• The initial shot of the Summit logo has the early Eclipse treatment ghosted in the background with the Eclipse breaking over the mountain top.

• Mark .19 Is that a shiny engagement ring we see on Bella’s finger, or did Edward’s sparkles rub off?

• Mark .25 Enter the four Volturi: Demetri, Alec, Jane, Felix. Here’s to more lines from all of them!

• Mark.29 Kristen’s “hide the mullet” wig looks pretty good here.

• Mark .32 Is that a Quileuete tribal design Edward is clutching, or is it a graphic of a vampire found back when Bella looked up vampire myths in Twilight.

• Mark .35 The Target purple comforter is back. If Target would actually still sell that in wider distribution, they’d make a mint!

• Mark .40 Welcome back Sarah Clarke as Renee!

• Mark 1.01 Could this be the site of the battle with the newborns?

• Mark 1.09 Why hello there Bryce Dallas Howard looking fierce and catlike.

• Mark 1.20 Is that the same location as 1.01. the geographic features seem right.

There are certain actors that I’ll go and see a movie that they are in because I’m that much of a fan. Remember Me didn’t draw me in on actor love, despite the fact that I’ve been drooling of Pierce Brosnan since I was 14 and saw the Manions of America. I mean I’m fine with Robert Pattinson being Edward Cullen, but I wouldn’t consider myself a Rob fangirl. I haven’t seen Little Ashes or How To Be. I didn’t get the fuss when he was in Harry Potter, and to a large extent I don’t relate to the fuss now. I’m not really a squee and giggle kind of girl, I think I skipped that stage at age 12. I was interested in Remember Me based on the trailer that ran in front of New Moon. Honestly, I wasn’t that interested before I saw that trailer, but the character relationships I saw in the Remember Me trailer got me interested.

I went into the movie knowing nothing other than the clips that all of you have seen. Without giving away the plot, the movie opens in spring 1991 and then after a scene that sets the backstory for Emilie De Ravin’s character, is a transition and the words “10 years later”. Now this is the first of several markers that make you keenly aware that the story is set in 2001 in New York City.

As a New Yorker, I was impressed how much this film lived and breathed New York. Hollywood frequently gets the city wrong with anachronisms like people heading uptown on 5th Avenue, or Monica’s apartment in Friends is gargantuan in size. There was such an attention to detail, the hanging’s on the walls of Tyler’s (Rob’s) apartment and in Ally’s (Emilie’s) house. The fact that Ally’s mother was a nurse who married a cop is so New York. That Tyler is drinking coffee out of a blue cup with the Grecian figures on it is so New York. The fact that they are eating Bialys is so New York! They haven’t white washed the city. They showed it off at it’s unrefined best from the Queens suburbs ( Fresh Meadows, Whitestone, or Elmhurst area I think), to yuppie Brooklyn, and then to the grimy student apartment in The Village by NYU. Bingo, it’s authentic New York. It’s not Woody Allen and Martin Scorsese New York, but another angle truly captured. This adds a level of plausibility and reality to the story.

The movie itself is old-fashioned, character driven storytelling, and that’s a good thing.  What’s really nice is that each actor has added beyond the cliche of who they could have played. Robert Pattinson has noted that there is a bit of the James Dean Rebel Without a Cause and the Catcher in the Rye’s Holden Caufield in his portrayal of Tyler, but it has a depth and variety that goes beyond disaffected youth and angry young man. The same is true with newcomer Tate Ellington. he plays the likable yet unlikeable best friend. You don’t know if you want to hug him or smack him.

Chemistry makes every movie. You have a love story without chemistry and it’s all over.  The media has made a lot about the relationship between Rob Pattinson and Emilie DeRavin’s characters. I assure you, it does sizzle.  However, there’s another love story in the movie that to me was more compelling. It’s the story of the relationship between Tyler and is little sister, Caroline,  played by Ruby Jerins of Nurse Jackie fame.  By far it’s the strongest bond between two people in the movie. Three scenes in and you are absolutely convinced that Tyler would walk through fire to help his little sister. The scenes involving Caroline and Tyler story arc are among the best including a confrontation scene with their father played by Pierce Brosnan that’s been seen briefly on the trailer.  Tyler asks his father ‘Why aren’t you riveted?” Believe me, at that point the entire audience is riveted.

