Export thread

The Last Airbender - New Trailer!

#1

Shaw Coyote

Shaw Coyote

New tv spot for Nikelodeon, and an international trailer showing some very interesting new footage...

Also! 2nd full length trailer for your enjoyment.







New full length trailer released!



Okay, so, there's a movie coming out this summer by the name of The Last Airbender. It's based off of the best show Nickelodeon has ever had. I've been DYING to see the trailer for this show, and it's finally out, though a couple days early. This is just the 30 second Superbowl Spot. There's set to be a 2 minute trailer attached to Percy Jackson. Enjoy!



I would have preffered a closer look at the main cast, but it's shaping up to look pretty awesome.

Edit: For anyone that hasn't seen it, the first season is available to watch instantly on Netflix, and you can have the rest of the series delivered.


#2

phil

phil

The Last Airbender

tough to judge too much from a 30 second teaser, but at least the visuals look alright.


#3

Gusto

Gusto

The Last Airbender

Fuck yes.

Fuck yes.


#4



Chibibar

The Last Airbender

visual look good. cast ok. (I had my gripes on other thread) but kinda looking forward to this anyways :)


#5

Shaw Coyote

Shaw Coyote

The Last Airbender

Gusto said:
Fuck yes.

Fuck yes.
Click to expand...
Thank you, this was the response I was looking for. ALSO, check the clip again, and at the :09-11 mark, look at the top left of the screen for a glimpse of Appa!! He'll be directly left of the fireball.


#6

Seraphyn

Seraphyn

The Last Airbender

Visuals look awesome. Can't wait to see some more.


#7

Rovewin

Rovewin

The Last Airbender

*GLEEEE* :clap:

I was worried about this movie but this trailer is making me all hyped up again. It looks great. I hope the music is just as memorable as it was in the original series


#8

CynicismKills

CynicismKills

The Last Airbender

Wow, those fight scenes are primed to rock my face right off.


#9

Hylian

Hylian

The Last Airbender

.


#10

North_Ranger

North_Ranger

The Last Airbender

As long as M. Night Shloboshlippendoodel does not give some "What a TWEEST!" moment in the end, I'm gonna go and watch this.

The only point of contention I have is the phrase "world consumed by darkness". They're FIRE Warriors, for pete's sake, not some mooks afraid of a tan!


#11

phil

phil

The Last Airbender

Rovewin said:
*GLEEEE* :clap:

I was worried about this movie but this trailer is making me all hyped up again. It looks great. I hope the music is just as memorable as it was in the original series
Click to expand...
I hope so too. That's my only real concern with this teaser is the metal stuff going on that gives it a 300/watchmen feel to me. The music was really fitting in the series and hopefully they'll keep that feel in the film.


#12

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

The Last Airbender

I hate to admit that the trailer looked cool... but it did look cool.

Trailers always do though, so I'll continue to reserve judgment until I see the final product.

Even if it sucks, I'm still comforted by the fact that the three seasons of Avatar: The Last Airbender were all mind-numbingly awesome, and hopefully this movie will convince the people I know to give the series a chance.


#13

Shaw Coyote

Shaw Coyote

The Last Airbender

phil;338112][QUOTE=Rovewin said:
*GLEEEE* :clap:

I was worried about this movie but this trailer is making me all hyped up again. It looks great. I hope the music is just as memorable as it was in the original series
Click to expand...
I hope so too. That's my only real concern with this teaser is the metal stuff going on that gives it a 300/watchmen feel to me. The music was really fitting in the series and hopefully they'll keep that feel in the film.[/QUOTE]

The score is being done by James Newton Howard, and it's been stated that he's doing all original work. His resume is pretty impressive, and he worked on the Dark Knight. Not as composer, but as an artist.


Ravenpoe said:
I hate to admit that the trailer looked cool... but it did look cool.

Trailers always do though, so I'll continue to reserve judgment until I see the final product.

Even if it sucks, I'm still comforted by the fact that the three seasons of Avatar: The Last Airbender were all mind-numbingly awesome, and hopefully this movie will convince the people I know to give the series a chance.
Click to expand...
Agreed. Everyone should try this series out.


#14

fade

fade

The Last Airbender

Eh, looks alright. I'll admit though, I was never all that taken with the show. And yes I watched every freakin' episode. The characters were all annoying, especially Aang and Katara. And Toph. Well pretty much everyone was annoying except for Iroh.


#15

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

The Last Airbender

fade said:
Eh, looks alright. I'll admit though, I was never all that taken with the show. And yes I watched every freakin' episode. The characters were all annoying, especially Aang and Katara. And Toph. Well pretty much everyone was annoying except for Iroh.
Click to expand...
You had to be at least a little taken if it convinced you to watch every episode.


#16

ThatNickGuy

ThatNickGuy

The Last Airbender

Weird, It thought M.Night only wrote OR directed this. It certainly looks cool, I'll give it that. But I've never watched any of the cartoon, so I'm going in blind at the moment.

Not sure if it's such a good idea to heavily promote M.Night's name all over this, either. Personally, I've liked all of his movies except Signs, but I know public opinion of him isn't exactly high these days.


#17



Rubicon

The Last Airbender

I've seen a couple episodes of the series, granted the American dubb not the original with subs, and I never cared for it. It just seemed like Dragon Ball (not Z) mixed with a little Naruto. I could see the appeal for younger anime fans but as a generation that grew up on Akira, Ghost in the Shell and Appleseed, it never caught a hold on me.

Now THIS movie? Looks fucking sweet. The cgi bending looks perfect for a live action equivalent of the anime. Other than The Happening and Signs, I've liked M Nights movies so this looks promising.


#18

Shaw Coyote

Shaw Coyote

The Last Airbender

Mav said:
I've seen a couple episodes of the series, granted the American dubb not the original with subs, and I never cared for it. It just seemed like Dragon Ball (not Z) mixed with a little Naruto. I could see the appeal for younger anime fans but as a generation that grew up on Akira, Ghost in the Shell and Appleseed, it never caught a hold on me.

Now THIS movie? Looks fucking sweet. The cgi bending looks perfect for a live action equivalent of the anime. Other than The Happening and Signs, I've liked M Nights movies so this looks promising.
Click to expand...
There is no other version. Avatar was made in America. (Well, technically, I guess it was made in Korea.) Avatar is one of those shows where you really have to watch it from the beginning. It goes from being an entertaining show for kids into a fantastic epic story right about halfway through the 1st season. So if you can stick with it, I'd give it a shot. The second season is GOLD, and the third season has....it's moments. What I love the most about this show, was that the creators had a set beginning, middle and end, so it doesn't drag on forever, and you never feel like they've lost their focus.

It also has some of the best animation I've seen.


#19

@Li3n

@Li3n

The Last Airbender

Wow, that actually looked great... even if the story sucks at least we'll get some great visuals.


#20

North_Ranger

North_Ranger

The Last Airbender

Out of curiosity, though... are they going to stuff the whole Avatar story into one movie? Three seasons into one film, that is? Or will this movie be more like, I dunno, a re-imagining of season one?

Because I'd love to see Ba Sing Se, or the library of Wang Shi Tong.


#21

Shaw Coyote

Shaw Coyote

The Last Airbender

North_Ranger said:
Out of curiosity, though... are they going to stuff the whole Avatar story into one movie? Three seasons into one film, that is? Or will this movie be more like, I dunno, a re-imagining of season one?

Because I'd love to see Ba Sing Se, or the library of Wang Shi Tong.
Click to expand...
One movie per book, so this is Water. No Toph, Azula, or Dai Li until the next movie :(


#22

evilmike

evilmike

The Last Airbender

Shaw Coyote;338013][QUOTE=Gusto said:
Fuck yes.

Fuck yes.
Click to expand...
Thank you, this was the response I was looking for. ALSO, check the clip again, and at the :09-11 mark, look at the top left of the screen for a glimpse of Appa!! He'll be directly left of the fireball.[/QUOTE]

Great!

Can anyone tell if he is still being played by Morgan Freeman? :)


#23

fade

fade

The Last Airbender

Ravenpoe;338174][QUOTE=fade said:
Eh, looks alright. I'll admit though, I was never all that taken with the show. And yes I watched every freakin' episode. The characters were all annoying, especially Aang and Katara. And Toph. Well pretty much everyone was annoying except for Iroh.
Click to expand...
You had to be at least a little taken if it convinced you to watch every episode.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, it was mildly interesting. That's why I said I wasn't all that taken, not not taken at all. And there were good episodes, like the one with the moon princess. But every time it felt like the show was getting somewhere, it would break off into goofiness.


#24

CynicismKills

CynicismKills

The Last Airbender

Mav said:
I've seen a couple episodes of the series, granted the American dubb not the original with subs, and I never cared for it. It just seemed like Dragon Ball (not Z) mixed with a little Naruto. I could see the appeal for younger anime fans but as a generation that grew up on Akira, Ghost in the Shell and Appleseed, it never caught a hold on me.

Now THIS movie? Looks fucking sweet. The cgi bending looks perfect for a live action equivalent of the anime. Other than The Happening and Signs, I've liked M Nights movies so this looks promising.
Click to expand...
It's not an anime. It's an American-made cartoon.


#25

SpecialKO

SpecialKO

The Last Airbender

I loved the show (and own all of it), but I just can't be convinced by a trailer where every clip in it is a second or less.

I'm more concerned that I haven't liked a single Shyamalan movie since Unbreakable.


#26

fade

fade

The Last Airbender

Mostly I worry that Aang is going to be all serious and kung fu stoic. No, that doesn't contradict the last post I made--light-hearted and fun is okay, but having your protagonist's IQ drop about a thousand points from fight scene to city street scene is annoying.


#27

@Li3n

@Li3n

The Last Airbender

Yeah, i mean a guy that was raised in what amounted to a secluded monastery would totally have street smarts...

Of course a film would be more serious, so it's probable that he won't be as exaggerated...


#28

fade

fade

The Last Airbender

@Li3n said:
Yeah, i mean a guy that was raised in what amounted to a secluded monastery would totally have street smarts...

Of course a film would be more serious, so it's probable that he won't be as exaggerated...
Click to expand...
I was waiting for someone to respond with that. You don't have to have street smarts to have intuition and the ability to figure something out. Besides it's all of them, not just Aang.


#29

@Li3n

@Li3n

The Last Airbender

So your complaint is that they didn't see stuff you saw a mile away because you're familiar with certain tropes employed in the genre?!


#30

fade

fade

The Last Airbender

No.


#31

Rovewin

Rovewin

The Last Airbender

fade said:
Mostly I worry that Aang is going to be all serious and kung fu stoic. No, that doesn't contradict the last post I made--light-hearted and fun is okay, but having your protagonist's IQ drop about a thousand points from fight scene to city street scene is annoying.
Click to expand...
Yeah I liked how they kept the light heartedness going in the heat of battle showing how he would still make some mistakes and wasn't an all serious badass.

Where does the intelligence drop that much besides the sense of humor? I know really smart people who have the sense of humor of a three year old. I dont think it seems out of character. Plus they are kids and are not going to get some things no matter how smart they may be with other things.


#32

North_Ranger

North_Ranger

The Last Airbender

The third film better portray the true mastermind behind the Fire Nation invasion. The cunning, the strategic savvy, the charisma, the ruthlessness, the mercilessness of... the Melon Lord!


#33

Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

The Last Airbender

@Li3n said:
So your complaint is that they didn't see stuff you saw a mile away because you're familiar with certain tropes employed in the genre?!
Click to expand...
He means they shouldn't turn Aang into Aangst.


#34

Gusto

Gusto

The Last Airbender

I demand a 20 minute penguin-sledding scene.


#35

Espy

Espy

The Last Airbender

I'm still dubious. The early reviews are not very kind to it. I'll still rent it but I'm not getting my hopes up.


#36

Tinwhistler

Tinwhistler

The Last Airbender

early reviews? It's not due to be released until july.


#37

Espy

Espy

The Last Airbender

Tinwhistler said:
early reviews? It's not due to be released until july.
Click to expand...
They have already started test screening so it's people from those. It doesn't mean it's going to suck mind you, but the few I have read kind of make it sound like a Street Fighter movie. Hopefully it's not.


#38

Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

The Last Airbender

What reviews? It's not out yet.


#39

@Li3n

@Li3n

The Last Airbender

escushion;338468][QUOTE=@Li3n said:
So your complaint is that they didn't see stuff you saw a mile away because you're familiar with certain tropes employed in the genre?!
Click to expand...
He means they shouldn't turn Aang into Aangst.[/QUOTE]

No, we wheren't talking about that, but what he said before, what you're referring to was him making sure we didn't think he wanted Aang to be too serious either.


I was refering to this:

Where does the intelligence drop that much besides the sense of humor? I know really smart people who have the sense of humor of a three year old. I dont think it seems out of character. Plus they are kids and are not going to get some things no matter how smart they may be with other things.
Click to expand...
Really fade, it was all mostly in the name of humour, you might argue that it would be too much for a film, but IMO it worked just fine in the cartoon.


#40

Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

The Last Airbender

Espy;338507][QUOTE=Tinwhistler said:
early reviews? It's not due to be released until july.
Click to expand...
They have already started test screening so it's people from those. It doesn't mean it's going to suck mind you, but the few I have read kind of make it sound like a Street Fighter movie. Hopefully it's not.[/QUOTE]

I never trust screen test audiences. A lot of shitty decisions come from too much reading into them.


#41

@Li3n

@Li3n

The Last Airbender

Are they still a bunch of old ladies?!


