Pitch Perfect (2012)

Director: Jason Moore
Writer: Kay Cannon

Notable Cast

Beca- Anna Kendrick
Jesse- Skyler Astin
Aubrey- Anna Camp
Chloe- Brittany Snow
Fat Amy- Rebel Wilson
Lilly Onakuramara- Hana Mae Lee
Cynthia Rose Adams- Ester Dean
Staci- Alexis Knapp
Benji- Ben Platt
Bumper- Adam Devine

 

Introduction

 

It’s hard to believe this movie came out almost 10 years ago.

Supposedly it was based on a book and Elizabeth Banks liked it so much she helped bring it to the big screen. This was also at the height of Glee’s popularity so the timing was something like this was perfect.

Other than Anna Kendrick’s involvement (I’d been following her movies since Twilight), that common ground with Glee piqued my interest and I saw it on HBO when it premiered some random Saturday night.

My first impression was mixed, to put it mildly. There were a few decisions made by the writers I wholeheartedly disagree with, but the highlights lying in their wake shouldn’t be completely overlooked.

My motivations for finally putting a review of this movie down on “paper”— there are a few, most of which came from a recent revisit, and I’ll get to all of them at some point in this post.

I won’t be shy about calling out the flaws as I see them, but there’ll be just as much to be celebrated elsewhere.

To quote various YouTube videos about tv and movies, a spoiler alert is now in effect.

Not just for Pitch Perfect and its sequels but 2 similarly themed TV series that happen to be among my all time favorites.

 

The Plot 

Once upon a time, there was a collegiate show choir called the Barden Bellas. They were the top show choir in the nation. Until one fateful competition when Aubrey Posen let her nerves get the better of her and she puked during the choir's performance, costing the Bellas the first place trophy... and the respect of their peers. The resulting incident had since gone viral.

Don’t worry, I’m not going to do the rest of the review like this, but it seemed like a good idea at the time.
So from the get go, this movie already started on the wrong foot for me. This wasn’t just puke. It was projectile vomiting. Speaking as someone who got sick in school as a kid and was teased about it, I cannot for the life of me understand why exaggerated puke is used in movies or why it’s used for comedic effect. I could blame a certain Monty Python sketch but I don’t know if they’re the first ones to do it.
All of that being said, we do circle back to this point later in the movie, and while it is overblown and gross, the comedy that comes out of it- it was too ridiculous not to find hilarious. So I guess it depends on the circumstances in how it’s used.

 Also-- while these vocal groups are technically acapella groups, I'm going to continue using the phrase "show choir" to describe them.

Fast forward to the next fall, aspiring music producer Beca enrolls in the Bellas college. And after one of the Bellas overhears her singing in the shower, she recruits her to join the group.

After some coaxing, she convinces her to harmonize with her in the showers. And they sing David Guetta/Sia’s “Titanium”.
It’s hard not to echo Beca’s reluctance. It’s PG13 so nothing is shown, but what would you do if some strange girl asked you to sing when you have no clothes on? 

So they have the auditions for the group where everyone sings “since you’ve been gone” with varying levels of success (or lack thereof). Beca shows up late and auditions with something of her own. And Anna Kendrick wound up becoming a viral sensation- in the best way.

“Cups” was based on an older song, but she performed it accapella while using a cup as a percussion instrument. This led to a fully produced version of the song to be recorded and released. She did a music video that got tons of views, played a lot on the radio, and several subsequent videos were made by people who wanted to teach others to do the cup routine too.
If anything cool came out of this movie, that was it. I watched the video once and I actually learned the cup routine from YouTube. Whether I can do it now, I’m not sure. 

After auditions are done, the Bellas go through their own hell week and are drilled to the bone. Then they got over songs and Beca points out “there’s nothing from this century on here.”

So begins another major source of conflict in the story: Aubrey is THOROUGLY convinced that singing these songs will get them back to championship status. More specifically, performing the same three songs for every competition. 
I wish I was kidding about this... I have nothing against "The Sign," "Eternal Flame" or "Turn the Beat Around"... or any songs predating the 21st century for that matter. But how STUPID is this plot device? I know this is a movie and not everything is meant to be realistic, but be reasonable! No show choir or acapella group would do the same setlist for every competition they go to. They don't always have the same judges for each competition, but if they did, this would be greatly frowned upon.
Even more frustrating, nobody but Beca wants to stand up to her or makes any attempts to change this asinine ritual. 
I'm sorry... this stupid decision on the part of the writers (whether it's the book or the movie, I have no idea) kills a lot of potential joy that could be had watching this movie. 

Drama within the group aside, there's a side plot where one of the recently inducted Treblemakers (aka the rival all men's show choir on campus) tries his darnedst to be Beca's friend... and possibly more. But she wants no part of it. 

Later on, it's revealed that she has an issue trusting people because of her parent's divorce. Part of the reason her dad insisted she went to college for a year (it was part of a deal where, if she fulfilled her end, he'd help pay for her to move out to LA to begin her producing career) was to make friends. And through her time with Bellas, she finds more friends than she'd probably had her entire life and eventually, she lets her guard down with everyone else around her. 

