TWILIGHT

RYAN: I feel very lucky that we were able to attend the only screening of “Twilight” in Manhattan this week.

CAROLINE: We were totally late and had to make a mad dash for it after covering the red carpet for “Milk,” where Josh Brolin touched my arm, thank you very much.

RYAN: I couldn’t even believe they let us in after showing up 15 minutes late.

CAROLINE: Miraculously, the movie hadn’t started yet and we scored decent seats among the screaming throngs of teen girls. Meanwhile, we still can’t believe there was only one screening given the enormous amount of buzz surrounding this movie.

RYAN: It’s based on one of the biggest book series since Harry Potter.

CAROLINE: It’s mainly targeting teen and ‘tween girls.

RYAN: I had some major problems with the directing of this movie. It was uninspired, and the camera movement in several dramatic scenes completely lacked motivation.

CAROLINE: I was looking at it more from a 14-year-old girl’s point of view, and not paying as much attention to the film’s quality. Clearly I was way into the love story element. Even just watching the trailer made me feel that teen girl yearning I know so well. As you know, I’m a fan of Kristen Stewart but I didn’t think her acting was so hot in this one.

RYAN: I’m an even bigger fan of hers but I have to agree with you. She was a little rigid.

CAROLINE: She has this acting technique – which is really more like a tic – where she bites her lip a lot. And then she pauses between her words and tries to look pensive or deep in thought; but it really just makes her look like she’s in a bad ABC After-School Special.

RYAN: Unfortunately, it’s true. But she’s still gorgeous. My biggest problem was with the soundtrack of this film. The entire score sounded like stock music and it totally distracted me – practically ruined parts of the movie for me.

CAROLINE: It didn’t really bother me because I don’t necessarily think they were going for high quality filmmaking here. They just wanted this to be enjoyable for teen girls, their mothers and maybe some sexually confused boys.

RYAN: I couldn’t help but compare it to other great vampire movies like “Interview with the Vampire” or “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” and it so doesn’t hold up.

CAROLINE: I just don’t think this movie was even trying to be on that level; it’s just a teen angst love story based on a book. It wasn’t about making the next great vampire film.

RYAN: Many people have drawn comparisons between this series and Harry Potter, both in the book and in the anticipation of the film, but I’ll just say that HP is superior and leave it at that.

CAROLINE: To me Harry Potter targets a younger audience. “Twilight” is more for teens, and there are actually some pretty frightening moments. Let’s just say teen girls will be eating this movie up and panting at the screen. In our screening, the minute Robert Pattinson walked out for the first time, the girls literally shrieked.

RYAN: That was new for us, and a little strange; though it’s always exciting to be with a spirited crowd at a highly anticipated movie.

CAROLINE: This is going to be an enormous success despite not being incredibly well made. It has a good narrative and you totally get swept up in it, it shows a new, supernatural world that we’re not used to and the acting is decent. I was pretty into it and I’m a grown woman, so I can only imagine what teen girls are gonna think.

RYAN: The movie is very well cast. I liked all the vampires, even the bad guy who you found totally repulsive.

CAROLINE: Ugh, he was not even a little bit cute.

RYAN: The vampire makeup was a wreck though. You could actually see the line where they started applying the white makeup, especially on the doctor.

CAROLINE: True, but I did like how they didn’t make the vampires look overly like vampires. They were all just kind of waxy and pale and oddly attractive, but they didn’t have fangs. Bottom line?

RYAN: There was fantastic chemistry between Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson, and I got totally swept up in the action and the story. It’s worth seeing on the big screen, but I don’t think it will hold up over time against other vampire movies.

CAROLINE: I had very low expectations going into this movie since I really just started paying attention to the trailer three days ago, but I totally enjoyed myself. I loved the love story; it made me feel like a teenager again when you’re experiencing that desperate kind of love that you think is real. I got swept up into it even though the story’s kind of preposterous. I had minor issues with some of the acting, but overall, I dug it.