Unbreakable is still my favorite movie of his. One of the few movies I saw in the theater more than once. It's a shame he's never been able to make another film up to that level. I used to think he had so much promise as a writer-director-producer.
The Last Airbender - Grading & Discussion
- Thread starter Agent Richard07
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Unbreakable is still my favorite movie of his. One of the few movies I saw in the theater more than once. It's a shame he's never been able to make another film up to that level. I used to think he had so much promise as a writer-director-producer.
That would entail sitting through the whole movie.
I should clarify. Instant Netflix.
My wife as we were leaving Airbender hit upon something. She said it seems they dumbed this down for little kids, I think that was one of the major problems. Now what sort of complete idiot would take a children s show and dumb it down for children? Lady s and gentleman I give you M knight Shymalan.
Yes everything you have heard of is essentially true. The script reads like it was written by a 6 year old. Several times Katara literally tells us what we should have been seen. It something like this
" Aang and us fought of massive hordes of fire nation soldiers. Sokka used his boomerang to great effect. I learned new waterbending techniques, oh and there was this guy selling cabbage. But we aren't going to show you any of this because we don't have the budget." This happened several times. We didn't even get to see Aang crash into the sea. This should have been the first thing we saw.
Acting was not as bad as I expected. The biggest problem was the characters had nothing to do. They either just stood there or recited bad exposition. Katara was by far the worst. She was a pale pale imitation of her former self. Sokka had nothing to do. Sokka is supposed to be a sort of Xander character. There is a lot going on beneath Sokkas surface then we see. I think the actor could have done it with good writers. But no Sokka just stands there!!!
The kid who played Aang was adorable. But again he was given nothing to do. In the begining we see some of that trademark Aangness but it soon fades away.
The kid who played Aang was adorable. But again he was given nothing to do. In the begining we see some of that trademark Aangness but it soon fades away.
Zuko was the best of child actors. And I saw glimpses of my favorite character in Patels performance. Patel could have pulled this off. In fact he was there, then he started yelling. Zuko was constantly yelling. Its like M night told him to remember this is a cartoon. Because damn it was cartoonish. However when Zuko was playing off of Iroh he was fine.
Speaking of Iroh. Iroh was great, he was wise and he was gentle. You could see the love he had for his nephew. The best scenes of the movie were of Zuko and Iroh. The two had great chemistry. There's a scene where Iroh is trying to convince Zuko to give up this futile search. They were wonderful together. So yes Iroh was the best actor.
Cinematography was good, Soundtrack was great. FX were ok. Appa and Momo look a little on the CG side. The buildings and the world were beyond neat to see in live action. But unfortunately the script sucked Sky Bison.
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Interesting choice of words, considering the casting controversies...
Not surprising that Shyamalan has no idea what to do with a comic-relief character.
Perhaps because he's 20 years old. But then, Sokka is played by a 25-year-old.
The whole fucking SWT were Inuit except for stupid Katara and Sokka and gran gran. I dont care if you switch the tribes ethnicity but damn that was blatant. However the whole NWT were russian. If your going to cast caucasian then why weren't the SWT Russian? The Earth kingdom was all asian, but since they cut out Suki we don't see many non background earth kingdom. Air benders were mixed race all around. Gyotsi was Indian. The whole thing is just a Tragedy on many levels. The saddest thing in the move was when at the end it said Executive produced byMichael Dante Dimartino and Bryan Konitzeko. They should not be anywhere near this thing. This is all M knights fault.
Now I need to go watch the Siege of the Northern water tribe. My wife wants to know why Sokka didnt try to stop Yueh.
Now I need to go watch the Siege of the Northern water tribe. My wife wants to know why Sokka didnt try to stop Yueh.
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If they would have focused more on Zuko in the film and did not jump around so much, I could have given it a D+ instead of an F+ (yes failure can have an upside, Zuko and Iroh). If they would have included June and the fight at the perfume nunnery it would have been epic. I was also pissed that they cut the Zuko/Zhao Agni Kai. But I am just repeating myself there.
However I do love the little hints like when Kanna mentioned Hama.
However I do love the little hints like when Kanna mentioned Hama.
They tried to jam WAY to much story into 2 hours. This was more like the highlights of a movie than an actual movie. We're told lots of stuff but shown little. The characters were band and uninteresting with virtually no personality to speak of.
And the interpretive dance the benders had to do to use their powers was ridiculous.
Pretty much a failure on every level.
And the interpretive dance the benders had to do to use their powers was ridiculous.
Pretty much a failure on every level.
Haven't seen this yet but from the reactions and reviews I've seen there doesn't appear to be any point. Oh and I totally called it.
If the box office mirrors the critical ratings then this movie franchise will be going the way of 'The Golden Compass'. A shame because in the right hands the material is more than sufficient to produce something special. The real shame however is that this film's failure may hinder any further animated projects. The suits are a simple minded bunch and they're more likely to interpret the poor performance at the box office as a fault with the brand rather than the product itself.
If the box office mirrors the critical ratings then this movie franchise will be going the way of 'The Golden Compass'. A shame because in the right hands the material is more than sufficient to produce something special. The real shame however is that this film's failure may hinder any further animated projects. The suits are a simple minded bunch and they're more likely to interpret the poor performance at the box office as a fault with the brand rather than the product itself.
If you mean Monk Gyatso, he was actually played by African-American actor Damon Gupton.
I think Nickelodeon is well aware of how successful the animated series has been for them. And Hollywood tends to treat animation and live-action as separate beasts; for instance, Warner Bros. has long had an embargo on live-action depictions of Batman on TV for fear of conflict with the Batman film series, but that hasn't precluded the continuing use of Batman in animated shows and DVD movies.
