Rama's Screen

I’m not gonna spend too much time on this because as I’ve mentioned before, I’ve never watched the series Avatar: The Last Airbender. My friend Sam has been pushing me to watch it for the longest time, even my roommates said it’s a great show but I still can’t get around to doing exactly that, mainly because I still need to catch up on Damages, Psyche, and Spartacus:Blood and Sand, I’m watching them online. So the following info is for Sam and those of you who thought the trailer for THE LAST AIRBENDER was about the coolest thing to ever hit the web. Master blogger Jordan Hoffman of UGO was one of the lucky online journalists who got to hear from M. Night Shyamalan about how he tried his best to stay faithful to the series. He’s a hardcore fan, so fans of the series will not be let down by his adaptation, you can read the rest OVER THERE, but here are some bullet points… Read the rest of this entry »

Are you one of the many who are still waiting for an apology from M. Night Shyamalan for The Happening? As you know he has a new movie this year, an adaptation of the series Avatar: The Last Airbender. Since Cameron practically now owns the first word, the title has been simply called THE LAST AIRBENDER. You’ve seen the teaser and the banners, while the full trailer should arrive soon enough. M. Night Shyamalan talked to LA Times recently and explained how his wife talked him into making this movie and why he thought AIRBENDER is more or less similar to The Matrix… Read the rest of this entry »

The following project caught my attention because it involves The Dowdle Bros., they’re the dudes who made The Poughkeepsie Tapes but that movie still hasn’t seen the light of day despite the fact that the trailer was in theaters for quite some time. They’re also the dudes who wrote Quarantine, a remake of REC, which I thought was just as scary as the original. And they’re directing DEVIL, produced by the master of twist ending,M. Night Shyamalan. BloodyDisgusting found out that John & Drew Dowdle already have their next project lined up… Read the rest of this entry »

Producer Frank Marshall previously tweeted the world that the new full trailer for THE LAST AIRBENDER will arrive in February 2010, possibly attached to PERCY JACKSON movie, so for now, you can enjoy the old teaser that was released this past summer and these scanned images from the latest issue of Empire, via LastAirbenderFansOnline. Those of you fans of the cartoon series better get used to the title not having the word AVATAR because with James Cameron’s 3D epic breaking IMAX box office hit record, Aang’s live action journey on the big screen, brought to you by Director M. Night Shyamalan will always be known only as THE LAST AIRBENDER forever and that includes the sequels. View all the images after the jump… Read the rest of this entry »

Real quick now, back in August, producer Frank Marshall tweeted that the full trailer for THE LAST AIRBENDER, directed by M. Night Shyamalan would hit theaters and the web this Christmas. The speculation was it might be attached to either SHERLOCK HOLMES or AVATAR. But those of you fans of Aang will have to wait a little longer because Marshall has tweeted again and said.. Read the rest of this entry »

We know recently that actor Chris Mesina has been cast in DEVIL based a story by M. Night Shyamalan, directed by John Erick Dowdle and Drew Dowdle, the dudes who helmed Quarantine the remake, meanwhile the script was written by Brian Nelson (30 Days of Night) but the million dollar question is.. what the hell is the story about? I personally like the title.. it’s blunt, straightforward and for some reason, it doesn’t say ‘THE Devil’, it simply says DEVIL, That adds a certain kick to it. Slashfilm has learned a bit of what we can anticipate from the mysterious movie, and if this is the plot, then count me in… Read the rest of this entry »

M. Night Shyamalan has a new movie, too bad he’s not directing it,.. or maybe that’s the good part of this info. According to Variety, the man who tasted Amy Adams‘ food in Julie & Julia, actor Chris Messina still star in DEVIL, a horror-thriller based on a story by Shyamalan. What’s the plot? It’s a secret for now.. will there be a twist ending ala Shyamalan? That’s a secret as well. But the project will be directed by John Erick Dowdle and Drew Dowdle, the dudes who helmed Quarantine the remake, meanwhile the script was written by Brian Nelson (30 Days of Night)
Production begins in Toronto on Oct. 26. Messina is set to play the lead role of Bowden, a sobered-up homicide detective.

