The last Twilight movie opened in November 2012, and it was quite the phenomenon. Fans lined up 3 days before the purchase tickets, girls cried because they refused to accept there's no more Edward-Belle torture to self-impose to, people condemned the Jacob + What's-Her-Name-That-Belle's-Daughther combination, and it was the big winner (or loser, depends on your perspective) at the Razzie Awards.

So, that's it right? The end of an era, the end of teen-craziness over vampires-werewolves-humankind love torture? Well, not quite. In the first three months of 2013, we had at least seen three movies that are considered distant relatives / close siblings to that Stephenie Meyer's YA series (and one of them was even penned by her).

Third Cousin : Warm Bodies
This is perhaps just a distant relative, a third cousin. But when you watch this love story of a zombie and a human girl, you can't help but think of Twilight. How can you not? Even Teresa Palmer looks like Kristen Stewart in some angles. The zombie is pale, much like the vampire Edward. There are good zombies and bad zombies, much like there are the Cullens and the Volturis. The only missing connection is maybe there's no Jacob (Thank God!).

Warm Bodies takes itself less seriously thus enables it to be more funny and less pretentious. There are no lips biting from the heroine or a walking pale wood pretending to be romantic hero. It's much more entertaining.

Step-Sibling : The Host
Although it's written by the same author, this tale of an earth full of human bodies with alien souls is only considered by me as a step-sibling to Twilight. It's about the heroine who was forcefully inflicted with an alien souls but slowly learned to bond with this kind alien, and her "love-triangle" with her boyfriend, and a guy the alien is attracted to. It's complicated to put it in a sentence you see, and it's not really a triangle per se since it actually involves four souls. There's also a bad seeker (played by the gorgeous Diane Kruger) but there's no epic showdown between the good and the evil.

This movie with Saoirse Ronan front and center, is not as bad as some critics put it to be, at least Ms. Ronan herself is maintaining her good work as per usual.

Sister : Beautiful Creatures
I can summarize this in one phrase: The reverse-gender version of Twilight. There's this ordinary guy falling in love with a witch-in-making. A creepy big house located in the deep of the wood, mysteriously & creepy family members who always dress so luxuriously and sleep-inducing love story.

Good news is: at least the center duo can act better than that two from Twilight. But then again, hey, who can't?










Are there more coming our way? I hope not! Twilight is gone, just accept the fact and move on, stop making wanna-be movies when there are countless topics to be explored. Be more creative, that's how you win audience.

2013 - The End of the World, The Sequel

Have you realized there are lots of end of world / apocalypse / aftermath of apocalypse type of movie this year has got to offer? And they said 2012 was supposedly the year where our world came to an end (news flash: it didn't happen). So what, this is the sequel to 2012?

It will begin with the open of Oblivion in April, where Tom Cruise lives on earth 60 years after aliens destroyed it.It also stars Morgan Freeman, Andrea Riseborough & ex-Bond Girl Olga Kurylenko. The trailer looks interesting and visually stunning... that is until the second half where all the typical sci-fi action begins.

Then there's After Earth in June, where Will Smith and mini Will Smith wander across an abandoned earth 1000 years after cataclysmic events that made humans leaving it behind. Another visually stunning trailer, but it's from M. Night Shyamalan, don't go in with too much expectation.

Also in June, there's World War Z, an apocalyptic horror film where Brad Pitt battles the zombies. Okay, from the trailer it looks like another "War of the Worlds" with zombies replacing aliens (remember that Tom Cruise movie? I did, cause I laughed through the whole movie with the ridiculous plot and everything). Or, I would call it "Zombieland minus the laugh".

In August, we have Elysium. According to the plot summary, it is supposedly telling a story where two classes of people exist, and one of them living on an overpopulated, ruined earth. Ruined earth, see? Haven't seen the trailer yet, so no comment on it. But I don't quite fond of a bald Damon.








Unknown release date of Snowpiercer doesn't stop me from counting this in. According to the plot line, this is about "after a failed experiment to stop global warming, an Ice Age kills off all life on the planet except for the inhabitants of the Snow Piercer, a train that travels around the globe and is powered by a sacred perpetual-motion engine."








As if the above are not enough, I have not counted in the below for one reason or another:

(1) The Host: Yes, I realized it's not apocalyptic or ruined earth, but an earth full of human bodies containing alien souls? That's pretty much not the earth anymore.

(2) Iron Man 3, Thor 2 & Pacific Rim: There are villains or aliens trying to destroy earth, but human defends it nonetheless. I think the movie makers will not let the earth ends... not yet, not until they have extracted enough money out of it after 20 sequels being made.

(3) Hunger Games 2: It's set in the post-apocalyptic future where a rebellion against the Capitol took place75 years prior to the story, and USA is called Panem. Since this is the second installment already so I don't officially put it in the above list.

Did I miss any movie? I think I must have been, since I realized there are a lot of sci-fi movies released this year, and most of them are set in the future and when filmmakers see the future they always envision it as a ruined world after some sort of war or alien invasion. If I do miss out any, please let me know.

Random Thoughts While Watching "The Host"

Random thoughts while watching "The Host" (this is not a review, just random notes):

(1) I know I am not a movie critic, but I do want to pay my respect to the dearly departed Roger Ebert. While doing research for the movie before going into the cinema, I read that this movie was the last film reviewed by the famous movie critic, who passed away on April 4, 2013. He wrote "<The Host> is top-heavy with profound, sonorous conversations, all tending to sound like farewells." and gave the film 2.5 stars out of 4.

(2) And so it's a good thing that I know this film is critically panned, holding only 10% 'rotten' rating on Rotten Tomatoes. I went in the movie fully prepared. Hey, I'm watching a film adaptation of a novel written by the woman behind the Twilight series. What do I expect?

(3) This movie really should be renamed "The Kiss". There are like 10 scenes of kissing cramped in a 2-hour movie. Okay, I didn't actually count it, but you get my point. In Malaysia, this movie should be renamed "The Kiss: All Kissing Scenes Will Be Censored Out".

(4) Stephenie Meyer really can't resist to put in a love-triangle in her every book, and the parties involved in it are never all human. The love-triangle in this film is not really a triangle, as it actually involves four souls though only three bodies. You need to watch it or at least read the story to understand my statement.

(5) Saoirse Ronan, this lady is a treasure. Ever since Atonement she has consistently given good performances, even in not-so-good movies like City of Ember and The Lovely Bones. Her performance in this movie reminds me of her other film "Hanna", which is good as I love that film. Few actresses can convincingly be strong and vulnerable at the same time.

(6) Wonder if Twilight would be a good movie if they cast Saoirse Ronan in the lead. But that series' problems are way bigger than Kristen Stewart. It's the story itself, so you can cast anyone in the lead and the movies are still bad.

(7) Beautiful scenes make this movie more watchable. Have no idea a desert can look so beautiful.

(8) Beautiful music also makes this movie more bearable, especially in some cheesy scenes. The Melanie-Wanda goodbye scene, yes I'm talking about you. Additional note: the girl sitting two seats from me was crying during this scene.

(9) So there's no epic battle at the end. Diane Kruger was simply captured and her soul being sent away. The end. Really? Anti-climax ending. Oh wait, that's not the end, it's about the separation of Melanie and Wanda. Oh wait, that's also not the end... See, you need to watch the movie to realize the movie is dragging too long to end.

(10) Final verdict: 3 stars out of 5. True, it's not "Avatar" type of epic, but it's no "Twilight" type of disaster. There are some hits and misses, but mostly it is still watchable.