100W: The Last Airbender

As a writer, it is a regular expectation to keep to a strict word count. Every time you pick up a magazine, articles can be a small 100-word write-up or a 1000-word review. My own notes for the many films seen are always over 100 words - so this is a new feature that will focus on reviewing films in a concise 100 words.

The Last Airbender (Dir. M. Night Shyamalan, 2010)

The infamous comparison to Spielberg stops as Shyamalan takes on multi-million pound blockbuster The Last Airbender. Adapting the Nickelodeon TV-series may have appeared an easy hit, but alas, script simplicity plagues the film despite top-notch special effects. The story revolves around Aang (Noah Ringer) – the only one who can “bend” all four elements of Fire, Water, Air and Earth – who, in a messianic manner, will bring balance to the planet. Katar (Nicola Peltz) and Sokka (Jackson Rathbone), two flat-characters join Aang on the journey as they challenge Fire-Nation exile - Zuko (Dev Patel). Good effort – but complete misfire – from Shyamalan.

The Simon and Jo Film Show: 15/08/2010 (The Last Airbender/Knight and Day)

This week on The Simon and Jo Film Show we have a special guest... It's Rhys Bendix Lewis! He's seen M Night Shyamalan's The Last Airbender and so has Simon which leads to a jolly interesting discussion on what many are calling an horrendous film. Knight & Day has been getting pretty poor reviews as well but that didn't stop Simon & Jo checking out the all star pairing of Cruise & Diaz. Tune in to find out if Jo's peculiar Tom-Love takes a battering or if he is blinded by that smile. There are also reflections on a couple of people films, which is not as odd as it sounds.

There's the usual banter on the London Box Office, the UKs latest releases and a bit of movie news, including Brigitte Bardot coming out fighting as the Americans try to make her biopic with Jaime King.

Massive shoutout to Cinema Obsessed, a podcast and blog from two women obsessed about cinema.

The music this week comes from the soundtracks to The Last Airbender and Knight & Day.

Finally in trailer talk there's Independence Day x 100 in Skyline, Gasper Noe is a controversial artist with Enter the Void and it's Katie Holmes v Anna Paquin in The Romantics.