Recently, I had the pleasure to talk to the icon Daniel Wu about his role in the new Warner Bros. film, Reminiscence. In it, Wu plays the villainous Saint Joe, but does so in a way that upends the stereotype of the “Asian villain.” Of course, The NOC is no stranger to Wu’s body of work, having championed every season of AMC’s Into the Badlands.
Continue reading “‘Reminiscence’ Star Daniel Wu is a Saint”
On Hard NOC Life, Dominic and Keith discuss the end of Star Wars: The Clone Wars on Disney+ and how it re-contextualizes the prequel trilogy for the better.
Continue reading “Hard NOC Life: Concluded, ‘The Clone Wars’ Have”
This week on Hard NOC Life, Dominic Mah returns as guest co-host to join Keith for additional spoilery Endgame thoughts. This time with more Spider-Man: Far From Home!
Continue reading “Hard NOC Life: ‘Spider-Man’ Into the Multiverse”
This year seems to be the Year of the Tan, aka Lewis Tan.
After the internet went nuts over Tan’s portrayal as the drunk villain, Zhou Cheng, in last year’s Marvel’s Iron Fist, the 31-year-old actor gained a large following and many job offers including last week’s Deadpool 2 and a recurring role in AMC’s hit martial arts drama, Into the Badlands.
Continue reading “Lewis Tan on Shatterstar, Representation, and How He Really Feels about Thirst Tweets”
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.
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.
Continue reading “Three Reasons Why I’m Giving ‘Into the Badlands’ Another Shot”
On Hard NOC Life, Keith is joined by one of the stars of Warner Brothers’ upcoming Tomb Raider movie, Daniel Wu!
Continue reading “Daniel Wu Unlocks the Secrets of ‘Tomb Raider’ and ‘Into the Badlands’”
Recorded live during the Asian American ComiCon Summit on Art, Action, and the Future.
We’ve seen so many different kinds of futures unfurl in pop culture, and many of them have people of color and LGBTQ individuals as backdrop and “local color.” What would a truly diverse, inclusive and intersectional future really look like?
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.
Continue reading “NOC Recaps Into the Badlands: Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story?”
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.
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…
Continue reading “NOC Recaps Into the Badlands: Disciplined Dissidents”
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!
Continue reading “NOC Recaps Into the Badlands: Equal, Opposite Reactions”
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!
Continue reading “NOC Recaps Into the Badlands: What is a Legacy?”
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!
Continue reading “NOC Recaps Into the Badlands: A Winter’s Brawl”
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.
Continue reading “NOC Recaps Into the Badlands: A Glimpse of the Other Side”
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.
Continue reading “‘Into the Badlands’ Stars Go to Karaoke Bars And You Should Too”
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.
Continue reading “NOC Recaps Into the Badlands: You Don’t Have the Votes”
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:
Continue reading “NOC Recaps Into the Badlands: Teach ‘Em How to Say Goodbye”
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.
Continue reading “One-on-One with Into the Badlands’ Daniel Wu”
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.
Continue reading “Journey Into the Badlands with Co-Creator Al Gough”
AMC’s Into the Badlands might have gotten a ten-episode second season (up four episodes from season one), but there’s no slowing down narratively. Episode 2 — which is actually chapter 8, proving just how propulsive the story of the Badlands is — wastes no time getting Sunny out of the mines, after a pretty awesome, and gruesome, fight scene to open the show. I would put the rest of the episode into three distinct buckets, that just so happen to coincide with a line from Hamilton‘s “My Shot.” And yes, I’m keeping up these #IntoTheHamLands recap titles all season!
Continue reading “NOC Recaps Into the Badlands: Young, Scrappy, and Hungry”
It’s too bad Iron Fist wasn’t remotely close to being as entertaining and brilliant as the backlash it’s been receiving. If it had, it would’ve been as popular as Daredevil or Luke Cage as opposed to being one of the biggest punchlines of 2017.
I’m sure one day we’ll all be tired of the proverbial “T” Madame Gao is serving us.
However, today is not that day.
Shifting into Midnighter mode, I’m about to demonstrate my 8-point strike on the fustercluck of white mediocrity that is Iron Cyst.
