ABEER ABUNAYYAN WRITES FROM SAUDI ARABIA – Operating in an increasingly competitive industry, Netflix has been pursuing an aggressive growth strategy intended to increase and diversify its programming whilst gaining access to new, high-potential markets. Having consolidated its position in the United States, the company has spent the past few…
YOLANDA NOSAKHARE WRITES — At a time when hate crimes against Asian Americans are soaring across the US, the arrival of director Lee Isaac Chung’s film “Minari” hit theaters in the nick of time. The film’s storyline follows a first-generation Korean-American family’s experience moving to Arkansas in the 1980s. They…
ABEER ABUNAYYAN WRITES — In 2018, Prince Mohammed bin Salman lifted the ban on theaters that had been in place for 35 years. The ban had originally been in place due to social pressure from conservative Islamists to limit public entertainment, particularly theaters that had mixing between men and women. However,…
ANDREA PLATE WRITES — “Everyone needs to have access both to grandparents and grandchildren in order to be a full human being.” So wrote cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead, at least a half-century prior to the release of “Minari,” awarded “Best Foreign Film” by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association at the…
YOLANDA NOSAKHARE WRITES — Have you ever wondered what your favorite John Hughes film would look like if it took place at a summer camp in South Korea? This is just what Korean-American filmmaker and writer Benson Lee channeled when he melded John Hughes’ “The Breakfast Club” to his 2015…
MATEO FERNANDEZ WRITES — “Demon Slayer” has made Japanese history in both manga and anime. What is manga, for those who don’t know? Japanese graphic novels or comics that are inherently the building blocks of this uniquely Japanese form of entertainment. Just as in the U.S many movies are based…
CADY-BREE ABE WRITES — The new Netflix live action “Avatar the Last Airbender” TV series was set for release in 2020, but due to COVID-19, production has been delayed until 2021. Skeptical fans are not optimistic about the outcome. Here’s why. Many fans agree that the introduction to every episode…
ELLA KELLEHER WRITES — Grave of the Fireflies, one of those works of art that will never die, nonetheless is a film that lacks concrete resolution – there is no main lesson to be learned at the end. The audience is instead left with the understanding of the ephemerality of…
CADY-BREE ABE WRITES — Both audiences and critics alike are over the moon for, yes, Over the Moon, the newest computer animated feature to hit Netflix on October 23. The Chinese film, produced by Peilin Chou (“Kung Fu Panda,” “Abominable”), stars Chinese-Filipina actress/singer Cathy Ang as Fei Fei, American born…
ELLA KELLEHER WRITES — Lust, Caution (2007) made by the visionary director, Ang Lee, is an erotic espionage film1 that begins in 1938, during the Second Sino-Japanese War. The story of this film has been believed by many to be inspired by true events and the life of a Chinese…
CADY-BREE ABE WRITES — At first, Mulan was a girl worth fighting for, but the new live action movie released in 2020, starring Yifei Liu, leaves audiences disappointed and devastated. The live action Mulan transforms a beloved Disney princess movie into something nearly unrecognizable to many who held this film…
NATHAN RIVAS WRITES — Perhaps you’ve found yourself scrolling through Netflix for hours on end because you’ve already binged on the Tiger King so much that you’ve begun to grow a furry mustache! If that’s you, we have a few solutions. Amid the crisis of COVID-19, theaters have been shut…
WEI WU WRITES — It has been three years since Ang Lee’s last movie “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk”; his latest movie “Gemini Man” was released last month. Audiences were looking forward to seeing how an Eastern director would break down this odd Western science fiction story, but it turns…
NATHAN RIVAS WRITES– Visionary New Zealand director Taika Waititi (Hunt for the Wilderpeople; Thor: The Ragnarok) continues his hot streak with this hilarious and heartwarming coming of age story about, of all things, a bromance between a young boy and his imaginary best “friend:” Hitler. The movie’s official release date…
NATHAN RIVAS WRITES – As we approach the release date for “Jojo Rabbit” by Taika Waititi, the acclaimed indigenous director from New Zealand, it has become apparent that indigenous creators there as well as in Australia are in increasing demand in Hollywood. For example, top Down Under actors such as Jemaine…
WEI WU WRITES — The South Korean movie “Parasite”, 2019 Golden Palm Award winner and recently released in East Asia after its 2018 debut, has re-ignited popular discussion of important issues about Korea. The movie was directed by Bong Joon-Hyun who has directed “Memories of Murder” and “Snowpiercer”. Bong focuses on…
