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The Vampire Diaries starring Nina Dobrev, Paul Wesley and Ian Somerhalder

Posted on November 20, 2010 Written by ripitup

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The Vampire Diaries starring Nina Dobrev, Paul Wesley and Ian Somerhalder. Co-starring Steven R. McQueen, Candice Accola, Katerina Graham, Michael Trevino and Zach Roerig, Sara Canning
The Vampire Diaries starring Nina Dobrev, Paul Wesley and Ian Somerhalder. Co-starring Steven R. McQueen, Candice Accola, Katerina Graham, Michael Trevino and Zach Roerig, Sara Canning. The second season is on. Image via byterology.com

The Plot

Small town. Elena Gilbert (Nina Dobrev) is back at high school. She and her brother Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen), also a high school student, have lost their parents at an accident last spring and things have never been the same ever since. Elena struggles to make it through, while Jeremy spends most of his time getting high, giving drugs to Vicki (Kayla Ewell) and hoping she will choose him over the cocky football player Tyler (Michael Trevino). It is up to their young Aunt Jenna (Sara Canning) to look after Elena and Jeremy.

In the meantime, Stefan Salvatore (Paul Wesley) is back at his home town after a long time. Stefan is a 17-year-old going on over about 160. He is a vampire, who refuses to feed on humans and is lured back into town because of Elena’s existence. Elena carries an uncanny resemblance to his ex-love Katerina (also played by Nina Dobrev). He wants to carry on a normal existence, while getting to know her. So he enrolls in her high school. Everyone is intrigued by the presence of this new hot student, especially Elena’s friend Caroline (Candice Accola).  Unfortunately for Caroline, Elena seems as smitten as Stefan. At first this pleases Elena’s best friend Bonnie (Katerina Graham) and depresses Elena’s ex Matt (Zach Roerig), a good-natured football player who is still in love with her.

Unfortunately, Stefan’s peaceful existence is challenged by the mysterious deaths occurring all around town and he has a pretty good idea who is sucking their blood- it is none other than his vampire but not-so-good-natured brother Damon Salvatore (Ian Somerhalder). He has no intention of behaving himself. In fact, there is nothing he loves more than complicating Stefan’s life. He was also involved with Katerina and their past issues comes up- along with flashbacks- throughout the episodes.

Another problem for Stefan is that Bonnie is coming from a long line of witches and she is starting to gain some powers, and she is not enjoying the vibe she is getting from the new love of her best friend…

The Background and the Fun Stuff.

The series are based on a series of books written by L. J. Smith, also called The Vampire Diaries. One of the show’s producers is the famous horror/thriller writer Kevin Williamson who is famous for Scream, The Faculty, I Know What You Did Last Summer and Cursed. He was interestingly also the writer of the hit teen show Dawson’s Creek starring Joshua Jackson, James Van Der Beek, Katie Holmes and Joshua Jackson.

On a side note, the actor playing Jeremy, Elena’s brother, is played by Steven R. McQueen, who is the grandson of the late movie icon Steve McQueen.

The Vampires

The vampires in this show can’t be hurt by garlic or holy water. They can be killed by fire, pretty much the standards the modern vampires hold. However they still need to be invited into a home before they go in, pretty much like the vamps in Buffy The Vampire Slayer. There is also the issue of the vampire faces- while they don’t get as much make-up done as the ugly faces of the Buffy vampires, their eyes go red, weird disfigurement appears on their faces and their teeth show. It is also funny that they get this face when they get turned as well. They also have special rings that allow them to go under the sun without hurting.

One of the episodes also carries a fun reference to Twilight in one episode. As Damon is sitting on Caroline’s bed and reading one of her Twilight novels, she asks him why he doesn’t sparkle like Edward and he answers that he lives in the real world where vampires get burned under the sun. He also makes a fun comment on he doesn’t understand why everyone in the series is so fascinated by Bella and says she’s got them all whipped.

The Verdict

The Vampire Diaries is a fun and addictive vampire/mystery/romance show. Sure it has lots of teen angst and drama but it balances it well with enough mystery and action. There are enough murders and blood-sucking to keep this in the action genre but not enough gore and sex to compete with True Blood.

The Vampire Diaries has caught a great balance with the modern vampire understanding (the pretty vampires who don’t burst into flames) but they carry some of the classic myth (they need invitations, they have vampire faces- they are not pretty when they turn…).It is also refreshing that the reason Elena and Stefan don’t have sex right away is that Stefan is afraid she will see his vampire face- it is not like he is afraid he will bite her or hurt her or something like that.

