Movie Review: The Last Airbender

I should preface this review with two points.  The first is that I am a huge fan of the animated series, which I am sure is known to readers of the site.  It is my favorite animated series pretty much of all time.  The second, is that this might not be able to be classified as a review of the entire film.  There were about 5 minutes where I was not watching because I was in the lobby trying to get my money back.  When that endeavor failed, I returned and watched the rest of this absolutely dreadful, embarrassing, and infuriating mess of a movie.

I could start with the stilted acting or the unacceptably poor dialogue.  I could start with the extremely bad script or the sub par effects.  Maybe I'll start with the terrible directing?   Nah, I'll start with one of the things that bothered me the most.

M. Night claimed that he loved the original series and that he used to watch it with his kids all the time and that is why he wanted to bring the show to life with a live action film.  If that is true, why is it that he has his actors saying the character names incorrectly?  Aang is pronounced "Ung" or "Ong" instead of "Ang".  Sokka is pronounced "Sew-ka" instead of "Sa-kka" and Avatar is pronouced "Uh-vatar"  It's like he went out of his way to make these names sound as unnatrual and clunky as possible.  Perhaps to match the dialogue?  Everytime someone says Aang's name I thought they were about to vomit.

That might sound nit-picky but it really wraps up The Last Airbender in a nutshell.  A complete lack of respect for the brilliant source material. If you can't even get the names right how can you be expected to get anything right?  Well, they don't.  They get nothing right in this film.

The emotion of the series is lost.  The immediacy of the series is lost.  The joy and fun of the characters is lost.  There are some slight flashes mostly in flashbacks but for the most part the film is just...void.

How can someone get it so wrong when the source material is laid out right there for you is a mystery.  This should have been an instant home run.  Everything is done for you just put it on screen!

Since The Sixth Sense, I've been a fan of M. Night.  I've defended him even as his movies became steadily worse and worse.  After The Last Airbender, I can defend him no longer.  Whatever gift he had, whatever talent may have existed has apparently gone the way of the dodo.  Much like this movie should.

I mentioned earlier the dialogue.  It is some of the worst I've heard in a movie that doesn't have Tommy Wiseau's name attached.  The lines have this extremely annoying way of repeating information we've just heard...in the same sentence.  It's like the writer, we're to believe it's M. Night, has no ear for how people speak, even in a fantasy world such as the one in Airbender.  The dialogue is just poorly written.  It's infuriating at times.  Like when a character can't understand how the fire nation keeps following them after just showing how they're stirring up a revolution by visiting towns and putting up pictures of the Avatar around like a trail of breadcrumbs.

The whole thing is a mess.  Did I hate it more  because I'm a fan of the show?  That's entirely possible but even on the most objective level, lore and fandom aside, The Last Airbender is an extremely poor example of filmmaking on every possible level.  I can think of no redeeming aspects, from the woefully miscasting to the incomprehensible script and a director who doesn't see the heart or the soul of the source material or its wonderful characters.  He does not understand Aang, nor his friendships, nor his purpose in life or the pain he feels knowing what his destiny is going to be.  M. Night knows none of these things and that is why this movie fails.

It's made 70 million already (no doubt due to the insane price of 3-D tickets) so we're sure to get a sequel.  I can only hope that M. Night is no longer involved.

The Last Airbender is in theaters now.  If you do decide to see it, please don't see it in 3-D.

Better yet, spend your money on the brilliant Animated Series it does its best to ruin.

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Movie Trailer: Let Me In

The American remake of the already classic film Let The Right One In has a trailer.  We've boiled the name down to Let Me In and put it in the hands of the director of Cloverfield.  This is a pretty high profile title if you ask me.  Especially since this original has legions of fans here in the states that are going to want this to be perfect.

What do you think?

Here is the original trailer for comparison.

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Movie Poster: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

I love this poster.

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psst! Want a free CD?

http://www.heymarseilles.com/

pass it on!

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and the new Peter Parker REALLY IS...