#42

Espy

Espy

The Last Airbender

escushion;338549][QUOTE=Espy;338507][QUOTE=Tinwhistler said:
early reviews? It's not due to be released until july.
Click to expand...
They have already started test screening so it's people from those. It doesn't mean it's going to suck mind you, but the few I have read kind of make it sound like a Street Fighter movie. Hopefully it's not.[/QUOTE]

I never trust screen test audiences. A lot of shitty decisions come from too much reading into them.[/QUOTE]

I'm not trying to force anyone to trust them, just saying they said it was cheesy and videogamish. Doesn't mean the final product will be that way, I'm hoping it won't, because it looks very cool.


#43

AshburnerX

AshburnerX

The Last Airbender

*cough*Racebending*cough*


#44

North_Ranger

North_Ranger

The Last Airbender

AshburnerX said:
*cough*Racebending*cough*
Click to expand...
*cough*Stick up the ass.*cough* ;)

Okay, what do I know? I make Conan O'Brien look ethno.


#45

Wahad

Wahad

The Last Airbender

Awwww yeah Battle for the North Pole.

Although I despair for characters such as Jeong-Jeong, Suki, and Jet. But we'll see, I suppose. Personally I don't think the movie will live up to the series by a long shot, but I do think it will be quite entertaining.


#46

Shaw Coyote

Shaw Coyote

The Last Airbender

Wahad said:
Awwww yeah Battle for the North Pole.

Although I despair for characters such as Jeong-Jeong, Suki, and Jet. But we'll see, I suppose. Personally I don't think the movie will live up to the series by a long shot, but I do think it will be quite entertaining.
Click to expand...
Pretty sure Suki is going to be a big player in it, as she has her own wallpaper on their official site: http://www.thelastairbendermovie.com/#downloads

I'm thinking Jet gets the ax, as we have the Dai Li to look forward to next movie, and they can be "Grey" enough that we don't need that arc twice.


#47

North_Ranger

North_Ranger

The Last Airbender

Am I the only one who thinks Jet and his 'merry kids' were annoying as hell? Well, except for Pipsqueek and the Duke, that is. The rest I could not give a lemur's crap about.


#48

Shaw Coyote

Shaw Coyote

The Last Airbender

North_Ranger said:
Am I the only one who thinks Jet and his 'merry kids' were annoying as hell? Well, except for Pipsqueek and the Duke, that is. The rest I could not give a lemur's crap about.
Click to expand...
Yes and no. I really enjoyed the arc that Jet got, as well as the two characters that were with him in the second season, but while he served his purpose in the series (in the grand scheme of things), I really can't see them devoting time to him in a 2 hour movie. Maybe they'll surprise me though, and set him and his "Gang" up for the trilogy.


#49

Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

The Last Airbender

Jet's not exactly a likable character anyway. There's a lot of elements I can't see them devoting to, and honestly, they shouldn't. They should basically be taking the major plot arc and characters, and making their own out of it for the movie. If they try to follow the series, it's going to feel like cliff notes rather than its own creation.


#50



Shadazz

The Last Airbender

For anyone who hasn't seen them:





















Enjoy.


#51

Wahad

Wahad

The Last Airbender

I guess the thing about Jet is true. To be honest, I didn't like him either (although the rest of his gang was okay) but I do believe that he introduced an element in people that Aang hadn't seen yet - namely, that Earth Kingdom people could be just as bad as the Fire Nation. Granted, this can be relayed to the Dai Li (or even the General featured in Season 2's first episode, forgot his name unfortunately) for the movie.

I'll just wait patiently I guess. Although that Suki wallpaper was nice! Didn't know that existed. This gives me hope.


#52

North_Ranger

North_Ranger

The Last Airbender

I thought the whole Season 2 was about showing how bastardly the Earth Kingdom people were. Let's see... there were strawman-burners, warcrazy yahoos, ineffective dopes making double entendres, overprotective parents, vindictive wrestlers, soldiers running a protection racket, and don't let me even get started on Stepford... erm, I mean Ba Sing Se.

But then again... there's this guy:



Magnificent bastard? Oh fuckin' yes.


#53

Shaw Coyote

Shaw Coyote

The Last Airbender

New trailer's out! I edited it into the first post as well.



#54

Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

...Why so serious?


#55

fade

fade

I still don't get what people were complaining about...those kids look identical to their cartoon counterparts. It's almost uncanny.


#56

Gusto

Gusto

Man that trailer looks excellent. I almost don't care if the movie isn't as light-hearted an goofy as the show was.

I AM however gonna be looking out for excellent background characters to make tiny appearances. Cabbage Man, Overreacting frothing-at-the-mouth guy, etc.


#57

North_Ranger

North_Ranger

Awww dammit. Iroh doesn't look like a jovial fat guy :(


#58

AshburnerX

AshburnerX

North_Ranger said:
Awww dammit. Iroh doesn't look like a jovial fat guy :(
Click to expand...
To be fair, he didn't look like one at the end of the series ether.


#59

Rovewin

Rovewin

Allright getting released just in time for my birthday!
I'm guessing the voice at the end of the video is going to be Aunt Wu (the fortuneteller). I'd love for cabbageman to be in there too. definitely the best inconsequential side character. As for uncle, I agree he doesnt have that look like he will be making jokes all the time but I think he can still be a great character without that quirky humor about him.


#60

SpecialKO

SpecialKO

Aside from Zuko's burn-scar looking more like a minor black eye, that looked pretty decent. I like Aang's tattoos, I thought those were nicely done.


#61

Shaw Coyote

Shaw Coyote

Rovewin said:
Allright getting released just in time for my birthday!
I'm guessing the voice at the end of the video is going to be Aunt Wu (the fortuneteller). I'd love for cabbageman to be in there too. definitely the best inconsequential side character. As for uncle, I agree he doesnt have that look like he will be making jokes all the time but I think he can still be a great character without that quirky humor about him.
Click to expand...
I'm pretty sure the voice at the end is Gran Gran. Her characters already been cast, while Aunt Wu has not.


#62

@Li3n

@Li3n

fade said:
I still don't get what people were complaining about...those kids look identical to their cartoon counterparts. It's almost uncanny.
Click to expand...
As i said last time, it's not like they really looked of different ethnicities in the cartoon either, they just had different skin shading on the same basic model (for the main characters).


#63

AshburnerX

AshburnerX

It's kind of sad Mako died during the second season of the show. If he was still around, I'd imagine they'd have tried to get him to do the live screen version of Iroh too. He'd look nothing like him... but having him reprise the part would have done a lot to keep fans of the show (and some of the Race based critism) a lot quieter than they have been.


#64

Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

TeKeo said:
Aside from Zuko's burn-scar looking more like a minor black eye, that looked pretty decent. I like Aang's tattoos, I thought those were nicely done.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I like how they disconnected the back tattoo from the arms so it looks like a cross. I hope we get more of that Christ metaphor crap from Shyamlan, like in Lady in the Water. We've seen the director, King Kong, and Superman as Christ and one of the big flaws in the series was that Aang's personal sacrifices never felt like Christ, so this will be deep and all that shit.


I'm being facetious; I don't think I'd even go there if we hadn't seen that kind of crap from M. Night before. I'm curious if any of the characters will have a sense of humor or if it'll just be Momo and Appa making blank stares in uncomfortable silence as a use for comic relief. I'm not asking for a comedy, because that would be wrong, but this emo, doom-doom garbage is pretty much confirming what I was nervous about with M. Night doing this, making it over-serious.

I'll still see this movie; I want to give this a chance and be proven wrong. Story aside, I think an adaptation can work if the tone and atmosphere fit its source. Plus, the end of the first season is one of my favorite story moments in the series. So really this movie will determine if I see the sequels. (And hopefully it won't be another Golden Compass, where the first is made, does poorly, and the rest are not made).


#65

Frank

Frankie Williamson

@Li3n;340417][QUOTE=fade said:
I still don't get what people were complaining about...those kids look identical to their cartoon counterparts. It's almost uncanny.
Click to expand...
As i said last time, it's not like they really looked of different ethnicities in the cartoon either, they just had different skin shading on the same basic model (for the main characters).[/QUOTE]

Except for Aang, who's white as fucking snow in the cartoon. I don't get how anyone can think his cartoon character is anything but a little white kid. He has blue God damn eyes even.


#66

@Li3n

@Li3n

I'm pretty sure pale counts as a shading...

But you know, it makes sense for a people that lived on cold mountain tops to be lightly coloured, even if they have asian features (as do most of the background characters).


#67

AshburnerX

AshburnerX

Aang has grey eyes, not blue. Blue is the color for basically everyone in the Water Tribe. And the eye colors don't count when nearly everyone in the show has the same eye color as their respective nations (I.E. Water have blue, Earth have Green, Fire have Yellow, and the few Airbenders we see tend to have Grey) and is clearly based on a theme.

And let's not get this started again. Ether you believe everyone in the damn show is supposed to be based on various ethnic minorities and no one is white on it, or you somehow believe the main cast is white (and no one else) despite the setting. Believe what you want.

@Li3n said:
But you know, it makes sense for a people that lived on cold mountain tops to be lightly coloured, even if they have asian features (as do most of the background characters).
Click to expand...
This would make sense, except only the North and South Air Temples seem to be in cold places. The Western Air Temple is suspended on the underside of a canyon's cliff face like some sort of Aztlan work in South/Central America, which means it's likely below sea level. We never really get to see the location of the Eastern one, but considering fruit (or whatever the hell an Onion-Banana is) grows there, it's likely to be below the tree line as well. In fact, considering all Airbenders are vegetarians for religious reasons, wouldn't all the temples need to be in a relatively warm/temperate climate to grow their food? I suppose they could just have fields around the base of their mountains or something, but it's doubtful they traded for most of their food when they likely didn't have a primary export.


#68

fade

fade

I don't really give a crap about perceived ethnicities. All I'm saying is that they look like their cartoon counterparts to a tee.


#69

sixpackshaker

sixpackshaker

I hope he gets to show that he is still just a 10 year old boy that likes to play as much as fight. I always felt that that was such a redeeming value of the show. Here you have the savior of the kingdoms with the weight of the world on his shoulders... riding a ball of air and giggling like the innocent 10 year old that he is.


#70

Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

And trying to protect his own innocence amid all that.


#71

AshburnerX

AshburnerX

sixpackshaker said:
I hope he gets to show that he is still just a 10 year old boy that likes to play as much as fight. I always felt that that was such a redeeming value of the show. Here you have the savior of the kingdoms with the weight of the world on his shoulders... riding a ball of air and giggling like the innocent 10 year old that he is.
Click to expand...
This is one of my worries of the movie: All the trailers seem to depict Aang as some kind of somber savior figure, when he's almost never depicted as such in the show unless he's had some kind of serious tragedy happen. It's really core to his character that he acts like a kid 90% of the time and I'm really worried that they will try to turn him in a messiah from the get-go instead of becoming one over the course of the story.


#72

@Li3n

@Li3n

Hopefully that's just because he's mostly fighting in the trailer.

AshburnerX said:
And let's not get this started again. Ether you believe everyone in the damn show is supposed to be based on various ethnic minorities and no one is white on it, or you somehow believe the main cast is white (and no one else) despite the setting. Believe what you want.
Click to expand...
And in the film they're also supposed to represent various ethnicities, just played by white actors... the point being that the show also did something like that, kinda like Black Barbie being a normal Barbie painted brown.

AshburnerX said:
This would make sense, except only the North and South Air Temples seem to be in cold places. The Western Air Temple is suspended on the underside of a canyon's cliff face like some sort of Aztlan work in South/Central America, which means it's likely below sea level. We never really get to see the location of the Eastern one, but considering fruit (or whatever the hell an Onion-Banana is) grows there, it's likely to be below the tree line as well. In fact, considering all Airbenders are vegetarians for religious reasons, wouldn't all the temples need to be in a relatively warm/temperate climate to grow their food? I suppose they could just have fields around the base of their mountains or something, but it's doubtful they traded for most of their food when they likely didn't have a primary export.
Click to expand...
You do realise that most of Europe in in a temperate climate, right?

although i understand that white skin might have been a lack of vitamin D thing (which would explain Inuits)


#73

R

Raemon777

And in the film they're also supposed to represent various ethnicities, just played by white actors... the point being that the show also did something like that, kinda like Black Barbie being a normal Barbie painted brown.
Click to expand...
I don't think that's a fair statement at all. First of all, the show is a stylized cartoon and the kids don't look any more white than they do asian or black. The other thing is that there actually IS a fair variety in facial features of the various adults (and consistency as to where they're from). The Earth Kingdom people tend to look (slightly) more chinese, for example. You wouldn't necessarily notice if the Earth Kingdom wasn't obviously supposed to be reminiscent of China, but it's there.

Aang is the only character who looks blatantly white, not just because of skin color but also due to the large eyes (that would still be considered "Japanese" somehow in a regular anime). But I think what they're going for there is that the kids in general have larger, rounder eyes to make them look childlike, and Aang has the biggest, roundest eyes of all because he's supposed to be the most childish in many ways. (Granted, it probably also is because they wanted to the protagonist to be the most visibly white).

Until I saw the newest trailer I was upset about the whitewashing in a distant, intellectual way, but this is the first time I'm found myself viscerally reacting, in particular to Katara and Sokka. Someone earlier said all the actors were "uncannily similar" and I really have no idea what they're talking about. Sokka has the Sokka haircut, which is good, but apart from that they don't look like the originals any more than I'd expect any generic white actor(res) to look like them.


#74

Wahad

Wahad

Fucking sweet trailer.

On the race debate, I could care less what skin color the actors have, as long as the general setting is preserved. Which it looks like it is. Honestly I think people are making too big a deal out of this. The trailer looks sweet and has upped my faith in Shyamalan making a good movie out of this, especially given the fact that some scenes (Fire nation fleet at the North Pole, Sokka and Katara standing together with him holding a lantern) are almost copypasted from the series. That's good enough for me.