And given Shyamalan's reputation these days, I wouldn't be surprised if this were interpreted more as a case of a poor choice of director sabotaging a promising franchise than as a case of the franchise itself being unviable. (And again I have to wonder why anyone thought MNS was the right choice for this project in the first place.)
Paying attention to Ebert has saved me an insane amount of money and time that would otherwise have been completely wasted on trash.
Ahh, but consider the logic of that. If you didn't see the movies, you don't actually know if they were trash. For all you know, paying attention to Ebert may have cheated you out of seeing movies you would've found wonderful.
Just because someone's able to convince a publisher to pay them for expressing their opinions, that doesn't mean their opinions are any truer than anyone else's.
i'm disapointed by the news that this may suck. i was going to see it because i like the cartoon... now i am going because i want to see a train wreck.
But it's not that hard to get a feel for the preferences of individual critics, and if their tastes are similar to your own then it makes sense to give credence to their criticism. I certainly don't always agree with Ebert but I can usually tell based on his reviews whether or not I will like something. Even when he dislikes something, the way he describes what aspects disappointed him tells me whether I might still enjoy it.
Yeah, a review made up of nothing more than "this movie is trash" isn't going to tell you much. A thoughtful review that points out a movie's strengths and flaws, however, is a useful resource in deciding whether or not to see a particular film. I also find a well-done review to be a nice complement to any film, good or bad.
That's why I dislike Ebert. He does do a good job with his reviews, but his tastes in movies is almost the complete opposite of mine. I get nothing from his reviews.
In other news, The Last Airbender pulled in $16.5 million on Thursday.
If I've been looking forward to a movie for two years, I'm going to see it, especially if it's part of a franchise I've been a long-time fan of. I wouldn't suddenly change my mind on opening day just because some guy in the paper didn't like it.
Anyway, I saw The Last Airbender and I didn't think it was the abysmal piece of garbage that the reviews made it out to be, but I do agree that it wasn't up to snuff and that it could have been better. If you're an Avatar fan, it's still worth checking out.
The Bad
- Overall, it wasn't as good as the animated series.
- The story felt rushed and a lot was glossed over, especially during the first half. I can let this go a little though because they had to cram a season's worth of material into two hours, but it's still there and still a problem.
- The fun, charm and overall spirit of the animated series wasn't there.
- The dialog was pretty stiff and stilted.
- We didn't get to know or care about a number of the characters the way we did with the series. Again, probably due to having to cram everything in.
- Sokka wasn't the fun jovial character we knew from the series.
- Katara was passable but I prefer her animated counterpart.
- Wasn't impressed with Fire Lord Ozai.
The Good
- It was nice to finally see a live-action version of Avatar, and the world they created looked fantastic.
- Appa and Momo were just like their series counterparts, only with real fur. The only problem with them is that we didn't see much of their fun little antics. Once again, time constraints.
- Noah Ringer is Aang. Actually, he's "Ong". Nevermind. Anyway, he captured the part and played it to perfection.
- The martial arts choreography as well as the element bending were eye-popping and quite impressive.
- I had my doubts about Shaun Toub as Uncle Iroh, but he played the part quite well.
- I really liked seeing the "Water! Earth! Fire! Air!" opening sequence from the cartoon done in live-action (it didn't have Katara's followup "Long ago..." narration though). It was a nice touch.
- Loved seeing Azula at the end.
The Ugly
Right now, there's the possibility that we may not get to see more installments and I do want to see this continue. I want to see Ba Sing Se, the drill, Toph, more Azula, more Iroh, the Kyoshi warriors, all in live-action. They should have shot all the movies at once.
Anyway, I saw The Last Airbender and I didn't think it was the abysmal piece of garbage that the reviews made it out to be, but I do agree that it wasn't up to snuff and that it could have been better. If you're an Avatar fan, it's still worth checking out.
The Bad
- Overall, it wasn't as good as the animated series.
- The story felt rushed and a lot was glossed over, especially during the first half. I can let this go a little though because they had to cram a season's worth of material into two hours, but it's still there and still a problem.
- The fun, charm and overall spirit of the animated series wasn't there.
- The dialog was pretty stiff and stilted.
- We didn't get to know or care about a number of the characters the way we did with the series. Again, probably due to having to cram everything in.
- Sokka wasn't the fun jovial character we knew from the series.
- Katara was passable but I prefer her animated counterpart.
- Wasn't impressed with Fire Lord Ozai.
The Good
- It was nice to finally see a live-action version of Avatar, and the world they created looked fantastic.
- Appa and Momo were just like their series counterparts, only with real fur. The only problem with them is that we didn't see much of their fun little antics. Once again, time constraints.
- Noah Ringer is Aang. Actually, he's "Ong". Nevermind. Anyway, he captured the part and played it to perfection.
- The martial arts choreography as well as the element bending were eye-popping and quite impressive.
- I had my doubts about Shaun Toub as Uncle Iroh, but he played the part quite well.
- I really liked seeing the "Water! Earth! Fire! Air!" opening sequence from the cartoon done in live-action (it didn't have Katara's followup "Long ago..." narration though). It was a nice touch.
- Loved seeing Azula at the end.
The Ugly
Right now, there's the possibility that we may not get to see more installments and I do want to see this continue. I want to see Ba Sing Se, the drill, Toph, more Azula, more Iroh, the Kyoshi warriors, all in live-action. They should have shot all the movies at once.
Has he been corrected on his mistake yet?Roger Ebert said:
Is that good or bad?
I think it's kind of bad (it would be good for a regular Thursday, but in this case it's the premiere date, not between weekends), compared to what the film cost (particularly given that the word-of-mouth on this looks to be dreadful).