Pros And Cons of the New Moon Trailer

Film.com reviews New Moon Trailer

Pros And Cons of the New Moon Trailer
The first peek at the next Twilight installment inspires excitement and questions.

Erin Nolan, Jun 02, 2009

So, was Taylor Lautner right or was he right? How many of you recorded the The Twilight Saga: New Moon trailer on your DVR so you could watch it over and over again? I forgot to, but I did stay up and rewatch the replay of the entire MTV Movie Awards broadcast for another look at it. So now that we've all seen it a couple thousand times, let's start tackling the big questions. Was switching directors a good idea? Will the special effects look better than in Twilight? Will there be enough Edward? Will Team Jacob be satisfied? Laremy offered a quick take on the trailer in his live blog of the MTV Movie Awards last night, but here's an in-depth look at the trailer's pros and cons:

Pros:

1. Werewolves!: Andy Samberg had a little fun with the audience, teasing everyone with a homemade video of a Dracula vs. Teen Wolf basketball match-up before bringing out Lautner, Kristen Stewart, and Robert Pattinson to introduce the real clip. But even the staunchest Team Edward supporters have to admit the trailer's most exciting moment was undisputedly the glimpse of Jacob phasing into wolf form. We didn't get to see what happened after Jacob gets his claws into Laurent, but that high-flying leap has me already convinced it will be a hundred percent more exciting than Edward's relatively wimpy face-off with James in Twilight. Pattinson and Cam Gigandet better not get too attached to that golden bucket of popcorn they got for winning the "Best Fight" award last night.

2. You can see where the money was spent this time: Everything in this trailer looked richer than in Twilight, from the special effects when Edward shoves Jasper into the piano to the vampires' makeup to Bella's wardrobe. This time around, Summit clearly spent enough money to make a movie worthy of the fan fervor the Twilight saga inspires.

Cons:

1. How much Edward are we getting?: New Moon sets up one of the primary conflicts of the Twilight saga -- Bella finds herself caught between her love for a vampire and her friendship with a werewolf. Jacob is Bella's only comfort after Edward decides he must leave her in order to keep her safe. But as we all know by now, Twilight turned Robert Pattinson into a major star, and millions of hearts will be broken if his role in New Moon is reduced as drastically as it is in the novel. We've been promised over and over that New Moon will have plenty of Edward to go around, but the trailer didn't answer the question of how exactly they're going to give us that. And if they do rewrite the story in order to keep Edward around longer, will it upset the fans who want to see an accurate representation of the books they love? And will it be fair to Taylor Lautner and all the Jacob fans out there?

2. Volturi, anyone?: Despite the presence of all those dreamy vampires, Twilight took place in a realistic world we could all recognize as the one we live in. But the climax of New Moon brings us to Italy, and into the castle of the bizarrely regal Volturi vampire clan. These scenes are meant to be scary in the book, but if handled incorrectly, they could easily end up looking just plain silly on screen. I wish the trailer would've offered a glimpse at them.

3. Was anyone else bummed we didn't get to see Alice's yellow Porsche? Oh well. I guess they just needed to save a few things for when the movie comes out in November.

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Sam Bradley's New Song, Cowritten with Robert Pattinson

The Examiner Wrote about Sam's recent concerts, where he performed a new song that he wrote with Rob for the full review click here
The

Sheila Marrs, photographer, reader of this column, and fan of Sam Bradley, attended both of Sam Bradley's shows in Los Angeles this week.

Delighting the audience with everything from "Derek" to "That's How Strong My Love Is," Bradley played a total of eleven songs - allowing the audience to take the reigns on his "Too Far Gone." Afterward, true to form, Bradley "came out at the end of the night and took photos with the fans." Also, said she, "three very large in-your-face paparazzi were all over Sam. He handled it quite well."

The show, as anticipated, was sold out, with one member in attendance being Gene Simmons from KISS (who, it is said, had a conversation with Lee Lindsey about Sam and her music).

according to Marrs, included a presentation of the song which Bradley co-wrote with The Twilight Saga: New Moon star Robert Pattinson while he was filming in Vancouver (video below)

Robert Pattinson's Dali, "The transformation is striking.."

The Washington Times Just Reviewed Little Ashes, Finally at the end Rob gets praised, I said it once, i'll say it again Rob impressed me sooo much, I believe its the best acting he has done so far...anyway here's the review:

Teenage girls — or their mothers — drawn to "Little Ashes" by the prospect of devouring with their eyes brooding "Twilight" star Robert Pattinson have a few surprises in store — tortured sexuality, life-and-death politics and a sliced eyeball, for starters.

That last image is from Luis Bunuel's 1929 surrealistic classic "Un chien andalou," which the director co-wrote with painter Salvador Dali. Together, the two helped change the language of film while still in their 20s.

Uglier things might have been brewing in 1920s Spain, but university life in Madrid was alive with possibility, as shown in the modest drama "Little Ashes." A student dormitory proves a productive creative laboratory, housing three friends who became legends — Dali, Bunuel and the doomed poet Federico Garcia Lorca.

"Little Ashes" focuses on the relationship between Dali and Lorca — much of it conjecture — but Bunuel clearly was the gang's leader at first. He coolly sizes up the new arrival, entering Dali's room uninvited and examining his work. "Hiding all this brilliance isn't very neighborly, you know," he says, and it's clear he has decided to accept Dali into the group.

The painter had a flair for the dramatic — and self-aggrandizement — even as a teenager. While everyone else discusses Spain's future over tea in suits and ties, Dali dresses like a man from another century.

"Interests?" Bunuel asks. "Dada, anarchy, the construction of genius," Dali replies. "Whose?" "My own." So Bunuel introduces him to "another self-titled genius," the already-published Lorca. Lorca's and Dali's passion for each other soon disgusts Bunuel.

Lorca fights his attraction to the singular artist, praying in front of a statue of the Virgin Mary. He soon gives in, however — and Dali seems receptive. Lorca tries to take things too far for the delicate Dali, though. It seems as if these three collaborators might never even speak to one another again. Dali rekindles his friendship with Bunuel, though, and the Andalusian poet sees "Un chien andalou" as a direct attack. He throws himself into his work — and the fight against the fascists — with terrible results.

