Raptor and Slacker
The Paw Print
Raptor and Slacker love movies. They REALLY love movies! And they have decided to share some of their movie thoughts with you. Sometimes they will watch new movies in theaters or on DVD, and sometimes they will watch some of their old favorites that they want to share with the world. If you have any suggestions for movies to review, please email them to raptorandslacker@gmail.com.
As many of you may know, the first part of the last Twilight movie came out a couple of weeks ago. We went to watch it and were inspired to watch another vampire movie; one that has a different view of vampires. Here are reviews for “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1” and “Van Helsing”.
“The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1” (2011)
After a couple of years of extreme happiness, human Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) and vampire Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) are finally getting married. With the help of Alice (Ashley Greene), they have a grand wedding and a party that will definitely be remembered.
After the wedding, Bella and Edward head off to their honeymoon on the remote island of Isle Esme. It is on this island that the couple officially consummates their marriage, a mistake that could prove fatal. Without even knowing it was possible, Bella becomes pregnant with Edward’s baby.
The baby grows extremely fast and Bella starts to become very ill and is in a lot of pain. They rush back home to get help from Edward’s adoptive father, Carlisle (Peter Facinelli), a vampire doctor, who is the only person who can help Bella. Once at home, they are visited by Jacob (Taylor Lautner). Jacob, a werewolf, was, and on some level, still is, in love with Bella, but now he hates the idea of what she is going to become.
Jacob finds out about Bella’s pregnancy and tells the rest of his wolf pack. The wolf pack decides that they cannot let this baby be born and decides to kill the baby and Bella. However, Jacob decides that this cannot happen. He leaves the pack and goes to protect the Cullens. With the help of a brother/sister pair of werewolves, Seth (Booboo Stewart) and Leah (Julia Jones), Jacob and the Cullens help Bella as much as possible. But when it is time for the baby to be born, will Bella survive?
Raptor: I’ll admit it; I’ve been a Twilight fan for a while now. I really enjoy the books and the movies. Needless to say, I was very excited to see this movie. I know all the arguments about why Twilight sucks, but honestly, I just love the story. For this movie in particular, I thought it was one of the best in the series, so far. I loved the way it was filmed and I like where they broke the book between Part 1 and Part 2. For those of you who have read the books or have seen the other movies, I really think you will enjoy it. For those of you who have not read the books or seen the movies, I think you would also enjoy the movie, but you might not understand some of the back story. And for those of you, who just hate Twilight, I’m sorry and I don’t know what to tell you but… I give this movie 9 out of 10.
Slacker: I love the books but I dislike most if not all of the movies. I do not like Kristen Stewart as an actress except in Speak (2004) where she has to have no emotion. I thought this movie did a great job following the book. However, I think that it is stupid that they split into two movies. I think they just wanted to make more money and that is the only reason why it was split. If you don’t like twilight but I am sorry I am team Edward. I would give this movie a 7 out of 10 only because the books are amazing and Robert is hot!
“Van Helsing” (2004)
Van Helsing (Hugh Jackman) is basically a bounty hunter of sorts. He is given assignments by a mysterious and secret organization hidden within the Vatican. These assignments have Van Helsing traveling all over Europe hunting down classic monsters such as Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hide. After gaining a reputation as a murderer, the Vatican asks Van Helsing to go to Transylvania to kill Dracula. He is told that he has to help Anna Valerious (Kate Beckinsale), the last member of a family that has sworn their passage into Heaven on the killing of Dracula. Van Helsing and a scientist/friar named Carl (David Wenham) arrive in Transylvania and are almost immediately attacked by Dracula’s vampire brides. From this moment on, the action doesn’t stop. The trio tries many different ways to get rid of Dracula but nothing seems to work, not even a stack through the heart or a crucifix. They finally meet Frankenstein’s monster who had disappeared a year before, and he helps them figure out a new plan. But can they kill Dracula before someone gets hurt?
Raptor: I know some of you are going to call me prejudiced or biased, especially considering the review I gave above, but I did not like this movie at all. Even when I completely separate my feelings for Twilight from this movie, I still didn’t like it. I thought the movie was just too cheesy and cliché. Take the opening scene, it really reminded me of “Young Frankenstein” and I kind of thought that the movie was a spoof-comedy. Even as the action progressed, I couldn’t get over my feelings of it being ridiculously cheesy. I mean, I’m a fan of action movies to a point, but this was just about stupid. As for it being cliché, I understand that there are certain trademarks of certain genres, but seriously, every single way to kill a werewolf or vampire in this movie was copied from somewhere else. They couldn’t even come up with one original way to kill a vampire. I give this movie a 5 out of 10.
Slacker: Unlike my co-writer, I love this movie. It is on my top five list. I like that they mixed all kinds of the myths all into one movie. I like the old feel to it and the acting was amazing in my opinion. It was not all action there were funny parts included. I liked their take on vampires. I am one of those people that the vampire that are not the generic vampire stories. That is also, why one reasons I that I like Twilight series. I have seen this movie at least 30 times. Not to mention Dracula’s wives are really hot. I would give this movie a 9 out of 10
What’s Been Said…