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.

Salt

Who is Salt?
A hero or a villain?
Russian or American?
All these questions are raised from the early catalyst in Australian director, Phillip Noyce's new action film Salt. Angelina Jolie plays CIA agent Evelyn Salt, who is accused by a ‘walk in’ Russian renegade, Orlov, of being one among many sleeper Russian agents within the USA. And so the chase begins, as Agent Salt escapes being taken into custody by the CIA, on a mission to prove her innocence or perhaps to complete her Russian mission? She is chased by CIA partner Ted Winter (Liev Schreiber) and ONCIX agent Peabody (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and escapes under extreme, inventive action scenes.
The plot is fast paced, they don’t waste a second on unnecessary bullshit, and it builds to an exciting climax. The twists are fulfilling as everything slowly falls into place by the climax of the film. Thankfully it has been written in a way where the audience does not get annoyed about not knowing for practically the whole film, whose side Salt is really fighting for, but whether this is the direction or purely because no one will fault watching Angelina Jolie trail buildings, jump onto moving trucks and even dress as a man, who knows? The film ends appropriately, without having a terribly contrived happy ‘fairy tale’ ending, leaving enough room for a possible sequel...
The action scenes are handled with care and precision, it is easy to see exactly what is happening, and the audience is not lost compared to the modern action technique of shaky handheld camera work.
It’s definitely not the greatest action film, but it might possibly be Angelina Jolie’s best. So if you want to sit down and be entrained on a heart pounding adventure ride, which contains the right level of intelligence; then go see Salt.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

Swedish film Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is based on the best selling novel by Stieg Larsson. It follows journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) as he is hired by an aging industrialist tycoon to uncover a 40 year old mystery of a missing girl, with the help of ultra cool computer hacker Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace).
I was actually quite surprised at how much details were still evident from the novel. Naturally all subplots were taken out, and the focus was purely on finding out what happened to the missing girl. The storytelling was beautiful in the fact that they made sure that they visually showed the information through old film footage, photos and the odd flashback. This meant that the film wasn’t bulked down in dialogue, simply telling the audience what had happened instead of showing.
The changes that they did make with the original plot points from the novel, while only minor, I felt actually worked a lot better than the book, as it helped build a stronger, three dimensional character for Salander while giving the audience a sneak pick at the mystery that will be explored in the following film.
The film is just as violent as the book creating a very disturbing atmosphere, befitting to the themes explored, while creating a real sense of how fucked up people can be.
I really love the shared themes that are created between Salander’s horrific events in the beginning of the film and the details of the eventual uncovered mystery. This unity of themes helps to create a more impactful and meaningful film.
I love watching foreign films, especially when you get completely enthralled din the storytelling and forget that you have been reading subtitles for the past two hours. I recommend this film to anyone that loved the novel and to people that may have considered reading it but never got around to it. The whole trilogy has been made into three Swedish films, with a Hollywood remake due to come out next year, directed by David Fincher starring Daniel Craig. Hears hoping that they don't fuck it up.

