M. Night Shyamalan's The Last Airbender

[doug maverick]

actually they are in a way. because i do remember showing my friends some taichi and bagua. and they did show some of the stunt people some northern shaolin stuff, so i assume it is intact to some extent.

[Lokhopkuen]

My god it came down to "someone some of the stunt guys knew teaching them something about some of the stuff in the animated series" to get gung fu in this film?
Wowness:::::::

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ca6hgJgPJ4

[Zenshiite]

Well, the special effects are good. I'm not too impressed otherwise. Maybe I'm just already so burnt out on my disappointment that I just don't care anymore.

[Lokhopkuen]

I wish them the very best despite my less than harmonious interactions with their business machine. The cool thing is Industrial Light and Magic is crafting the effects so that promises some spectacle :rolleyes:
O.A.N.
I just finished my chapter segment for the documentary "The Making of ATLAB"
which is scheduled to air?

TBA.

The production staff did some really cool photography with Sifu M. Rodriguez and myself as well as an extended interview so I'm giddy with anticipation to see it all.

When one of you gets a chance to see the movie I hope you'll tell us your impressions.

pea ce

[@PLUGO]

Well, it's a good looking Trailer (http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809804784/video;_ylc=X1MDNzgyMDYzOQRfcgMyBGxkA2JsZARtcANsBHB vcwM1MQRzZWMDdGJvBHNsawNvcGVuaW5nUHJvZHVjdGlvblBob 3RvczUx)... hopfully M. Night makes it all work.

[GeneChing]

...wrong Avatar above

Here's the official website with the new trailer (http://www.thelastairbendermovie.com/#home) (different from the Superbowl one)

[Skip J.]

...wrong Avatar above

Here's the official website with the new trailer (http://www.thelastairbendermovie.com/#home) (different from the Superbowl one)
Thank you Gene, very nice.....

[@PLUGO]

...wrong Avatar above

Here's the official website with the new trailer (http://www.thelastairbendermovie.com/#home) (different from the Superbowl one)

****... well i guess that's why the trailer looked so good.

[Lokhopkuen]

Thank the Avatar for ILM:rolleyes:

[sanjuro_ronin]

Still not convinced about the casting...I don't like the choice for Prince Zoku that's for sure.
The special effects are, of course, amazing.
I am on the fence.

[Zenshiite]

^Same here. I'm less riled about the Aang casting right now than I am Sokka and Katara though. Those two lily whites stick out like a sore thumb amongst the Inuit-seeming extras they got for the Water Tribe.

[sanjuro_ronin]

^Same here. I'm less riled about the Aang casting right now than I am Sokka and Katara though. Those two lily whites stick out like a sore thumb amongst the Inuit-seeming extras they got for the Water Tribe.

Yeah, I don't get that either...
I don't know why the director didn't use the actors who's voices were in the series if he was gonna go "non-asian".
I am not happy with Zoku's casting and from the trailier, if the guy with the beard speaking to Zoku is supposed to be Uncle Iroh, and am even less happy.
I know its too soon to make a call but the casting is looking like the weak part.
But Aang is growing on me too.

[Zenshiite]

Oh yeah. Uncle Iroh. Yeesh. The dude playing him is a great actor, and you've seen him in basically anything that calls for a skinny bald Iranian. As Uncle Iroh though? No. Does not work.

Iroh is probably my favorite aspect of the series, with the character changed in this way that kind of takes away everything of what Uncle Iroh was an homage to. That sucks big time.

[sanjuro_ronin]

Oh yeah. Uncle Iroh. Yeesh. The dude playing him is a great actor, and you've seen him in basically anything that calls for a skinny bald Iranian. As Uncle Iroh though? No. Does not work.

Iroh is probably my favorite aspect of the series, with the character changed in this way that kind of takes away everything of what Uncle Iroh was an homage to. That sucks big time.

Agreed.
:p

[Lucas]

thats the problem with things like this. sure its the same characters names, the same story line, but the essence is changed. is it really the same or is it a someone similar carbon copy....

[Zenshiite]

Ironically, so many fans of the Avatar series are so enamored with the idea of a live action movie that they are clamoring to be the loudest proclaimers of how "true" this will be to the source material and how it's "okay" to stray from the visual and ethnic cues of the TV show to make it happen. I'm not so into live action movies that I even necessarily concede that the series could ever have justice fully done for it in film. I'm certainly not so into it that I'm willing to let the very world be morphed into something different just for the sake of Hollywood execs being too cowardly to give us an Asian fantasy epic of Star Wars or LOTR proportions.

Not even Chinese cinema has really managed that, yet. What Hollywood has done is take a quintessentially Asian fantasy cartoon world and stripped it of it's unique qualities by giving us, yet again, a band of white people who are going to save the day. Worse yet, save the day from the evil brown people. Compound matters, those brown people are apparently all South Asian, Persian and Arab! Thanks for hijacking something cool and turning it into yet another "white is right" propaganda piece Hollywood!

[Lucas]

well said.

[Skip J.]

well said.
yessss....

[Zenshiite]

http://www.easthillskungfu.com/salute.jpg

[Skip J.]

http://www.easthillskungfu.com/salute.jpg

you're welcome! I grew up in the '60's so I come by "it" naturally myself...

[Wildwoo]

This will be the only movie in history that sucked before it was made:rolleyes:

[ManilaCrane]

Lol the trailers for this movie looks nice, but how come im gettin the feeling its gonna remind me of Dragonball: Evolution? :/

[Lokhopkuen]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDG9IizVNSo&feature=related

[Zenshiite]

So... old Asian dude is obviously an Air Nomad elder... and yet they hired a little white kid for Aang?

It's like they casted according to dimwitted perceptions of some viewers. "Well, Aang looks white but all the other Air Nomads are Asians." Stupid.

One thing I'll always grant this film, as expected it is some **** fine eye candy.

[Lokhopkuen]

Remember Blackface? Charlie Chan? Joel Gray playing Chuen In "Remo Williams", David Carradine in Kung Fu.......

[Zenshiite]

Yeah, it really irks me. I can't get behind it in the full ticket price kind of way.

[GeneChing]

Come on now. Who couldn't beat a Twilight vampire? They aren't like real vampires. They're just pretty-boy poseurs. They don't even hop. ;)

Could Jackson Rathbone's 'Last Airbender' Character Beat His 'Twilight' Vampire In A Fight? (http://splashpage.mtv.com/2010/03/30/jackson-rathbone-the-last-airbender-twilight-vampire/)
Posted 4 hrs ago by Rick Marshall in News

In M. Night Shyamalan's "The Last Airbender," actor Jackson Rathbone plays Sokka, a teenage warrior from the Southern Water Tribe who lacks the water-bending powers of his peers but has the makings of a great leader all the same. On a quest alongside his sister, Katara, and the last remaining airbender, Aang, Sokka's mettle is tested as the small group tries to restore balance to their warring world.

MTV News caught up with Rathbone while he was promoting his new film, "Dread," and managed to slip in a few questions about the special effects in store for "Airbender" audiences and how Sokka stacks up against his "Twilight" character, the vampire Jasper Hale.

"My character's more of a sardonic figure," Rathbone told MTV News. "But he's a budding young warrior, so I got to do a lot of hand-to-hand fighting, which was really fun. I had to go through about two-to-three months of kung-fu training, that was just... Oh, man, that was a workout."

"But it was fun, I learned a lot," he continued. "I'm a lot more flexible now. It was really cool to get to do a lot of the hand-to-hand fight scenes where you're walking through this war zone and suddenly somebody jumps out at you and you have to kind of block and hit them in the head. It was pretty crazy. My character is armed with a boomerang."

As for what audiences will see when "Airbender" hits theaters, Rathbone gushed about the film's FX-heavy moments.

"I've seen clips and bits of the scenes and the CGI, and they're both going to be incredible, and they're going to blow people away," he said. "What modern technology's able to do is just mind-blowing, it's such an honor and a privilege to be part of these films."

However, when pressed to admit who's tougher, Sokka or Jasper, Rathbone declined to even consider the two characters squaring off — but he did admit to feeling the pressure to pick a favorite.

"It's actually kind of funny, because my friends were ripping me about that last night," he said. "Now that I have these action figures, these Jasper action figures, and they're coming out with the Sokka action figures for 'Airbender,' they're saying they're going to buy both of them and fight them."

"Who would win? I don't know," he said. "I kind of want to stay out of that one. I'm not really a betting man. ... I'll be Switzerland."

[SPJ]

I heard that the graphic/images will be great

I got most of the series of animation dvd.

It wound be nice to see actual persons acting on the big screen.

Ang can be many "shapes" in different lives.

--

:cool:

[Lokhopkuen]

Real vAmpires hop, hop... hop, hop......:D Happy Easter!


Come on now. Who couldn't beat a Twilight vampire? They aren't like real vampires. They're just pretty-boy poseurs. They don't even hop. ;)

[Lokhopkuen]

<SNIP>
Ang can be many "shapes" in different lives.

--

:cool:

Wow! That's a great idea for a new series::rolleyes:;):D:D

[Wil-Hung]

...wrong Avatar above

Here's the official website with the new trailer (http://www.thelastairbendermovie.com/#home) (different from the Superbowl one)

Just saw the trailer... eh, ok. This is my frustration, if you look at most old ma flicks, all of the young boys in them were highly skilled at form and choreo. So they couldn't find a chinese (yes, I want a chinese kid specifically) that speaks english, to play Aang. Back in the day, didn't they actually get a young girl often to play a young boy, in ma films. They just took to it quicker and the wires didnt change the octive level in their speech. They could even do that, and it would have more credibility to me.

