I thought I'd start this topic, as based on the reviews it belongs here. Unfortunately, it looks like I'll be seeing this one in a group tonight.
Right now, it's at 6% on rottentomatoes. I think I like Roger Ebert's headline best.
"The Last Airbender: Let's hope it is"
I'll report in on this one in about a day.
Please do let us know, Jim.
I'd never heard of anything about this before, so when I saw the title a few months back, I thought it was about a guy who could bend the world's air with air from his backside. :wink: :lookingup:
How many more chances is M. Night Shyamalan going to get before everyone realizes he was a flash in the pan and really has no talent?
Quote from: The Burgomaster on July 01, 2010, 06:04:53 AM
How many more chances is M. Night Shyamalan going to get before everyone realizes he was a flash in the pan and really has no talent?
From the studios' perspective, the problem is the same old one faced in regard to every other no-talent hack that is releasing Hollywood movies: they make money.
Numbers for his movies THE SIXTH SENSE and after:
THE SIXTH SENSE: budget 40 million, 600 million gross
UNBREAKABLE: budget 73 million, 249 million gross
SIGNS: budget 72 million, 408 million gross
THE VILLAGE: budget almost 72 million, 256 million gross
LADY IN THE WATER: first loss since THE SIXTH SENSE; budget about 75 million, 73 million gross box office
THE HAPPENING: budget 48 million, 163 million gross
Considering LADY IN THE WATER had a marketing budget almost equal to its production budget, it really lost money (even after DVD sales factored in).
So, the dude makes money. It would be right in a just universe, but there you go. The critics HAVE realized he's a no-talent hack, but the ones spending $$ may never make that connection. For a lot of folks, movies are 'mindless entertainment,' where in this case, the emphasis is on "mindless."
Oh dear oh my! I am a gigantic fan of the animated series which this movie is based off of and I want to see it badly. However, this sounds very bad and I could be heading in for some trouble when I see it. Yeah, I'm still going to see it. I really want to still so I can see if it is good in my point of view.
The sixth sense and Unbreakable were good movies though.
I'm not going near The Last Airbender or ANY Shyamalan movie. I saw The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, and The Village and they all SUCKED.
Three strikes, yer out.
Quote from: vik on July 01, 2010, 09:53:39 AM
The sixth sense and Unbreakable were good movies though.
That's certainly a matter of debate, subject of course to personal taste.
I thoroughly enjoyed THE SIXTH SENSE the first time or two I saw it. After that? Meh. For me, one of the marks of a 'good movie' are sustained enjoyment over multiple viewings...in my case multiple can easily be dozens. THE SIXTH SENSE just does not stand up over time...for me personally, at least.
On the other hand, I hated UNBREAKABLE. The twist was obvious and that rendered the whole story a waste of time. The premise held promise, but for me, the execution failed miserably.
Shyamalan's major draw-back, in my opinion, is that HE thinks HE is a GREAT director. On the youngish up-and-comer list, I think Omar Naim is 10,000 times better, but that's a name few would recognize. There's Hollywood justice for you...
ulthar, I'm curious why the twist in Unbreakable made the whole movie a waste of time for you. I thought it rather perfectly brought the film whole circle (with Elijah now mirroring David), though I find the ending text kind of obnoxious. Just like to hear your thoughts.
Main reason I'm posting here is the people I went to the theatre with basically chickened out in front of the extremely negative reviews the film has been getting. Which is understandable. So it looks like I won't be seeing the movie for a little while, at least.
We saw Knight and Day instead, which I found passably enjoyable with a weak ending.
Quote from: Jim H on July 02, 2010, 03:04:19 AM
ulthar, I'm curious why the twist in Unbreakable made the whole movie a waste of time for you.
I've only seen it once and truthfully don't remember much about it. It just did not make much of an impression on me, and I remember thinking at the time I saw it that it was a waste of time ... for ME, as I just did not get into it.
Part of it was that I thought it was a REALLY cool premise for a movie, but felt quite let down by it. I cannot be more specific because I just don't remember, but I do recall thinking when I actually saw the twist unfold on screen that it ruined the movie for me.
I think that was my own personal 'ah ha' moment that we all have the Shyamalan is not the director he thinks he is...and that we are 'supposed' to think he is.
