I'm really considering just waiting until the DVD comes out now.
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I'm really considering just waiting until the DVD comes out now.
Wow MB that was a funny interview clip (several clips really)... what kills me is they show the elemental bending in between the "IT SUCKS" interviews... the previews look cool, but from what I'm hearing that is about all anyone liked.
Unfortunately there are no other movies starting at the same time as Last Airbender, and my son REALLY wants to see it.
Oh well ...
As for M. Night ... I agree Coheteboy, I defended him for a LONG time, longer than I probably should have. I really liked Sixth Sense, LOVED Unbreakable, LOVED Signs ... hell, I even liked The Happening (until the end).
I don't know if there is any director that has been riding the coattails of one successful movie (The Sixth Sense) as long as M. Night has ... well, I guess Signs was pretty successful as well.
This may be the end for him.
What a loser of a movie. I've been looking forward to seeing it, because from the previews, it looked cool. :blush: My daughter is a huge fan of the series, which I'd never watched.
We went and saw it with 6 die hard fans of the animated series, with my husband and I being the only ones who had never watched it.
What a huge suckfest. The dialogue could have been written by a mildly retarded 4 year old. The delivery of the lines was absolutely excruciating to watch. Some of the effects looked cool, but overall my impression was one of total absurdity.
The big fans in our group were even more disappointed than we were, which is saying a lot.
Honestly ... I didn't hate it as much as I thought I would. Granted I went in with such low expectations so I'm sure that helped.
I did watch the series a bit, but wasn't an avid follower. The dialog did indeed suck and the Avatar kid couldn't act for anything. But the effects were cool and it really did set up the story nicely. I'm actually kind of hoping it makes enough $$ for them to make the 2nd one because the set-up for it actually sounded really cool.
It wasn't as bad as Transformers 2 or anything to be sure.
Also, it really was hard for me to watch Aasif Mandvi in the movie ... I kept expecting him to say some kind of joke or something.
i've been saying this since anything he did after The Sixth Sense...Quote:
Originally Posted by sir clinksalot
....and he JUST. WONT. STOP. :(
I have to be honest. I can understand how diehard fans must feel... There have been plenty of Hollywood movies that trampled on beloved comic books and actual books over the years... at the same time I am not a diehard fan of this series. Like Clinks if I go I go with bottom of the barrel expectations. I want to see fire, water, air and earth moved in weird ways while people do kung fu... if it has more then what is in the preview then I'll likely be happy. I say that now, and will reply with my impressions when I see it (likely within the next couple weeks). As sad as it sounds in some respects I am Rome... I would be there for the most basic entertainment with such low expectations that it would have to really suck to annoy me.
The dialogue issue confounds me. Why did they need to re-write the lines - surely they can patch together a script from speeches given in the same scenes in the series?
And I feel bad for the creators of the show. I'm sure they probably had high hopes for this and the studio delivers what sounds like the biggest lemon of the decade.
Too short and the acting was awful... The visual effects and sets were great though. 2.5/ 5. I hope the sequel is better if they decide to make one.
My husband really wanted to see this movie. So, since we had a couple of days just the two of us...no kid in tow...we went today to see it.
30 mins into the movie...I was ready to gouge my eyeballs out when hubby thankfully said he'd had enough and wanted to leave. We snuck into Grownups to watch the rest of it.
The acting in this movie was SOOO bad. Painfully.....excruciatingly.....nails down a chaulk board...BAD.
Seriously.
It was like watching a made for Lifetime movie.
If you can possibly get past acting that makes Paris Hilton look like Marlon Brando......you might have a shot at making it through the movie.
Meh. I thought it was entertaining. I'd imagine that if I'd never watched the animated series, I'd have liked it a lot less.
They trailed this before Toy Story 3 today (in the UK) oddly still using the teaser trailer that says "Next Year" and "2010".
Anyway I sat there thinking that it looks so good from the trailers and I really want to see it but then I rationed that 99% of reviews say it sucks so I should save my money.
