Musings on books becoming movies

Over the weekend, I saw two movies which were adapted from books: The Twilight Saga: New Moon and My Sister's Keeper. My conclusions: 1) the Twilight saga does not translate well on the big screen, and 2) the screenwriters royally screwed up trying to adapt My Sister's Keeper, i.e. changing the ending!!! WTF!!!

Up first: The Twilight Saga: New Moon. Once again, this movie confirms that Kristen Stewart cannot act worth shit. She was the worst part of this movie. She played the exact same character in Adventureland. I mean, the EXACT SAME CHARACTER. Same lame ass mannerisms and all. It's gag worthy. I don't understand all the hoopla around this girl. She sucks. 

Anna Kendrick, on the other hand, was in the movie for all of 30 seconds, and I remember her. She is seared into my brain. Anna is a scene-stealer, and she's so good at it. I still remember her from the first Twilight movie. She was one of, if not the, best part of the movie. Can't wait to see her in Up in the Air opposite George Clooney. Early reviews say she's AMAZING. Translation: Oscar-worthy.

On another note, Robert Pattinson is so last year. Taylor Lautner, shirtless - YES.  This works. Although, I have to hand it to both boys, their acting didn't suck as much as Kristen's. She was the weak link in this film. Which is too bad seeing as she plays the title character. Even Rachelle Lefebvre, who didn't speak a word, was more memorable than Kristen. And sadly, Rachelle will not be returning to play Victoria, an evil vampire out to get Bella, due to "scheduling conflicts" or so says Summit Entertainment. Whatever. I don't buy it and I'm still bitter about it.

Next up: My Sister's Keeper. I read the book. The book was good. The movie, on the other hand, was crappy, schleppy, Hollywood sentimentality with a wimpy-ass ending. Why does Hollywood always go with the unimaginative, obvious ending? And  why didn't the book's author protest?  This change did not make her original story better, it made it far worse. The original ending was not predictable and was painfully bittersweet. Yes, someone dies. But it's not who you think, hence the beauty of it.

The bright spot in this movie is Sofia Vassilieva, who plays the cancer-stricken Kate. She is believable and, at times, heartbreaking. Joan Cusack also aptly portrays the judge presiding over Anna's case. Love her.

My boyfriend thought Cameron Diaz was terribly miscast in this film. I tend to agree. As he said, she's too recognizable. You can't forget she's Cameron Diaz. It works in Charlie's Angels but not in this movie. I don't buy Cameron as a mother of three desperately trying to keep her terminally ill daughter alive. Also, the lawyer's story (Alec Baldwin's character) was barely touched. This movie needed more Alec. All in all, a terrible disappointment. 

Some books shouldn't become movies. Twilight is not Harry Potter. 

Jeremy Leven and Nick Cassavetes, who adapted My Sister's Keeper for the big screen, shouldn't be allowed to work in Hollywood for at least a year, maybe two. That's how long it will take me to recover from their mess of a movie.