Beca is probably my favorite character Anna Kendrick ever played. I'm not jazzed about the idea of remixing music, but it'd be cool to have that kind of talent. And I can relate to her having walls up around herself. I still have trouble being myself around people, even into my 30's. 
But it took me several semesters in college before I made the friendships I did, so I can speak from experience that college is worth it if only for that. 
While rewatching it the other day, I also remembered something else: throughout the movie, she wears a shirt with a button-down shirt over it. I thought this was a cool fashion statement and I made a few purchases in part to emulate it. Although, to be honest, I typically wear a sweater around the house anyway because that's what I'm comfortable in. 

Her friend (and later boyfriend) Jesse is also one of those movie characters I really liked spending time with. His excellent taste in movies may have a little to do with that (one was "The Breakfast Club"- aka my favorite movie of all time), but the conversations he had with Beca about music in movies were really fascinating to me. I'm not the most talkative person, but whenever conversations skew in that direction, that's one of the few times I feel free to open up and be myself. 

After several ups and downs, Aubrey finally deciding to loosen up the reins, and the Bella reinvented themselves, adopting mashups into their setlists, the movie finally arrives at the final competition night. 

Between the tight medley the Treblemakers did and the Bellas doing the coolest remix of "Don't You (Forget about me)" among several other songs, it was a tough call. And of course, the Bellas win.

Then the sequel comes along, a wardrobe malfunction blows everything up and they have to start from scratch again... but that's another movie. 
There's a third movie, but I don't remember much about it. It may have been vomit-free (part 2 has that in common with it, thankfully), but I think my issue was with the story. Something about it just didn't grab me like the first one did... with its flaws and all. 

...I didn't know where else to put this... 

I don't know what it is about show choir stuff in media, but why does it seem like the judges or commentators never care enough to do their jobs? In Glee, they always get random judges and they're there because their agents put them there. 

In this movie, it's Elizabeth Banks and John Michael Higgins, and they're always talking crap about all of the contestants... which is kinda weird because she's one of the producers of the movies. But it might be on the same level of irony as Jane Lynch (a show choir veteran) playing the mortal enemy of Mr. Schuster and The New Directions. 

Soundtrack

Not gonna lie... I got the soundtrack specifically for that epic championship winning number for the Bellas where The Breakfast Club song was among the ones involved in the mash-up. Today was the second time I'd listened to it since I got it.

While it has all of the songs from the movie, there were a few disappointments.

The radio version of "Cups" with the full production wasn't a part of it... I can only assume the radio single came after the soundtrack came out and they just missed the opportunity. (According to Wikipedia, a subsequent soundtrack was released, including any songs missing from the one I have)

It's also a pet peeve of mine with movie soundtracks when the songs aren't sequenced in the same order they appear in the movie. The Bellas finale medley is track #11 and there's 4 songs listed after it.  

Curtain Call

Probably the coolest thing about revisiting this movie was the cast... in my view, Anna Kendrick was the biggest star going in, but over time, several others took this opportunity and made huge careers for themselves.

After the huge success of "Cups," Anna Kendrick insisted that she didn't want to launch a music career... but she continues to sing as Princess Poppy in the "Trolls" franchise alongside Justin Timberlake and many others.

I'm pretty sure I saw Rebel Wilson in "Bridesmaids" before this movie. Her character in that movie was not very nice. Not just the fact she read Annie's diary ("I did not know it was your diary. I thought it was just a very sad handwritten book"), but she conspires with her brother to boot Annie out of the apartment when she's not even paying rent. Ridiculous!
Throughout the franchise, Fat Amy is definitely one of the most memorable characters and even though her heart is in the right place, she isn't always the nicest person. But since this movie, I'd seen her in "How to Be Single" with Dakota Johnson- again, she plays someone who gives her friend tough love, but she means well. 
And more recently, she hosted the dog grooming competition show "Pooch Perfect" and she was a really great host. I don't agree with all of the design choices with these dogs (particularly the use of fur dyes), but I kinda hope it comes back for another season... as long as she's hosting. 

Again, to continue reaping the benefits of the ongoing show choir bandwagon in media, Skyler Astin was cast in "Glee" as the head of rival show choir Throat Explosion. I vaguely remember seeing him at Nationals, making a comment that everyone recognizes The New Directions was "that choir" where that one guy died... referencing the tragic loss of Cory Monteith they spent the better part of Season 5 struggling with.
But most recently, he was Zoey's friend (later boyfriend) Max on "Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist"... it was fun, but also strange seeing him again in this movie. Watching him with Anna Kendrick had me thinking "this is weird, it's like he's cheating on Zoey"... even though that show hadn't come around until recently.

Side-note: I'm still not over the fact that show got cancelled. It NEEDS to come back. 

