TwilightMovieReviews Tagged Articles at Cinematical

It's beginning to look a lot like Twilight ... everywhere you go. Remember the other day when I told you about that so-called review embargo on Twilight? Yeah, well ... nice try. Seems most of the major outlets (mainly newspapers) have published reviews, and they're quite positive, with Entertainment Weekly giving the film a B and Roger Ebert giving it 2.5 out of 4 stars (I imagine that's a sideways thumb?). Cinematical will publish our first review (out of two) later on tonight, but in the meantime here's a whole bunch of Twilight stuff to keep you busy:

• Moviefone has up a Twilight Beginner's Guide (written by our own Elisabeth Rappe) for those who haven't a clue what Twilight is or was or is about to become. Additionally, this week's Unscripted installment features a candid chat between Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Twilight author Stephanie Meyer. Oh, and feel free to vote in their poll for the sexiest vampire, male and female (um, Becks!).
  
• 2000 shows are already sold out this weekend for Twilight, and folks are currently projecting an opening of $45-65 million. Did Summit Entertainment step in sh*t, or what? Here's an entertaining article from the LA Times' Patrick Goldstein on "How the big studios missed the boat on Twilight."
• Despite what appears to be positive feedback, Twilight is only running at 39% over at Rotten Tomatoes, though it's still early. Here's a quote from Variety's negative review: "A disappointingly anemic tale of forbidden love that should satiate the pre-converted but will bewilder and underwhelm viewers who haven't devoured Stephenie Meyer's bestselling juvie chick-lit franchise."
• And finally, check out an interview with Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart from this morning's Today Show below.

There's a pretty strict embargo on Twilight reviews until opening day, this Friday, which is why you haven't seen everyone and their ageless vampire boyfriend shoveling out review upon review in advance of one of this fall's biggest films. For those who don't run in movie world circles, an embargo means the studio has asked all of us to kindly not post our reviews till opening day -- and since we're good like that, fly like that and hip like that, we respect them. That said, Twilight screened for critics a couple weeks ago, and again last night -- and my Twitter has been lighting up with all sorts of feedback. I won't say who these comments are coming from since some belong to other prominent film critics and movie bloggers, but the majority of buzz seems pretty all over the board. Here's a taste:

"Not that it was great, but I actually enjoyed Twilight more than Quantum of Solace (bracing for impact...)"

"TWILIGHT: cheap looking and often hilarious. DARK SHADOWS at DEGRASSI JR HIGH. With half the budget."

"Wow. Twilight not bad. "

"Twilight, seen. It wasn't terrible... Wasn't great, either. I hate movies that are painfully mediocre. They are worse than bad movies."

" It's a sad, sad day when "Twilight" has better action than the latest James Bond movie."

"If you want to hang out with a lot of teenage girls and sexually frustrated middle-aged women, get yourself to a "Twilight" screening!"

It's important to note that all these comments came from men, who are probably not exactly the target audience. I know a lot of folks have been giving Twilight a hard time, but when it's all said and done, I think we'll have the beginnings of a very popular and lucrative movie franchise on our hands. Stay tuned Twilight-ers, the first of two Cinematical reviews will arrive first thing Friday.

More Twilight
Interview with Twilight Director Catherine Hardwicke
Poll: How Much Will Twilight Make This Weekend?