The Last Airbender' difficult to grasp

 

There is incomprehensible, and there is inexplicable, and then there is "The Last Airbender," M. Night Shyamalan's adaptation of the popular Nickelodeon cartoon "Avatar: The Last Airbender." Not to be confused with James Cameron's tale of tree-hugging blue people, this saga revolves around (I think) a war-torn future world waiting for a messiah to unite it.



But the screenplay (also by Shyamalan) is cluttered with so much gobbledygook exposition and confusing action that it's impossible to grasp what's supposed to be going on for more than 15 seconds at a time.

The opening scenes introduce us to sister and brother Katara (Nicola Peltz) and Sokka (Jackson Rathbone), two members of Water Nation -- one of four nations that were once kept in balance by the mysterious Avatar. But when the Avatar went missing, all hell broke loose, as the Fire Nation declared war on the others, including Air Nation and Earth Nation. Got all that?

Part of the problem here is that Shyamalan has tried to cram about three seasons of the cartoon's plot points into this one movie, including the story of the prince of Fire Nation (Dev Patel from "Slumdog Millionaire"), who was cast out of the palace for being a wimp. The other, bigger problem is that you don't care about any of these people, whose motivations and personalities are impossible to discern.

At some point, a savior emerges, Aang (Noah Ringer), a boy who can bend air -- i.e., make the wind knock people over -- and thus the Avatar who will bring peace to this universe. Sweeping his arms about him and prancing around the set, the bald, wide-eyed Aang spends a dismaying portion of the proceedings looking like he's practicing tai-chi.

the time the (mystifying) climax rolls around, the movie has come to resemble an unwieldy hybrid of "Little Buddha" and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."

Avatar Sells 6.7 Million DVDs in 4 Days.Highest sell for Blu ray disc.

A scene from the film ''Avatar'' is shown in this undated publicity photo released to Reuters February 2, 2010.

Four days after its release on DVD, "Avatar" is on track to become as big a movie phenomenon in home entertainment as it was in theaters.

Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment said on Sunday that it sold 6.7 million DVD and Blu-ray units of the film in the United States and Canada since the discs were released on Thursday.

That amounts to gross sales of $130 million, making the film from the studio division of News Corp. the No. 1 home entertainment opening ever over a four-day period.



The previous record holder for a similar stretch had been "The Dark Knight," which came out in 2008.

Fox said 2.7 million of its disc sales for "Avatar" came on Blu-ray, which is a newer technology that has a higher image quality than DVD but requires its own special player.

Director James Cameron's 3-D fantasy adventure become the No. 1 film ever at worldwide box offices after opening on December 18. "Avatar" made $2.7 billion, and beat the record set by Cameron's 1997 "Titanic."

The film is about a soldier who infiltrates a tribe of space aliens on a distant moon, falls in love with a princess from the tribe and leads a rebellion against the human invaders who sent him on the mission.

Fox released the film on DVD and Blu-ray on Thursday to coincide with Earth Day, saying the timing dovetailed with "Avatar's" theme of guarding the environment.

"Avatar" is maintaining its popularity in the move from box office to home video, with sales of 6.7 million DVDs and Blu-ray disks in the first four days.

Twentieth Century Fox announced Sunday that James Cameron's sci-fi epic has sold 2.7 million Blu-rays and 4 million DVDs since April 22.

The combined sales brought in $130 million.

The studio says "Avatar" has become the fastest-selling Blu-ray of all time.

No announcement has been made regarding a 3-D DVD release, but a Fox spokesman said one can be expected in the future.

2010 Oscar Nominations

And the nominees are...

Best Picture
- “Avatar” James Cameron and Jon Landau
- “The Blind Side” Nominees to be determined
- “District 9” Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham
- “An Education” Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey
- “The Hurt Locker” Nominees to be determined
- “Inglourious Basterds” Lawrence Bender
- “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness and Gary Magness
- “A Serious Man” Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
- “Up” Jonas Rivera
- “Up in the Air” Daniel Dubiecki, Ivan Reitman and Jason Reitman

Directing
- “Avatar” James Cameron
- “The Hurt Locker” Kathryn Bigelow
- “Inglourious Basterds” Quentin Tarantino
- “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Lee Daniels
- “Up in the Air” Jason Reitman

Actor in a Leading Role
- Jeff Bridges in “Crazy Heart”
- George Clooney in “Up in the Air”
- Colin Firth in “A Single Man”
- Morgan Freeman in “Invictus”
- Jeremy Renner in “The Hurt Locker”

Actor in a Supporting Role
- Matt Damon in “Invictus”
- Woody Harrelson in “The Messenger”
- Christopher Plummer in “The Last Station”
- Stanley Tucci in “The Lovely Bones”
- Christoph Waltz in “Inglourious Basterds”

