Results tagged “Twilight” from Modern Mythology

In this film publicity image released by Summit Entertainment, Kristen Stewart, left, and Robert Pattinson are shown in a scene from "The Twilight Saga: New Moon." (AP Photo/Summit Entertainment, Kimberley French)


Even if you're the most fervent "Twilight" hater I figured there are still a few reasons to go see the sequel "New Moon" this weekend based on the book series by author Stephenie Meyer.

Bear with me.

1. It's got an attractive cast.

PRO: It doesn't matter what your cup of tea is, "Twilight" has got a face (or buffed body) that may be to your liking.  AskMen.com says getting to see Kristen Stewart and Nikki Reed on the big screen is awesome.  And of course, the perennially shirtless Taylor Lautner and the poster boy for the franchise, Robert Pattinson, is worth the price of admission for a few people. 

CON: One of my co-workers -- we'll call him, THE OPINIONATOR -- says Pattinson is OK "if you're into that whole pale, emaciated-corpse thing."

2. If you're the right age, you can score some points with girls.

PRO: I'm not talking to you guys my age (older than twenty), this nugget of wisdom is for the teens.  If you're catching hell for being a boy and a "Twilight" fan don't fret.  Get your tickets, see your show and when you hear some crappy comments, comfort yourself in the knowledge that you'll be spending the next several months having the rapt attention of dozens of fellow female fans while you discuss the movies and books.

And when you start dating, she has to sit through "Thor" when that comes out in 2011 because she owes you one.

CON: Don't try this if you don't know your stuff.  I asked my 17-year-old niece Rebecka Brown about whether guys would score any points with the girls by taking them to see "New Moon." Becky plans on seeing the flick opening day with about eight people: six girls and two guys.

"Well, that's not going to be a really impressive movie," she said over the phone. (Can someone sound like they're rolling their eyes?)  "I don't think there are any real benefits -- it's just a movie. It's not real."

OK, you're not going to impress my niece by going to see the "Twilight" movies.

3.  There are vampires and werewolves in it.

PRO: It's filling an unconscious need in the country to have fashionable vampires hanging out with us regular folks.  These creatures have captured our imagination for years, long before this recent book and film craze.  This sub-genre of horror goes away every decade and manages to resurface just in time to find its way back to popularity as action-adventure (BLADE), comedy (LOVE AT FIRST BITE) and now, angst-ridden super natural romance. 

And for super hero fans, there are feats of superhuman strength, speed and were-wolfish metamorphosis. 

"It's not really a chick-flick, it's got action and stuff in it," Becky says.   

CON: Women are handing their children over to Pattinson and asking him to bite them.  So besides the jet engine-like sound of hundreds of screaming girls, you have to watch their mothers doing the same thing every time Pattinson utters a word. 

And you regular Modern readers know, I like my vampires scary not glistening in the sunset.

4.  Payback is a 'Mother'

PRO: This one is for the guys and gals my age and older:  There are tons of moms, dads, aunts, uncles, sisters and brothers who are taking their teen relative to see this movie and there are going to be some long lines in a couple places.  If you're single, leave the kids in the line, hit the local coffee establishment and talk "Twilight" with that sheriff's deputy you always wanted to say "hi" to or that Courtney Cox look-a-like who always has something to say at the PTA meeting.

Look, early ticket sales are indicating that this movie is likely to sell more advance tickets than any movie in history.  And yeah, everyone who is going to see this film is not going to be in high school.

TEENAGER: "Hey dad, they're seating everyone now!"

YOU: "Save me a seat, honey.  Hey, do you know Ms. Gates from the PTA?"

CON: Is there a con to this?  Heck no!


Related Posts:

Review: Bella mopes through pretentious 'New Moon'


ABOVE RIGHT: Actresses Nikki Reed, left, and Kristen Stewart attend a special screening of 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon' hosted by the The Cinema Society and D&G on Thursday, Nov. 19, 2009 in New York. (Evan Agostini/Associated Press).  ABOVE LEFT: Twilight fans wait in line to meet two New Moon actors at Nordstrom's Westfield Southcenter store, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2009, in Tukwila, Wash. (Jim Bates/The Seattle Times). 

  

DAVID GERMAIN
AP Movie Writer

Where would Hollywood be without that old standby, the vampire-werewolf-schoolgirl love triangle?

As every Stephenie Meyer fan knows, "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" is the one where studly vampire Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) dumps his human girlfriend, Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart), for her own safety, and she turns to old chum Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner) for solace, unaware that he's a werewolf, and therefore Edward's sworn enemy from way back.

What fans are about to find out is that critics, present company included, don't care much for this adaptation of the second in Meyer's "Twilight" series. And those fans won't give a fig what these critics have to say about their beloved Bella and her beastie boy toys.

They will turn out in blockbuster legions, teen girls in roving packs descending on theaters, along with ladies-night-out groups of friends and co-workers, and daughters with their moms (and plenty of grandmothers, no doubt).

