a movie I need to see, soon

Pan's Labyrinth:  a 12-year-old girl in 1944 Spain goes to live with her pregnant mother and "evil" military stepfather, shortly after the end of the Spanish Civil War.  The girl, who finds refuge in fantasy stories, discovers an ancient magical labyrinth.  Fauns, fairies, and monsters abound as she tries to gain entrance to the kingdom guarded by a faun (below).  I'm assuming the faun is Pan.  Directed by "The Devil's Backbone" director, Guillermo de Toro, and is rated R.  Supposedly it's a thematic sequel to that movie, which is perhaps the most poignant ghost story I have ever seen (and the only horror movie I've rented several times). Very critically acclaimed and is up for Best Foreign Film at the Golden Globes.  8.4 rating on IMDb, #155 on the top 250. 

a retraction

A while ago I wrote a post called "Goddamn why are people so talented" about great titles.  But I started out the post with a rant on TV.com's ratings.  One of the shows I especially lambasted was this show I'd never heard of, Avatar: The Last Airbender.  I implied it did not deserve its high rankings - #3 in both ratings and quality.  I was wrong.

As I was flipping through the digital cable navigator, I saw this show, and decided to see what the hell it was - knowing nothing about it.  Apparently it's a Nickelodeon show, which automatically does not bode well for it, but this one proved my prejudices wrong.  It was actually good.  Of course, I only watched the last 10 min. or so.  This is what I gathered from those ten minutes.

1)  It's animated using the same style as Teen Titans, but it's 500x times better.  Fairly realistic in terms of proportion and motion, and very fluently-animated.
2)  It's not set during modern times.  Maybe it's set during the past, but for some reason I even got the feeling it was set perhaps in a post-civilization future.  Or at least in an alternate Earth, because it does not seem to follow any particular history.
3)  An airbender is somebody who can manipulate, or bend, air to their means.  There are also waterbenders.  Probably other "benders" too. 
4)  There's magic/mysticism, and apparently the avatar can sense mystical happenings.  But it's more Eastern than Western - more "spiritual energy" than "superpowers", y'know?
5)  The animals are freakin' crazy.  They're sort of mixes of various animals, with bizarre details: enlarged ears, elongated tails, various quirks that make them not like any animal you've ever seen.  Some animals look totally invented, and it's pretty creative inventions.
6)  Likewise with the people.  The one I saw was set in a swamp, and the people who lived there wore big leaves on their heads and talked in Australian accents and rowed longboats.  It's sort of a nice mix of history, diversity, and creativity, with a very admirable level of detail for a cartoon show. 

What I found most impressive about the show was its imagination, detail, and its refusal to stick to bare, hackneyed stereotypes of ancient civilizations.  I couldn't identify any particular culture to the protagonists - not even individually - and the ability to transcend culture like that is very impressive.  It indicates a high level of worldbuilding.  I was impressed. 

p.s.  God almighty, apparently M. Night Shyamalan is planning to write, direct, and produce a 3-film live-action version.  *facevaults* 

WHAT is with this trend?

What trend, you may ask?

The screaming, angry, bratty, immature anime teen boy hero.  I think I may actually prefer crybaby emo anime teen boy heroes.  At least all they do is mope - the former type of hero actually demands attention, and demands it all the time.  Yet they have sort of evolved off the crybaby emo hero, haven't they, because they still retain some of that angst - every little thing is an affront to their massive, can-barely-fit-in-the-door pride. 

Examples:  InuYasha, Edward Elric (Fullmetal Alchemist), Naruto. 

People don't seem to realize that these kind of people would get eaten for breakfast in all actuality.  No matter how rebellious and badass and angry you are, you have to hold it in long enough to get established with your own source of power.  You can't just go out into the world that way.  I mean, look at Vegeta.  He lived as Freeza's de facto servant for all his adolescence before deciding to strike out on his own.  If he hadn't agreed to that, and taken some shit for a while, he would have been immediately killed.  Now, I'm not saying I would be sad if he had been immediately killed, I'm just using an example.  The Angry Young Men/Rebels Without a Cause is a fun hero to idolize.  But it's unrealistic.  These guys, in the real world, either die before they're 21 or become burger-flippers because they were too badass to finish school.  And come on... do they have to be this annoyingly angry and self-centered all the time?  Even Kaneda, the ultimate Rebel Without a Cause, has a sense of humor, and a certain lightness about what he does. 

Aaagh.  This is why I can't watch Adult Swim.  I just watched the blonde moron of Fullmetal Alchemist scream at people, saying great things like, "What the hell do you know?!  Not everyone's like you!"  Yeah, thanks, Edward.  Why don't you go have some jasmine tea or something and try to calm down. 

Guess what's next?  The white-haired moron, InuYasha.  And it's time for me to pray that the X-Files (refreshingly devoid of teenagers) is on.  OH MY GOD, GODDAMN THE NBA.

Think, Nadia, think:  is this worse than Shinji of Neon Genesis Evangelion?