Korra, the last water bender?

Thought you Might like this. Any idea when it is coming out?

To Show Up Efren... again

So, duh, of course I already knew about her. Everyone does. Efren, we even talked about it a long time ago. Here is the pic of the story in question. After the jump? Some bad ass wallpapers.

Korra

Dude, Efren... how did I see this before you. Or did you see it and just didn't want to share with your brothers?

The Last Star Tour (Bender?)

Never written a flat out "vent" post but there is a first time for everything I suppose.Eleni and I just recently got back from a very fun trip to Los Angeles. The initial reason for going was a nostalgic one: giving my favorite theme park attraction, Star Tours, a proper sendoff before its upcoming update/renovation into a 3D pod-racing ride. Being a self-proclaimed Star Wars geek (and still reigning champion on Star Wars Trivial Pursuit) I think its safe to assume, dear reader, that I was quite fond of Star Tours. In a somewhat anti-climactic turn of events, Disneyland was saved for the very last full day of our trip. Furthermore, we saved this ride for last on our schedule. Well, why drag it out... this ride is total crap by today's standards and is in DIRE need of an overhaul. The real disappointment most obviously came from my high expectations. No worry, expectations adjusted. I'll always have The Mummy Returns: The Ride at Universal Studios (photo after the jump.)
The worst part, which dovetails nicely into the second part of this post, is that after exiting the lackluster Star Tours, Eleni turns to me and says "Well, at least we have The Last Airbender to look forward to when we get home." I think you can guess where this is going. I was so overwhelmingly upset with this movie that I won't even bother wasting screen space on it. In my humble opinion, it defies logic how this movie could be so damn bad. All I really want to say is "Please dont watch this, and please do watch the series." Ahhh what could have been. By the way, my favorite part of the trip (I think Eleni would concur) was the Getty Museum and the Getty Villa!

A Look at the Different Nations (Updatedx2)

Just found these. Shyamalamadingdong totally nailed the look of the different nations. I cannot wait for these movies to come out. I just hope I'll have time to go watch it. I will be on my psych rotations, so shouldn't be too busy.

Here is the Water Nation, it is the one that impressed me the most. The other three after the jump.

Updated: io9 just posted this cool info on how ILM created some of the effects in the movie.

Here is also a buttload of high res pics that they released.




Air Temple



Fire Nation



Earth Nation



Do you like how I changed the color of the progress bar? Thought it was a nice touch. What do you guys think?

Haha, Classic Appa.

Here is a new teaser for The Last Airbender. Appa makes a longer appearance. I have to say again... I don't think that I like Aang's voice. Oh well.



Also, io9 did a brief review of Jonah Hex. They essentially say that every time it could have been real badass they ruined it. The say it sucks. Just to give you an idea, the post title is "Jonah Hex will make you want to burn your face with a red hot axe." Pretty descriptive I would say. Oh well, still have the comics.

I'll give you one guess who makes a quick appearance in the new Airbender trailer...


I get more and more excited about this film the more I see. At first, when I heard Aang speak, I was very disappointed but it doesn't bother me anymore. Just keep up the freezing of enemies and I'll be happy.

Shyamalan Addresses Racebending Controversy

Shyamalan was interviewed by io9.com recently. io9.com asked their readers what they wanted them to ask Shyamalanidingdong. Apparently the question with the most mentioned was that having to do with the casting in Avatar: TLA. I found his answer very interesting and even feel somewhat satisfied by it. What do you guys think. The interview is a good read if you are interested. Full answer after the jump.

One of the biggest questions we get on a regular basis whenever we write about this movie, besides tone questions and mythos inquiries, is about the casting. There are a lot of fans that have casting issues with Sokka, Katara and the Fire Nation. Can you address the fan concerns about the casting?

Here's the thing. The great thing about anime is that it's ambiguous. The features of the characters are an intentional mix of all features. It's intended to be ambiguous. That is completely its point. So when we watch Katara, my oldest daughter is literally a photo double of Katara in the cartoon. So that means that Katara is Indian, correct? No that's just in our house. And her friends who watch it, they see themselves in it. And that's what's so beautiful about anime.

When we were casting, I was like, "I don't care who walks through my door, whoever is best for the part. I'm going to figure it out like a chessgame." Ideally we separate the nations ethnically — ideally. I didn't know how or what it was going to be. And it was so fluid. For example if you found a great brother, [but] he didn't go with my favorite Katara, then we couldn't use him. Theoretical things like that. There was an Ang that we really loved, but he was like 5'10." There's all kinds of issues that come to the table physically. And I had a board of all the people that I was considering, the seven or eight. There was, at one time, a Chinese Sokka and Katara, and they were over here. One of them was a better actor than the other, and so I was gathering my pros and cons.

I was without an agenda, and just letting it come to the table. Noah is a photo double from the cartoon. He is spot on. I didn't know their backgrounds, and to me Noah had a slightly mixed quality to him. So I cast the Airbenders as all mixed-race. So when you see the monks, they are all mixed. And it kind of goes with the nomadic culture and the idea that over the years, all nationalities came together.
The Fire Nation was the most complicated. I kept switching who was playing Zuko. It was such a complicated and drawn out thing, about practical matters. But the first person that I was considering casting for Zuko was Ecuadorian. So I started thinking that way. Then when that person couldn't do it, the next person who came in was much more Caucasian. And then we had to switch everything around.

The Earth Nation was always the issue as well, because the second movie is so dominated by that group, and it will represent most of the movie. But it has a small, small part in the first movie. So that was important in thinking about it in the long term. Then Dev [Patel] came into the picture, he was really early on. He had auditioned for me in London. He was a sweet guy, but he did such a great reading...I always go for the actor.

