Review | Prometheus

Pretty great but keep your hopes low. There are some major spoilers in this review but don't worry I actually obscured them, so it's safe to read. 

The Last Airbender

The Last Airbender


D- (1.4)

The Last Airbender should be recalled The Last Thing We Would See From M. Night Shyamalan because this is not only a poorly executed adaptation of a TV Series, but also just messed up with a director who just committed career suicide by ruining a once beloved cartoon. Or there should I say one of the worst movies of theis century. Even Armond White didn't like it from the start.

Honestly of all the cartoons I've seen in my current age along with Arthur and Phineas & Ferb, Avatar: The Last Airbender was a cartoon that I absolutely enjoyed. It was a cartoon that has Asian mythology and martial arts suited with Western audiences. But I only watched the first season in which this movie was based on and The Last Airbender had bit the hand.

To tell you the story, it's about two children Katara and Sokka whose powers could use water as their weapon discovered a 12 year old kid in an iceberg near their place. His name is Aang (by the way why the f**k do they call him Aung) played by Noah Ringer, and he is as the title suggest the last living Airbender who can use air as his powers. The Fire Nation led by Prince Zuko (Dev Patel) who had conquered almost everything in the Spirit World, wants the Airbender who is the Avatar, a sorcerer who can master Earth, Water, Air and Fire. Katara and Sokka helps out Aang's quest to master all of these elements so he can defeat the Fire Nation.

Did M Night Shyamalan got paid $72 million to f**k up everything up? On the screen. You know I can tell you that Shyamalan is a huge fan of the show and he wanted to direct this movie because his daughter was a huge fan of the show as well and was intrigued of how big of a fan she is. However anything that was great about the cartoon from Nickeloneon is left out of the movie and I think that Shyamalan wants to put a huge stamp in this movie. And does he ever. Because of that, not only does it appalled me that they destroyed the whole reputation of the cartoon, but the creators of the show still approve of this. The direction of the movie was truly lazy. I was going to give a pass to Shyamalan cos I haven't seen any of his movies The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable or The Happening which were critically panned.

The acting is just utterly terrible. Noah Ringer who plays Aang is awful as he had shown no emotion to his character. So are the people who played Katara and Sokka. They never show any sort of emotion at all. The worst of them all is Aasif Mandvi who plays Admiral Zhao who just irritates me because he doesn't show any personality of Zhao. The only performance that almost matches its character is Dev Patel from Slumdog Millionaire who plays Prince Zuko. He portrays the same person Zuko was in the cartoon but he's given no dialogue and I can't even help seeing him glare at the camera. However the only great performance I could hand compliments to was Cliff Curtis as Uncle Iroh (his part would've been played by Ben Kingsley) who has most of the movie's humor but couldn't deliver it well.

The cast would've been better if the script written by Shyamalan was improved but the question is why this kind of cast is put in to this movie when most of the characters that originates from the cartoon are almost Asian (Water Tribe was a mixture of Asian and Inuit, the rest of the elements are all of the Asian race especailly Fire which is specifically Chinese) while the rest of the characters are White or Indian. The Water Tribe are all Whites while the rest of the Fire Nation is Indian. That just offends me.

One of the great things about Avatar: The Last Airbender is the level of comic relief. Aang, Sokka and a dude named Uncle Iroh delivers a sense of charm into the humor of the cartoon. Where as this, that is gone. The reason why Aang sucked is because he's joyless. The reason why Uncle Iroh sucked is because he feels bored. THe reason why Sokka is terrible is because he has no sense of humour.

I believe that this movie went along with the script too much. This is based on the first season of the show and the script felt so rushed that there were many holes based on plot and logic all crammed into 99 minutes of film.

The visuals are not as eye popping as it is. The 3D just reflects how everything sucks and in the first seventy seconds they get to throw everything at you and because of the effects I just felt bored.

And can you believe it. The ending is a set up for episode two. I can't imagine what despicable ways M Night Shylamalan would be putting in that sequel. Shyamalan had counter argued that no one appreciated his style and art he has put into his movie. Well to Mr. Shyamalan. The art that you put in this movie is nowhere between Picasso or Monet. This is might have been below Dali under surrealism. No. It isn't.

It's not that your movies are bad, but if people can watch their movies for the following reasons they wanted to watch it, then they should forget about you for a year or two.

If you want a movie completely opposite of this movie, see Inception. But if you want to watch a movie with amazing flashy special effects with choreography, see Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World. Because if you people are still liking this movie, I don't know what kind of taste do you have in movies.