[Wil-Hung]

Not even Chinese cinema has really managed that, yet. What Hollywood has done is take a quintessentially Asian fantasy cartoon world and stripped it of it's unique qualities by giving us, yet again, a band of white people who are going to save the day. Worse yet, save the day from the evil brown people. Compound matters, those brown people are apparently all South Asian, Persian and Arab! Thanks for hijacking something cool and turning it into yet another "white is right" propaganda piece Hollywood!

Wow, that's heavyhanded, and I am in 100% agreement with you. Why have a China-based movie, that garnered a legion of fans, based on tradition, and cast opie taylor as the lead? Unfortunate answer: to make $. The only folks that will be disappointed with this movie, are the original fanbase that made it viable.

[doug maverick]

well the movie was written and directed by a brown person...and as director/writer/producer he had total say so over casting...take that however you want it.

[Zenshiite]

I have some suspicions about M Night Shyamalan's own inferiority complex vis-a-vis his non-white heritage. I mean, he cast people that look like him in the role of the villians of the saga.

That could, of course, be a bit of a presumption.

[sanjuro_ronin]

New Trailer:
http://www.thelastairbendermovie.com/

Special effects are excellent, no denying that.

[Lucas]

I just watched the episode where Sokka meets his sword master...that sword master looked awefully familiar....;) :D

[Jimbo]

I can't get into this one because of M. Night Shyamalan himself. I haven't seen one good film from him since The Sixth Sense, and even that I thought wasn't all that great. I kept going to see his films, because the ideas sounded good, and kept being disappointed. Plus, I'm certain he's given himself some role in the film, again. At least when Hitchc0ck did walk-ons in his own films, he was subtle about it.

[doug maverick]

going to a special screening of this on the 29th. so i just might have the first review, ill let you guys know my thoughts.

[sanjuro_ronin]

I just watched the episode where Sokka meets his sword master...that sword master looked awefully familiar....;) :D

Notice that did you?
LOL !

[GeneChing]

Interactive journalism, from TIME no less. I should do this. It would make interviews so much easier. :rolleyes:

Ask M. Night Shyamalan (http://10questions.time.com/2010/06/23/ask-m-night-shyamalan/)
Wednesday, June 23, 2010 at 10:34 am

With Steven Spielberg and George Lucas as sources of inspiration, M. Night Shyamalan has made it his mission to write and direct "intelligent commercial movie[s]." His 1999 film The Sixth Sense proved his first major success at fulfilling that formula, receiving six Oscar nominations including Best Picture and Best Director. He followed it with works like Unbreakable, Signs, The Village and The Happening. His latest film, The Last Airbender, is out July 1. Submit your questions for M. Night Shyamalan below, then read the interview in an upcoming issue of TIME magazine.

[Lucas]

Notice that did you?
LOL !

lol ya! and then i found this on the internetz

http://th02.deviantart.net/fs48/300W/i/2009/151/4/9/Piandao_vs_Sifu_Kisu_by_Booter_Freak.png

[JamesC]

I'm guessing that Piandao is modeled after Sifu Kisu?

Btw, am I the only person excited about seeing this movie? Everyone else seems kinda ****ed about the cast choices...

I do wish they had gotten someone that actually looks like Uncle Iroh, though. :(

[sanjuro_ronin]

I'm guessing that Piandao is modeled after Sifu Kisu?

Btw, am I the only person excited about seeing this movie? Everyone else seems kinda ****ed about the cast choices...

I do wish they had gotten someone that actually looks like Uncle Iroh, though. :(

I am still excited, the special effects look great and my kids love the story and characters.
I do hope that the comedy is still there though.

[JamesC]

Me too. Sokka and Iroh are great characters who are almost always used to lighten the mood in the show.

I hadn't thought of that. Now you've got me worried. :(

[Lucas]

Me too. Sokka and Iroh are great characters who are almost always used to lighten the mood in the show.

I hadn't thought of that. Now you've got me worried. :(

ditto, and i think this is how it is for a lot of fans....

[doug maverick]

welp im seeing it on tuesday and will let all know if its worth it or not...however i think you guys should see it, if only to promote martial arts in the mainstream.

[Lucas]

thanks doug, i'll look forward to your review. ive become a fan of the show, so i'll likely see this once its out near me.

i personally have not looked into the movie other than seeing that flash of a preview months ago with Aang doing some staff work.

I have no idea who the cast is, and will wait to find out when i see the movie.

i love doing it this way so its all a suprise, pleasant or no.

[Zenshiite]

I have a feeling I'll be seeing it, despite my gripes with the casting and what not.

I have heard through the grapevine that Mike and Bryan, the creators of the series, are not particularly pleased with the results M. Night has handed in. Which doesn't surprise me really. Saw that coming when casting was announced.

I'll probably be at the theater on like the 5th with my son and my dad just because there is nothing else in the theaters I'm remotely interested in. I want to take my son to Karate Kid too... see if he wants to learn some kung fu after that.

Lucas, i like the Muhammad quote in your sig. :thumbsup:

[doug maverick]

well M.night is moving on so i dont think he is going to be directing the sequel for this film. if there is one.

[Zenshiite]

well M.night is moving on so i dont think he is going to be directing the sequel for this film. if there is one.

Really? Where did that come from?

[doug maverick]

he is gearing up to some movie with bruce willis.

[doug maverick]

alright first let me start of by saying this short review will be laden with SPOILERS ok here we go. man where do i start this movie SUCKED, horribly i mean what the f uck, i thought jonah hex was gonna be the worst movie of all ten. ehhh matter fact it still is, but this comes in a close second. first let me say that i really felt this movie was straight up and down blatantly racist, which is weird, the only good dark skin person was dead before the movie even started, even the iroh character was light skinned. M.night should bow his head in shame for that.matter fact we should get charlie and eddy murphy to do a rick james on his legs. also i they changed the pronounciation of the names, Aang became Ang, Iroh became erroh, sokka became Soka. the movie was basically a mantage of the first season, just lame, there was way to much talking heads i mean literally the actors would just stood there and vomited up there lines, no energy no flair no intensity what so ever. there were alot of gaps in there where character building that was in the cartoon was gone from the movie, like how Aang and katara and sokka actually become friends, not just meet. i mean its weird how they meet him and are like ok lets going around the world together, a stronger director would have figured out how to build the bond between the three. also i liked in the cartoon when they went to train with the water master how there was this whole thing with sokka not being able to learn, that should have been included. which is what gets me to my other prob. there wasnt enough bending or action for me. and what was offered wasnt really strong, i would have loved for someone like sammo hung to have been the actiond director/choreagrapher he would have taken this thing to the heavans.

finally lets get to the end. where Aang goes into the avatar states and freezes all the ships.........i does not happen, instead he just let them go. wow i gotta say this wasnt good...and it could have been. if m night just added a tiny bit more, got rid of all the yakking...and the stupid voice over...rule number one of filmmaker...NEVER STATE WHAT YOU CAN IMPLY. anyway it seems that mnight is moving on and hopefully they get a much better director to helm the second film...

ps. one last note this thing was devoid of comedy...i was like wth sokka isnt funny in this thing....its all drap and serious and when the funny parts do come you dont even care.

[yutyeesam]

Whoa, Doug! Thanks for the review, you actually helped me make up my mind about this. I take your review seriously because you were actually trying to give this movie a chance, when everyone was dogging on it.

That's just too bad. M. Night should just be kicked out of Hollywood, and I hate to say that about a fellow Brown (Indian) man since there are so few of us in that position. He had the HONOR of taking someone else's great story, and couldn't even get that right. It's like having the answers to the test and still flunking.

It sounds like from your description, M. Night was not really a true fan of the series.

Well hopefully when this gets panned big time and becomes a public disaster, it may make the money people listen just a little closer to the fans and what the fans would like to see.

[doug maverick]

thing is 5-14 year olds dont read reviews and they are gonna beg their parents to see this and to see it in 3d(which is really a waste, 2d is just fine you wont miss nothing, i hate post pro 3d) so just by those factors its gonna do well..its not gonna do crazy numbers, because its going up against the beast that is twilight...but when they do a sequel to this and they will...hopefully the next guy can do better.

[Jimbo]

In almost all of M. Night's films, a lot of the actors tend to speak their lines with no energy or spirit. Sometimes like talking in their sleep. And they often act without spirit, almost like drugged-down zombies. I'm talking about good actors, like Bruce Willis, etc. It has everything to do with M. Night as a director, IMO.

[doug maverick]

In almost all of M. Night's films, a lot of the actors tend to speak their lines with no energy or spirit. Sometimes like talking in their sleep. And they often act without spirit, almost like drugged-down zombies. I'm talking about good actors, like Bruce Willis, etc. It has everything to do with M. Night as a director, IMO.

agreed a million percent....


some other things...the indian actors were also the best actors who were the only actors to have some "fire"(pun no intended) in them when they spoke. also there was this actor who played an old man who betrayed the avatar...and im like this dude should have been iroh his voice and look were perfect.

[sanjuro_ronin]

I haven't seen the movie yet, but from Doug'd review I can see the problem was indeed with the direction.
When taking a series and putting a whole season into a 2 hour movie, it takes LOTS of skill and great writing to make the chemistry work, like the relationship between Aang and Sokka, not so much Aang having the hots for Katara, love at first sight is easy, but the friendship thing needs time OR great writing to build up.

I hate 3d too by the way, it takes away from the movie more than it adds.

