By Eric Card Northwest Asian Weekly “Ghost in the Shell,” a popular Japanese manga series following a cyborg policewoman, is getting a live-action adaptation set to release in 2017. However, the film is already receiving a heavy dose of backlash over the casting of Scarlett Johansson as its lead character, Major Motoko Kusanagi. This is […]
“Sword of Destiny” a shrunken version of the original classic
After more than a decade, the fantastical world of “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” makes its belated return in “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny.”
A-POP! So over you, Academy Awards. (And Asian American newcomers on the big and small screens!)
With February coming to a close, we’ve finally reached the holiest of award shows: the Oscars. Read on to see what the Academy Awards meant to Asians and other news in Hollywood this past month.
EDITORIAL: Oscars proves it’s #sowhite with child labor joke
The 88th Academy Awards took place last Sunday and, as usual, a bunch of really rich white people dressed up nicely and gave each other statues made of gold. It’s been obvious that the Academy has a diversity problem. Yet, even when Oscar nominations were announced on Jan. 14, we were struck by certain glaring […]
A-pop! Hollywood wins, then fails, then flails
By Vivian Nguyen Northwest Asian Weekly The new year has just begun and already so much has happened in Hollywood! Read on to find out the latest on award ceremonies, castings, and more. Awards season: on winning trophies and being racist It is awards season and celebrities are hitting the red carpet in droves! At […]
This week at SIFF
“The Killing Fields of Dr. Haing S. Ngor” Reviewed by Tiffany Ran In one lifetime, Dr. Haing S. Ngor went from Cambodian refugee to Academy Award winner, author, and activist only to be gunned down outside of his home in Los Angeles in 1996. Not to be confused with original film where Ngor served as […]
A-pop! Notes on the Oscars… — And more TV shows featuring Asian Americans
By Vivian Nguyen Northwest Asian Weekly Happy February! Between the Academy Awards to the launch of America’s first all-Asian starring cast on TV since the 90s, this month has been full of news and events. Read on to find out the latest in Hollywood. The 87th Academy Awards This year’s Oscars host, actor Neil Patrick […]
Hand-drawn ‘Princess’ stands apart from other Oscar nominees
By Yuri Kageyama Associated Press TOKYO (AP) —The princess laughs and floats in sumie-brush sketches of faint pastel, a lush landscape that animated film director Isao Takahata has painstakingly depicted to relay his gentle message of faith in this world. But his Oscar-nominated work stands as a stylistic challenge to Hollywood’s computer-graphics cartoons, where 3D […]
A-pop! Top 10 stories of 2013 — Take one final look at the best, and the best of the worst, of last year’s Asian pop media moments
By Vivian Nguyen Northwest Asian Weekly With the New Year underway, it’s the perfect time to take a moment and reflect on 2013’s biggest hits and misses in pop culture. It’s been an interesting year, which saw Asian Americans breaking ground in new ways in pop media, as well as some spectacularly offensive moments from […]
EDITORIAL: Ang Lee serves as an example
Taiwanese American director Ang Lee has a lot going for him. He just won a second Best Director Oscar for “Life of Pi” to go with his first Oscar award from “Brokeback Mountain.” He has become one of the most in-demand directors, successful both overseas and in the States, and has twice beaten out Steven […]