I agree with whoever said that Iroh doesn't look like a jolly old man. Kind of a shame. Then again, this trailer seems to have highlighted the serious parts, including Yue's death for a brief moment. Can't wait to see it, personally.


#75

@Li3n

@Li3n

Raemon777 said:
And in the film they're also supposed to represent various ethnicities, just played by white actors... the point being that the show also did something like that, kinda like Black Barbie being a normal Barbie painted brown.
Click to expand...
I don't think that's a fair statement at all. First of all, the show is a stylized cartoon and the kids don't look any more white than they do asian or black. The other thing is that there actually IS a fair variety in facial features of the various adults (and consistency as to where they're from). The Earth Kingdom people tend to look (slightly) more chinese, for example. You wouldn't necessarily notice if the Earth Kingdom wasn't obviously supposed to be reminiscent of China, but it's there.
Click to expand...

Dude, look at Aang next to the monks or Sokka and Katara next to their tribe... sure, the adults have ethnic features, which is also true for the trailer... (if you stop it right you can see actual inuits behind Sokka and his sis). The fact that the kids don't have them is close enough to whitewashing imo (as per Barbie, who isn't exactly an accurate representation of human faces either).


Someone earlier said all the actors were "uncannily similar" and I really have no idea what they're talking about. Sokka has the Sokka haircut, which is good, but apart from that they don't look like the originals any more than I'd expect any generic white actor(res) to look like them.
Click to expand...
Yeah, they need to be more tanned to look close enough, i agree... :p


#76

R

Raemon777

The difference between Barbie and the Avatar cartoon is that Barbie's features are very distinctly white (well, Barbie's anatomy has all kinds of interesting things going on but let's not go there), whereas in Avatar the kids' features are abstracted to the point where they're not clearly any particular ethnicity.

There's a section in the book "understanding comics" about the power of the cartoon - when you see any random photo, it probably won't look like you at all. The more cartoony it looks, however, the more people can identify with it. A lot of times in games or movies you'll have fairly detailed environments, but a simplified hero that people can project themselves onto. I think that's part of what's going on with the Avatar kids.



#77

fade

fade

Raemon777 said:
Until I saw the newest trailer I was upset about the whitewashing in a distant, intellectual way, but this is the first time I'm found myself viscerally reacting, in particular to Katara and Sokka. Someone earlier said all the actors were "uncannily similar" and I really have no idea what they're talking about. Sokka has the Sokka haircut, which is good, but apart from that they don't look like the originals any more than I'd expect any generic white actor(res) to look like them.
Click to expand...
That someone was me, and I still stand by it. It's more than the haircut. He has the same jawline, the same somewhat unusually broad mouth, and same eyes turned down at the corners, for example.

Katara even more so. The same moon face. The same circular eyes, and the same narrow, pouty mouth.


#78

phil

phil

I think as far as ethnicity for the actors go, even if you had a full asian cast you'd still get people bitching and moaning about it. The girl who played Suki would be of a Korean background and the earth kingdom is obviously supposed to be china! I mean...HELLOOOOO people! WAKE UP!


Or better yet

OMFG they make a movie largely centered around martial arts and guess what? It's full of ASIANS! What, he is a mathbender too? RACIST HOLLYWOOD IS RACIST!


#79

@Li3n

@Li3n

Raemon777 said:
The difference between Barbie and the Avatar cartoon is that Barbie's features are very distinctly white (well, Barbie's anatomy has all kinds of interesting things going on but let's not go there), whereas in Avatar the kids' features are abstracted to the point where they're not clearly any particular ethnicity.

There's a section in the book \"understanding comics\" about the power of the cartoon - when you see any random photo, it probably won't look like you at all. The more cartoony it looks, however, the more people can identify with it. A lot of times in games or movies you'll have fairly detailed environments, but a simplified hero that people can project themselves onto. I think that's part of what's going on with the Avatar kids.
Click to expand...
And i guess they're doing the same for the film, after all, kids identify with white people better: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_and_Mamie_Clark#Doll_experiments


#80

R

Raemon777

Well that's the flipside of the argument. The point isn't that kids identify with white people because people are inherently more identifiable - the point is we put white people all over the bloody place to the point that people strongly connect white == good guys. That experiment is one of the reasons that I'm upset with hollywood in general, and Avatar was the first film where I finally got pissed enough to complain to the producers about it. (In the grand scheme of things I honestly don't think it's the worst of sins for Avatar to have an all white cast, but it was the last straw for me).

The kids in avatar aren't "easily identified" because they look white IMO, it's just that they have a style that we normally associate with blank slate, and people have come to associate "blank slate" with white. (There's an article out there somewhere about how most black superheroes are either the black version of a pre-existing superhero, or instead of a normal costume they just have an outfit that particularly emphasizes "blackness.")

What I actually wish is for hollywood to make more movies and TV shows with protagonists that aren't white, without having any particular "ethnic" vibe to the role. (Hollywood has demonstrated a tendency to underestimate people's willingness to enjoy films than run against the current demographic bent, for example they tried to kill the Kirk/Uhura kiss in Star Trek, but when it went on the air as originally planned they got tons of fan mail. They also originally didn't think even Will Smith could play the lead in Hitch, because it was "common knowledge" that people didn't want a romantic comedy starring a black guy).

I can't really complain about any particular movie that has no racial bent that happens to star white people (well, I guess I could, but it would feel silly). But when you take a movie about an asian world and turn the protagonists white, I feel justified in bitching.


#81

Shawn

Shawn

I loved the show. Is this going to be like the show?
Nope. Pretty damn obvious. It's what happens when you take a somewhat light hearted and humorous adventure and turn it into Lord of the Rings. Can't wait for the Smurfs movie. It's probably going to open with a murder.


#82

Dave

Dave

Shawnacy said:
I loved the show. Is this going to be like the show?
Nope. Pretty damn obvious. It's what happens when you take a somewhat light hearted and humorous adventure and turn it into Lord of the Rings. Can't wait for the Smurfs movie. It's probably going to open with a murder.
Click to expand...
The rape of Smurfette. In this way the male lead character will be able to grow as a person.


#83



Chibibar

since Iroh has DREADS. A friend of my wife made these comics.
http://rufftoon.deviantart.com/art/Rastafire-Nation-153873596
http://rufftoon.deviantart.com/art/Rastafire-Nation-153873596


#84

Gusto

Gusto

Your wife knows Rufftoon!!?

Oh man, six degrees or WHAT.


#85

@Li3n

@Li3n

Shawnacy said:
Can't wait for the Smurfs movie. It's probably going to open with a murder.
Click to expand...
Muhahahahaha:



#86

North_Ranger

North_Ranger

@Li3n;342185][QUOTE=Shawnacy said:
Can't wait for the Smurfs movie. It's probably going to open with a murder.
Click to expand...
Muhahahahaha:

[/QUOTE]

You want something truly horrific? Try this ear-bleeder for change:



#87

@Li3n

@Li3n

Raemon777 said:
Well that's the flipside of the argument. The point isn't that kids identify with white people because people are inherently more identifiable - the point is we put white people all over the bloody place to the point that people strongly connect white == good guys.
Click to expand...
Actually i recall a study where lighter skin was preferred by men regardless of social influences and that even historically it was preferred in isolated societies with no contact to white people. My google fu fails me though.


#88

Gusto

Gusto

I'm starting to re-re-re-rewatch Book 1. I'll see if I can stop there, but I doubt it.


#89

R

Raemon777

I just rewatched Season 1, and I have no intention of stopping. :p (Book 2 is my favorite. I really wanna rewatch "Zuko alone" and "Bitter Work," but I'm trying to pace myself).

It bugs me that the first few episodes aren't quite as good though. I want to get my folks to watch but the fact is the first 6 episodes or so aren't all that amazing and I'm not sure I can get them to keep watching.


#90

Shaw Coyote

Shaw Coyote

I tried to get my roomate to watch it with me when it first came out, but he'd sit down for a few minutes then say it wasn't for him. It wasn't until the Dai Li came along in the second season that he got really into it, then he had me go back and show him the whole series. I've heard other people mention starting with the "Siege of the North" from the first season to get them hooked. Maybe you could cherry pick some episodes to show them, then make them sit through the first episodes.


#91

@Li3n

@Li3n

North_Ranger said:
You want something truly horrific? Try this ear-bleeder for change:

Click to expand...

On behalf of my country men, i'd like to apologise for that song's existence... totally our bad.


#92



Iaculus

Shaw Coyote said:
I tried to get my roomate to watch it with me when it first came out, but he'd sit down for a few minutes then say it wasn't for him. It wasn't until the Dai Li came along in the second season that he got really into it, then he had me go back and show him the whole series. I've heard other people mention starting with the "Siege of the North" from the first season to get them hooked. Maybe you could cherry pick some episodes to show them, then make them sit through the first episodes.
Click to expand...
Zuko Alone might be pretty good for that. Good mixture of continuity and stand-aloneness.

Second seson was definitely the most consistently good, I'd say. The Day of Black Sun from the third season was very cool, but I couldn't help noticing that it could have been easily avoided if the Earth King had just said to them "Oh, hey, you remember those fake Kyoshi Warriors who infiltrated us a while back? I... kiiinda showed them our attack plans while they were here. My bad."


#93

North_Ranger

North_Ranger

Well, the Earth King was something of an idiot...


#94

Gusto

Gusto

My favourite episodes are pretty action-packed and also continuity important. Try showing people The Waterbending Master (Pakku vs. Katara) or the Blind Bandit (which is both funny AND awesome).

---------- Post added at 02:25 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:21 PM ----------

WHY IS ZHAO SO AWESOME


#95

Shaw Coyote

Shaw Coyote

Gusto said:
My favourite episodes are pretty action-packed and also continuity important. Try showing people The Waterbending Master (Pakku vs. Katara) or the Blind Bandit (which is both funny AND awesome).
Click to expand...
Those are indeed awesome episodes.

I think I might love you a little bit. Not LOVE love though.


#96

Gusto

Gusto

Aw. :(


#97

SpecialKO

SpecialKO

Shaw Coyote said:
I tried to get my roomate to watch it with me when it first came out, but he'd sit down for a few minutes then say it wasn't for him. It wasn't until the Dai Li came along in the second season that he got really into it, then he had me go back and show him the whole series. I've heard other people mention starting with the "Siege of the North" from the first season to get them hooked. Maybe you could cherry pick some episodes to show them, then make them sit through the first episodes.
Click to expand...
I was "meh" on the series at first. Watched a few episodes at a friend's house, thought it was cool, but nothing I really cared about.

Then I watched "the Blue Spirit" episode, and I was totally hooked.


#98

Gusto

Gusto

The first episode I ever saw on TV was The Avatar State. It persuaded me to watch the whole series.


#99

Wahad

Wahad

The first episode I saw was the Waterbending Scroll.

It made me stall watching the rest of the series until I caught The Waterbending Master on tv.


#100

North_Ranger

North_Ranger

First one I watched? The first episode of Book 3. By accident. I had taped it accidentally 'cause the Extreme Ghostbusters used to play at the same spot. I watched it out of curiosity and thought 'huh, this looks interesting'. Books 1 and 2 I've watched online - and without Finnish dubbing.


#101

Shaw Coyote

Shaw Coyote

My best friend went to school for animation, and she'd always give me a heads up on new shows that looked promising.

One day I stumbled on Avatar, completely by accident, and watched the second episode. I immediately called her and told her about it, and she said she knew about it for like a year.

She's now dead to me.


#102

Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

First episode I saw was "Jet" and it didn't make me too interested. Didn't help that the next time I randomly caught an episode on Nickelodeon, it was also "Jet." My fiancee convinced me there was more to the show than that and we sat and watched her DVD set. My opinion improved immensely.


#103

Gusto

Gusto

Man how are they EVER gonna fit Book 2 into one movie.


#104

Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

They're not; it'll be adapted. As it should be. I'd rather watch a movie adapted from the story than a cliff notes a la the Ember Island players from before the season 3 finale.


#105

Gusto

Gusto

Fair enough but (in my mind at least) there's not a lot of dead weight that can be cut off Book 2.


#106

Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

I think there's a lot, actually. The whole Appa being missing thing really didn't serve much purpose overall. They'll probably still include it in the movie, but it is fat that could be trimmed. Its only purpose in the long run is to give Zuko that moment where his actions conflict with his feelings, and for all we know that will be unfortunately simplified for American cinema. I think Book 2 stretched out a number of things for the sake of running a season, hence that one episode where they showed everyone going off and doing their own thing. It was down time when they reached the Earth Kingdom.

I also feel like the whole Earth Kingdom being secretly controlled by that one guy can be condensed quite a bit. The Fire Nation drill might also work better during the climax than where it occurred in the series. Television stories work differently than film. In TV you need to spread things out, whereas in a movie, more events happen at once. And no commercial breaks! :p


#107

Shaw Coyote

Shaw Coyote

Gusto said:
Fair enough but (in my mind at least) there's not a lot of dead weight that can be cut off Book 2.
Click to expand...
I'm hoping that they split Season 2 into two movies. The 1st part introducing Toph and Azula, climaxing with the Library/Desert/Appa kidnapping thing. The 2nd part dealing with the Dai Li, Zuko's struggle, and ending with the fall of the Earth Kingdom.


#108

Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

This isn't going to be the show redone as live-action. You cannot fit 10 hours into 2.


#109

R

Raemon777

I actually think Avatar is well suited for condensing into two hour movies. Each season is 7 hours long, has several filler episodes and a lot of stuff that can be condensed into a single episode.

