I liked Twilight. Wait, what?

Stupid still from Twilight

I've always considered myself a person with good taste when it comes to movies. That's why I was not excited to see Twilight. I have seen my sisters reading all 4 books and they looked stupid. A stupid love story about stupid vampires written for stupid tweens. Stupid. (Just look at the picture above....so stupid).

Well, this Thanksgiving break my family decided to go see it. Tiffany was in town, and I had a few days off from school, so I decided I could break away from law school (which pretty much controls my life) to see a movie. Twilight would not have been my first choice. Probably every other movie showing would have been my choice before Twilight. But I wanted to spend time with my family, so Tiffany and I went.

Surprising verdict: I liked it.

Reviews of Twilight seem to be strongly mediocre. It has a rating of 56 on Metacritic.com. However, it was interesting to see that one of the top reviews on Metacritic is from The New Yorker. You know, that elitist, snobbish, East Coastish magazine? Apparently they loved it. Other than that, most reviewers are panning it for its cheesy dialogue and poor visual effects. I would agree. But I still liked it.

"Why, Clay?," you might ask. Let me tell you why. Several reasons.

First, it is a creative story. Who would have thought there are "good" vampires who vow to never drink human blood?

Second, I thought it was visually stunning. I've always liked the Northwest coast, and this movie just reaffirmed that.

Third, the music was good...for the most part. I could do without Linkin Park et al, but I was pleasantly surprised to see Iron & Wine and Radiohead songs in the film.

Fourth, as I joked about with Tiffany, it was created by "one of us" (Stephenie Meyers, the author of the books, is a Mormon...it's always nice to see Mormons doing cool things).

Fifth, it is both a chick flick (which I normally hate...but Tiffany loves) and a nerdy sci-fi-type filme (which Tiffany normally hates...but I love), so it works out perfect.

So if you haven't seen it yet, give it a shot. You might be surprised.