Tomorrow, When the War Began

Australian action film, Tomorrow, When the War Began; based on John Marsden’s novel of the same name premiered on August the 8th and I was lucky enough to get some tickets.
The story follows Ellie (Caitlin Stasey) and her friends; Corrie (Rachel Hurd-Wood), Fi (Phoebe Tonkin), Robyn (Ashleigh Cummings), Homer (Denzi Akdeniz), Lee (Chris Pang) and Kevin (Lincoln Lewis) as they venture into the Australian wilderness for a summer holiday camping trip, where they find a secluded location in the base of steep cliffs and rocks, known to the local Wirrawee country town folk as ‘Hell.’ After a couple of nights bonding and having fun, the group make their way back home to discover that what they had once thought was a safe, free Australia, was now occupied by an invading country – which is never named. The audience is propelled into an intense, nail biting crisis as the gang try to discover what happened to their imprisoned families, leading to an epic climax that is sure to get the heart pumping.
Writer and director Stuart Beattie made the wise decision to higher the stakes in the film, so even the fans of the novel are able to be surprised during the action scenes. The story isn’t like many other Hollywood action films, as it questions the morals of war, and the strength of friendship versus an enemy threat, who are literally trying to kill them. This is credited to the original story by author John Marsden who since 1993 has written a whole Tomorrow Series focusing on the perils of Ellie and her friends. Although the film explores some heavy material and is incredibly intense, the Australian humour is still strongly evident in the dialogue, showcasing the fact that our culture can still joke and try to make each other laugh even under extreme circumstances. There was a surprising amount of imagery used in the film, creating layers of subtext not found in many Hollywood actions. An important factor to the film was that each character had a clear physical and emotional journey evident in the story, which was not as obvious in the novel as it was all in Ellie’s point of view. Another change that I loved was the fact that they gave a reason for Ellie’s voiceover instead of merely writing in the script her spoken internal thoughts.
The casting could be questioned due to the fact that a lot of the actors have simply appeared in Australian soaps, but I can say you will be pleasantly surprised. Caitlin is very impressive as Ellie, she becomes the character and can definitely hold her abilities against other more experienced and renowned actors. The other actors are relaxed in their roles; there are a few forced scenes, Lincoln Lewis being one that was still stuck in his ‘soap acting’ habits. However, overall the casting matched perfectly with the films representation of each character.
For a budget of only 20 million the CGI was rather impressive, although the blue screen work was a little dodgy, more so towards the end. However where it mattered the CGI was effective and helped create a satisfying climax. The aerial shots of the Australian bush; the cliff into Hell, was especially beautiful, showcasing our unique landscape. The cinematography and editing was easy to follow in the action scenes, overall the construction of the mise-en-scene worked well, although in one particular shot, I wanted to die, everything about it was wrong – the framing of the actor, the bare walls, the lighting; crap.
For anyone that has read the books, you will not be disappointed. To everyone else you shall be extremely satisfied. Everyone can relate to the theme of friendship making it easily accessible, while it plays off everyone’s fear of losing their freedom. And only in an Australian film can the dialogue mock novel to film adaptations, that scene alone is worth the ticket price. Fuck Baz Luhrmann’s Australia, this is a film that should bring the nation together.
It is being nationally released on the 2nd of SEPTEMBER. SEE IT!

Inception

One of this year’s most anticipated film releases is Christopher Nolan’s Inception, director of Memento, and the new the Batman Series, i.e. Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.
Inception like most of Nolan’s work, promised to be epic, with inventive action scenes, an engaging storyline, moving performances and twists galore; and on most part Nolan delivered this and more.
In the world of Inception, there is this device that enables people to share dreams with each other, this device is used by protagonist Dom Cobb played by Leonardo DiCaprio, as a way to infiltrate a target’s subconscious, stealing information from them, for paid clients. In all tense and purposes he is a thief, extracting information out of people’s dreams. The catalyst occurs when Cobb accepts the challenge of implementing the near impossible task of inception; the concept of planting an idea into someone’s subconscious as if it were their own. The target of the planned inception is Robert Fischer, (Cillian Murphy) heir to a massive empire. The plan is to plant the idea of destroying his father’s empire deep into his subconscious. And so like any other heist film, the leader, Cobb, assembles his team, including; Cobb’s trusty sidekick Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), dream architect Ariadne (Ellen Page), forger/ shape shifter Eames (Tom Hardy), chemist Yusuf (Dileep Rao), client Saito (Ken Watanabe) and tagalong Mal, (Marion Cotillard) Cobb’s wife. And so begins an intense adventure travelling far away from reality; deep, deep into the limbo of ‘subconscious-ness.’
All the performances are incredibly solid, and each actor has a great understanding of what they are doing/talking about, this confidence allows the trusting audience to suspend belief and be entrapped in this exciting new world.
The story is incredibly inventive and intellectual but at the same time it is really easy to understand and follow. Yes, the story is really intricate, there is layer upon layer of details and we could sit here all day debating about what happens in the film, but even though it is so in depth, the screenplay has been structured so well that the film is easy to follow. But because of this solid structure, and the pattern that the film builds throughout the crisis points, the story becomes slightly predictable. After the first viewing the story did not leave me with a satisfying feeling of surprise, none of the twists were really hidden, and compared to The Dark Knight, there wasn’t as much shock value evident. However on the second viewing I instantly fall in love. There is this moment after the beginning action, where Cobb say’s that he “hates trains,” and instantly I knew I was going to love picking up on all the subtext and knowledge hidden deep in the screenplay.
Naturally the action scenes are amazingly inventive; one particular scene of a gravity-free fight is incredibly impressive, and along with the amazing use of CGI and the beautiful cinematography, results in the film becoming a visual masterpiece.
This is a film that will always bring new levels of understanding to each viewing, and I definitely recommend seeing this film more than once. It really makes you question what we perceive as reality or instead what we perhaps may/should perceive as reality, and I will agree without a doubt that Inception is one hell of a dream ride.
Ps. To the 16 year old fools standing outside of the cinema that said Inception was boring, and that the only good scene was the gravity-free fight; EITHER grow a brain to be able to comprehend the sheer intricate awesomeness of the story OR die.