Quote from: ulthar on July 02, 2010, 07:16:22 AM
Quote from: Jim H on July 02, 2010, 03:04:19 AM
ulthar, I'm curious why the twist in Unbreakable made the whole movie a waste of time for you.
I've only seen it once and truthfully don't remember much about it. It just did not make much of an impression on me, and I remember thinking at the time I saw it that it was a waste of time ... for ME, as I just did not get into it.
Part of it was that I thought it was a REALLY cool premise for a movie, but felt quite let down by it. I cannot be more specific because I just don't remember, but I do recall thinking when I actually saw the twist unfold on screen that it ruined the movie for me.
I think that was my own personal 'ah ha' moment that we all have the Shyamalan is not the director he thinks he is...and that we are 'supposed' to think he is.
I think Shyamalan is a good director who needs some producers overseeing him and reigning in some of his more ridiculous ideas, and forcing him to focus on what is actually important. I like to compare him to Frank Miller (the comic writer/artist) who used to write really good stuff, but the more creative freedom he got (as his sales improved) the worse his output became. Sometimes constraint leads to better stuff, not to mention yes, I think he became very arrogant and too confident in his own abilities.
At least, that's my theory. I'm not sure how else to explain such a dramatic fall in quality in such a relatively short period of time. I mean, you can even look at his ability to direct actors - he's gotten consistently worse performances out of similarly capable actors as his career has gone on. And the feel of his works are similar enough that I don't think there is some kind of "ghost direction" going on or anything.
Quote from: Jim H on July 02, 2010, 01:48:41 PM
Quote from: ulthar on July 02, 2010, 07:16:22 AM
Quote from: Jim H on July 02, 2010, 03:04:19 AM
ulthar, I'm curious why the twist in Unbreakable made the whole movie a waste of time for you.
I've only seen it once and truthfully don't remember much about it. It just did not make much of an impression on me, and I remember thinking at the time I saw it that it was a waste of time ... for ME, as I just did not get into it.
Part of it was that I thought it was a REALLY cool premise for a movie, but felt quite let down by it. I cannot be more specific because I just don't remember, but I do recall thinking when I actually saw the twist unfold on screen that it ruined the movie for me.
I think that was my own personal 'ah ha' moment that we all have the Shyamalan is not the director he thinks he is...and that we are 'supposed' to think he is.
I think Shyamalan is a good director who needs some producers overseeing him and reigning in some of his more ridiculous ideas, and forcing him to focus on what is actually important. I like to compare him to Frank Miller (the comic writer/artist) who used to write really good stuff, but the more creative freedom he got (as his sales improved) the worse his output became. Sometimes constraint leads to better stuff, not to mention yes, I think he became very arrogant and too confident in his own abilities.
At least, that's my theory. I'm not sure how else to explain such a dramatic fall in quality in such a relatively short period of time. I mean, you can even look at his ability to direct actors - he's gotten consistently worse performances out of similarly capable actors as his career has gone on. And the feel of his works are similar enough that I don't think there is some kind of "ghost direction" going on or anything.
Not a bad theory. I'll have to think on that one. I don't quite understand the M. Knight thing either. It's been offered that he is just a flash in the pan. I don't know if that's the case. I thought Lady in the Water had some serious flaws and didn't turn out well, but there were things about it I liked, and appreciated what he was trying to do. Another possible theory, and one I'm just offering and don't know if it's a very good one, but he strikes me as a borderline brilliant filmmaker, and that would come across much better if her were doing lower budget independent films rather than big budget Hollywood vehicles. Look at The Sixth Sense. I thought it was a fine film, and if you took away Bruce Willis it's essentially a medium to low budget thriller with some good filmmaking elements and no real big-budget production values or special effects. So, my theory is he's not a hack flash in the pan but a good indy filmmaker who shouldn't be making big budget movies.
I think he has talent but he has been influenced too much by Hollywood.
Quote from: vik on July 01, 2010, 09:53:39 AM
The sixth sense and Unbreakable were good movies though.
UNBREAKABLE was good until Shyamalan got to the ending . . . and realized he didn't HAVE and ending . . . so he just threw some captions on the screen providing a half-assed explanation of the movie.
I think he keeps trying to be a writer/director when all he's actually good at is directing.