Actress in a Leading Role
- Sandra Bullock in “The Blind Side”
- Helen Mirren in “The Last Station”
- Carey Mulligan in “An Education”
- Gabourey Sidibe in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”
- Meryl Streep in “Julie & Julia”

Actress in a Supporting Role
- Penelope Cruz in “Nine”
- Vera Farmiga in “Up in the Air”
- Maggie Gyllenhaal in “Crazy Heart”
- Anna Kendrick in “Up in the Air”
- Mo’Nique in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”

Animated Feature Film
- “Coraline” Henry Selick
- “Fantastic Mr. Fox” Wes Anderson
- “The Princess and the Frog” John Musker and Ron Clements
- “The Secret of Kells” Tomm Moore
- “Up” Pete Docter

Art Direction
- “Avatar”
- “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus”
- “Nine”
- “Sherlock Holmes”
- “The Young Victoria”

Cinematography
- “Avatar”
- “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”
- “The Hurt Locker”
- “Inglourious Basterds”
- “The White Ribbon”

Costume Design
- “Bright Star”
- “Coco before Chanel”
- “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus”
- “Nine”
- “The Young Victoria”

Documentary (Feature)
- “Burma VJ” Anders Ostergaard and Lise Lense-Moller
- “The Cove” Nominees to be determined
- “Food, Inc.” Robert Kenner and Elise Pearlstein
- “The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers” Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith
- “Which Way Home” Rebecca Cammisa

Documentary (Short)
- “China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province” Jon Alpert and Matthew O’Neill
- “The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner” Daniel Junge and Henry Ansbacher
- “The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant” Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert
- “Music by Prudence” Roger Ross Williams and Elinor Burkett
- “Rabbit à la Berlin” Bartek Konopka and Anna Wydra

Film Editing
- “Avatar”
- “District 9”
- “The Hurt Locker”
- “Inglourious Basterds”
- “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”

Foreign Language Film
- “Ajami” Israel
- “El Secreto de Sus Ojos” Argentina
- “The Milk of Sorrow” Peru
- “Un Prophète” France
- “The White Ribbon” Germany

Makeup
- “Il Divo”
- “Star Trek”
- “The Young Victoria”

Music (Original Score)
- “Avatar”
- “Fantastic Mr. Fox”
- “The Hurt Locker”
- “Sherlock Holmes”
- “Up”

Music (Original Song)
- “Almost There” from “The Princess and the Frog” Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
- “Down in New Orleans” from “The Princess and the Frog” Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
- “Loin de Paname” from “Paris 36” Music by Reinhardt Wagner Lyric by Frank Thomas
- “Take It All” from “Nine” Music and Lyric by Maury Yeston
- “The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)” from “Crazy Heart” Music and Lyric by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett

Short Film (Animated)
- “French Roast” Fabrice O. Joubert
- “Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty” Nicky Phelan and Darragh O’Connell
- “The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)” Javier Recio Gracia
- “Logorama” Nicolas Schmerkin
- “A Matter of Loaf and Death” Nick Park

Short Film (Live Action)
- “The Door” Juanita Wilson and James Flynn
- “Instead of Abracadabra” Patrik Eklund and Mathias Fjellström
- “Kavi” Gregg Helvey
- “Miracle Fish” Luke Doolan and Drew Bailey
- “The New Tenants” Joachim Back and Tivi Magnusson

Sound Editing
- “Avatar”
- “The Hurt Locker”
- “Inglourious Basterds”
- “Star Trek”
- “Up”

Sound Mixing
- “Avatar”
- “The Hurt Locker”
- “Inglourious Basterds”
- “Star Trek”
- “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”

Visual Effects
- “Avatar”
- “District 9”
- “Star Trek”

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
- “District 9” Written by Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell
- “An Education” Screenplay by Nick Hornby
- “In the Loop” Screenplay by Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche
- “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher
- “Up in the Air” Screenplay by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner

Writing (Original Screenplay)
- “The Hurt Locker” Written by Mark Boal
- “Inglourious Basterds” Written by Quentin Tarantino
- “The Messenger” Written by Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman
- “A Serious Man” Written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
- “Up” Screenplay by Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, Story by Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy

China To Stop Running Avatar

James Cameron's highly successful Avatar has been too successful for China! The mega-hit will officially stop playing in Chinese movie theaters this week because China says it's success is taking away from Chinese films.

Avatar, which was released just over 30 days ago, has grossed over $1.6 billion worldwide and has remained at the number one spot 5 weeks in a row.

Pulling Cameron's new film from it's theaters will make room for more domestic Chinese films. China's biggest film of the year, Confucius, opens this Thursday. Fair or not, with Avatar out of the way it is sure to help out any new flick.