The Last Airbender

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Winnow
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The Last Airbender

Post by Winnow »

Watched this on Netflix today.

Not bad if you think of it as a movie made for teens. Some nice special effects. It makes me think that the book(s) are decent and since I haven't read the books, I don't hate the movie as much as someone who has. Besides understanding the four elements are involved, it seems a lot of information from the books is left out.

64/100

+ special effects, scenery
- acting (although the little Avatar guy did a good job for his age)
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Re: The Last Airbender

Post by Drolgin Steingrinder »

This film is an absolute piece of shit.

Non-existing plot, talentless acting & directing, so-so effects. Not worth the cost of the pirating.

e: "if you think of it as a movie made for teens"? What? It's still shit, whether it's made for teens or toddlers or geriatrics or only for fans of Borat. Shit is shit.
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Re: The Last Airbender

Post by Canelek »

I was only able to hang for 10 minutes or so. Was pretty awful.
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Re: The Last Airbender

Post by Winnow »

Drolgin Steingrinder wrote: e: "if you think of it as a movie made for teens"? What? It's still shit, whether it's made for teens or toddlers or geriatrics or only for fans of Borat. Shit is shit.
Borat was complete shit. I couldn't even stand watching the commercial for that movie.

Not saying I liked the movie but I guess I enjoyed the special effects enough to make me not outright hate it.

I just googled and people seem to think the target range for the movie was 8-14. Anyone take their kids to see it? What did they think of it? Having not read the books, is that the problem? Was it an adult oriented book that was then refocused to appeal to kids?

I noticed in the huge battle near the end of the film that took place on pure white snow, there wasn't a hint of blood anywhere. In fact, after like 30 minutes of fighting with swords, there were no dead people.
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Re: The Last Airbender

Post by kyoukan »

yeah borat was a bad movie and the last airbender was a good one. also, you're not a fucking useless twat and you should totally keep posting awesome threads like this one.
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Re: The Last Airbender

Post by Winnow »

kyoukan wrote:yeah borat was a bad movie and the last airbender was a good one. also, you're not a fucking useless twat and you should totally keep posting awesome threads like this one.
Shut the fuck up cunt. There, I finally acknowledged you're female. Maybe now you can die happy.
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Re: The Last Airbender

Post by Lynks »

God forbid anyone starting a movie review thread in the movie part of the board.
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Re: The Last Airbender

Post by Bubba Grizz »

I went into the movie with no expectations. I never read the books or watched the cartoon. I knew practically nothing about it before watching it. With that said, I enjoyed it for what it was. While it seemed a bit rushed I still had fun with it. I'm not a critic and I enjoy most movies for what they are. I get laughed at for the movies I do like but that doesn't bother me because I was entertained. If anything I feel bad for those people who hate movies so much.
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Re: The Last Airbender

Post by miir »

Holy fuck this movie was bad...
The set pieces and cinematography are the only redeeming qualities.
The acting was dismal and the screenplay was terrible.
The story randomly jumps around, explains very little and has almost no character development.

The main audience for this movie was fans of the cartoon series and Shyamalan did his best to offend and insult them.
I find it hard to believe that he couldn't find an actual Asian kid to wear a bald cap, learn some basic martial arts moves and read lines from a teleprompter. That would have been far less offensive and easier to stomach than watching Noah Ringer embarrass himself.
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Re: The Last Airbender

Post by Funkmasterr »

I'm sure this movie is bad, but there's no way it's worse than borat. The only thing that's potentially worse than that, is anything else he makes.
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Re: The Last Airbender

Post by Canelek »

All the actors are teens and Tweens. Ill put my money on Borat here.
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Re: The Last Airbender

Post by Winnow »

Bubba Grizz wrote:I went into the movie with no expectations. I never read the books or watched the cartoon. I knew practically nothing about it before watching it. With that said, I enjoyed it for what it was. While it seemed a bit rushed I still had fun with it. I'm not a critic and I enjoy most movies for what they are. I get laughed at for the movies I do like but that doesn't bother me because I was entertained. If anything I feel bad for those people who hate movies so much.
Did you take your kids? What did they think since it appears the movie is focused for that age group unless a lot of people here watch cartoons that air on Nickelodeon. (creators said heavily influenced by Anime, work completed in South Korean animation studios).

Image
miir wrote:
The set pieces and cinematography are the only redeeming qualities.
The acting was dismal and the screenplay was terrible.
Winnow wrote:+ special effects, scenery
- acting (although the little Avatar guy did a good job for his age)
Ah so you somewhat agree with me, except for the main Avatar character I guess. I thought he did a pretty good job for his part.

