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”
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:
Continue reading “Marvel’s ‘Shang-Chi’ Film is on the Fast Track, Searching for Director”
by Dominic Mah | Originally posted on YOMYOMF
Jennifer Phang has been busy in episodic TV, directing episodes of The Excorcist, Riverdale, Cloak & Dagger, and two episodes of The Expanse leading to its recent Season 3 finale. She also directed the independent features Half-Life and Advantageous. I got to interview her about, among other things, her work on The Expanse Season three episodes “Fallen World” and “Congregation.”
Continue reading “Filmmaker & TV Director Jennifer Phang on ‘The Expanse’ and ‘Cloak & Dagger’”
by Dominic Mah
It took me a weekend of binge-watching to wake up to the fact that Avengers: Infinity War and the NBC sitcom The Good Place are almost the same story. Except, Infinity War is a superhero slugfest about cosmic catastrophe, and The Good Place is an observational comedy about the afterlife. Apart from that existential difference, they have very noticeable parallels.
MAJORLY INFINITE SPOILERS FOR BOTH SHOWS FOLLOW:
Continue reading “‘Avengers: Infinity War’ and ‘The Good Place’ are Basically the Same Thing”
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”
by Dominic Mah | Originally posted on YOMYOMF
Wow, where to start with this trailer. It OPENS on a person in stylized Japanese esoteric garb to tell us how much we’re in that place Japan where things are weird. Who is this person? Don’t know, don’t care at all.
Then we get a pretty faithful live-action recreation of the original Ghost in the Shell’s elegant opening action sequence, pretty much nailing the point home that the only reason you aren’t aware of this seminal science-fiction already is because it didn’t have Scarlett Johannson in it, and now we fixed that for you.
Continue reading “‘Ghost in the Shell’ Trailer is Just as Racist as Everything Else This Week”
Originally posted at YOMYOMF
A little context before you jump into reading this: I’m a child of immigrants (access: child of immigrant experience) who grew up in the suburbs of Chicago: the not very diverse kind of suburb (access: white suburbia experience).
I’ve been a Trekkie since I was about seven years old when Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG) first aired. Up until then, my father and I use to watch some old Star Trek episodes or the films… Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home was a favorite of mine. It was great to see George Takei up there, but I really loved seeing Uhura be the strong independent female especially by the time the films came out.
This week’s reveals from Doctor Strange and Ghost in the Shell are further proof that it’s hard out there for an Asian actor who wants to be in a genre film. Fortunately, there are a few AAPI actors who have claim to the coveted “Nerd Grand Slam;” that is, they’ve starred in a superhero franchise, a Star (Trek or Wars) vehicle, and an epic fantasy. But who is the nerdiest? Dominic Mah, from YOMYOMF.com, joins Keith to decide which actor is the One Nerd to rule them all.
Continue reading “Which AAPI Actor Deserves the Nerd Grand Slam?”
by Dominic Mah | Originally posted on YOMYOMF
Stan Lee, like Ken Jeong, is one of my personal heroes. I previously wrote about how he probably is Asian1. As a writer, his legacy is unmatchable; he created literally DOZENS of characters with which almost everyone in America has a passing familiarity. I mean, ask a person in a bar to name four characters in The Great Gatsby and it might take a while, but that person will at least have heard of Spider-Man, Iron Man, The Thing, Daredevil, X-Men, Galactus, Magneto.
And, I’m Chinese American, so yeah, technically I’m in favor of more Chinese superhero characters (there are only, like, three of them). And as a culture critic I see the righteous value of a female-led narrative in a Chinese context. The world needs those.
But is it a good idea for Stan Lee to develop Realm, a film featuring Chinese star Li Bingbing? Not REALLY.
Continue reading “Stan Lee’s Chinese Female Superhero: A Good Idea?”
Originally posted at You Offend Me You Offend My Family
Select Offenders will be reviewing this summer’s crop of Hollywood tentpole films with a scientifically tested set of criteria that was vetted, nurtured, dissected, and regurgitated through the pop-culture gadflies who have nothing better to do than annoy other productive people in the YOMYOMF office. So, we channeled their nitpicks of the incessant reboots, remakes and rehashes that are part and parcel with Hollywood summer movies into this ongoing summer blog series called the Summer Blockbuster Showdown. You can read previous roundtable reviews, which are all archived here.
In this edition, we tackle Michael Mr. Stage Fright Bay’s latest masturbatory opus, Transformers: Age of Extinction! BTW, this roundtable review is chock full of spoilers. You’ve been warned!
Continue reading “Summer Blockbuster Showdown: Transformers Age of Extinction“
