The moon may be new, and the director may be different (Chris Weitz takes over the reins from Catherine Hardwicke), but otherwise, the second installment of the “Twilight” saga remains, for better or worse, exceptionally faithful to its 2008 beginnings.

Understandably not wanting to mess with that $350 million worldwide success, “The Twilight Saga: New Moon,” is content to stay within those tonal parameters rather than venture out in potentially more intriguing or substantial directions, which should suit its ferocious adolescent female fan base just fine.

The uninitiated, meanwhile, might find that the film’s deliberately unhurried 130-minute running time feels like a Cullen clan eternity.

Anticipation is sufficiently high that opening weekend box office for the Summit Entertainment release is guaranteed to be anything but anemic, most likely eclipsing the $70 million taken by “Twilight” this time last year. The film bows Friday (November 20).

Alluding more obviously to the “Romeo & Juliet” vibe of author Stephenie Meyer’s books, “New Moon” finds heroine Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) caught in a tricky triangular relationship with Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) and Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner).

Read the rest of the review, here.

“This is the last time you’ll ever see me,” Edward Cullen says to Bella Swan. As if.

Spoken early on in “New Moon,” that promise is one of the least likely to be kept in movie history. With most of that film still to unfold, and two more adaptations of Stephenie Meyer’s “Twilight” series in the works, the next due out as soon as next summer, the world is going to see as much of Kristen Stewart’s melancholy Bella and Robert Pattinson’s undead Edward as it can take. Maybe more.

In the short term, however, Edward is as good as his word and “New Moon” suffers as a result. Constrained by the plot of the novel, the film keeps the two lovers apart for quite a spell, robbing the project of the crazy-in-love energy that made “Twilight,” the first entry in the series, such a guilty pleasure.

“New Moon,” which has been grandly titled “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” in honor of that first episode’s huge success, marks the franchise’s entrance into the self-protective, don’t rock the boat phase of its existence, which is inevitable but a bit of a shame.

Read the rest of the review,here.

The Twilight Saga: New Moon” demonstrates that werewolves, while also belonging to the dangerous-when-biting class, are a lot more fun than vampires. They favor knee-length shorts, sneakers and seem most comfortable when shirtless, probably because their abs are so hot they require constant airing out. Instead of lamenting the eternal state of their being, they romp in the forest or go cliff diving. They maintain a core temperature of 108, enjoy snacks of muffins the size of small cats, and have decent senses of humor.

Ultimately, this makes Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner), despite the furriness, far more suitable boyfriend material for any teenage girl than vampire Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson), although don’t bother telling Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) that. The heroine of the “Twilight Saga” turns 18 on the day our story begins, but she still doesn’t listen to reason. That’s not her thing, as we learned in “Twilight,” Catherine Hardwicke’s dark and emotionally stormy introduction to the cinematic versions of Stephenie Meyer’s best-selling four-part series, in which Bella fell in love with Edward, a noble vampire who sparkles like diamonds (rather than ignites, as is traditional in the vampire mythology) in sunlight and can only kiss her for a few seconds before his animal instincts are awakened. Paging Vampire Bill, who has figured out how to satisfy himself and his woman.

Read the rest of the review, here.

MTV has posted a great review on “New Moon” and gives us several reasons to why the movie will rock your socks off. Read it below but beware of spoilers!

Yep, we’ve seen “New Moon.” And the best news we can give you might be this: We want to see it again. And again.

Most of us here at MTV News make no secret of the fact that we’re fans of the franchise, and if you’re reading this story, we know you’ll see this latest “Twilight” installment — which is why we wanted to write something that doesn’t so much say, “See this movie,” as it says, “Don’t worry; this movie is all you’re hoping for.”

