I_Love_Spielberg

Loosely based on the poorly received novel of the same name written by Bram Stoker (yes, the author of Dracula) one year before his death, Ken Russell (who also directed The Devils and Tommy) puts his unique stamp on the story: using anamorphic wide angle lenses, enough vibrant colors and flashing lights to incapacitate an epileptic for an entire fortnight, dialogue silly enough to rival Stephen Chow, and actors who play it straighter than Marcus Bachmann pretending to love vagina. Not once does it lose steam, even when the stakes raise higher than a teenage boy at a topless joint (often, movies like this get lazy when the tension rises and we reach the ending). Yes, one can see where the novel fails, but Russell picks up the slack with British humor and a pitch-perfect performance from Amanda Donohoe, who has so much fun as the antagonist that even an atheistic libertine would say, "That's enough out of you now." Do yourselves a favor and catch it now. Whatever means necessary, it's a perfect movie to watch in October.

After three fabulous movies, Christopher Nolan follows them with another winner: "Inception". The idea of a person entering another person's dreams is not a new concept, nor is the concept of dreams within dreams. People entering another's dreams was explored in a film I have yet to see called "Dreamscape", and dreams within dreams was also used in Luis Bunuel's "The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie" and John Landis' "An American Werewolf in London." However, the effective use of these themes has not made this a cliché, so that helps make "Inception" a great film worthy of multiple viewings. "Inception" talks about the idea of entering dreams to see what's going on inside of a person's head. From there, you can unlock secrets or implant thoughts in another's head. This is called "inception." Cobb(DiCaprio) is one of the people who has a job involving inception. But as he enters dreams, he begins to have visions of a woman(Cotillard) entering his dreams, causing him some trouble. What had the potential to be a misstep is actually a masterpiece. Nolan, who also wrote the script, does a very good job of storytelling, character development, and handling dreams. Without a great writer, which Nolan is, a movie involving dreams can be messy when done wrong. Thankfully, "Inception" is not done wrong at all. Though there were a few moments where it wasn't as gripping, the movie still pulled me in. And don't worry, it all makes sense in the end. Leonardo DiCaprio turns in another fabulous performance. Joseph Gordon-Levitt was really good too. He looks a lot like the late Heath Ledger. It was almost eerie in a way, because Christopher Nolan obviously has worked with Heath Ledger in the past, and he's worked with a look-alike now. But that's not relevant. What is relevant is Gordon-Levitt was good in the film. In fact, there wasn't a bad performance out of any of the actors. Cotillard, who won an Oscar for her performance in Olivier Dahan's "La mome" aka "La vie en rose", was great, Ellen Page was great, Ken Watanabe was great. Everybody was just fabulous. This film has moved Christopher Nolan up on my top 20 directors. He's still under Steven Spielberg, Peter Jackson, M. Night Shyamalan, Robert Rodriguez, and Quentin Tarantino, but that's a really good thing in my opinion. The ending was really sad, and makes you think. I won't give anything away, but trust me, it is mind-boggling. I can foresee this film getting nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Visual Effects, and Best Sound. This is definitely one of the best films I've seen in 2010. It seems as if Christopher Nolan can do no wrong. He already has five movies, including this one, on the top 250 movies on IMDb, and he's become critically acclaimed and loved by audiences. I am incredibly anxious to see what he does with his third "Batman" film. If you like Christopher Nolan, you'll like this film. If you like movies that deal with the subject matter this film deals with, then this is the film for you. However, if you're unfamiliar with a movie like this, then see it anyway. It is worth the 2 and a half hours of viewing.

FROM 2010

THE LAST AIRBENDER takes place in a world where there are four tribes: Water, Earth, Fire, and Air. As Katara explains, the tribes once lived in harmony and peace, until the Fire Nation decided to conquer all. The Nations' only hope lies in someone known as the Avatar, one who can bend all the elements, and when the world needed him most, he vanished. A thousand years pass, turmoil has settled between the nations. The Air Nomads are gone. Two siblings, Sokka(Rathbone) and Katara(Peltz) discover the latest reincarnation of the Avatar: Aang(Ringer), who ran away from his tribe when he was needed, and became encased in a frozen prison. After being thawed, Sokka and Katara bring him back to the Water tribe, where they learn who he really is. All the while, Prince Zuko(Patel) is on a mission to capture the Avatar and bring him to his father, Fire Lord Ozai(Curtis), in order to regain his honor. But Sokka and Katara aren't willing to adhere to Zuko's request, so they decide to help Aang master all the elements. You may or may not be surprised to here me say this, but I liked it. Yes, Shyamalan did change somethings, and yes he may have taken a misstep in changing pronunciation, but what people have to remember is this: it's a movie. It's not a TV show. There are things you have to change in order for it to work as a film. You have to be able to whittle it all down to something that works as a film, while keeping all the major major moments of the show itself, and Shyamalan does that. The actors did a good job as well. Dev Patel was marvelous as Prince Zuko. He really captured his essence. Noah Ringer was really good as Aang, although I would've liked to have seen him to some more comedic stuff. Shyamalan didn't have to take it all so seriously. The penguin-sledding scene would've gotten big laughs. Oh well, easy come easy go. Jackson Rathbone was really good as Sokka. He actually made me cry at one point during his scene with Princess Yue(Gabriel). That was really the emotional part of the film. It was very emotional in the show, but Shyamalan tends to turn the emotions up a notch, causing tears to be shed. He did it with THE SIXTH SENSE, he did it with SIGNS, he even did it with LADY IN THE WATER, and he did it with THE LAST AIRBENDER. Nicola Peltz is the only gal who can play Katara. She got Katara's delivery, her emotions, everything. I was thoroughly impressed. But I was most impressed with Aasif Mandvi as Commander Zhao. That was a surprise, and a pleasant one. He has proved he can do serious as well as comedy. The writing was good too. Shyamalan did a good job of sticking to the voices of the writers of the TV show, as well as provide some of his own spin. However, the movie did jump around a lot, and that was a little unsettling for me, but it didn't stop my enjoyment of the film. The visual effects were spectacular. I got chills from watching them. They were very good. ILM did a great job of matching the TV show in that area. Appa was probably my favorite effect. He made me smile every time he was on screen. But still, special effects can't cover story, but the story's good, so the visual effects are just as good too. You have to really know the show in order to get a lot of what's in the film, which helps if you've watched the show. If someone didn't, then there would be one of two reactions: They didn't get it, or they liked it enough as a film but would later on be disappointed when they watched the show for themselves. If you like M. Night Shyamalan, there's a good chance you'll either like this or you won't. I can't really give any guarantees. If you liked the TV show, and are a purist, you probably won't like this film. However, if you liked the show, but are able to enjoy the adaptation as a film, then you will like this film as I did. I'd like to see it again if I have the chance. As for Shyamalan, he gets a tip of the hat from me for trying something different. He did a good job of adapting another's work. I can't wait for the sequel.

NOW IN 2014:

Okay, here's the deal. Now that I've studied screen writing, I'm actually seeing the glaring flaws in this movie. The biggest one being he compressed a whole season into one movie. That's not how you do it, because your focus switches. Act I belonged to Katara, The midpoint belonged to Zuko, and Act III belonged to Aang, the movie's protagonist. What? What the hell is that?

He should've just made the movie its own thing, but he didn't. And he failed.