Tag: Strong Female Character

What Would ‘Ghost in the Shell 3’ Have Looked Like?

June 28, 2024

Meat Loaf once said that two out of three ain’t bad, but he obviously never saw Ghost in the Shell. Two volumes of the original manga – and then an interquel – two original movies and two seasons of the television show, and when that television show finally got a sequel almost 20 years later, it ran for two seasons. Now, each of these examples feels incomplete because the trilogy is such a natural expression of “beginning, middle and end,” and also, because Ghost in the Shell is really good, and fans always want more. I mean, for the most part. The experimental, almost anthological nature of the series means there are misses along with the hits, including an ill-advised Hollywood rendition and the franchise’s latest, a Netflix anime in 3D CG. Only until recently, on the occasion of its 20th anniversary, Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence could arguably be counted among them, having never generated the same enthusiasm as the original 1995 classic. Of course, even if left disappointed by Batou’s adventure, I bet fans still wonder about the follow-up that never was. … More What Would ‘Ghost in the Shell 3’ Have Looked Like?

The Revelation of ‘My Undead Yokai Girlfriend’

June 8, 2024

As a man with an interesting life, one who pursues many hobbies, it’s only natural I’ve had occasion to add anthropology to the list. Sometimes I simply want to understand people who fascinate and repulse. For example, what kind of sicko watches a show called My Undead Yokai Girlfriend? This, friends, is how I came to watch the Amazon original from March of this year. It was purely academic. I swear. … More The Revelation of ‘My Undead Yokai Girlfriend’

From the World of You-Know-Who | Ballerina (2023) Review

March 30, 2024

I was ready, as soon as I’d seen the trailer last year, to see a review for Ballerina here as part of an ongoing conversation (with myself). In 2020, I’d written about Furie, a female-led Vietnamese action movie addled by flashbacks. Later, it was The Villainess, a Korean action movie with at least two set pieces now canonical to the genre, but which didn’t fully believe in its female lead. It’s now 2024, and in the time since, I’ve actually avoided a lot of the female-led action movies that seem to be a natural byproduct of the genre’s current renaissance (if everyone’s making action movies, some of them are gonna star women). I mean, ten years earlier, I would’ve given a limb to see “Mary Elizabeth Winstead the action star” in something like Kate, but alas. It could be option paralysis, because there are a lot of these movies, but I also wonder if the many, varied disappointments over the years have burrowed into my subconscious, impacting whatever impulse it is that I hit play instead of browsing on. Furie and The Villainess especially seemed to follow the formula nearly perfectly, nearly, and Ballerina is very much the next example in that sequence. … More From the World of You-Know-Who | Ballerina (2023) Review

Deduction, Not Reduction | Lady Detective Shadow (2018) Review

September 16, 2023

I’ll be honest, I watched this movie in three installments, against the ticking clock of a 48-hour rental on Amazon Prime Video. For the first few minutes of the second session, I was convinced the playback hadn’t remembered where I left off. “Didn’t I already see this part where they force their way into the inn, witness a fight, then talk with the police?” I sure had, but it happens again, with variations enough for a kind of “can you spot the difference?” puzzle. To be honest once more, I had no earthly idea what was going on in this movie, and I doubt an undisrupted viewing experience would’ve done the trick. I may be among that special few who find kung fu movie plots confusing, but I have a feeling, in this case, I can share the blame: myself, the movie, and fate (as authored by the logistics of international film distribution). … More Deduction, Not Reduction | Lady Detective Shadow (2018) Review

Kicks to the Face Before Breakfast | Lady Whirlwind (1972) Review

July 19, 2023

Since we’re all in the “video game adaptation” mood lately, I might suggest a challenge: a faithful film version of an RPG, say, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. The hero has a task, and then they spend the entire movie on side quests. This was my thinking during Lady Whirlwind, one of the early star vehicles for Angela Mao. Having costarred with him in Enter the Dragon, she’s sometimes considered “the female Bruce Lee,” but I was skeptical, even watching her early scenes here. The character she’s playing is cool and confident, but her facial expressions tell a different story in the midst of fighting. Does “female Bruce Lee” simply mean “female martial arts star”? And does a woman score the title just by being good, suggesting that we don’t expect greatness? It takes me a moment to realize that she’s taking on a dozen guys at a time, and most critically, that like a lot of Bruce Lee characters, she’s kind of a dick. She is certainly not the hero, and in fact, wants the hero dead. Thank God she spends the entire movie on side quests. … More Kicks to the Face Before Breakfast | Lady Whirlwind (1972) Review

Costume Drama, Hold the Costume | The Treacherous (2015) Review

January 22, 2023

This movie is brutal. Like, tremendously, exceptionally disturbing. Chronicling the last days of a mad king, director Min Kyu-dong apparently wants you to feel that madness, to leave the film a wide-eyed, gibbering mess, soaked in blood and stabbing at pigs. My understanding of Korean cinema – which I’m trying to advance past – is that there are the early export arthouse films like Oldboy and Memories of Murder, and then the movies indistinguishable from K-dramas like My Wife is a Gangster 3. The Treacherous leans more toward the latter in terms of visuals and direction, but has the unflinching violence and sex of the former. It’s a mostly discordant mix, all set against the constant soundtrack of screaming and moaning. … More Costume Drama, Hold the Costume | The Treacherous (2015) Review

Gianna Jun | The Last Vampire vs. Ashin of the North

June 26, 2022

Like all those books with straightforward titles like How to Learn JavaScript, I’ll note in this introduction that “This is not a book on how to learn JavaScript,” and in this case, I won’t be summarizing Gianna Jun’s career between the films Blood: The Last Vampire and Kingdom: Ashin of the North — not exactly. But I chose these two movies because together, they suggest something about how stars are made. … More Gianna Jun | The Last Vampire vs. Ashin of the North

Zombie Mad Scientist [PODCAST]

June 26, 2022

With Netflix K-shows being renewed left and right, what better a time to talk about Kingdom than this tense moment before season three gets the green light, too? In other words, I couldn’t wait. How could I resist Gianna, focus of this month’s discussion? For whatever reason, when Kingdom: Ashin of the North was released, my first thought was Blood: The Last Vampire, and together, they may say something about international star-making. … More Zombie Mad Scientist [PODCAST]

Queendom of the Gods

June 8, 2022

First and foremost, congratulations to WJSN for winning Queendom 2, though the real winner of course was Taeyeon, filling in for Lee Da-hee. I got into Girls’ Generation a bit sideways, so I’m only now reconciling with the scope of Taeyeon’s celebrity. For anyone else who doesn’t fully understand, Taeyeon is an idol for idols. I’ve seen a number of other idols talk about how cool it would be to one day meet Taeyeon, and I saw Bomi all nervous before being in the same room with her. That’s one thing I’d love to really get, the X factor of knowledge that might come from growing up with all that pop culture. The implicit things like Taeyeon’s godliness or what do Koreans reference in their day-to-day? I’ve picked up on some of it, like references to White Tower or The World of the Married? Anyway, speaking of K-dramas, what was interesting about Queendom 2 for me was Bona’s return of the king, where she joined her group after having missed more than half the show due to Twenty-Five Twenty-One. … More Queendom of the Gods