For Book 1, the episodes that feel "necessary" are:

Boy in the Iceberg
The Avatar returns
The Warriors of Kyoshi (I'd consider this unnecessary except that we know Suki is in the movie)
Avatar Roku
The Storm (condensed into about 5 minutes since all you need is the flashback)
The Blue Spirit (this may or may not be necessary, but you can cut out the frog side story and make it 10 minutes long)
The Waterbending Mastery
Siege on the North, 1 & 2 (You COULD cut Koh, but he's the coolest character in season 1 so I hope they don't)

That's about 2 and a half hours right there. Plus some fudging for eliminating some extraneous parts from certain episodes and replacing them with a few good parts from other episodes.

For Book 2:

The Avatar State (might be cutable, since it doesn't really tie in with the rest of the story, but I think it sets up how important it is to master the Avatar State, which is kinda the climax of the story)
Return to Omashu (Probably simplified)
Blind Bandit (Possibly cutting out the WWF thing, though I'm not sure how they'd be introduced to Toph otherwise)
Zuko Alone (Cutable, but I sure hope it isn't)
The Chase (I think this can probably be condensed. The showdown with Azula is what's important)
Bitter Work (condensed to a 10 minute montage)
The Library
The Desert/Journey to Ba Sing Se (Condensed together. Appa's disappearance is important but the screentime devoted to it can be cut down tremendously. A lot of episodes have Aang say basically the same things to remind new viewers what the status quo is)
City of Walls and Secrets/Lake Laogai/The Earth King (Probably condensible but I can't remember enough to say how. Let's say 40 minutes here)
The Guru
Crossroads of Destiny

That's a little over 3 hours, which is too long but close enough that you could probably shave it down to 2.5 if you tried.

It would be interesting to see if someone edits down the original shows on their own, and then compares it to the movie.

Edit: Ba Sing Se will probably be cut a lot by virtue of not having Jet in it, although that section would end up being completely reworked and I can't predict how.


#110

Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

Raemon777 said:
It would be interesting to see if someone edits down the original shows on their own, and then compares it to the movie.
Click to expand...
That would be a way to match up scenes, but would be somewhat divided continuity-wise.

Also, they're going to add things. It's not just going to be chopping the episodes up.

I'm starting to feel like less people know about the adapting process here than I previously believed, especially after the Watchmen discussions. You can't cling to this event and that event, you have to start from the ground and build the movie up as its own creation, matching the big story, atmosphere, etc. Playing carver with the source material doesn't work. That's how you get shit like Bubastus in the Watchmen movie, whose appearance becomes irrelevant with the changes made, but is stuck in there because it's in the source material.

I should probably quit on this subject though, because it has no purpose in me arguing to get people to understand. The movie is going to be what it is regardless and viewers will have to live with that. Like with the Watchmen discussions. Not to mention Spider-man 3. I was telling people the summer before the movie came out that Venom would get squeezed into the end of the movie. "Nuh-uh, that's just a teaser at the end and they're saving him for the fourth movie." It's not like they haven't been making movies for a century. I'd think more people knew what went into doing this by now.


#111

R

Raemon777

I know how adapting normally has to work (I don't know enough to claim to be able to do it effectively myself, but I know enough to know how little I know). I'm actually a big proponent of people willing to massively change stuff for the big screen because it has very different limitations.

But I actually thought Watchmen was pretty good (saw the movie first), and a good example of a movie that could afford to stick mostly to the source material because the source material was about the right length to begin with (if you cut out the Black Freighter it's essentially a storyboard for a movie), and at the same time was willing to completely change the ending to meet the contraints of the screen. Bubastus is the only thing that stuck out when I saw it the first time, but I didn't mind him terribly. They could have rewritten a lot of stuff and maybe it would have been a better movie if they did, but it also could have ended up a much worse movie and I don't begrudge them "playing it safe" for the most part.

I think Avatar is similar to Watchmen in that the source material is close enough to normal screentime that if you cut away the filler, you're left with a sequence of events close to a normal size movie. I'm not saying they should just film the episodes I listed above as life action - each of their scripts was set up to include it's own beginning, middle and end, and in the movie they'll need to flow together as a solid whole. But I think the main events from the above-listed episodes are approximately in the right sequence to make a story that would work well in the big screen.

I will say (sadly) that a lot of the humor will have to be removed or changed, not just for time constraints but because it relies on cartoon physics and television timing that wouldn't translate to a live action movie.


#112

Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

Raemon777 said:
But I actually thought Watchmen was pretty good (saw the movie first),
Click to expand...
Bubastus is the only thing that stuck out when I saw it the first time,
Click to expand...
Mm.


#113

R

Raemon777

I'm not sure what you mean by that. Bubastus was the only thing that struck me as "inserted for the benefit of fanboys as opposed to for the general moviegoing audience." I thought the rest flowed fairly well, and I think my position as someone who saw the movie first suggests that that wasn't just me carrying over my preference for the book version.


#114

Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

Nevermind. I'm just gonna stop this now.


#115

Rovewin

Rovewin

I agree that the they will probably build up the movie on its own keeping only some overarching events and characters. For the second movie they will probably keep the traveling to Ba Sing Se to a minimum. Then they will be able to keep interest with the deception, intrigue and fire nation attacks on it. Toph I bet will be acting as a performer or swindler in Ba Sing Se and meet up that way. They will probably transport the finding out of black sun over to the third movie to keep the focus on their current crisis.


#116

R

Raemon777

Nevermind. I'm just gonna stop this now.
Click to expand...
What, it's bad that I liked Watchmen just fine?

I actually like Rovewin's idea about putting all the "Eclipse" stuff in the third movie. You can either have the Library be part of an escape from Ba-Sing Se or you can just have them find out some other random way. Though you'd need to come up with some other way for Azula to find out. (Actually, thinking about it more, I think it's easiest if you keep it in the second movie but get rid of the huge library adventure to find it, reducing that to meeting some historian in a bar who happens to already know about the Eclipse).

Regardless, you're probably right about skipping through most of the whole Desert trip.


#117

fade

fade

I'm a huge fan of the graphic novel, and I really liked the movie (GASP!). The opening credits alone were worth it.


#118

Espy

Espy

Yeah, I liked the Watchmen movie, but I probably wont' ever rush to watch it again. It was a fine film and probably the best Watchmen film that could ever be made but it pales next to the depth of the comic.


#119

R

Raemon777

I had my dad read the comic after he saw the movie, and it didn't impress him that much. I agree that the comic has more depth but I think a lot of the things that made the comic amazing was a) that a book like that hadn't been made before, and b) that it was extremely relevant at the time it came out.

Regardless, I think the movie functions fine as a companion to the book rather than a true alternate form of it. You watch the movie to see all the coolest scenes played out with awesome effects, and then you read the book to get the depth. There was a lot of stuff in the book that didn't feel particularly meaningful until suddenly it all came together in a moment that can't really be explained, just experienced. (At the end of Doctor Manhattan's monologue, when there's the quote from Albert Einstein "I wish I had been a watchmaker" I actually cried. I can't quite explain why. Other good moments include the hug between the newspaper guy and kid, and the simple word "Nostalgia" near the end.)


#120

Espy

Espy

Regarding depth though Raemon, see, part of my problem with the movie was that very few of the characters had any real depth. I didn't really care about any of them in the movie, they were all flash and style with no substance. Now I realize that for many people that doesn't matter and sometimes it doesn't matter to me either, I just want a fun movie so I'm not holding it against people either.
As far as the graphic novel not impressing your dad well... I don't know your dad and what does impress him. I know many "deep" and "thoughtful" folks who would never be impressed by any comic book no matter how well done. We can debate the merits of a piece of literature all day and in the end personal taste will always win out. As far as movie vs graphic novel goes I understand why MANY would prefer the movie but I'm sad they don't get nor see the brilliance and depth in the comic that takes the experience, in my opinion, much further.


#121

R

Raemon777

The reason my dad was unimpressed, I think, had a lot to do with all the philosophy in the book being fairly old hat to him. (For example, at the time, the notion that we basically took credit for all of Russia's work during WWII and that contributed to the Cold War, might have been interesting, but by now that's already been his opinion for 20+ years.)


#122

@Li3n

@Li3n

Raemon777 said:
I'm not sure what you mean by that. Bubastus was the only thing that struck me as \\"inserted for the benefit of fanboys as opposed to for the general moviegoing audience.\\" I thought the rest flowed fairly well, and I think my position as someone who saw the movie first suggests that that wasn't just me carrying over my preference for the book version.
Click to expand...

Bubastis.... like teh bloody city: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubastis


And the ending made no sense as there was no advantage to teaming up against Manhattan, neither side could actually do anything against him...

---------- Post added at 10:57 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:55 PM ----------
Raemon777 said:
The reason my dad was unimpressed, I think, had a lot to do with all the philosophy in the book being fairly old hat to him. (For example, at the time, the notion that we basically took credit for all of Russia's work during WWII and that contributed to the Cold War, might have been interesting, but by now that's already been his opinion for 20+ years.)
Click to expand...
I'm pretty sure that's the other way around... the Cold War being why y'all took all the credit. (did you know that Churchill wanted to attack Russia right after they won?)


#123

fade

fade

How would they know? How would they know they had any chance against an alien squid? And what's the alternative? Roll over and take it from Dr. Manhattan?


#124

@Li3n

@Li3n

They'd know because fear of him was what kept the Russians from doing what they did in the real world etc.

And the squid died, and was organic, they all saw that.


And frankly i think they would have launched their nukes under the idea that it was an attack by the other side (the russians most certainly as Manhattan was the US's weapon as they saw it).

Peple forget that it wasn't just the squid, but the psychic stuff too... the destruction was never the main motivator.


#125

Shaw Coyote

Shaw Coyote

So guys, Avatar's pretty cool.

I just bought the second season today (thank you best buy gift card I found in my pants!) and I'm already up to the Blind Bandit.


#126

R

Raemon777

One of the chapters of Watchmen has an epitaph that talks about the relationship between the US and Russia, which may or may not have been accurate (I think it was, even if it didn't tell the whole story), but regardless, my dad already had the same viewpoint.

I think part of the thing with the ending was that they destroyed cities on both sides of the Cold War, so that it was clearly not purely a US move.

Obligatory discussion of Avatar since it's theoretically the point of the thread: Shaw, my favorite episode is Bitter Work, which should be coming up shortly for you. Lemme know how it goes. (Unless you've already watched the whole thing and are just rewatching).


#127

@Li3n

@Li3n

Raemon777 said:
I think part of the thing with the ending was that they destroyed cities on both sides of the Cold War, so that it was clearly not purely a US move.
Click to expand...
And by the time they got that they probably would have already launched. Attacking with a psychic attack + squid thing in just one city = no assumption it was a bomb...


#128

R

Raemon777

Well, we're starting from the assumption (correctly or not, although I lean towards correctly) that a giant squid-thing plus psychic attack is more craziness than a two hour movie that doesn't have time to go into genetic modification or psychic-ness can afford to use as a climax. I agree with them that Doctor Manhattan was the only power source the movie had time to establish that would make a logical ending.

What might have been (significantly) more logical is making an initial attack against a single American city, waiting just long enough for the news to filter over to the Russians, and then making a second attack. That way no confusion on the part of the Russians (or rather they'd be confused the way you wanted them to).

The other thing is that for it to actually work, you'd need to somehow leave the world with an actual threat from Manhattan that would carry over for more than a few years. If Doc attacks once and then leaves, how long are people actually going to be scared (same applies to giant squid).


#129

R

Raemon777

BTW, I just rewatched "The Avatar State" and I agree with whoever said earlier that it is one of the best places to introduce people to the show. It pretty much introduces all the major running themes of the show in a single episode and has good acting to boot.


#130

@Li3n

@Li3n

Raemon777 said:
The other thing is that for it to actually work, you'd need to somehow leave the world with an actual threat from Manhattan that would carry over for more than a few years. If Doc attacks once and then leaves, how long are people actually going to be scared (same applies to giant squid).
Click to expand...
That's why Ozy is needed alive... that was all part of the plan.

But with Manhattan it would be harder as how would Ozy make it so that people don't give in to despair against unstoppable, random attacks by one guy? The fake aliens could easily be leaving bodies or get killed by people even while keeping the threat real...


#131

Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

Man, am I glad I'm not taking part in this shit again. It looks almost as fun as it did a year ago.


#132

@Li3n

@Li3n

Well we're trying...


Oh and the book did take into account how ridiculous the squid was as Owl thought Ozy was delusional... but once it happened no one would consider it ridiculous.


#133

fade

fade

escushion said:
Man, am I glad I'm not taking part in this shit again. It looks almost as fun as it did a year ago.
Click to expand...
Why? there's no drama here. People have different opinions. I think everyone understands that some of the meaning, possibly a lot, was stripped from the movie. But that doesn't make it bad in and of itself. That's true of any adaptation.

I do disagree with @Li3n still. I don't care if Dr. Manhattan had kept the USSR in check before--when he starts blowing up cities, it's a different thing entirely.


#134

@Li3n

@Li3n

fade said:
I do disagree with @Li3n still. I don't care if Dr. Manhattan had kept the USSR in check before--when he starts blowing up cities, it's a different thing entirely.
Click to expand...
Way to miss the point... the idea was that they where all already scared of him, now they should all be frickin' running for the hills, not partnering up, because hey know they can't stop him. The only thing keeping the US from attacking the USSR was that Manhattan said he couldn't get all their nukes in time...

But the fear thing work for the russian retaliating before they confirmed it happened to the americans too...


#135

fade

fade

What are you talking about? I didn't miss the point at all (and what an rude way to say it). That was the entire point--to bring everyone together against some big common scary thing instead of against one another. I mean, Veidt comes out and says that! That was practically the thesis of the whole "I'm not some Saturday morning cartoon villain" speech.


#136

Shaw Coyote

Shaw Coyote

2 new "trailers" out! One is from the kids choice awards, and one is from overseas, showing some new footage!







