New Moon Review

Friday 20th November 2009 "Midnight "New Moon" Fills Two Theaters at Tavernier Towne"

270 movie goers emerged on Friday morning, at 2 am from B & B's Tavernier Towne Cinema 5, in excited vocal droves they left, laughing, exuberant, fulfilled, content. Twi-fans will only have to wait until summer 2010 for their next fix, when Eclipse hits the screens, but from the weekend's box office figures fan's were sated, 'New Moon' was delicious, more correctly, the buff werewolf and dashing vampire were.

The overwhelming roar when Jacob Black stepped into the scene, shattering the dark dismay of the first twenty minutes, and the swoons when dashing Edward Cullen and his beloved, Bella Swan steamed up the set kissing, made it clear that most of the audience really loved what they saw.

These lucky viewers were amongst the first in the United States to set eyes upon Robert Pattinson as Edward Cullen and Taylor Lautner as Jacob Black since Twilight hit theaters last year. This second of the four saga's in the decade's greatest dark romance did better than it's predecessor and took the record for the most first day ticket sales with a total of $72.7 million, with $26.3 million from midnight screenings alone, if it carries on this way it may have a shot at the weekend domestic box office record previously held by "The Dark Knight," which had a $158.4 million opening weekend last year according to the New York Times online.


For people unfamiliar with this modern pop-culture phenomenon, one surprisingly devoid of bites, blood and sex, and some critics say, serious acting talent, the story builds upon a seemingly improbable romance between human teen Bella Swan and century old 'vegetarian' vampire, Edward Cullen. "New Moon" increases the tension built up in Twilight, with humans hunting for werewolves who are hunting for vampires, who are hunting the human's the werewolves are protecting.

And if that doesn't leave heads spinning, the camera angles and effects might, Director Chris Weitz makes some brilliant moves in this movie and it's worth seeing, even the missing males out there would enjoy it, purely from a technical perspective, of course.

Good reviews of actor Billy Burke, who plays Fork's Town Sheriff Charlie Swan, are understandable, his role drew the most audience laughs and commentary, besides the shirtless wolf and the rakish vampire kissing scenes, the human-wolf transformations were astounding, and the vampire special effects an improvement on Twilight. Despite this, some viewers were not happy.

Jacob Black, apparently stole all his scenes, but vampire Edward drew criticism for his rather stunted abilities, where, was the feeling?.

"I was waiting for him to say something, there were all these pregnant pauses," says Kelly Astin, Principal of Treasure Village Montessori School (TVM) in Islamorada of Edward Cullen's frozen moments. And some fans also thought Kristen Stewart turned in a less than genuine performance.

"I was not impressed during the scene where Edward breaks up with her. She had a very blah reaction," says Julie Clark, teacher at TVM. One disgruntled father mentioned he was hoping Bella would meet her demise at the hands of the werewolves.

"I thought there could have been more action," said Rigoberto Jauregui, aka, Kiki a senior at CSHS.

"But there was enough action for a girl, it was romantic and emotional action," says Nursing Student, Araceli Ornelas of Key Largo.

In "New Moon," Bella finds herself in the midst the love triangle that has millions of females around the planet buying tickets and taking sides, is it team Jacob or team Edward.

"I love Taylor Lautner who plays Jacob, but not Jacob's character, he's so pushy, says 17 year old Kaleigh Jacobson after Sunday afternoon's show, "I love Edward, he's the best," she says, as she shows off her "Forks" "Spartans" Basketball team t-shirt.

Local Associates in Arts student, and teaching intern, Danielle Dasht admits she locked herself in the bathroom with a flashlight to read the Twlight Saga, much to her boyfriend Johnny Johansen's surprise.

"He didn't understand the obsession," says Dasht who has already seen "New Moon" for the second time, her favorite character was sister to Edward, Alice Cullen, played by Nikki Reed, but "I love the wolves," she says with a smile that gives away her deep passion for this experience, a passion shared by millions of women around the world.