly written. I have only seen the first Movie and will probably not see the other ones. And yes, Bella is really whiney!
ReplyDeleteI really like your movie critics, Heather!