Review Roundup: TWILIGHT, BOLT, HARVARD BEATS YALE
By Norm Schrager at November 24, 2008 | 12:00 am | Print
We can now consider Twilight the third huge women’s movie of 2008. (Joining Sex and the City and Mamma Mia!, none an original idea…) Exit reports have the weekend’s Twilight audience as 75% female. That’s huge. And with an estimated $70 million box office take, that’s a whole lotta girls. Hint to younger guys: Go see Twilight, and make small talk at the theater before and after. You see where I’m going? Here’s what the critics think.
:: TWILIGHT
Rotten Tomatoes: 44 / 100
Metacritic: 56 / 100
filmcritic.com: 1.5 / 5
“Well, I like overcast days, Anne Rice novels and warm blood… You?
The reason Twilight is so immensely popular can also be its curse: The book series on which it’s based has developed an enormous devotion, primarily of teen girls and young women. Stray too much in the film version and you — meaning director Catherine Hardwicke — risk alienating them. So the diehards are pleased and the newcomers get a somewhat blah experience.
That’s what most critics are mentioning in reviews, as well as Hardwicke’s admirable efforts to build a real young adult teen romance. In the end though, there’s too much lockstep with the books to be anything different. The irony there? Sounds like the perils of the first couple of Harry Potter films — as the latest Potter’s new release date led to Twilight’s premiere moving up to this weekend. And whether you like the film or not, the big money don’t lie.
:: BOLT
Rotten Tomatoes: 84 / 100
Metacritic: 67 / 100
filmcritic.com: 3.5 / 5
“What do you mean, the city’s got a new pooper scooper law?…”
Just as Disney pushes WALL-E out big for the holidays on DVD and Blu-ray, they roll Bolt out to theaters, the first “traditional” animated film since Pixar’s John Lasseter took over Disney Animation. Reviews have been generally favorable, with the Rotten Tomatoes index scoring quite high for a total of 100 submissions (which, let’s face it, is too freaking many anyway).
Although the plot — superhero dog doesn’t realize he’s actually a failing TV character — smacks of Toy Story and The Truman Show, Bolt is being called solid animated entertainment. Not groundbreaking culture, just good stuff.
:: Quick Hit:
HARVARD BEATS YALE, 29-29
The title recalls a newspaper headline 40 years ago, a day after Harvard football staged a ridiculous comeback to tie rival Yale in the annual event known simply as “The Game.” Director Kevin Rafferty, known for the comic documentary The Atomic Cafe, chronicles the time, the team — Tommy Lee Jones played — and the game, of course. Harvard Beats Yale has received positive reviews from The New York Times, The Village Voice, Variety and Salon. And, hey, its limited release began the same weekend as the 2008 Harvard-Yale game. (Harvard won 10-0, by the way.)
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