This whole project was actually talked about previously by slashfilm, though the blog didn’t know the plot either, they did know that “it is aiming for a PG-13, and is the first feature film of three planned in The Night Chronicles production brand”
This Night Chronicles is a banner created by Shyamalan and Media Rights Capital, that will produce one genre film per year for the next three years.

I’m still trying to recuperate from Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, but meanwhile, there are 2 new websites that have showed up online. The first one is for Disney’s ALICE IN WONDERLAND directed by Tim Burton. It doesn’t offer you much yet except Mad Hatter’s Hat but register for updates and see what Burton-weird stuff you might be notified about in the near future.

The next one is director M. Night Shyamalan’s official interactive website that takes you to a dark haunted mansion that you can enter to experience his thoughts about past films.
What’s the twist ending on this one?

I titled the post with the word ‘More’ because if you’d remember, M. Night and Sam Jackson previously had a discussion about UNBREAKABLE 2. I thought the first movie was brilliant but yes Jackson’s right in that the movie was a victim of people expecting it to be like M. Night’s hit the year before, The Sixth Sense.
Last year the twist ending director said that he wanted to write UNBREAKABLE 2 that’s ‘organic and expressive’ of who he was.
M. Night recently talked to MTV recently and implied that he’s still considering the sequel…the tough part is getting everyone back together…

“I don’t know where all the parties are in the world. Sam [Jackson] is like ‘Mr. Comic Book’ now. And Bruce, I don’t know what he’s up to. I don’t know where Disney’s at in their head and what kind of movies they’re up for making. But yeah, I love that movie.”

What he meant by ‘Mr. Comic Book’ is the fact that Sam Jackson is playing Nick Fury in all of Marvel’s superhero movies. Last I checked, Bruce Willis is filming A COUPLE OF DICKS for writer/director Kevin Smith. And M. Night plans his AIRBENDER movie to be a trilogy.
UNBREAKABLE was released in 2000. It cost $75 Million to make the movie and it only earned $95 Million domestically, $153 Million internationally, which brings it to a disappointing total of $248.1 Million worldwide.
That’s not fair, considering it was a great dark movie about a Superhero.

But after the failures of Lady In The Water and The Happening, do you still believe in the power of M. Night Shyamalan as storyteller?

USA TODAY has the first look images of the characters of M. Night Shyamalan’s next movie, THE LAST AIRBENDER based on the popular animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender. The image above features 12 year old Noah Ringer as Aang. Don’t underestimate the little fellow, he got this gig by sending in a DVD of him practicing Tae Kwon Do. By the way, he’s a black belt, yup! That means that sucka can kick your ass no matter how intimidating you may appear to be.
Interesting fact, all this time, he’s actually been called Aang by his friends because he also kept his head shaved and now he gets to live the character on screen.

The image below is SLUMDOG star Dev Patel as Prince Zuko, he’s also got a black belt in Tae Kwon Do. Gees, is that requirement to be part of this project? Patel is as skinny as a stick but apparently he’s got a deadly kick. He started watching the animated series when filming Slumdog Millionaire in India.
Those of you who might be anticipating this live action adaptation, the teaser trailer for THE LAST AIRBENDER will be attached to TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN

Based on the hugely successful Nickelodeon animated TV series, the live-action feature film is set in a world where human civilization is divided into four nations: Water, Earth, Air and Fire.
The Fire Nation is waging a ruthless, oppressive war against the other three nations. The film’s hero, the reluctant young Aang (Noah Ringer), is the “Last Airbender” — the Avatar who, according to prophecy, has the ability to manipulate all of the elements and bring all the nations together. Aided by a protective teenage Waterbender named Katara (Nicola Peltz) and her bull-headed brother Sokka, Aang proceeds on a perilous journey to restore balance to their war-torn world.
Jackson Rathbone plays Katara’s brother Sokka, and Dev Patel plays Prince Zuko, prince of the Fire Nation. Mandvi is set to play the role of Commander Zhao, an ambitious and hot-tempered Fire Nation commander. Toub is cast as Uncle Iroh, the retired Fire Nation general and devoted surrogate parent to Dev Patel’s character Zuko. Curtis is set to play the ruthless ruler Fire Lord Ozai. Keong Sim has been cast in the role of Earthbending Father.

THE LAST AIRBENDER opens July 2nd, 2010