Blog

Oldboy (dir. Park Chan-Wook, 2003) — Review

“The ultra-violent flick, beloved of Tarantino and global box offices alike, played a pivotal role in destabilising the Confucian-esque image of the Asian man which predominated markets until, arguably, the rise of Henry Golding and Simu Liu. Like the best of Western culture, it hinges on one thing and one thing only: Catholicism.”

Read More
ScriptUp
Everything Everywhere All At Once (dir. The Daniels, 2022)- Review

“The movie lives and dies in the perspective of a beleaguered Asian mom. Evelyn is utterly powerless, in a way which neatly encapsulates, and answers, the whole minefield of issues around representation: she’s not powerless because she’s a 60 year old Asian woman. She just happens to be the only powerless version of that 60 year old Asian woman. With no ability to even engage with the multiverse, let alone inflict violence on it, Evelyn must patch up her shattered worldview and identity through other means.”

Read More
ScriptUp
Top Gun: Maverick (dir. Joseph Kosinski, 2022)- Review

"Takes on Top Gun's 'legacy sequel' have largely revolved around its core engines of nostalgia and nationalism, incarnated in Tom Cruise: one of the 'last true movie stars', doggedly refusing to shuffle out of the cockpit. Critics moan that the villains buttressing such 'Murricana triumphalism have failed to change with the times- but from another perspective, its roaring box office success speaks to a new, internationalist era of 'muscular masculinity".

Read More
ScriptUp
Jennifer's Body (dir. Diablo Cody, 2009) — Review

“How do I love thee, Megan Fox? Let me count the ways. Car-sponging, barely legal pinup; dutiful housewife to a staggeringly mediocre, craggy husband; and lately, bisexual, Facetuned Taurus Insta baddie. In sum: poster child of the timeless, shapeshifting powers of woman in a timelessly gross world. 'I'm not killing people,' goes her character's most celebrated line in Diablo Kody's sleeper cult hit. 'I'm killing boys'. Hell yeah you are.”

Read More
ScriptUp