Fun, modern and unisex. Sure, Salvatore brothers do and will have more than their share of female fans but it doesn’t change the fact that this is one engaging show. Give it a shot.

8 on IMDB, with nearly 60.000 votes.

Other Vampire Show and Movie Posts Covered

Moonlight starring Alex O’Louglin, Sophia Myles and Jason Dohring.

Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Dracula, Lestat and Other Vampires

The Twilight Saga Posts

The Ultimate Twilight Saga Test – Read to Decide If You Will Enjoy The Twilight Movies

Twilight Saga 101: 33 Things You Should Know About Twilight Before Seeing New Moon

Twilight Saga 102: 24 Things You Should Know About New Moon Before Seeing Eclipse

Twilight Mania: Twilight Movie Review

New Moon Movie Review: New Moon Dissected

Eclipse Movie Review

Twilight Saga Cast Trivia 101: Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner

Twilight Saga Cast Trivia 101: Peter Facinelli, Nikki Reed, Jackson Rathbone, Elizabeth Reeser, Ashley Greene, Kellan Lutz

Twilight Saga and The Rest of The Cullen Family

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Filed Under: TV shows Tagged With: Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Candice Accola, damon salvatore, dawsons creek, dawsons creek cast, Elena gilbert, horror, ian somerhalder, Katerina Graham, Kayla Ewell, Kevin Williamson, L. J. Smith, Michael Trevino, mystery, nina dobrev, paul Wesley, sara canning, scream movie, Stefan Salvatore, steve mcqueen, Steven R. McQueen, the vampire diaries, the vampire diaries tv show, thriller, true blood, TV shows, Twilight saga, vampires, Zach Roerig

Moonlight starring Alex O’Loughlin, Sophia Myles and Jason Dohring

Posted on November 14, 2010 Written by ripitup

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Moonlight starring Alex O'Loughlin, Sophia Myles and Jason Dohring.
Moonlight starring Alex O'Loughlin, Sophia Myles and Jason Dohring.

Characters, General Plotline and First Episode

Mick St. John (Alex O’Loughlin) is an 80-something vampire, going on early 30s. He is living in L.A., where hundreds of vampires exist, unknown to many humans. The vampires care about secrecy, and usually if someone is going to drink human blood, it is voluntary. These vampires can’t be killed with wooden stakes. You either need to chopping their head off or set them on fire. Sunlight hurts, but they don’t burst into flames. They prefer the shadows, but going out in the sunlight won’t kill them if they are careful.  Let’s face it; California is a refreshing update to a Vampire’s address.

Mick is a good guy, working as a private investigator. His best friend is one of the oldest vampires around – Josef (Jason Dohring), a rich businessman, in his 400s and going on mid 20s. Josef is a lot more into all things pleasurable and of course, money.

Mick’s existence is pretty uncomplicated, until a big part of his past catches up with him. 25 years ago, he has saved a little girl’s life. Her name is Beth Turner (Sophia Myles). She is now working as an online journalist and dating a lawyer-Josh- from the D.A.’s office (Jordan Belfi). She runs across Mick at a murder scene. A young woman was murdered, with bite marks in her neck. When Beth sees Mick, she knows he is so familiar but can’t make it out yet. Mick only discloses that he is a P.I. While working on the case, their paths cross again. Mick has watched over her for years and seems to have developed a major crush for the adult Beth. And despite being in a happy and steady relationship, Beth is strangely drawn to Mick as well.

The pilot episode comes to a big finale with Mick saving Beth’s life and earning her trust.

As episodes continue, we see the attraction growing between the two. They love working together but Mick is doing his best trying not to get too close. After all, he is a single vampire, and she is a human with a boyfriend. But of course shortly Beth will discover Mick’s secret and this will bring them even closer. However the current complications are multiplied when a freelance photographer comes into the picture, who carries an uncanny resemblance to Mick’s vampire ex-wife/sire Coraline (Shannyn Sossamon – 40 Days 40 Nights, A Knight’s Tale). And even though she seems to be having a lot in common with Mick and Coraline, she is human…

Moonlight starring Alex O'Loughlin, Sophia Myles, Jason Dohring & Shannyn Sossamon
Moonlight characters & actors: from left- Coraline (Shannyn Sossamon), Mick St. John (Alex O'Loughlin), Beth Turner (Sophia Myles) and Josef Kostan (Jason Dohring)

Verdict:

Moonlight has been my favorite vampire-related thing so far, movies and TV series included. It has the great mixture of mystery, action, thrilling factors, romance, friendship and entertaining one-liners. It is a shame it only lasted for 1 season. But unlike the many shows that overstated their welcome, Moonlight offers 16 excellent episodes. The acting is fine and Australian Alex O’Loughlin’s American accent is more than convincing. And a good American accent never goes to waste for an actor, as he is now also playing an American again, this time in the new Hawaii Five-0 TV series.