Despite the fact his character didn't become a Treblemaker until the very end of the movie, Ben Platt made out like a bandit... he became Evan Hansen, a role that earned him a Tony and he will reprise that role in the upcoming movie adaptation. 

Adam Devine was a jerk as Bumper... but I'd seen him in two roles since that redeemed him in my eyes. He was one of the interns in the Anne Hathaway movie "The Intern." Granted, he wasn't the perfect guy because he had a falling out with one of the girls at About The Fit and had to take Robert DeNiro's advice to win her back, but he had some good moments.
He also played himself on an edition of "The Price is Right: At Night" where he helped donate a lot of prize money to charity.  

...

Other than revisiting some of these musical numbers, one reason to revisit the movie is Lilly. She's so soft-spoken, you have to be absolutely quiet to understand what she's saying and the more you see the movie, the more you'll understand. She says some really random crap and it's pretty hilarious. 

Then she finds her voice later on and it turns out she's a bad-ass beat boxer.

On a slightly different note, she also makes an angel in a huge puddle of puke... yeah, it's gross, but it's also kinda awesome. 

And Cynthia Rose's name came from the Prince song "Starfish & Coffee," which was based on the childhood ancedotes of his then-girlfriend, Susannah. (IMDb has confirmation of this, so that's pretty cool)

I just can't help but feel like this movie could have been so much better if certain creative decisions were different. I still think the "same three song" setlist was a stupid idea and they could just as easily have figured something else out. Like Aubrey was just afraid to incorporate any 21st century music. The fact she's an Army brat doesn't give her enough of an excuse to be a complete tyrant and act like the victim when the others question her authority. 

One final "Glee" connection: the Bellas lost out on making the title competition, but earn their way back in because the next team in line got disqualified. 

I can't help but feel "Glee" took a page from that book and used a similar plot device. 

In Season 4, they lost a competition when Marley fainted during their performance. This happened because she was overdosing on laxatives to lose weight and her eating disorder finally caught up with her. All of this was brought on because someone else in the Glee club was bullying her, yet when they lost, she got all of the blame for it. 

Sorry, I'm still mad about that.. especially since the Glee club needed to win Nationals or else would have to disband... as someone who lived and breathed the show, it felt like the end of the world. (Whether this was at the point the show was starting to lose traction is up to individual discretion. I was on board until the final season when they tried to introduce a new cast of characters and it just didn't have that same magic).

But after a few depressing weeks, The New Directions was revived because The Warblers was disqualified for using steroids. Maybe not the best writing, but I didn't care.

In "Pitch Perfect," the Bellas were able to go to the title competition because another team was disqualified for having a high school student in their rooster. It's an all-collegiate competition, so at least that logic makes sense. 

Beyond all this, I don't have much else to add in terms of a conclusion.

Breaking Dawn: Part 2

Director: Bill Condon (also did "Dreamgirls" and "Beauty & The Beast" with Emma Watson)
Writers: Melissa Rosenberg (screenplay) and Stephenie Meyer (based on her book)
Composer: Carter Burwell 

Returning Cast:
Bella Swan- Kristen Stewart
Edward Cullen- Robert Pattinson
Jacob Black- Taylor Lautner
Carlisle Cullen- Peter Facinelli
Chef Charlie Swan- Billy Burke
Alice Cullen- Ashley Green
Jasper Cullen- Jackson Rathbone
Emmett Cullen- Kellen Lutz
Rosalie Cullen- Nikki Reed
Esme Cullen- Elizabeth Reaser
Jane- Dakota Fanning
Aro- Michael Sheen
Caius- Jamie Campbell Bowyer
Notable Newcomers (and/or major cast members I hadn't listed yet):
J. Jenks- Wendell Pierce
Benjamin- Rami Malek
Sue Clearwater- Alex Rice
Renesmee- Makenzie Foy
Tanya- MyAnna Buring
Kate- Casey LaBow
Irina- Maggie Grace
Garrett- Lee Pace
Carmen- Mia Maestro
Eleazar- Christian Carmago
Zafrina- Judi Shekoni
Alistair- Joe Anderson

Opening Comments:

I'm FINALLY getting around to this. And of course once I finished the movie, I really didn't want to leave this world so I watched a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff. 
I'm seriously as Twi-Hard as they come. I love these stories and I get so sucked in that it's hard to leave sometimes. And I never saw those DVD extra before so that was really fun getting that perspective.

Of all the movies, this is probably the best one... the original isn't perfect. None of them are. But I still love the original movie too. The original book too. It's the one I've clearly read the most. Probably because it's the shortest, easiest to get through. The others are either longer, run long in places or are kinda agonizing. After this last run-through, I'm never stretching out New Moon again. Next time I read it, it's gonna be over a long weekend. 