The film's emphasis on the personal relationships comes at the expense of the professional. Dali was a visionary, but we never discover how he actually created himself. We get little sense of Bunuel's vision, either. Here, the director of "L'Age d'or" comes off as a rather obtuse reactionary.

Still, these men are engaging enough to carry the film on their own. Matthew McNulty is commanding as Bunuel, but the sensitive Javier Beltran consistently steals the show as the tormented Lorca. Mr. Pattinson has taken on a much bigger challenge than playing a vampire — bringing a legend to life. He does an admirable job playing one of the strangest and most imaginative men to walk the earth. He's shy and trembling when he arrives at the dorm, bombastic and determined when he leaves it. The transformation is striking.

They rated it 2 stars and half source

Unbound Captives Script Review

Genre: Period/Western/Civil War
Premise: A woman loses her children to a tribe of Indians and lives every day only to see them again.
About: Back in 2003, Fox offered Stowe $3 million, and later $5 million, for her script, with Ridley Scott poised to direct and Russell Crowe to star. She turned down what was among the highest sums offered a first-time scribe because there was no promise she would be anything more than screenwriter. — The movie will star Hugh Jackman, Rachel Weisz, and Hollywood hotshot Robert Pattinson.
Writer Madeleine Stowe

When I heard that Unbound Captives was a “period piece”, I got excited. I feel like we haven’t had a good period piece in a long time. Braveheart, Titanic, and then…well, I can’t really think of any (suggestions in the comments section please - and no, I don’t count Galdiator as a good period piece). So when I opened it up and realized the period was……… mid-1800s America and it was about Indians, I was really bummed. For me personally, that just isn’t an interesting time in American history. BUT I will say that the one movie I *did* like with Indians was a little movie called Last Of The Mohicans helmed by Director/God Michael Mann, and starring noneother than…you guessed it, Madeleine Stowe, the writer/director of Unbound Captives. For that reason, I was willing to give Captives the benefit of the doubt.

As I trudged through the opening pages, I was starting to feel a lot less benefit and a lot more doubt. Unbound Captives felt a bit like pulling teeth at times. Although there are some exciting moments, films where a bunch of Indians and Americans are shooting at each other seem to blend into a mishmash of cliches for me. It all feels a bit too generic. Now whether this has to do with my predisposition to disliking these kinds of movies or the script itself, I couldn’t really tell you. All I can say is it’s never good when you’re rereading every sentence twice because your mind keeps drifting.

Tom, 30s, is a language-translator between the Indians and the white man. He seems lost, a little bit out there, a man unsure of his place in the world. He travels with Neighbors, a U.S.-Indian ambassador. The two are obviously close friends. They are currently trying to warn a large tribe of Indians that an attack on them by the white man is coming. No sooner is this warning heeded than an assassination attempt on the Indians erupts. Confusion everywhere. No one knows that the white assassin isn’t affiliated with the white ambassadors, causing the Indians to immediately attack every white man in sight.

Though many die, Tom and Neighbors make it out okay, only to come home where Neighbors is quickly murdered the next day (for his affiliation with the Indian people). Tom, who we already know has issues, takes this as a sign to go on a spiritual journey.

This allows us to shift our focus to May, a happy loving mother of two, a boy and a girl. Things aren’t gonna be happy for long though because an Indian tribe raids May’s village, killing all in sight, and taking with them her two children. We find out later that this raid was the direct result of Tom telling the Indians that the white man was coming. The Indians decided to move first. Oops.

As if that weren’t enough, May’s husband ends up the only man killed on some unrelated soldier brigade. Talk about a bad day! As a result, May, just like Tom, pulls away from the world and goes on her own spiritual journey. She spends all her days thinking about her son and daughter. And though a little hope dies each night, she never runs out. She will find her children.

Enter Tommy boy, back from his soul-searching trip and just as bummed about the world as May is. So it’s no wonder they fall in love and get married. But as old secrets creep up, it isn’t long before May finds out that Tom was indirectly responsible for the slaughter of her village and kidnapping of her children. Tom, feeling the heat of the world’s biggest guilt-trip, takes it upon himself to find them, or die trying.

And there you have it my friends. That’s pretty much the plot of Unbound Captives. I have to say that this is a tough one to call. Reading it, I could almost feel the colors. Sense the light. I could hear the sounds. I could smell the air. It’s very cinematically written. But I think it’s cinematically written to a fault, because the key element driving the story - May seeing her children again - drifts in and out as being an active element. Sometimes they’re looking for the children. Other times they’re not. And it’s in those times where they’re not that Unbound Captives just sits there, unsure of what to do with itself.

Occasionally though, even in those slower moments, there is magic. There’s a heartbreaking scene, for example, when May is in her cabin during a cold winter, 7 years removed from the kidnapping, and all she can think about is if her kids are warm or not, wherever they are. It hits you hard. And we can really sense this woman’s pain. And then there are other times, spanning pages and pages, where it feels like absolutely nothing is happening. Yet I understand that there’s a rhythm to this kind of film that requires patience so who knows? Maybe it will all work out in the end. But for me, scriptwise, it was a little too slow and I wasn’t as engaged as I wanted to be. Here’s to hoping the film overcomes that.

What I learned: I think Unbound Captives reminded me that it’s okay to slow down sometimes and let your character experience a moment. There’s so much pressure to keep things moving in a screenplay (I’ve said this before), we forget that some of the best moments happen when your characters are doing just the opposite. There’s a moment where Tom walks up the hill late at night to simply stare at the stars. This reminded me of the scene in Star Wars where Luke walks up the sand dune to take in the dual-sunset. It’s one of the most powerful moments in the film and it’s something we see less and less of these days.

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Robert Pattinson shines in How To Be

Robert Pattinson doesn't disappoint in How To Be.

I was lucky enough to watch the movie over the weekend and I was really impressed with Rob's performance.

He is a brillant Art and is the most talented member of the cast by far. There are some really funny moments in the film which sees Art trying to make himself happy.

My favourite part of the film is when the self help guru Dr Elligton arrives late at night and Art starts to take him upstairs before introducing him to his parents. His mum's face is a picture.

Another highlight for me was when Art asked his mum if they could go for a walk to bond as a family but she brushes him off. It was so awkward it was funny.