Now for the timing. As I said, you realize within the first five minutes of the movie that it is set in New York City in 2001.  You are constantly reminded of the year in so many ways, such as movies that the characters are seeing and discussion of Roger Clemmens playing for the Yankees. So when the family takes a trip Labor Day weekend to the Hamptons and comes back on the Long Island Rail Road on the Monday,  you mentally begin your eight day countdown.  When the story got to that following Tuesday and with that postcard perfect bright blue sky, I was fidgety with a lump in my stomach. By the time a key character was standing in front of the big red Marine Midland Bank cube looking across the street I was clutching the arms of my chair and clawing at the wood.

For many reasons I have purposefully never seen a film made about 9/11. It took me over a year after 9/11 before I couldn’t go anywhere near Ground Zero. Where the action then leads and how the character’s lives are then affected I won’t spoil. I will say this, I had I seen airplanes crashing, people running in terror down staircases, or making that last phone call  I would have vaulted over my seat probably still clutching the armrest where I would have beat someone senseless in the lobby with it.

I once I realized I wasn’t going to see anything gratuitously graphic and my blood pressure came down I was OK with how the movie came to it’s conclusion. It would have been easy to do a myriad of cliches, but the movie doesn’t go there. It goes for subtle and suggestive and that makes it real. It’s not a showy ending—but it’s the right ending, because life goes on.

First from IESB:

Q: What was it like for you guys to get into playing Joan Jett and Cherie Currie? Kristen, you and Joan seem to have a similar energy, but Dakota, you seem so different from Cherie Currie. How was it to portray these women?

Dakota: I think it’s a huge departure from other roles that I’ve played, and me, in real life. It’s obviously very different from things that I’ve done before, and it will be different for people to see, but I like that. I like surprising people with different things that I can do. That’s what I love to do. And, I hope to do more roles like this, in the future.

Kristen: Me and Joan really do understand each other, and that’s a rare thing. Connection is not something that’s common, or easy to describe. But, I really actually think that we both have a lot of idiosyncracies and ticks that are really different. I don’t have her little things that she does. And, I also think that, especially based on when I did this movie and how much time I had to think about doing the movie before I went to go make it, I’ve done a lot of press within that time and I was sort of wearing her. People projected that onto me, a little bit. I really do feel like it was an easy thing to step into, and it wasn’t a huge departure, but I do feel a little bit like I was just in that head space and projected that a little bit.” Read more here.

Next From Hit Fix:

Q: Can you talk about your own musical tastes?  And what you learned about rock n’ roll attitude from Cherie and Joan?

Stewart: Ah, I think that I have a pretty varied taste in music I think.  And it is primarily rock music big umbrella that I am, I am not into hip-hop.  But, I do like both. This was a cool experience because there are a lot of bands that Joan is really influenced by like the Stones which she is obsessed with and just sort of obvious.  Like, she listens to Zeppelin and loses her mind. And I just abbreviated both of those bands and I sound like…(Laughs.)  Um, it was cool to get to know music that was just like a little bit harder or just a bit obscure.  I mean Suzi Quatro is not something that is a staple of our generation.  So, and in terms of being able to play Rock n’ Roll? I really, really love this movie because in many ways they were the first girl band which is crazy and people don’t know that too. And there’s an aggression and an assertiveness that comes through their music. And at the same time its so feminine.  It’s a distinct aggression.  It’s not a male. And I love that and that’s why the movie is cool or should be cool.

Q: Dakota, can you talk about your musical tastes and what you learned about rock ‘n’ roll?

