tl;dr Liked Juui Dolittle, hated The Stepfather, meh on Airbender
So, I finally watched The Last Airbender yesterday. I'm thoroughly convinced that that movie would make a lot more sense if they added maybe two or three more scenes (like one in between them finding Aang and the Zuko turning up, one between Zhao stabbing the fish and Iroh going booga booga and scaring him off, you know, so the audience could be aware that it makes some kind of difference, and one...hmm, I forget the other place I had planned. They defo needed a few better montages, though) and rearranged most some of the dialogue (like the first hour). It wouldn't make it perfect by any means, but it would stop me going "Umm...why are you saying this now?" all the time.
Also, Shyamalan really needed to take a step back and reconsider some of those word choices. That opening narration, good lawd! The whole thing sounded like something I would come up with when I have writer's block and am forcing it like hell. Usually that sitch ends with me going "WTF is this shit?!" Then I delete the whole thing and write it in English. Obviously that didn't happen here. Or if it did happen, it didn't happen enough.
The story... well, things happened because he wanted them to happen or because they were supposed to happen, but the characters didn't really follow along. A lot of the time what they were doing didn't match what they were saying, and other times their reactions didn't really go along with anything. For example, the scene where Zuko has some kid narrate to Iroh what happened to him. All the rants I've read/watched (and there were a lot. I'm telling you, the two weeks after this movie came out were the best weeks of 2010. Too damn hilarious!) that mentioned this scene were all complaining that Iroh would know all of this already so why the hell would he need to be told? I can kind of see where Shyamalan was going with it. Or maybe I'm giving credit where it isn't due, idk. But, you know, if that kid was more insulting about Zuko, like the whole Fire Nation thinks he's a fucking joke, kind of like in Ember Island Players, then Zuko's teary eyes and hardcore sulk would make sense. It would be more like "this is what the Fire Nation thinks about me, this is why I have to prove myself and go back". As it was, the kid's like "lolol no1curr!" and you just go "uh... ok?"
Also, they kept going on about "the Fire Nation and their machines", but the only machines I saw were the boats and I don't see how that does any good inland in the Earth Kingdom. :/ Like I know they have drills and tanks and stuff, but that's just 'cause I've seen the series.
In conclusion... it wasn't unwatchable, but they reeeaaaalllly could have thought it through better.
My mom discovered The Stepfather remake was on Sky Anytime, so we watched that. What a colossal waste of time. It was long and boring and fuck all happened in it. Yes, Mr Screenwriter, I know you need to set all the characters up so that we care when they die, but what the hell's the point if you're not actually going to kill them off? Seriously, nobody died, how is this a horror movie? Well, okay, two people died, but they were both on screen for about five minutes if that much and their deaths weren't even slightly interesting. Honestly felt like I wasted my whole night. Not to mention it felt like it was going on for about three hours. I started browsing on ONTD halfway through and reminiscing about the Stepfather game I played on Gaia that I never managed to win. Something is wrong with your horror movie if The Princess and the Frog has the same body count. smh
And I also had me a marathon of Juui Dolittle. I quite liked it. Typical jdrama for sure, except with cute little puppies and kitties and bunnies. Oguri Shun plus that chick from Hana Yori Dango and a side order of Philip from W as a future serial killer in the making. Good stuff. Though I'm not too sure why they were reassuring Philip that he could well be a good veterinarian when he blatantly just said he didn't want to be a vet anymore and enjoyed stabbing puppies in the park in his free time not five minutes prior. Um you may want to try paying attention to the voice of the sociopath for a change or alternatively, buy some better locks for your doors. Hide yo' kids, hide yo' wife, etc etc.
Also, Shyamalan really needed to take a step back and reconsider some of those word choices. That opening narration, good lawd! The whole thing sounded like something I would come up with when I have writer's block and am forcing it like hell. Usually that sitch ends with me going "WTF is this shit?!" Then I delete the whole thing and write it in English. Obviously that didn't happen here. Or if it did happen, it didn't happen enough.
The story... well, things happened because he wanted them to happen or because they were supposed to happen, but the characters didn't really follow along. A lot of the time what they were doing didn't match what they were saying, and other times their reactions didn't really go along with anything. For example, the scene where Zuko has some kid narrate to Iroh what happened to him. All the rants I've read/watched (and there were a lot. I'm telling you, the two weeks after this movie came out were the best weeks of 2010. Too damn hilarious!) that mentioned this scene were all complaining that Iroh would know all of this already so why the hell would he need to be told? I can kind of see where Shyamalan was going with it. Or maybe I'm giving credit where it isn't due, idk. But, you know, if that kid was more insulting about Zuko, like the whole Fire Nation thinks he's a fucking joke, kind of like in Ember Island Players, then Zuko's teary eyes and hardcore sulk would make sense. It would be more like "this is what the Fire Nation thinks about me, this is why I have to prove myself and go back". As it was, the kid's like "lolol no1curr!" and you just go "uh... ok?"
Also, they kept going on about "the Fire Nation and their machines", but the only machines I saw were the boats and I don't see how that does any good inland in the Earth Kingdom. :/ Like I know they have drills and tanks and stuff, but that's just 'cause I've seen the series.
In conclusion... it wasn't unwatchable, but they reeeaaaalllly could have thought it through better.
My mom discovered The Stepfather remake was on Sky Anytime, so we watched that. What a colossal waste of time. It was long and boring and fuck all happened in it. Yes, Mr Screenwriter, I know you need to set all the characters up so that we care when they die, but what the hell's the point if you're not actually going to kill them off? Seriously, nobody died, how is this a horror movie? Well, okay, two people died, but they were both on screen for about five minutes if that much and their deaths weren't even slightly interesting. Honestly felt like I wasted my whole night. Not to mention it felt like it was going on for about three hours. I started browsing on ONTD halfway through and reminiscing about the Stepfather game I played on Gaia that I never managed to win. Something is wrong with your horror movie if The Princess and the Frog has the same body count. smh
And I also had me a marathon of Juui Dolittle. I quite liked it. Typical jdrama for sure, except with cute little puppies and kitties and bunnies. Oguri Shun plus that chick from Hana Yori Dango and a side order of Philip from W as a future serial killer in the making. Good stuff. Though I'm not too sure why they were reassuring Philip that he could well be a good veterinarian when he blatantly just said he didn't want to be a vet anymore and enjoyed stabbing puppies in the park in his free time not five minutes prior. Um you may want to try paying attention to the voice of the sociopath for a change or alternatively, buy some better locks for your doors. Hide yo' kids, hide yo' wife, etc etc.