It isn't the most exciting film by a long way but it is well worth a watch. I feel like I have seen a new side to Rob, as Art is nothing like Edward Cullen.

I think watching it once is enough, because nothing really happens and I'd rather watch Twilight again, and again.

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Robert Pattinson shows acting chops as Salvador Dali in 'Little Ashes'

They gave the movie a B, BTW I still need to post my review, I'm going to the movie again tommorow so I might do two reviews

Paul Morrison's movie is a speculative portrait of three artists: Dali, poet Federico Garcia Lorca (Javier Beltran) and filmmaker Luis Bunuel (Matthew McNulty), students in 1922 at a Madrid academy of fine arts. Their avocations defy the day's politics, a wave of fascism suffocating idealistic expression and homoerotic urges that Dali and Lorca share. Being an artist is revolutionary. Being a gay or bisexual artist is dangerous.

Pattinson is an attention grabber from his first appearance as a foppish lad, socially awkward and undeniably talented, proffering a bold style of surrealism on canvas. Gradually he gains confidence, brashly manifested in odd clothing and bold pronouncements of self-greatness. Later, as Dali begins a descent into madness, Pattinson's performance takes on a buffoonish air; he doesn't wear Dali's trademark upturned mustache, it wears him.

But in between, Pattinson's perverse charisma can make viewers forget that Little Ashes is actually more about Lorca. Beltran's accent is occasionally impenetrable yet his grip on the poet's sexually conflicted personality is firm. When Dali and Bunuel go to Paris to create avant-garde cinema, Lorca shelves desire and becomes a lyrical dissident. When Dali returns, it is with surprises sending Lorca into a bitter, tragic spiral.

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People Magazine’s review of Robert Pattinson's Little Ashes Scan

belongs to Pattinson Online

Review: 'Little Ashes'

The historical fiction sets painter Salvador Dali, poet Frederico Garcia Lorca and filmmaker Luis Bunuel as friends at a Madrid university.
"Little Ashes" is a trifling historical fantasy, gossip wrapped in gossamer, beautiful to watch but it takes only a light wind to leave the story in tatters.The setting is an imaginary Madrid, circa 1922. The Catholic Church and the intellectuals are locked in a battle for the Spanish soul. At the university, ideas and emotions are roiling the lives of three friends, the esoteric is debated in bedrooms and bars over massive quantities of alcohol. They will grow into important creative forces: painter Salvador Dalí, poet Frederico García Lorca and filmmaker Luis Buñuel.Throw in rumors of an affair between Dalí and Lorca, a disaffected Buñuel departing for Paris with Dalí soon following, a heartbroken Lorca struggling with his sexual orientation and you have some idea of the many loose threads of Philippa Goslett's script that filmmaker Paul Morrison tries to stitch into whole cloth, a feat he never quite manages.
most familiar face in the film will likely be Robert Pattinson, better known as the lean pale vampire whose flights through the midnight world of "Twilight" have set teenage hearts everywhere beating faster. He is the strange, shy Dalí who turns up looking like he's from an earlier era, all ruffles and velvet. Dalí is a quick study though, and a few rips here and there and he's fashioned himself into something both modern and unique, a trick that fails Pattinson, who is more parody than performance. Dalí's love affair with Surrealism has already begun, and he's talented enough and vulnerable enough to catch Buñuel's eye.Played by Matthew McNulty, Buñuel is the one who will pull Dalí into his inner circle, where experimentation and anarchy run high. Though Buñuel is seduced by Dalí's talent, it is Javier Beltrán's Lorca who will fall in love with the man.Lorca and Dalí are locked in a long, slow tease until a summer ocean swim leads to a kiss. For a while, it seems as if the relationship will turn into something interesting for them and for us as well. But it is a time of great repression and the affair becomes little more than a haunting memory, while the film dances lightly over potentially rich themes of homosexuality, the church and the times.Soon Dalí would leave Lorca and Spain to work and collaborate with Buñuel, including "Un Chien Andalou," Buñuel's legendary Surrealist short whose close-up of a woman's eye as it is sliced by a razor shocked more than 80 years ago (and the few seconds used here earned the film "a brief disturbing image" warning from the MPAA -- some things are still shocking.)Thanks to director of photography Adam Suschitzky, "Little Ashes" is beautifully spare in its look, and the pacing has a sort of decadent languor to it, opposites that in this case attract. It is the narrative that confuses, darting here and there, telling half stories before abandoning them for others as it tries to cover inner turmoil, creative turmoil, political turmoil, religious turmoil and a lot of other turmoil too exhausting to mention here.With a nicely nuanced performance from Beltrán, Lorca is the one we get to know and understand best, but he's not on screen enough to become the strong center this film needs. "Little Ashes" is a case of too little of this and too much of that, and like the rumored affair, nothing of substance to hold on to.

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Robert Pattinson's New Movie Little Ashes Not Playing Well with Critics

Don't Judge the movie by these reviews, support Rob and go out and see it tommorow

Robert Pattinson's New Movie Little Ashes Not Playing Well with Critics

Robert Pattinson's efforts to expand his career beyond GQ covers and the Twilight franchise may be hitting a snag with the release of Little Ashes, a movie based on the life and loves of Spanish surrealist Salvador Dalí. Reviews are lukewarm at best, and apparently they've got nothing to do with Pattinson's nearly-full-frontal-nudity scene, which was widely panned.

5"...it's a speculative, impressionistic portrait without a lot of dramatic force or psychological depth. But it's an elegantly designed film that fascinates as often as it frustrates."

-- Stephen Farber, Hollywood Reporter

4"...a typically bombastic lives-of-the-artists production made even more stilted by having all the actors (including the Spanish ones) speak accented English..."

-- Melissa Anderson, Village Voice

1"...less a film than just a series of bad ideas piled on top of one another..."

-- Lauren Wissot, Slant Magazine

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Channel 4 Little Ashes Review

Drama about the lives and loves of the young Salvador Dalí, Luis Buñuel and Federico García Lorca in 1920s Madrid
According to Salvador Dalí, Federico García Lorca, the gay poet and dramatist, had been "madly in love" with him. "He tried to screw me," said Dali. "Twice." But the affair was never consummated because, said the painter, "it hurts".