Apparently Shyamalan said in an interview:GAG.Quote:
"I took away a little bit of the slapsticky stuff that was there for the little little kids, the fart jokes and things like that...We grounded Katara's brother...and that really did wonderful things for the whole theme of the movie."
He also reacted to poor reviews by saying that people were hating his artistic style.
Too bad the story is not his original property...if it was, that sort of explanation would be able to fly.
I saw the film with 2 die-hard fans of the series at a point when I'd only seen 1/2-3/4 of the first season. I probably hate this film more now after having watched the whole series and calling myself a big fan of it, but my criticism of the film remains the same.
The script was bad. When a script is bad, it doesn't matter how well you cast, direct, or artistically twist something...bad writing ruins the whole thing from the get-go. Bad dialogue gives an actor nothing to work with, no matter how strong their skills may be. I'm sure the actors would have given much stronger performances had they been given some actual strong and relate-able dialogue. Bad transitions, half-explanations and rushing through so much exposition is exhausting and boring to an audience at the same time. Yes, a lot of stuff happens in the series (even in just one episode)...but taking the time to explain things is crucial to keep the audience with you. And having Sokka make a bad joke every now and then, or having Aang actually behaving like a goofy kid (in the original series) breaks up all of the heaviness. That's part of the reason why the show was so wonderful, and enjoyable for ALL ages. The jokes didn't make it childish...since when did humor become something that only kids enjoy?
Shyamalan took all of the soul out of these characters, and therefore took the soul out of the story. Your audience has to actually care about the characters they're watching. None of the main characters seemed to resemble themselves from the original source material...I guess Zuko came the closest. I give props to Shaun Toub as Iroh...he wasn't really allowed to give a faithful representation of the fun tea-lover, but he certainly gave a much warmer presence on-screen and gave us at least a twinkle of Iroh.
Maybe they should pull a Hulk and just re-do the film series...that probably won't happen, though. If they really do continue on with it, then I hope Shyamalan isn't a part of it, as he clearly missed the heart of the series (even if he did watch it with his kid). Maybe whoever takes on the project can suck it up, make the second film REALLY long (like it needs to be, since we need enough time for both exposition and fun) so that everything is fully fleshed-out. I don't see why all filmmakers have to be forced to make a film that is a maximum of 2 1/2 hours long. Movie theaters used to have intermissions, like regular theatres do...why can't they bring that back in order to give us quality films? But of course, regardless of all that, there's already a huge issue regarding the Kyoshi Warriors...
Reading up on all of this, I found out that there was an uproar over the casting of the characters (in terms of ethnicity). What do you think? I guess some people felt that all of the actors should have been Asian. Personally, I've felt that some of the characters' ethnicities have been a bit ambiguous with a hybrid of different traits (and not all of them Asian), while others seem to be more specific. But I think, at the end of the day, the acting is more important than the look (of course, that completely goes against Hollywood standards...ha ha).
His last few films, ugh, Universal should had never put M. Night Shyamalan name on the Devil trailer. Even though he wrote just the story, you should have heard laughs. His name is officially the "Kiss of Death" for any film with his name attached to it these days, sad but true!
the new film Devil film:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bITfOdMmRY8"]YouTube - DEVIL Trailer HD[/ame]
I highly recommend seeing the video from College Humor, "No One Likes M. Night Shyamalan." Here's a link: SR Pick [Video]: No One Likes M. Night Shyamalan - Screen Rant
I kind of feel bad for him at this point. I've never been a big fan of his films, good or bad, but he seemed to have a load of potential. Then everyone in Hollywood started calling him the new Hitchcock, inflated his ego to critical mass, and it seems nobody was willing to tell him "no" until it was too late.
"Devil" even looks relatively interesting, if not my cup of tea, but it may never get a chance. Maybe after a few years have passed and he's matured a little, he can make something of a comeback. Somebody just please stop him from basing his films on things his kid's want or like.