Fanning: Well I think my musical tastes have definitely been broadened by this movie and I have really found that I can’t get out of listening to the Runaways and Joan, because it brings back the memories of the movie and I love it so much and it makes me happy.  (Laughs).  So, I listen to that a lot.  Before that? I love music, but I’m not a huge music person.  I don’t listen to a ton of music, but that’s definitely changed after doing this. And I really wanted to be a part of this to bring the Runaways to them before because I wasn’t aware of them before and I feel that’s a lot of people in our generation and I think that’s wrong. Read more here.

I was lucky enough to see Remember Me at a screening a few weeks ago. I have to say I didn’t go in with any expectations. I hadn’t even really explored what the movie was about except that Rob Pattinson was in it and that wasn’t necessarily my motivation for seeing the film. I was pleasantly surprised by the depth of the script. New York City was used as the backdrop but the usual iconic scenery wasn’t rammed down your throat. It was a nice change of pace. Allen Coulter clearly took care in presenting the city in a way that people who live there can respect and understand.

The opening scene of Remember Me was haunting and sets the tone for the rest of the film. Tyler (Rob Pattinson) and Ally (Emilie de Ravin) have both been touched by tragedy and each is dealing with it in their own way. Ally’s motto is to live everyday to fullest knowing things can change in an instant. Emilie de Ravin plays Ally with just enough balance of playfulness and shadowed past. Her interactions with Pattinson are genuine and the chemistry is fantastic.

In Remember Me, how each person deals with tragedy is essential to who they are. Tyler (Rob Pattinson) suffers a loss that causes him to lose his way. He becomes the self indulgent, poor little rich boy who hates his father. Pattinson plays the part to perfection. Tyler becomes a relatable character brought to life by the combination of strong script writing, intelligent directing, and the subtle pain Pattinson brings to the character.

The film is a beautiful story about finding one’s self in spite of what you have been through and knowing that things can change in an instant. The family dynamics, whether it be Ally’s dad (Chris Cooper)being driven to extremes because of his over protectiveness or Tyler’s dad (Pierce Brosnan) being cool and aloof, not knowing how to care for his children, the dynamics are all recognizable characteristics in the average family.

Now let’s get to the part everyone wants to know about, the end. Any story set in NYC in 2001 runs the risk of being too painful to watch. 9/11 is like an old wound still sensitive to the touch, any movie that includes the topic doesn’t always appeal to the masses. In this case however the subject matter is handled with extreme delicacy and respect to those who lived through the experience. It is not driving force of the story but an element that adds another layer.

Overall if you are looking for a film that showcases Rob Pattinson as a knock-off version of Edward Cullen this is not it. The film is so much more than just a vehicle for Rob. The family dynamics and lack of direction that Tyler has are all things that average people can relate to. This is a story about survival, about being the one that was left behind and how you choose to live your life after being touched by tragedy. There is a heart and soul to this film that isn’t in your typical drama and it is absolutely worth the watch.

One last note bring tissues!!

“The 10-second Eclipse teaser trailer preview would be released on Wednesday, March 10th at 6 AM PT/9 AM ET. This is still true. It will be distributed via satellite to major media outlets. As soon as it’s online, we’ll share it with you.

What’s new is this: Summit has confirmed that the entire Eclipse teaser trailer WILL be online Thursday, March 11th at 6 AM PT/9 AM ET. It too will be released via satellite, but should be online shortly after that time. The moment is on the internet, we’ll share it with you.”

Shout out to Andrew for being on the westcoast and being functional at 2;30 am eastern to write that up. We will be doing exactly what they are doing.

There is also the same trailer that will be guaranteed to appear in front of Remember Me in USA theaters.  When Remember Me debuts this weekend. It is not guaranteed (but possible) to run in front of the movie outside the USA. The French fans have contacted the French distributor and it seems to be the consensus that it will be there in France.

The Walmart version of the New Moon DVD has other footage.

We thinks that’s everything.