Whatever the truth of the matter (Dalí would say just about anything to get a reaction - or for money), Little Ashes screenwriter Philippa Goslett has taken this, and the pair's supposed innuendo-laced correspondence, as the starting block for a torrid melodrama about forbidden love and artistic integrity, sketching in the details until the facts become as pliant as one of Dalí's timepieces.

The year is 1922, the city is Madrid, and three creative geniuses just happen to be lodging together in student digs while unleashing a firestorm of modernity upon the world. The first act of the film has fun presenting a portrait of the artists as young dogs. Or in Federico's case, an Andalusian one; he later claimed surrealist wind-up Un Chien Andalou was a personal attack on him by his former chums.

Here's bolshie Buñuel (Matthew McNulty), upbraiding Lorca (Javier Beltrán) for not being more of a modernist. And here's a "strategically placed copy of Freud" on somebody's desk. So which one's Dalí? Oh, there he is, a pale, effete lad, more stick insect than Catalan, pulling up to the doors of the Residencia in lace sleeves, knee-high boots and a poncy page-boy haircut. You can always spot those first-year art students a mile off, can't you?

If Lorca's the wound, Buñuel's the scab. And Dalí (Robert Pattinson) is trying so hard to be edgy and out there ("how do you feel about communal defecation?" he drunkenly demands of a society hostess), he loses sight of the fact he naturally is. The three consolidate their friendships, and as is often the way with trios, Buñuel pinballs between Lorca and Dalí, who have initially become far closer. How close? Well, let's just hope the queer-bashing Buñuel doesn't find out about it. Caramba! Too late.

Although Little Ashes concerns artists and the artistic impulse, it's not what you'd call an 'art movie', sharing more DNA with, say, Lust For Life than 1991's Van Gogh. At its best, it does a good job of showing how it feels to navigate that tricky passage between late adolescence and early-twenties.

But as a would-be penetrating expose, it's too polite, too compromised and stagey. Perhaps owing to its modest £1.4m budget, it looks - and sounds (everyone ees speekeeng like thees) like a teleplay, featuring stilted dialogue and heavy-handed symbolism, such as a scene of a heartbroken Lorca transposed with that of a slain bull in the ring.

In the reductive way of biopics, Lorca's a sap, Dalí's a brat, and Buñuel's a yob. Beltrán elegantly conveys the poet's raw sensitivity ("like an animal that's been skinned" as Dalí puts it), though can't quite pull off his celebrated magnetism; the film would rather he fulfill his role as passive victim. Love interest Robert Pattinson is perhaps not yet old enough to play the bug-eyed dandy with the upside-down moustache, an exemplar of John Updike's aphorism that "Fame is a mask that eats into the face". Yet his grasp of Dalí-esque tics and gestures suggest natural comic ability. He's wasted on those fantasy movies; he should play Buster Keaton.

For his part, Matthew McNulty is saddled with the sketchiest, and for dramatic reasons, least sympathetic role as the bullish homophobe. Anyone wishing to get a fuller picture of his Residencia days should be directed to his autobiography 'My Last Breath', in which he says of Lorca, "Of all the human beings I've ever known, Federico was the finest."

For the sake of argument, let us suppose an affair did occur, outside of Dalí's febrile imagination. However, by getting bogged down in a tease of a romance (this is a gay film for straights; nothing to scare the donkeys here), the drama sidesteps the prevailing politics - vital to a real appreciation of the artists' anti-establishment stance, and all but cruises past the Spanish Civil War. Lorca's arrest and murder by fascist firing squad is predictably soft-pedalled, with the camera discretely pulling away from the forensics of his notorious dispatch; finished off with a pistol in his anus ("two shots up the bum, because he was a poof" an assassin later confessed).

Ultimately, Little Ashes, a piece of commercial entertainment made on the other side of the twentieth century, lacks the courage of its case studies' convictions. This is most clearly illustrated by how far it's prepared to go in one direction, but not the other. In the movie's most hysterical scene, a self-loathing Lorca beds his unhappy fag-hag Margarita (Marina Gatell) as a substitute Dalí, while the distraught painter voyeuristically watches. Whether the incident has any basis in reality or not, it's integral to the dramatic arc, and extremely graphic - nudging hardcore. Yet to portray this, in such prurient detail, but not its homosexual flipside - the poet attempting and failing to penetrate the painter (whether it happened or not), seems cowardly, and indicative of that bourgeois morality the film's subjects were doing their damndest to smash through.
Verdict
Too discreet, too charming and too bourgeois.

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Roger Ebert Review:"..Pattinson shows an admirable willingness to take on a challenging role."

He give 3 stars

by Roger Ebert

It was a ripe time to live at the Students' Residence in Madrid and study at the School of Fine Arts. When he arrived from Catalonia in 1922, Salvador Dali met the future poet Federico Garcia Lorca and future filmmaker Luis Bunuel. Dali was a case study, dressed as a British dandy of the previous century, with a feminine appearance. No doubt he was a gifted painter. He was to become a rather loathsome man.

"Little Ashes" focuses on an unconsummated attraction between Dali (Robert Pattinson) and Garcia Lorca (Javier Beltran), who in the flower of youthful idealism and with the awakening of the flesh, began to confuse sexuality with artistry. Not much is really known about their romance, such as it was, but in the conservative Catholic nation of the time, and given Dali's extreme terror of syphilis, it seems to have been passionate but platonic.

It found release in their roles in the developing Surrealist movement, in which church, state, ideology, landowners, parents, authorities, laws all were mocked by deliberately outlandish behavior. In 1929, Dali wrote and Bunuel directed probably the most famous of all Surrealist works, the film "Un Chien Andalou" ("The Andalusian Dog"), with its notorious images of a cloud slicing through the moon and a knife slicing through a woman's eyeball. In a time before computer imagery, it was a real eyeball (belonging to a pig, not a woman, but small comfort to the pig).


By 1936, Garcia Lorca was dead, murdered by Spanish fascists. The story is told in the film "The Disappearance of Garcia Lorca" (1997). Bunuel fled Spain to Mexico, then later returned as one of the world's greatest filmmakers. Dali betrayed his early talent, embraced fascism, Nazism and communism, returned repentant to the church, and become an odious caricature of an artist, obsessed by cash. "Each morning when I awake," he said, "I experience again a supreme pleasure -- that of being Salvador Dali." Yes, but for a time, he was a superb painter.