With Chris Weitz ("American Pie," ''About a Boy," ''The Golden Compass") taking over as director, the second movie has exactly what those fans want: Big, bouncy boy hair. Sculpted torsos everywhere. Teasing caresses of fingers on fingers, lips on lips. Love so deep and frenzied the smitten would prefer to die than go on without the other. Torsos, did we mention torsos?

Most important, not just one, but two supernatural hunks snarling over the quivering carcass of a breathless, doe-eyed young woman.

Swoon factor times two.

For anyone who has not sworn the blood oath of undying allegiance to all things "Twilight," here's a few issues with "New Moon": It's really two half moons, or two halves of a movie that don't quite fit. Mopey teen Bella has all the luster of, well, a mopey teenager. The real rivalry between the werewolves and vampires is to see which species can behave with greater preposterousness and pretension.

Finally, "New Moon" is boring, eternally so.

"Twilight" screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg returned to adapt the script, and "New Moon" shares its predecessor's brooding, diary-of-a-mad-girl tone.

Bella starts senior year in the worst way as Edward and his adopted family of sensitive new-age vampires pack up and move away.

Fans will rue the relatively scarce screen time for Pattinson, whose Edward still adores Bella but decides he has to break things off so he doesn't complicate their relationship by giving her a fatal hickey.

Months of pining and bad dreams eventually are eased for Bella as she starts hanging out with Jacob, who misses no opportunity to show off his Olympian pecs and abs.

Bella's timing stinks, though, because Jacob's just entering wolfman puberty. Suddenly, he's running with a pack of werewolf brethren in his Native American tribe, and he pushes Bella away just as Edward did -- for her own protection.

What's a girl to do? Mope some more.

Old vampire enemies are still preying on Bella, though, giving Jacob and his boys some bloodsuckers to fight. The visual effects of the guys transforming into wolves are disappointing, over in a flash; "An American Werewolf in London" did a much neater job of it almost 30 years ago.

Then "New Moon" veers back to the Cullens as Bella races to Italy to save Edward, who's become a world-class moper himself.

There, they engage in a showdown with the Volturi, who are sort of the A-listers of the vampire world and as full of themselves as any spoiled Hollywood star.

Chief among them is Aro (Michael Sheen, a werewolf in the "Underworld" franchise, so he swings both ways), whose smarmy little smile and prim bearing sap the menace he's supposed to convey. Dakota Fanning, in a departure from her goodie-goodie persona, has a fleeting role as a Volturi bad girl.

As Edward's soothsaying vampire sister Alice, Ashley Greene provides more snap with a few choice lines than the leading players manage in the entire movie. The rest of the Cullen clan, including Peter Facinelli as patriarch Carlisle, are bit players this time, as are Bella's circle of human friends, though Anna Kendrick has some lively moments as school mate Jessica.

Billy Burke also is back as Bella's police-chief dad, though you have to worry about the townsfolk's safety, given all the scrapes his own daughter gets into under his watch.

The soap-opera melodrama of Stewart, Pattinson and Lautner's performances provides some unintentional laughs that lighten the movie's relentless gloom.

Yet Stewart is on screen almost all the time, and her Bella is just a drag to be around. With her flat speech and listless presence, it's unfathomable how two different sets of monsters could fixate so completely on her.

All three lovers are so joyless, it's hard to imagine why any of them would want to spend eternity together.

They're here for two more movies, though. And that sounds like a real eternity.

"The Twilight Saga: New Moon," a Summit Entertainment release, is rated PG-13 for some violence and action. Running time: 130 minutes. One and a half stars out of four.

FILE - In this undated image originally released by HBO, from left, Kristin Bauer, Alexander Skarsgard,and Patrick Gallagher portray vampires in a scene from the second season of the HBO original series, "True Blood." (AP Photo/HBO, Jaimie Trueblood)

DAVID GERMAIN
AP Movie Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Vampires have been an eternal force in Hollywood horror since silent-movie days, yet they have risen to new heights as the "Twilight" franchise, TV's "True Blood" and other incarnations put the bite on viewers.

In studio flicks, independent and foreign-language films and small-screen series, there are more bloodsuckers out there today than you can shake a wooden stake at.

With so many vampires afoot, will Hollywood's favorite night creatures lose their flavor with fans?

"Will there be a vampire glut? Will the vampire market crash? I don't know," said Chris Weitz, director of November's "The Twilight Saga: New Moon," part two in the movie series based on Stephenie Meyer's vampire-romance novels. "It's kind of the only growth industry in America, that I can tell."

So many of Dracula's brethren are being sired nowadays that Weitz and his brother have dueling vampire films out this fall.

Paul Weitz's "Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant" opens Friday, with John C. Reilly as a centuries-old bloodsucker in a traveling freak show.

While vampires have a strong pulse in Hollywood, some expect the genre could bleed out from overexposure.