If you like vampires, give Moonlight TV Show a shot. Unlike the Twilight franchise, Moonlight has a much more unisex audience. But of course it is far away from the sexual and gory scenes of True Blood. You’ll enjoy Moonlight; especially if you like the new generation vampires who are harder to kill, look prettier and don’t burst into flames. But don’t worry, again- unlike Twilight’s ever-pretty, shining under the sun vamps, Moonlight vampires go extremely pale in the face & eyes and show fangs when they want to do their vampire things. They don’t shine in the sun either.

Guest star: The Mentalist’s FBI Agent O’Loughlin, The Ugly Truth’s Colin – Eric Winter- guest-stars for 4 episodes.

8/10 – for all episodes. The music rocks too.

Other Vampire Shows and Trivia

The Vampire Diaries starring Nina Dobrev, Paul Wesley and Ian Somerhalder

Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Movie Vampires feat. Stuart Townsend, Gerard Butler, Tom Cruise, Kate Beckinsale, Robert Pattinson & More

 

All Posts on Alex O’Loughlin

  Alex O’ Loughlin Trivia

The Back-Up Plan starring Alex O’Loughlin and Jennifer Lopez

Hawaii Five-0 starring Alex O’Loughlin and Scott Caan

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Filed Under: TV shows Tagged With: Alex O'Loughlin, eric winter, jordan belfi, mick st john, moonlight, moonlight mick and beth, moonlight tv series, moonlight tv show, Shannyn Sossamon, sophia myles, Twilight, twilight movies, twilight vampires, vampires

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse starring Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner, Jackson Rathbone and Xavier Samuel

Posted on July 10, 2010 Written by ripitup

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And the world’s bestselling vampires, shapeshifters and the luckiest plain girl are back!

If you are about to see Eclipse, and haven’t seen or read Twilight or New Moon, I wrote the ultimate background guides. It provides you all the info you need to enjoy the films more:

Twilight Saga 101: 33 Things You Should Know About Twilight Before Seeing New Moon

Twilight Saga 102: 24 Things You Should Know About New Moon Before Seeing Eclipse

Twilight Eclipse starring Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner
Twilight Eclipse starring Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner. Image via eclipsemovie.org

ECLIPSE PLOT SUMMARY AND REVIEW

Bella Swan the human (Kristen Stewart) and Edward Cullen the vampire (Robert Pattinson) are together and still very much in love. However, they have some problems:

–          After everything Bella has gone through (the dangers in Twilight and the depression in New Moon), her father Charlie (Billy Burke) is not, naturally, fond of Edward. Of course he is still clueless that he is a vampire.

–          Charlie would rather have Bella spend time with his friend’s son-Bella’s best friend -Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner). Well, Charlie is also clueless that Jacob is a shapeshifter that can turn into a wolf. However Bella and Jacob are not exactly in good terms. After all he is in love with her and he despises Edward to the core. And Edward also hates Jacob.

–          The Volturi (led by Dakota Fanning’s Jane) want Bella to turn into a vampire. Bella has been wanting this since the first movie. Edward now has no choice, but he has made one condition. She has to marry him.

–          And Bella is not exactly sure how she will be explain to her parents that she will marry her boyfriend at the age of 18 and she is not even pregnant. And if she does agree to marry Edward, how will Jacob handle it?

Despite the complications, Bella won’t give up on either Jacob or Edward. She makes piece with Jacob again but Jacob still loves pissing Edward off and vice versa. He makes it clear to Bella that he won’t give up the fight for her heart. But as he finds out, she will willingly turn into a vampire and he is disgusted by the idea. Still, he says he will be fighting for her until her heart stops beating (as a human).