So, I know a lot of you are trying to pin some hidden meaning to the universe to this movie but its content was made for kids. (wiki says the demographic was 6-11 year olds) Without having seen the cartoon, it didn't seem that bad to me, especially if the focus group was kids. Hell, give them credit for introducing some thought provoking material for those 11 and under.
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Re: The Last Airbender

Post by Animalor »

I'm pretty familiar with the source material and while I'm sure that Shyamalan did his best, there's no way you can elegantly fit 13 or so hours that was the first book of the series into 90-120 minutes of film.

They cut character development out of a story that's mostly about the characters.
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Re: The Last Airbender

Post by Drolgin Steingrinder »

You know what, I don't agree with your premise, Winnow.

Why would you dumb stuff down just because the target audience is kids? Here's a secret: Kids are fucking awesome at dramaturgy. They know exactly how stories are supposed to work, and while they might be better than adults at ignoring shitty acting, directing, especially when being served perty pitchers, they still deserve better. Defending poor storytelling / acting / whatever because it's for kids is a cop out and a half. If it's shit, it's shit.

"Oh it's okay that this food tastes like shit, it's for middle schoolers!"
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Re: The Last Airbender

Post by Fairweather Pure »

Drolgin Steingrinder wrote:You know what, I don't agree with your premise, Winnow.

Why would you dumb stuff down just because the target audience is kids? Here's a secret: Kids are fucking awesome at dramaturgy. They know exactly how stories are supposed to work, and while they might be better than adults at ignoring shitty acting, directing, especially when being served perty pitchers, they still deserve better. Defending poor storytelling / acting / whatever because it's for kids is a cop out and a half. If it's shit, it's shit.

"Oh it's okay that this food tastes like shit, it's for middle schoolers!"
I feel the same way about music.
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Re: The Last Airbender

Post by Canelek »

Exactly. That line of thinking as brought such wondrous children's programming as:

Barney
Power Rangers
The Wiggles
Caiyou
Fast and Furious
etc, etc

Of course, most of those work fantastic for ages 0.5 -> 2.
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Re: The Last Airbender

Post by Winnow »

Drolgin Steingrinder wrote:You know what, I don't agree with your premise, Winnow.

Why would you dumb stuff down just because the target audience is kids? Here's a secret: Kids are fucking awesome at dramaturgy. They know exactly how stories are supposed to work, and while they might be better than adults at ignoring shitty acting, directing, especially when being served perty pitchers, they still deserve better. Defending poor storytelling / acting / whatever because it's for kids is a cop out and a half. If it's shit, it's shit.

"Oh it's okay that this food tastes like shit, it's for middle schoolers!"

What's being dumbed down? The cartoon was already focused on 6-11 year olds. It's not like they took a teen or adult book and then converted if for pre-teens.

At that age I was reading C.S. Lewis books (Narnia Series), Encyclopedia Brown, and around 11, was hitting the adult Science Fiction and Fantasy novels. At the same time, I still, to this day, enjoy Richie Rich comics. I don't see any fault with that. Everything doesn't need to challenge your mind. Last Airbender had some themes to ponder for kids. Death and sacrifice. (that little fish spirit died, yin or yang, and the white haired chick sacrificed herself to revive it for the greater good) The Avatar being taught not to use violence to solve problems is better than watching a Mortal Combat movie where everyone just kicks the shit out of each other. Avatar coming to grips with his responsibilities is another value that can't hurt kids to see on screen. The little Avatar guy had to work hard to hone his powers. Aang, while continuously being pursued by Prince Zuko, still attempts to befriend him.

The movie doesn't deserve to win any awards but I didn't see it as being down right horrible. I see it as too much information needing to be squeezed into a single movie. There were some messages in the movie, bad acting overall, and pretty scenery to watch.

And I'm sure everyone out there has some stupid cartoons or shows they watched (Saved by the Bell, Thundercats, He-Man, Transformers, etc etc etc) that didn't have a moral or had bad acting...unlike the timeless Brady Bunch where someone always learned a lesson each episode!
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Re: The Last Airbender

Post by Zaelath »

Canelek wrote:Exactly. That line of thinking as brought such wondrous children's programming as:

Barney
Power Rangers
The Wiggles
Caiyou
Fast and Furious
etc, etc

Of course, most of those work fantastic for ages 0.5 -> 2.
You wish you made Wiggles money.
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Re: The Last Airbender

Post by Canelek »

It's so creeeeepy!
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Re: The Last Airbender

Post by Bubba Grizz »

I didn't bring my kids. Actually I missed this in the theatre and waited to get it on netflicks. If the movie doesn't have a disney label on it somewhere my kids are mostly not interested. I am working on that with them though. Tonight I'm showing them Dawn of the Dead!
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Re: The Last Airbender

Post by Canelek »

Original?

That there is a cultural lynchpin. I wouldn't recommend to children under 13 though hehehe.
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