Lauren Mary Kim on Developing and Performing Stunts for Two ‘Star Wars’ Productions

This past year has been a busy one for the Star Wars universe. Aside from the release of the final film of the Skywalker saga, The Rise of Skywalker, there has also been the beginning of the first live-action series, The Mandalorian, released last fall on Disney+, as well as the conclusion of the beloved animated series, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, this past spring. For Lauren Mary Kim, a stunt actor who has been working in Hollywood for the past 16 years, she has been involved in the making of both of these Star Wars productions. Continue reading “Lauren Mary Kim on Developing and Performing Stunts for Two ‘Star Wars’ Productions”

RE: Anime Releases Trailer for Live Action ‘One Punch Man’ Short

Today, the RE: Anime YouTube channel released their trailer for the new live action short, One Punch Man vs. Genos. The film features the epic fight scene between One Punch Man and Genos based on the original anime and features Alfred Hsing and official Friend of the NOC, Yoshi Sudarso in the titular roles. Check it out below:

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The Kiss(es) That Should Have Happened in ‘Romeo Must Die’

This weekend marks 20 years since the release of the epic action film, Romeo Must Die. Starring Jet Li and the late Aaliyah, the two star in this modern retelling of Romeo and Juliet as their mob leader fathers rival it out in an increasingly violent mob war in the San Francisco Bay Area.

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‘Birds of Prey’ is An Asian American Aesthetic Superhero Movie I’ve Always Wanted

Holy batshit, batpeople, Birds of Prey is powerful. It is an action-comedy escapade about a squad of DC Comics’ most beloved women characters, including Harley Quinn, Huntress, Black Canary, Renee Montoya, and Cassandra Cain. The film also does a thing which may befittingly fly under the radar: it displays a distinctly Asian American artistic aesthetic in the context of a modern superhero movie. I’ll belabor the question of “WTF is an Asian American artistic aesthetic?” only upon request, because it is so arguable and amorphous and also other a-words, I would never get to blabbing about the movie. To paraphrase the dude in Gladiator, “anything more than a whisper and it would vanish.” To brutally essentialize it, some artworks are more Asian American** than they are Asian or American, although they still may be both, and neither. I’ll attempt to argue for why Birds of Prey is exactly this.

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The Significance of Iko Uwais in ‘Wu Assassins’

For two weeks already, the fantasy-crime-martial arts series, Wu Assassins, has been streaming on Netflix. Centered in modern day San Francisco Chinatown, it follows a chef who finds out he is the last Wu Assassin; the one whose destined to stop the five Wu Warlords from obtaining the powers of Wu Xing and using them to destroy the world.

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‘Cobra Kai’ Has Got to Step Up Its Representation Game in Season 3

The 50th San Diego Comic-Con has come and gone, and this year, the stars of the YouTube Premium series, Cobra Kai, were in attendance. For two seasons already, viewers of this continuation of The Karate Kid franchise have been following the rivalry of Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) and Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) via their feuding dojos. Continue reading “‘Cobra Kai’ Has Got to Step Up Its Representation Game in Season 3”

Marvel’s ‘Shang-Chi’ Film is on the Fast Track, Searching for Director

by Dominic Mah | Originally posted on YOMYOMF

Deadline reports that Marvel Studios is fast-tracking a feature film based on Shang-Chi, arguably the preeminent Asian hero in the Marvel Universe. Chinese-American screenwriter Dave Callaham (hey, he’s from Fresno!) currently is on-board to write the script. From Deadline:

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‘Cobra Kai’ and Cultural Appropriation

by Steven Barnes | Originally posted on his website

Some time back, I watched a documentary about master Fumio Demura, one of the first to bring authentic Japanese karate (Shito-ryu) to the United States. I thought of him because he was Pat Morita’s stunt double for the Karate Kid movies.

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Lewis Tan Shatters Through The Badlands

It’s been a hell of a year for Lewis Tan. And for the next seven days, it’s going to be one hell of a week! An O.G. and official Friend of the NOC, Lewis Tan is back on Hard NOC Life.

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Three Reasons Why I’m Giving ‘Into the Badlands’ Another Shot

Originally posted at Just Add Color

The last time I wrote about Into the Badlands on this site, I was… distressed. Veil died in the Season 2 finale, after being tortured for basically the entire season.

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NOC Recaps Into the Badlands: Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story?

So that happened.

We’ve been singing the praises of Into the Badlands all season, but man, that death was disappointing. I’ll keep the spoiler about which character(s) met their ultimate demise until after the jump. Just know that it has made me reevaluate how I feel about this show.

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Waiting for the Into the Badlands Finale

The second season of AMC’s Into the Badlands concludes on Sunday, so our intrepid live tweeter Laura Sirikul joins Keith to look back on one of our favorite shows! Of course, they can’t help juxtaposing Ballands and Iron Fist, but they also explain Daniel Wu’s previous comments about whitewashing and why Oliver Stark needs to be a guest on a future episode. They also share their predictions about the finale and how Keith decided to mashup Badlands and Hamilton for #IntoTheHamLands.