While Bella is caught in between the love of her life and her best friend/the second love of her life, there is another and much bigger problem. An army of newborn vampires are terrorizing Seatlle, led by a local Forks boy-turned-vampire led by Riley. As the Cullens explain, newborn vampires are at their strongest, most vicious and most uncontrollable. They are suspecting that their number one vampire enemy Victoria is behind it and they are right. As the Volturi (currently lead by Aro’s sister Jane Volturi) don’t seem to be doing anything so it is up to the Cullens to protect Bella, the town and each other. When Jacob and his friends realize how big the threat is, they decide to join on the fight. After all, as Jacob puts it, they will at least get to kill some vampires.

So it is up to Jasper Cullen (Jackson Rathbone) to train both his family and the werewolves to train  against the newborns. Jasper has a history of fighting wars-both humans and creating/training newborns.

This fight will force Edward and Jacob to try to put their differences behind. But can they manage to deal with Bella’s feelings for each of them and beat a vicious army at the same time?

Trailer:

[pro-player width=’530′ height=’253′ type=’video’]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJEfrHXgKdE&feature=fvw[/pro-player]

Scene Video:

[pro-player width=’530′ height=’253′ type=’video’]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBE0PTIcIq8&feature=fvsr[/pro-player]

This movie is fun. It is at the height of mindless entertainment. It is rated a 4.6 on IMDB but if there is something about the movie I will rated below that, it is the wolves. Just like New Moon, they do look ridiculous. Yeah, wolves that big are not meant to be realistic but they should look a bit less funny.

Apart from that, this is an enjoyable experience, especially if you try and not to get tangled up in the hype of hatred. So vampires shine in the sun instead of bursting into flames? Get over that already! There are vampires who fall in love with humans and refuse to suck human blood and try to make amends for their past mistakes and sins. I’d have thought after Buffy, Moonlight and True Blood, people would get used to the idea of nice vampires. And yes, pretty vampires. If you love Dracula’s make-up, fine. Watch that. The ugly vampire faces from Buffy are so 90s and as much as I love True Blood, the teeth look ridiculous. Oh sure, the vampires in Twilight get unflattering make-up too but hey they are vampires. They do have to look at least a little off and unnatural.

Are you bothered with the almost fairy tale like romance? Fine. Don’t see the movie. Or if it makes you happy to hate it and then complain about it, sure-by all means go for it. But don’t go saying the movie has been the worst experience of your life because

a) If this movie has been the worst movie you have ever seen, you take everything far too seriously and  b) you have done it to yourself.

This movie is not a horror film and it is not a thriller. It is a romance movie with vampires that happen to have some nice fighting sequences attached to it. Twilight was never meant to be scary or impressive in the horror/thriller department.

Could it be done better? Probably. But is it just alright the way it is? Yeah. It involves pretty people Not just for girls- guys are bound to find at least one of the female characters pretty. The blonde Rosalie Cullen (Nikki Reed), the adorable Alice (Ashley Greene), the fiery redhead Victoria (Bryce Dallas Howard) and of course the plain yet pretty brunette Kristen Stewart.

Frankly, I found this movie’s most interesting character to be Jasper. He no longer looks like Edward Scissorhands but more like a little made-up but gorgeous glam rocker. He is cool, charismatic, fun and has a better haircut. His past and his training scenes make for a nice sub-plot. And as if the girls were complaining about the lack of the pretty men, we know get another hunk in the form of Riley, played by Australian Xavier Samuel. One of my friends even complained that he should be playing Edward.

The movie also includes decent jokes and fun moments:

–          Bella claims to be Switzerland.

–          Edward complains about Jacob’s shirtlessness.

–          Edward kisses Bella to mark his territory and Jacob hugs her tight and carries her around to mark his.

–          Jacob says that he can feel Bella’s attraction towards him. Yeah, like Bella could hide it… I mean her gorgeous yet old-fashioned boyfriend is withholding sex until marriage whereas Jacob is all muscles and well, more than ready for anything physical with Bella…

–          Charlie’ s awkward but hilarious conversation about protection and his reason to love Edward.

–          And the best line ever:

From Jacob to Edward: I am hotter than you.

I am underlining 4 things: mindless, entertainment, eye candy, romance. Keep your expectations rational and you might have a good time. I went to see the movie with 2 friends, one female and one male. Now, the girl does like the movie. And the guy did have fun. He was busy lusting over Alice (Ashley Greene), joking about how horny vampires were (as in Riley and Victoria), what a faggot Edward was, how slutty Bella was and how she should have picked Jacob. I do agree on most accounts.

Also keep in mind the novels were written by a female by the name of Stephenie Meyer. Yes, it is after all one woman’s romantic fantasy. But then again, so fucking what?

