Tag: Julie Estelle

K-Drama Report: My Name (2021)

October 16, 2021

I’m three episodes into My Name and already desperate to continue. On paper, it’s tailor-made to my sensibilities, those which I’ve struggled to communicate on this blog. My only remotely successful With Eyes East YouTube video is a wild-eyed plea to Hollywood, or Indonesian Hollywood, or anyone with a camera and a gallon of fake blood, to cast Julie Estelle and contribute to her undoubtedly skyward journey. I hardly got this point across in the video, but Estelle represents, to me, a new kind of action star. Where the Hong Kong heroines from the ‘60s through the‘90s were simply working with a different sort of market — less bloodsoaked and crazy, with notable exceptions — and modern actresses dip from time to time into action with mixed results, say Kim Ok-vin or Mary Elizabeth Winstead, the image Julie Estelle has built for herself so far has the potential to stay gory at the intersection of Indonesia’s auteurs and the international market’s appetite. … More K-Drama Report: My Name (2021)

02/25/2021 – You Are the Product, You Feeling Discomfort

February 25, 2021

In the inarguable blog post for With Eyes East — a feature I’m hoping will equate to semiregular content on this, you know, blog site — I got some problems. Number one being the sexual confusion I experience while watching Steven Seagal movies, but that’ll be our last item because it’s horrifying. First, and only appropriately so, Irene’s movie Double Patty came out (at the domestic box office), and no, netizens are not over “the Irene thing.” Via email alert, I was greeted by this happy headline the other day: “K-pop idols, such as Red Velvet’s Irene, are bombing at the box office as they seek big film careers,” over on the South China Morning Post (or Korea Times?). The article cites a number of idols trying their hands at acting, apparently poorly, but I only recognize Irene here, and as previous posts on this site have well-established, on this I get a little touchy. … More 02/25/2021 – You Are the Product, You Feeling Discomfort

Julie Estelle | The Future of Action Cinema

February 15, 2020

If you are a movie producer anywhere in the world and you’re looking to make an action movie, there’s someone I need to make sure you know about: Julie Estelle, an Indonesian actress. Now, like many other American filmgoers, I first saw Julie Estelle in The Raid 2: Berandal, in which she played Hammer Girl. The Raid 2 is great movie, and Hammer Girl was a wonderful addition to the cast. But while she was an important supporting role, there is more to roles than even being extremely interesting. … More Julie Estelle | The Future of Action Cinema