Keith, I wish I could even guess what M Night had on his mind. On Sat, Jul 3, 2010 at 2:10 AM, Keith Johnson <keithbjohn...@comcast.net>wrote:
> > > Well, this saves me from a difficult choice. Really irritated at how Asian > and Inuit characters were being played by white actors (with the odd > exception of the Japanese Prince Zuko being played by an Indian?!) I was > seriously debating whether to support "The Last Airbender". I wanted to blow > off my anger and just see a good movie, but when I saw trailers, and how Ang > and his friends are in Asian/Inuit garb, but are oh-so-painfully Caucasian, > I started the hand wringing all over again. I was way along the way to not > going to see it, but partially worried I'd be missing something special in > terms of a good fantasy flick. > > Not to worry, it seems. Almost without exception, from old and young, white > and Asian and black, fans of the series and newbies alike, I'm hearing this > thing is terrible. Dull, plodding, grim, boring---looks like the hoped-for > trilogy of films will never become a reality. Some have even compared it to > "Battlefield Earth"! > I guess that's too bad? > I think a lot of Asians and Inuits are not-so-secretly looking at this with > grim satisfaction, and can't say I blame them. And despite my anger at M. > Knight for whitewashing so many leads in the movie, I almost feel sorry for > the guy: what in the hell is wrong with him after the handful of gems he > created to burst onto the movie scene?! > > I dropped a spattering of movie reviews I found below. The last is the > closest thing to a good review I could find... > > > *************************************************************** > > [Rotten Tomatoes] > http://beta.rottentomatoes.com/m/last_airbender/ > > Consensus: Despite flashy special effects, *The Last Airbender* squanders > the potential of its popular source material on an incomprehensible plot, > laughable dialogue, and a joyless sense of detachment. > > *********************************************************** > > [slashfilm] > > Read more: The Last Airbender Review: The Last Straw for This Shyamalan > Fan | > /Film<http://www.slashfilm.com/2010/07/02/the-last-airbender-review-the-last-straw-for-this-shyamalan-fan/#ixzz0sZmBJgQu> > http://www.slashfilm.com/2010/07/02/the-last-airbender-review-the-last-straw-for-this-shyamalan-fan/#ixzz0sZmBJgQu > > With the release of *The Last Airbender*, *M. Night Shyamalan’s* gradual > metamorphosis into George Lucas is complete. Just like the *Star > Wars*director, Shyamalan burst onto the scene with a couple innovative films ( > *The Sixth Sense*, *Unbreakable*), and displayed a talent for visuals > early on. And just like Lucas, Shyamalan’s screenwriting deficiencies, and > his inability to properly take criticism from others, have led to his > downfall. > > > *********************************************************** > > [E! Online] > http://uk.eonline.com/uberblog/b188788_last_airbender_worst_movie_ever.html > Is *Last Airbender* the Worst Movie Ever? > > Today 12:47 PM PDT by Joal Ryan<http://uberblog/index.jsp?author=joal+ryan> > Paramount Pictures > > *The Last > Airbender*<http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/movie_reviews/b188583_review_last_airbender_epically_boring.html>is > " > dull<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/06/30/MVTC1E7AN3.DTL>," > "dreadful<http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainment/movies/night_bad_air_day_o52hYSMg32J2hhcPmI7taP>," > and, lowest of low blows, "like a Care Bears > movie<http://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Movies/2010/0701/The-Last-Airbender-movie-review> > ." > > Well, all right, hardly any movie gets perfect reviews. But has any film > ever gotten so many bad reviews? > > The short answer is *Battlefield Earth*—meaning, yes, other films have > been blasted good by critics. But, boy, oh boy, in Hollywood's summer of > unloved movies, *The Last Airbender*, which opened Thursday, is getting > some historic hate. > > As of this morning, its Metacritic rating stood at 20, "good" for a spot on > the review-crunching site's all-time low > scores<http://www.metacritic.com/film/lowscores.shtml>list. ( > *Airbender*'s down there between *Digimon: The Movie* and the *Lisa > Kudrow<http://uberblog/celebs/c113907_Lisa_Kudrow.html> > * rap classic, *Marci X*.) Worse, outside of *Ashton > Kutcher<http://uberblog/celebs/c108573_Ashton_Kutcher.html> > *'s and *Katherine Heigl<http://uberblog/celebs/c113571_Katherine_Heigl.html> > *'s *Killers*, *Airbender* is the only 2010 wide release on the > Metacritic's list of shame. > > Things are no better at Rotten Tomatoes, where its Tomatometer reading is a > barely there 9 percent <http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/last_airbender/>, > which is actually up from yesterday's 6 percent. (For the record, our own > Luke Y. Thompson assigned the "most boring summer-action epic in > ages<http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/movie_reviews/b188583_review_last_airbender_epically_boring.html>" > a D+.) > > > **************************************************** > > [Beyond Hollywood] > > > http://www.beyondhollywood.com/the-last-airbender-2010-movie-review/ > > ... > > It’s not so much that “The Last Airbender” is a bad movie, it’s just that … > well, it just kind of exists for the sake of *existing*. I’ll be perfectly > honest with you, I had a hard time trying to decide if the film is bad, or > if it is just mediocre. One thing I can safely say with 100% certainty is > that the film is never outstanding. Not once in the entire two hours. It’s > as if M. Night Shyamalan spent so much time with the little things – getting > all the details of the water city stronghold just right, the nooks and > crannies of the Fire Nation ships, the colorful outfits of the various > tribes — that he forgot to make the film *good*. Oh sure, the sets are > huge and the CGI is always outstanding, and all the “bending” effects are > seamlessly integrated into the scenes with the live characters, but … well, > what else is there? Not much, I’m afraid.... > > > > > > > -- "If all the world's a stage and we are merely players, who the bloody hell wrote the script?" -- Charles E Grant http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQUxw9aUVik
