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Last Airbender rules Razzies as worst picture

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Mon, 28 Feb 2011 5:00a.m.

M. Night Shyamalan and cast member Noah Ringer at the premiere The Last Airbender in New York, June 30, 2010 (Reuters)

M. Night Shyamalan and cast member Noah Ringer at the premiere The Last Airbender in New York, June 30, 2010 (Reuters)

The action fantasy The Last Airbender - about people who can command fire, air, water and earth - now controls something else: the Razzie awards for Hollywood's worst film achievements of 2010.

The Last Airbender led Saturday's Razzies with five awards, among them worst picture, worst director and worst screenplay for M Night Shyamalan.

The movie also received Razzies for worst supporting actor (Jackson Rathbone, who was cited for both The Last Airbender and The Twilight Saga: Eclipse) and for a special award, worst eye-gouging misuse of 3D.

A spoof of the Academy Awards, the Razzies were announced the night before the Oscars, Hollywood's biggest party.

Sex and the City 2 took three Razzies, including worst actress, a prize shared by co-stars Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon, worst screen couple or ensemble for its entire cast, and worst prequel, remake, rip-off or sequel.

Ashton Kutcher was picked as worst actor for Killers and Valentine's Day, while Jessica Alba took the Razzie as worst supporting actress for four 2010 releases, The Killer Inside Me, Little Fockers, Machete and Valentine's Day.

Shyamalan has been on a downward spiral since 1999 Oscar best-picture contender The Sixth Sense, which earned him directing and writing nominations at Hollywood's highest honours. He won Razzies as worst director and worst supporting actor for his 2006 fantasy flop Lady in the Water.

Despite terrible reviews, The Last Airbender managed to find a decent audience, pulling in US$300 million worldwide at the box office. Shyamalan adapted the movie from the animated TV series Avatar: The Last Airbender.

"He managed to take a cartoon property and make it even less lifelike by making it with real actors," said Razzies founder John Wilson. "Most people who like the show, and this would include my 14-year-old son, hated the movie. It made no sense whatsoever."

The Last Airbender was among movies that critics knocked for smudgy, blurry 3D images. The movie was shot in 2D and converted to digital 3D to cash in on the extra few dollars theatres charge for 3D screenings.

"They call it converted. We call it perverted," Wilson said. "The more times you trick the public and charge them that fee and don't really deliver, eventually it's going to be like Lucy and Charlie Brown with the football. Fool me ten times, I'm done."

Wilson said the characters of Sex and the City 2 were getting too old to cavort the way they do, calling the movie "The Expendables, but with estrogen," referring to Sylvester Stallone's tale about aging action heroes.

Sex and the City 2 also was offensive, Wilson said, showing Parker and her gal pal co-stars disrespecting Arab culture on a trip to Abu Dhabi and flaunting their privileged ways.

"It was released in the middle of a period of American history when everyone's scrounging not to lose their homes, and these women are riding around in Rolls-Royces, buying expensive shoes and just throwing money around like they're drunk," Wilson said.

The Golden Raspberry Awards 2011 nominations are as follows (winners highlighted in red):

Worst Picture:

  • The Bounty Hunter
  • The Last Airbender
  • Sex and the City 2
  • The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
  • Vampires Suck

Worst Actor:

  • Jack Black - Gullivers Travels
  • Gerard Butler - The Bounty Hunter
  • Ashton Kutcher - Killers and Valentines Day
  • Taylor Lautner - The Twilight Saga: Eclipse and Valentines Day
  • Robert Pattinson - Remember Me and The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

Worst Actress:

  • Jennifer Aniston - The Bounty Hunter and The Switch
  • Miley Cyrus - The Last Song
  • Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon -Sex and the City 2
  • Megan Fox - Jonah Hex
  • Kristen Stewart - The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

Worst Supporting Actress:

  • Jessica Alba - The Killer Inside Me, Little Fockers, Machete and Valentines Day
  • Cher - Burlesque
  • Liza Minnelli -Sex and the City 2
  • Nicola Peltz - The Last Airbender
  • Barbra Streisand - Little Fockers

Worst Supporting Actor:

  • Billy Ray Cyrus - The Spy Next Door
  • George Lopez - Marmaduke, The Spy Next Door and Valentines Day
  • Dev Patel - The Last Airbender
  • Jackson Rathbone - The Last Airbender and The Twilight Sagas Eclipse
  • Rob Schneider - Grown Ups

Worst Eye-Gouging Misuse of 3D:

  • Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore
  • Clash of the Titans
  • The Last Airbender
  • The Nutcracker in 3D
  • Saw 3D

Worst Screen Couple/Worst Screen Ensemble:

  • Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler - The Bounty Hunter
  • Josh Brolins Face & Megan Foxs Accent - Jonah Hex
  • The Entire Cast of The Last Airbender
  • The Entire Cast of Sex and the City 2
  • The Entire Cast of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

Worst Director:

  • Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer - Vampires Suck
  • Michael Patrick King - Sex and the City 2
  • M. Night Shyamalan - The Last Airbender
  • David Slade - The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
  • Sylvester Stallone - The Expendables

Worst Screenplay:

  • The Last Airbender Written by M. Night Shyamalan, based on the TV series created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Brian Konietzko
  • Little Fockers, Written by John Hamburg and Larry Stuckey, based on Characters Created by Greg Glenna and Mary Roth Clarke
  • Sex and the City 2, Written by Michael Patrick King, Based on the TV Series Created by Darren Star
  • The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, Screenplay by Melissa Rosenberg, Based on the Novel by Stephenie Meyer
  • Vampires Suck, Written by Jason Friedberg & Aaron Seltzer

Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-Off or Sequel (Combined Category):

  • Clash of the Titans
  • The Last Airbender
  • Sex and the City 2
  • The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
  • Vampires Suck

AP

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28 Feb 2011 12:47p.m.

Tori wrote:

The cartoon series was definately better. It was a lot funnier too. The extra moves involved in the bending techniques were good though. And they put a noticible effort into the ethnic diffirences between nations. Well, the Water Tribe people are supposed to have darker clolouring.