In anticipation of the release of The Twilight Saga: New Moon, Time Out Chicago’s Hank Sartin and Time Out New York’s Joshua Rothkopf have been exchanging emails discussing and debating the cultural phenomenon that is Twilight. Last night they saw the film, and today they do a post-screening exchange on the film’s merits.

To: Joshua Rothkopf

From: Hank Sartin

Josh,

You were certainly right yesterday about one thing: the real auteurs—or at least the real source of energy—in Twilight Saga: New Moon are the audience members. It’s rare that a studio logo gets an anticipatory gasp and keening sigh, but so it was last night when the Summit logo came up on the screen. And they certainly added some needed zing when things started to drag a bit in the middle, which for me was at the fiftieth email from Bella to vamp Alice, a device that surely works better on the page than on the screen. The audience’s pleased but slightly self-aware laugh at how often and easily the film gets Taylor Lautner out of his shirt made me feel like I wasn’t wrong to find it a little comical.

Nope, I haven’t read New Moon. Made it through Twilight, thought in a vague way that I ought to read the second book before the film came out, and never did anything about it. And last night I didn’t feel too bad. I imagine the book does a better job of explaining how exactly Jacob is so in thrall to Sam and his pack of werewolves-without-a-cause. And maybe the book makes more sense of the fact that after months of his daughter waking up screaming from horrible nightmares, Bella’s dad doesn’t insist on the services of a good psychotherapist. Most parents would wonder if she’d been raped based on the deep psychosis she seems to enter. But I’m with you when it comes to reading source material: when you can, fair enough, but in general, if appreciating the film demands it, there’s something wrong.

For me, the film feels a bit monotonous. Bella is depressed. Edward is gone. Bella hangs out with Jacob and is marginally less depressed, which does make one wonder at Jacob’s nakedly randy obsession with her (refreshing as it is compared to Edward’s “I daren’t touch you” cool flame of a love). For me, the energy jump in the film finally comes when Michael Sheen starts swanning around just acting the pants off all these monster-wannabe whippersnappers. The scenes with the Volturi are amusingly purple.

But overall, I’ll counter your ’sequels are often better’ thesis with a counter: when the film is part of a planned trilogy or tetralogy, the second film is doing a lot of bridgework, but doesn’t get you to the farther shore. Think of how frustrated we were at the end of The Empire Strikes Back (back when that was its full title) to find so many plot threads left hanging. I felt that way about New Moon. Werewolves introduced. Check. Love triangle established. Check. Threat from Volturi made clear. Check. But so much is left up in the air in that last scene. I’m sure that’s okay with the fan base, who know damn well what comes next, but for the casual filmgoer, it’s like walking into the middle of a film and then walking out again before the plot resolves. Mostly what we get is the mopey middle.

Hank

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In anticipation of the release of The Twilight Saga: New Moon, Time Out Chicago’s Hank Sartin and Time Out New York’s Joshua Rothkopf will be exchanging emails discussing and debating the cultural phenomenon that is Twilight. Tonight, they’re finally seeing the new movie, so today they discuss their expectations.

To: Joshua Rothkopf

From: Hank Sartin

Josh,

Tonight’s the night we finally get to see The Twilight Saga: New Moon, and only this morning I hear that in a MovieMaker interview, director Chris Weitz says he thinks he’s got one more film in him and he’s done. (What is it with directors announcing they’re bailing out?—Soderbergh is making the same noises). Not that it matters to the Twilight crowd, since they’ve got director David Slade (Hard Candy, 30 Days of Night) working on The Twilight Saga: Eclipse as we speak.

I’ll confess I’m actually pretty excited, and here’s why: As you rightly noted yesterday, Kristen Stewart is a good actress, and there’s every indication that this film will give her some fun stuff to do (feeling rejected by Edward’s departure, getting wild on motorcycles with Jacob). And honestly, though I’ve been the house crank in this debate, I think Weitz might bring an interesting energy to the story. To be honest, while I didn’t like Golden Compass much, I felt the reactions to it were more negative than it deserved, and I thought Weitz did pretty well (he’s pretty frank about how the film was taken away from him in editing, and I wonder if it might have felt more coherent if he’d retained control).

