As all of you know by now, I got a group of my girlfriends together on Saturday at Cinebistro to watch New Moon, the second installment of the Twilight Saga. Before discussing the movie, I have to gush about Cinebistro! I had never been there before and was blown away! First off, it’s only open to a 21+ crowd, which immediately makes it attractive. I’ve gotten to the age where I just cannot stand screaming little tweens or really any interruptions of any kind while I am watching a movie – it drives me insane, so the thought of watching a movie with only adults really appealed to me. It was absolutely silent in there and the seats were so so so comfy and huge! The food was also really delicious, but very expensive. Also, FYI: do not order a bucket of beer before the movie. I had to use the bathroom twice throughout the movie! Not the best decision, in  hindsight! Cinebistro is great, but definitely something to save for a special movie (which this was). We already have plans to visit again when Eclipse is released in June!

If you have not yet seen the movie and do not want to be spoiled, please do not continue reading!

I’d like to begin by saying that I thought the movie was spectacular. Not because the movie was so mind blowing or anything, but because they managed to stay so true to the book. There wasn’t one moment that I became annoyed because of some discrepancy. So big kudos to director, Chris Weitz, for doing such an amazing job. To anyone that has not read the books, the movie will probably seem slow and sad with an abrupt ending, but that’s what New Moon was all about. It was really setting things up for what was to come in Eclipse.

Alright, now to the good stuff!

– Robert Pattinson did much better this time around trying to capture the essence of Edward. He was way more convincing and there were a lot of moments where I could honestly say “there’s my Edward.” Unfortunately, he looked absolutely terrible in this film. I don’t know if he was supposed to already be embodying “the burning man” as Jacob put it in Breaking Dawn, but he just looked haggard as all get out.

– Jacob. Whoa, where to begin. First off, Taylor Lautner is a great little actor. He really held this movie together. Second, the body on that boy! Good lord, thank you Jesus. Thanks to his amazing shirtless scenes (which are not lacking), he made Edward look like a malnutritioned twerp in his infamous scene in Volterra.  But one gripe: what was up with the “hey loca!” Um, is he Mexican now?

– Dakota Fanning and Michael Sheen stole the entire show for the 10 minutes they were on the screen. They really out-acted everyone under the table. But did Jane really have to say “Pain” when she used her powers?

– I loved that they started the movie exactly the same as the book with Bella’s nightmare about growing old. I didn’t think they would, and was pleasantly surprised to see it being done. It was such an important part of the storyline.

– Another scene I really enjoyed was the 360 camera angle on Bella while she is in her depression as the months were shown on screen. These represented the chapters in the book that were blank except for the months to illustrate how empty she felt. Done so nicely and again, really glad they included it in the movie.

– Really dug the new special effects during fight scenes – and the wolves were flawless as expected.

– Loved seeing Alice’s vision of Bella after she is turned & I loved that it was the scene from Breaking Dawn after she jumps out of the window for the first time in her beautiful dress and goes running with Edward. It made me fangirl squee!

– Emmett is love.

– The ending? Perfect. It illustrated the exact feeling I had when I finished the book: “where is Eclipse! Must read now!” Needless to say, I can’t wait for June 2010 so we can do this all over again!

I’m sure I left out plenty of scenes and moments that made happy, so feel free to leave your own comments about the movie: whether they are positive or negative. I’d love to hear them!