"Little Ashes" is a film that shows these personalities being formed. Because most audiences may not know much about Dali, Garcia Lorca and Bunuel, it depends for its box-office appeal on the starring role of Robert Pattinson, the 23-year-old British star of "Twilight" (which was shot after this film). He is the heartthrob of the teenage vampire fans of "Twilight," but here shows an admirable willingness to take on a challenging role in direct contrast to the famous Edward Cullen. Is it too much to hope that "Twilight" fans will be drawn to the work of Garcia Lorca and Bunuel? They'd be on the fast track to cultural literacy.

Biopics about the youth of famous men are often overshadowed by their fame to come. "The Motorcycle Diaries," for example, depended for much of its appeal on our knowledge that its young doctor hero would someday become Che Guevara. "Little Ashes" is interested in the young men for themselves.


Salvador Dali.

(Enlarge Image)
It shows unformed young men starting from similar places, but taking different roads because of their characters. Garcia Lorca, who is honest with himself about his love for another man, finds real love eventually with a woman, his classmate Margarita (Marina Gatell). Dali, who presents almost as a transvestite, denies all feelings, and like many puritans, ends as a voluptuary. Bunuel, the most gifted of all, ends as all good film directors do, consumed by his work. I am fond of his practical approach to matters. Warned that angry mobs might storm the screen at the Paris premiere of "Un Chien Andalou," he filled his pockets with stones to throw at them.

"Little Ashes" is absorbing but not compelling. Most of its action is inward. The more we know about the three men the better. Although the eyeball-slicing is shown in the film, many audiences may have no idea what it is doing there. Perhaps Dali's gradual slinking away from his ideals, his early embrace of celebrity, his preference for self-publicity over actual achievement, makes better sense when we begin with his shyness and naivete; is he indeed entirely aware that his hair and dress are those of a girl, or has he been coddled in this way by a strict, protective mother who is hostile to male sexuality?

Whatever the case, two things stand out: He has the courage to present himself in quasi-drag, and the other students at the Students' Residence, inspired by the fever in the air, accept him as "making a statement" he might not have been fully aware of.

I have long believed that one minute of wondering if you are about to be kissed is more erotic than an hour of kissing. Although a few gay Web sites complain "Little Ashes" doesn't deliver the goods, I find it far more intriguing to find how repressed sexuality express itself, because the bolder sort comes out in the usual ways and reduces mystery to bodily fluids. Orgasms are at their best when still making big promises, don't you find?

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Pattinson looks startlingly like Dali even before he starts to grow the artist's trademark upside-down mustache.

It's not too hard to see why Robert Pattinson was chosen — months 
 before he put the gleam in 20 million Twilight fans' eyes — to play the young Salvador Dalí in Little Ashes. With his hair slicked back in elegant '20s style, and those giant, saucerish orbs popping out of their sockets in mock amazement, Pattinson looks startlingly like Dali even before he starts to grow the artist's trademark upside-down mustache. The actor makes a great entrance, emerging from a car in ruffles, a Louise Brooks haircut, and a high theatrical pout, all to greet — or, more accurately, to ignore — his fellow students at a 
 university in Madrid. But don't get your hopes up: This androgynous exhibitionist turns out to be the most wilting of wallflowers on the inside.

Little Ashes tells the tale, largely speculative, of Dali's student romance with the budding leftist poet Federico Garcia Lorca (Javier Beltran), and the movie has the dubious distinction of using their moony homoerotic love affair didactically, as a way to trash Dali the artist. The relationship, which climaxes with a midnight swim that looks like an outtake from an 
 Esther Williams water ballet, is supposed to express the "real" Dali. Whereas the raging, antibourgeois, satirically mad surrealist he becomes is treated as a fraud — a cover-up 
 for his tender self. Even if you buy that (and I didn't — I love Dali's visionary vulgarity too much), Pattinson and Beltran are stuck with a rudderless script, and they make a soft, dull pair. I wish the film had more of Matthew McNulty's firebrand performance 
 as Luis Buñuel, whose collaboration with Dali on the revolutionary short film Un Chien Andalou comes off here as an arty caprice that interrupted the cause of true love. I can't imagine what Dali or Buñuel would have made of such bourgeois sentimentality.

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.."Pattinson captures the initial shyness and growing flamboyance of Dali"

"Little Ashes"
Bottom Line: Handsome but meandering look at Spain's unholy artistic trio.
It can be fun to watch well-known historical figures spinning around in a piece of fiction. An ambitious new U.K.-Spain production, "Little Ashes," scrutinizes some of the most intriguing figures in 20th century art: surrealist painter Salvador Dali (Robert Pattinson), master filmmaker Luis Bunuel (Matthew McNulty) and poet and playwright Federico Garcia Lorca (Javier Beltran). Lorca is probably less well known than the other two, but he is the central character in director Paul Morrison's romantic drama, which revolves around the friendship of the three Spanish masters, who met in Madrid in the early 1920s.

"Ashes" makes no claims to be an entirely accurate biopic; it's a speculative, impressionistic portrait without a lot of dramatic force or psychological depth. But it's an elegantly designed film that fascinates as often as it frustrates. Boxoffice prospects seem limited, despite the following that Pattinson has developed since mesmerizing young girls in "Twilight." That teenage audience is unlikely to turn out for a film about Spanish artistic history, and the film isn't quite compelling enough to demand attention from discerning adult viewers.

Once it gets past a tedious introductory section in which new student Dali arrives at university, the film zeroes in on the intense homoerotic flirtation between Dali and Lorca. Since there isn't a lot of documentation about this affair, the script by Philippa Goslett is maddeningly murky, though Pattinson and Beltran strike some sensual sparks. Although Lorca is known to have been gay, Dali's sexuality is more ambiguous (he was married for decades), and the film implies that he essentially was asexual, thus able to serve as a magnet for men and women. The film also hints that Bunuel, who is jealous of the friendship between Dali and Lorca, might have been something of a closet case himself. As he hurls homophobic slurs at his classmates, he seems to be wrestling with demons of his own, which never are made entirely clear.