[doug maverick]

I haven't seen the movie yet, but from Doug'd review I can see the problem was indeed with the direction.
When taking a series and putting a whole season into a 2 hour movie, it takes LOTS of skill and great writing to make the chemistry work, like the relationship between Aang and Sokka, not so much Aang having the hots for Katara, love at first sight is easy, but the friendship thing needs time OR great writing to build up.

I hate 3d too by the way, it takes away from the movie more than it adds.

well ill disagree on the 3d part, i think when used correctly and effectively it can truly enhance the scenery and the action of a film...however, that only works when the movie is actually shot with 3d cameras, like say avatar and alice and wonderland... then you can feel the movie...but doing it iin post just doesnt have the same effect because you cant 3d the entire movie its to expensive you can only do parts..the failure in this movie lies on M.night and his failure to communicate a story to the audience, when i watched the movie i see how he could have added this moment or that moment and taken away other useless scenes and lines...it felt almost like a really bad expensive student film but it wasnt. and m.night has just further proven that he has peaked as a filmmaker and needs to go back to the drawing board.

[GeneChing]

In my defense, I'll say it's an east coast/west coast thing.

The movie races to try and cover the entire first season (Book One: Water) adding narration to try to pick up the slack, and sacrifices the humor and character development. M. Night Shyamalan has been struggling to produce a mcgguffin on the level of Sixth Sense, but Airbender has no mcgguffin really, so there's just nothing. It really suffers from not being called Avatar. It's budget is 280 million, but it will be devoured by vampires this weekend, and I predict it will join the ranks of unfinished attempts to make a new kid franchise, the Harry Potter wannabes, like Golden Compass, City of Ember and Narnia.

On the upside, the wushu looks good. Was that Li Jing giving the foot massage? Obviously I've been doing my forms all wrong as I can't bend nothing.

NOTE: I am not a fan of the cartoon series, mostly because I've just never had the time to watch it. Also, as for all the complaints about whitewashing, Avatar has always been western for me as the elements are western: air, water, earth, fire. If it was Asian, it would be water, wood, fire, earth, metal. The fact that the fire nation all looked middle eastern, well, that's another issue entirely.

We'll have an interview up on our e-zine tomorrow.

[doug maverick]

my beef wasnt with the white washing...that part was whatever..it was how he blatantly made the indian/middle eastern actors bad guys and iroh the one good one was light skin/white. it was done blatantly

[sanjuro_ronin]

NOTE: I am not a fan of the cartoon series, mostly because I've just never had the time to watch it. Also, as for all the complaints about whitewashing, Avatar has always been western for me as the elements are western: air, water, earth, fire. If it was Asian, it would be water, wood, fire, earth, metal. The fact that the fire nation all looked middle eastern, well, that's another issue entirely.

If I recall, the elements being 4 is an indian thing, not western.
Earth covers all the earth elements like metal and wood.

[GeneChing]

The four elements are Greek: water (thales), air (anaximenes), earth (xenophanes), and fire (heraclitus). Indian cosmology is three: fire (agni), water (ap), & earth (prithivi).

I FB'ed Li Jing and she confirmed that it was her giving Uncle Iroh the foot massage.

[sanjuro_ronin]

The four elements are Greek: water (thales), air (anaximenes), earth (xenophanes), and fire (heraclitus). Indian cosmology is three: fire (agni), water (ap), & earth (prithivi).

I FB'ed Li Jing and she confirmed that it was her giving Uncle Iroh the foot massage.

Actually, you are right and wrong ;)

Classical Elements

Babylonian
Sky
Sea Wind
Earth

Greek
Air
Water Aether Fire
Earth

Hinduism (Tattva) and
Buddhism (Mahābhūta)
Vayu/Pavan (Air/Wind)
Ap/Jal (Water) Akasha (Aether/Space) Agni/Tejas (Fire)
Prithvi/Bhumi (Earth)

Chinese (Wuxing)
Wood (木)
Water (水) Fire (火)
Metal (金) Earth (土)

Japanese (Godai)
Air/Wind (風)
Water (水) Void/Sky/Heaven (空) Fire (火)
Earth (地)

Tibetan (Bön)
Air
Water Space Fire
Earth

Medieval Alchemy
Air
Water Aether Fire
Earth
Sulphur Mercury Salt

[sanjuro_ronin]

That said, wood and metal ARE part of the Earth.
:p:p:p:p:p

[Lucas]

honestly doing the eastern elements including metal as one would mess with the story.

example: if you had a civilization full of metal benders....they would WTFPWN everyone. it would ruin the story. straight up.

this way the one earth bender that creates metal bending is because her earth bending is strong enough to effect the alloys....

as for the civilizations themselves, they are mix mashed. example: the fire nation have a distinctly japanese flair though not in the LOOKS of the people. they have black hair, pale complexion and yellow/red eyes....though look to have a euro features...there is asian influence woven through out it all.

[GeneChing]

That fails to substantiate your point that four elements are Indian. You listed 5 for Hinduism. And salt should definitely be an element. ;)

[GeneChing]

McBending

Comercial McDonalds - The Last Airbender (McLanche Feliz - Happy Meal) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szrmIK75Qes)

[Zenshiite]

Doug, Gene, thanks for saving me 20-40 dollars. :cool:

[Wildwoo]

http://www.fox4kc.com/news/morningnews/wdaf-last-airbender-martial-arts-coordinator-063010,0,6783530.story

[Lokhopkuen]

my beef wasnt with the white washing...that part was whatever..it was how he blatantly made the indian/middle eastern actors bad guys and iroh the one good one was light skin/white. it was done blatantly

That's big corporate movie making brother:D

I walked out of the free screening and then signed 1,500 autographs for a movie I didn't even work on. Now THATS Hollywood;)

[yutyeesam]

http://www.fox4kc.com/news/morningnews/wdaf-last-airbender-martial-arts-coordinator-063010,0,6783530.story

That's awesome! Sifu Kisu, you gave M. Night face, that is very good of you.

Cool demonstration, too.

I hope if they make the 2nd and 3rd installments of these they use a different director, different cast, everything, and that Sifu Kisu is directly involved with the action.

[KC Elbows]

That's big corporate movie making brother:D

I walked out of the free screening and then signed 1,500 autographs for a movie I didn't even work on. Now THATS Hollywood;)

Yeah, I was amazed by the endlessness of the line. I think there were more people in that line by the end than were in the theater we watched it in.

As for the movie and the fire nation/middle eastern thing, I actually thought the most subtly portrayed and sympathetic character was that fire general who advised the prince(haven't watched the cartoon, so I don't recall the character's names). Probably the only thing close to subtle characterization.

Not a great movie, but the crowd seemed to enjoy it, and, compared to most kids movies, not so bad. It would be interesting to see sequels, as the actors doing the martial arts would have time to improve and look more natural in their kungfu.

[GeneChing]

Nice Lokhopkuen, very nice! Way to give KS props! BSL#8 (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13142) on Fox!


Sibling rivalry with the stars of "The Last Airbender" (http://www.sfbg.com/pixel_vision/2010/06/30/sibling-rivalry-stars-last-airbender)
06.30.10 - 1:32 pm | Louis Peitzman |
Photo by Zade Rosenthal

While Twihards know Jackson Rathbone from his portrayal of Jasper Hale in the first three Twilights films, Nicola Peltz is a relative newcomer. But both are sure to get a burst of fame with their starring roles in M. Night Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender, an epic live-action adaptation (out Fri/2) of the animated Nickelodeon series. Rathbone and Peltz play siblings Sokka and Katara, refugees of the water tribe who join forces with Aang (that’d be the last airbender) to save the world. In talking to the actors about their filming experiences, it’s clear they’ve got the sibling rivalry thing down pat: their snarky back-and-forth dominated the conversation.

San Francisco Bay Guardian: I’ve got to start by asking you guys the obvious question, which is if you were familiar with the series Avatar: The Last Airbender before you signed on to the movie.

Nicola Peltz: Yes, I was. I actually have six brothers and a sister, and two of my younger brothers that are seven, we watch the cartoon all the time together. And when I got the role, they literally didn’t believe me. They were like, “You’re lying!” “No, I’m really not!” They’re really excited for me.

Jackson Rathbone: I knew of it, too. I hadn’t seen the entire series, but a lot of my really good friends had, so I told them I was going out for the role, and they were extremely impressed. It was nice to have my friends behind me on this one.

SFBG: How would you say the movie is different from the series, and do you think it’ll still appeal to those fans?

JR: I think it definitely will still appeal to all the hardcore fans, because the filmmakers were fans of the series themselves. [M.] Night [Shyamalan] really wanted to make the film for his daughters, who loved the series.

NP: Yeah, it was actually his daughter’s idea to make the film, because she fell in love with the series so much, and she loved the characters. And I think this movie’s so interesting because it is for all ages. It’s not like just a kids’ movie. A lot of grown-ups were into the cartoon as well.

SFBG: How are Last Airbender fans different from, say, Twilight fans?

NP: Jackson?

JR: [laughs] I think with Twilight fans, there’s definitely a larger female fanbase, just based off the first two films. I think Eclipse is going to probably bring a lot more guys in. But for The Last Airbender, I find that it’s across the board. I mean, like Nikki’s just said, it’s kind of an all ages thing.

NP: It’s a family movie. You know, like some Friday nights, people go to them. It’s like the perfect movie, because everyone’s gonna love it. It’s not like the parents are going to be bored watching a kids’ movie.

JR: Yeah, it’s like the first Shrek. It’s a family film, except this is an action film so it’s going to be a lot more entertaining for everyone, because it’s really exciting. There’s all this martial arts, there’s all this special bending. It’s gorgeous.