Adaptation/Memento

Adaptation


8.9

Within this millenieum, there are a few breakthrough directors coming up to make a movement within the film industry. Those people also directed music videos of breakthrough bands like U2, The White Stripes and The Beastie Boys. They were Michel Gondry, Wes Anderson and so many more.

But in this movie Adaptation, it is directed by Spike Jonze, written by a guy named Charlie Kaufman* and his twin brother Donald (however he isn't real, starring Nicholas Cage as... Charlie Kaufman and his brother.

Adaptation is a black comedy, the story about Charlie Kaufman. After the critical and financial success of Being John Malcovich, Kaufman is assigned to write an adapted screenplay from a real life book The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean (Meryl Streep). However he has trouble writing the script since the book has no plot and that he wanted to focus on the concept of the book which is... Yep you guessed it... flowers. His twin brother Donald (the fictional writer of movie hence played by Cage himself) comes along and stay in his house wanting to be a screenwriter like his brother.

Meanwhile, the novelist Susan Orlean comess along to the film and looks at how her book's about to be created, and her relationship of a gentle orchid hunter John Laroche which turns into a romance.

Adaptation has a weird feel on its body. Spike Jonze has this gift into his film with making each scene almost multi layered, it's very hard to comprehend and stars real actors playing real people covering the events happened to them but then neatly contradicts these events of the plot of the film. Kaufman* With a lot on its hand (the script) it curiously explores and contradicts the events of these characters and how challenged they are to finding out what they are. It goes into scenes wildly unpredictable and goes blackly funny like Kaufman unintendingly entering into his own screenplay. The dialogue is almost breathtaking and will either want to love and hate these people at the same time.

The casting is almost flawless. Nichoas Cage is in the best performance of his career (currently he ended up into unrelentless filming) playing Charlie Kaufman and portraying him as a depressed, self loathing, lack of courage label of pessimism. His voice over goes into the mind of Kaufman starting with a monologue and then a scene with him at a dinner table sweating. Cage also execute being the twin Donald as well, with his lines being said distinctively and hilarilously. So you might feel for Charlie some hatred while you will feel likeable to Donald.

Meryl Streep is a delight as Susan Orlean earning her 13th nomination of an Oscar, while Chris Cooper deservedly wins his Oscar as John Laroche being both funny and yet emotionally fractured at the same time.

The title Adaptation means to turn one material into another material. Another meaning is when animals or living species turn into another species with new features. The movie has several meanings and questions we wanted to know and explain what they mean. With many themes being interpreted, it's wildly enjoyable and amazing and with get you close to the edge with this one.

Memento


8.1

Another movie similar to Adaptation is Memento. Like Adaptation, this movie is filled with many layers, it bend your mind almost completely. The difference is (and there are many differences here) that it's Adaptation is a black comedy, Memento is more of a film noir.

Directed by Christopher Nolan, Memento goes in a rewind order where as the ending is the beginning, the beginning is the ending. It starts with an amnesiac named Leonard Shelby (Guy Pearce) killing a man named Teddy (Joe Pantaloliano). His motive for this killing is that Teddy is John Gammell, the person he wants to kill in revenge for his rape and murder of his wife. Shelby used to be a psychiatist treating a patient named Sammy Davis who has anterograde amnesia, the kind of memory loss where you quickly lost track of recent events, but now he had that condition himself. He's now investigating that murder. Turns out to Shelby and to us that Teddy's not the only person in the game. It also involves a bartender named Natalie (Carrie Anne Moss) who tricks him into thinking that she was helping him with the investigation.

This is Christopher Nolan's magnus opus and I'm not just saying that because the critics said it. It was based on a short story by his younger brother Jonathon and seems immensively trippy and atmospheric. And there are many themes of poignancy, grief, perception, revenge and memory. Even so Nolan's structure of the movie is incredible as the story goes backward to how and why one event suppose to happen. It happens to challenge the audience into what is going on.

The visual of the film is excellent. Each scene starts with black and white and after goes to color. Memento then, by ten minutes, transcends into a film noir with its characterization of the genre with elements like manipulation and identity which leads to a mystery at the same time.

The casting is great. Carrie Anne Moss and Joe Pantaloliano were from the Matrix and it was like Nolan was a fan of that movie and thought "Oh yeah i can have that cast'. Even so they are outstanding in this film and no doubt about that. But Guy Pearce is sublime as the heart of the film. He plays a tragic character who is mentally fractured with this untreatable condition and his narration in many scenes are really creepy by the ears of it.

However Memento is not that perfect. Nolan has directed a really great structure for the movie but at the end of each chapter, it becomes really repetitve.

It's official. Christopher Nolan's is one of 21st Century's visionary directors