Bella Tagged Articles at Cinematical

The countdown has begun, and we are just 17 short days away from the arrival of the vamp-romance, New Moon, so why not celebrate by re-enacting some of your favorite scenes with your very own Bella and Edward? That's right, Mattell has released Edward and Bella Barbie as part of the Twilight Barbie Collection, but for those of you on Team Jacob, you will be sad to discover that he hasn't gotten a doll yet (although the thought of the additional 'werewolf' Jacob could be fun).

Now, considering some of the other Twilight themed products we have been subjected to, a couple of Barbie dolls don't seem so bad, I mean at least they are age-appropriate. The dolls are modeled after the infamous 'sparkling reveal' from the first film, but when I took a look at the final product my first question was: "Who the heck are these two people supposed to be?" I've seen Twilight and even I wouldn't have recognized Bella and Edward.

But I'm sure that is not going to stop you hard-core collectors out there, so head over to Walmart.com or Barbiecollector.com where you can buy them online for the suggested retail price of $24.95 -- but something tells me you are going to have to act fast.

After the jump: more recent examples of bad movie tie-in toys...

Well, we've all had our fun and made our jokes, but I think that the fans of the blockbusting vamp romance Twilight have had just about enough of us. At least, that seems to be the case in an editorial titled Enough with the 'Twilight' fan-bashing media antics already, over at The Examiner. The editorial was a response to a piece on The Frisky about Twilight conventions that was full of the usual cheap shots and snark that accompanies all Twilight news. But The Examiner isn't the only one defending the Twi-hards -- here's an editorial from our own Erik Davis over on Movies.com about how Twilight actually saved fandom.

I'll be the first to admit that, yeah, I was one of those people taking cracks. I made jokes about toothless sparkly vamps, and all the rest. But I've started to wonder if us writers have crossed the line of gentle teasing and into 'bullying'. So what makes Twilight jokes any different than cracks about Trekkies or a geek who lives in their mom's basement? For me, it was the idea that these girls (or women) were just silly little hormonally charged chicks looking for a glimpse of Robert Pattinson rather than honest to goodness fans of the series (however flawed it may be).

When it came to Twilight, it seemed that the general consensus was: Girls like it, so it must be stupid. Well, I've had enough conversations over my lifetime about how something is a 'dude thing', that I'm fully versed in the idea that certain stories appeal to men and women sometimes. But what has me ticked is the idea that when you pull the dude card, it's in a tone that says, "You just don't understand, it's a dude thing". Whereas when it comes to us girls, it's more along the lines of disdain as in: 'Eww, that's a chick thing".

After the jump: will I mend my Cullen-bashing ways?...

I'm about to make a very unpopular comparison, one that surely will have some fans trying to revoke my own Whedon fandom: Bella, Buffy, and the bloodsuckers from Twilight and Buffy aren't all that different.

I say this as someone who only left her house once during the seven seasons of Buffy night, who watched each episode countless times, and amassed a huge pile of memorabilia. I say this as someone who has read Stephenie Meyers' series and enjoyed it for the ways it reflected and improved on my own fluffy YA reading (The Vampire Diaries), and knocked it for the Mormon-esque message underneath.

I haven't ignored my fandom; I just can't help but see the myriad of similarities between the two characters, ones that make Buffy owning Edward seem quite hypocritical. The power behind the slayer comes from Joss Whedon and the themes explored throughout her story -- not from the character herself. Strip away the story arcs and implied messages, and you've got a troubled woman who is no better off than Bella.

By all appearances, it looks like the gouging of Twilight fans is going to continue unabated. There I was thinking that $255 to attend a fan convention was a steep price, but as it turns out it can get much, much, worse -- because if a weekend talking Twilight just isn't enough, now you can get your own Twilight-themed vacation courtesy of Vancouver Twilight Saga Set and Sightseeing Tours. Their tag line is: "By Fans...For Fans," and if you believe their website, Twihards willing to make the trip to Vancouver are going to get an awful lot for their money.