Ratings:

10/10 for eye candy for girls

7/10 for eye candy for boys

2/10 – as for the lack of sexuality

3/10 for wolves effects, 7/10 for the rest

7/10 for all over entertainment

2/10 for the poster

9/10 for the romance.

Enjoy!

Buy New Moon on Amazon

Posts on the Twilight Saga and Cast

Robert Pattinson vs. Taylor Lautner

Twilight Mania: Twilight Movie Review

New Moon Movie Review: New Moon Dissected

Robert Pattinson vs. Edward Cullen: The Cute Robert Pattinson, The Beautiful Edward Cullen

Robert Pattinson isn’t vain. He is British.

Twilight Saga and The Rest of The Cullen Family

Twilight Saga 101: 33 Things You Should Know About Twilight Before Seeing New Moon

Twilight Saga 102: 24 Things You Should Know About New Moon Before Seeing Eclipse

Remember Me Review starring Robert Pattinson

Valentine’s Day review co-starring Taylor Lautner

My Own Worst Enemy co-starring Taylor Lautner

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Filed Under: Movies and Actors Tagged With: Ashley Greene, Bella Swan, Bryce Dallas Howard, Dakota Fanning, Eclipse, Edward Cullen, Jackson Rathbone, Jacob Black, Kristen Stweart, Nikki Reed, Robert Pattinson, Stephenie Meyer, Taylor Lautner, the volturi, Twilight, vampire, vampires, Xavier Samuel

Twilight Mania: Robert Pattinson, Pretty Vampires and the First Twilight Movie

Posted on August 3, 2009 Written by ripitup

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Even the grown-ups (females) lust after Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) .  In this year’s MTV Movie Awards, Jim Carrey typically won the best comedic performance and added a little joke for Pattinson in his speech. He mentioned Robert as “the good-looking kid from Twilight”.

Whether you have read the book or not (and sometimes especially if you haven’t heard the book), you fall for the story, and you fall for Cullen. And it is just too easy to identify with Bella. It doesn’t matter how old you are, or where you are from. She is plain and definitely not strikingly pretty. So the fact that the most gorgeous guy in school notices her and falls for her, is a fantasy most women ponder. Then add the mutual & etarnal love to the equation, and voila…we are hooked.

TwilightKissingSceneSoromantic
Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart

Edward Cullen is the perfect creature ( he is a  vampire so I guess the word creature is appropriate).  He is bloody sexy, deeply romantic and loyal to the end. He has amazing stamina and strength (again, perks of being a vamp) and he can hear anyone’s thoughts, apart from his love interest’s. Oh, let’s not forget the fact that he can play the piano, dance and literally & metaphorically knock you off your feet. So most men are bound to hate him and the movie. They say that there isn’t enough action in the movie (sure there isn’ t, it is basically a love story) and that the characters aren’t realistic (people- it is set in a world with vampires, so why are we questioning impossibly pure loves? Or the fact that Edward looks at Bella like she is dinner? She is!  He even mentions it himself, remember?). And again, why would you go see Twilight if you don’t want a love story? Have you seen the trailer? Or the poster, for that matter?

twilight-2
Seriously, who really looked at the poster and thought this was an action movie?

Let’s not discuss how a character or love like this wouldn’t exist in the real world. He is a vampire. If you can buy that, you can buy the rest. Maybe the effects weren’t good enough. I don’t really care. I have seen much worse in movies with much larger budgets-and those were ACTION movies.

The acting? Some find it mediocre. Some find it just right. The music is perfect, the author Stephenie Meyer approves of it (she even appears very shortly in a scene).

My mom-mid 50s-  adored it and she hates vampires.  The 16 year-old-sister of a good friend loved it and so did I. Give it a shot. Just don’t watch it with a male if you can help it…

And if you have read the book, there will be the issue of how it is not nearly as good. People, there are not many readers out there who have been satisfied with the movie adaptation of anything. Yet when you haven’t read it beforehand and liked the flick, then you just wish people would stop bitching about the differences and talk on about how much you enjoyed the whole experience.

More on Twilight:

New Moon Dissected: New Moon Movie Review

Twilight Saga and The Rest of The Cullen Family

 

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Filed Under: Movies and Actors Tagged With: Bella Swan, Edward Cullen, Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, robert pattinson twilight, romance, Stephenie Meyer, Twilight, twilight dvd, twilight movie, twilight robert pattinson, vampire, vampires

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