The Last Airbender, 2010

The Last Airbender, 2010
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Cast: Noah Ringer, Dev Patel, Nicola Peltz



Stage: Summer theatre under the stars

Airbender in short: The story follows the adventures of Aang, a young successor to a long line of Avatars, who must put his childhood ways aside and stop the Fire Nation from enslaving the Water, Earth and Air nations.


Preps: I got two tickets as the result of a winning game. I didn't know about the movie, and after I won, I got on the net to see the trailer and a bit of a background. Seemed cool enough and was anxious to see it.


Reality: The live version of Nickelodeon TV series - animated one. One of very popular ones indeed, and in this sense, ungrateful to put it alive. At least to some extent it is impossible to imagine how a live scene could be taken anyway, because the movie must be filled with special effects. Reign over water, fire, wind and earth cannot be filmed live, therefore a big bow to the special effect unit, because they must have been working truly hard.

The movie lacks a true story you can easily follow. The battles and the martial arts part can be breathtaking, although the movie cannot consist on this alone. The cast is a bit wet behind the ears, in a sense, they didn't show a lot of acting - the scenes seem to be unpersuasive and shallow. Also, a big bucket of movie mistakes - for instance getting burned by the fire, or wet because of the water - in this field, the director fails big time. Also in terms of making the ride smooth (story fluent)for the viewer.

A big bow also to the fragment unit - or shall I say, the team, that takes care of the scenes and the little things worth remembering. The scenery of the town, the copy of the boats, the weapons used and the costumes - truly amazing. It will bring you to a mixture of the Labyrinth, LOTR, and some similar ones. Didn't you always want to have a pet like this, to ride on your way to vacation? A good way to dream away..



My personal rating: 6,0 (in its genre, one of solid (not good) ones. Has a messy story, though and amarican way - a good ground to have sequels. Filled with childhood fantasies, brought alive. A decent way to spend your evening).


Airbender on IMDB

Airbender home page

A bit more on Airbender series

Killers, 2010

Killers, 2010
Director: Robert Luketic
Cast: Ashton Kutcher, Katherine Heigl, Tom Selleck




Killers in short: A vacationing woman meets her ideal man, leading to a swift marriage. Back at home, however, their idyllic life is upset when they discover their neighbors could be assassins who have been contracted to kill the couple

Stage: Home theatre


Preps: None in perticular. I was scrolling for some action in our local theatre and I ran onto this one. Since I love Kutcher's humour perspective, I figured I should see this one.


Reality: Kutcher never dissappoints me - well, not up to this moment. I have a feeling I know what I can expect and what I cannot expect from him. Therefore I cannot stay in cold and dark with him.

Killers starts off as a romantic comedy and then later on evolves into something more profound as a normal comedy. The turnover is truly funny and works for some time. At the middle of the chase it somehow loses the edge and becomes somehow Phythonic - all the people you used to call friendly and hypocritical neighbours seem to have the urge to kill you. The scenes resemble some of Mission Impossible - just in terms of getting the couple out of the situations alive and kicking.

The cast isn't something really astonishing and the both could easily pull off something even more decent. Nevertheless, a good one in the genre, as I commented on Grown Ups in the previous post - nothing that will get you overexcited. I find it a bit tragical, that in these summer days all the comedies we see in the family genre, seem to be average and not even one stands really out. This one can be perceived as cute, but nothing else. Maybe even boring at the end. The ending is theatrical and cheesy, I really don't like these "american" endings, as they leave me empty. But, after seeing 2/3 of this movie, nothing else was to expect.


My personal rating: 6,0 (a bit better that Grown Ups, but nothing more. I am not overexcited over either one of them).



Killers on IMDB

Killers official Home page

Grown Ups, 2010

Grown Ups, 2010
Director: Dennis Dugan
Cast: Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock


Grown ups in short: After their high school basketball coach passes away, five good friends and former teammates reunite for a Fourth of July holiday weekend.

Stage: Home theatre

Preps: None in perticular. Another blockbuster in the movies, maybe worth seeing. According to the trailer there might be some amusing mini stories or scenes.


Reality: Another in line of "decent" family comedies. Comparing it to some really good ones, this one is just an average one, nothing above this. However, as trailer predicted, there are some funny scenes and I did have a decent laughter at at least some of them. Or even beyond decent laughter. Nothing really deep and profound about the movie, but it's a relaxing way of greeting a rainy afternoon.

I simply cannot stand some comediants, I cannot decide about Sandler, because the directors always put him in some strange roles, where he plays a guy that cannot make up his mind or everyone is mocking him. In this piece he has a strong master wife that controls everything he does.

Apart from the family scenes, the idea of going for some days with people you used to know, screams for some weird action, however it's an utopia to think all these different people might survive like these families did. Normalwise you would expect some serious fights and some funny scenes deriving from that. Nothing like that happens here - as said, just some decent fun and a decent representative of the genre. Don't get overexcited, though :)





My personal rating: 5,0 (a decent family comedy, but nothing more. Merely afternoon fun, don't expect anything more from this piece)

Grown Ups on IMDB

Grown Ups home page