As for this book, I read it following the movies. I stopped where Part 1 ended and then read the rest of it after seeing the movie. 
I really hated how every one of these YA book-to-movie series split the last book into 2 movies. I get why Harry Potter did it to really give focus to the final battle at Hogwarts. After Breaking Dawn came out in two movies and I saw them both... yeah, they really did need the two movies.
But Mockingjay did not need 2 movies. Nothing but a blatant cash grab. I really didn't enjoy reading the book and it was just difficult to watch. [And yeah, I'm still bitter that they didn't kill off Peeta because he was clearly too far gone after getting hi-jacked... and that Katniss didn't end up with Gale... but I shouldn't really complain because Team Edward took home a win in this series like I wanted]

Other Comments:

I don't know how else to categorize this so I'm just gonna let the train of thought flow.
I looked back at my previous blog post and unlike part 1, I did not write a full review about this movie. Just a bunch of comments. I guess I didn't want to spoil anything. But in this post, I'm probably going to spoil A LOT. But that's ok. 7 years later, nobody's really going to care what I give away.

For the most part, the movie follows the book really well. We have a beginning, middle and end as there ought to be. The beginning is Bella getting used to being a vampire as well as getting used to being a mom and also dealing with Jacob in the new capacity he has in her life.
At the end of part 1, Jacob imprinted on Renesmee, which completely averted a war between vampires and werewolves. On the one hand, it solved the love triangle situation with Bella, Jacob and Edward. Even after she got married, he was still pining for her. But the whole imprinting on a baby... yeah, I'm still a little grossed out about that. 

Probably the best part of this movie was seeing Kristen Stewart completely uninhibited as Bella. That awkwardness is gone and she's totally comfortable in her own skin and confident. It made me wish that there was a way to me to get that degree of confidence and just hold onto it forever. I feel like it comes and goes in bursts and I'm in my 30's now. At the same time, as much as I wish I were more extroverted... it gets exhausting after a while. 
This movie was definitely her best showing as this character. Bella gets dumped on a lot, but I think a lot of it was because of the movies. In the books, she has some humorous moments that get lost in translation from book to movie. Also, she never cooks. Except in the previous movie and it's the last proper meal she has as a human. 
I also love when she gives some other characters hell. First Jacob... it probably horrified a lot of Team Jacob fans, but I freaking loved her giving him grief over the imprinting and the nickname for Renesmee. In the book, EVERYONE used it and she kept referring to it as the infurating/annoying nickname. Then at the end, she even says it, but she got caught up in a moment. 
Then she and Emmett having an arm wrestling contest. That was a big part of the book a lot of us Twi-hards were looking forward to. The context in the movie didn't do much lead up, unfortunately. In the book, she challenged him because if she won, he would promise to stop making inneundo jokes about her sex life around her dad. A college football game was going on when he came over and his comment among others "it's about time someone scored in this house"... yikes... 

So after the imprinting drama, there was dealing with Charlie. The initial plan was just to tell him that Bella died so the Cullens can just disappear. But since Jacob imprinted, he doesn't want them to leave, so he takes it upon himself to make sure Charlie finds out she's alive. Edward said something like "don't pretend that you did this for anyone but yourself." The scene in the movie was pretty hilarious because it looks like Jacob is doing a striptease thing for Charlie, but he's just showing him how he phases into a werewolf. 
Without telling Charlie about the vampire thing (because secrecy is HUGE in their world), he does find out that Bella had changed because her life was in danger. He's really good with the "need-to-know" subtext. 
The end result is great. Bella not losing that part of her human life. But yeah, Jacob was an idiot for taking it upon himself to do that. 
I didn't really get it from the book, but we see a bit more of Charlie and Sue Clearwater and it's clear that they're becoming a couple. Nice for Charlie so he isn't completely alone. (They kept bringing up how he couldn't fend for himself with cooking, lol)

The middle... we get our major conflict in the story... Irina (who was upset with Bella over Laurent's death) witnesses Jacob and Renesmee in the woods and she thinks that she's an immortal child. In the vampire world, they're taboo because if a child is turned into a vampire, they don't have the maturity necessary to keep the vampire. So she reports it to the Voluturi, who use this as an excuse to visit. 
It was interesting reading about this in the book. So much happens and I only read it through twice before. But one of the vampires they recruit to help them, he was a former member of this ancient clan of vampires... he talks about how the Volturi like to collect vampires with gifts and how their covens suspiciously get implicated with a crime and they're the only ones spared and get recruited. 
After the events of New Moon, Aro (the leader of the main trio) meets Edward, Alice and Bella and wants them to join him. Especially Alice because she can see the future. 
The only terrible thing about this part of the book... Alice disappears with Jasper and is gone for much of the book. I hate when characters go away for long periods in these books. But I was fairly convinced that they'd come back at some point. Edward, on the other hand, I really did feel like he left. 
I was half thinking with the Volturi thing... I want to say it's all Edward's fault because he was the one who sought them out to commit suicide after he thought Bella had. Sure, they probably would have found out about Alice eventually. But still... although I could really blame the publishers for pushing Stephenie to write New Moon and Eclipse because they didn't want this series to end too quickly. 