SFBG: As a fan of the series myself, my main concern was if Appa [a "sky bison"] and Momo [a "winged lemur"] were involved in the movie. [Both appear in CG form.]

NP: Yes! Of course. It wouldn’t be a movie without Appa and Momo.

JR: You’ve gotta have those characters. They’re so much fun. My only regret is that I didn’t get to work with Momo as much.

NP: Yeah, same here. Actually, one of those scenes, I got to feed him a little peach. That was the only thing, but it was really cute.

SFBG: You’ve talked about how it’s a pretty intense action movie. How much stuntwork was involved?

NP: Yeah, there was a lot. I learned kung-fu and tai chi. I started in October last year, and then we went through the end of the movie, but we all went in February, moved to Philly and we did boot camp. We did hours and hours and hours a day, and it was so much fun. We got to do — did you do wire work? You did, right?

JR: I didn’t do wire work, because I don’t have special bending abilities. No, I just did mainly kung-fu, like hand-to-hand kind of kung-fu, and then they taught me wrestling and grappling moves. Because they wanted Sokka to be more like a young warrior, who doesn’t necessarily have the technical ability but he definitely has the heart. And a boomerang. And a really sharp wit.

NP: Oh, do you want to tell him what happened when you first tried to use your boomerang?

JR: …No.

SFBG: Well, now I have to hear.

JR: OK, well, the boomerang’s a little bit different than the boomerang that you think of from Australia or whatever. But the shape is actually of a common, real boomerang. And so when I went to go throw it—

NP: He hit the only rock in Greenland! The only big stone in Greenland.

JR: Greenland is all rocks and ice! It’s everywhere. But I was throwing it up in an incline, it went straight up, and—

NP: It never came back.

JR: It went straight. It broke.

SFBG: But I assume your skills improved?

JR: Yeah, definitely, definitely. However, I did break like four boomerangs and three spears.

NP: Yeah, he had like six boomerangs throughout the movie.

JR: Well, that’s because I was learning to do tricks with them. I would like flip it behind my back and catch it and try to just make it as cool as possible.

NP: He would attempt, but…

SFBG: You guys definitely have this rapport down — you do seem like siblings. How did you develop that on set?

JR: Well, basically, the first day of filming, I picked Nicola up and I dunked her in a snowbank, to really get the brother and sister thing going. That’s the only reason.

NP: Oh, yeah, he was getting into character, as he tells everybody. But at the Kids’ Choice Awards, I got to slime him.

JR: Yeah, that’s called payback.

SFBG: That’s awesome. Although getting slimed is kind of a good thing. I would love to get slimed.

NP: Actually, it was fun. I tasted it.

SFBG: How was that?

NP: It was slimy.

JR: I had no choice but to taste it. So thank you.

SFBG: With all this back-and-forth, I feel like a fight is inevitable. If Sokka and Katara threw down, who would win?

JR: Katara.

NP: Come on!

JR: There’s no way Sokka would ever raise a fist to his little sister.

NP: OK, well, even if he did, I would win. Obviously. I’m a water bender! Please. He has a boomerang.

SFBG: Can you talk about what it was like working with M. Night Shyamalan?

JR: It was incredible. Being young actors, it’s one of those things, you get to work with somebody that you’ve respected and admired. He’s just an incredible artist and a really awesome, down-to-earth family guy.

NP: Yeah, he’s a really great guy. When I saw The Sixth Sense, I was like — it’s one of my favorite movies ever. And now I get to work with him, which is so much fun. Family and morals and values are really important to him, and it definitely shines in the movie. You can definitely tell. But he was so much fun to work with.

SFBG: He’s known for having a very particular mark. Does that carry over to The Last Airbender? Because this does seem very different from his past projects.

NP: Yeah, it is different. He did a lot of scary movies and this is a movie for all ages.

JR: It’s a family film. He did thrillers. With The Happening, he did his first R-rated film. And here with The Last Airbender, he’s doing his first family film. It’s an action, epic, fantasy adventure — there’s a lot of CGI. ILM did the CGI.

NP: We also went to Greenland, though. So a lot of it was real, which was really cool.

SFBG: Now you’ve probably been asked this before, but if you had to pick one bending power, what would you choose?

NP: Water! And I’m not just saying that because I’m a water bender in the movie. But water’s so interesting because it can harm you but it can also save you. It does heal people, but at the same time, there are tsunamis, which harm things. I think it’s the most interesting element.

JR: Oh, yeah, definitely. I’ve always been a big fan of Bruce Lee, and in his book, Artist of Life, he talks about how to be like water and what that means. You kind of go with the flow. Water can become strong and become like ice, and in it’s flowing form even, in hundreds of years, it’ll carve the Grand Canyon. Water’s a very powerful element.

I suspect Rathbone will have a hard time looking at Box Office results next week. Too bad he couldn't have hung on to Twilight (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=57648).

[yutyeesam]

Angry Asian Man's perspective of the film:

http://blog.angryasianman.com/2010/06/last-airbender-this-movie-could-boycott.html

[GeneChing]

Read our exclusive interview with Nicola Prelz and Jackson Rathbone in THE LAST AIRBENDER: Sokka and Katara Talk Beginnings, Big Screen, and Bending (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/ezine/article.php?article=906) by Melissa Leon-Guerrero Do

[doug maverick]

That's big corporate movie making brother:D

I walked out of the free screening and then signed 1,500 autographs for a movie I didn't even work on. Now THATS Hollywood;)

im not even gonna blame paramount for that, im gonna blame M.night for that. that was his choice as a director. man even when i think about it, except for maybe dev patel as zuko this movie sucked...funny thing is it couldve worked...with the same cast and everything it could've worked. if they stuck to what made the show work, it would have been a good movie...i mean its gonna get steam rolled by the beast that is twilight, but despite all that bad reviews its getting, it'll still do ok. actually if the budget was really 238million(i gotta confirm if that was the right number.) there is no way they are making that back opening next to twilight. unless they are looking at the world wide gross, then there is a potential to do better.but doubtful

[doug maverick]

**** they started a boycott: http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=129991687032198&index=1

[Lokhopkuen]

Nice Lokhopkuen, very nice! Way to give KS props! BSL#8 (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13142) on Fox!



I suspect Rathbone will have a hard time looking at Box Office results next week. Too bad he couldn't have hung on to Twilight (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=57648).

Thank you big daddy!

[Lokhopkuen]

Yeah, I was amazed by the endlessness of the line. I think there were more people in that line by the end than were in the theater we watched it in.

As for the movie and the fire nation/middle eastern thing, I actually thought the most subtly portrayed and sympathetic character was that fire general who advised the prince(haven't watched the cartoon, so I don't recall the character's names). Probably the only thing close to subtle characterization.

Not a great movie, but the crowd seemed to enjoy it, and, compared to most kids movies, not so bad. It would be interesting to see sequels, as the actors doing the martial arts would have time to improve and look more natural in their kungfu.

Hey KC;
Sorry to force you to watch that gurgling spectacle of a film:rolleyes:
Nice demo by you and Sifu Mike Reyes though and it was a rich pleasure spending time with you and the gang.

See you again in September for the grand opening of our new Mid-West Harmonious Fist Schools:D

[KC Elbows]

Hey KC;
Sorry to force you to watch that gurgling spectacle of a film:rolleyes:
Nice demo by you and Sifu Mike Reyes though and it was a rich pleasure spending time with you and the gang.

See you again in September for the grand opening of our new Mid-West Harmonious Fist Schools:D

It was great hanging out with you, and, mediocre as the movie was, it did get me interested in watching the series. I'm looking at the bright side here.:D

[doug maverick]

Nice Lokhopkuen, very nice! Way to give KS props! BSL#8 (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13142) on Fox!



I suspect Rathbone will have a hard time looking at Box Office results next week. Too bad he couldn't have hung on to Twilight (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=57648).

i think he is still in twilight gene

[GeneChing]

Shows you how much I know about the Twilight (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=57648) franchise. :o

Click below for vid, assuming you got nothing better to do... :rolleyes:

Regis Philbin Tests Dev Patel's Martial Arts Skill (VIDEO) (http://www.tvsquad.com/2010/07/01/regis-philbin-tests-dev-patels-martial-arts-skill-video/)
by TV Squad Staff, posted Jul 1st 2010 7:21PM

Dev Patel, who stars as Prince Zuko in M. Night Shyamalan's 'The Last Airbender,' which opens this weekend, visited 'Live With Regis and Kelly' (weekdays, 9AM ET on ABC), where he discussed how his martial arts training helped him with all the stunts in the film

"I practiced martial arts for eight years before I got into acting," Patel told Philbin and Ripa. "That really came in handy."As Patel talked about being a "really tall guy" and worrying if the camera would make him look cool when compared to "the Jet Li's and Jackie Chans," who are "so compact and muscular," Philbin begins to squirm in his seat. You just know he's up to something.

Sure enough, without warning, Philbin sneak attacks the young actor with a "karate chop."

"By the way, Regis just pulled his groin," Ripa remarks.

