In Retrospect: ‘Birds of Prey’ and the Un-Fantabulous Omission of One Cathy Yan

I don’t typically like to compare movies. Sure, most films of recent are either a reboot, sequel or adaptation. At the very least, they take reference from kind of source material. But some movies are more comparable than others, like Suicide Squad (2016) and The Suicide Squad (2021). However, aside from confusingly similar titles, a couple of returning players, and a similar world-saving plot, these two movies have almost nothing in common.

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‘Kate’ Shoots Up Tokyo in New Trailer for the Netflix Film

I really had high hopes for this one. The premise was pretty cool: an assassin has to take out the people responsible for poisoning her before she succumbs to death from the poison. And admittedly the action sequences look amazing. And I really do love Mary Elizabeth Winstead. But yet again, we’re getting another movie where Americans go into an Asian country and start shooting up minorities.

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Release Date and Motion Poster for Netflix’s ‘Kate’

Just last month, we unveiled a first look at the upcoming assassin thriller, Kate, starring the badass that is Mary Elizabeth Winstead. This week, during Netflix’s Geeked event, the streaming service dropped a really awesome motion poster for the film, revealing the release date to be September 10 this year. Have a look at the awesome motion poster and announcement below:

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A Killer First-Look at ‘Kate’ Starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead

This Fall, Netflix will be unleashing Kate! The movie stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead as a ruthless criminal operative who has just been poisoned, and has less than 24 hours to exact revenge on her enemies and in the process forms an unexpected bond with the daughter of one of her past victims.

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Follow Us and Get a Digital Copy of ‘Birds of Prey’

It’s no secret that we’re huge fans of Birds of Prey here at The Nerds of Color. Even though the film has been on demand digitally since the pandemic hit, Cathy Yan’s girl-gang opus is finally available to fans of physical media with its release on blu-ray and DVD. To celebrate, we’re giving away a digital copy* of the movie to one lucky follower on twitter!

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Hard NOC Life: ‘Birds of Prey’ and the Fantabulous Isolation of Self Quarantine

This week on Hard NOC Life, Dominic and Keith are joined by fashion photographer and Birds of Prey superfan Lauren Nakao Winn.

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Hard NOC Life: Sir Gawain and the Dark Knight

This week on Hard NOC Life, Dominic and Keith continue their discussion of Birds of Prey and share their thoughts on Robert Pattinson as Batman. Later, Friend of the NOC Preeti Chhibber returns to the show to talk about a couple of new Dev Patel movie trailers.

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Hard NOC Life: ‘Birds of Prey’ and a Fantabulous Night at the Oscars

On a brand new episode of Hard NOC Life, Dominic and Keith celebrate the best DC movie ever made, Birds of Prey (that’s right, we said it!)

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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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Fantabulous ‘Birds of Prey’ Really Takes Off

Separated from the Suicide Squad and dumped by the Joker, Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), wants to move on but is not sure how. She’s kept the breakup a secret but wants to reveal it’s over.  She comes up with the bright idea to blow up the location where they confessed their love for one another. Harley Quinn gets away with just about anything around Gotham because people are scared of the Joker’s wrath. Once that relationship is gone, though, all hell breaks loose for her as this sends a message that she’s no longer under the Clown Prince’s protection. Oops.

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The ‘Birds of Prey’ Egg Sandwich Explained

With the release of DC’s Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of the One Harley Quinn), many have been wondering about one particular scene when Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) describes in detail about obtaining the perfect egg sandwich for her breakfast. The way Harley describes the egg sandwich could almost be told from a sexual point of view or just how we, and many people, describe food. Unfortunately for Harley, she does not get to enjoy the egg sandwich due to the fact she ends up being chased by Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez) and it drops to the floor.

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Hard NOC Life: Welcome to the Cassandra Cain-aissance

With Birds of Prey ready to break box office records, and a brand new YA graphic novel from DC Comics, the shadow of Cassandra Cain descends upon a brand new episode of Hard NOC Life!

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Ella Jay Basco is Ready to be Batgirl

When Ella Jay Basco got the call to play Cassandra Cain, aka Batgirl, in DC’s Birds of Prey, the first thing she did was cry tears of joy.

“I didn’t think it was real,” said Basco over the phone. “I broke down into tears. I never really expected that it would be like this because it’s just so crazy. I really broke down into tears. I couldn’t believe it. It was super emotional, but I was so happy.”

Still reveling from the Birds of Prey premiere in London the night before, Basco was enjoying her first full press junket. “It’s a lot of fun,” said Basco as she prepares for a full weekend of questions.

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Changing “Harleywood” with the ‘Birds of Prey’

Change is in the air, ladies and gentleman! And this weekend, Los Angeles got a taste of that, when Margot Robbie, director Cathy Yan, and the full cast and crew of Birds of Prey took over Hollywood, in a gloriously chaotic stunt that turned the city into “Harleywood” for four-straight mayhem-fueled days. The massive Hollywood and Highland Center was home to the outfits, vehicles, and props of the film, as well as special photo activations and makeup demonstrations.

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The ‘Birds of Prey’ Wish You a Happy Lunar New Year

This weekend marks the beginning of the Year of the Rat. To celebrate, one of the stars of the upcoming Birds of Prey movie — Cassandra Cain herself, Ella Jay Basco! — recorded a special Lunar New greeting exclusively for The Nerds of Color in front of the latest trailer. Check it out!

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Happy Holidays from the NOC and the ‘Birds of Prey’

Recently, the cast of the upcoming Birds of Prey movie — including Ella Jay Basco, Margot Robbie, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, and Rosie Perez — recorded a special holiday greeting exclusively for The Nerds of Color. Check it out below and have a Happy Holiday season:

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15 Things We Learned from the Set of ‘Birds of Prey’

With the holidays around the corner, what better way to celebrate than with news from the anticipated Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn. The Nerds of Color was invited to the set of Birds of Prey this past April to explore the dangerously fun production of the all-women led “superhero” movie and chat with the cast and creatives of the film. 

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