When I was doing Sixth Sense, if you literally read the script he [Cole Sear] has dark, hair black eyes. I always pictured the kid from Searching For Bobby Fisher as the lead for Sixth Sense. And I said, "We are not hiring any blonde LA kids, ok? Don't even bring them in." Then Haley [Joel Osment] came in and I said, "You've got the part." How can you not have him play this part?
That's always been my lean. I have hopes of what I want them to be, my hope was that the movie would be incredibly diverse. That when we look back on all three movies that it is one of the most diverse movies of all times. And that is the case when you watch the movies. And it's not an agenda, like when you see a picture of a kid's school and they have everybody on the swings. It's not like that. This nation has this ethnicity and when we go deep into that culture, we will see more there. Dev ended up being my choice for Zuko, and I looked for an Uncle that could be in that realm, for a moment I thought about Ben Kingsley. But Shaun Toub, I just loved him in Iron Man. I thought this takes us into a Mediterranean kind of Arab and Indian world, and I can go as far as that, that will be the breadth of the Fire Nation, that kind of look.

For me, Nicola [Peltz, who plays Katara] had a lot of Russian qualities, European and Russian qualities. So that was the direction we went there. Whoever I ended up with, I went that was their nationality. Suki was Jessica [Andres] who is a mix of Filipino. And now the Earth Kingdom is all Asian so Toph will have to be Asian. Suddenly I was looking at the board and I thought, this works for me, because everything was represented.

And there's a section of the Earth Kingdom that's African American. Because it's such a big country and land I thought you could have some diversity in there as they travel through the cities. So more so than the show, it will have a much more diverse ethnic backgrounds to it. It's not an agenda for me, but it's something I'm super proud of. That when my kids or any kids look at it they will see themselves.

Last Airbender Merchandising is Coming!

Disclaimer: This video will annoy you.

2nd Disclaimer: Minor plot/character points are revealed.

Looks like M. Night Shyamalan is taking a page out of Lucas' book... the money is in the merchandise. This is probably the best look at Appa so far. If you want to wait for the movie then dont watch the vid.

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

This lady should've been prepped on the proper pronunciation of Aang's name.

Second Airbender Trailer

Heres a new Airbender trailer. I have to say, although the little snippets of acting aren't amazing, they sure seem darn good enough. I'm super excited about this movie and get more excited with every trailer. Also, the more I see the tattoos the more I like them What do you think, Efren?

The Last Airbender Super Bowl Trailer SUPER AWESOME UPDATED!!

Here it is, the Avatar: The Last Airbender trailer that is supposed to air during the super bowl. So apparently the reviews of the rough pre-finalized viewings of the movie have been a little rough. I am choosing to ignore that. I doubt that for the most part the people reviewing the rough cut are fans of the cartoon. Maybe they just don't get it. I hope so.

Having said that, this trailer is beautiful. I know Efren and I had originally disliked the way that Ang's tattoos looked. Well, with this nice blue glowing effect I am completely satisfied. The fight scenes look like they are gonna be pretty badass. Not to mention the water bending looked effing sweet.

I can't wait for this to come out.



Movie poster and super awesome find after the jump.


IT'S APPA!!!!!!!!

Tonight at 10...

...Sokka of the Water Tribe.
The actor that plays Sokka in the upcoming "The Last Airbender," Jackson Rathbone, stopped by the local newscast of the town in which the production is currently shooting. See for yourself after the jump! (Disclaimer: the video plays by itself)

Avatar the Last Airbender Cast List

The cast list for the major roles in the upcoming 2010 film adaptation of Avatar the Last Airbender, or The Last Aribender as it will be called, has been out for a while. After the jump you can check out pictures of the actors playing your favorite characters. Some are a little iffy, some are AWESOME.
Noah Ringer as Aang
















Jackson Rathbone as Sokka

Nicola Peltz as Katara























Dev Patel as Zuko























Jessica Jade Andres as Suki























Aasif Mandvi as Admiral Zhao























Shaun Toub as Uncle Iroh























Cliff Curtis as Fire Lord Ozai













Katharine Houghton as Kanna (aka Gran Gran)


















Thoughts? I can only imagine that it was M. Night Shyamalan's idea to make the Fire Nation "Indian" as opposed to the original "Japanese." I guess I'll just have to live with it, but I'm not too crazy about the director changing the source material.

...and is it me, or is Suki kind of old-looking compared to the Sokka actor?

Questions: Who will play Toph in the sequel? How is Appa gonna look? Can yuo really make airbending look cool or even realistic in live-action?

M. Night sees the light or at least the FIRE!!

One of the worst casting choices in recent memory has just been reversed and I couldn't be more happy. As you may already know M. Night Shyamalan's next project is the live-action Avatar the Last Airbender trilogy. I'll reserve judgement on the merits of turning a stellar series with hours upon hours of amazing storytelling into a roughly 6-8 hour trilogy (I'm guessing on the duration, here). Anyway, on to the exciting reversal! It had been announced that Jesse McCartney (American-born pop singer) would be filling the role of tormented Prince of the Fire Nation, Zuko.

This is Jesse McCartney...


...This is Prince Zuko.

More after the jump.

Anyway, the kid from Slumdog Millionaire Dev Patel (pictured below) will now be filling the pointy shoes of the banished Prince.

I suppose my gripe was that the kids in the series are all at least vaguely Asian and I thought it would be a disservice to cast a bunch of American actors in these parts. Ill admit that Dev Patel isn't what I had in mind but at least hes from the right continent! Now all Patel has to do is bulk up, shave his head (save for a topknot) and burn half his face off! By the way, I was able to get an exclusive first look of what Appa (aka Appalito) and Momo (aka Adrian) will look like in the live-action movie! Here it is...