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About The amplifier. (West Linn, Oregon) 1921-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 2009)
2009 "New Moon" pleases crowd, tops box office J ulsa V an W inkle Beginning with a disastrous eighteenth birthday and a breakup between the main characters, "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" starts off in an exciting way. Bella Swan, played by Kristin Stewart, wants to be with Edward Cullen, Robert Pattinson, forever. When he leaves, she spirals in to an uncontrolled depression. Bella soon realizes that in dangerous situations she can see hallucinations of Edward. She then turns to potentially risky activities just to see him. In "New Moon", Jacob Black, played by Taylor Lautner, takes on a more considerable role. After Edward's departure, Jacob helps bring Bella up from her depression and they form a strong friendship. Soon Bella and Jacob realize that the friendship is not as simple as they thought. Jacob is destined to join the wolf pack that protects humans from vampires. When angry, he has a tendency to turn into an enormous wolf. As the sequel to the very successful "Twilight," this movie was not a disappointment. New director for the series, Chris Weitz, did a better job than Catherine Hardwicke, the director of "Twilight." The second movie in the Twilight saga surpassed the first in many ways. The dialogue was not as awkward, the acting was improved and more humor was added. However, improvements on the Twilight saga movies are still needed. Some scenes in "New Moon" that were meant to be serious stirred up laughter instead.- On screen Stewart tends to be awkward, though between "Twilight" and "New Moon" this has improved. Bella is uncoordinated and not very outspoken, so at times the awkwardness is appropriate. In romantic scenes between Edward and Bella the flow of the movie is lost and leaves the audience struggling. Pattinson doesn't help these situations too much. However, his distant, yet caring personality fits with Edward's. Lautner is a good fit for his part, and that’s not only because of his perfect body (of which there is no lack in the many scenes he has his shirt off in; much to the excitement of his fans). Overall, Lautner does a good job acting. Running and springing into the air, Jacob changes from human to wolf. The transformation of Jacob and other pack members into wolves was impressive. They were so huge and looked real. Equally impressive was watching the wolves hunt vampires. Not only did the wolves look good, but Bella's hallucinations of Edward fit in perfectly. Edward didn't look like he was cut and pasted in or like he was just standing there; he looked like a figment of her imagination. All of the special effects in "New Moon" were very well done. In every scene, whether dramatic or romantic, the setting, lights and music fit and helped to create the mood. The details in each scene helped define what was going on. The choice of setting for each scene was essential. The lighting through the movie remained a little dim and the melancholy music helped create the more serious and sad mood. Even scenes in the dark, like the first time Bella has hallucinations of Edward, have just the right amount of lighting. "New Moon" followed the main elements of the book fairly well, with unique details added. The movie moves faster than the book. The plot was easy to follow, and didn't confuse the audience. However, reading the books before seeing the movie definitely helps the viewer to understand the plot. By reading the book, little details that seem to be missing are clear. Many twists and turns add up to a dramatic cliffhanger ending. Though the ending may not be the best for a movie, it remains true to "TheTwilight Saga: New Moon" opened in theaters on Nov. 20. New Moon was an improvement over "Twilight" the first installment in the series. the book. Two more movies will come out to tie up the loose ends. The first of these is coming out this summer. "New Moon" came out on Nov. 20. It is currently in theaters. "New Moon" is an improvement on "Twilight" and has a fast-paced plot. Despite some minor issues, it is definitely a movie to see. Panera Bread bakes, serves up satisfactory meal D anny M c G arry & H aley C ool If you don’t mind average food, Panera Bread in Tualatin on Nyberg Road is just the place for meeting friends for lunch or going out for coffee and working on a paper. Panera Bread is a chain cafe and can be found throughout the United States and Canada. The small cafe with a fireplace and jazz music may be cliche but Panera Bread does feature amazing mac’n ’cheese. When we walked in during the afternoon, warm colors and the smell of coffee and pastries greeted Photo by Libby Kara An employee helps a customer with his order. Panera Bread Company offers a variety of pastries as well as meals. Panera Bread Company has few locations in Oregon; one being on Nyberg Road in Tualatin. us. The cafe, however, was empty except for the few people that were working on their laptops, chatting with friends or reading a newspaper. To order a meal,we walked to the counter rather than having table service. As soon as you order, you pay, so you don’t have to wait for a check at the end of your meal. Prices are normally cheap, averaging $6 or $7 for a lunch or dinner, but some items, such as the French croissant, are overpriced. If you're just ordering from the bakery, you can expect prices to range from $1 to $5. Panera Bread offers free wi-fi so you can work while you eat. However, the food is hit and miss; it is either fantastic or mediocre. The grilled cheese tasted like vegetables and the only thing that was good were the chips that were not made by the restaurant. The other orders consisted of a frontega chicken panini and a tomato mozzarella panini which were very good. The tomato mozzarella was good but the frontega chicken was even better. Actually, it was so good, we ordered a second one. The mac'n'cheese was delicious and it is one of the best items on the menu right now. The servers were nice and they were very courteous although they messed up our order. They did give us a free cookie for their mistake. Don't expect the bakery food to be fresh at 4 p.m. It's dry and unappealing. The French croissant was stone dry. The chocolate chip muffin was moist in the center, but dry around the edges. The only exception was the cinnamon scone; it was moist and baked to perfection. It made us want more. Set in a very quiet and was in a nice neighborhood, Panera Bread surpassed standards, but not with flying colors.
