Sophie Gilbert on What’s Wrong With Female Movie Journalists

Posted on August 22, 2018 at 8:00 am

I really appreciate Sophie Gilbert for writing in The Atlantic about something that has bugged me for a long time, the tired cliche of the movie portrayals of female journalists as completely unprofessional, and especially as always sleeping with their sources and subjects. I complained about this in my review of the Amy Schumer romantic comedy, “Trainwreck.”

Gilbert begins with Amy Adams in “Sharp Objects,” based on a novel by former real-life journalist Gillian Flynn, who should know better. “At the end of the most recent episode of Sharp Objects, “Falling,” Camille slept with someone who’s 18 years old, a murder suspect, and one of her primary sources.” Gilbert discusses “House of Cards” and “The Gilmore Girls” and she goes back to films like “Absence of Malice” with Sally Field and “Thank You for Smoking” with Katie Holmes.

You wouldn’t ever see Rosalind Russell behave so unprofessionally.

And, as Gilbert explains, male journalists in movies don’t either. It’s time to find some other storyline for female characters.

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Understanding Media and Pop Culture

James Hong — From Groucho Marx and Clark Gable to the Eyeball Jar Guy in “Blade Runner”

Posted on August 22, 2018 at 8:00 am

James Hong is one of the few Asian actors who has been successful in Hollywood for decades, and the success of the all-Asian cast of “Crazy Rich Asians” has prompted a great story about him in Deadline.

He has worked on films with Clark Gable (Soldier of Fortune) and in TV with Jane Wyman in one of the only TV episode John Ford ever helmed (The Bamboo Cross) and many, many others, but it was Groucho Marx who gave Hong his start in the most unusual way. Marx had been alerted to a Chinese man out of Minnesota who was an impressionist. Marx booked Hong on his show You Bet Your Life, and Hong — doing spot on impressions of Peter Lorre, Jimmy Stewart, James Cagney and Groucho himself — was a huge hit with television audiences. So much so that Hong landed an agent — with Bessie Loo (the only agent for Asians at that time).

Hong battled racism in the industry and in the portrayals of Asian characters on screen, but too often had to settle for stereotypical parts.

He said the role of Mr. Ping in the Kung Fu Panda film franchise where he does voice over, “was a wonderful peak in my career” because even though it was animated, he was “sort of a leading character. I did the voice as a cross between a Jewish mother and a Chinese waiter.”

Asked what advice he would give to others coming up the ranks, he was adamant: “The young people have to fight and gain more ground. They have to continue to fight for better images and more roles. There are a few roles, but they are still not casting Asians in leading roles like businessmen,” he said, before adding with a laugh, “And I’m sure it will get better because China has all the money.”

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Actors Race and Diversity

Ann Hornaday Updates the Movie Canon

Posted on August 21, 2018 at 8:11 pm

The Washington Post’s Ann Hornaday wrote about the new “canon” films, the ones she thinks will be ranked with the best there ever were. Of course any list or ranking will cause more debate than it leaves out, but it is fun to see which films she thinks will show up “Vertigo” and “Citizen Kane” in future “best of all times” lists. Her list includes acclaimed films like “Spirited Away,” “Boyhood,” “Children of Men,” and “Pan’s Labyrinth,” but what makes it fun to read are her descriptions of what makes each film so memorable.

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For Your Netflix Queue Lists

Trailer: The Green Book

Posted on August 21, 2018 at 5:09 am

Viggo Mortensen and Oscar winner Mahershala Ali star in “The Green Book,” based on the true story of black musician Don Shirley and the white driver/bodyguard who took him on tour through the America South of the early Civil Rights era. Before Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, public accommodations like hotels and buses were allowed to discriminate on the basis of race. The Negro Motorist Green Book was a guide to the places that black people could stay in the South without problems. (About Comics has re-published the original 1954 edition.) The movie is directed and co-written by actor Peter Farrelly (“Twilight,” “The Big Kahuna”), and it will be in theaters this November.

Behind the Scenes: Crazy Rich Asians

Posted on August 18, 2018 at 9:33 pm

I’m so happy that “Crazy Rich Asians” is such a great movie and so happy that audiences are enjoying it as much as I do. Some great behind-the-scenes commentary from director Jon M. Chu, with a lot of detail about what was real and what was done with digital effects:

In this scene, Rachel (Constance Wu) and the audience first see the mansion that is the home of her boyfriends’s crazy rich family.

And here he talks about one of the early scenes, where we see how the news of Nick Young’s girlfriend gets to Singapore. It reminded me of the telephone scene in “Bye Bye Birdie.” Look fast to see Chu’s baby son and also the author, Kevin Kwan.

The stars of the film talk about how much it means to them to be a part of a project with an all-Asian cast.

The Angry Asian Man blog has a fascinating description of what exactly was happening in the climactic mahjong scene.

One of my favorite critics, Inkoo Kang, writes about the film’s references and Easter eggs, and about the last film to feature an all-Asian cast, “The Joy Luck Club.” The success of “Crazy Rich Asians” means that we will not be waiting another 25 years for the next — and that this cast of exceptionally talented breakout stars will all be in other movies very soon.