"Sometimes there are trends with audiences and with film studios, TV stations, and they go wild, and they run like lemmings in one direction until they go over the cliff," said Werner Herzog, who directed 1979's "Nosferatu the Vampyre." ''The genre of vampire films in its darkness and in its nightmarish aspect is a genre that will be forever, but sometimes, you have an overload, an overkill, and when the heap gets too, too big, everybody starts to turn away."

In his 2007 Antarctica documentary "Encounters at the End of the World," Herzog wisecracked that he was not making yet another movie about penguins, a reference to a spate of films on the cold-weather birds.

Penguins reached a glut after only a handful of movies, but the sheer variety of vampire stories lends them superhuman durability for exploring the issues and fears of mortals.

"I think vampires are richer veins than penguins," Reilly said. "There's only so much you can do with penguins. They're cute. They can't fly. They live in snow and ice."

Vampires benefit from modern fans' hunger for fantastic stories. Otherworldly tales once were aimed mostly at specialized horror, science-fiction or fantasy audiences, with a "Star Wars" or an "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" occasionally breaking out to huge crowds.

Movie-goers today besiege theaters for out-of-this-world stories, from "Harry Potter" and "The Lord of the Rings" to the latest adventures of Batman or the X-Men.

"We're at a supernatural height right now with superheroes and science fiction. I think it's all being embraced, with 'Battlestar Galactica' being a critical hit and 'Iron Man' being a huge mainstream hit," said Meredith Woerner, whose book "Vampire Taxonomy: Identifying and Interacting With the Modern-day Bloodsucker" hits stores in early November. "It's a great time where people are ready for some magic."

Vampires have been hardy souls on screen for ages, dating back to 1920s and '30s classics such as "Nosferatu," ''Vampyr" and the original "Dracula," with Bela Lugosi. Dracula has been played by countless actors, among them Lon Chaney Jr., Christopher Lee, Frank Langella and Gary Oldman.

Movies and shows such as "The Lost Boys" and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" transfused teen power to vampire tales, helping to open the current vein of hip, pretty young dead things in the genre.

"What's particular about them now is it's coinciding with the optimum market for TV and film. It's that young market, it's kind of the 'Dawson's Creek' thing," said Michael Sheen, who co-stars as the vampire Aro in the "Twilight" sequel and played a werewolf in the "Underworld" vampire franchise. "Whereas in the past, I don't think that has been the case. The symbol of vampires has never quite hit that marketing gold."

Along with "True Blood," recent TV bloodsucker sagas include "The Vampire Diaries," ''Blood Ties," ''Moonlight" and Britain's "Young Dracula" and "Being Human."

Among recent and upcoming big-screen stories are "Blood: The Last Vampire," the horror comedy "Transylmania," Ethan Hawke's vampire armageddon thriller "Daybreakers" and foreign-language vamp tales such as Sweden's "Let the Right One In" and South Korea's "Thirst."

"Twilight" leads the way, its love story between an immortal vampire stud (Robert Pattinson) and a sensitive school girl (Kristen Stewart) proving irresistible to teen and older audiences alike.

So far, fans seem willing to devour as many vampire stories as Hollywood can dish out.

"The truth is, you can't have too many vampire movies, just like you can't have too many zombie movies. Each movie is capable of being allegories for different things," said "Cirque du Freak" star Reilly. "Ours is this whole other universe for vampires that have nothing to do with Dracula or good-looking teenagers making out. It's this crazy underworld that exists, more like 'Harry Potter' than 'Twilight,' because the regular human world doesn't even know they're there."

While their popularity may ebb and flow, vampires always will have a place in the audience's heart, said Nicolas Cage, who starred in 1989's "Vampire's Kiss" and was a producer on 2000's "Shadow of the Vampire."

"The vampire is always going to be fascinating," Cage said. "It's like the vigilante cop, or it's like the cowboy or the Western. It's part of the fabric of society."

 

Over at the LA Times blog Hero Complex Jevon Phillips reminds us that while the Kanye West fiasco may be the talk of the MTV Video Awards, "Twilight" fans should know that the latest trailer for "New Moon" ran that night as well.

Check it out above.

Taylor Lautner accepts the Twilight Award at the Teen Choice Awards on Sunday Aug. 9, 2009, in Universal City, Calif. Looking on from background left are Robert Pattinson, Kellan Lutz, Kristen Stewart, Nikki Reed, Ashley Greene, and Jackson Rathbone. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

DERRIK J. LANG
AP Entertainment Writer

UNIVERSAL CITY, California (AP) --"Twilight" struck a vein at the Teen Choice Awards.

The adolescent vampire drama dominated Sunday's ceremony with 11 wins, including choice movie drama, romance, liplock, rumble and soundtrack. Kristen Stewart won the movie drama actress category while Robert Pattinson picked up two surfboard-shaped trophies -- one for movie drama actor, another for male hottie.

"We'll see you guys in theaters November 20th," co-star Taylor Lautner teased the squealing crowd.

Lautner and Ashley Greene, who will appear alongside Stewart and Pattinson in the upcoming "Twilight" sequel "New Moon," were honored as the male and female movie fresh faces while Cam Gigandet was crowned movie villain. "Twilight" director Catherine Hardwicke joined the cast on stage to accept the adaptation's pack of trophies.