The tours are run by self-proclaimed fans who will pick you up in a luxury car and take you on tailored excursions to relive moments from the film, visit sets from the latest installment, New Moon (just as long as you book your tour at the right time and aren't hauled off by security for trying to cut off a piece of Robert Pattinson's hair), or help you camp outside the cast and crew's favorite bars and restaurants for a photo op. They even guarantee that they will refund your money if you don't get to meet the star of your choice. Personally I would want to score a minute with Michael Sheen just to ask why exactly he agreed to be in this film, but that's probably just me.

So how much will all of this Cullen-goodness run you? Well, there is a sliding scale on the price tag, and it can get as cheap as $60 an hour or you can go for the Cadillac of tours and shell out two grand for a custom designed trip. With a price tag like that, you can guarantee that only the dedicated will be attending. But, at least unlike some other movie vacation-destinations, the Twilight fans don't have to schlep all the way out to New Zealand for their fan fix.

Click image below to view entire poster

Summit Entertainment has released the first official movie poster for The Twilight Saga: New Moon, which, as you can see above, is all sorts of mysterious and daunting and, like, "Pshhh, fine -- go with him; I don't care!" Thankfully the studio didn't throw up the film's title in a different font and, instead, decided to give us some actual characters this time. And it's not hard to figure out what the main to-do in this film is; the poster makes that pretty clear. Bella (Kristen Stewart) is devastated when her boo Edward (Robert Pattinson) up and bolts ... and so, naturally, she begins to grow closer to someone else. That someone is Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner), and Jacob comes from a long line of ancient werewolves.

(I know, right -- this chick Bella likes to swing with the weird ones, totally. Tell me about it.)

Of course, as Bella grows closer to Jacob (and the werewolves, who are the vampires' mortal enemies), Bella soon finds her loyalties tested ... and something tells us she can't just drop both these dudes for Kenny, the video store clerk and part-time Nintendo champion. (Note: The character of Kenny does not exist in the books, but I'd be glad to write him in for the next film if Summit will let me.) Check out the full poster below, and watch the MTV Movie Awards on May 31 to see the first full clip from New Moon, which hits theaters on November 20th.

Has there ever been an easier target for a quick joke than the vamp phenomenon known as Twilight? Probably not, but what do you do when one of the people taking shots is the director? Over at /Film, Brendon Connelly dug up an old interview with David Slade (the newly crowned director of the third installment of the franchise, Eclipse) which addressed the likelihood of seeing the film, saying, "Twilight drunk? No, not even drunk. Twilight on acid? No, not even on acid? Twilight at gun point? Just shoot me."

So, as you can imagine, fans weren't pleased that the man in charge of the third installment in their beloved franchise found a bullet to the head preferable to spending two hours with Edward and Bella. Slade has since gone into damage control mode (probably to avoid the possibility of being attacked by glittering teens wherever he goes) and in an email to the Twilight Lexicon fan board Slade clarified that his earlier remarks were all in good fun, and that "... I have since seen the movie and read the books and was quickly consumed with the rich storytelling and the beautifully honest characters that Stephenie Meyer created. I would like to reassure everyone involved that I am invested in making the best film that I am humanly capable of, and that I am acutely aware of the power of the original books we serve."

After the jump: the downside of fandom and why there's still hope for the franchise...

We've been writing these little Fan Made posts for awhile now, and although I'd like to think that I've seen just about everything you wacky fans can come up with, this little nugget of fandom came along and just about cost me my breakfast. Oh yes, one creative (and creepy) Twilight fan actually took the time to felt together Bella's womb, complete with -- wait for it -- an actual felted mutant fetus inside! Who in their right mind does stuff like this? Seriously, who wakes up one day and says, "Ya know, I think I want to spend the next week or so recreating what Bella's womb would look like with a mutant fetus inside, and then maybe share it with fans on the internet ... because they'll of course think I'm, like, completely normal and stuff."

