It seems like only yesterday when national treasure and lyricist genius Lin-Manuel Miranda graced the Richard Rodgers Theatre as Usnavi in the Broadway production of In the Heights. Now, 13 years later, the Tony Award-winning musical is finally premiering on the big screen next month.
Continue reading “‘In the Heights’ Captures the Beauty of Washington Heights and the Community Behind It”
Netflix has cast Jenna Ortega as Wednesday Addams in a new live-action, comedic coming-of-age tale. Wednesday will be directed by Tim Burton, who will be making his directorial TV debut. The legendary character has already been portrayed in television, film, video games, and musicals, but Wednesday has always been part of The Addams Family ensemble until now.
Continue reading “Jenna Ortega Set to Star in All-New Netflix Series, ‘Wednesday’”
Imagine, waking up to find you have the ability to transform into any dinosaur you want. You could run as fast as a raptor, be as large as a T-Rex, or soar like a Pterodactyl (I know it’s not a dinosaur just roll with it). What sounds like the fever-induced dream of a child between the ages of 4-14 is every day life for Humberto Lopez, resident reptilian hero and Marvel’s next big thing.
Continue reading “A Hero on a Massive Scale: Reptil Slashes Through Marvel Comics in Late May”
It’s about time we have a sex-fueled teen adventure comedy starring an Asian woman, particularly a South Asian woman. Most of the tween/teen shows have been surrounded by East or Southeast Asian leads and South Asians teens not getting their chance to be horny. Sure, we have Netflix’s Never Have I Ever, which is excellent, but that seems to be it. Also, depictions of South Asian teens have been stuck in a bubble where they are always the straight-laced high school girl who does want to get in trouble, but in the end, decides not to act on it.
Continue reading “Hulu’s Teen Sex Comedy ‘Plan B’ Trailer Has Women of Color Leading the Charge”
The new Netflix film drops on Wednesday, June 9. Awake has an extremely talented cast, including Gina Rodriguez, Ariana Greenblatt, Frances Fisher, Shamier Anderson, Finn Jones, Lucius Hoyos, Gil Bellows, Barry Pepper, and Jennifer Jason Leigh.
Continue reading “See the Official Trailer and Poster for Netflix’s ‘Awake’ Starring Gina Rodriguez”
During the Oscars telecast, The Walt Disney Company finally gave fans a glimpse at the new film adaptation of the musical West Side Story, which will open in U.S. theaters on December 10. To add even more to the excitement, they also released a teaser poster.
Continue reading “See the First Teaser Trailer for Steven Spielberg’s ‘West Side Story’”
Benjamin Lobato is co-showrunner of USA’s Queen of the South, which is currently airing its fifth and final season. The popular series tells the story of Teresa Mendoza, a woman who is forced to run and seek refuge in America after her drug-dealing boyfriend is suddenly murdered in Mexico. New episodes air Wednesdays at 10/9c on USA Network.
Continue reading “NOC Interview: Benjamin Lobato on the Final Season of ‘Queen of the South’”
In the first of two episodes of Hard NOC Life releasing this week, Keith sits down with Broadway superstar and now, children’s book author, Mandy Gonzalez to talk about her new middle grade novel, Fearless. They also talk about her career — from originating the role of Nina for In the Heights to replacing Renee Elise Goldsberry as Angelica in Hamilton — and why being fearless has helped her cope while Broadway is shut down.
Continue reading “Hard NOC Life 212: Mandy Gonzalez is ‘Fearless’”
Everyone has that one character they relate to or see themselves in; everyone searches to find someone who looks like them on screen. For me, that character is Veronica Lodge on The CW’s Riverdale, which is based on the Archie Comics characters. Despite the fact that she has had one of the most important evolutions on the show and has been there since the pilot, she is often overlooked and over hated, for no real reason besides Archie continuing to choose her.
Continue reading “Veronica Lodge on The CW’s ‘Riverdale’ Deserves Better”
Grey’s Anatomy is thrilling fans with surprise appearances from all of our old favorites. Patrick Dempsey’s return as Derek for multiple episodes is definitely a storyline that will go down in Grey’s Anatomy history. T. R. Knight reprised his role as George on the beach and gave fans a rollercoaster of emotions in the best way. Chyler Leigh, who portrayed Lexie, and Sarah Drew, who portrayed April, are both set to return in future episodes as well, much to fans’ delight.
So who else do we want to see (dead or alive) have their big return moment? Let’s discuss.
Continue reading “‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Characters We Need to Return in Season 17”
Warner Bros. has released the trailer for the anticipated musical film In the Heights, and it does not disappoint. Directed by Jon M. Chu, In the Heights brings back Lin-Manuel Miranda’s score and a screenplay by Quiara Alegría Hudes, the … Continue reading ‘In the Heights’ Trailer Celebrates Life in Washington Heights
In the Heights has played a huge role in the lives of the actors who created and originated in the original Broadway musical. Creator Lin-Manuel Miranda became an overnight superstar on Broadway. After the success of In the Heights and another Award-winning musical Hamilton, Miranda became a National Treasure. He was also credited for discovering the actors who performed in his musicals, including Anthony Ramos, who is now starring as Usnavi, a role that Miranda originated on Broadway.
