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LunaRaven
Reviews
The Last Airbender (2010)
M.Night Shyamalan should be ashamed....
M.Night.Shyamalan ought to be ashamed of himself. I went to the midnight premier of the Last Airbender as a hopeful long time fan of the wonderful animated series. Less than thirty minutes into the feature however I realized that my hopes would be dead on the ground by the time the movie ended.
Over the past few months this film has been surrounded by controversy. The casting choices have caused accusations of racism to be leveled and many fans were left feeling disappointed months before the film even premiered. Now, I don't think M.Night Shyamalan is a racist. I don't know him well enough to make such a slanderous claim. Would I have preferred that the characters in the movie had appeared as the fans had come to know them over the past five years? Of course. However at the heart of Avatar fans, I don't think changing the appearances of certain nations was a racial issue. Simply put, I think people just wanted the characters to look the way they were supposed to look. However, had this movie been written well and had the acting been terrific, changing the appearances of the nations wouldn't have mattered. Because at its heart the story of Avatar is a human story with strong themes of redemption and forgiveness. I think people would have been able to look past their disgruntlement and see the beauty of the story. That is, if the movie had been well written. And I'm sorry to say, it was not.
Naturally, it was always going to be difficult to condense over eight hours worth of animated material into two-hours of movie. How do you choose what goes and what stays in a series where almost everything is interconnected? It was a daunting task indeed. But successful adaption of books, television series, and even video games have been done before. If the works of Tolkien, the master of intricate detail, could be adapted into a series that left a decent amount of his life long fans pleased, surely Avatar: The Last Airbender could be adapted with the same success. Unfortunately, this adaption was far from successful. In fact I think this movie officially joins the list of the most atrocious film adaptions, right along side of the horrendous Earthsea mini-series, the painful Eragon flop, and perhaps the even worse Dark is Rising catastrophe.
So where did this movie go wrong? The better question would be: where didn't it go wrong? The writing was horrendous. High school freshmen could probably manage to come up with a better screenplay. I'm not sure who gave Shyamalan permission to write this film, but whoever it was needs to formally apologize to the fans and to the people who wasted their money hoping to see something worthwhile. The direction was choppy—certain scenes made little sense, the camera lingered on other similarly senseless scenes, and at times the camera angles were difficult to follow. The lighting in the film was too dark throughout and when color was added, it was in too much excess. Overall, there was a lack of balance and cohesion in the way this movie was filmed. The plot was a mess. People who weren't familiar with the series would have been left lost, and people who were familiar with the series were left confused. Certain characters that were supposed to do things didn't, lines weren't said when they should have been said, and elements of the plot were just erased entirely. There was no Avatar Roku, only a dragon spirit that may have been an attempt at Fang, but a very bad one. There was no Omashu, no Kiyoshi warriors, there were no refugees at the northern air temple and Aang never attempted to master fire bending. In fact, in the movie he was too timid to learn water bending, which fans know to be a fallacy. And the characters that were featured were not only acted and written poorly, but many of them modeled new pronunciations of their names. I'm not sure of the reasoning behind this. Perhaps the changes in pronunciation were more accurate. Even if that was the case, they never should have strayed from the pronunciations in the series. Fans grew accustomed to a certain way of a saying and hearing a name. To change the pronunciations only led to confusion and distastes. I heard many people in the theatre around me growling in frustration every time Aang was pronounced "Ah-ng".
I won't get into my dislike of the graphics in detail. Appa and Momo were fairly horrendous, the bending was decent but done incorrectly(actors had to make a hell of a lot of movement for anything to happen, whereas in the series each movement corresponds to the movement of the elements), and the 3D was pointless.
Overall, I'd give this movie a 0 out of 10. Fans of the series, don't waste your money. People who are not fans and areconsidering giving this film a chance, use the money you would have spent on the ticket to rent the first season at the nearest video store.