The Teen Choice Awards, which were selected by over 83 million votes cast online, honor celebrities in TV, film, music and sports. Several winners -- including 16-year-old Miley Cyrus and show hosts the Jonas Brothers -- took home multiple trophies at the 11th annual ceremony at Universal Studios Hollywood's Gibson Amphitheatre.

Cyrus sailed away with six awards, winning for comedy TV show and actress for "Hannah Montana;" music/dance movie actress and hissy fit for "Hannah Montana: The Movie;" music single for "The Climb" and summer song for "Before the Storm" with the Jonas Brothers. Cyrus also presented Britney Spears the ultimate choice award.

"I'm a huge fans of hers," Cyrus said before a subdued Spears accepted her own surfboard.

The Jonas Brothers won five trophies, including choice male red carpet icons. They kicked off the show performing on a tiny stage that moved through the audience. Throughout the taped ceremony, the trio completed dares submitted by fans. At one point, younger brother Nick was challenged to hug a lineup of female fans.

"It's just hugs," Joe cautioned the women. "You're not going for long-term relationships here, girls."

Other big winners included "Gossip Girl" and Zac Efron. Chace Crawford, Leighton Meester and Ed Westwick picked up TV drama actor, actress, villain and TV series awards for the sudsy CW show while Efron won for music/dance movie actor in "High School Musical 3" and comedy movie actor and rockstar moment in "17 Again."

The ceremony itself was peppered with several odd moments.

Kathy Griffin arrived on the red carpet with Levi Johnston, the teenage ex-fiance of Bristol Palin, daughter of former Alaska governor Sarah Palin. Mike Tyson took shears to Joe Jonas' head as part of stunt. And before presenting the choice hottie awards, comedian Dane Cook pleaded to Vanessa Hudgens to keep her clothes on.

Actress and novelist Amber Benson poses for a portrait at her home in Los Angeles, Wednesday, June 15, 2009. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

SOLVEJ SCHOU
Associated Press Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Headstrong Bella is in love with a vampire. Zoey has a crescent moon seared onto her forehead, the mark of a fledgling bloodsucker. Sixteen-year-old Ever can hear people's thoughts. Calliope is, reluctantly, Death's daughter.

All are modern female heroes written by women, read by women and not only obsessed over by teenagers but also their older sisters and mothers. The economy may be deeply troubled, but urban fantasy novels about vampires, werewolves, zombies, supernatural creatures, blood and romance are booming, and women are sinking their teeth into them in ravenous numbers.

"We're living in a frightening time. I don't know if it's an escapism as in there's scary stuff out there so let me control it through the medium of reading," says Amy Clarke, a lecturer at the University of California, Davis who teaches science fiction literature.

"There's dreaming of being with a vampire or werewolf, but there's always the danger of crossing over. I think it's a post-feminist way of taking on power."

The trend gathered steam with Bella Swan and her conflicted romance with gorgeous vampire Edward in Stephenie Meyer's four-book "Twilight" series, which has sold more than 53 million copies worldwide since the first book's release in 2005, according to publisher Little, Brown and Company. Meyer's newest, the more adult-themed "The Host," has 2 million copies in print domestically.

Call it dark escapism with a racy flair. The "Twilight" explosion, including its hit movie version, has deepened the needs of women urban fantasy novel readers.

Other authors are jumping in: P.C. Cast and her daughter Kristin's popular "House of Night" vampire series; Alyson Noel's "Immortals" books: the "Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire Mysteries" novels by Charlaine Harris, which inspired the TV series "True Blood" on HBO; Richelle Mead's "Vampire Academy" trilogy; and books by more than half a dozen other female writers.

The genre's popularity is bigger than just books, says P.C. Cast.

"With women, this is reflecting a shift in our society," Cast said in an interview from her home in Tulsa, Okla. "I've seen a big shift, especially in my classroom, with women standing up and demanding respect. That's in every woman, whether 16, 26, 56."

"Our fiction is also reflecting that because we're writing the fiction. We've given ourselves permission to be successful. We're also giving ourselves permission to have fun," said Cast, a single mother who taught high school English for 15 years before focusing only on writing.

Her five "House of Night" books, starting in 2007 with "Marked," follow the adventures of Zoey Redbird, a high school student marked to be a vamp, who must enter the House of Night. Described as a "vampyre finishing school," it's filled with bratty girls, cute guys and no end of drama.

Cast enlisted the help of daughter Kristin, 22, to ensure that the teen-speak in her stories reflected current vernacular as opposed to the author's "inner '70s teenager saying things that were so not cool."

It paid off.

There are 5.5 million copies of the five "House of Night" books in print in the United States and the series has been on The New York Times list of best sellers for 63 weeks, according to publisher St. Martin's Press. "Tempted," the sixth book, is due out in October. The series has been optioned by Empire Pictures, with a film script in the works.