Anyone who looks to the film for a lucid analysis of these three seminal artists will be disappointed. Yet the film is often enjoyable to watch, partly because it is so beautifully shot by cinematographer Adam Suschitzky, who takes advantage of the rich settings, including Dali's home in the seaside town of Cadaques and Lorca's in the pastoral environs of Andalusia.

Pattinson captures the initial shyness and growing flamboyance of Dali, and Beltran makes a handsome foil. Although the female characters aren't as well drawn, Marina Gatell as a writer in love with Lorca and Arly Jover as Dali's brazen wife, Gala, bring the right sassiness to their roles. All of the technical credits are outstanding; it's the diffuse script that disappoints.

Opens: Friday, May 8 (Regent Releasing)
Cast: Javier Beltran, Robert Pattinson, Matthew McNulty, Marina Gatell, Arly Jover
Director: Paul Morrison
Screenwriter: Philippa Goslett
Producers: Carlo Dusi, Jonny Persey, Jaume Vilalta
Executive producers: Stephen P. Jarchow, Paul Colichman, Debra Stasson, Luke Montagu
Director of photography: Adam Suschitzky
Production designer: Pere Francesch
Music: Miguel Mera
Costume designer: Antonio Belart
Editor: Rachel Tunnard
Rated R, 112 minutes

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Robert Pattinson as Dali: the truth is that it’s a surprisingly good portrayal of the artist

Many critics will no doubt rip apart Robert Pattinson’s performance as Salvador Dali in Little Ashes this weekend, but the truth is that it’s a surprisingly good portrayal of the artist. That is to say that given our expectations, combined with Pattinson’s own celebrity, added to the fact that anyone would look ridiculous sporting Dali’s signature mustache (even Dali), the Twilight actor does as well in the role as is possible. Is the performance Oscar-worthy? Certainly not, but it is deserving of some level of praise.

Pattinson’s Dali follows a long tradition of surprisingly good portrayals of iconic figures. Movie stars are constantly cast as famous persons they barely resemble, and often it’s difficult to shake off our identification with the player in order to accept him/her as the depicted individual. Some of these performances are better than others, and most have been honored by the Academy, but each actor and actress listed below either initially seemed like a wrong choice for the respective part or he/she was at least understood to be taking on a difficult task in attempting to portray such a familiar personality.

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Review: As Dalí in Little Ashes, Pattinson Is Depp-Lite

They Gave it a C

Review in a Hurry: Vampiric hottie Robert Pattinson trades bloodlust for boylust, playing bi-curious surrealist Salvador Dalí, who has a romance with revolutionary author García Lorca. Sounds smokin', right? It should've been. But soggy plotting and Pattinson's tepid turn keep Ashes from catching fire.

The Bigger Picture: This Madrid-set period piece would appear a major departure for Twilight star Pattinson (though Ashes was shot prior). But once again, he's a beautiful, brilliant, brooding loner who succumbs to forbidden love, with homosexuality subbing for undead-mortal coupling as taboo. And once again, that repression leads to countless scenes of long, mooning stares. It's the teen-romance version of the Spanish modern-art world.

When 18-year-old Dalí arrives at university, his bizarre blend of shyness, arrogance and talent attracts the attention of two of the school's social elite, Frederico García Lorca (Javier Beltrán) and future filmmaker Luis Buñuel (Matthew McNulty). Lorca finds himself sexually drawn to the quirky newbie, and during a seaside vacay, their friendship evolves into the Love That Dare Not Speak Its Name in a Catholicism-dominated society.

On cue, a soulful Spanish guitar strums as they stroll on the beach and frolic in the moonlit tides. No raw Brokeback sensuality here—or chemistry.

Freaked out by his feelings, Dalí flees to Paris and finds success as a painter, while Lorca struggles to accept his sexuality and carry on with life. The film fares better when focusing on Lorca, whom Beltrán imbues with passion and charisma. Pattinson, though pretty in puffy shirts and cream linen suits, throws everything at the canvas (expect scenes of sobbing and smearing himself with paint) but fails to create a cohesive portrait of the man behind the eccentricities and funny moustache. Paging Johnny Depp...

A drably scripted indie with Merchant-Ivory aspirations (see its gay-themed Maurice instead), scattered Ashes can't rise above the tortured-artist and tortured-closet-case clichés, and despite all its big themes and chatter about art and religion and revolution and death, ends up saying very little.

The 180—a Second Opinion: Perhaps Pattinson's popularity will inspire a new audience to check out the works of Dalí, Lorca and Buñuel. Un Chien Andalou will blow their minds!

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Hollywood.com Little Ashes Review

Hollywood.com Says
This uninspired art-house biopic showcases 'Twilight' heartthrob Robert Pattinson’s impressive acting range, but his die-hard teenage fans may be shocked at what they see.


WHAT IT’S ABOUT?

Set against the background of 1920s Spain, where repression and political upheaval enveloped a nation on the verge of civil war, Little Ashes focuses on the emergence of three young artists, Salvador Dali, Luis Bunuel and Federico Garcia Lorca. When Dali arrives fresh-faced at the University at the age of 18, Bunuel and Lorca welcome him into their decadent group, and the trio become fast friends. Their budding friendship is soon threatened, however, when Dali and Lorca develop a special bond in which their sexual and artistic explorations collide with personal ambition, love of country and their own passion for each other.

WHO’S IN IT?

In a performance shot before Twilight made him an international star that women swoon over, Robert Pattinson may surprise fans with his spot-on portrayal of the sexually confused, over-the-top artist Salvador Dali. With his signature handlebar mustache and a serviceable Spanish accent, Pattinson captures the essence of the young Dali, convincing in his depiction of the artistic tirades, bisexual encounters and egotistical conceit that informed the great painter’s early years. As the object of Dali’s early affections, newcomer Javier Beltran is intriguing as the fatalistic and seductive playwright and poet Federico Garcia Lorca, while Matthew McNulty is quite fine as Bunuel, who himself would go on to become one of Spain’s - and the world’s - most important film directors. As Magdalena and Gala, the women who try to tame these artists, Marina Gatell and Arly Jover are beautiful and effective even though their roles are really sideshows to the film’s true focus and intentions.

WHAT’S GOOD?

Despite the low budget, Madrid in the '20s is nicely suggested and meticulously recreated. Director Paul Morrison has a nice feel for the period and a good eye for casting these tricky roles.