[Wil-Hung]

alright first let me start of by saying this short review will be laden with SPOILERS ok here we go. man where do i start this movie SUCKED, horribly i mean what the f uck, i thought jonah hex was gonna be the worst movie of all ten. ehhh matter fact it still is, but this comes in a close second. first let me say that i really felt this movie was straight up and down blatantly racist, which is weird, the only good dark skin person was dead before the movie even started, even the iroh character was light skinned. M.night should bow his head in shame for that.matter fact we should get charlie and eddy murphy to do a rick james on his legs. also i they changed the pronounciation of the names, Aang became Ang, Iroh became erroh, sokka became Soka. the movie was basically a mantage of the first season, just lame, there was way to much talking heads i mean literally the actors would just stood there and vomited up there lines, no energy no flair no intensity what so ever. there were alot of gaps in there where character building that was in the cartoon was gone from the movie, like how Aang and katara and sokka actually become friends, not just meet. i mean its weird how they meet him and are like ok lets going around the world together, a stronger director would have figured out how to build the bond between the three. also i liked in the cartoon when they went to train with the water master how there was this whole thing with sokka not being able to learn, that should have been included. which is what gets me to my other prob. there wasnt enough bending or action for me. and what was offered wasnt really strong, i would have loved for someone like sammo hung to have been the actiond director/choreagrapher he would have taken this thing to the heavans.

finally lets get to the end. where Aang goes into the avatar states and freezes all the ships.........i does not happen, instead he just let them go. wow i gotta say this wasnt good...and it could have been. if m night just added a tiny bit more, got rid of all the yakking...and the stupid voice over...rule number one of filmmaker...NEVER STATE WHAT YOU CAN IMPLY. anyway it seems that mnight is moving on and hopefully they get a much better director to helm the second film...

ps. one last note this thing was devoid of comedy...i was like wth sokka isnt funny in this thing....its all drap and serious and when the funny parts do come you dont even care.

I could not possibly agree more, in fact you were to light on criticism. I actually nodded off 3 times. Went with my son and his best friend, and they woke me up 3-4 times. I was disappointed, but I didn't realize each movie was a book, and they didnt advertise it that way. My expectations would have been different. I wish they had focused more on training. Book 2 should be nice, though. Did you notice all of the earthbenders were asian. Like they were from another part of the world.

[Wil-Hung]

That's big corporate movie making brother:D

I walked out of the free screening and then signed 1,500 autographs for a movie I didn't even work on. Now THATS Hollywood;)

Can you be more involved in Chapter 2, This was as weak as it could possibly get. Why can't the creators have more input? they had to be wretching.

[doug maverick]

I could not possibly agree more, in fact you were to light on criticism. I actually nodded off 3 times. Went with my son and his best friend, and they woke me up 3-4 times. I was disappointed, but I didn't realize each movie was a book, and they didnt advertise it that way. My expectations would have been different. I wish they had focused more on training. Book 2 should be nice, though. Did you notice all of the earthbenders were asian. Like they were from another part of the world.

well they arent physical books...but seasons in the cartoon...well im hoping that m.night has departed from the series as he is prepping to do another movie. this movie needs a director like guerrmo del toro...now there is someone who could make this movie down right epic...and maybe sammo hung pulling double duty as uncle iroh and martial arts choreographer.

[KC Elbows]

I have yet to watch the series, but it seems to me that they were trying to include too long a story curve in one movie. They should have either made it longer or cut it off at a different point.

[doug maverick]

70 million, which is just about half its budget(150million) so it looks like what is being called the worse reviewed movie this year may in fact garner a sequel. lets just hope paramount, which was the first studio to cross the billion dollar thresh hold this quarter beating out the champ of the previous 9 years warners. get rid of M.night and move on to a director more comfortable with this type of material.

[Wildwoo]

well they arent physical books...but seasons in the cartoon...well im hoping that m.night has departed from the series as he is prepping to do another movie. this movie needs a director like guerrmo del toro...now there is someone who could make this movie down right epic...and maybe sammo hung pulling double duty as uncle iroh and martial arts choreographer.

The choice for who should have provided martial art choreography (and who will be doing it in the future) is glaringly obvious don't you think? Sifu Kisu was responsible for some of the most amazing martial art sequences ever seen in animation. 61 action filled episodes of the original Emmy award winning animated series. The same man just happens to be coordinating Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness (a new Nick/ Dreamworks Series), The Kung Fu Panda 2 feature film and the brand new series set in the Avatar Universe.
If something isn't broken it certainly does not need to be fixed, warped, twisted, substituted, imitated or distorted.:rolleyes:

[doug maverick]

(Just between you and me) I was the original consultant hired to coordinate the movie.... Paramount paid me a nice chunk of change to create a series of reference DVDs and It's a shame they didn't bother to watch them <CHA/CHING!> They "went another direction" :D Also anyone outside of the company wouldn't know that the Paramount upper management shifted 4 times during the course of production of the movie and I suspect it will shift again before the dust settles on this one. We'll see:D

paramount is a tentpole studio their whole system is built around how many sequels can they make off of a film, they really arent in the art aspect of a film, as seen by how they ruined the visual of airbender by making it 3d, all they want to make is a franchise, now the defeatist part of that is had they made the movie the right way it could have been an amazing even oscar winning trilogy(actually seeing how the trend goes they would and probably will break the last part up into two films). but poor judgment really ruined this film. and to willow and the reason why i mention sammo over our illustrious sifu kisu is simple,.....he is sammo. and can craft amazing martial arts fight scenes and has for over 30 years. but i love all the stuff in the cartoon as well.

[taai gihk yahn]

Kisu did the MA choreography for the series, which AFAIK was one of the reasons it was so popular, and Paramount decides to bag that and go another direction? lol, typical - just like my CLF / Lama hing dai / friend who worked for DIsney back in the '90s as an animator - he was working on Hercules at the same time they were putting together Mulan, and he got a wif of the MA they were going to use: all 'crotty'! so he went in and showed them what TCMA looked like, in fact they sketched him doing jian / gim and even used it in the sequence when Mulan's dad is practicing at the beginning, and then when she fights the Ghengis Khan type guy at the end; but instead of using him for the rest of the fight scenes they go and get BH Barry, lol, and of course the rest of the movie MA stunk! typical Hollywood BS when it comes to accurate portrayal of non-western idioms...

[Scott R. Brown]

...non-western idioms...

Who you calling an idiom you dumb cluck!!!!!!:mad:

[SPJ]

just saw the movie on the big screen.

already known the stories from watching animation series on DVD.

princess azula showed up at the end.

waiting to see the next episode on the big screen.

cool.

:cool:

[taai gihk yahn]

Who you calling an idiom you dumb cluck!!!!!!:mad:

Hi, stalker, hi.

[sanjuro_ronin]

I watched it.
It sucked !
At certain points the fighting was even blurred, probably from the conversion to 3d ( I saw it in 2D).
Storyline sucked, making Aang a reluctant Avatar is one thing, a pathetic excuse for an avatar is another.
Acting sucked.
The name changes were pointless.
The addition of Lord Ozai dialouge was pointless, the direction that Shamalaya took it didn't work at all.
No chemestry between Aang and Katara, no humour in Sokka.
Basically, everything that made the series a huge hit was either changed or elimenated.
Shamlaya should be shot and ****ed on.

The ONLY thing good was the FX and even that was screwed up in the final battle.

[MightyB]

I watched it.
It sucked !
At certain points the fighting was even blurred, probably from the conversion to 3d ( I saw it in 2D).
Storyline sucked, making Aang a reluctant Avatar is one thing, a pathetic excuse for an avatar is another.
Acting sucked.
The name changes were pointless.
The addition of Lord Ozai dialouge was pointless, the direction that Shamalaya took it didn't work at all.
No chemestry between Aang and Katara, no humour in Sokka.
Basically, everything that made the series a huge hit was either changed or elimenated.
Shamlaya should be shot and ****ed on.

The ONLY thing good was the FX and even that was screwed up in the final battle.

I pretty much agree... but the thing that was the most irritating was M Night's overzealous crediting of himself... big ol' written by credit being the one that most peaved me off. Screenplay by, or film adaptation by... but not written by.

Yeah- Sokka sucked (no humor), and the name changes... wtf!

[yutyeesam]

I talked to some folks who did see the movie, and had not seen the animated series. They thought the movie was good.

I remember hearing one comment of, "People are expecting oscar level work all the time. If you can get out of that mindset, you'll like the film just fine".

But again, this person hasn't seen the cartoon.
I have yet to see it, and am in no hurry b/c I'm a fan of the animated series, and I know I'm going to be disappointed.

But having said that, this may get people who haven't seen the animated series to check it out.

I think there should be spinoffs. There should be a Katara spinoff called Bloodbender.

[doug maverick]

there is a reason this film is the worst reviewed of the year. im pretty sure none of the critics seen it and they thought it sucks....hell my mom thought it was dragon ball z or something and she thought it sucked too....how can you enjoy levels of boringness, that was m.nights the last airbender...

[MasterKiller]

Kisu did the MA choreography for the series, which AFAIK was one of the reasons it was so popular, and Paramount decides to bag that and go another direction? lol, typical - just like my CLF / Lama hing dai / friend who worked for DIsney back in the '90s as an animator - he was working on Hercules at the same time they were putting together Mulan, and he got a wif of the MA they were going to use: all 'crotty'! so he went in and showed them what TCMA looked like, in fact they sketched him doing jian / gim and even used it in the sequence when Mulan's dad is practicing at the beginning, and then when she fights the Ghengis Khan type guy at the end; but instead of using him for the rest of the fight scenes they go and get BH Barry, lol, and of course the rest of the movie MA stunk! typical Hollywood BS when it comes to accurate portrayal of non-western idioms...

uhh....Mimi Chan was the model and martial arts reference for Mulan.

[MasterKiller]

I remember hearing one comment of, "People are expecting oscar level work all the time. If you can get out of that mindset, you'll like the film just fine".

When you pay $30+ to take your family to something that last 1.5 hours, you shouldn't have to resign yourself to lowered expectations.

