By Lisa Fary
Seeing M. Night Shyamalan’s name on a movie goes a long way towards kicking the hell out of my faith in that movie’s quality.
I see his name and groan, “What’s the twist gonna be this time?” or “How much screen time will he give himself in this one?”
I liked The Sixth Sense and Signs, and Unbreakable was brilliant. But, The Village? I had no defense for that when it was over and my movie friends attempted to trace the exact moment that Shyamalan had become a hack (the held with was with Signs; I still think The Village was the beginning of his downfall).
Then there was Lady in the Water (I think someone called it the Showgirls of fantasy films) and The Happening (can horrible dialogue be considered a terrorist act?). As you can see, there is no more reason to have any faith in this guy, and I’m amazed anyone gave him another movie to make.
But, Paramount and Nickelodeon did.
Check this out:
Well. That’s quite a departure.
I know nothing about Avatar: The Last Airbender on Nickelodeon except for what I’ve read here, so I can’t speak to casting decision and the like. But, the look of it is kind of exciting. It’s so different than anything Shyamalan is done that maybe, just maybe, it won’t be a screwy narcissistic orgy. Maybe he’ll find his way back to awesome.
What do you think?
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Lisa Fary’s early exposure to classic Battlestar Galactica in 1979 is largely responsible for her lifelong interest in science fiction and her childhood ambition of being an intergalactic space cowgirl. She thinks diagramming sentences is a fun alternative to Sudoku.
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Lisa Fary's earliest influences are Princess Leia, Rainbow Bright, Astronaut Barbie, and her 6th grade teacher, Ms. Palmer. She's angry that it's 2011 and she still doesn't have a hovercraft, but will accept a jetpack as consolation. That jetpack had better be pink with a rhinestone monogram. 
Avatar is kind of an awesome cartoon. We all watched it in my house. Decent character developement. Intersting plot arcs. The networks could have taken a few tips from it.
That's what I keep hearing and that's why I'm starting to have some faith in this. Shyamalan may have written the screenplay, but I think the creators and writers of Avatar were heavily involved, too.
awesome…all awesome. You're right about his later three films(though i admit to enjoying Lady), but dude has undeniable talent and I believe in him…
btw…this trailer looks like what Dragon Ball should have been
I actually liked The Village. I thought it was a nice critique on fear culture. So I'm gonna go with Lady in the Water being the beginning of the end, because that movie was awwwwful. Yikes.
I'm still kinda on the fence with this movie, especially since this trailer doesn't ring of the series at all. BUT it is just a teaser trailier, AND I love watching adaptations that don't follow the source to the T because then it leads to glorious discussions about why they changed that or this, etc.
I think it's also important to note that there is a strong backlash to this movie given the whitewash casting of characters (like Aang, in the trailer above) when many people think Asian actors deserved the roles. (Also important to note: Jesse McCartney, horrible Disney pop "singer" was going to play Prince Zuko, antihero of the series, but after the backlash broke out he was dropped and replaced by Dev Patel who was the lead in Slumdog Millionaire. Producers explain it away as scheduling conflicts, but I'm not so sure.)
echoing rhea's comment above, i'm also still on the fence. i was one of those people who signed petitions protesting the whitewashing of the casting of characters, particularly when there are so few english-speaking asian roles in mainstream media to begin with. (and don't get me started on the original zuko casting!! though i do find jesse mccartney to be an endearing pop tart, prince zuko is one of the best-written, complex characters in tv history! hopefully dev patel will do it justice.) but pushing the soap-box aside, my first instinct is to be excited they're making it into a film. i also love adaptations, and i'm curious by the looks of the teaser trailer where shyamalan is taking it. and avatar: the last airbender is a GREAT show; one of my all time favorites. the character development, writing, episodic plot and overall lore…lisa, you should definitely watch!
They're moving it farther away from the looks of it. Images are looking mixed just due to the fact that they have this really generic Asian thing going on for the Fire Nation (in the fact that they have Middle Eastern actors in Chinese/Japanse outfits) and we know that they're stripping a lot of the details from the show. Gibbirish fantasy language rather then the Chinese caligraphy and that they're dropping the spacific martial arts for bending as well as much of the humor in favor of a more serious "political" storyline. I just can't get past the white eskimos myself…just totally throws me.
that is utterly and completely disappointing. thank you for the update.
M. Night Shyamalan has gone the way of woody allen and spike lee, film makers with promise that fizzled out and can't make a hit movie anymore Shyamalan's decline just came faster. since this is not his original idea maybe it will be good if he follows the source material closer. the happening was awful awful awful i have not seen the complete movie i fell asleep but i do not want to see the complete movie, marky mark was just bad in it i hope he was directed to act that way. maybe M. Night Shyamalan's twist will be that he makes a good movie for a change.
I had some hope for the film when announced, but I have to admit that the production of the film has disapointed me every step of the way. An Asian inspired fantasty world will now be saved by a bunch of white heros who have to defend it from the dark skinned evil doers. Given the lack of heroic lead parts for people of colour this has been a major disapointment. They've been relagated to side characters and (of course) villians. We've also seen that the movie will be removing many of the details that made the original show so well loved. The Chinese caligraphy is going to be replaced by a gibberish fantasy language, the distinct martial arts are being replaced because they don't think that they're that important (that's what they said), they're removing the humor to make it more "political" and the visual styles are being dropped to more generic. So in short, we get a generic fantasy movie where white=good, dark=bad and we once again need the white saviors. A totally missed opportunity that Paramount could have used to give some talented young Asian American actors a big break that they would otherwise never get, because according to Hollywood, we can only relate to white heroes.__
who are you? because you're awesome. that was ridiculously on point and articulate. if you have a blog or a site, please share!