WHAT’S BAD?

The film tries to bite off more than it can chew, covering too much of the era and coming off as a mere overview of these times and key relationships. The idea of seeing the artists as young men is good but not enough time is taken to really show what they are made of. The artistic fire and sexual freedom that must have been prevalent then is glossed over and not totally convincing. This probably would have worked better as a TV mini-series.

BUT SHOULD TWILIGHT FANS LINE UP?

As his first film post-Twilight, it won’t matter. Robert Pattinson may be de-fanged here, but this independent art-house item won’t be around long enough to become a blip on his new fandom’s radar.

NETFLIX OR MULTIPLEX?

This small flick probably won’t find its way to the local mall. Considering the hard “R” nature of the material, Pattinson’s adoring young flock will probably have to wait to see it on DVD anyway.

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NY Press Reviews Little Ashes

New York Press reviews Little Ashes, this is like one of a few positive things:

Robert Pattinson braves Dalí’s eccentricity and grows with it

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Memoirs/Remember Me Script and Review

Memoirs/Remember Me Script and Review

Warning : There is spoilers, do not read if you dont want to get spoiled


Memoirs (Remember Me)

Genre: Drama Premise: Two college students who’ve experienced recent loss fall in love and heal their fractured families.

About: Landing on last year's Black List with 6 votes, this was just recently picked up by Summit. Also Rob Pattinson of Twilight fame is attached (for context's sake, I knew none of this while reading the script)

Writer: Will Fetters Memoirs is a strange little script that was pushed on me by one of our readers. She kept saying "You gotta read Memoirs. You gotta read Memoirs." I looked at the 50 or scripts I wanted to read *before* Memoirs and said, "There's no way this is happening." Of course I didn't tell her that.

Well after a long day of reading 4 scripts - yes 4 - I was about to go to sleep when I said, "You know what? I still got something in me. Why not?" (sadly, I really did say this out loud) So I grabbed Memoirs and started reading. After 10 pages, something familiar started creeping over me. I felt like I had read this script before. And it was because I *had* read this script before! I had given it a shot six months ago and absolutely hated it. I never made it past page 20.

It's about a guy Tyler (I envisioned him as a sort of Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting type) who pretty much leads a miserable existence. He's depressed about the world. His father doesn't have time for him. He's got a step-father he doesn't get along with. He's got an 11 year old sister with no friends. His older brother died at the World Trade Center. About the only thing he's got going for him is his friend AIDAN, who is so over-the-top, you feel he's written that way just to compensate for the fact that everybody else is so damn depressing. He's still pretty funny though.

Here's their first scene together, after Tyler wakes up with some random girl...

AIDAN

I sold your girlfriend a toothbrush.

TYLER

You sold my who? ...What?

AIDAN

That voluptuous, delightfully oblivious little blondie you left in your bed this morning... I sold her a toothbrush. Got three bucks.

TYLER

...Congratulations?

AIDAN

Are in order, yes. Because that sale inspired our newest business venture - "The SLUT"

Tyler stares blankly.

AIDAN

The 'Single Lady's Universal Tote'

Tyler stares blankly.

AIDAN

It's the one-night-stand travel pack for women. We throw in some make-up, toiletries, cell phone charger, cab numbers. Retail it at S19.95, maybe do an informercial.

TYLER

And you think women would buy this? With money?

AIDAN

Hey one-night-stands happen... It's a part of life... like stubbing your toe. Sometimes you misjudge a corner and bend back your pinky toe, other times you wake up in a freshman dorm wearing a field hockey tee shirt wondering why your balls smell like cinnamon...

Tyler gives him a peculiar look.

AIDAN

And that's completely hypothetical.

(quickly moving on)

Don't underestimate the novelty gift market. Think about it...instead of giving that token slutty friend a ten-inch black dildo for her birthday, you hook her up with "The SLUT." Everyone has a laugh and the implication that she'll probably use it someday remains. What do you say? Are you in?

TYLER

You need help.

Tyler finishes his cigarette.

AIDAN

OK... fine... be cynical... just remember at some point in history two people had a conversation just like this about the light bulb. One of them went on to fame and fortune and the other one probably went to work at Denny's or something.

TYLER

(smiles)

I'm pretty sure they didn't have Denny's in the 19th century.
A funny scene and yet I had no idea what to think because up until this point, there wasn't a single laugh in the script. Did I miss something? When did this turn into Swingers?

Anyway, Tyler and Aidan get into a late night scuffle with some street thugs that results in a police officer pulling a Rodney King and giving Tyler the beat down. Aidan insists he sue but another opportunity presents itself when Aidan finds out that the officer's daughter, ALLY, attends their college. Aidan insists that fucking over the daughter is the perfect way to get back at the officer.

Tyler's reluctant at first but eventually makes his move. The two begin a relationship and start to fall for each other - the conflict of course being that sooner or later Tyler will have to meet Ally's father and the truth will come out. Although the relationship feels manufactured at first, it eventually finds its rhythm, and you have yourself a cute little story about two people falling for each other despite their respective fucked-up-ness. It's not bad but what bothered me is the misstep it made before the relationship even started.

One thing I don't like is when an important decision is made by someone other than the main character. In this case, Aidan pushes Tyler to date Ally to fuck over the officer. Tyler reluctantly agrees and, of course, later falls for Ally. When the difficult decision comes on how to tell Ally that he knew her father from before, it doesn't have nearly the punch it would've had had Tyler been 100% responsible for starting their relationship. This way it's wishy-washy.

The spot he's in is kinda his fault but kinda not. You never want this. Always have your protagonist driving the story. It makes him stronger and it makes the story stronger. Now up to this point I was thinking, "Why did she want me to read this script so bad? It's just a basic love story." There was nothing about the script that stood out. And then............the ending came.

I am a SUCKER for a good ending. I loved The Sixth Sense. I loved The Others. I love anything that makes me rethink the movie I just saw. For its ending alone, Memoirs gets bumped from a "worth the read" to an "impressive". Even though I'm telling you it's coming, you won't figure it out. Trust me. So don't even try. I'm not even sure it completely fits with the story.