Oh, before I forget... Bella and Edward get a cottage in the woods for her birthday. I love in the book how she not only realizes how bad she is with surprises ("was I really that bad?") when only Alice comes for the big reveal. And she says how they could change some things around and Bella whispers "don't knock my house." Kinda like how she was so protective of her truck, she has a soft spot for old things. The cottage in the woods was like a Kinkade house from one of his painting. Gorgeous! Love it!

My ranting and raving aside... 
they have to recruit other vampires to witness that Renesmee is going and maturing and she's not a danger. They're from various parts of the world. The Denalis are "cousins" to the Cullens because they both eat a vegetarian diet on animal blood. Irina is their sister. Two others also live with them: Carmen and Elezear (who was with the Volturi previously). A couple from the Amazon. A trio from Irelend (they didn't really go into them that much). A bunch of nomads. One of them, Garrett, was from the Revolutionary War and later takes a shine to Kate from the Denali coven. Another, Alistair, is very suspicious of authority.
Then there's the Egyptian coven. Amun, their leader, is very protective of their secrecy and his mate, Kebi is subserviant to him. Kinda true to that culture. He created Benjamin and Tia was his girlfriend. 

Yeah, Benjamin is played by Rami Malek... everyone knows who he is by now :P I've seen his face on a couple of YouTube themes of "actors you forgot were in Twilight" videos. And it was really cool seeing him in this role, now that I've gotten to know him from Bohemian Rhapsody. He's so exotic looking that he was definitely the right person for this role. 
Hollywood is so into inclusivity nowadays. Stephenie Meyer and the Twilight film crew people were inclusive of other people and cultures before it was "in" and they don't get any credit for that. 

Two more vampires later show up and they're from Romania. They weren't invited, but they're excited at the prospect of the Volturi being taken down. Since their coven was originally in charge of the vampire world and was all but decimated. They made a fair point, though. As much as they loved the power, they were honest about who they were. They never "put on white hats and called [themselves] saints"

Meanwhile, Alice leaves some clues for Bella because her mind is still unreadable to Edward (and by extension, Aro) and she sets some contingency plans in place. Which is where J. Jenks comes in. In the book, there was a lot of runaround about finding out what this was about. And I kinda liked the lead up to this. Also, Bella had no idea going in what his business was. In the movie, he just had the fake ID's ready to go for Jacob and Renesmee to make a run for it. The book version showed Bella a little more in authoriative role. Also, J. Jenks was scared of dealing with the Cullens because he dealt with Jasper and he used fear as motivation. They didn't really show that side of the story here and I kinda missed that. 

And then the final part is the final confrontation... 
Even after watching the behind the scenes extras (when they said that fans would be disappointed if this build up was anti-climatic), I'm still a bit annoyed that they turned it into this big battle scene where people died that weren't supposed to. None of it actually happened... but I still remember being in horror and disbelief at the movies during those 9 minutes, thinking that they either ruined the book or I'd read a different book than this movie. 
Reading it again, there was a little hostility from Jane and Alec that Bella helped with her newfound powers. Edward couldn't read her mind when she was human and she finds out from Eleazar that she's a "shield" and she learned how to extend it beyond herself. So she used it to protect the others from their debilatating gifts. 
The battle was cool in some aspects where certain characters teamed up to take others down that were particularly annoying and threatening. 

In the end, the only person that really dies is Irina. Because she gave false witness to the Volturi. 
And we find out that there is another vampire/human hybird. He's 150 and reached full maturity at age 7. The book went into more detail about his creator doing this to a bunch of other women and he has sisters and none of them are venomous. 

It's so sad to me that all the drama is finally over and the movie is over... I could have used another 20 minutes like we had in the beginning. 

But the last 10 minutes or so... what an ending... first we get to reminsce about Bella and Edward's relationship... then we get a curtain call for all of the cast members past and present. And "A Thousand Years" by Christian Perri plays in the background.
I was kinda annoyed that they made a big deal about this song with the previous movie with it being on the radio, but it wasn't until the end of the credits. At least the Bruno Mars song you hear the music briefly... although the song doesn't really make sense in the confines of the movie. "If you walk away, every day it will rain"... nobody was leaving anybody in this movie. 
Also, I wondered why the lyric in "A Thousand Years" is "I have loved you for a thousand years"... it would make more sense if it was "I WILL love you for a thousand years"... that's just always bugged me.
But man, what a tribute. I loved this so much.

And of course I get to the end and I want to start it all over again. 

I'm also glad Mackenzie Foy got to be in the Nutcracker movie last year so she didn't completely disappear like a lot of the cast members of these movies did. She was so good as Renesmee. It was crazy how they did CGI to put her face on the younger versions of her character. And they may have found the solution to working with babies in movies and getting them to look in the right direction. Except there's still some work to be done because it doesn't quite look natural. 
In the extras, the casting director said how she doesn't read comments but she followed through on the suggestion from a lot of Twi-hards to cast her in this role. She really got that right. 