Continue reading “Anthony Ramos Credits the ‘In the Heights’ Musical for His Career”
To celebrate the release of the trailer tomorrow, WB has released teaser posters for the anticipated musical film, In The Heights.
Based on the Award-winning Broadway musical of the same name, In the Heights fuses Lin-Manuel Miranda’s kinetic music and lyrics with director Jon M. Chu’s lively and authentic eye for storytelling to capture a world very much of its place, but universal in its experience.
Continue reading “Atención: New ‘In The Heights’ Teaser Posters!”
PORTLAND, Ore. 02/18/2021 — The upcoming series Home by writer Julio Anta (Frontera) and artist Anna Wieszczyk will boast a special, collectible series of variant covers featuring artwork by the lauded Jacoby Salcedo.
Continue reading “Image’s Forthcoming ‘Home’ Comic to Feature Special Series of Jacoby Salcedo Variant Covers”
PORTLAND, Ore. 01/22/2021 — Debut creators Julio Anta (Frontera, forthcoming HarperCollins 2023) and Anna Wieszczyk weave a deeply grounded and heartfelt story in the forthcoming comic book Home. This five-issue miniseries will explore the real-world implications of a migrant with extraordinary powers, and will launch from Image Comics in April.
Continue reading “Image’s ‘Home’ to Explore U.S. Immigration Policy and Border Patrol Through Superhuman Lens”
Selena Quintanilla-Pérez, otherwise known as Selena, was and still is hailed as the Queen of Tejano music. Performing since childhood, she made waves in the predominantly male music scene and is still held in high regard in the Latinx American community. Her origin story, her rise to stardom, and the sacrifices her family made along the way are the subject of the new biopic series for Netflix, Selena: The Series. Continue reading “Hiromi Kamata On Growing Up with Selena’s Music and Directing Netflix’s Biopic Series”
On October 9, Sony Pictures’ Yellow Rose makes its theatrical debut on hundreds of screens across North America. To celebrate, the film’s star, Eva Noblezada, and writer/director, Diane Paragas, join Keith on a brand new Southern Fried Asian.
Continue reading “Southern Fried Asian: Eva Noblezada & Diane Paragas of ‘Yellow Rose’”
Spoilers for Legends of Tomorrow Season 5 and some mild spoilers for Season 6 follow. Quotes have been edited for length and clarity. It’s the wackiest, one of the most beloved, and critically revered of all the DCTV shows. In a panel moderated by Chancellor Agard of Entertainment Weekly, most of the cast and some of the creative heads of Legends of Tomorrow, including Caity Lotz, Nick Zano, Tala Ashe, Jess Macallan, Matt Ryan, Amy Lousie Pemberton, Shayan Sobhian, Olivia Swann, producer Phil Klemmer, executive producer Keto Shimizu, and executive producer Grainne Godfree, the Waverider crew and more reflected on Season 5 and what fans can expect from Season 6.
Ghost Squad is a middle grade/young audiences (depending on their tolerance for the spooky) novel that does so many things right: remixes the “kids on bikes” trope, prioritizes adventuring for black and brown girls, and how adventuring doesn’t end when you get older.
Continue reading “Shawn Speaks with Claribel Ortega, Author of ‘Ghost Squad’”
Traditional superhero comics have been part of the American pop culture firmament for eight decades. And more often than not, those stories can feel staid and mired in nostalgia for long bygone eras. Which is why creators who come along with bold new interpretations of these characters are usually met with resistance. To wit, when the book trailer for Gotham High — DC Comics’ latest foray into the young adult book market — debuted, the fanboy set went apoplectic.
Continue reading “‘Gotham High’ Breathes Fresh Life into the Bat Mythos”
Earlier this month, I watched the opening premiere of West Adams at the Skylight Theatre Company and the first immediate thought I had when it finished was:
“Oh damn, this is Rich Liberal White People (And One Chinese Woman) Gone Crazy.”
I’ll definitely go more into this after the break as there were tremendous things to be praised for this show (acting, directing, and production design aspects) but at the core of it was a very troubling and, at times, a baffling story. Who was the intended audience? That aspect remains unclear but more on this later:
Continue reading “A Los Angeles Theatre Review: ‘West Adams’”
Lights up on Washington Heights. No matter how many times you’ve listened to the In the Heights Original Broadway Cast Recording, whether once or 96,000 times, it gets stuck in your head. And after you watch the trailer for the big-screen adaptation, you’ll be singing it from now ’til its release next summer and beyond.
Continue reading “Washington Heights Dances Center Stage in the Trailer for ‘In the Heights’”
What does it take to become a Latino-icon in Hollywood? We all know that Hollywood is a city/industry that favors Caucasian leads with the occasional Latino thrown in for good measure. For every Evans/Pratt/Hemsworth/Reynolds, you’ll occasionally get a Banderas/Hayek/Del Toro that crosses over into the mainstream American Hollywood spotlight. Thankfully, as of 2013, we can add “Derbez” to that list.
Continue reading “Exploring the ‘Lost City of Gold’ with ‘Dora’ Star Eugenio Derbez”