[SPJ]

both my son and I watched the film on the screen. we paid 10 + 9 $ for the tickets.

we love the story line even thou there are some changes from the animation series.

we do not like the acting part. the actors and actresses lack expression or passion

the interaction among the characters is zill or not good.

but yin yang fishes: moon spirits and sun spirits

meditation to the spiritual world, consultation with the dragon for advice

---

commander zhao/chao/jaw wanted more power

prince zuko rescued avatar

uncle recognised the need of the balance in the world

and the appearance of princess azula

the scroll of water bending

--

maybe we love the storyline too much or too familiar with the story

--

acting may be suck

but the story is not.

me think.

--

[MightyB]

in anybody else's hands, the movie would have been good. I blame M Night for f'n it up. They could've had the head writer from the series do the movie adaptation, and that would've made it a whole lot better. They could've spent more time casting- that would've made it better. They could've kept Kisu on- that would've made it a whole lot better... M Night's ego destroyed the film.

[SanHeChuan]

It was edited like an hour long trailer for a better movie. :rolleyes:

[ittokaos]

Ha ha. That sucks guys. Luckly for me, my buddy works at a theatre so I saw it for free today.

Yeah, it was bad. Horrible editing. I understand that it is difficult to put 20 episodes in a one and a half hour film but major things were overlooked. No character development. Names were changed for no reason. Sokka not funny. Everybody's white. I could go on but it's really beating a dead horse.

SanHeChuan is right on. I too thought the same thing 5 minutes into it. However, it was worth what i paid to see it. ;D

[dimethylsea]

Avatar: The Last Airbender has officially been the cause of one of my funniest kungfu emails to date.

I randomly get some email from a local movie theater. They want a short notice (4 days) demo of some bagua to coincide with the premier of Airbender.


I'm sorta like "well I can see how that would make sense... you wanting that.. but.. meh...".

Then the email goes on to explain how this would be chance for some really good exposure for our school.. because this OTHER movie is premiering the same weekend.

Care to guess what that movie is?

http://jesmovie.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/twilight-eclipse.jpg

I became a little queasy... and then I hit DELETE.

[Lokhopkuen]

http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/7669/rockattack.gif

[sanjuro_ronin]

There is one thing though, the McDonalds toys are Avatar toys and they coem with cards and the last two my girls got showed Suki and the Kyoshi warriors and A Katara card from an Earth Book episode.
What's up with that ???

[doug maverick]

according to M.night in an interview with mtv, he said he cut the kyoshi warriors from the film because it ate into the story....bleh...


my friends who worked on this film are kinda mad at me for saying the action wasnt good.

[sanjuro_ronin]

according to M.night in an interview with mtv, he said he cut the kyoshi warriors from the film because it ate into the story....bleh...


my friends who worked on this film are kinda mad at me for saying the action wasnt good.

God, what an ******* !

[SPJ]

like the computer graphic

like the storyline

ang pronouced eng is better, thou

prince zuko good uncle good --

commander zhao bad guy drowned by water from 4 water benders, good

---

like the story too much, like the movie, too.

waiting for the next one.

:cool:

[MightyB]

like the computer graphic

like the storyline

ang pronouced eng is better, thou

prince zuko good uncle good --

commander zhao bad guy drowned by water from 4 water benders, good

---

like the story too much, like the movie, too.

waiting for the next one.

:cool:

You should watch the cartoon series.

[Quaero]

First of all, I am a great fan of the series, and I just came here to thank
Lokhopkuen for providing the the expert Martial Art information and choreography to make one of the best animated shows out there. Seriously, you can feel the power behind the moves. They feel real, something the live-action seriously lacked.


Anyway, Lokhopkuen, you're awesome, rock on.

PS: I've heard rumors about a new series being under production, by the title of Avatar: Legend Of Korra. You wouldn't know anything about that by any chance?

[SPJ]

at the age of computer graphic or computer generated image CGI

plus wire fu.

non MA peep may perform MA stunt.

such as matrix

such as steven chow

such as ---

so actors or actresses prior MA are not required.

but of course, they have to practice the moves in the set before shooting.

[Zenshiite]

I'm so glad my dad paid for this one. I was about to walk out of the theater, my4 year old (who loves the show and as a little vegetarian he thinks Aang is pretty **** cool just for his vegetarianism alone) fell asleep during everything at the Northern Water Tribe and woke up for the finale(which he thought was cool), and my dad dozed off and he's never seen the series.

I think M. Night needs to be Pi Chuan'd repeatedly for this mess.

[doug maverick]

nah no pi chuan...tsuan chuan for obvious reasons lol.

[Zenshiite]

LOL :cool:

[doug maverick]

even better yet wang shu jin comes back to life and does it, a hundred times.

[David Jamieson]

http://cdn-www.cracked.com/articleimages/randall/airbender2.jpg

[Lucas]

Lol!!!!!!!!!!

[Zenshiite]

even better yet wang shu jin comes back to life and does it, a hundred times.

Oh, I love that... Zombie Wang Shu Jin. He should be cast as an Air Nomad!

[ghostexorcist]

Yeah- Sokka sucked (no humor), and the name changes... wtf!

ang pronouced eng is better, thou
I'm a big fan of the "Indymogul" channel on Youtube and I was recently watching one of their interviews with the actors who played Katara and Sokka. Now, I don't claim to be a die hard fan of Avatar, but even I noticed how they were butchering the names. One youtuber claimed the American pronunciation of the show was incorrect and that those complaining about the name changes were "illitrates" (illiterates). He cited how a "Aa" sound is pronounced like an "O." And since the character names were based on Chinese, he reasoned the movie pronunciations were correct. I didn't agree with this assessment, so I replied with the following:

-- "Avatar was created by, written by, and produced by Americans, so that pronunciation should be the one utilized in the movie. Another important thing to remember is that the language spoken in the Avatar world is English, but its written form is Chinese. Therefore, real world linguistic norms do not apply. In the Avatar world, the dual characters chosen to “represent” his name (安昂) are pronounced together as a single word (like the a-n-g in hang). Conversely, the real world pronunciation of both characters sounds like “on ong” (granted there are tonal differences between them). So even if the film makers were going off of the Chinese characters, they are still pronouncing it wrong since they aren't voicing the first character.

I’m not really a stickler for spelling (I often make mistakes myself), but if you are going to criticize someone’s reading ability, you should at least spell “illiterate” correctly." --

They haven't replied back.

I don't plan on seeing this movie anytime soon. This is particularly vexing to my nephew who has Avatar running through his veins. The fact that M. Knight Shamalamadingdong was chosen to direct this was my first tip off the movie was going to be crappy. Then came the casting choices ...

I love that picture David posted. I saw it a few days ago when I was reading an online review for the movie. I had a good laugh!

[sanjuro_ronin]

David's post was 100% on the button.

[Lucas]

i wonder how the guy feels knowing everyone knows his movies get progressivly worse and worse to the point that most people would rather roll around in week old vomit than actually pay to watch HIS vomit. although im sure his wallet comforts him nicely.

[SPJ]

so the name should be sounded like ong

or wong

or an yang or an for short.

so an it is.

[Lokhopkuen]

i wonder how the guy feels knowing everyone knows his movies get progressivly worse and worse to the point that most people would rather roll around in week old vomit than actually pay to watch HIS vomit. although im sure his wallet comforts him nicely.

Comfort Kills

[Lokhopkuen]

there is a reason this film is the worst reviewed of the year. im pretty sure none of the critics seen it and they thought it sucks....hell my mom thought it was dragon ball z or something and she thought it sucked too....how can you enjoy levels of boringness, that was m.nights the last airbender...

Worse review of the year makes 100 Million in one weekend?
Says something about the state of affairs in the world today.

[doug maverick]

well its like i said kisu, 8 year olds dont read reviews. add to the 3d revenue..

[crisden]

I can comment from an internal perspective as I was one of the Fire Nation soldiers in the film. I had 30 days of filming running, fighting, jumping and standing around looking bewildered.

We had such high hopes for the film. Great source material and the input of the creators of the series. However, after watching the film in the theater it was a disappointment for me

Why? The inevitable comparisons to the series aside (simplified plot, lack of wit, humor and charm, lack of character development) it was an epic scale film with mediocre elements and some downright distracting (ok, I'll say it: BAD) acting. The run away star of the show was the CGI, which despite what various critics said I thought held up and blended well. Also of note, it was a last minute "band wagon" decision to go with the flavor of the month 3D, which actually took away from the experience a bit.

M. Night is a fan of the series and this is his vision of it translated to live-action. It leaves the sequels in a bit of a limbo until all of the sales figures pan out. Hopefully it can continue on and have the mistakes of the first film corrected and rectified.

[Wildwoo]

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/slideshow/ALeqM5hbTT0HDUdgI8sCe4d8eMDKmUBzoAD9H3HH101?index= 0
http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q69/lokhopkuen/korra.jpg

[Zenshiite]

^I'm looking forward to that. Also looking forward to seeing Spirit Aang.

[sanjuro_ronin]

Yeah, hope it is a good one.
String female characters made Avatar so good and this bold well in the mini-series.
I assume She is a water bender by the looks of it?

[Zenshiite]

Water is next in the Avatar Cycle, so I'd say that's a safe guess.

Interesting that the world of Avatar seems to be urbanizing and modernizing. Hope that doesn't have something to do with upsetting the balance...:cool:

[GeneChing]

This article popped up on my newsfeeds.

Martial-arts students, master have roles in ‘Airbender' movie (http://www.bctv.org/citizen_reports/article_0e4cbef8-9e78-11df-b53a-001cc4c002e0.html)
Posted: Monday, August 2, 2010 4:53 pm | Updated: 5:01 pm, Mon Aug 2, 2010.

