The Last Airbender

The Last Airbender is a live action movie based on the popular Nickelodeon cartoon series Avatar: The Last Airbender. (Due to obvious reasons they dropped Avatar from the title...thanks to James Cameron) The story is set in a world that is split into four regions; Air, Fire, Earth and Water. Certain people within the regions have the abilities to bend/manipulate the element with which they are born into. There is however one person, born again and again into a new being, known as the Avatar, who has the ability to bend all four elements. The story centres around the young Avatar, Aang (played by Noah Ringer) who after being accidently frozen for 100 years, is freed from two water tribe teenagers; Katara (Nicola Peltz) and Sokka (Jackson Rathbone). Aang awakes to find that the Fire nation has taken over the world, killing all other Air people in hope of locating the Avatar. For many years the Water and Earth tribes have been suppressed by the Fire Nation’s violence but with the reappearance of the Avatar, hope is reborn and a rebellion begins. Aang and his water tribe friends, set out on an adventure, so Aang can learn how to bend the other elements, however the banished Fire Prince, Prince Zuko (Dev Patel) is on a hunt to capture the Avatar.
Written in one paragraph, although maybe somewhat confusing, the plot seems intriguing, unique and maybe even fun, which is exactly what the film is NOT. Writer, director and producer M. Night Shyamalan, has created a terrible film. The writing is pathetic, everything relies on dialogue, it seems that Shyamalan has forgotten the number one screenwriting rule; that is to tell the story VISUALLY. The dialogue itself is beyond corny; it is stiff, unrealistic and downright laughable. He wrote narration into the film, which could seem like a smart idea but it actually adds nothing to the plot, it just further confuses the audience and doesn’t really move the story forward. One could say that the acting is terrible, and I’m not denying that, but I think that even the world’s greatest actors could not bring justice to this poorly written and directed film.
The only redeeming factors are the martial art stunts, the fairly good CGI, more specifically the awesome way they visualised the bending of the elements, and finally, Dev Patel. He was easily the best actor in the film, you may recognise him from Skins series 1 and 2 and more recently Slumdog Millionaire. He is the only actor who actually attempts to develop a character, despite being heavily, and I mean heavily, weighed down by poor writing and direction.
I would suggest staying away from this film and I would instead watch the TV series, which unlike the film, is amazing, which makes me think that if anyone else had written, directed and produced the film, it may not be as bad, because one thing is for certain; the 150 million that M. Night Shyamalan spent on this film is better used as toilet paper.

Easy A

Easy A is one of the more memorable teen movies of late, with its incredibly witty quotes, filled with references from literature, films and even facebook. The film is centred on protagonist Olive, played by the sweet Emma Stone and her tough crusade of dealing with the rumours of her sexual exploits, more specifically her fake sexual exploits. You see we learn from the very beginning that Olive is very much a virgin, and through a little white lie of losing said virginity, the entire high school begin gossiping about what a big slut she is. This leads to Olive’s good will being taken advantage of, as she begins helping the males on the bottom of the social ladder by pretending to have had sex with them in return for gift cards, while also upholding her slutty alter ego. Naturally this becomes incredibly messy, the rumours get worse, and Olive becomes confused about whether she is in fact a tramp or not. It is a modern day twist on the Scarlet Letter, a novel which explores similar themes, and is heavily referenced and used as inspiration for Olive in the film.
The acting is quite good from the entire cast with Emma Stone being incredibly loveable as the protagonist. The highlight are Olive’s adoptive parents, something which by the way isn’t explained very well, who are played by Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson; their witty upfront banter and relaxed yet loving parenting techniques being some of the funniest moments of the film.
I loved the very simply yet effective use of motion graphics in the opening and closing credits of the film, and also loved the technique of demonstrating, with the fast camera movements, of how quick a rumour can spread in high school.
The film runs at a fun pace, filled with many laughs and the odd emotional part. The crisis point definitely could have been better set up to allow for a more emotional loss for Olive, perhaps all we needed was a better introduction to the jerk at the Lobster shack.
The film payed off well at the end; if there was no musical number or no homage to John Hughes' classic teen 80’s films, as a mentioned wish of Olive’s of how life should be, then fuck, this film would have been getting one star.
It’s fun. It’s witty. It’s about sex, well the lack of sex, and it has a good heart. Watch it.

The Kids Are All Right

It turns out that the Kids are All Right, is in fact not so much about the kids, but instead whether the adults are alright. Of course the title also works off the fact that the kids are always right/correct which compared to how the adults act, is most definitely true. The kids, Joni (played by Canberra’s own Mia Wasikowska) and Laser (played by a grown and beefed up Josh Hutcherson) have a lesbian couple for mums; Nic and Jules, played incredibly well by Annette Bening and Julianne Moore respectively. The children are half siblings; same sperm donor father, different mothers.
The drama begins when the kids secretly decide to find out who their father is, who so happens to be hippy, organic restaurant owner, Paul, played by Mark Ruffalo. Naturally the mums find out and the family begins to adapt to a possible new family member. The dynamics of Nic and Jules' relationship are tested, as the alpha leader, Nic, feels threatened by this new male figure.
The film has some really touching moments, and is superbly acted by the entire cast. This one specific dinner scene is incredibly amazing with the gifted Annette Bening's simple internal reaction to a new found revelation; expect an Oscar nomination for her performance.
A very enjoyable indie family drama, which plays on the credibly side, without having to resort to a trashy over the top plot, instead creating a heart warming depiction of a very unique family setup.