#MelissaRosenberg

[adamwatchesmovies]

Twilight (2008)

Twilight is not the 0-star picture so many people claim (or want) it to be. If you like it, I can understand why. That said, those who call it a great film are doing so because of their affection for the source material, which itself isn't particularly robust. This is getting overly complicated. Let’s just get to the review.

Seventeen-year-old Isabella “Bella” Swan (Kristen Stewart) moves to the small town of Forks to live with her father, Charlie (Billy Burke). At her new school, she gets along with everyone… except for the enigmatic Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson). The boy seems almost repulsed by her but Bella is drawn to him. As it turns out, he - and his feelings for Bella - aren't what they seem.

There are some undeniable faults in this picture. The performances, for instance. Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart have proven themselves strong performances but director Catherine Hardwicke stifles any emotions that might've been present. Not helping is the screenplay by Melissa Rosenberg, which directly quotes the novel by Stephenie Meyer often. You'll find plenty of clunky, overly wordy exchanges, the kind that comes from an author spinning their wheels, trying to buy time before a big reveal three chapters later by busting out their thesaurus and endlessly re-writing the same dialogue until it becomes a garbled mess.

Twilight is also a bit too ambitious for its budget. The special effects aren't convincing. It made me think back to the Smallville pilot, which would've been a good thing was this a TV series or non-theatrical movie, but someone should’ve looked at the fast-motion effects and recognized how silly they looked.

If you’re reading this segment of the review, you know that Edward is a vampire. Not the scary Nosferatu type, but a hundred-year-old glittering, sullen-faced, creature of the night that falls head-over-heels in love with Bella Swan. People will call this ridiculous but this is where I'll defend Twilight. Yes, the glittering thing is dumb, but it’s a detail. Considering every vampire in this film has a different superpower (which is an elegant way of blending the various myths about vampires), you can just pretend that’s Edward’s. I will also stand up for the relationship between the lovers. Bella and Edward have something about them that genuinely WOULD make them a good couple. When Bella comes to school, she’s basically loved by all. The boys want to date her, the girls want to be her best friend. All, except for one guy. Why? because Edward can read minds. No one in the world is a mystery to him. Holding a conversation, even with his fellow vampires is redundant but he can’t hear Bella’s thoughts. She's the only person in the entire world he could sit down and have a chat with.

There’s a germ of a good idea here. It’s the execution that's at fault. Perhaps the source material too. You might have to squint a bit but you can find scenes in the film that are good. The best example is a moment when the Cullens play baseball. It shows them as real “human beings”. People will call the scene where Edward admits that he likes to watch Bella sleep “creepy”, but that’s because he can't express himself well. As a vampire, he doesn’t sleep. He's been forced to live only with his kind and always drifts further away from normal human behavior. He hasn’t seen someone sleep in ages. He’s not “keeping an eye on her” at all times, he’s fascinated by every aspect of this young woman. Many of the interactions Bella has with her friends are charming and Billy Burke does good work with his role.

Twilight is harmless. It will appeal to those who've enjoyed the book and is sure to ensorcell young teenage girls. Unfortunately, the source material's weaknesses shine through, and neither director Catherine Hardwicke nor writer Melissa Rosenberg do much to improve upon it (trust me on that). This makes it nothing special for the rest of us but hardly a plague upon cinema so many people have declared it to be. I don’t see why it’s gotten such strong reactions either way. Perhaps the sequel, New Moon, will make it clearer. (Theatrical cut on DVD, December 9, 2016)

[ohmycarlisle]