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NOC Recaps Into the Badlands: Disciplined Dissidents

In a fateful example of perfect timing, the airing of Into the Badlands episode nine, titled “Nightingale Sings No More,” coincided with Mother’s Day. So how does the Badlands writing crew celebrate mothers? By ripping their babies away from them, locking them in solitary confinement, and having them duel their daughters in deadly sword-to-sword combat, of course! More on that in a minute…

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NOC Recaps Into the Badlands: Equal, Opposite Reactions

There are few nerdy pursuits that bring me a lot of pure joy anymore.  Hamilton, of course, is one, and Into the Badlands is the other. And like what the homie Shawn Taylor said, sometimes it just feels better to big up a thing you love than to tear down something you don’t. That’s why I love giving these HamLands recaps to you, the people. One, unwarranted Hamilton references is kinda my thing — just ask my poor family. And two, the hashtag Into the HamLands — which was initially designed to house Badlands-specific Hamilton puns, IS BEING USED BY THE CAST AND WRITERS OF THE SHOW! (Badlands, that is. Still waiting for Lin to chime in.)

So when Veil herself tweeted this gem below, I knew it had to be the title of this week’s ‘cap!

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NOC Recaps Into the Badlands: What is a Legacy?

Apologies for the delay in getting this weeks Badlands recap out1. I know how much you anticipate my weekly Hamilton references! It was probably a good thing that I didn’t watch this episode live though. Not sure I would’ve been able to sleep had I seen Artemis haunt my television right before going to bed!

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NOC Recaps Into the Badlands: A Winter’s Brawl

Despite my better judgement, I went with a Hamilton pun this week rather than straight up lyrics from the show. Couldn’t help it. The fight scene between the Abbots and Sunny’s old and new sidekicks — juxtaposed against a Christmas-y backdrop, no less — was a highlight! Before settling on “A Winter’s Ball” wordplay, the other obvious number to reference was Jasmine Cephas-Jones’ showstopper “Say No to This,” thanks to twitter user @Bespectacled_Cy!

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NOC Recaps Into the Badlands: A Glimpse of the Other Side

Another week, another Into the Badlands recap that takes its cue from a Hamilton song. While it’s pretty obvious that I’m quoting Lin-Manuel’s soliloquy from the end of “The World Was Wide Enough” — fittingly about the lead-up and aftermath of a duel not unlike what Quinn and Ryder did last week — this week’s subtitle has as much to do with #GhostRyder as it does with the return of Sunny and Bajie who are just on the other side of the Badlands as well. And speaking of “other sides,” we see some characters aligning with other sides too. But really, it’s all about Quinn’s son on the other side.

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Color Commentary: Iron Cyst and the Return of the Draggin’

Just when Marvel thought it was safe.

Color Commentary is back and this time we’re breaking out the Snark Fu once more on arguably the biggest disaster of 2017: Netflix’s Iron Fist.

That’s right. Myself and Madame Gao will once again be providing the tea, the shade, and the truth on all things Discount Arrow.

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‘Into the Badlands’ Stars Go to Karaoke Bars And You Should Too

by Dominic Mah

So I went to my preferred karaoke bar in NYC the other night, and who should be there but two of the stars of AMC’s Into the Badlands, Emily Beecham and Ally Ioannides, a.k.a. The Widow and Tilda. This is because magical occurrences happen inside karaoke bars, all the time.

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NOC Recaps Into the Badlands: You Don’t Have the Votes

Once again, we’re venturing back Into the Badlands as we finally get to see the much anticipated Baron Conclave. Last week, if you recall, we saw Minerva and Waldo arrive at Ryder’s estate to take part in the gathering. Basically, this is when all of the barons in the Badlands come together to sign agreements and hash out differences — without swords. Mostly. This particular conclave has been convened to vote on whether the Widow is allowed to even be a baron. Debates ensue, and all I can think of are the lyrics for both “Cabinet Battle” tracks from Hamilton.

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NOC Recaps Into the Badlands: Teach ‘Em How to Say Goodbye

In my quest to title each Into the Badlands recap after lyrics from a Hamilton song, the writers did me a solid by letting Nathaniel Moon, played by veteran actor Sherman Augustus, say a line from the classic George Washington showstopper:

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One-on-One with Into the Badlands’ Daniel Wu

AMC’s Into the Badlands is in their second season and are going strong with their viewership, storyline, and martial arts. Unlike other series that attempts the martial arts genre, Into the Badlands’ stellar moves can be attributed to executive producer, and star of the series, Daniel Wu.

The Nerds of Color got a chance to sit down and chat with the actor about the second season and what makes the show so appealing to audiences.

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Journey Into the Badlands with Co-Creator Al Gough

In the first part of a special podcast crossover with DC TV Classics, Keith chats with Into the Badlands co-creator Al Gough. They talk about Al’s start in Hollywood with his writing and producing partner Miles Millar; working with Hong Kong cinema legends like Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Donnie Yen, Michelle Yeoh, and Daniel Wu; how difficult it is to accurately portray kung fu on broadcast television; and the importance of representation and why the onus is on producers and directors to find and cast diverse talent.

Subscribe to DC TV Classics or download part two of this interview here.

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