Twilight

June 27, 2010 - A teenager moves to a dreary town in the Pacific Northwest, falls in love with a vampire and dreams of becoming a vampire herself. That's the basic plot of this movie based on the first book of the series from author Stephenie Meyer. Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson star. The accomplished supporting cast includes Peter Facinelli ("Dr. Cooper" from Nurse Jackie), Elizabeth Reaser ("Jane Doe" from Grey's Anatomy) and Sarah Clarke ("Nina Myers" from 24).

Stewart is Isabella Swan, a typical child of divorce. She's been living with her mother in Phoenix but, when Mom remarries, Bella (for reasons that aren't exactly clear) moves to a small town called Forks, where her dad is the police chief. In school, she meets Edward Cullen (Pattinson). He's a vampire who's 17 going on 100. Edward belongs to a family of vampires who have sworn off human blood and, instead, survive on the blood of animals. But, Bella seems so inviting that Edward is not sure he can keep himself from sucking the life right out of her. Not that Bella would mind that.

While Edward and his family show restraint, there are other vampires roaming around Forks who aren't so nice. They've killed twice and, when one of them gets a whiff of Bella, the chase is on. It's up to the family Cullen to protect Bella from those other vampires who would do her harm.

Overall review: *** I know, I know. It's a cheesy teen vampire romance flick. But, if you'll pardon the pun, I got sucked in and didn't mind one bit. I haven't read any of the novels, so I didn't have any preconceptions about the characters or the plot. Maybe that allowed me to like the movie more than I would have otherwise. In any case, I was pleasantly surprised and look forward to seeing the sequels.