"Vampires are super sexy. Vampires and teens have a lot in common. Teens have surging hormones, vampires have surging blood lust. Teenagers think they're immortal," Cast said.

And for older women, says UC Davis' Clarke, "hot blooded" has taken on new meaning.

"All of the stuff I've read have some pretty heated sex scenes in them, and that brings people into the world of it," Clarke said. "The teens haven't had sex yet and the mothers have, and it's maybe not as good as it was."

Noel's "Immortals" series focuses on the telepathic teen Ever, who gains her abilities after surviving a car accident that kills her family. Brooding and lonely at a new school in sunny California, she meets handsome immortal Damen. They're drawn to each other like magnets.

"All of us older people reading these books magically survived high school even though we thought we wouldn't," Noel said in an interview from her home in Laguna Beach, Calif. "To be young and beautiful and have power forever is pretty alluring in this society."

More than 700,000 copies of the two "Immortals" books are in print, according to St. Martin's Press. The first book, "Evermore," has been on the Times list for 23 weeks since its release in February. The second book, "Blue Moon," was released this month, with book three scheduled for January 2010.

Mead's "Vampire Academy" series has 1.5 million books in print, according to publisher Penguin Razorbill Books. The fourth book in the series comes out in August.

Amber Benson, who earned a huge fan base as witch Tara on the cult-hit TV show "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," which ended in 2003, channeled her love of urban fantasy into a trilogy, with the first book released this year by venerable science fiction and fantasy publisher Ace Books, an imprint of Penguin.

In "Death's Daughter," Calliope Reaper-Jones is a 25-year-old immortal who works in New York City. After her father, the CEO of Death, Inc., is kidnapped, she must run the family business.

"That was the beauty of Buffy, this female protagonist who looked totally harmless but could do all these amazing things and was trying to be a real person at the same time. She definitely influenced Calliope and her journey," says Benson, as she sits in her Los Angeles home beneath a sign reading "Old Friends to Read, Old Friends to Trust."

"We don't just want to be the tough chick who has no feelings, or the super girly girl who can't do anything for herself. We want that middle ground," she says.

With online word of mouth driving sales, fan gals have also started churning out their own stories about witches, vampires, wolves and half-bloods on such Web sites as www.textnovel.com under categories such as "Romance -- Paranormal" and "Romance -- Urban Fantasy."

"This is where the key demographic for the 'House of Night' lives, these teenage girls that are online most of the time," Matthew Shear, St. Martin's senior vice president of publishing, said.

Shear acknowledged Meyer's effect on Cast's series and other urban fantasy novels.

"We didn't buy the 'House of Night' series because of 'Twilight,' but when we saw sales increasing, we went to everywhere Stephenie Meyer was selling," he said. "Stephenie Meyer started the boom, and 'House of Night' has continued the boom."

He's cheering on sales.

"Is it welcome news to the publishing world? You bet it is," Shear said. "We're thrilled that people want to buy these books."

___

On the Net:

http://www.houseofnightseries.com/

http://www.alysonnoel.com/

http://www.deathsdaughter.com/

http://www.charlaineharris.com/

http://www.richellemead.com/

http://www.textnovel.com

Taylor Lautner, left, Kristen Stewart, center, and Robert Pattinson, right, pose at a news conference held to promote their new film "Twilight: New Moon" at the Comic-Con International 2009 convention held in San Diego Thursday, July 23, 2009. The annual comic book and popular arts convention attracts over 100,000 people and runs through Sunday July 26. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)

SANDY COHEN
AP Entertainment Writer

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- Most camped out overnight. Some spent two nights outside the San Diego Convention Center. They wore homemade T-shirts, made friends with fellow fans and talked about their allegiance to Team Edward or Team Jacob.

They are the "Twilight" fangirls, and they came to Comic Con by the thousands to see the movie's stars in person at a panel Thursday for the film's sequel.

Director Chris Weitz was joined by Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Kristen Stewart and Ashley Greene.

High-pitched screams drowned out the introductions.

Those same shrill screams (of joy) also threatened to overwhelm the dialogue during the clip filmmakers showed.

The clip shows Jacob (Lautner) teaching Bella Swan (Stewart) how to ride a motorcycle, but she's distracted by visions of the vampire Edward (Pattinson) with whom she fell in love. She crashes, and Jacob takes off his shirt to soothe her wound, provoking more fangirl screams. Lautner famously gained more than 20 pounds (9 kilograms) of muscle for the role.

Pattinson, who was greeted with adoring screams when made his Comic Con debut with "Twilight" last year, said the event was "an eye-opener, and it's just gotten bigger and bigger since."

"None of us saw it coming," Lautner added.

"It's a little overwhelming to have so many people here," Stewart said, "but I guess it's a good thing."

From wire reports

"Twilight" and its cast led the field with 12 nominations as nominations for the Teen Choice Awards were announced Monday.

The film was nominated in the movie drama and romance categories, while star Robert Pattinson was nominated for best actor in a drama.

