The Last Airbender OR Why M Night Shamalamadingdong needs to stop.

Avatar: The Last Airbender is a highly successful animated series that ran on Nickelodeon. It followed the adventures of The Avatar Ang, pronounced like it looks, as he tried to master the 4 elements so he could challenge the Fire Nation lord before he gained ultimate power and dominated the planet.

I've watched it, I enjoyed it, it's pretty damn good for "amerime".

There was quite a bit of hype for the new movie based on the series. The original trailer had me giddy:



You probably saw the problem at the very beginning.




This man, M Night Shyamalan, is easily trying to catch up to Uwe Boll for the bad director title. I loved Unbreakable and The Sixth Sense. But then there was Signs, and Lady in the Water and The Happening. It's been a steady decline, and these were his original ideas. Just imagine what he would do to a beloved children's show.

Butchered name pronunciations are something I can allow in a book adaptation, unless there is a canon dictionary, names are always up to interpretation. But the cartoon was on for 3 years, millions of people watched it and heard these names pronounced the same way for 3 fucking years. Changing how they are pronounced now is just stupid.

The bending was all wrong, the martial arts were too over the top and the entire story was rushed to get to the final battle that was lack luster at best.

This movie is a continuation of the current trend in Hollywood of making a movie visually appealing but completely devoid of substance. I don't care how awesome the CG water effects are, if the entire movie is some guy sitting in a boat I'm going to get fucking bored.

If you enjoyed the cartoon, skip this movie. If you have to entertain a child or mentally handicapped adult that can be easily distracted by shinies, go get a bag of glitter. Skip this movie and help send a message that we want substance over style.

New Movies - Initial Thoughts

Avatar: The Last Airbender




I never really got into the animated series, my girlfriend has it all on DVD so maybe I will catch up before this comes out.

This teaser looks pretty good, and from the 2 seconds that I see the actor, he looks pretty close to the character from the show. Looks like his hair is buzzed into an arrow rather than it being a tattoo on his head but it could have just been the lighting.

There is one glaring problem with this film that I see. The director. M. Night Shyamalan.

There are some people that see him as visionary, think he does great work that makes you think about the movie as a whole....bullshit. He did a couple of awesome movies, Unbreakable and The Sixth Sense, after that it was like his sanity went into free fall. His other movies are either so obvious you see it after 30 minutes in or the twist is so ridiculous you wonder how it was greenlit by the studio.

I see this movie going one of two ways. First, it finishes the story line neatly, answers questions that fans of the show have had and provides the grand finale people have waited for.

Or....

Ang is really a space alien from an alternate dimension who was sent here in the guise of the avatar to manipulate world events so his species can control the elements and gain total domination, the only way to stop him is for his element bending friends to find the true last airbender, call for Captain Planet and stop Evil Ang from calling the other Xyboids into this demension.

If you really think about it, it's a toss up.


Ponyo

Trailer Here

I'm a huge Miyazaki Fan, and once again an all star cast is called together for the US release of his next epic.

But...Miyazaki has more of a cult following than anything in the US.

Is he a great director? Yes
Are his films loved my millions all over the world? Yes
Am I going to see this movie the day it comes out? Fuck yeah
Will the Majority of the US enjoy this film and understand its deeper meaning? Fuck NO!

Miyazaki is a thinking man's director. He uses amazing visuals and compelling characters to teach you something. Generally it is about keeping the world clean and livable, Nausicaa, Princess Mononoke, Castle in the Sky, etc. When you walk out after seeing one of these films you want to drop kick the next person you see tossing a can on the sidewalk, he is that good.

Though he is considered one of the best filmmakers in the world inside the US, other than some long time fans and convention goers, he is unknown. Depsite his Academy Award, despite his awe inspiring works, despite his sheer awesomeness, more people know McG than Miyazaki, and that makes me a sad Totoro.

This film looks great visually, it looks meaningful and insightful, I just with more people would see it than I know actually will. I have a feeling the majority of those over the age of 20 that see it are going to be dragged to it by their kids because the characters look cute. That just a fact.



So those are my initial thoughts on these two films. As new trailers come out I will be giving my opinions to the masses.

Tonight I will be seeing Transformers 2, expect a full review with as few spoilers as I can sometime in the early AM.