Also, Jackson Rathbone appeared as a guest judge on Halloween Wars last week... I'd been annoyed for years that they had the actor who played Sam on, but none of the vampires. Finally on a vampire challenge, they got him. And it was great to see him cut loose and be humorous. Jasper doesn't allow him that luxury that often. 
I'm just glad that not everyone has shied away from this franchise. Really didn't see much of anyone but Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart.... and Booboo Stewart who played Seth got to be in the Disney Descendants series. And Peter Facinelli was in Supergirl as a recurring role, but not a really good guy. 
And Rami Malek, who played an Egyptian vampire in one movie that could manipulate the elements... he won a Golden Globe and an Oscar... 

omg, Mia Maestro was in a Prince video! 
I was just going through some other cast members to see if they did anything else of note. Zafrina was in the Heroes reboot, but I don't remember much about her character. I think she looked familiar when I saw her.
But yeah, Mia Maestro was in "Te Amo Corazon" as his love interest. I guess I'll have to see that video again now... not that I need an excuse ;) 
Lee Pace (Garrett) was Ronan in Guardians of the Galaxy

and I think that's finally it... so much to this movie and franchise... and now it's over :( 

Breaking Dawn: Part 1

Director: Bill Condon (also did "Dreamgirls" and "Beauty & The Beast" with Emma Watson)
Writers: Melissa Rosenberg (screenplay) and Stephenie Meyer (based on her book)
Composer: Carter Burwell (back for the first time since the original movie)

Cast:
Bella Swan- Kristen Stewart
Edward Cullen- Robert Pattinson
Jacob Black- Taylor Lautner
Carlisle Cullen- Peter Facinelli
Chef Charlie Swan- Billy Burke
Renee- Sarah ChalkeBilly Black- Gil Birmingham
Mike Newton- Michael Welch
Jessica Stanley- Anna Kendrick
Eric- Justin Chon
Angela Webber- Christian Serratos
Alice Cullen- Ashley Green
Jasper Cullen- Jackson Rathbone
Emmett Cullen- Kellen Lutz
Rosalie Cullen- Nikki Reed
Esme Cullen- Elizabeth Reaser
Jane- Dakota Fanning
Quill Atera- Tyson Houseman
Embry Call- Kiowa Gordon 
Leah Clearwater- Julia Jones
Seth Clearwater- Booboo Stewart

Introduction

I figured my work was done writing about these books/movies because I knew I wrote something about them on a blog. I just thought it was this one... turns out it was somewhere on the blog that was exclusively about Prince. Then around 2011, things start to sway in different directions. And the post was just a mental dump of everything else going on and I get to the movie by the end. 

Ok, so I picked the book up after we came back from Seattle and Alaska. (We weren't close to Forks at all, but we saw it on and Port Angeles on the map on the ship's navi channel). I left off with Eclipse ages ago. I knew it took a while to read, but I remember it being in my car on November 15 last year... when I was stuck in a snowstorm for 9 hours trying to get home from work. 

According to my post, I'd read the book only twice by the time the movie came out, so my memory wasn't that great. I forgot something about a significant plot point. I'm sure a lot of critics (and Twilight has a lot of them, unfortunately) would call it a Deus ex Machina-- something written into the story that is an instant cure-all for a problem. Is it a bit of a stretch?... yeah, maybe. But I get my happy ending with Bella and Edward together, so I could care less. 

The Book

This is one of those books I just remember going out and buying because it was a big thing when it was finally released. Twilight, I bought at Target along with the Freedom Writer Diaries way back in 2008. I remember reading about it in the paper, talking about a love triangle with a vampire and a werewolf. I'm not into horror at all, but it was an intriguing idea. The next two books... I asked for them for Christmas... New Moon I read in 2 days cuz I was miserable and wanted Edward to come back. And Eclipse took forever cuz I didn't find it all that interesting. The movie did a better job of conveying that story-- still wish they hadn't fired the original Victoria cuz Bryce Dallas Howard was a distraction.

With Breaking Dawn, I remember reading it in college. I was in my dorm room and I got to a pretty pivotal dramatic scene. Honestly, I laughed my head off... I couldn't believe they went there with it. You'll know what it is when I get there, but it was crazy.

Then that part ends and Jacob is suddenly narrating... I flip out... he'd become my least favorite character after a certain point. I mean, he was great until he became a werewolf and just hated Edward on principle and wanted to get in the way of that perfect ending. Of course, you spend enough time with someone, and you start to like them. Reading through the books again, I could almost see myself with Jacob, see why he's just as viable as an option. 

Reading through the book this time around, I devoured it and really got into it. Of course, there are bits and pieces they left out of the movie I wish they hadn't. But getting to know Jacob more and also getting to know Leah, another character I didn't like that much. Developing that dynamic between them was great. And I actually stopped reading the book where the movie would end. I'd never done that before, so it'll be interesting getting back to it from this perspective. 