"High School Musical 3: Senior Year" and its cast, Miley Cyrus and The CW series "Gossip Girl" and its cast each received 10 nominations and the Jonas Brothers nine.

Winners will be determined in an online vote at www.teenchoiceawards.com.

The Teen Choice Awards will be presented Aug. 9 at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City.

List of nominees below:

DERRIK J. LANG
AP Entertainment Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The MTV Movie Awards were a blood bath Sunday night with "Twilight" taking five trophies, including best movie. But it was Sacha Baron Cohen who gave the show it's trademark bizarro moment when he landed upside-down on the lap of Eminem, who may or may not have been deeply offended.

"Twilight," the popular vampire drama starring Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart, sucked up golden popcorn trophies for best movie, best fight, best kiss, breakthrough male performance and breakthrough female performance during Sunday's freewheeling and often-bleeped ceremony at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California.

"The fans are the ultimate driving force," Stewart said while accepting her best female performance trophy (which she promptly dropped on the floor, breaking off a chunk of the golden popcorn). Awards were decided by fan votes.

Other winners included "High School Musical 3: Senior Year" star Zac Efron for male performance and his co-star Ashley Tisdale for female breakthrough performance. Miley Cyrus accepted the best song from a movie prize for "The Climb" from "Hannah Montana: The Movie," preventing "Twilight" from sweeping all six nominated categories.

An award new to this year, the "WTF moment," went to Amy Poehler's scene in "Baby Mama" where she urinates in a sink.

But even that was upstaged by Baron Cohen, who flew in on a wire, hanging above the audience. Dressed as flamboyant character "Bruno" in a pair of feathery white wings and his rear end mostly exposed, the comedian crashed into an overhead obstacle and was lowered head-first into the lap of Eminem, his bare hindquarters in the rapper's face.

"Is the real Slim Shady about to stand up?" chirped Baron Cohen.

Eminem seemed visibly upset by the encounter, and members of his entourage roughly removed Baron Cohen as the rapper struggled to get out. But had the self-styled homophobic rapper been punked by Baron Cohen and MTV, or was he in on the elaborate stunt?

Free of the scene, Eminem stormed out with his entourage in tow -- and cameras rolling -- and hit the exits.

Baron Cohen's descent to the audience was included in rehearsals, but Eminem -- who performed Sunday night -- didn't take part in that piece of the run-through. As the rapper stormed off, it sounded as though he was wearing a microphone, and cameras were in position to record his fast exit, but he was not seen or heard from again.

Baron Cohen's publicist, Matthew Labov, had no comment when reached after the show. A spokeswoman for MTV would not confirm whether Eminem was caught by surprise, and representatives for the rapper did not immediately return requests for comment Sunday night.

It wasn't the first tantrum for Slim Shady at an MTV ceremony: Sparks flew when the rapper was interviewed by Triumph the Insult Comic Dog at 2002's MTV Video Music Awards.

Before this year's broadcast, Heath Ledger was awarded the best villain trophy for his twisted turn as the Joker in "The Dark Knight." Jim Carey later won for best comedic performance for "Yes Man." Ben Stiller received the MTV Generation Award, the show's highest honor.

In addition to handing out awards for movies from the past year, MTV debuted new footage from the upcoming films "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," ''Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince" and "New Moon." The highlight of the "Twilight" sequel clip: A newly buff Taylor Lautner transformed instantly into a giant, menacing canine, fans' first look at one of the storyline's werewolves.

Samberg kicked off the show with a movie mash-up featuring cameos from Taylor Swift and Justin Timberlake before launching into an on-stage rap performance in which he attempted to woo a surly-looking Megan Fox in the audience. Samberg later crooned with Will Ferrell during a movie montage that poked fun at "cool guys" in movies who "don't look at explosions" -- and they had more than enough clips to work with, including shots of Duane Johnson, John Travolta, Will Smith, Denzel Washington and several others walking nonchalantly away from a bursting inferno.


On the Net:

http://movieawards.mtv.com

Apparently young adult readers are still not afraid to read stories that may have a supernatural theme -- especially at school book fairs.  "Dead is the New Black" and numerous books from the "Twilight" series are mentioned as examples in the following Associated Press story.

It sure would be great to get this large audience of readers more into comics. Of course, the story does mention that several middle school kids were interested in graphic novels.

-Robert Meeks

Hitmakers and fundraisers: school book fairs

HILLEL ITALIE
AP National Writer

NEW YORK (AP) -- Marlene Perez's "Dead Is the New Black" is a young adult novel with a noirish pink and black cover and a supernatural plot. If it ever becomes the next sensation, give some credit to middle-schoolers such as Geneva Lish.

"It really caught my eye," says Lish, a seventh grader. "It has an unusual plot and a unique power. And the title is intriguing."

Lish didn't buy the book online or at a store. She was among the students at J.H.S. 167 in Manhattan who recently visited the Scholastic Book fair, shopping on the stage of the school's auditorium as they looked through graphic novels, fantasy, children's cookbooks and a Life Magazine volume about President Obama.