M. Night sucks ass. nuff said
I hope someone will go see this and report back on whether it's entertainingly bad or just bad-bad. I suspect the latter but you never know.
Quote from: Rev. Powell on July 03, 2010, 07:03:42 PM
I hope someone will go see this and report back on whether it's entertainingly bad or just bad-bad. I suspect the latter but you never know.
I'll try to go check it out, but no grantee that I will be able to. It is a bit of money to see a movie at the theaters and people who give me a ride to the theater normally see the movie I'm seeing. If this is bad, I don't want to torture them with the movie.
Saw it yesterday. My brother, uncle and others arew dxie-hard fans of the original series, though I just havent started watching, for one reason or another (I did catch a few episodes here and there, so I had some idea of what was going on). The acting from the three leads - Sokka, Aang, and Kitara - is atrocious. Granted, they look and sound like the characters (other than being inexplicably caucasian, that is), but that's about it. Dev Patel playing Prince Zuko was the only half-decent actor in the entire thing. Even for someone who never saw the original series, the movie felt like a speedy recap, with (i'm told) various parts cut out, and others needlessly and inexplicably changed. For example SPOILER ALERT: the film goes out of its way to pronounce the two male leads names as 'So-Ka' and "Ung,' a spirit that Aang (or rather Ung) talks to presents itself as a dragon, despite it not appearing that way on the show, and - worst of all, I'm told - At the end, Aang does not loose control in the avatar state, like he's supposed to, which changes the course of the story dramatically. END OF SPOILER. The special effects were good, and overall the story was okay, and I wasn't completely offended by it. The die-hard fans I saw it with, though, were pretty peeved.
Now that I've seen the film, I intend to watch the original series, the story the way it was intended to be told.
Still haven't seen it, but I have seen the original series, which is quite good (and probably the best Nick toon since Invader Zim). Most of the changes I hear discussed seem pointless, and it also appears Shyamalan deliberately removed all the non-serious elements and didn't really even try to go for humor, which was a fairly constant element in the original series.
I went to see it with two friends. We walked out about 10 minutes into it. No joke. There was not one second that didn't have something wrong with it.
The three main actors are unbearably bad.
The first thing you see is Katara making a water ball. Gallons and gallons of water pour off it while she's moving it around but it never gets smaller. She splashes Sokka with it but he doesn't get wet.
Sokka hits the ice with his boomerang thing, which causes a huge earthquake (icequake?). He tells Katara to run stay away from the cracks, then they run directly along the path of the biggest crack in the ice.
A big sphere comes up through the ice. Katara takes the boomerang thing and barely taps the sphere, which causes it to EXPLODE and give off a HUGE BEAM OF LIGHT that pushes her back about 50 feet without hurting her in the slightest way.
A Fire Nation ship just happens to be a short distance away. One of them sees the beam of light and says, "Hey, look!" without moving his mouth.
Katara and Sokkah climb into the remains of the sphere and find Aang and his sky buffalo. The buffalo wakes up and accidentally knocks down Sokka with its tail. He says, "It's trying to eat me," (with its ass?) without moving his mouth.
The next scene is the Water Tribe village. You hear the sky buffalo roaring and stomping its way toward the village. People run outside and point. Then the very next scene is Aang talking to Katara inside an igloo. Yes, that's right. You heard the buffalo approaching but they didn't show it.
The Fire Nation ship shows up. Katara and Sokka run out to see what going on. Zuko introduces himself in the most melodramatic manner possible. Honestly, the actor looks embarrassed at having to act like that and deliver his lines that way.
Katara, apropos of nothing, says, "Sokka don't!" and grabs his shoulder. He's just standing there doing nothing. In the very next shot, he's suddenly got his hand on his boomerang thing.
It was around that time that my friends and I decided to leave. The Last Airbender might be enjoybably bad if you got to see it for free but certainly not after paying $7.00 for a ticket.
I advise waiting for the discount theater or the DVD.
what does it say that its made so much money ? what do you think
Quote from: lester1/2jr on July 06, 2010, 07:05:32 PM
what does it say that its made so much money ? what do you think
1. A thorough marketing blitz
2. The public fascination with special effects
3. The American fascination with Asian s**t
I just got back from it and wow it was the worst movie I've seen all year. I liked the series but this is almost a parody of it. There was no development for anyone in the movie, and if I never saw the series I would be confused. The effects were pretty good but not worth it. I recomend never seeing it even if you like the show :)
.5/5
Okay, here's something I always ask, but I'll ask it again. So, everyone knows it's terrible. So, why are you going to see it?
