#39 - Clockstoppers

Last time I did review of the crime against imagination known as the Games Maker. Looks like it’s a theme because here’s another one.

Clockstopers was released in 2002. For the record, let’s take a look at some other movies made in this period

So some good movies...

And some bad movies too, certainly a mixed year for movies

OK, I’ll stop the Spider-man bashing, yeesh

And it’s time to say hello to our old friends, Nickelodeon, the life support Network that can’t let cr*p like (recent – they were both good in their hayday) SpongeBob or Fairly Odd Parents die but cuts the budget of Korra forcing the production studio to cut corners with their animation. Thanks for that. This movie was brought out by Paramount and Nickelodeon movies, remind me, what I was it I reviewed from them before?

Ah. I see. Excuse me one moment

  

Where were we? Oh yes, Clockstoppers. Produced on a $20m budget, it made about $38m back, not really good enough and it holds a pathetic 28% on rotten tomatoes with a 30% audience approval rating. But let’s get this over with and dive in

Editorial: Goodbye Avatar Korra

If there's a show out there that has a reputation for having strong woman (both good and evil) without them being... defined by their gender let's say. It's the Avatar franchise (not the movies, the TV shows, there's a big difference)

In Avatar The Last Airbender you have Katara, Suki, Kyoshi, Toph, Azula, Mai, Ty Lee just to name the main ones. That's not to say that sexism didn't exist in this universe. Sokka started out a tad sexist, and Katara had to fight the sexist waterbending Master Paku to try and get herself taken seriously.

I believe in equal opportunities, but that's not necessarily the case with Network Executives. There was some debate about putting a girl as the lead in the new Avatar series, because they believed it might put boys off. Fortunately in a focus test the boys proved that there is still sense in the world, and didn't give a sh*t, and thus was born: The Legend of Korra.

#14 The Last Airbender

Yeah, this isn't going to be my 50^th review, I miscounted badly

With

13 Rage reviews

6 Guilty Pleasures reviews

9 Legend of Korra books 1-2 reviews

8 Legend of Korra book 3 reviews

4 Doctor Who review

2 Arrow season 1 reviews

3 Avatar: The Last Airbender reviews

A Batman (1989) review

3 Star Wars reviews

3 Lego Star Wars reviews, and

2 Star Wars: The Clone Wars reviews

I count this as my 55^th review (excluding that Doctor Who retrospective which wasn’t really a review)

Ah, well, maybe I'll get the 100th review correct. This is my celebration, on one of my least favourite movies ever, and it's fitting, since I've done more reviews on this franchise than any other, that the Avatar franchise would be my focus. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present M Night Shyamalan's The Last Airbender

M Night Shyamalan, what happened to you after the 6^th sense? People were calling you the next Spielberg, then came Signs, described the Nostalgia Critic as "the invasion of the plot holes," "The Village" which I cannot describe because I haven’t seen it at all, then came "Lady in the Water" where Shyamalan cast HIMSELF as a writer whose words will "change the world" and to top off this ego trip THE VILLAIN WAS A CRITIC. Then came "The Happening", the movie that made Mark Whalberg look like a bad actor (before Michael Bay came close to him), and Shyamalan could not describe the movie without using the word "Happening"

So, it makes perfect sense that Nickelodeon would turn down the experience of people dedicated to the Avatar Franchise (Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino) and chose Shyamalan, someone whose writing experience is in the horror/comedy genres to write this martial arts family action adventure movie, and not only write it, but produce and direct it as well. Shyamalan was given $300 million for a 3-movie franchise, but the first movie came out at $150 million and whilst financially successful was slammed critically and no sequel has been announced (thank heaven for small mercies) let's dig into The Last Airbender, and see how big a sh*t storm Shyamalan can bend.

TV Retrospective: Avatar: The Last Airbender Book 3: Fire

The review of the Last Airbender will be coming out on Wednesday and boy do I have a lot to say about that movie, but before that, let's take a look at the final series of the beloved show.