They purchased Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight" novels, the latest "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" and Linda Gerber's "Death by Latte," a mystery set in part at a Seattle coffee shop. Ashley Zhang, another seventh grader, bought Mari Mancusi's "Gamer Girl," featuring a lonely high-schooler who becomes a star when playing online games.

"I borrowed it from a friend and thought it was fascinating. I like that it's about a girl who really wants to fit into the world," Zhang says.

During a hard time for publishing, and for education, the fairs remain a relatively stable source of income. According to a recent report from the Scholastic Corporation, revenues from fairs for the nine months ending Feb. 28 was $261.2 million, virtually unchanged from the same ninth-month period a year earlier.

"I've never met one parent who said, 'My kid has too many books.' ... You might cut a lot of things out. You might cut out a toy. You're not going to cut out a book," says Scholastic's president of book fairs, Alan Boyko.

Kristen Stewart, left, and Robert Pattinson, of "Twilight," appear on the NBC "Today" television program in New York, Thursday Nov. 20, 2008. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

NEW YORK (AP) -- Robert Pattinson says he wasn't prepared to film his first sex scenes for the upcoming period drama "Little Ashes."

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.

I have not seen this flick yet and perhaps I'm missing something by not rushing to the local cineplex to check it out.

However, like 99.9 percent of you out there, I have seen the trailer to "Twilight" and this has a few gags in this for us as well.

What was that again? The "Twilight" director not coming back? I'm talking about Catherine Hardwicke, the holder of the record for the single highest grossing opening movie by a solo female director. Word has it that she is not going to be back to direct the sequel to "Twilight."

I thought when you did something super successful in Hollywood the natural thing is that you would be back for the follow-up.

OK, that didn't work out for Terrence Howard. (Don Cheadle slipped into the "Iron Man 2" role of Jim Rhodes.)

According to the article Hardwicke was reached for comment by Variety.

"I am sorry that due to timing I will not have the opportunity to direct New Moon," said Hardwicke. "Directing Twilight has been one of the great experiences of my life, and I am grateful to the fans for their passionate support of the film. I wish everyone at Summit the best with the sequel--it is a great story."

As it is with stories that break like this during the weekend, expect more on this as the day progresses. We'll have more later.


The image above is from a video interview Hardwicke did about working on the "Twilight" flick. You can click to view it.

In an Associated Press interview earlier this weekend, "Twilight" director Catherine Hardwicke called the film's successful weekend a triumph for not only women directors, but all minorities who pursue a filmmaking career.

"Twilight" grossed and estimated $70.6 million and set a record for opening weekend box office for a film directed by a solo-female director.

That's so right on. I can't describe it any other way. Hardwicke ("Thirteen") told the AP that young girls were coming up to her to tell her they want to become directors and writers as well.

A little inspiration is never a bad thing.

The studios underestimated the blockbuster potential before and now there is little surprise that there are already plans to film Stephenie Meyer's next book in the series "New Moon."

Usually it is the big studios that take all this credit but it was the smaller production company Summit Entertainment who took an intelligent risk -- congrats to them.


Image courtesy Summit Entertainment

Kristen Stewart, left, and Robert Pattinson, of the new movie "Twilight," appear on the NBC "Today" television program in New York, Thursday Nov. 20, 2008. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)


By CHRISTY LEMIRE
AP Movie Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) _ The vampire romance "Twilight" drained the box office in its opening weekend, taking in $70.6 million. Catherine Hardwicke's film also enjoyed the biggest opening ever for a female director, blowing away the previous standard of $41.1 million set by Mimi Leder's "Deep Impact" in 1998.

Drawing from its huge fan base of teenage girls, who fell for Stephenie Meyer's novel of forbidden love between brooding vampire Edward Cullen and bookish high schooler Bella Swan, "Twilight" made a whopping $20,636 per theater, according to Sunday morning estimates.

And the fangirls will get another taste soon enough: Summit Entertainment, which released "Twilight," announced during the weekend that it's going ahead with production of "New Moon," based on the second book in Meyer's internationally best-selling series. Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart will return as its star-crossed lovers, but whether Hardwicke will be at the helm again is still being determined.

The laid-back Hardwicke, who went bodyboarding at sunset Saturday to take her mind off this high-pressure weekend, said Sunday morning that she was heading to a meeting later in the day to discuss her possible involvement in "New Moon."

"I want to be sure that it's going to be done right. I don't want to rush into it," she said. "It's not like 'Friday the 13th' or 'Halloween,' you can't just do it super fast and knock another one out. I want to understand their plans and all that."

Hardwicke, whose previous films include "Thirteen" and "Lords of Dogtown," also said she was thrilled about the prospect that the success of "Twilight" will inspire other women and young girls to pursue a career in filmmaking.

