mercuriosity, posts by tag: movies - LiveJournal (original) (raw)
Okay, also?
They didn't even get Jackson Rathbone that tan that was apparently all he needed to be able to play a PoC.
Kid is white. No wonder Sokka and Katara were some of the last survivors of their tribe; the Fire Nation probably couldn't see them against the snow.
I mean, geez, come on, Paramount, if you're going to do yellow/brownface, at least try. Where are the tanning beds and the magical makeup?
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Current Mood: totally serious
A lot of people are saying they feel vindicated by all the bad--really, truly bad--reviews of The Last Airbender. I understand that; it certainly would have been even more painful to read reviews praising the movie. But I can't really get any enjoyment out of the bad reviews, either; it is not enough for me that the general public heap scorn on this movie, if they still fail to see that nothing could have made this movie acceptable.
Let me repeat that: Nothing could have made this movie acceptable. Not an elegant script, not skillful actors, not good direction, not any of the components of a "good" movie. The casting decisions meant that this movie was going to be a racist piece of crap, regardless of anything else. It gives me no satisfaction to read people's vicious critiques of the wooden acting and stilted dialogue if they are not equally vicious about the inherent racism of the production.
And here is another reason I cannot exult in the bad reviews: I am afraid that this movie is so bad, in every respect, that it will warp the general public's opinion of Avatar: The Last Airbender itself. Few of the reviews I've seen even mention the original show, or how awesome it is, but the epic terribleness of the movie is even more bizarre if you are familiar with the source material. It is like Shyamalan actually made a list of all the good things about the show and set out to change them for the worse. And people are dismissive enough as it is about animation, or anything "for kids", it just horrifies me that now people are going to think this suckquake of a movie bears any kind of resemblance to a show which is so dear to my heart.
Fuck you very much, Mr. Shyamalan.
[**ETA:** The io9 review and Ebert's review are two that do mention the problematic casting and compare the movie (unfavorably) to the original series. Also, a big fucking YES to Ebert pointing out that A:TLA was a story made for animation, and the idea of a live-action movie was never such a great one. But cartoons are not taken seriously; no, instead, if you want to tell an epic tale, you need to make it a "live-action" CG effects spoogefest.]
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I saw The Karate Kid last night. I really enjoyed it! As a nostalgic reworking of the fail-proof formula of the original film, I thought they did a good job. I was also, I have to say, anxious about how they might handle race/culture issues, but I was mostly relieved. That's not to say it was perfect in every way (hair-touching? um), but. Even just setting those questions aside for the moment, what struck me while I was thinking about the film afterward was this:
I just watched an American movie that had, I think, two white characters with speaking parts. Two. And both those parts very minor.
The contrast with The Last Airbender, the makers of which seem to think it _just can't be done_--a movie? without white people in every shot and speaking almost every line and moving the plot? preposterous!--could hardly be greater.
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27 January 2010 @ 06:59 pm
Those ads for Legion plastered all over the city with shirtless, wingèd Paul Bettany who's clearly been hitting the gym? Are shameless, transparent, and 100% effective.
I will see this movie.
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04 January 2010 @ 03:55 am
I saw Sherlock Holmes tonight! I have only one thing to say:
Dear Slash Fandom,
Please don't let me down.
Love,
me
[ETA: That includes you, femslash fandom.]
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08 November 2009 @ 10:49 pm
Guys, can we talk about Gabourey Sidibe for a moment??
The more I read about this girl, the more I love her.
"They try to paint the picture that I was this downtrodden, ugly girl who was unpopular in school and in life, and then I got this role and now I’m awesome," says the actress. "But the truth is that I've been awesome, and then I got this role."
(Skip the annoying comments from the director about it being "bizarre" that she should be comfortable in her body, WTF.)
“I think people look at me and don’t expect much. Even though, I expect a whole lot.”
And how awesome is this picture? (From an interview by her costar, Mo'Nique; you can also see Sidibe's audition tape and a trailer for the film at that link.)
She is just so kickass and full of confidence, and the fact that this totally flies in the face of everyone's expectations (à la Susan Boyle?) fills me with a mean sort of glee.
I really, really want to see this film, but based on the effect the trailer had on me, I'm fairly certain I'd make a big embarrassing mess out of myself in the theater. I'll have to go with someone who's tolerant of my used tissues piling up around their feet.
29 August 2008 @ 01:52 am
Had a nice outing with some friends tonight: had dinner, made a spectacle playing DDR and that taiko game, saw a movie. I was a bit anxious about whether I really ought to spend the money, especially since I took a cab to get there; but so long as I'm not actually penniless (or, you know, 1NT-coin-less), I consider it money well spent. Sometimes one just needs dinner and a movie. It's in my budget under the heading "Mental Health and Well-Being".
We saw The Kite Runner. One of my friends said she thought the film left out some important elements of the book, but as I haven't read the book, I had the luxury of coming to it without any expectations. I thought it was a very beautiful film; I don't know if I liked it for the story so much as for the portrayal of how completely a country can change.
And, okay, it's well past midnight, but only because I was out. The one-post-a-day idea was always about the spirit of the law, anyway, and not the letter. The point is, I posted consistently for a week, and I feel good about it. I think it's helping me right now. So...I'm going to go for another week. Can we do fourteen days straight? I think we can do fourteen days straight.
Current Mood: accomplished
Holy crap am I going to be broke this month. February is an awful, awful month: a whole week of not working during CNY, and I had to take two sick days.
*brief panic*
...on closer inspection, it might not be so bad? It'll be doable. But I foresee a lot of cup noodles for dinner.
Day 6 of 7, by the way. Assuming successful completion, I may decide to extend this daily thing for another week!
Current Mood: no house, no