Josh Hutcherson is NOT Peter Parker.

Turns out Sony has officially announced the role has gone to Andrew Garfield.

Interesting choice.

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Blu-Ray Review: The Crazies (2010)

The Crazies
Written by: Scott Kosar and Ray Wright
Directed by: Breck Eisner
Starring: Timothy Olyphant, Radha Mitchell, Joe Anderson, & Danielle Panabaker

Specal Features: Audio Commentary with directed Breck Eisner, Behind the Scenes with Directed Breck Eisner, Paranormal Pandemics, The George A. Romero Template, Make-up mastermind Rob Hall in action, The Crazies Motion Comic Episodes 1 & 2, Visual Effects in Motion, Storyboards: Building a Scene and a digital copy of the film.

From the box:

In this terrifying glimpse into the "American Dream" gone wrong, an unexplainable phenomenon has taken over the citizens of Ogden Marsh. One by one the townsfolk are falling victim to an unknown toxin and are turning sadistically violent. Peopl who days ago lived quiet, unremarkable lives are now depraved, bloodthirsty killers.

While Sheriff Dutton (Timothy Olyphant) and his pregnant wife, Judy (Radha Mitchell), try to make sense of the escalating violence, the government uses deadly force to close off all access and won't let anyone in or out - even those uninfected. An ordinary night becomes a horrifying struggle for the few remaining survivors as they do their best to get out of town alive.

Breck Eisner (Sahara) directs this suspenseful reinvention of the George A. Romero classic.


And suspenseful it is. I must admit, I wasn't expecting to enjoy it. I guess the recent state of horror has jaded me a little. I just don't expect good horror anymore. Though last year's House of the Devil was a giant leap forward.

The Crazies, while not perfect, is a fun little flick with plenty of creep outs and scares.  My hat is off to the filmmakers for delivering not only a successful horror film but a successful remake as well.

When I say successful remake, I don't mean in comparison to the original, which I have not seen. I mean in terms of anything labeled as a remake or reimagining now a days seems to be, as if required, garbage.   I'd say this is the case with 90% of remakes currently released. Being as that I have never seen the original film, I have no loyalties or preconceived expectations of what a remake should present. So on that level, The Crazies for me, is successful, if not one of the better horror films lately.


There are a few hiccups.  The bone saw scene for one falls a bit flat but overall, there isn't much to complain about. It sort of becomes a zombie movie with zombies who can think and aren't so much interested in eating you as they are with bashing your brains in.

The acting is surprisingly good and I am reminded again that I really enjoy Timothy Olyphant, which is a fact I always forget until I watch him in a movie.  He looks about 25 in this so it's not exactly believable that he would be sheriff but I forgive them that.

The film looks great on Blu-ray. The night shots are really clear and I didn't notice any grain at all.  It was pretty much crystal clear throughout. The sound is crisp and very well balanced.

The set has a lot of good features especially the behind the scenes materials that is sure to satisfy those who enjoy the glimpse behind the curtain.

Overall, The Crazies is a creeptastic way to spend an evening.  You'll squirm, you'll jump and you'll even find yourself considering whether or not the scenario depicted is possible in reality.

All an all, good stuff!

The Crazies is available now!

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And Peter Parker is...

It's not 100% confirmed but reports are now circulating, beginning at Blue Sky Disney, that Sony and director Marc Webb (500 Days of Summer) have settled on Josh Hutcherson for the role of Peter Parker/Spider-Man in the upcoming reboot.  Reports say that an offer has been extended to and accepted by the actor.

This isn't official as of yet so take it with a grain of salt! I'll say it's not a bad choice, we'll see how it turns out soon!


EDIT: DENIED! Hutcherson is NOT the new Spider-man.

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Music Video: Sara Bareilles - King of Anything

 

Here is the new video from Sara Bareilles, "King of Anything." I do enjoy her music so I'm looking forward to the new album Kaleidoscope Heart which releases on 9/17.

Preorder it from Amazon if you are so inclined!

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