"I hope not just women but all minorities get enthused and encouraged by it. I look at the (Directors Guild of America) calendar, at the pictures of everyone that had different movies each month, and it's usually 22-29 different directors, and almost every month there's one female and maybe one minority," she said. "We've been having a lot of events, talking to a lot of fans, and so many kids of course are madly in love with Robert but tons of kids of every kind (and) girls are coming up to me and saying 'I want to direct now, I'm writing a screenplay now, you're my inspiration.' I think it's great that people are getting excited."

The big opening for "Twilight" also helps put Summit Entertainment on the map, said Richie Say, the company's president of domestic distribution. Summit has only been around since April 2007 and "Twilight," its sixth release, cost just $37 million to make.

"It certainly says what we've been saying all along, that we can do more with less," he said. When Warner Bros. pushed "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" from this weekend to a July 2009 debut, and Summit jumped to move "Twilight" from Dec. 12 into that spot on the schedule, "that decision was made in a day. I don't know that the major studios have that ability."

The tremendous take for "Twilight" far exceeded expectations, which had been set around $50 million.

"Teen girls rule the earth," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Media By Numbers. "If you look back at the 'Hannah Montana' movie, how well that did, and now this movie, the teen girl audience will never be ignored again or underestimated. It was always teen boys who were the coveted ones, but someone finally caught on to the idea that girls love movies, too, and if you create something that they're into, that they're passionate about, they will come out in big numbers and drive the box office."

The other major debut of the weekend, Walt Disney's 3-D animated "Bolt," made $27 million to take third place. Featuring the voices of John Travolta and Miley Cyrus, "Bolt" follows the cross-country journey of a dog who plays a superhero on television, but sadly realizes he has no magical powers once he gets separated from his "person."

Chuck Viane, Disney's head of distribution, said "Twilight" took a bite out of everyone's box office this weekend. If the vampire saga hadn't been around, Viane said, Disney would have expected an opening of at least $30 million.

"Obviously we believe in the Thanksgiving holiday in a big, big way," he said. "We've always viewed this as one of those 10-day marathons between opening day and the end of the Thanksgiving weekend."

Last weekend's No. 1 movie, "Quantum of Solace," came in second with $27.4 million. The latest James Bond extravaganza has now grossed $109.5 million, and it crossed the $100 million mark faster than any other film in the franchise, said Rory Bruer, head of distribution for Sony. It's also made $309 million internationally.

"We're in great shape. We're way ahead of where we were with 'Casino Royale,'" said Bruer, referring to the last Bond picture, which also starred Daniel Craig as a more visceral incarnation of 007.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Monday.

1. "Twilight," $70.5 million.

2. "Quantum of Solace," $27.4 million.

3. "Bolt," $27 million.

4. "Madagascar 2: Escape 2 Africa," $16 million.

5. "Role Models." $7.2 million.

6. "Changeling," $2.6 million.

7. "High School Musical 3: Senior Year," $2 million.

8. "Zack and Miri Make a Porno," $1.7 million.

9. "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas," $1.67 million.

10. "The Secret Life of Bees," $1.28 million.

The "Twilight" movie opens today and is estimated to make lots of money and thrill lots of girls, but this vampire thing has gone out of control.

Click here or the image below to view.

 


Video Courtesy The Tyra Banks Show and Entertainment Tonight

I say there are a few too many vampire creations out there without scary vampires.

I know that makes me sound like a grumpy so-and-so and maybe even a "hater" as "Twilight" author Stephanie Meyer described some who defame her works in an interview with the LA Times.

There's no hatred here -- I'm down with the true players, and Meyer with her series of books featuring vamp romance, is a true one for real. The trailers for the film adaptation of "Twilight" might even evoke a feeling of dread in me if all the characters weren't so darn... cute.

And while I initially picked on "True Blood," the new vampire drama on HBO, I have said the romance parts don't intrigue (and still don't), but the setting of the story does. I have taken a bit of a shine to the downright twisted world those characters live in. It's scary in a whole different kind of way.

Now "Twilight" doesn't appear to have the kind of elements 'Blood' has, and it really shouldn't considering the audience of teens who are below the fold of young adulthood who will actually see it when it opens this weekend.

I am cautioned that I shouldn't characterize this soon-to-be multiplex phenomenon as something only young girls will be in line to see.

While hanging out with the comic book club at Geoffrey's Comics last night, one of the attendees, Soyini Hamit said one of her close lady friends is an adult who loves the book series and is expected to see the movie opening weekend.

A quick poll of our mostly-male comic club indicated only one out of ten will likely see the movie and there was talk of confiscating his "man-card" for admitting such a thing. (That was just wrong.)

In order to avoid the get-off-my-lawn mentality I have to break "Twilight" down like this -- Any entertainment that offers a larger audience a chance to appreciate stories that have fantasy and/or supernatural elements is a good thing for us all. 

Will I be in the crowds? I am not certain since that's a game time decision and the wife has her turn to choose what film it will be this weekend. It will likely be "Quantum of Solace," that James Bond flick.

She's a greater Bond fan than I am... I wonder if that puts my "man card" in jeopardy?


Photo from "Twilight" courtesy of Summit Entertainment