Spoilers to follow

TV Retrospective: Avatar: The Last Airbender Book 1: Water

With my review of the Last Airbender coming later this month, it seemed like a useful time to look back at the series that inspired the greatness of Korra, as well as the sh*t that is the movie

I will do the review in 3 stages, each looking at a particular book, classifying the episodes and ranking the best and the worst of them (although sometimes the worst are by no means bad episodes, just not particularly interesting)

So, let’s start with book 1

Legend of Korra Book 3 Chapter 9 review - The Stakeout

So, we come to the first online episode of Korra

TV Retrospective: Legend of Korra Book 2 Chapters 1-4 - Rebel Spirit/The Southern Lights/Civil Wars (parts 1 and 2)

What better way to start off star wars than with the legend of Korra book 2 part 1

So, you might be asking, what’s with the formatting of this one, you seem to be doing random length episodes

I’m working these reviews in arcs

Part 1 – The Water Tribe Arc (Rebel Spirit – Civil wars)

Part 2 – Everyone’s an idiot except Mako parts 1 and 2 (Peacekeepers and the Sting)

Part 3 – Saga of the first Avatar (Beginnings)

Part 4 – The spirit world saga (featuring everyone’s an idiot except Mako (3)) (The Guide and the New Spiritual Age)

Part 5 – The final battles (featuring everyone’s an idiot except Mako (4)) (Night of a thousand stars – Light in the dark)

So, with that said, let’s start with The water tribe arc.

Legend of Korra Book 3 Chapter 8 review - The Terror Within

Before I start the next review, I’d like to say SCREW YOU NICKELODEON. Advertising for Korra started a mere 2 weeks before its air-date, and the air-date itself wasn’t revealed until a week later, not surprisingly ratings haven’t been very good (if I had a penny for every book 3 post I’ve seen through various blogs saying ‘Korra book 3 is on? I didn’t know’ I’d be quite rich)

On top of that, Nickelodeon went to advertise that their episodes would not be available online (at least for a few days) except now, they’re only going to be available online. I understand that ratings online are very good for Korra, and Korra isn’t your usual type of show (because it’s good) but seriously, you pull it mid-book! THAT’S DUMB

OK, let’s get started with the last episode to air offline

TV Retrospective: Legend of Korra Book 1 Chapters 10-12 - Turning the Tides/Skeletons in the closet/Endgame

We have come down to the end of book 1, where for lack of more dignified phrase, the sh*t hits the fan

Legend of Korra Book 3 Chapters 6-7 review - Old Wounds/Original Airbenders

Thought I'd try out a new Korra image for this one

Anyway, as Nickolodeon continue to blaze through this series, I blaze through the reviews, we now look at chapters 6 and 7

TV Retrospective: Legend of Korra Book 1 Chapters 7-9 - The Aftermath/When Extremes Meet/Out of the Past

We continue with the legend of Korra book 1 mini-reviews, as the story delves deeper into the equalists plots, and we see a flashback involving people from the original Avatar stories.

Legend of Korra Book 3 Chapters 4-5 review - In Harm's Way/The Metal Clan

It's time for Korra book 3 reviews again

Full spoilers ahead

TV Retrospective: Legend of Korra Book 1 Chapters 4-6 - A voice in the night/The Spirit of Compeition/And the winner is...

Legend of Korra Book 3 Chapters 1-3 review - A breath of fresh air/Rebirth/The Earth Queen

When it comes to animation. I've always said the best shows are those that can appeal to children, but don't talk down to adults. A perfect example of that is Avatar: The Last Airbender (not to be confused with the films Avatar or The Last Airbender, the cr*ppy movie based on the show). A show that created an interesting lore and told a compelling story with interesting characters.

The Legend of Korra takes the lore of the show, and places it in a modern setting. So as well as Dragons and Sky Bison we have air ships and the radio (things that while they existed, they were not commonplace in Avatar: The Last Airbender.) Avatar: Legend of Korra has the disadvantage that they need to tell self-contained stories over much shorter book lengths, which does get in the way of story-telling and character development

I will do reviews of books 1 and 2 of Korra later on, but suffice it to say, they had their ups and downs, but book 2 left things an interesting position going into book 3

A few weeks ago, several episodes of book 3 were leaked, this resulted in the release date for book 3 being pushed up to last Friday, when the first 3 episodes would be aired. So without further ado, let’s get into episodes 1-3 of the Legend of Korra book 3, change