Take me back! Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1 convention. The held the con at the same time as the press junket, which is how they were able to get the talent in front of the fans for this con and the epic Eclipse Convention. Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner and Bill Condon closed out Saturday, but during the day we heard from Jackson Rathbone, Ashley Greene, Elizabeth Reaser, Peter Facinelli, Julia Jones, Booboo Stewart, Alex Meraz, Tinsel Korey, Mia Maestro, Christian Camargo, and Melissa Rosenberg (who I can listen to all day.) So many memories and so many photos. I’ll put some more in my stories, but here are some of my faves. #twilight #breakingdawn #twilightconvention #robertpattinson #kristenstewart #taylorlautner #jacksonrathbone #ashleygreene #elizabethreaser #peterfacinelli #booboostewart #juliajones #tinselkorey #alexmeraz #miamaestro #christiancamargo #melissarosenberg #edwardcullen #bellaswan #jacobblack #jasperhale #alicecullen #carlislecullen #esmecullen (at Century City, Los Angeles) https://www.instagram.com/p/B4joMhznvur/?igshid=h8oa4zah26n3

[thomasluvjaymes]

5 years ago, the release of the last installment of @Twilight, "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn P2" November 16, 2012 #Twilight #BreakingDawn #KristenStewart #RobertPattinson #MackenzieFoy #TaylorLautner #StephenieMeyer #BillCondon #WyckGodfrey #NikkiReed #AshleyGreene #KellanLutz #JacksonRathbone #PeterFacinelli #ElizabethReaser #BillyBurke #MichaelSheen #DakotaFanning #CarterBurwell #MelissaRosenberg #SummitEntertainment #Lionsgate

[almasgeeks]

#JessicaJones | La Temporada Final. Estrena el 14 de junio @netflix. #KrystenRitter #RachaelTaylor #MelissaRosenberg #marvel #netflix #action #crime #drama #tvshow #serietv #Panamá #Panama #pty #panama🇵🇦 #ig (en Panama City, Panama) https://www.instagram.com/p/ByAtqILB_xU/?igshid=1wd1lgckyrxv1

[allieymichelleposts]

#WednesdayWisdom courtesy of Melissa Rosenberg. - #MelissaRosenberg #marvel #jessicajones #twilight #wisdom #wisdomwednesday #amwriting #writenow #writing #writer #writers #writerslife #writingcommunity #writersofinstagram #writersofinsta #writersofig #screenwriter #screenwriters #screenwriting #screenwritersofinstagram #film #filmmaking #womensupportingwomen #ladyboss #womenkickass #qotd #quote #quotestoliveby #dreambig #aimhigh #workhard

[edwardamcullen]

"You look...sexy"

LOOK... I DESERVED TO SEE THIS IN THE FILM

 @davidslade @melissarosenberg I just wanna talk

[peabodyawards]

Peabody Conversations: Marvel's Jessica Jones

Showrunner Melissa Rosenberg, executive producer Jeph Loeb and stars Krysten Ritter and Carrie Anne Moss discuss winning a Peabody for season one of Marvel's Jessica Jones. 

Read the full winner's citation: peabodyawards.com/award-profile/marvels-jessica-jones

[onscreenfilm-blog]

Twilight writer joins Scarpetta project http://goo.gl/UMe9D9 #Scarpetta #PatriciaCornwell #MelissaRosenberg #LizFriedman #KayScarpetta #AngelinaJolie onscreenfilm.com

[adamwatchesmovies]

Twilight: New Moon (2009)

I didn’t understand why someone would hate Twilight. It might not have appealed to all audiences but at its worst, the 2008 film was merely a fantasy romance directed at teenage girls with rocky performances. So what? Its sequel, New Moon on the other hand IS worthy of being burned at the stake. Devoid of any logic, full of manufactured drama, and agonizingly slow, it’s enough to make you reach for the power drill so you can press it against your temple.

After realizing the danger he and his family pose to Bella (Kristen Stewart), the vampire Edward (Robert Pattinson) breaks up with her and moves away. Depressed, Bella begins hallucinating and behaving erratically, until she finds comfort in the arms of her classmate Jacob (Taylor Lautner). But the frequently shirtless hunk harbors a secret. What could it be?

