Playlist: New Moon

This is technically titled, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, and all marketing obnoxiousness aside, it's apt. New Moon isn't so much its own film as it is a segment of the larger story. That doesn't make it bad, but it does make it a bit of an unfulfilling viewing experience. From what I hear, it's also the weakest of the books, so this was not unexpected. Just a necessary step along the way.

As for Twilight on the macro level, I understand a lot of people have written it off as just another soap opera for teenage girls, a supernatural Romeo and Juliet. But--and this is important--that's what it is. And, taking it as such, the series works (at least so far). The first film was, wait for it, good. (Full disclosure: I may also be the only person who actually likes Kristen Stewart, so what do I know.)

But, bigger question: how does Twilight work as a vampire movie? Let's take a look at how it handles some classic vampire "rules":

Do they ignite/explode in the sunlight? No, they, er, sparkle. Ok, that's pretty lame, but it is an interesting twist in that they can't go out in the sun or else they will stand out as inhuman. Plus, really, exploding in sunlight makes no sense whatsoever.

Do they sleep in coffins? They don't sleep at all. Imagine all the movies they could watch.

Can they be killed by a stake through the heart? Decapitation and/or burning works a lot better. Their hearts don't actually work anymore, so we're talking flesh wound and a change of shirts.

Do they have to be invited in? No, again. But in Let the Right One In, they do (psst, read the title again) and they came up with a killer new consequence for trespassing.

There are more, but looking at it like this, most vampire "rules" are pretty dumb, or at least totally oblivious to the laws of physics. Then again, they are freakin vampires.