Across the fields of Cordova, the morning sun filled the land with its golden light. Above, the empty sky was painted brilliantly with streaks of orange, yellow, and red. The silence of the night was soon broken as the songbirds awoke and [...]
Far in the untamed regions of Wild Space, a small shuttle flies through space towards a bright blue planet. Within it, a Jedi Knight and her padawan sit in awkward silence. [...]
The Last Airbender is a new live-action film directed by M. Night Shyamalan that is based off the first season of Nickelodeon's award winning animated series, Avatar: the Last Airbender.
It follows the adventures of Aang, the current incarnation of the Avatar, a powerful spirit that is charged with keeping balance to the world. After being frozen for 100 years, Aang reawakens to find that world he once knew is no more thanks to the efforts of the Fire Nation, and that he is the last of his kind. After being joined by Katara, a waterbender, and her brother, Sokka, the three take on the quest to defeat the Fire Nation and return balance to the world.
From the trailer, The Last Airbender looks to be filled with excellent graphics that bring the bending powers to life and a styling that beautifully captures the Chinese influence of the show.
As a huge fan of the series, I have high hopes for this movie, but am still hesitant on M. Night Shyamalan's ability to bring the Avatar's world to life properly as his recent film entries reached very little success. Guess I'll just to find out for myself when The Last Airbender is released in July 2010.
Say what you will about George Lucas, but when the man sets his mind to something, you can bet he's going to get it done one way or another. Such is the case with Red Tails, the story of the Tuskegee Airmen, the first African-American pilots to fly in a combat squadron during WWII, as an inside Secret Squirrel source told me that Lucas (serving as executive producer) was very displeased with TV director Anthony Hemingway's work, and is taking it upon himself to direct some massive reshoots. With these re-shoots come some hefty re-writes which I'm told completely change the main characters and their storylines.
Do you remember, at the height of the "Matrix" craze, a spin-off DVD was released called "The Animatrix." It wasn't a movie; rather, "The Animatrix" served up a collection of nine animated short films, each telling a short story set within the "Matrix" universe from different writers/directors. It was a solid idea with, as you might expect, a bit of an uneven presentation. Some shorts are excellent, some are forgettable and some would have been better left out completely.
I'm referencing this 2003 release because "Halo Legends," released yesterday on Blu-ray and DVD, is much the same thing. "Halo" is of course one of the biggest video game franchises on the planet. "Legends" is a similar sort of short film collection, but with a few notable differences: the contributors all hail from the anime world and none of the stories fit comfortably within the "Halo" canon established by the games and the books.
George Lucas sets himself up for a multi-billion dollar franchise with the release of Star Wars: A New Hope more than 30 years ago. This was the first film to use 3D animated graphics and has raked in nearly $800 million internationally not accounting for the other five films, according to The Numbers. In short, the film is about conflicts between two opposing groups, featuring un-human like creatures, with a little taste of romance (between humans only). The Star Wars Saga is a master piece in itself and there's no need to further explain why it has been so successful.
Fast forward to today, and James Cameron writes and directs an alien love story entitled Avatar. Well, not really but watch the previews and you'll notice it incorporates stunning visual effects and an interesting plot that involves a paraplegic war veteran, Jake Skully (Sam Worthington), who is brought to the planet Pandora—not to be confused with Pandora Radio—in the form of a Na'vi as his avatar, hence the title of the movie. Na'vis are the humanoid species that occupy the planet which the humans have an interest for. He meets and grows a bond with one of the inhabitants, Neytiri (Zoe Saldana), and is faced with the decision to choose which side to stand for: the Na'vi people or his military unit.
We all love Family Guy and we all love Star Wars (Duh!). Well what happens when you put them together? You get one hour of laugh out loud awesomeness complete with lightsabers. That was what we were treated to when the first Family Guy Star Wars special, Family Guy: Blue Harvest, came out. And now Seth MacFarlane is bringing his genius to us once again with the sequel Family Guy: Something, Something, Something, Darkside.
The sequel, which spoofs the epic adventure of Star Wars: Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, comes out on DVD and BD on December 22. Just in time for the Holiday season.
If its anything like its predecessor, we are for sure going to have one hilarious Christmas.
