So looks like The Last Airbender is sh!t :angryface:

[freefall]

Last Airbender, Dragonball, Tekken, etc., name it. I'm not touching them even with a twenty-feet long cane soaked in disinfectant. Film whoring is never good to watch.

Even if it came from my favourite Shyamalan.

 

[Thad1527]

But...but...they had to change the casting. Because it was mostly filmed here in Philadelphia. And we don't have any Asians.

 

[braex27]

"Avatar: The Last Airbender" is one of my favourite cartoon series ever. It was anime-inspired, with a solid, well-defined story.

I knew the live-action version was going to be crap from the get-go because:

1. They hired M Night Shyamalan, who's just an expensive one trick pony, to direct.

2. Terrible, TERRIBLE casting.

3. There was no way they were going to condense the 11 or so hours of the first season into a two hour movie and do the story any justice.

 

[Thad1527]

I hope you know I was kidding. After all, one of my township's best supermarkets is http://www.hmart.com/ .

And of course...M Night Shyamalan is from Philadelphia, which is likely the only reason any of it was shot here.

But it's easy to find Asians here. Cute ones, too, like the two preppy 100% Americanized ones who sat behind me on the bus yesterday. Someone just had a failure of imagination, I think.

 

[wenchine-mahtapasikan]

But since the stars themselves are not from Philly... it lends me thinking, they can fly some Asians in. OR - and this is just the most goshdarned idea ever! - film in a place with an Asian community.

I can't believe people are thinking that taking a tradition Asian story and whitewashing it is completely ok, especially the numbnuts up there that said, "oh, the asian baddie becomes good, so it's ok". It's really, really not.

As to why a "white" character can become a "black" one... it's simple. Some characters - like superheroes and the like - are UNIVERSAL. Not "white" or "black". It's kinda weird that non-fans of the actual comics complain more than the people who actually read them do, but that's another topic with more qualified people to lead it.

I think he was joking/being sarcastic like you. Philly even has a decent Chinatown. Philly's no SoCal, but I think there's enough of an Asian presence to cast in a place with natural looking extras.
I think it's more OK for a historically negatively portrayed race to co-opt a positive white character; we need the good image. White people don't. At least not in their own countries. However, I feel that the fault with this lies in the fact we're not creating our own heros. It's hard to take an originally white hero from an originally white world created originally by white people and make it fully reflective of a minority experience. It seems to bear the risk of spawning cases of exceptionalism, or whatever that word for "oh you're one of the GOOD darkies" is.
Comic book fans, the white ones, that I know don't read for issues that aren't directly reflective of THEIR experiences. They also are liberal and so foolishly "colorblind" that they think they and their little worlds are beyond race. Tell that to the No Child Left Behind Act.
Then again, you might've put me on ignore.
Anybody else have any ideas for a Fourth Book?

 

[wenchine-mahtapasikan]

I hope you know I was kidding. After all, one of my township's best supermarkets is http://www.hmart.com/ .

And of course...M Night Shyamalan is from Philadelphia, which is likely the only reason any of it was shot here.

But it's easy to find Asians here. Cute ones, too, like the two preppy 100% Americanized ones who sat behind me on the bus yesterday. Someone just had a failure of imagination, I think.

Ah, so you WERE joking, ignore my defense of you.
I think it was more than a failure of imagination.
The preppy Americanization of certain Asians doesn't bother me as much. It's just like "Oh hey, more white people... what else is new? Oh yeah, they have slight tans..."
It's the attempts at urbanization that often get me. Asian co-opting of black culture can be so patronizing...
We don't need any help fucking up our culture, we can do bad all by ourselves.
(JOKE, but seriously, don't like where the "culture" is going)
Anybody? Book Four? Takers? Going once!

 

[wenchine-mahtapasikan]

But...but...they had to change the casting. Because it was mostly filmed here in Philadelphia. And we don't have any Asians.

Yeah, your post didn't show "kidding".

The two "but"'s and the ellipses that follow them and the italics, if not the former, tipped me off.
Though he was serious for a second too with the colorblind bullshit on here. Helps to reread.

 

[Under-taken]

I'm just happy Dev Patel is doing something since Slumdog Millionaire

 

[Joshua_me]

I'll never understand what happened with M. Night Shama-hoo-ha-howeveryouspellit...

Sixth Sense was so spectacular and then it was just down hill from there...

 

[braex27]

I'll never understand what happened with M. Night Shama-hoo-ha-howeveryouspellit...

Sixth Sense was so spectacular and then it was just down hill from there...

Shyamalan is a one trick pony. Nothing he has done post-Sixth Sense has been worth the price of a movie ticket!

Why oh why did he have to ruin one of my favourite TV series, EVER?!

At present, it's rated 5% (7% with Top Critics) fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. Very sad. Very very sad.

Both Roger Ebert and A. O. Scott said in their reviews something along the lines of, let's hope the title is prophetic.

Hehe.

 

[slyfer]

Ok, that movie was the biggest disappointment I've ever experienced in a movie. And I am officially done with Shamalamadingdong.

Quick highlights of terrible:

1. saying stuff that happened in season two instead of season one
2. messing up the pronunciation of most of the names
3. characters looking nothing like the anime version.
4. fire benders can't manifest fire, they have to use fire around them to bend instead...... See More

I HATE HIM SO MUCH FOR RUINING THIS FOR ME!

 

[DeafFoxDemon]

also he remove the humor from the movie too. he made aang way too serious!

 

[winterknight]

A:TLA is NOT anime.

It has an asian-inspired style, true. But it was conceived and produced entirely in the USA, and is therefore NOT anime within the meaning of the act.

 

[slyfer]

I saw he killed Aang's free spirit in the trailers...

 

[DeafFoxDemon]

ya can tell how serious aang is by just look at the pictures

 

[Joshua_me]

Both Roger Ebert and A. O. Scott said in their reviews something along the lines of, let's hope the title is prophetic.

Hehe.

Ebert and A.O. Scott are my two favorite film reviewers.

I loved Scott's review in the NY Times, today.

What did he say the nine year old he saw it with have to say about it ?

"They're screwed", or words to that effect.

 

[Callum]

I'm surprised that you expected anything except shit from this director.

 

[Hot White Trash]

It'll still make $300 million. Too many kids want to see it.

 

[Joshua_me]

Happy Meal toys, anyone ?

McDonald's is currently offering fun toys based on M. Night Shyamalan's new fantasy film The Last Airbender. At participating restaurants now packed with McDonald's Happy Meals, these premium toys include:

Aang w/ Light Pipe Eyes (pictured top)​

Aang w/ Glider​

Appa and Momo Launcher​

Fire Nation Fireball Launcher ​

Waterbending Katara​

Prince Zuko w/ Ring of Fire​

Momo Plush​

Sokka w/Boomerang​

 

[slyfer]

Omg...MOMO PLUSH!!! All the others were shit but a MOMO PLUSH! I might be going to get some happy meals...