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!)
Continue reading “Hard NOC Life: ‘Birds of Prey’ and a Fantabulous Night at the Oscars”
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.
Continue reading “‘Birds of Prey’ is An Asian American Aesthetic Superhero Movie I’ve Always Wanted”
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.
Continue reading “Fantabulous ‘Birds of Prey’ Really Takes Off”
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.
Continue reading “The ‘Birds of Prey’ Egg Sandwich Explained”
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.
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.
Continue reading “Changing “Harleywood” with the ‘Birds of Prey’”
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!
Continue reading “The ‘Birds of Prey’ Wish You a Happy Lunar New Year”
On Hard NOC Life this week, Dominic and Keith share their thoughts on the Academy Award nominations and break down the latest superhero movie trailers.
Continue reading “Hard NOC Life: Oscar Snubs and Super Villains”
We are less than a month away from the premiere of Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) so it seems like the right time to drop a new trailer. Fortunately, our friends at Warner Bros. agrees.
Continue reading “New ‘Birds of Prey’ Trailer is Not So Quiet”
A few months back, I took some time to reflect on Mattel’s final wave of Batman-related action figures. After nearly two decades in the DC Comics licensing game, Mattel finally gave way to a new licensee. McFarlane Toys (and Spin Masters) were going to be the new holders of the DC legacy though little was known about what either toy company would offer. All we knew was that the figures would debut some time in 2020. Well, it’s a new year, and all that has changed!
Continue reading “McFarlane Toys Officially Picks up the DC Multiverse Baton”
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:
Continue reading “Happy Holidays from the NOC and the ‘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.
Continue reading “15 Things We Learned from the Set of ‘Birds of Prey’”
Anyone who visited ComplexCon in Long Beach, CA this weekend was in for a fantabulous surprise, as Harley Quinn and the Birds of Prey hit the convention floor! Join them and make yourself a hell of a stylish video! Here’s a look at the fun booth!
Be sure to check it out when you visit ComplexCon between now and November 3!
Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) hits theaters in February 2020!
In anticipation of New York Comic Con coming this week, WB and DC have dropped the first trailer for the highly anticipated return of Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn, and the introduction of the Birds of Prey. The trailer gives us an awesome, surreal first look at the mayhem to come, including our introductions to the DCEU’s Huntress, Black Canary, Renee Montoya, and Cassandra Cain, as well as Ewan McGregor as the nefarious Black Mask.
Continue reading “The ‘Birds of Prey’ Trailer Officially Lands!”
On a new episode of Hard NOC Life — which was recorded before the reveal of Brandon Routh as Superman! — Keith and Dominic get excited about all of the Superman, especially the inclusion of Smallville in this fall’s “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover on The CW.
Continue reading “Hard NOC Life: Crisis of Infinite Supermen”
This week on Hard NOC Life, Keith and Dominic try to guess the characters who will be in James Gunn’s Suicide Squad sequel.
This week the folks at DC and WB unveiled the first poster for Birds of Prey! The film brings back Margot Robbie in her iconic portrayal of Harley Quinn, but also brings a plethora of amazing actresses into the DC Extended Universe, such as Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Huntress, Jurnee Smollett as Black Canary, Ella Jay Basco as Cassandra Cain, and Rosie Perez as Renee Montoya!
Continue reading “DC and WB Unveil Colorful New ‘Birds of Prey’ Poster!”
This morning, while all of you were trying (and mostly failing) to buy Avengers: Endgame tickets, Warner Bros. quietly dropped the first official poster for this fall’s Joker — with the first trailer set to drop any minute now. (UPDATED April 3, 2019 — trailer is below!) How’s that for the Day After April Fool’s?
Maybe I’m being a little hyperbolic with the headline, but Warner Bros. and DC Films set the internet on fire when it released a 20-second “teaser” featuring our first looks at the main cast for the upcoming Cathy Yan-directed Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), including Margot Robbie as the titular Harley, Jurnee Smollett-Bell as Black Canary, Mary Elizabeth Winstead as The Huntress, Rosie Perez as Renee Montoya, and Ella Jay Basco as Cassandra Cain. Also, that cast though!
Continue reading “‘Birds of Prey’ is Already the Greatest DCEU Movie of All Time”
Suicide Squad director and writer David Ayer has written a screenplay that is flat and not very exciting. The editing is all over the place and most of the characters are boring. This may not be all Ayer’s fault. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Warner Brothers gave him only six weeks to write whatever he could and went straight to shooting. Why did the studio let this happen?!
I will give Ayer props for making the cast unique in that it’s one of the few (maybe the only) comic book film with such a diverse group of actors in major roles.
Continue reading “Admit it: Diversity Saved ‘Suicide Squad’”
So let’s talk about Suicide Squad, one of the most highly anticipated films of the year.
Synopsis:
Figuring they’re all expendable, a U.S. intelligence officer decides to assemble a team of dangerous, incarcerated supervillains for a top-secret mission. Now armed with government weapons, Deadshot (Will Smith), Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), Captain Boomerang, Killer Croc and other despicable inmates must learn to work together. Dubbed Task Force X, the criminals unite to battle a mysterious and powerful entity, while the diabolical Joker (Jared Leto) launches an evil agenda of his own.
The verdict? There was some pacing issues and the worldbuilding/mythos was a bit rushed, especially considering this is only the third movie in the DCEU universe. Definitely some areas of opportunity in terms of the editing. It made the one scene with Amanda Waller handing out pinkslips gangsta style a bit on the nose.
In 1992, when I was only eight years old, my Batman knowledge was near non-existent. All I had to go on was the old Adam West Batman series that would repeat endlessly on the now-defunct Family Channel and Tim Burton’s Batman Returns, a movie that was too Tim Burton for my tastes. However, like any other kid, I loved cartoons. Getting home after school, my ritual was to grab a snack and watch The Disney Afternoon or Tiny Toon Adventures. Like the Adam West Batman, these shows were all lighthearted and mostly innocent.
Then Batman: The Animated Series premiered.
Continue reading “Looking Back at Batman: The Animated Series“