So, after a few days of reflection, here’s our spoiler-free list of the ways that “New Moon” delivers:

Maybe it’s because the franchise’s stars are one year older. Perhaps it’s because of director Chris Weitz. Or, most likely, the stars have the confidence of now knowing that these films will be seen by millions and are feeling more comfortable stepping into the skin of the characters they’ll be known as forever. Whatever the reason, every returning actor is better in this film than in “Twilight.” Most notable is Taylor Lautner — who displays incredible screen presence and physicality in his first true starring role — and Kristen Stewart, who perfectly conveys the heartbreak and insanity of Bella’s fractured mental state with every scream, sob and adrenaline-fueled wicked grin.

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EW’s Leah Greenblatt reviewed the ‘New Moon‘ soundtrack, and she has nice things to say!

After the success of the first installment, music supervisor Alexandra Patsavas (Gossip Girl, Grey’s Anatomy) gets her pick of the alt litter here, with each contributing original, previously unreleased material: From the opening chords of Death Cab for Cutie’s dusky guitar rapture ”Meet Me on the Equinox” to the spooky robot-ennui of Thom Yorke’s ”Hearing Damage” 
 and Grizzly Bear’s gorgeous folk-pop pastoral ”Slow Life,” New Moon rarely falters. A peacocking remix of Muse’s shamelessly operatic ”I Belong to You” becomes a Bowie-esque glam-rock stomper. In its wake, Bon Iver and St. Vincent quietly unfurl ”Rosyln,” a duet of hushed, almost church-like beauty.

Read more here.

Chuck, The Movie Guy, made a nice review about the “Blu Ray – Twilight DVD”.

Sources: The Movie Guy – Youtube Channel.

Hey all you Twilighters! I just got back from the theater. Twilight was amazing! I was a little disappointed by the fact that the movie added/changed silly things from the book. If they had stuck to the book, fans of the book would have been more pleased by the movie. Also, the beginning of the movie seemed to move really slow.
I thought the cast was perfect! Robert and Kristen were so beliveable as Bella and Edward! Robert nailed his role! He did Edward’s eyes perfectly! I just wanted to scream when I saw the chemisty between the two of them lol! The rest of the cast was exactly how I imagined they would be like.

Spoilers on the next page! If you haven’t read the book and plan to, do NOT continue!

Read full article.

Peter Brown from ifmagazine.com sent to us the links of a new interview with Rachelle and a movie review of Twilight.

Take Rachelle Lefevre for instance. Who up until TWILIGHT was making her way in Hollywood doing a few episode here on a TV show, a few episodes there on a TV show. But in the film about a different type of love story – between a human and an immortal vampire – she really got to sink her teeth into her character of Victoria, one of the evil, nomadic vampires.

“I assist [James] in tracking Bella and making life miserable for the two of them,” sayd Lefevre.

But are they truly evil … or are they just following what nature now has laid the paths to? The answer is complicated, says Lefevre.

Read full interview here.

TWILIGHT was sort of like HARRY POTTER for me, in the fact that so many people had told me I HAD to read the books that I had avoided them until the last possible minute. Once I gave in and read the first novel however, I was as sucked in as anyone that I had talked to, and devoured the four books in a matter of less than a week and a half. As an avid reader, and a film reviewer I try to reconcile the movie and the book, and review the movie based on its merits only and not on the things that I loved about the novel.

Having said that, TWILIGHT is a movie that fans of the book series will be pleased with. The electricity of the relationship between Edward and Bella is certainly present on screen, the casting of the entire movie is bang on in terms of what I pictured in my head while reading the books, and the acting is above par from most horror or supernatural based films. Both Stewart and Pattinson do a great job of conveying all of the complexities and range of emotions their characters go through in a relatively short amount of time.

Read full review here.

Seth already watched the movie and updated the Stephenie Meyer Homepage with a little review and images of the movie in the layout. Check it out!

The movie is awesome! I hope that didn’t spoil too much for anyone. Due to my connections in Hollywood, I was invited to watch the premiere in LA. It was amazing. I wasn’t planning on changing the look of the site for the release of the movie, but after watching it I feel it is necessary to show my excitement by adding the image above to all of the Twilight pages. Go to the movie page to read more of my thoughts on the premiere and the movie itself (but I promise there will be no spoilers).