M. Night Shyamalan's The Last Airbender Teaser Trailer Looks Awesome!

If you’re a big fan of the Nickelodeon cartoon Avatar: The Last Airbender, then you’ll love this teaser. I have never seen the cartoon before but I definitele want to now. M. Night Shyamalan (Sixth Sense, Signs) brings the hugely popular cartoon series to the big screen in live-action. New kid Noah Ringer plays Aang and Dev Patel (Jamal in Slumdog Millionaire) plays Zuko. Check out the teaser below.



Expect The Last Airbender to be in theaters next summer.

2009 MTV Movie Awards Winners

The MTV Movie Awards must be one of the silliest and most pointless awards show there is, but as always, it’s fun to watch and fun to talk about. A show in which Twilight is nominated seven times and win five of those, cannot be taken seriously. But, again, it’s good fun.

So the awards show wasn’t shown live in Malaysia. How many of you caught it live on the Internet though? I couldn’t because I was in college. I guess I’ll just wait to watch the awards show on June 12 when they air it here in Malaysia on MTV. Here is the complete list of nominees and winners of the recent 2009 MTV Movie Awards. As I thought, Twilight pretty much swept the awards. Check it.

BEST MOVIE

• Twilight
• The Dark Knight
• High School Musical 3: Senior Year
• Iron Man
• Slumdog Millionaire

BEST FEMALE PERFORMANCE

• Angelina Jolie - Wanted
• Anne Hathaway - Bride Wars
• Kate Winslet - The Reader
• Kristen Stewart - Twilight
• Taraji P. Henson - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

BEST MALE PERFORMANCE

• Christian Bale - The Dark Knight
• Robert Downey Jr. - Iron Man
• Shia LaBeouf - Eagle Eye
• Vin Diesel - Fast & Furious
• Zac Efron - High School Musical 3: Senior Year

BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE FEMALE

• Amanda Seyfried - Mamma Mia!
• Ashley Tisdale - High School Musical 3: Senior Year
• Freida Pinto - Slumdog Millionaire
• Miley Cyrus - Hannah Montana: The Movie
• Vanessa Hudgens - High School Musical 3: Senior Year
• Kat Dennings - Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist

BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE MALE

• Robert Pattinson - Twilight
• Taylor Lautner - Twilight
• Ben Barnes - The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
• Dev Patel - Slumdog Millionaire
• Bobb’e J. Thompson - Role Models

BEST COMEDIC PERFORMANCE

• Amy Poehler - Baby Mama
• Anna Faris - The House Bunny
• James Franco - Pineapple Express
• Jim Carrey - Yes Man
• Steve Carell - Get Smart

BEST VILLAIN

• Derek Mears - Friday The 13^th
• Dwayne Johnson - Get Smart
• Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight
• Johnathon Schaech - Prom Night
• Luke Goss - Hellboy II: The Golden Army

BEST FIGHT

• Anne Hathaway vs. Kate Hudson - Bride Wars
• Christian Bale vs. Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight
• Ron Perlman vs. Luke Goss - Hellboy II: The Golden Army
• Robert Pattinson vs. Cam Gigandet - Twilight
• Seth Rogen and James Franco vs. Danny McBride - Pineapple Express

BEST KISS

• Angelina Jolie and James McAvoy - Wanted
• Freida Pinto and Dev Patel - Slumdog Millionaire
• James Franco and Sean Penn - Milk
• Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson - Twilight
• Paul Rudd and Thomas Lennon - I Love You, Man
• Vanessa Hudgens and Zac Efron - High School Musical 3: Senior Year

BEST WTF MOMENT

• Amy Poehler - Baby Mama, Peeing In the Sink
• Angelina Jolie - Wanted, Curved Bullet Kill
• Ayush Mahesh Khedekar - Slumdog Millionaire, Jumping in the Poop Shed
• Ben Stiller - Tropic Thunder, Tasting the Decapitated Head
• Jason Segel and Kristen Bell - Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Naked Break-Up

BEST SONG FROM A MOVIE

• “Jai Ho” - AR Raham, Slumdog Millionaire
• “The Wrestler” - Bruce Springsteen, The Wrestler
• “The Climb” - Miley Cyrus, Hannah Montana: The Movie
• “Decode” - Paramore, Twilight

So what do you think? Are you outraged by the fact that Twilight beat Slumdog for Best Movie? Astonished that Zac Efron pipped Robert Downey Jr. for Best Male? Pissed that Kristen Stewart was thought to be better than Kate Winslet? Annoyed that Ashley Tisdale was more of a breakthrough female than Freida Pinto? Devastated that Robert Pattinson was voted as Breakthrough Male ahead of Dev Patel? Gobsmacked that the Twilight fight was better than The Dark Knight fight? Or even the Pineapple Express fight? Well if you are all of the above, tell me about it.

