Or perhaps that should be "to glow in the moonlight." The protagonist is, after all, a human in love with a vampire. For those of you not familiar with the series, Twilight will follow in the footsteps of the Harry Potter and Chronicles of Narnia franchises in attempting to turn a bestselling young adult fantasy series into a multimillion-dollar cinematic spectacle. Kristen Stewart will star as Bella Swan, one half of the starstruck lovers.

She's done some growing up since playing Jodie Foster's daughter in Panic Room.

I've never read the Twilight series, which is a recent phenomenon (the first book came out in 2005), but here's the premise, according to MTV.com. Teenage girl Bella falls for what she thinks is a normal boy, but finds herself in an abnormal situation: The object of her affections is a vampire. But not just any vampire, according to Stewart:

“He's so good and he's so soulful and he's just not a liar — you can feel pain from him. The cool thing about the story is that it's a seemingly wonderful fantasy — let's fall in love with vampires and live forever — but it's so much harder than that. Imagine living forever. Living one life is hard enough.”

If you were paying attention to TV in the 1990s, you've got to be thinking the same thing I am. Is the author of this series paying royalties to Joss Whedon? … continue reading

For a movie about a man against nature, Into the Wild features some good female roles. Well, maybe I mean good actresses — I don't know if the roles would be so memorable in other hands. [Warning: Minor spoilers.]

I'll go in order from worst to best — though "worst" in this case is the always capable Jena Malone, and thus not bad at all. She plays Carine, the sister of Alex, the young man who goes out into the wild. Carine is an observer and interpreter, standing sentry over her broken family in her brother's absence. Malone's voice also provides much of the film's narration — something I could have done without. The role doesn't give Malone a lot to do, but she is still very watchable. Her presence is both vulnerable and strong, and she seems to be making a successful career of that sort of thing.

Even more compelling is Marcia Gay Harden as Alex's mother. With her suburban hair and hyperawareness of what the neighbors think, she is utterly conventional and could have been two-dimensional. But Harden can do so much with a glance or a gasp, and conveys everything from despair to defiance with her body language. She has only a handful of lines in the film, but somehow says more about loss and regret than anyone should have cause to say. … continue reading

What ever happened to Mary Stuart Masterson? I first adored her when she donned those fingerless gloves in Some Kind of Wonderful (all the better to spin those drumsticks with). I know Watts supposedly wanted Keith (Eric Stoltz) in that film, but I still can't believe she didn't end up with Amanda (Lea Thompson).

And then I couldn't help but swoon when she courted Mary-Louise Parker in Fried Green Tomatoes. Such a bee charmer. … continue reading