But it's so shocking that you can't help but..........well, run out and tell someone about it. Someone told me. Now I'm telling you. Check out Memoirs. It very well may shock you. :) edit: Lest I mislead you, this script has nothing to do with ghosts. [ ] trash [ ] barely kept my interest [ ] worth the read [x] impressive [ ] genius

What I learned from Memoirs: I said it right at the end of the review. The ending of this script bumped it up from something I probably never would've mentioned to anybody, to something I'm now reviewing on my site and would encourage you to check out. Twist endings are tricky and they're hard to pull off.

But if you have a script idea with a good one, write it, because there's nothing quite like a reader finishing a script and going, "Holy shit." They absolutely have to tell someone. Now! Here's a real-world example for you. The reader who suggested this to me would not leave me alone about it. Talk about the ultimate marketing tool.

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First Glance Film Festival Reviews How To Be

When you are playing the role of a depressed lonesome and confused character in a dark Indie comedy, as an actor you should strive to be as realistically as lost as Luke Wilson in The Royal Tennabaums , Kieran Caulkin in Igby Goes Down and Paul Dano in Little Miss Sunshine. Robert Pattinson succeeded in this competition in playing the role of Arthur (nickname - Art) in the film How To Be.

How To Be is a film about finding yourself, tackling the things that make you different, developing a comfort zone and believing that you are not crazy for wanting attention and happiness in places where you feel it is absent. The movie follows the life of Arthur (Pattinson) who struggles for self-esteem after loosing his girlfriend, gets fired at his job as a volunteer and is constantly put down by his parents. In effort to get on a road to recovery, Arthur purchases a book by a Canadian author Dr. Levi Ellington. Arthur sends a letter with a check enclosed to Dr. Levi Ellington seeking his help and attention. Dr. Levi Ellington comes to meet Arthur and moves into his parents house with him, in order to find the route of Arthur's problems. The relationship between Arthur and Dr. Levi becomes rather awkard, as Dr. Levi takes on the role of Arthur's life coach, giving him the supposed steps one needs to take to be productive in finding happiness.

They say misery loves company, so it is no wonder that Arthur (Pattinson) finds comfort in his friend and bandmate Ronny - a nitrous addict, Daddy's boy, hypochondriac who never leaves his flat. Just like Arthur, Ronny has some instabilities in his life that he too needs to conquer. Ronny offers the most hilarious (lol) words of wisdom, while high on nitrous he explains to Arthur that therapy is an invention therefor it does not exist. Ronny is played by the actor Johnny White who will certainly get recognized now that he has played an incredible supporting role alongside Robert Pattinson.

Arthur's other friend and bandmate named Nikki believes he has the key to Arthur's happiness, so he takes Arthur out for the day to help him obtain whatever it is he was looking for. Nikki's character in How To Be reminded me a lot of Simon in the movie GO. Arthur was not easily impressed by the strippers or the drug habbits of Nikki, but Arthur still took a liking to his presence.


Arthur, Ronny and Nikki built a co-dependant relationship on one another to find a positive outlet in which they could make music and succeed in each discovering happiness. How To Be is not really a movie about friendship or bros, but the movie depicts how the roles people play in your life inherently effect your own personal being. The music in the film was not exactly amazing listening music, but it was well composed with each scene, as it largely contributed to the viewers connection with the plot. The movie opens up with Arthur performing a song called 'Choking On Dust' - sort of sounding like a song Phoebe would sing in Friends. The film closes with a grand finale performance called 'Doin' Fine' - which by the name of the song you can tell is a little more positive and happy-ever-after like.

Twilighters will go crazy over one of the closing scenes when Arthur stares himself in the mirror backstage encouraging himself to put on an awesome performance with his band. Arthur raises his eyebrows, blows into his harmonica and tells himself "he deserves this just as much as anyone else does".

Although Robert Pattinson is certainly no heart throbbing vampire in How To Be, putting looks aside he put on an excellent performance as Arthur the pathologically, ever-so-eager to be depressed, awkard singer/songwritter whom just wanted a little more in life then he was experiencing.

Check out this gallery of Robert Pattinson from the film How To Be. If the First Glance Film Festival is not coming through your hometown, then figure out how you are going to get to see How To Be, because it is certainly worth it.

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TotalFilm.com Little Ashes Review

TotalFilm.com Reviewed Little Ashes and was rated 3 stars.

Were it not for a certain heartthrob du jour appearing in this sultry biopic of Salvador Dalí’s student days, Little Ashes might have passed quietly under the radar.

But since wrapping on this, leading man Robert Pattinson has become global teen catnip thanks to Twilight, so the crafty release date delay should ensure a built-in audience of quivering schoolgirls looking for their ‘R-Pattz’ fix.

They’ll be in for a shock. There’s no dreamy neck-nibbling to be had here – just good honest arthouse gay sex, masturbation and nudity.

Taking memories from Dalí’s contradicting autobiographies and set against the rise of Fascism, Philippa Goslett’s screenplay weaves an intriguing tale of lust, ambition and liberalism as Dalí (Pattinson) metamorphasises from shy dandy arriving at art school in ’20s Madrid to his bonkers bug-eyed persona – via an infatuation with fellow student, writer Federico Lorca (Javier Beltrán).

Pattinson proves his range exceeds looking sexy with fangs as he throws himself into the role with credible Spanish accent, pube-flashing and maniacal paint-splattering.

Though he’s confessed to being uneasy acting his gay love scenes, he’s convincing in (relatively tame) mano-a-mano clinches; and by the time he’s poncing about Paris in the trademark Dalí moustache he’s deliciously repellent and narcissistic – a nation of teenagers will weep.

What’s more, Pattinson is easily matched by newcomer Beltrán whose quiet, nuanced performance provides the smouldering heart of the pair’s bromance. But as with most artist bios, the unique genius of Dalí is a tricky beast to translate to screen, leaving director Paul Morrison (Wondrous Oblivion) to essentially paint a gorgeous mood piece with stunning images of the artist’s hometown, beautifully shot interpretations of Lorca’s poetry and smoky evocations of Europe’s pre-war avant-garde scene. Muy bonita!

Jane Crowther

Verdict:

Leaving questions dangling, this isn’t the definitive take on Dalí art-lovers may crave. Still, shot on a shoestring, it’s nevertheless a lush, involving period drama that proves there are other strings to Pattinson’s bow.