The Story

Here's the basic story... and spoilers probably won't matter at this point. If you read the books or saw the movies, you know everything. And if you haven't, you probably don't care either way. I'm not gonna apologize.

Bella and Edward get married and Alice plans this really elaborate, but tasteful wedding for them. When she saw a vision of them at a Vegas chapel, she flipped out and demanded she plan the wedding. 

They have their honeymoon and Edward's condition for changing Bella into a vampire and them having sex is her becoming his wife first. Fair enough. But then they get together and he leaves bruises all over her body and refuses to hurt her again. So days are spent with her trying to get back with him and he's just planning excursions for them so she'll tire out. Later he gives in... but it's better this time around. 

The kicker... it should be impossible... but Bella gets knocked up. Edward is positive that it's going to kill her, so he wants it to get taken out. But she wants the exact opposite and actually enlists Rosalie (the one Cullen she doesn't get along with) to be on her side. 

The werewolves get involved, thinking that this thing will be a threat to their pack. What's worse is that it's growing really fast and, as Carlisle puts it in the movie, it's "incompatible with her body" so she's wasting away. Jacob finds out and alerts the werewolves, but when their leader Sam decides to kill Bella and the problem, Jacob rises to become an alpha, as he was born to be, and breaks away from the pack. Seth and Leah Clearwater later join him, despite his objections. 

Things eventually do turn a corner when they get the idea to have Bella drink blood and her condition starts to improve. Then Edward is able to hear the baby's thoughts, so things are turning around. 

The birth scene is very dramatic and almost horror-movie-esque with all that goes wrong. 

But Jacob imprints on the baby and Bella is able to change into a vampire with Edward's venom being injected into her Pulp-Fiction style.

And that's where Part 1 ends... 

The Movie

I'm just reading through some of my old notes to see if there's anything I want to copy/paste. 

For starters, the things in the book I miss... 

There was this dynamic between Jacob and Rosalie. Where he didn't like her and kept using dumb blonde jokes and she kept saying she'd heard them before. Another scene she gives him food and bends the plate to look like a dog dish. Also, Alice is really worked up about Bella's situation because she can't see her future and being near her gives her a headache. She and Jacob actually have a few moments where they're chilling together because he makes the headaches go away. 

The dynamic between Jacob and Leah- they sum up over two scenes, so I guess they did a good job of that. 

I also didn't like the dynamic between Bella and Edward. Carlisle gives his latest prognosis about the situation and surmises her heart will give out before delivery. Then Edward tries to convince her to stop things and she refuses. Then he yells at her, saying she'd chosen to take herself away from him. In the book, there was no fight. He spent a lot of the time as "the burning man" as Jacob described him. Like he was in pain, but couldn't outwardly express it. People are still incensed about Dumbledore yelling at Harry "did you put your name into the Goblet of Fire?" when the book clearly says that he said this calmly. Same thing... 

There were just so much drama during that 2nd half of the movie and there weren't enough light moments in between. But adding the complication that the Cullens haven't hunted in a while because Sam has the werewolves keeping a tight perimeter around the house... that was a good addition. 

One scene I felt was randomly thrown in there. Before Edward is whisked away to his bachelor party by Emmett and Jasper, he suddenly gets serious and says how she doesn't know everything about him and goes into flashbacks about a rebellious period he went through as a vampire.
My thoughts- why are you bringing this up NOW? They had so much time before this that this scene just feels thrown in to create some unnecessary drama. The book really didn't go into this at all. Bella did have a nightmare before her wedding day, but it had nothing to do with all of this. 

Backing up for a second to the wedding... 

The toasts were great. They showed the sense of humor of the cast. Emmett had his comments about not getting sleep for a while, haha... that could be taken a few ways. Then Charlie, omg, he was hilarious. The theater laughed at a bunch of his one-liners. How he knows how to use a gun and implying he'll hunt Edward down if he causes any trouble. 

The wedding was BEAUTIFUL… Alice went out of her way to make it look perfect… I did imagine it being in the Cullens’ living room, but to hell with that… the hairclip (which was her something old, new, borrowed & blue) was the greatest finishing touch, her dress was beautiful… she looked beautiful… everyone did…

there was a quick scene addressing the Denali sisters, Kate, Tanya and Irina, who was still pissed off about Laurent getting slaughtered by the werewolves... this becomes more important in part 2.
I forgot how self-involved Jessica was in the books… she made a comment in the speeches about how Edward became all about Bella when she arrived and vice versa and quote “it wasn’t like she was head of the volleyball team or anything… president of student council”… also made the comment about Bella getting knocked up cuz why else would someone get married at 18 :sigh: I think they only had those parts cuz Anna Kendrick seems to get a lot of screen time anyway. Kinda like they gave her the valedictorian speech in the last movie when she wasn't even the valedictorian. (I love Anna Kendrick, but I don't like that they changed that part of the book... even if it was a great speech). 