So there you are. The cranky naysayer admits he’s pretty excited about seeing New Moon tonight. What about you?

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In anticipation of the release of The Twilight Saga: New Moon, Time Out Chicago’s Hank Sartin and Time Out New York’s Joshua Rothkopf will be exchanging emails discussing and debating the cultural phenomenon that is Twilight. Today, they talk about marketing.

To: Joshua Rothkopf

From: Hank Sartin

Josh,

I think I reached the official Twilight media saturation point the other day when I saw a rather breathlessly excited news story on the coming release of the Jacob Black doll (shirtless, natch) from Mattel. But I have to give credit to the publicity department at Summit Entertainment; they’ve played the media like a violin. Looking back on the past year, the strategy seems to have been give a little at a time, and don’t let your clients out to too many media outlets at once. A well-placed rumor about Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson having a romance is worth far more than ten talk show gigs. No hosting Saturday Night Live (imagine Pattinson trying to be funny, or Stewart valiantly putting up with some SNL mocking of her fame…). No Twilight Happy Meals—the tie-ins and merchandising have been carefully chosen.

And the drip-drip-drip leaks of images and footage has been timed to perfection. Just when interest seemed to have flagged in April, Summit started making the trailers available online, one by one, and sent Stewart and Pattinson to the talk shows. That might seem weird—scheduling them to chat up a movie that wasn’t coming out for months, but Summit knew that all they had to do was fan the flames for a while. The soundtrack was released this fall, long before the release, once again drawing attention to the movie. And they worked social media, keeping buzz alive on MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, iTunes. Pure gold.

I’m not suggesting that the frenzy doesn’t have a strong basis in real fans out in the world; based on the angry responses I’ve been getting for criticizing Twilight, people care and care deeply. But their passion has been fueled by a smart campaign from people who know about the idea of the slow build.

But now, in the last week, I wonder if it’s getting too omnipresent. The only thing saving us is Sarah Palin, whose book release has taken some of the media oxygen away from Twilight. Otherwise, it would be All Twilight All the Time on the morning shows, Entertainment Tonight and in the glossies. So, once again find myself in the strange position of  thanking Sarah Palin (the first time, of course, was when she helped scuttle McCain’s campaign by being such a nutjob). Weird world, huh?

Cynically yours,

Hank

New York’s response after the jump

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In anticipation of the release of The Twilight Saga: New Moon, Time Out Chicago’s Hank Sartin and Time Out New York’s Joshua Rothkopf will be exchanging emails discussing and debating the cultural phenomenon that is Twilight. Today, they muse on the appeal of Edward and Jacob.

To: Joshua Rothkopf

From: Hank Sartin

I’ve been thinking about all the mania around Robert Pattinson and his portrayal of Edward in Twilight. As an actor he reminds me of all the early hype around Hayden Christensen, who was sold as the next big thing circa Life as a House and Shattered Glass. Now he’s doing Jumpers 2. Pattinson’s Edward seems to me like a placeholder—he doesn’t have to do much except look dreamy and aloof, so girls can project their fantasies onto him.

It seems to me that the appeal of Twilight comes largely from the fact that the romance can’t be consummated (and I don’t just mean sexually—it’s all about frustrated love). As I said in my tirade on all things Twilight, I find the opposition of Edward and Jacob suggestive. Jacob has a dark secret too, but there’s none of the stuff about irresistible yet abstract charisma with him. Jacob’s much more normal than the vamps, except when he, you know, turns into a wolf. With options like these, it’s no wonder Bella is confused.

But the more I think about these characters, the more I get their appeal for teen readers and viewers. They’re archetypal and easy to fantasize about, and their darkness makes them more adult. Still doesn’t explain why adults are so taken with them.

Thoughts?