From Building a Better Boyertown

"Well, I can check, ‘worked as a martial-arts stunt fighter on a major motion picture', off my bucket list," Donnie Ellixson Jr. joked as he recollects the events that took place last summer.

"It's all pretty wild how it unfolded," Ellixson said."I was working at the dojang (Ellixson's Tae Kwon Do Academy, Boyertown), when I got a call from The Last Airbender casting."

"Three days later I'm in intensive 10-hour-a-day training sessions, which lasted about two weeks," he said.

Two days after that, he was working aside Dev Patel of "Slumdog Millionaire," Jackson Rathbone of "Twilight," and Aasif Mandvi, "The Daily Show," and getting direction under M. Night Shyamalan, whose hits include "Unbreakable," "The Sixth Sense" and "Signs."

"Yeah, saying it was like a rollercoaster is an understatement," Ellixson said.

One of his black-belt students, Cindy Parks, had sent Ellixson an e-mail about open auditions for a movie, "Avatar: The Last Airbender" at the Spectrum in Philadelphia.

"The movie is based on a Nickelodeon cartoon that I had never heard of, but I thought, wow, this could be something cool and fun that I could take my national demo team, Ellixson's Elite, to."

After creating portfolios for each of the team members, they went to the audition, where they were fortunate enough to be close to the front of the line.

"Thank goodness too, because soon after we got there the line stretched to a couple thousand applicants. I had no idea what the outcome of all these auditions would be, but I knew if we had any chance at all, we had to look sharp, be professional, be early and that's what we did," Ellixson said.

"A few weeks went by, and we had about 10 students that received call backs for a second audition.

"That was way exciting. The students and I were thrilled! I think it was on all of our minds that if any one of us got in the movie, it was like all of us made it. We are not only a team, but a family.

"Four of our students, Ben Rosenberger, Cris Zaharia, Braedon Walters and Eric Nice, all were accepted in the second round of auditions and made it into the filming. Then, three days before the crew began shooting the film, I received a phone call from casting.

"They asked me if I was interested in a position of a stunt fighter. I asked what it entailed, and they explained that I would have to clear my schedule for six weeks. I had to be prepared to work 10- to 16-hour days, and they were starting in three days.

"I knew that if I hesitated, my opportunity would be over, they would just go to the next person on their list, so I took a couple of seconds, thought about what great and loyal staff I have at the dojang and how supportive my family is, and said, 'yes, most definitely!' "

The Opening Night Red Carpet Premier Party for The Last Airbender will be Friday, Aug. 13th, at 7 p.m. at the Boyertown State Theatre, 61 N. Reading Avenue, Boyertown, 610-367-4737, www.statetheatreboyertown.com.

Ellixson's Tae Kwon Do's elite team is scheduled to perform demonstrations and announce the movie at the Red Carpet Premier and at other weekend shows.

The demonstrations will start about 20 minutes before the movie is scheduled to start.
When I open my school, my students will be wearing nacho (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=37625)-colored tiedyes and camo belts (http://www.martialartsmart.com/11-90cf.html).

[Lokhopkuen]

Dav Patel Speaks out... (http://www.indianexpress.com/news/dev-patel-finds-it-hard-to-talk-about-the-last-airbender/655005/)

[Siu Lum Fighter]

Anyone seen this website?

http://www.racebending.com/v3/

[Siu Lum Fighter]

I have to say, it's disturbing to see all of the protagonists played by white kids and all of the villains played by people of color. What the hell were they thinking!?! Did they not realize how obviously controversial that was? It's Kane from Kung Fu all over again only this time it's times three! I'm still kind of shocked at how the whole thing turned out.

[ghostexorcist]

Anyone seen this website?
http://www.racebending.com/v3/
Yah, that website came out long before the movie went into production.


I have to say, it's disturbing to see all of the protagonists played by white kids and all of the villains played by people of color. What the hell were they thinking!?! Did they not realize how obviously controversial that was? It's Kane from Kung Fu all over again only this time it's times three! I'm still kind of shocked at how the whole thing turned out.
I don't know if you have seen it or not, but there is a picture illustrating the miscasting. The picture is broken up into two rows of three pictures. The top row has stills of Katara, Sokka, and Zuko from the cartoon. Both Katara and Sokka are drawn with dark tan skin, while Zuko has pale skin. The bottom row has pictures of the actors cast to play them. The people cast to play Katara and Sokka are white, while Dev Patel has dark tan skin. I thought the contrast was hilarious.

[doug maverick]

I have to say, it's disturbing to see all of the protagonists played by white kids and all of the villains played by people of color. What the hell were they thinking!?! Did they not realize how obviously controversial that was? It's Kane from Kung Fu all over again only this time it's times three! I'm still kind of shocked at how the whole thing turned out.

heres the kicker the director, who had say over all casting...as the writer/director/producer...did that and he is a person of color..

[Zenshiite]

^When has he ever cast a person of color as a protagonist? All his mains are lily white in every movie he's ever made.

[GeneChing]

No One Likes M. Night Shyamalan (http://www.boingboing.net/2010/09/22/no-one-likes-m-night.html)

[Zenshiite]

^Hilarious. The whole thing with the movie goers and their response to his name! Exactly what happened for the trailer for Devil at Scott Pilgrim.

[GeneChing]

I just got this from a media rep for The Last Airbender.

Kicking-Off The Last Airbender On DVD
November 16th
American Taekwondo Association Students Nationwide Are Joining An Exclusive Live Online Event With The Film's Star And ATA's Own Noah Ringer Live from Hollywood

Noah will Address Los Angeles ATA Students, as well as Connect To ATA Schools Across The Country Including the Dallas, Chicago, Philadelphia and Miami Areas via USTREAM

Who: The Last Airbender actor Noah Ringer, who stars as Aang, the lone Avatar, will team up with the American Taekwondo Association (ATA) and Paramount Home Entertainment to participate in a live streaming video event.

From Los Angeles, joined by distinguished event moderator Taekwon Lee along with local ATA students, Noah will connect with ATA schools nationwide to talk about his experience on the film as well as demo some of his favorite Taekwondo moves. Two years after he began studying Taekwondo at the age of 10, Noah Ringer earned his first-degree black belt, and utilized his martial arts experience to land the lead role in the live-action family adventure The Last Airbender, now on DVD. Ringer, now 13, holds the 2009–2010 title of Texas State Champion in his age group in five different categories.

What: Special cameras and monitors set up with USTREAM will enable select ATA schools in major cities to link up with Noah directly to ask questions about his martial arts background and his action-packed role on The Last Airbender from Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies. Additionally, ATA schools across the country will be setting up themed 'watch parties' for the online event to mark the film's home entertainment debut.

When: November 16th, 2010 Live Online Event starts at 4 pm PST·

Fans can log-on to http://www.ustream.tv/lastairbender.

[GeneChing]

Worth the Pamela cameo alone...
Nokia N8 - The Commuter, new Nokia film in mobile HD - Nokia UK (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9ME5_ZzeKI)

[GeneChing]

Anyone here connected with ATA (http://www.ataonline.com/)?

Noah Ringer, Star of The Last Airbender, the American Taekwondo Association and Paramount Home Entertainment Join Forces for a Nationwide Celebration of the Film's DVD & Blu-ray™ Debut (http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/noah-ringer-star-of-the-last-airbender-the-american-taekwondo-association-and-paramount-home-entertainment-join-forces-for-a-nationwide-celebration-of-the-films-dvd--blu-ray-debut-106953148.html)

Live Ustream Event Connects Noah Ringer with Select ATA Member Schools Across the Country on November 16th

HOLLYWOOD, Calif., Nov. 9, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- On November 16, 2010, in celebration of the Blu-ray™ and DVD release of Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies' The Last Airbender, Paramount Home Entertainment will team up with the American Taekwondo Association (ATA) for nationwide events. The premier North American organization dedicated to the martial arts discipline of taekwondo, the ATA and its affiliates have over 1,500 licensed schools, all of which will have the opportunity to participate in themed parties to mark the film's home entertainment debut.

In addition, actor and martial arts enthusiast Noah Ringer, who stars as Aang, the lone Avatar, will take part in a special streaming video event, giving hundreds of ATA students the chance to interact with him directly. Students at select member martial arts schools across the country will be able to pose questions personally via Ustream as Ringer shares stories about his background in taekwondo and his experiences on the set, as well as demonstrates some of his martial arts skills live. Fans interested in watching the live event can visit www.ustream.tv/lastairbender on November 16th from 4:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m. PST. The ATA will post the event at www.ataondemand.com and viewers can also connect via www.facebook.com/paramounthomeent.

Ringer achieved first degree black belt rank with the ATA when he was 12 years old and is proficient with a variety of Eastern weapons. A newcomer to the world of acting, he first heard of the open auditions to play Aang through his taekwondo school and won the part over thousands of applicants. He will next be seen in director Jon Favreau's sci-fi Western Cowboys & Aliens alongside Harrison Ford, Daniel Craig and Sam Rockwell.

One of the top 10 family films of the year worldwide earning over $315 million at the global box office*, The Last Airbender will be available in a DVD/Blu-ray Combo pack, as a single disc DVD or single disc Blu-ray.