I'm really digging the look of the live action bending. Also, the scene with Katara and Zuko is pretty much verbatim from the show.

edit: New video put in, showing the japanese trailer.


#137

Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

And it's been removed!


#138

Shaw Coyote

Shaw Coyote

Also, new full length trailer that may be playing in front of Iron Man 2.



#139

Shaw Coyote

Shaw Coyote

Wow. I can not WAIT for this movie!



#140

Gusto

Gusto

Wow!

The Blue Spirit is gonna be in this movie!? Heck yes!


#141

AshburnerX

AshburnerX

Their doing stuff with the Blue Spirit? Nice. Things are looking a bit up now.


#142

Wahad

Wahad

Was that...

Was that a dragon? Or was it just a really obscured Koh?


#143

Gusto

Gusto

Wahad said:
Was that...

Was that a dragon? Or was it just a really obscured Koh?
Click to expand...
I saw a dragon, which is probably
a reference to the Summer Solstice (Roku's Dragon).


#144

Wahad

Wahad

Oooh. That makes sense. I forgot all about that episode.


#145

Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

Even though it's the key exposition episode for the series? :p


#146

Wahad

Wahad

No I forgot that there was a dragon in that episode. I was thinking about the

episode where Aang and Zuko meet the [STRIKE]mayans[/STRIKE] sun people


#147

evilmike

evilmike

The Last Airbender

The Last Airbender, now with extra Momo



#148

Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

"AlsoIn2D!"

Silly advertisements.


#149



Biardo

yaay, momo!

although he doesn't look that good I fear, you can clearly see he's cgi :eek:hwell:


#150

Frank

Frankie Williamson

escushion said:
"AlsoIn2D!"

Silly advertisements.
Click to expand...
The Last Airbender in 3Deeeee, also in 2Deeeeee, rated PGeeeeee.


#151

Tinwhistler

Tinwhistler

The short clips I'm seeing of the kid playing Sokka make me really worry about this movie.


#152

Hylian

Hylian

I want to be excited for the movie but I am really nervous about it. I am concerned over the acting abilities as well as the story line. I just can't see how they are going to cram all of season 1 into one movie without ripping it the heart of the beast out. That being said I still plan on watching it in theater.


#153

Baerdog

Baerdog

Tinwhistler said:
The short clips I'm seeing of the kid playing Sokka make me really worry about this movie.
Click to expand...
Yeah the actor playing Sokka seems like annoying crap.


#154

sixpackshaker

sixpackshaker

Baerdog;404117][QUOTE=Tinwhistler said:
The short clips I'm seeing of the kid playing Sokka make me really worry about this movie.
Click to expand...
Yeah the actor playing Sokka seems like annoying crap.[/QUOTE]

THEN HE'S PERFECT


#155

AshburnerX

AshburnerX

sixpackshaker;404181][QUOTE=Baerdog;404117][QUOTE=Tinwhistler said:
The short clips I'm seeing of the kid playing Sokka make me really worry about this movie.
Click to expand...
Yeah the actor playing Sokka seems like annoying crap.[/QUOTE]

THEN HE'S PERFECT[/QUOTE]

I gotta say... he's right on the money in that regard. Sokka didn't really become USEFUL until late in Season 1 anyway.

Also, I found a Manga style adaption of the movie in a store today. It was right next to a Manga adaption of the last few episodes of season one. The art style was different between the two... and I quietly shook with rage and how STUPID it was. If your going to make a live action adaption of an animated series, at least have the decency to make the Manga adaption LOOK like the animated series! ESPECIALLY IF YOU ALREADY HAVE A MANGA ADAPTION OUT!


#156

Tinwhistler

Tinwhistler

It's not Sokka as a character that I'm worried about. It's that we hardly see him at all in the trailers, and every bit we do see, the acting is horrible.


#157

phil

phil

If anything kills the movie it'll be the acting I'd wager. I mean, child actors aren't always known for being all that great. I imagine it'll be, at most, not distracting.


Interesting random tidbit I heard though: apparently the kid playing Aang trained at the ATA schools here in Texas. While I initially thought that was kind of cool it accrued to me that the kid was probably mostly chosen for knowing martial arts. So again there's something that'll make me think that the acting is going to be sub-par.


#158

Hylian

Hylian

here is another trailer




#159

phil

phil

Ebert hated it.


The Last Airbender :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews

The Last Airbender
BY ROGER EBERT / June 30, 2010
cast & credits
Aang Noah Ringer
Prince Zuko Dev Patel
Katara Nicola Peltz
Sokka Jackson Rathbone
Uncle Iroh Shaun Toub
Commander Zhao Aasif Mandvi
Fire Lord Ozai Cliff Curtis
Princess Yue Seychelle Gabriel

Paramount presents a film directed by M. Night Shyamalan. Screenplay by Running time: 103 minutes. MPAA rating: PG (for fantasy action violence).
Printer-friendly »
E-mail this to a friend »


"The Last Airbender" is an agonizing experience in every category I can think of and others still waiting to be invented. The laws of chance suggest that something should have gone right. Not here. It puts a nail in the coffin of low-rent 3D, but it will need a lot more coffins than that.

Let's start with the 3D, which was added as an afterthought to a 2D movie. Not only is it unexploited and unnecessary, but it's a disaster even if you like 3D. M. Night Shyamalan's retrofit produces the drabbest, darkest, dingiest movie of any sort I've seen in years. You know something is wrong when the screen is filled with flames that have the vibrancy of faded Polaroids. It's a known fact that 3D causes a measurable decrease in perceived brightness, but "Airbender" looks like it was filmed with a dirty sheet over the lens.

Now for the movie itself. The first fatal decision was to make a live-action film out of material that was born to be anime. The animation of the Nickelodeon TV series drew on the bright colors and "clear line" style of such masters as Miyazaki, and was a pleasure to observe. It's in the very nature of animation to make absurd visual sights more plausible.

Since "Airbender" involves the human manipulation of the forces of air, earth, water and fire, there is hardly an event that can be rendered plausibly in live action. That said, its special effects are atrocious. The first time the waterbender Katara summons a globe of water, which then splashes (offscreen) on her brother Sokka, he doesn't even get wet. Firebenders' flames don't seem to really burn, and so on.

The story takes place in the future, after Man has devastated the planet and survives in the form of beings with magical powers allowing them to influence earth, water and fire. These warring factions are held in uneasy harmony by the Avatar, but the Avatar has disappeared, and Earth lives in a state of constant turmoil caused by the warlike Firebenders.

Our teenage heroes Katara and Sokka discover a child frozen in the ice. This is Aang (Noah Ringer), and they come to suspect he may be the Avatar, or Last Airbender. Perhaps he can bring harmony and quell the violent Firebenders. This plot is incomprehensible, apart from the helpful orientation that we like Katara, Sokka and Aang and are therefore against their enemies.

The dialogue is couched in unspeakable quasi-medieval formalities; the characters are so portentous they seem to have been trained for grade school historical pageants. Their dialogue is functional and action-driven. There is little conviction that any of this might be real even in their minds. All of the benders in the movie appear only in terms of their attributes and functions, and contain no personality.

Potentially interesting details are botched. Consider the great iron ships of the Firebenders. These show potential as Steampunk, but are never caressed for their intricacies. Consider the detail Miyazaki lavished on Howl's Moving Castle. Trying sampling a Nickelodeon clip from the original show to glimpse the look that might have been.

After the miscalculation of making the movie as live action, there remained the challenge of casting it. Shyamalan has failed. His first inexplicable mistake was to change the races of the leading characters; on television Aang was clearly Asian, and so were Katara and Sokka, with perhaps Mongolian and Inuit genes. Here they're all whites. This casting makes no sense because (1) It's a distraction for fans of the hugely popular TV series, and (2) all three actors are pretty bad. I don't say they're untalented, I say they've been poorly served by Shyamalan and the script. They are bland, stiff, awkward and unconvincing. Little Aang reminds me of Wallace Shawn as a child. This is not a bad thing (he should only grow into Shawn's shoes), but doesn't the role require little Andre, not little Wally?

As the villain, Shyamalan has cast Cliff Curtis as Fire Lord Ozai and Dev Patel (the hero of "Slumdog Millionaire") as his son Prince Zuko. This is all wrong. In material at this melodramatic level, you need teeth-gnashers, not leading men. Indeed, all of the acting seems inexplicably muted. I've been an admirer of many of Shyamalan's films, but action and liveliness are not his strong points. I fear he takes the theology of the Bending universe seriously.

As "The Last Airbender" bores and alienates its audiences, consider the opportunities missed here. (1) This material should have become an A-list animated film. (2) It was a blunder jumping aboard the 3D bandwagon with phony 3D retro-fitted to a 2D film. (3) If it had to be live action, better special effects artists should have been found. It's not as if films like "2012" and "Knowing" didn't contain "real life" illusions as spectacular as anything called for in "The Last Airbender."

I close with the hope that the title proves prophetic.
Click to expand...


#160

figmentPez

figmentPez

phil said:
Ebert hated it.
Click to expand...
I was about to dismiss him as the grumpy old man that he is, but after reading it he's probably right. He even praises the animated series at several points.


#161

Tinwhistler

Tinwhistler

0% so far on rotten tomatoes
The Last Airbender Movie Reviews, Pictures - Rotten Tomatoes


'The Last Airbender' review | Metromix Chicago
Let’s just be honest: M. Night Shyamalan is an idiot
Click to expand...
:D


#162

phil

phil

Jeeze, 8 reviews so far on Rotten Tomatoes plus a friend of mine who got to see an early showing. I guess I'll save this one for the dollar theater.


#163



Soliloquy

I'm seeing it with a rather obsessed friend tonight. I never really had high hopes for the movie (it looked to me like it'd be garbage from the trailer), but he was convinced it would be awesome.

We shall see.


#164

Hylian

Hylian

Well based on recent reviews it seems my fears are founded and I probably won't bother watching it in theaters maybe when it hits DVD I will rent it.


#165

AshburnerX

AshburnerX

I've been a little touchy about Ebert ever since his comment "Games aren't and can never be Art", but I've a little less hostility for him now. He basically echoes all of my points:

1.) It should have been an animated movie, finishing off the story and remaining plot threads of the series (Finding Zuko's Mother, political changes from Fire Nation's surrender, fate of the Air Nomads as a culture now that Aang is around to rebuild it, whether or not Avatar cycle is gone or not since Aang regained it's powers). Retelling the story makes no sense when you can just watch the series, which is still on TV.

2.) They shouldn't have cleansed the ethnicities of the main characters, because it's distracting and insulting.

3.) M. Night Shyamalan hasn't made a good movie since before The Village and never should have been the director. Attaching a big name isn't always a good idea.

4.) Making it 3D was a bad and unneeded move. I know everyone wants to make movies 3D because they think people want 3D for the sake of 3D (Hint: We don't. We only want it when it's done well) and it's harder to pirate movies in 3D (because your losing resolution with the camera and not everyone has glasses for it at home), but it's not catching on.

As it is, they've basically ruined the franchise and the best we're likely to ever see from it again is ether a direct to video movie (That'd be nice) or a manga series.


#166

sixpackshaker

sixpackshaker

and why do people insist on calling this anime?

It is as anime as Scooby-Do.


#167

Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

We had planned to give this a chance, even though the trailers looked bad.

Now reading Ebert's review, I'm thinking "rental" and we'll just see Toy Story 3 this weekend.


#168

R

Raemon777

You haven't seen Toy Story 3 yet? Dude, I saw it already and I'm probably seeing it again this weekend instead of Airbender anyway. That shit is amazing.


#169

Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

I know, but DG was out of state and I didn't want to see it without her. We were planning to go Saturday, realized Airbender was out, considering changing plans... and now we're back to the old plan.


#170

Charlie Don't Surf

The Lovely Boehner

Hahahahah EVERYONE hates this movie. And not just dislikes it mildly, but every critic is lining up just completely upset that they had to experience it. Amazing. I can't wait to read internet posters trying to defend it and call it a good movie. One of my favorites on twitter said it was just a pain to watch, not even bad-funny like The Happening. I hate to say this, but I can't wait for Eclipse to destroy it at the box office this weekend.


#171

AshburnerX

AshburnerX

sixpackshaker said:
and why do people insist on calling this anime?

It is as anime as Scooby-Do.
Click to expand...
Probably because the entire art style was based on Eastern influences like Miyazaki and Osamu Tezuka? Honestly, it's probably a better indicator to judge animation by it's style than it's country of origin, as it's less confusing. Hell, Japan has cartoon series like Stitch! (Lilo & Stitch, set in Okinawa instead of Hawaii) and Transformers Animated that were made in Japan, but based on Western styles. Calling THEM Cartoons makes more sense than call them Anime, even if they are made in Japan. Even Europe has shows that are based on eastern stylings (namely Code Lyoko and Ōban Star-Racers) that have been widely distributed and localized. Would you call them Anime, despite being concieved and developed in Europe? Or would you call them Cartoons, despite being based on Japanese animation traditions?

Honestly, the Anime and Cartoon geeks need to get together and hash this one out, because it's confusing as hell.


#172



Oddbot

It has a lower score than Twilight Saga: Eclipse...



oh, and fuck you Shamalamadingdong.


#173



Soliloquy

Just saw it with my friend. I am actually amazed at how awful it is for such a big budget movie.

I am seriously thinking about buying this on DVD just so I can use it as a reference for all the possible pitfalls a person can make when writing a movie. It failed in ways I didn't even realize were possible.

For example: Remember at the end of Unbreakable, when the big twist is followed by a idiotic text explanation of what happened next, creating an odd pacing that makes you feel a bit ill at ease? Well, the pacing for this movie will make you feel that way for the entire film. Plus, there's a grand total of zero time spent getting to know the characters, the movie's theme seems to change every ten minutes, the direction didn't even try to take advantage of the 3D, And the fight scenes were often filled with soldiers standing around making odd postures with their weapons and not showing any concern about actually attacking.