We love you Twilight fans -- we really do. You're passionate, loyal and determined to spend as much time as you possibly can caring, loving and rooting for these fictional characters. But I think (or should I say, hope) you agree with me when I say we've discovered the limit. This is when you should turn to your child and say, "Mayyybe it's time to take on something a little more productive." Check out both the closed womb and the open womb w/ mutant fetus in the gallery below -- then tell us: Is this the creepiest piece of fan-created junk you've ever seen? If not, what beat this?



[via This Journal and Scott Neumyer's Twitter]

Because nothing says I love you like back-to-back Twilight-related posts.

It might be one of the most talked-about films of the year, but it's also slowly becoming one of most spoofed flicks, too. Yes, Twilight, we're talking about you (again) ... and thank God you'll be back next year and the year after that, because a little part of us all would die if you just up and left right now without a hug or a kiss or a bite on the neck. But while we wait for New Moon (which will arrive in theaters on November 20, 2009, as just announced) to begin production (I feel for you Mr. Weitz, I really do), and for photos to arrive, and for thousands of screaming girls to storm San Diego Comic Con once again, might I suggest checking out the following video called The Twilight Before Christmas.

Picture this: It's that scene where Bella and Edward are chillin' in the forest, climbing trees and stuff. But instead of Edward, we have Santa. It's not the funniest piece of fan-made video, but dammit if high-speed Santa didn't produce a good, strong chuckle or two from yours truly. Check it out below.

Here's something I bet you didn't know: Some of us who write for Cinematical also enjoy a variety of other similar gigs. Like, for example, Patrick Walsh (who used to write for us) now writes episodes of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia ... and Scott Weinberg (who still writes for us) likes watching Philadelphia Eagles games for some odd reason when he's not contributing to this site. Then there's the fabulous Eric D. Snider, who, over on his personal site, has posted his rejected Twilight screenplay -- as in, the one Summit Entertainment didn't turn into a box office behemoth. You can check out the complete script over at Snider's site, but here are two snippets (read one below and one after the jump):

Scene 2

BELLA: It's tough being the new kid in school! Especially when everyone is so friendly and helpful and interested in me. Why can't they just leave me alone so I can sit in the corner and cut myself?
CLASSMATE: You're awesome, Bella!
BELLA: See what I have to put up with? Hey -- who are those hot people over there?
CLASSMATE: Those are the Cullens. They avoid direct sunlight, they don't eat food, they sleep in coffins in a graveyard, and holy water burns them. I think they're Canadians.
BELLA: They sure are spectacularly gorgeous.
CLASSMATE: Yes, they are.
BELLA: I mean seriously, those people are BEAUTIFUL. Especially the one who keeps looking at me. Man alive, that guy is stunning. I mean, wow. He is hot buttered seduction on a stick. I'm not interested in him sexually, of course, because sex is dirty, but wow -- LOOK AT HIM! Yee-ikes! Hubba hubba! If you don't mind, I'd like to spend the next 75 pages talking exclusively about how attractive he is, and then bring it up again every paragraph or so for the remaining 400 pages.
CLASSMATE: Knock yourself out.

Continue to Scene 3 after the jump ...

Asked what she would tell theatergoers who have no interest in vampires that might make them want to see Twilight, her new film adapting Stephenie Meyers' best-selling story of immortal longings and teen love, director Catherine Hardwicke laughs: "I would say that when you come out of the theater you might be in danger of whoever went with you ... just grab(bing) you and start making out with you. ..." The director of gritty urban fare like Thirteen and Lords of Dogtown, Hardwicke also explained how she truly identified with Twilight's teen heroine and got into the supernatural series: "When I read the book, I just got drawn in, and ... as I read the book I just started becoming Bella, and just breathing and hyperventilating, like her, and getting mezmerized by the whole experience. ..." Hardwicke spoke about undead romance, adapting a much-loved book, the classic vampire visions she avoided, and much more with Cinematical in Los Angeles. You can listen to the podcast here at Cinematical by clicking below:

You can also download the interview in full right here -- and those of you with RSS Podcast readers can find all of Cinematical's podcast content at this link.