Jacob has always kinda been a two-way street for me… and the wires get crossed really fast with him… because he makes rash decisions too…
at the wedding he shows up and I’m with Bella, so happy he decided to come and sad that she has to say goodbye to him… then when he hears she’s planning to lose her virginity, he gets all bent out of shape… immediately I went from grateful he showed up to angry he was being so difficult…

Team Jacob fans will definitely be happy with this movie because there was a lot of Quileute coverage… scenes with Jacob, Leah and Seth… also kinda noticed there being a little added element of Charlie spending time with Sue Clearwater (widow of his friend Harry who died from a heart attack in “New Moon”)… it's sweet. And there's a hinted rivalry with him and Billy.

The honeymoon was everything I thought it was going to be… very romantic… no disappointments at all with the sex scene… there was no nudity and it didn’t last too long… 

I swear I was on pins and needles the entire time, though… because I had no idea when the news was going to come out.
The montage was great… they took the concept of the chess board from the book cover and used it during the scenes where Bella wants to get into bed with Edward again and he’s refusing cuz he doesn’t want to hurt her anymore… the bruises weren’t nearly as bad as I read in the book, I think he was getting a little too sensitive about it, though I agree there were some dangers in it

Finally she has a dream about getting into it again with him and she’s crying because she wanted it to be real  guilts him into going through with it again…It's also funny how she waltzes around in the lingerie Alice packed for her, as if making her intentions VERY obvious. I think the theater laughed at that too.

The pivotal scene was handled extremely well… but I was nervous about whether or not they’d include a key element… to my complete relief they did…
Bella gets panicked when she hears that Edward wants to save her from “the thing”… and that idea is just tangible enough where I’m in the same boat as she is… at the airport, it finally happens: she calls Rosalie and asks for her help

Rosalie’s biggest qualm about being a vampire was that she missed out on humans experience… the only thing she was ever jealous of was the fact one of her best friends was happily married with a baby… that was something she couldn’t have now that she’d become a vampire. Naturally, she is on Bella’s side, the only one in this matter…
there’s some banter back and forth between her and Alice about calling it a fetus or a baby, which makes sense…

For sure, my props to the make-up people for just giving the big picture to Bella’s deterioration…
some people can say that Kristen Stewart only has a select number of facial expressions, and in some cases, it's the same story here… but in the other cases, even in the honeymoon scene, I saw a few degrees for her character that I didn’t see nearly as much in “Twilight”…with time, she truly embraced the character and made it her own.

Leah rubbed me the wrong way in “Eclipse” but she was going through her growing pains… having just become a werewolf so she can’t get away from Sam… the fact he imprinted with her friend Emily when the two of them had been going out… talk about melodrama. She was hoping to imprint on someone so she could forget about Sam, put all of that behind her.

the one big werewolf scene was when Jacob fought against Sam, broke away from the pack and became his own alpha to protect Bella… supposedly the alpha can force his followers to submit to him and that was never fully addressed until now (well, except in “New Moon” where Jacob had to work around the order to not say anything to anyone about the Quileute tribe magic)

Just about all of the critical elements from the book were there.

A huge fight broke out at the end between the vampires and werewolves… I don’t remember that in the book at all… it was really cool.

The delivery scene on the other hand… I was expecting a lot more blood, honestly… they said it was supposed to be like a horror movie… but there really wasn’t that much at all…
Bella supposedly dies on the operating table and Jacob runs out, unable to take his grief… then for whatever reason, he feels pulled back in by something…

The imprinting scene was surreal… Jacob was in the delivery room, I figured it would have happened then, but maybe when he locked eyes with Renesme, everything clicked… and she’s going to look so amazing when she grows up.

For me personally… I think that the scene with Edward giving Bella CPR went on a little too long… I mean, she looked DEAD… as in not even getting the venom pumping through her veins would save her… he must have done 100 compressions in what feels like forever… 10 minutes too long, got less and less realistic and likely she’d survive it…
and yes, even in the realm of impossibility where a vampire and a human can conceive, I believe that was unrealistic.

After biting her all over and the CGI showed the venom circulating… Bella’s life was flashing before her eyes… she was under morphine, which explained why she wasn’t writhing with pain… something I was expecting, didn’t really see anything that indicated she was still alive.

Carlisle assured Edward that the transformation was taking place… strange how they made the room all comfortable for her… put her in a nice blue dress, combed her hair… perhaps the coolest of all the CGI was making her pale, taking away the bite marks… I swear she looked like Snow White, she was so beautiful.

It’s kinda funny that that was the first thing that came to mind: the way Bella described Esme the first time she saw her “an actress from the silent film era… Snow White in the flesh”… wow… And as I predicted, it was a similar thing to the end of “Avatar”—the movie ends with her eyes opening, but her eyes are blood red.

I swear this went by so fast and I was really absorbed in it. But maybe compared to the other movies, I don’t like it quite as much. A little too much drama. I’d place New Moon dead last and maybe this one next. The only movie that can rival the first point might be Breaking Dawn part 2. But I’ll know for sure when I get there.