Everything felt so... off. So forced. So Arbitrary. So Nonsensical. Usually the kind of money that goes into a movie like is kept away from incompetence of the magnitude found here.

Shyamalan's career is dead. He won't get another chance after this.


#174

Charlie Don't Surf

The Lovely Boehner

The reason it didn't take advantage of the 3D is that it was shoved into 3D theaters after it was already made. Anyone that pays 3D prices for this movie is getting completely robbed, because it's not a 3D movie


#175

sixpackshaker

sixpackshaker

Shama-whatsa-who's-it seems to be the George Lucas of this generation. He makes 2 good movies, and coasts for the next 30 years on reputation alone.


#176

Covar

Covar

Soliloquy said:
Just saw it with my friend. I am actually amazed at how awful it is for such a big budget movie.

I am seriously thinking about buying this on DVD just so I can use it as a reference for all the possible pitfalls a person can make when writing a movie. It failed in ways I didn't even realize were possible.

For example: Remember at the end of Unbreakable, when the big twist is followed by a idiotic text explanation of what happened next, creating an odd pacing that makes you feel a bit ill at ease? Well, the pacing for this movie will make you feel that way for the entire film. Plus, there's a grand total of zero time spent getting to know the characters, the movie's theme seems to change every ten minutes, the direction didn't even try to take advantage of the 3D, And the fight scenes were often filled with soldiers standing around making odd postures with their weapons and not showing any concern about actually attacking.

Everything felt so... off. So forced. So Arbitrary. So Nonsensical. Usually the kind of money that goes into a movie like is kept away from incompetence of the magnitude found here.

Shyamalan's career is dead. He won't get another chance after this.
Click to expand...
Were you a fan of the show? I'm curious as to how much bad characterization is them expecting the audience to know the characters.


#177

KEM

KEM

hmmm, I don't put much stock in film reviews as a rule. If I want to see something, I'll see it. But my desire to see a film can be affected by the general vibe surrounding it. In this case it seems the the vibe is so universally negative that it is draining my desire to see this film. The fact that the negativity goes beyond people disagreeing with the direction he took the story. I didn't care as much about the whole 'he didn't cast enough asians' complaint, not so much because I didn't agree with it per se, but because I willing to give his vision of the film a chance. Well it sounds like his vision didn't work out so well.

It's really quite a shame, as this could very well have been Shyamalan's last real chance to revitalize his career. It's also a shame as this likely kills The Last Airbender as a film franchise. Ah well, I've got Season 1 on DVD so I'll likely continue my way through that this weekend. I suppose if my friends still want to see this I'll go if nothing else out of morbid curiosity.


#178

Espy

Espy

You know, I have always hoped M. Night would get his groove back but... seems like it might be time for him to move on to something else.


#179



Soliloquy

Covar;408311][QUOTE=Soliloquy said:
Just saw it with my friend. I am actually amazed at how awful it is for such a big budget movie.

I am seriously thinking about buying this on DVD just so I can use it as a reference for all the possible pitfalls a person can make when writing a movie. It failed in ways I didn't even realize were possible.

For example: Remember at the end of Unbreakable, when the big twist is followed by a idiotic text explanation of what happened next, creating an odd pacing that makes you feel a bit ill at ease? Well, the pacing for this movie will make you feel that way for the entire film. Plus, there's a grand total of zero time spent getting to know the characters, the movie's theme seems to change every ten minutes, the direction didn't even try to take advantage of the 3D, And the fight scenes were often filled with soldiers standing around making odd postures with their weapons and not showing any concern about actually attacking.

Everything felt so... off. So forced. So Arbitrary. So Nonsensical. Usually the kind of money that goes into a movie like is kept away from incompetence of the magnitude found here.

Shyamalan's career is dead. He won't get another chance after this.
Click to expand...
Were you a fan of the show? I'm curious as to how much bad characterization is them expecting the audience to know the characters.[/QUOTE]

I think that's true to a point... I've only watched one or two episodes of the show. But I feel like the only reason I was even able to follow the movie was because I already knew something about the characters.


#180

Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

Sol's review makes it sound like M Night just had no idea what to do with this, as in, it was direction out of his depth. He's not used to having lots of people in the background, for example, so he didn't think of making the idea of a big battle convincing much of an issue.

And everything I read makes it sound like they turned everyone's powers into just different colored energy, as opposed to treating them like actual elements with creative uses. It's just Dragonball Z at that point.


#181

Charlie Don't Surf

The Lovely Boehner

KEM said:
hmmm, I don't put much stock in film reviews as a rule. If I want to see something, I'll see it. But my desire to see a film can be affected by the general vibe surrounding it.
Click to expand...
helpful hint: the "vibe" about a movie comes from film critics


#182

Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

The Lovely Boner;408777][QUOTE=KEM said:
hmmm, I don't put much stock in film reviews as a rule. If I want to see something, I'll see it. But my desire to see a film can be affected by the general vibe surrounding it.
Click to expand...
helpful hint: the "vibe" about a movie comes from film critics[/QUOTE]

I think the trailers have been helping for a while now though.


#183

Frank

Frankie Williamson

Not having seen much of the show, beyond a couple of episodes, I can safely say that from a non-Avatar fan's point of view that it was a huge, unadulterated sack of liquefied AIDS virus'.

One of the worst God damn movies I have ever seen and deserving of every negative review it got. A friend of mine, however, who is also not a fan thought it was pleasant enough. She also has the worst fucking taste in movies in the history of the world actually making such claims as, "Gamer wasn't a bad movie, it had really unique and terrific cinematography." so take that shit with a grain of shit.


#184

Telephius

Telephius

Frank said:
Not having seen much of the show, beyond a couple of episodes, I can safely say that from a non-Avatar fan's point of view that it was a huge, unadulterated sack of liquefied AIDS virus'.

One of the worst God damn movies I have ever seen and deserving of every negative review it got. A friend of mine, however, who is also not a fan thought it was pleasant enough. She also has the worst fucking taste in movies in the history of the world actually making such claims as, "Gamer wasn't a bad movie, it had really unique and terrific cinematography." so take that shit with a grain of shit.
Click to expand...
Gamer was a fun movie, wasn't a great movie by any stretch but it had the redeeming quality of having Milo Ventimiglia's character getting foricbly bent over Gerard Butler's knee. I don't care what the character's name was in the movie it was acceptible because Peter Petrelli got owned in that movie. :p


#185



Iaculus

Internet quote of the day:

Considering that Avatar is very loved by many people and it is being lumped with movies like Eragon and The Phantom Menace (neither of which were amazingly bad) makes me think that it will be ok.
Click to expand...
:rofl:


#186

Frank

Frankie Williamson

Telephius;408903][QUOTE=Frank said:
Not having seen much of the show, beyond a couple of episodes, I can safely say that from a non-Avatar fan's point of view that it was a huge, unadulterated sack of liquefied AIDS virus'.

One of the worst God damn movies I have ever seen and deserving of every negative review it got. A friend of mine, however, who is also not a fan thought it was pleasant enough. She also has the worst fucking taste in movies in the history of the world actually making such claims as, "Gamer wasn't a bad movie, it had really unique and terrific cinematography." so take that shit with a grain of shit.
Click to expand...
Gamer was a fun movie, wasn't a great movie by any stretch but it had the redeeming quality of having Milo Ventimiglia's character getting foricbly bent over Gerard Butler's knee. I don't care what the character's name was in the movie it was acceptible because Peter Petrelli got owned in that movie. :p[/QUOTE]

Gamer was hilarious. But that doesn't stop it from being one of the most insane pieces of garbage ever put to film. The point is, she defends it as a "good" movie.


#187

Gusto

Gusto

Guys.

GUYS.

I have tickets to see it tonight.




I am concerned.

It can't possibly be worse than G.I. Joe, can it!?


#188

Frank

Frankie Williamson

Yes.

It's not quite as offensive as Transformers 2, but it tries.


#189

Charlie Don't Surf

The Lovely Boehner

Gamer is actually really good in most of the ways a movie can be good.


#190

KEM

KEM

The Lovely Boner;408777][QUOTE=KEM said:
hmmm, I don't put much stock in film reviews as a rule. If I want to see something, I'll see it. But my desire to see a film can be affected by the general vibe surrounding it.
Click to expand...
helpful hint: the "vibe" about a movie comes from film critics[/QUOTE]Not necessarily, the "vibe" can come from a place like this as well. Unless you're saying that everyone's opinion here is based solely on what is written by film critics, which I kind of doubt.

Now I did end up seeing this film last night with some friends, and I have to say that while it wasn't as good a film as it could have been I don't think it deserves nearly as much of the hate that has been spewed at it. It probably could have used another 15-20 minutes to flesh out the story, it was a bit "jumpy" at times particularly in the beginning.

If you're at all curious about the film, I would go see it and form your own opinion. Now I recognize that if you see it and end up hating it you may never trust my film advice again. But then again that's probably for the best... :p

(stealth edit)I should add though, do not bother with the 3D. The film was not shot for 3D at all so there was no real 'depth' for the 3D to take advantage of. So I would save your money and just watch the film 'as it was intended' (so to speak).



---------- Post added at 02:47 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:37 PM ----------
escushion said:
Sol's review makes it sound like M Night just had no idea what to do with this, as in, it was direction out of his depth. He's not used to having lots of people in the background, for example, so he didn't think of making the idea of a big battle convincing much of an issue.
Click to expand...
That's probably not unfair, although I think the action/martial arts director/coordinator probably has as much to do with that as anything. But now that you bring that up, I did notice a number of scenes where the camera was really tight on the actors' faces, so that may well be M. Night's "comfort zone", so to speak.

And everything I read makes it sound like they turned everyone's powers into just different colored energy, as opposed to treating them like actual elements with creative uses. It's just Dragonball Z at that point.
Click to expand...
I have to say I didn't really see this at all. I thought that they utilized the elements themselves well enough.


#191



Soliloquy

I get the feeling that fans of the show will be more willing to overlook the film's thousand-and-one flaws, since as far as I can tell from what little I know, the story stays true to the series.

But if you don't already know exactly what's going on, you're going to hate it. To death.

---------- Post added at 08:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:32 PM ----------
KEM said:
And everything I read makes it sound like they turned everyone's powers into just different colored energy, as opposed to treating them like actual elements with creative uses. It's just Dragonball Z at that point.
Click to expand...
I have to say I didn't really see this at all. I thought that they utilized the elements themselves well enough.
Click to expand...
Well, let's take the example of the fight between Zuko and Katara around the holy... pond... thing.

Since Shyamalan decided to make it so the firebenders need a source of flame to be able to use their powers, Zuko sets fire to some of the grass around the pond.

Man... if only there were some sort of thing in the pond that could be used to extinguish these fires. Some sort of... wet thing that Katara could somehow control and try to put the fire out.

But since no such, wet, extinguishing thing exists as far as I know, Katara just uses the pond's water to try to blast Zuko, and to defend herself from Zuko's fire blasts.


#192

phil

phil

fire benders can't just make their own fire? That's such a large part of their strength, I thought.


And is it really set in some distant post apocalyptic future on earth? When Ebert said that in his review I figured he just assumed that and wasn't familiar with the show that much.


#193



Soliloquy

phil said:
fire benders can't just make their own fire? That's such a large part of their strength, I thought.


And is it really set in some distant post apocalyptic future on earth? When Ebert said that in his review I figured he just assumed that and wasn't familiar with the show that much.
Click to expand...
No, it has nothing to do with a post-apocalyptic future. Though the film does such a bad job explaining itself, it doesn't surprise me that someone thinks that.


#194

KEM

KEM

Soliloquy said:
I get the feeling that fans of the show will be more willing to overlook the film's thousand-and-one flaws, since as far as I can tell from what little I know, the story stays true to the series.

But if you don't already know exactly what's going on, you're going to hate it. To death.

---------- Post added at 08:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:32 PM ----------
Click to expand...

Well the ones that aren't up in arms because they didn't cast enough Asians in the lead roles.
KEM said:
And everything I read makes it sound like they turned everyone's powers into just different colored energy, as opposed to treating them like actual elements with creative uses. It's just Dragonball Z at that point.
Click to expand...
I have to say I didn't really see this at all. I thought that they utilized the elements themselves well enough.
Click to expand...
Well, let's take the example of the fight between Zuko and Katara around the holy... pond... thing.

Since Shyamalan decided to make it so the firebenders need a source of flame to be able to use their powers, Zuko sets fire to some of the grass around the pond.

Man... if only there were some sort of thing in the pond that could be used to extinguish these fires. Some sort of... wet thing that Katara could somehow control and try to put the fire out.

But since no such, wet, extinguishing thing exists as far as I know, Katara just uses the pond's water to try to blast Zuko, and to defend herself from Zuko's fire blasts.
Click to expand...
So while she's trying to move enough water up to his location to his location to make sure she extinguishes all the flames, Zuko is supposed to be sporting or something and not try and burn her face off? Zuko had the drop on her and the high ground (make your own Obi-wan/Annakin reference here...) so it was pretty much all she could do to defend herself and Aang.

---------- Post added at 05:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:11 PM ----------
phil said:
fire benders can't just make their own fire? That's such a large part of their strength, I thought.
Click to expand...
In the film it seems that only the really powerful fire-benders can generate their own fire.


And is it really set in some distant post apocalyptic future on earth? When Ebert said that in his review I figured he just assumed that and wasn't familiar with the show that much.
Click to expand...
There's no suggestion or hint of that being the case. I suspect that's a case of Ebert having a bit too vivid imagination of his own.