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In anticipation of the release of The Twilight Saga: New Moon, Time Out Chicago’s Hank Sartin and Time Out New York’s Joshua Rothkopf will be exchanging emails discussing and debating the cultural phenomenon that is Twilight. Here are the opening salvos from both sides.

To: Joshua Rothkopf

From: Hank Sartin

We’re a week away from the release of The Twilight Saga: New Moon, and as I recall you came out as more of a supporter of the first film than I was. So I watched Twilight again, and I stand by my first take; I like the new-girl-in-town stuff the best. Now if we could just get rid of those dye-job vamps. And, though I know this is heresy, I don’t get the hype around Pattinson. He’s got dead eyes that aren’t an acting choice, just a lack of any interesting spark. And the last act of Twilight just doesn’t work at all—a sudden jump into Perils of Pauline action that feels rushed and messy.

My resentment of Twilight has actually grown over the last year, because the damn thing has been so unavoidable. Everywhere I turn, I have to read about Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart’s romance and Taylor Lautner’s abs (Taylor himself? Who cares. But if his abs did interviews on their own, journos would line up). It all feels contrived, like fake grassroots to me.

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Doc Films has snagged a free advance screening of Werner Herzog’s new film Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, which stars the generally batshit Nicolas Cage as a drugged and drunk cop in the Big Easy. Our very own Ben Kenigsberg weighed in on the film when he caught it at Toronto. The flick will show Tuesday evening at 9pm. Based on our experience with Doc’s sneak previews, we’d advise arriving early, like seriously early. Honestly, bring-a-book early.

Late breaking film news: the doc Youssou N’Dour: I Bring What I Love is screening tonight at the I.C.E. Chatham 14 at 7pm as part of the ongoing Black World Cinema series. Then it gets a weeklong run. Tickets tonight are just $5, but for the rest of the run you’ll pay $9.50 for adults, $6.50 for children and seniors. Check out my review here.

Song and dance and razzle-dazzle. That’s what Hugh Jackman brought to the hosting of the Oscars. We’ll have none of that! The Academy has announced that Steve Martin will take his third turn as host of the Oscars, but this time he’ll have a little help from Alec Baldwin. Please, try to contain your wild enthusiasm. Read more »

Yes, the city’s budget problems are severe. We reported last week that the Outdoor Film Festival was not on the city’s 2010 calendar of special events due to budget cuts and therefore likely to be nixed. Reelchicago.com confirms that the Outdoor Film Festival is a goner. Even the huge success of the Duck Soup Groucho nose-and-glasses event couldn’t keep away hard times. Reelchicago.com reporter Chris Shogren-Thompson notes that while the fest has always had corporate sponsors, they never covered the full bill. Of course, for a successful event like this, I’d argue that the city should embrace the idea that some things they offer to citizens that aren’t vital services are nonetheless worth doing without turning to corporate funding. I’m of the mind that a government ought to fund things like the arts without asking whether the events can pay for themselves through a bunch of freakin’ corporate logos plastered over everything. But I know some people might view outdoor screenings of films as a luxury when we can’t even get the damned streets properly repaired. Either way, R.I.P. Outdoor Film Fest.

Recently, I pitched a story for our features section about the Muvico high-end movie theater that was slated to be one of the key businesses in the Block 37 project. I’d envisioned a walk-through of the theaters in the last stages of construction—a ‘hard hat’ story, which, with good pictures, can make a fun read. About two months ago, noting that Block 37 seemed to be moving along, I sent an email to Muvico’s public relations and media folks, pitching the idea. Deafening silence followed, but I’ve been too busy to follow up.

Now I don’t need to; not gonna happen. Chicago Breaking News reports that Muvico actually pulled out of the Block 37 project in June, a fact revealed in court filings submitted this week. Muvico’s pullout was a big factor in the current serious financial problems the project faces. Last week, Bank of America started foreclosure proceedings on the whole project, because developer Joseph Freed and Associates was delinquent on payments. So, for all the folks who were thinking that the city was going to get another movie theater in the heart of the Loop, think again. For now, no dice.