Wow. Most of the people who voted for these winners suck.

First Look at The Last Airbender

This is for all the Avatar: The Last Airbender fans out there. The oh-so popular cartoon series is being adapted into a live-action film by none other than M. Night Shyamalan. Below are the first pictures of the characters released.

Noah Ringer as Aang

Dev Patel as Prince Zuko

M. Night Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender hits theaters July 2, 2010.

Review: Slumdog Millionaire

Jamal Malik is one question away from winning 20 million rupees.
How did he do it?

A: He cheated
B: He's lucky
C: He's a genius
D: It is written

From brilliant screenwriter Simon Beaufoy and genius British filmmaker Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, Sunshine) comes Slumdog Millionaire, the story of an 18 year-old Mumbai orphan who is in the hot seat having already won 10 million rupees on the local version of 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire'. Suspected of cheating on the show, Jamal Malik (Dev Patel) is tortured and interrogated by police. Forced into explaining how he answered all the questions, he tells the police that the experiences he had while living his life in the slums of Mumbai were a clue to the questions.

The one thing that truly makes this whole film is how its told in a non-linear form, switching between the depressing and difficult times during Jamal's time in the slums and his curious and uncertain experience on the game show. It was amazing to see how the storyline flashed back whenever the next question was asked, incorporating his past experiences with the question being asked. The clues were discrete yet it stood out and gave a sense of understanding and made me feel that every chapter of his life was being told for a reason. The film is so brilliantly structured it leaves a very deep imprint. Where a typical movie starts off high, dips low then comes up again for the climax, 'Slumdog' starts off amazingly dismal and gloomy then climbs up to a brief period of comic relief and glee before dipping again and finally ending. On a high or low note, you find that out for yourself. not going to spoil it.

Shot on site in India, 'Slumdog' so beautifully illustrates the dirty, compact, upsetting slums of old Bombay as well as the developing, 21st century Mumbai. The slums were depicted so strongly I don't think the film did any favors to Mumbai in the way of tourism. But I think this film puts India in a bad light, highlighting the negative stereotype that is poverty in India. Nevertheless, the cinematography and lighting was simply breathtaking. Half of the film was shot with a handheld which was very obvious in the opening sequences of the movie where the guards are chasing the kids through the slums. The film should win an Oscar for Best Cinematography purely for shooting half of it with a handheld and not screwing it up, let alone making it work beautifully.

Believe you me, you want to be Dev Patel right now. Before this, he was a relatively unknown actor on the British TV show 'Skins'. To sum up his entire performance, he was very passive and laidback, looking extremely comfortable on the big screen like he's been doing this for awhile. Sometimes a performance like this can potentially mess the film up but Patel pulled off the 'less is more' swagger pretty well. Although the lead actor in the film I felt more of an impact from little Jamal (Azharuddin Ismail). While watching him and Salim begging for money running from gangsters, I was thinking where in the world did they find these kids. Their acting was flawless. Even more important, the acting from the kids felt genuine and innocent. They were so cute and at times funny. After reading a little bit, I learned that the kids were from the real slums of Mumbai and were terribly underpaid. They still reside in the slums today. Terrible ain't it? Well Danny Boyle said they were paid three times the salary of the average adult living in their neighborhood. Well thats not saying much considering their neighborhood is a collection of makeshift shacks. Veering off topic here. Enough of that.

Already won a Golden Globe and a BAFTA, the soundtrack for 'Slumdog' is so so so good. Very good. So good I'm listening to it right now. My personal favorite is 'O...Saya' which plays in the sequence where the guards chase the kids through the slums. Composed by A. R. Rahman with contributions from M.I.A., the soundtrack boosts the film and brings out the culture and color of India that much more. Soundtrack- Ah-mazing!

This film proves that a simple story and simple concept can be a great success just as long as its shot in a unique way with a great crew and cast. By far, Slumdog Millionaire is my new favorite film of 2008. Also my pick for best movie of the year. It wholly deserves all its wins so far especially at the Golden Globes and the BAFTAs. I'm very sure it will sweep the Oscars as well.

I urge everyone to watch this if you have not. If you have, please do drop me a comment.

D: It is written

Doctor's prognosis: 9 out of 10 popcorns!

*Check out my preview post with more details and trailer here.