#195



Soliloquy

KEM said:
[/COLOR]
KEM said:
And everything I read makes it sound like they turned everyone's powers into just different colored energy, as opposed to treating them like actual elements with creative uses. It's just Dragonball Z at that point.
Click to expand...
I have to say I didn't really see this at all. I thought that they utilized the elements themselves well enough.
Click to expand...
Well, let's take the example of the fight between Zuko and Katara around the holy... pond... thing.

Since Shyamalan decided to make it so the firebenders need a source of flame to be able to use their powers, Zuko sets fire to some of the grass around the pond.

Man... if only there were some sort of thing in the pond that could be used to extinguish these fires. Some sort of... wet thing that Katara could somehow control and try to put the fire out.

But since no such, wet, extinguishing thing exists as far as I know, Katara just uses the pond's water to try to blast Zuko, and to defend herself from Zuko's fire blasts.
Click to expand...
So while she's trying to move enough water up to his location to his location to make sure she extinguishes all the flames, Zuko is supposed to be sporting or something and not try and burn her face off? Zuko had the drop on her and the high ground (make your own Obi-wan/Annakin reference here...) so it was pretty much all she could do to defend herself and Aang.
Click to expand...


Well, I guess what I'm getting at is that the fighting strategies never seem to take advantage of the elements' specific properties, save for about... twice that I can think of.

I mean, yeah, Katara probably wouldn't have succeeded, but she could have at least tried something other than the same blast/defend with a wall strategy everyone uses in every fight throughout the entire movie.


#196

Gusto

Gusto

OH GOD IT WAS SO BAD

Actually at the very end it is mentioned that when Sozin's Comet returns in three years, it will give ALL firebenders the ability to bend their own fire. The only person who did it in the movie was Iroh.


#197

Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

Gusto said:
OH GOD IT WAS SO BAD

Actually at the very end it is mentioned that when Sozin's Comet returns in three years, it will give ALL firebenders the ability to bend their own fire. The only person who did it in the movie was Iroh.
Click to expand...
Three years until the comet?

Well, I'm glad they ditched that sense of urgency.


#198

Gusto

Gusto

escushion;409307][QUOTE=Gusto said:
OH GOD IT WAS SO BAD

Actually at the very end it is mentioned that when Sozin's Comet returns in three years, it will give ALL firebenders the ability to bend their own fire. The only person who did it in the movie was Iroh.
Click to expand...
Three years until the comet?

Well, I'm glad they ditched that sense of urgency.[/QUOTE]

It makes sense in a movie-making perspective, because the Harry Potter Effect will have definitely taken hold by the third book's film.

Also, in the movie, just about everyone's name is mispronounced. Why? They have PLENTY of source material to work from!


#199

Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

But in Harry Potter, we see the course of a year take place within the film, and all we miss is the summer break.

So spacing it out like that really makes no sense for Airbender. Not to mention, they did it by a few months in the show, and that took place across three years.

And I have to wonder if this is even going to get a sequel. I have a feeling that its own terribleness and the release of Eclipse will have crushed it for this weekend.


#200



Iaculus

Budget: $150,000,000

Gross revenue: $16,350,000

Source: Wikipedia.


#201

KEM

KEM

Gusto said:
Also, in the movie, just about everyone's name is mispronounced. Why? They have PLENTY of source material to work from!
Click to expand...
Technically the movie is actually using the proper pronunciations of these asian-inspired names. The TV series actually 'americanizes' the pronunciation.


#202

KEM

KEM

Iaculus said:
Budget: $150,000,000

Gross revenue: $16,350,000

Source: Wikipedia.
Click to expand...
That's just for the opening day. Estimated figures for the weekend box office won't be available until late Sunday with final figures appearing on Monday.


#203

KEM

KEM

Soliloquy said:
Well, I guess what I'm getting at is that the fighting strategies never seem to take advantage of the elements' specific properties, save for about... twice that I can think of.

I mean, yeah, Katara probably wouldn't have succeeded, but she could have at least tried something other than the same blast/defend with a wall strategy everyone uses in every fight throughout the entire movie.
Click to expand...
So you're saying she should have done something that wouldn't have succeeded rather than something that would work? Zuko had the advantage on her and he had the sense to set fire to the grass so he would have had more than one source of flame. So he basically took into account that strategy and countered it.

I guess I see what you saying in general, but I still disagree with the characterization that it's just 'different colored lights'.


#204

Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

Iaculus said:
Budget: $150,000,000

Gross revenue: $16,350,000

Source: Wikipedia.
Click to expand...
Fail.

I think we have another Golden Compass on our hands.


#205

evilmike

evilmike

escushion;409366][QUOTE=Iaculus said:
Budget: $150,000,000

Gross revenue: $16,350,000

Source: Wikipedia.
Click to expand...
Fail.

I think we have another Golden Compass on our hands.[/QUOTE]

Given how horrible the buzz is on this movie, I can't expect it to have any legs whatsoever. With that being said, I don't think we can really call it over until we see the numbers through Monday. Remember, this $16 million figure is a single day total for a non-Friday opening number.

Also, here's a somewhat spoilery breakdown on what got left out of the movie, as well as a few comments on how the movie erred in general: What the Last Airbender TV series has that the movie doesn't


#206

Charlie Don't Surf

The Lovely Boehner

Iaculus said:
Budget: $150,000,000

Gross revenue: $16,350,000

Source: Wikipedia.
Click to expand...

days in release: 1


#207

Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

evilmike;409369][QUOTE=escushion;409366][QUOTE=Iaculus said:
Budget: $150,000,000

Gross revenue: $16,350,000

Source: Wikipedia.
Click to expand...
Fail.

I think we have another Golden Compass on our hands.[/QUOTE]

Given how horrible the buzz is on this movie, I can't expect it to have any legs whatsoever. With that being said, I don't think we can really call it over until we see the numbers through Monday. Remember, this $16 million figure is a single day total for a non-Friday opening number.

Also, here's a somewhat spoilery breakdown on what got left out of the movie, as well as a few comments on how the movie erred in general: What the Last Airbender TV series has that the movie doesn't[/QUOTE]

I think some of that, such as the Yue complaints, illustrated how things should've just been cut rather than trying to stick with them at all. If you're just going to say "Sokka was in love with Yue" and then they are, there's no emotional resonance with anything going on with her. So the relationship itself should have been cut from the film.

I'm sure one could run through the whole film noting the stupid decisions, what could've been cut, should've been put in, but it sounds like the adaptation process was only one of the many bungled parts of doing this.


#208

Gusto

Gusto

KEM;409350][QUOTE=Gusto said:
Also, in the movie, just about everyone's name is mispronounced. Why? They have PLENTY of source material to work from!
Click to expand...
Technically the movie is actually using the proper pronunciations of these asian-inspired names. The TV series actually 'americanizes' the pronunciation.[/QUOTE]

...So?

The movie is BASED on that show.


#209

filmfanatic

filmfanatic

I just saw it.

Why, Shyamalan? Why?


#210

Frank

Frankie Williamson

escushion said:
But in Harry Potter, we see the course of a year take place within the film, and all we miss is the summer break.

So spacing it out like that really makes no sense for Airbender. Not to mention, they did it by a few months in the show, and that took place across three years.

And I have to wonder if this is even going to get a sequel. I have a feeling that its own terribleness and the release of Eclipse will have crushed it for this weekend.
Click to expand...
I think you misunderstand. I'm pretty sure what he means is that the kids are going to age, regardless. If they said it was coming in three months and it takes 3-4 years to make all 3 movies, the kids are not going to be kids anymore. Fuck, Sokka is already barely a "kid".


#211

Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

Frank;409628][QUOTE=escushion said:
But in Harry Potter, we see the course of a year take place within the film, and all we miss is the summer break.

So spacing it out like that really makes no sense for Airbender. Not to mention, they did it by a few months in the show, and that took place across three years.

And I have to wonder if this is even going to get a sequel. I have a feeling that its own terribleness and the release of Eclipse will have crushed it for this weekend.
Click to expand...
I think you misunderstand. I'm pretty sure what he means is that the kids are going to age, regardless. If they said it was coming in three months and it takes 3-4 years to make all 3 movies, the kids are not going to be kids anymore. Fuck, Sokka is already barely a "kid".[/QUOTE]

Oh, got it, understood.

That's what prevented any further A Series of Unfortunate Events movies. Sunny is supposed to stay a baby through the whole series.


#212



Chibibar

I saw it opening night cause my friends got us FREE ticket to go see it. I am going to put under spoiler just in case some people haven't seen the anime (I call it anime cause of style not place it was made) on TV

Note: I am a huge fan of the show except I still believe that book 2 and 3 was a bit rushed and should have book 4: air
I also agree that the movie should have animated instead to keep the same voices
I also agree that the movie should follow the anime - continuation and possible more back story. (since the anime is done an there won't be anymore. There might be a newer series later but different cast - Rumor)

First the ethnic change was a bad call from day one. I don't like it. They should have kept the Asian in it. Heck, even the elements writing was changes... blah. Maybe they hate Chinese. I don't know

Name change - If the movie is going to be base on the show, they should have kept the SAME pronunciation. some may argue it is more "Asian" style, but I find it VERY distracting.

The cutscene is horrible. I don't mind narrative story but oh god. Instead of a movie, it is like reading a scrapbook (poorly done version) project. At least they should do like Indiana Jones style with the world map and show their progress from one city to the next.

What is with Admiral Zhao teleporting back and forth to the Fire Nation capital? I mean, I saw the map, and the rate that Admiral is moving in the movie, that is near impossible. Boat move faster than Flying Bison?

Momo was never named. Just a flying Lemur that happen to follow Aang around.

What is with Aang using air bending to disable soldiers (like in the Zuko's boat and other attack with Blue Spirite) but refuse to use water bending the same way? Some say he is using air defensively, but it is more of an attack (non lethal for sure but still) but not water. The movie never really touches on that.

Line deliverance of each character was pretty poor. Katara's role was poorly done. Sokka suppose to be funny AND a great tactician but noooo.... his character changed.

Haru's name was never mention and what is with actually putting "powerful" earth bender in an earth prison??? what is up with that? in the Anime, the prisoner are put into metal ocean rigs since they can't bend metal (which will cover later in the anime that only a few earth masters CAN bend metal) so they are really prisoner and can't escape, but in the movie, it would have been pretty easy to keep all those earth bender in one place with plenty of ammo. It is like putting a soldiers in an open weapon bunker and tell them to behave... yea right.

3D was a total waste. I rather watch a quality film than having it 3D. I wear glasses and having a 3D glasses on TOP of my glasses is not very comfortable. I wouldn't wear it at home cause it hinders me. Once the tech can actually produce 3D without glasses then we'll talk.


#213

KEM

KEM

Gusto;409460][QUOTE=KEM;409350][QUOTE=Gusto said:
Also, in the movie, just about everyone's name is mispronounced. Why? They have PLENTY of source material to work from!
Click to expand...
Technically the movie is actually using the proper pronunciations of these asian-inspired names. The TV series actually 'americanizes' the pronunciation.[/QUOTE]

...So?

The movie is BASED on that show.[/QUOTE]And the show was based on Asian culture, but changed it to suit it's wants/needs. So the movie goes back to the same source as the show and goes in a slightly different direction. That's the type of thing you can do when you do an adaptation.


#214

Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

KEM;409833][QUOTE=Gusto;409460][QUOTE=KEM;409350][QUOTE=Gusto said:
Also, in the movie, just about everyone's name is mispronounced. Why? They have PLENTY of source material to work from!
Click to expand...
Technically the movie is actually using the proper pronunciations of these asian-inspired names. The TV series actually 'americanizes' the pronunciation.[/QUOTE]

...So?

The movie is BASED on that show.[/QUOTE]And the show was based on Asian culture, but changed it to suit it's wants/needs. So the movie goes back to the same source as the show and goes in a slightly different direction. That's the type of thing you can do when you do an adaptation.[/QUOTE]

Too bad they didn't try that with the story to make it flow within the context of a film.


#215

KEM

KEM

Chibibar said:
First the ethnic change was a bad call from day one. I don't like it. They should have kept the Asian in it. Heck, even the elements writing was changes... blah. Maybe they hate Chinese. I don't know
Click to expand...
Look I'm not a fan of the 'white-washing' either, but I think that's a bit much to say they 'hate the chinese'. (and why just the Chinese? what about the rest of Asia?) I don't think the changes were made out of malice, but cowardice. The reality is that when you spend $150 million on something, you tend to want to take the 'safe' route.

Name change - If the movie is going to be base on the show, they should have kept the SAME pronunciation. some may argue it is more "Asian" style, but I find it VERY distracting.
Click to expand...
Well, it is more "Asian" style. Sorry you found it so distracting, but as far as changes go this has far more legitimacy than some others.

Line deliverance of each character was pretty poor. Katara's role was poorly done. Sokka suppose to be funny AND a great tactician but noooo.... his character changed.
Click to expand...
Well the main trio weren't particularly good, but I don't think Zuko and Iroh were that bad. Asif Mandvi did chew the scenery a bit as Zhou, but otherwise was pretty good.

Haru's name was never mention and what is with actually putting "powerful" earth bender in an earth prison??? what is up with that? in the Anime, the prisoner are put into metal ocean rigs since they can't bend metal (which will cover later in the anime that only a few earth masters CAN bend metal) so they are really prisoner and can't escape, but in the movie, it would have been pretty easy to keep all those earth bender in one place with plenty of ammo. It is like putting a soldiers in an open weapon bunker and tell them to behave... yea right.
Click to expand...
Yep, even recognizing that cuts were obviously necessary, that sequence was bit odd.