Quote from: Flick James on July 07, 2010, 04:13:01 PM
Okay, here's something I always ask, but I'll ask it again. So, everyone knows it's terrible. So, why are you going to see it?
I didn't want to go anywhere near it. I didn't even like the show. My friends begged me to go see it with them and offered to pay for my ticket, so ...
I haven't seen it but...did anyone notice the penis hair?
If you don't know what I'm talking about watch this video.
Relax, it's SFW. It's just The Cinemasnob talking.
http://thecinemasnob.com/2010/07/03/the-last-airbender-review.aspx (http://thecinemasnob.com/2010/07/03/the-last-airbender-review.aspx)
I saw it because there was nothing better to do and i knew it would suck.
Quote from: Flick James on July 07, 2010, 04:13:01 PM
Okay, here's something I always ask, but I'll ask it again. So, everyone knows it's terrible. So, why are you going to see it?
To answer that question, if it is being directed at anyone, because of bile fascination. It may suck, but I want to see how much it sucks. I may see it in the theaters or wait until it is on DVD so I can rent it. Something this bad, just asks to be watch! Like Manos: The Hands of Fate, Halloween 4, or Transformers 2.
Isn't that the reason we all watch bad movies?
Quote from: Criswell on July 07, 2010, 07:48:36 PM
Isn't that the reason we all watch bad movies?
Well, that's my reason at least. That's why I watched Jaws: The Revenge...
Quote from: InformationGeek on July 07, 2010, 07:45:37 PM
Quote from: Flick James on July 07, 2010, 04:13:01 PM
Okay, here's something I always ask, but I'll ask it again. So, everyone knows it's terrible. So, why are you going to see it?
To answer that question, if it is being directed at anyone, because of bile fascination. It may suck, but I want to see how much it sucks. I may see it in the theaters or wait until it is on DVD so I can rent it. Something this bad, just asks to be watch! Like Manos: The Hands of Fate, Halloween 4, or Transformers 2.
Sorry, but I doubt very seriously that The Last Airbender will have the entertainment value of Manos: Hands of Fate.
Quote from: Flick James on July 08, 2010, 09:01:08 AM
Quote from: InformationGeek on July 07, 2010, 07:45:37 PM
Quote from: Flick James on July 07, 2010, 04:13:01 PM
Okay, here's something I always ask, but I'll ask it again. So, everyone knows it's terrible. So, why are you going to see it?
To answer that question, if it is being directed at anyone, because of bile fascination. It may suck, but I want to see how much it sucks. I may see it in the theaters or wait until it is on DVD so I can rent it. Something this bad, just asks to be watch! Like Manos: The Hands of Fate, Halloween 4, or Transformers 2.
Sorry, but I doubt very seriously that The Last Airbender will have the entertainment value of Manos: Hands of Fate.
Well, you never know until you see it! Don't be so quick to dismiss something.
Quote from: InformationGeek on July 08, 2010, 10:50:24 AM
Quote from: Flick James on July 08, 2010, 09:01:08 AM
Quote from: InformationGeek on July 07, 2010, 07:45:37 PM
Quote from: Flick James on July 07, 2010, 04:13:01 PM
Okay, here's something I always ask, but I'll ask it again. So, everyone knows it's terrible. So, why are you going to see it?
To answer that question, if it is being directed at anyone, because of bile fascination. It may suck, but I want to see how much it sucks. I may see it in the theaters or wait until it is on DVD so I can rent it. Something this bad, just asks to be watch! Like Manos: The Hands of Fate, Halloween 4, or Transformers 2.
Sorry, but I doubt very seriously that The Last Airbender will have the entertainment value of Manos: Hands of Fate.
Well, you never know until you see it! Don't be so quick to dismiss something.
Dismissing big-budget Hollywood CGI suckfests is what I do best. I'm positive I can wait until it hits cable and watch it for free and I'm almost as positive I won't be able to make it through the entire thing.
I know I come across as a bit of an a***ole, but I promise I'm actually a really nice guy. I'm just a bit caustic in my movie opinions sometimes.