The Black Cat (1934)
Lugosi shinned
This movie was wonderful and excellent to watch late at night with all the lights turned out. I caught this movie on by chance one night when I was watching late TV do to the fact that I could not sleep. I just happened to turn it on to TCM at the exact time that they announced the name of the movie and the actor who played Frankensteins and Dracula(aka.Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi). I had only ever seen one of Bela Lugosi's movies, Bram Stroker's Dracula, and I had already fallen in love with his charm. So of course I had to see some of his other works. I do not regret staying up from night till morning watching this movie for it was brilliant! A sheer delight! A horror/thriller that keeps you on your feet yet at the same time, works more on challenging the minds of its viewers. This was a very nicely done film with a wonderfully enchanting plot and a great cast.
Bela Lugosi really had a chance to shine as an actor in this movie. He went from his former vampiric role and turned into a character with complex layers and emotions. I'd give this film a 8/10, 7/10 at the least.
Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Review for the latest spider-man movie
Well, I have never been much of a Marvel fan. Actually, I have never been much of a comic book fan myself if you do not include Batman. But I live with two sisters who are crazy for almost any kind of comic book so eventually, after all the bragging and ranting on how Spiderman was so good, I needed to see it for myself. I was not that new to the Spiderman universe as far as the main characters and villains go. Personally, I have never liked Peter Parker or Mary-Jane. I have always enjoyed Dr. Octopus, The Black Cat, and Morbius. But none the less I had to see it so I could write a review for an old forum I use to go to. I didn't like the story, but as far as everything else went it was pretty good. Good costume, music, and visual effects. As for Spiderman 2 I have to say it was pretty dull when it came to plot. The visual effects were good, but after the first movie web slinging no longer 'wowed' me. The music was the same and enjoyable, I would even but the soundtrack if I weren't more of an Opera fan. The costumes and the mechanical octopus arms were great as expected. And, the actor for Dr. Otto Octavius, Alfred Molina, was better than I could have hoped for. However, I was extremely disappointed with the rest of it. The storyline bored me, the action got old after the first hour, and I really didn't like the fact that Mary-Jane broke three guy's hearts not to mention played with them all in one movie. To be honest I would give it a seven out of ten. But I am going to say something good about this movie. If you are a Spiderman fan who is not as stubborn and hot headed as I am, I think you will really and thoroughly enjoy this movie.
X-Men (2000)
My comments on X-men, the first movie.
As you may know from reading my Spiderman 2 review, I am not very fond of comic books besides Batman. But I have to admit this movie was okay. I am not new to the X-men universe nor have been for a while. Like I said, with two comic book crazed sisters(X-men in particular)you can't help but pick up a few things or little shards of information. The visual effects were okay, I didn't hear much music, but for me the plot was a bit dull. I was not very fond of the whole 'mutant' thing. But, now that I have gotten into it more it truly doesn't matter to me. I think they could have started it out a bit differently, maybe have gotten a better actress for Rouge. For me the biggest error was the newer in-correct toad and the Bobby/Rouge romance. Also, I'm not saying Halle Berry is a horrible actress but she just wasn't the right one for Storm. The best actor choices were Patrick Stewart and Ian Mckellen. I love seeing scenes with both of those brilliant actors in them. Overall out of ten I'd give this movie a seven. The best thing I can say about this is that most of the errors go away when you see Ian Mckellen play our favorite villain Magneto.
Majo no takkyûbin (1989)
Review
I have always been a large fan of Studio Ghibli films and probably will be for a long time yet. True, I normally do not do the more child-like movies but this one wasn't half bad. It had a good overall storyline, pretty original, and the characters were enjoyable to watch. I enjoy the fact that Kiki was thirteen making a small romance possible. And the animation was brilliant. The way Kiki flies makes harry potter seem like nothing. I think this movie wont appeal to the older crowds, but anyone thirteen and younger will really enjoy it. However, all ages can appreciate the wonderful animation of the Ghibli studios. Eight out of ten all together thought the animation itself deserves twice as much. But if you are into a more complex story-line then you should check out the wonderful film that is "Princess Monoke."