3D was a total waste. I rather watch a quality film than having it 3D. I wear glasses and having a 3D glasses on TOP of my glasses is not very comfortable. I wouldn't wear it at home cause it hinders me. Once the tech can actually produce 3D without glasses then we'll talk.
Click to expand...
I empathize with you wearing glasses. The 3D in this movie was indeed worthless, it was tacked on in the post-production. The problem is that the film was not shot with 3D in mind, so there were precious few shots that could take advantage of the extra depth, and even those didn't come off very well. On top of that the process made the film darker and 'muddier'. I've heard they had similar problems with "Clash of the Titans".

I wouldn't judge 3D in general by this film however. The only other film I've seen in 3D was James Cameron's Avatar and that was actually quite good.

I have heard rumors of glasses-less 3D tech being in the works at places like Microsoft. Keep your fingers crossed... :p


#216



Chibibar

Oh I have to agree that Avatar 3D was very good. I was pretty surprise it blends well. Not all 3D is good, but this one "The last airbender" could have done without.

for those who haven't watch avatar
I know the story line is also white washed i.e. the white guy has the save the day, and pretty much combine the story of "Fern Gully" "Pocahontas" and "Dances with wolves" but the delivery was quite good and the story was interesting

well... I feel that the fire nation has taken the most in Chinese/Japanese route in the anime. Indian (India Indian are technically Asian that is why I mention Chinese) was a bit weird, but you are right the actors who did Zuko and Iroh was pretty good and not bad (the dread locks was weird but hey I guess dread locks are natural to the Indian nation right? (again India not American Indian))


#217

KEM

KEM

Chibibar said:
Oh I have to agree that Avatar 3D was very good. I was pretty surprise it blends well. Not all 3D is good, but this one "The last airbender" could have done without.
Click to expand...
Particularly in this case when it doesn't really add anything and it has a negative effect on the picture quality. They really need to be more careful about this as bad 3D in films has the potential to kill the technology before it can take hold.

for those who haven't watch avatar
I know the story line is also white washed i.e. the white guy has the save the day, and pretty much combine the story of "Fern Gully" "Pocahontas" and "Dances with wolves" but the delivery was quite good and the story was interesting
Click to expand...
I don't think that's necessarily unfair, however I do think that there's a much simpler explanation for it: I think that the producers assumed that if the average american film-goer saw movie posters and/or previews for this film and saw an all-asian cast that their first thought would be: "huh, must be a foreign film." and that their second thought would be "meh, I do care for foreign films, what else is playing?" I think it was fear of that kind of reaction that lead them to go the 'safe route', which is really a shame.

well... I feel that the fire nation has taken the most in Chinese/Japanese route in the anime. Indian (India Indian are technically Asian that is why I mention Chinese) was a bit weird, but you are right the actors who did Zuko and Iroh was pretty good and not bad (the dread locks was weird but hey I guess dread locks are natural to the Indian nation right? (again India not American Indian))
Click to expand...
I thought the Indian/South Asian characters with Japanese-esque armor was a good fit. I wish they had carried through that theme in the casting of Iroh, as it was kind of weird having Zuko's Uncle and Ozai's brother be a white guy. Although technically the actor who played Ozai is Maori, not Indian. So I guess that just fits in with the whole weird mix of races theme.


#218

R

Raemon777

I think that the producers assumed that if the average american film-goer saw movie posters and/or previews for this film and saw an all-asian cast that their first thought would be: "huh, must be a foreign film." and that their second thought would be "meh, I do care for foreign films, what else is playing?" I think it was fear of that kind of reaction that lead them to go the 'safe route', which is really a shame.
Click to expand...
Yes. This. Which is called whitewashing. It's also worth noting that Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon did just fine. Also, that as recently as "Hitch," Hollywood producers were afraid to cast Will Smith as a lead by himself without a white man to accompany him because he "wasn't bankable enough." Hitch also did just fine. Hollywood likes to hide behind the fact that "it's the public that's racist, not us, we just have to follow the money," when the fact is the public is far less racist that Hollywood gives them credit for.


#219



Chibibar

Raemon777 said:
I think that the producers assumed that if the average american film-goer saw movie posters and/or previews for this film and saw an all-asian cast that their first thought would be: "huh, must be a foreign film." and that their second thought would be "meh, I do care for foreign films, what else is playing?" I think it was fear of that kind of reaction that lead them to go the 'safe route', which is really a shame.
Click to expand...
Yes. This. Which is called whitewashing. It's also worth noting that Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon did just fine. Also, that as recently as "Hitch," Hollywood producers were afraid to cast Will Smith as a lead by himself without a white man to accompany him because he "wasn't bankable enough." Hitch also did just fine. Hollywood likes to hide behind the fact that "it's the public that's racist, not us, we just have to follow the money," when the fact is the public is far less racist that Hollywood gives them credit for.
Click to expand...
That is what I believe. Sure maybe about 20 years ago the "population could be racist" but with the internet age and people can watch anything from anywhere in the globe, not so much.

Look at the stores. The anime and foreign film increase over the ages (anime has drop a little but still going much stronger 10 years ago) a lot of the stuff going toward anime stuff even DC/Marvel stuff and a lot of the cartoon are going more anime feel.

I also notice more Asian influence in terms of action like Martial arts and "wire acting" which is pretty cool.


#220

R

Raemon777

I think Hollywood fairly consistently lives about 20 years behind the times in terms of "playing it safe." The Kirk/Uhura kiss was super controversial and the producers wanted them to record two separate scenes (one in which they did kiss, one without). The actors deliberately kept messing up the "kiss-less" scene so they just showed the kiss scene everywhere. And then got loads of positive fan mail. (Plus one cranky guy from Alabama).


#221

KEM

KEM

Raemon777 said:
Yes. This. Which is called whitewashing. It's also worth noting that Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon did just fine. Also, that as recently as "Hitch," Hollywood producers were afraid to cast Will Smith as a lead by himself without a white man to accompany him because he "wasn't bankable enough." Hitch also did just fine. Hollywood likes to hide behind the fact that "it's the public that's racist, not us, we just have to follow the money," when the fact is the public is far less racist that Hollywood gives them credit for.
Click to expand...
According to wikipedia, CTHD made $128million in the U.S., which is indeed a very impressive figure for a film that cost $17million to make. Unfortunately that would not be as good a result for a film that cost $150million to make. The general calculus as I understand it is that a film generally has to make it's production costs back in the U.S., then the foreign grosses are where they make their profit. Of course that calculus has changed somewhat with the rise of DVD sales in the 90's, but the core of it is still there.

Now I'm not trying to defend Hollywood's racism here or the average American film-goer's dislike of 'foreign films'. I'm just pointing out that when you spend a lot of money on something, you tend to be a little more conservative.

---------- Post added at 05:31 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:17 PM ----------
Raemon777 said:
I think Hollywood fairly consistently lives about 20 years behind the times in terms of "playing it safe." The Kirk/Uhura kiss was super controversial and the producers wanted them to record two separate scenes (one in which they did kiss, one without). The actors deliberately kept messing up the "kiss-less" scene so they just showed the kiss scene everywhere. And then got loads of positive fan mail. (Plus one cranky guy from Alabama).
Click to expand...
To be fair I do think that there are parts of this country that are '20 years behind the times'. I'd like to believe that this country is a post-racist society, but it's not.
But even so, I don't think this issue is exclusively about racism. I think whether the 'average American film-goer' would perceive the film as 'foreign' is more relevant. I think Americans are far too used to producing culture that they are not used to consuming foreign culture. Notice the tendency of Hollywood to re-make popular foreign films. Most Americans just don't care for foreign films, and it's kinda sad really.

Also, despite the critical drubbing and the protests, it sounds like The Last Airbender did pretty well for itself.

Gary Thompson: 'Last Airbender' soars at box office despite predictions, and that may lead to a sequel | Philadelphia Daily News | 07/08/2010

(work-safe)


#222



Soliloquy

There's a good chance that very few people will see it after the opening weekend though. It's getting horrible press, and bad reviews from the vast majority of people who've seen it.


#223

Charlie Don't Surf

The Lovely Boehner

It's going to do well overseas because it's a big event spectacle flick with special effects.


#224



Soliloquy

Well, Damn it.

Though part of me is glad that M. Night is finally making money again... I kind of wish he'd be making money on good movies.


#225

AshburnerX

AshburnerX

The Lovely Boner said:
It's going to do well overseas because it's a big event spectacle flick with special effects.
Click to expand...
Unless the Chinese ban it, for offending their cultural heritage or some such. (Wouldn't be the first time...)


#226

Hylian

Hylian



#227

AshburnerX

AshburnerX

mr_thehun;412847][QUOTE=AshburnerX;412786][QUOTE=The Lovely Boner said:
It's going to do well overseas because it's a big event spectacle flick with special effects.
Click to expand...
Unless the Chinese ban it, for offending their cultural heritage or some such. (Wouldn't be the first time...)[/QUOTE]

wow did you look at the list banned in Iran? That list is hilariouse as in full of comedy like Naked Gun and Zoolander.

and damn you FINLAND FOR BANNING THE EVIL DEAD[/QUOTE]

It's only because they don't want the population to know about the living rape trees in the countryside.


#228



Soliloquy

So after four weeks, The Last Airbender has barely made its money back worldwide.

I'm guessing this means that Shyamalan isn't as dead as I predicted, but there won't be a sequel.


#229

sixpackshaker

sixpackshaker

It is a bit sad that this movie basically failed. I blame the studio as much as Shyamalan. They a property that could have easily been turned into 6 feature films. That is supposed to be the new Holy Grail for the studios. Instead they compress this down, and rush it through production. And made a lousy movie out of a good little story.


#230

AshburnerX

AshburnerX

sixpackshaker said:
It is a bit sad that this movie basically failed. I blame the studio as much as Shyamalan. They a property that could have easily been turned into 6 feature films. That is supposed to be the new Holy Grail for the studios. Instead they compress this down, and rush it through production. And made a lousy movie out of a good little story.
Click to expand...
It's especially damning, as every season except the first had a mid-season cliff hanger as well.

Season 1: This one is hard to peg, but then again you could probably cut 6 episodes from the first season and it would still have a coherent storyline. This is the season where they were having trouble getting a coherent vision for the series.

Season 2: The Library is the Mid-Season Cliff Hanger, as it completely sets the tone for the rest of the season. It goes from a somewhat fun and fancy free to a more isolated, us-versus-them kind of story.

Season 3: The Day of Black Sun two-parter, or possibly The Western Air Temple if you want to end the side-story of Combustion Man and have Zuko join the team.


#231

KEM

KEM

Soliloquy said:
So after four weeks, The Last Airbender has barely made its money back worldwide.

I'm guessing this means that Shyamalan isn't as dead as I predicted, but there won't be a sequel.
Click to expand...
If you click on the "Forgeign" tab on that page you'll see that the film hasn't been released in the majority of the countries they have listed. That suggests it's foreign box office isn't done yet.

The numbers could have been better, but this is no Prince of Persia or Percy Jackson, which didn't even make back their production costs (in all likelihood, I don't know the specific budgets for those films).


#232

AshburnerX

AshburnerX

It'll probably make back money, but M. Night's credibility as a director has been all but destroyed... which is good, as it means he likely won't be involved in the inevitable sequel, which actually gives it hope of not being utterly and irredeemably awful.


#233

KEM

KEM

AshburnerX said:
It'll probably make back money, but M. Night's credibility as a director has been all but destroyed... which is good, as it means he likely won't be involved in the inevitable sequel, which actually gives it hope of not being utterly and irredeemably awful.
Click to expand...
"utterly and irredeemably awful"? Seriously? The film was definitely flawed, but "utterly and irredeemably awful"? Not even close.

It's not saying much, I realize, but this movie was better than X Men: The Last Stand. Hell, I think it was better than the first Harry Potter film, at least I think it was since I can't even remember that much of that film it was so generic and dull.

So if you want a new director for the next TLA film, fair enough. It wouldn't be the first time they changed directors for a series like this. Hell, from what I've seen the later Harry Potter films were much, much better directed. But be careful what you wish for, you could end up with a Brett Ratner/Chris Columbus hack-fest.


#234



Soliloquy

No... it was utterly and irredeemably awful. I'm pretty sure you stand alone in thinking otherwise.

(well, not literally alone, but people who didn't hate the movie are pretty scarce.)


#235



Chibibar

Soliloquy said:
No... it was utterly and irredeemably awful. I'm pretty sure you stand alone in thinking otherwise.

(well, not literally alone, but people who didn't hate the movie are pretty scarce.)
Click to expand...
It is pretty awful. I would rather watch Harry Potter or X-Men again than watch Last Airbender the movie. It was that bad for me.


#236

KEM

KEM

Soliloquy said:
No... it was utterly and irredeemably awful. I'm pretty sure you stand alone in thinking otherwise.

(well, not literally alone, but people who didn't hate the movie are pretty scarce.)
Click to expand...
Well, not that scarce apparently considering it's box office take which was pretty ok. Not great or fantastic, of course, but then that is fair since it wasn't a great or fantastic film. Now among voices on the internets, there is indeed a lot of hate towards this film. The thing is that internets have a tendency to go to extremes. Everything is either the greatest ever or the worst ever. So what really makes me alone is that fact that I'm arguing for the film's "ok-ness".

I suppose I could just say that it was the worst movie ever made just to fit in, but I just don't honestly believe that.


#237

AshburnerX

AshburnerX

KEM said:
I suppose I could just say that it was the worst movie ever made just to fit in, but I just don't honestly believe that.
Click to expand...
Oh no... it's not the worst movie ever. That honor currently goes to Tommy Wiseau's The Room, ever since Tommy Wiseau made the Nostalgia Critic take down his review of it, despite it being perfectly legal for him to show images of said movie during a review.

The Nostalgia Critic isn't taking it well.


Top