New Moon loses points from the get-go for undoing the ending of the previous film. It’s needlessly messy to have Edward and Bella break up so she can start getting romantically involved with Jacob... who was technically introduced in the previous film but had such a small role he couldn't possibly have been considered a member of a love triangle by anyone. You just know by the time the film ends, Edward will have returned, bringing us back to the beginning and making this film pointless. It makes this second chapter feel a lot more like "content" than progression, no matter how logical it may be for Edward to be afraid of his bloodlust.

New Moon might actually be fun if you go in knowing it's a bad film. Bella’s hallucinations of Edward are unintentionally hilarious. The obvious pandering to the teenage female audience (there are A LOT of shirtless guys in this film) makes it easy to crack jokes at its expense and the tin-eared dialogue makes me think of another fantastical love story, this one set a long time ago, in a galaxy far far away... It gets particularly melodramatic during the last third, which is riddled with plot holes. 

Is it just me, or does this film make no sense? Edward, so emotionally distraught over the fact that Bella has died (it’s a dumb, complicated misunderstanding) decides to kill himself. To do so, he must ask permission from the Volturi, a trio of vampire elders. Why? Couldn’t he jump in an active volcano, or cut off his head with a circular saw? How would they punish this crime? Reanimation then execution? When the Volturi deny him permission to “die”, why do they let him go free? They know he plans on provoking them by revealing the existence of vampires to the real world. Wouldn’t it make more sense to stop him before he does this? We know they murder normal human beings to feed (which makes Bella’s insistence on becoming a vampire particularly unsettling) so why the sudden aversion to murder? Finally, would showing up in the middle of a town square shirtless and shiny REALLY confirm the existence of vampires? Bella thought Edward would turn to dust during the day.

New Moon is a dreadful, overlong slog completely devoid of any thrills or excitement. I don’t only mean this because of the character who can see the future and is, therefore, able to ensure our couple avoids any danger. It’s melodramatic teenage nonsense with a supernatural twist that in the end means nothing. This whole story could’ve been slimmed down to less than an hour if the fat was trimmed. I’ve heard the next films get even worse but I find it hard to believe the series could sink lower than New Moon. (Extended version on DVD, February 17, 2017)

[diariotwilight2]

Happy Birthday, Melissa Rosenberg.

[twilightzone92-blog]

The Twilight Saga Breaking Dawn Part 1 (2011) Review

"Forever is only the beginning"

After watching the previous three twilight saga movies I was uncontrollably excited for the first installment of the finales Breaking dawn part 1 and I was not let down in the slightest. The way that they adapted the book onto screen was incredible. The detail and likeliness to the book was insane it was like I was sitting reading the book all over again, Bill condon the director of this movie done an amazing job and Melissa Rosenberg adapted the novel into a screenplay very well making sure all the details that Stephanie Meyer came up with were kept in. At first I was like its gonna be impossible to adapt the final book with the pregnancy, the wedding, the birth of renesmee and all the drama and then put it all into one film but I think splitting it into two parts was a very good idea. Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner are as per usual absolutely brilliant playing their roles and the acting abilities of all of them put together are insane. The emotion they put into their characters makes you really believe in them and the story line. The basic story line revolves around the wedding of Edward and Bella and the process of Bella getting pregnant and the repercussions this has. I think that the Cinematography worked really well and the CGI effects were done superbly. My only down fall would be the wolf scene in the woods where they are talking to each other as wolves, this seemed abit too comical for my liking but overall this movie topped my expectations and I cannot wait for the final installment to hit cinemas in November 2012.

Rating: 9.5/10 Just AWESOME :) i'm a tad bit bias (massive twilight fan here) but its a great film WATCH IT if you haven't already

[peabodyawards]

Two of our Honor Board students, @tienc2 and @hennahouseathens, snagged a picture with @marvelsjessicajones showrunner #melissarosenberg and stars @therealkrystenritter and @carrieannemoss #jessicajones #netflix #peabody75