About American Taekwondo Association

The American Taekwondo Association (ATA) is the largest martial arts organization in North America. Since its founding in 1969 by Eternal Grand Master H.U. Lee, ATA has registered more than 1 million students. Today ATA has approximately 100,000 members around the world. A non-violent system of self-defense, taekwondo first developed more than 1,000 years ago. ATA-affiliated schools practice the style of Songahm (meaning "Pine Tree and Rock") Taekwondo. Songahm Taekwondo places great emphasis on cognitive and emotional improvement, as well as on physical performance. ATA operates through a network of more than 1,000 independently owned and operated affiliate schools on five continents. Its unique history includes pioneering steps that organized traditional martial arts techniques into a uniform curriculum by establishing standards to ensure consistency in instruction and learning. For more information, go to www.ataonline.com

About Paramount Home Entertainment

Paramount Home Entertainment (PHE) is part of Paramount Pictures Corporation (PPC), a global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment. PPC is a unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), a leading content company with prominent and respected film, television and digital entertainment brands. PHE is responsible for the sales, marketing and distribution of home entertainment products on behalf of various parties including: Paramount Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Paramount Classics, Paramount Famous Productions, Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central, CBS and PBS and for providing home entertainment fulfillment services for DreamWorks Animation Home Entertainment.

About Ustream

Ustream is the leader in live video and its platform empowers any individual, public figure or brand to stream to a global audience of unlimited size. Ustream offers free broadcasting and viewing platforms for the Web and mobile devices. The interactive functionality within Ustream enables real-time engagement with Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and AIM. Hundreds of high-profile broadcasters have partnered with Ustream to reach millions of people. Ustream (www.ustream.com) is a privately-held company based in San Francisco, Calif.

[doug maverick]

yeah something tells me this movie isnt really doing well on dvd...cause they are going for the hard sell, which you never have to do with a movie that was technically a hit..

[GeneChing]

It's our new sweepstakes. Enter to win THE LAST AIRBENDER (http://www.kungfumagazine.net/index.html). :cool:

Contest ends 11/24/2010. Good luck!

[GeneChing]

I just received this from THE LAST AIRBENDER'S Press rep.

The Last Airbender Star Noah Ringer Joins Students from the American Taekwondo Association for an Exclusive Live Event as The Last Airbender is Released on DVD

Noah Ringer Demonstrated Martial Arts Skills and Addressed Los Angeles ATA Students,
as well as Directly Connected to Students in Dallas, Chicago, Philadelphia and Miami Areas via Ustream

Downloadable video highlights from the event available at: www.MNRwire.com/lastairbender
The Last Airbender actor Noah Ringer, who stars as Aang, the lone Avatar, teamed up with the American Taekwondo Association (ATA) and Paramount Home Entertainment to participate in a live streaming video event on Tuesday, November 16th.

From the XMA World Headquarters, Noah was joined by distinguished event moderators Taekwon Lee and Mike Chat and connected via Ustream with ATA schools nationwide, sharing his experiences on the film as well as demoing his martial arts skills live. Two years after he began studying Taekwondo at the age of 10, Noah Ringer earned his first-degree black belt, and utilized his martial arts experience to land the lead role in the live-action family adventure The Last Airbender, now on DVD. Ringer, now turning 14, is a 2nd degree black belt and holds the 2009–2010 title of Texas State Champion in his age group in five different categories.

Fans can log-on to www.ataondemand.com and http://www.ustream.tv/lastairbender to watch the event in its entirety. Ustream enabled ATA schools in major cities to link up with Noah directly to ask questions about his martial arts background and his action-packed role on The Last Airbender from Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies. Downloadable video highlights from the event are also now available at: www.MNRwire.com/lastairbender

The Last Airbender, the exciting live-action film tells the story of four nations, Air, Water, Earth and Fire, locked in an age-old conflict that can only be ended by the Avatar—a single boy with the power to manipulate all four elements. Earning more than $315 million at the global box office to become one of the top 10 family films of the year worldwide.

The Last Airbender DVD/Blu-ray Combo pack, available November 16th boasts over two hours of in-depth, behind-the-scenes special features including a nine-part documentary on the making of the film, a featurette entitled “Origins of the Avatar”, which documents the creative transformation of the hit animated series to the big screen, picture-in-picture insights from the cast and crew that deconstruct some of the amazing action and visual effects sequences, deleted scenes, outtakes and more. The film also will be available as a single disc DVD or single disc Blu-ray, both of which include “Origins of the Avatar”, deleted scenes and outtakes.

http://c1.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/116/l_653dfed32cfc46bda252ac6d98efd30c.jpg
The Last Airbender star, Noah Ringer, left, receives a second degree black belt certificate during a live streaming video event to celebrate the film's arrival on DVD and Blu-ray on November 16th in Los Angeles. Also pictured are Lucas Taekwon Lee (center) and Mike Chat (right) of the American Taekwondo Association.

http://c3.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/128/l_cabea323aded4cb9995f7999c55030da.jpg
Actor Noah Ringer, star of The Last Airbender, demonstrates his martial arts skills for American Taekwondo Association members across the country during a live online event to celebrate the film's DVD and Blu-ray debut on November 16th in Los Angeles.

[sanjuro_ronin]

It is truly painful to watch and read this, its like slow torture.
Shame on you Gene !!
SHAME ON YOU !!!:mad:

[Zenshiite]

The movie was such a POS.... flush it!

It's funny that I didn't see one advertisement for the DVD release before the preceeding Monday though.

[Wildwoo]

‎"The Last Airbender is an agonizing experience in every category I can think of and others still waiting to be invented."

—Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
:cool:


It is truly painful to watch and read this, its like slow torture.
Shame on you Gene !!
SHAME ON YOU !!!:mad:

[GeneChing]

I posted it several pages back. That being said, the sweepstakes promotion has been going quite well. We do the promotions to attract eyeballs, and we've already had nearly 4X the entries than with the previous sweepstakes. I think that's largely due to it being a BRD/DVD combo pack. Those are always very popular. Kids films do well too for our sweepstakes. We get a lot of parents and grandparents entering for their kids. Anyway, it'll flip tomorrow night, so don't get your panties in a bunch.

I also thought the Noel Ringer ATA promotion was amusing. I've never seen something like that for a DVD release.

[GeneChing]

See our Airbender combo pack winners (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1064831).

For the record, this sweepstakes was one of the biggest we've done all year in terms of the number of entries, which is just about what I expected. Something I didn't expect has been the sales of our foam guns (http://www.martialartsmart.com/40-11.html) this holiday season. This has always been a good selling item, strangely enough. Just goes to show...:rolleyes:

[GeneChing]

Out of respect for the original animated series, I've split this thread into this one and the original Avatar: The Last Airbender (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=59874) thread. I made the break when Shyamalan's name was first attached to this film.


`Last Airbender' rules Razzies as worst picture (http://oscars.movies.yahoo.com/news/2513-last-airbender-rules-razzies-as-worst-picture-ap)
Sunday, February 27, 2011 3:46:57 AM Pacific Standard Time, Associated Press

LOS ANGELES - The action fantasy "The Last Airbender" — about people who can command fire, air, water and earth — now controls something else: the Razzie awards for Hollywood's worst film achievements of 2010.

"The Last Airbender" led Saturday's Razzies with five awards, among them worst picture, worst director and worst screenplay for M. Night Shyamalan.

The movie also received Razzies for worst supporting actor (Jackson Rathbone, who was cited for both "The Last Airbender" and "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse") and for a special award, worst eye-gouging misuse of 3-D.

A spoof of the Academy Awards, the Razzies were announced the night before the Oscars, Hollywood's biggest party.

"Sex and the City 2" took three Razzies, including worst actress, a prize shared by co-stars Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon, worst screen couple or ensemble for its entire cast, and worst prequel, remake, rip-off or sequel.

Ashton Kutcher was picked as worst actor for "Killers" and "Valentine's Day," while Jessica Alba took the Razzie as worst supporting actress for four 2010 releases, "The Killer Inside Me," "Little Fockers," "Machete" and "Valentine's Day."

Shyamalan has been on a downward spiral since 1999 Oscar best-picture contender "The Sixth Sense," which earned him directing and writing nominations at Hollywood's highest honors. He won Razzies as worst director and worst supporting actor for his 2006 fantasy flop "Lady in the Water."

Despite terrible reviews, "The Last Airbender" managed to find a decent audience, pulling in $300 million worldwide at the box office. Shyamalan adapted the movie from the animated TV series "Avatar: The Last Airbender."

"He managed to take a cartoon property and make it even less lifelike by making it with real actors," said Razzies founder John Wilson. "Most people who like the show, and this would include my 14-year-old son, hated the movie. It made no sense whatsoever."

"The Last Airbender" was among movies that critics knocked for smudgy, blurry 3-D images. The movie was shot in 2-D and converted to digital 3-D to cash in on the extra few dollars theaters charge for 3-D screenings.

"They call it converted. We call it perverted," Wilson said. "The more times you trick the public and charge them that fee and don't really deliver, eventually it's going to be like Lucy and Charlie Brown with the football. Fool me ten times, I'm done."

Wilson said the characters of "Sex and the City 2" were getting too old to cavort the way they do, calling the movie "`The Expendables,' but with estrogen," referring to Sylvester Stallone's tale about aging action heroes.

"Sex and the City 2" also was offensive, Wilson said, showing Parker and her gal pal co-stars disrespecting Arab culture on a trip to Abu Dhabi and flaunting their privileged ways.

"It was released in the middle of a period of American history when everyone's scrounging not to lose their homes, and these women are riding around in Rolls-Royces, buying expensive shoes and just throwing money around like they're drunk," Wilson said.

[GeneChing]

M.Night School (http://www.mnightschool.org/)
;)

[PalmStriker]

Hopefully M. Night ran out of dough and ideas: :) http://www.collegehumor.com/video/6281085/no-one-likes-m-night-shyamalan