Tinseltown Reviews

Aquaman  is a superhero film and the sixth in DC Extended Universe, directed by James Wan and starring Jason Moma, Amber Heard, Patrick Wilson, Willem Dafoe, Dolph Lundgren, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Nicole Kidman, and Temuera Morrison. Taking place sometime after the events of Justice League , the movie follows Aquaman as he gets caught up in a battle for the throne of the underwater kingdom of Atlantis in order to stop his half-brother Orm from uniting the seven underwater kingdoms as Ocean Master and waging war against the surface world. So I don't get it. I just don't. That's how I felt after watching Aquaman  last Saturday (early screening, baby!) and reading all the reviews and  #Aquaman   tweets that followed. Because I'll just skip straight to the point and say I didn't like this movie. Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad movie--unlike like many of DC's   previous   flicks , it's not actively inept. It's actually quite ept. It's c...

Luke Cage  is a Marvel-Netflix series created by Cheo Hodari Coker starring Mike Colter, Simone Missick, Alfre Woodard, Mustafa Shakir, Gabrielle Dennis, Theo Rossi, and Rosario Dawson. The second season follows Luke Cage as he starts to embrace his status as Harlem's local hero for hire before being entangled in a feud between Mariah Stokes--a secondary antagonist from the past season--and Bushmaster, a long-time rival of the Stokes' who wants to claim the throne to Harlem. Both prove a substantial threat to Cage as Mariah Stokes slowly begins rising up the ladder of the criminal underworld while Bushmaster reveals his own superpowers which rival those of Cage. Times have been a bit rough for the Marvel-Netflix franchise for the past few years, with every entry (except The Punisher ) since 2016 ranging from "it's pretty good" to "this is so bad my brain hurts". Unfortunately, Luke Cage  season 2 is no exception, and while it eventually gets pre...

Gook is a 2017 drama written and directed by Justin Chon, starring Justin Chon and David So (of DavidSoComedy on YouTube) as two Korean-American brothers running their late father's shoe store in 1992 L.A. The film follows the two with their unusual friendship with Kamilla, an 11 year-old black girl played by Simone Baker on the first day of the Los Angeles Rodney King riots. The movie sees the unlikely trio dealing with racial tensions, attacks, and robberies, all as they struggle to live their lives in a world that doesn't care. I went into this movie with mixed expectations. Being a fan of David So, I had heard a lot about and was somewhat following the movie's production, and it's extremely refreshing to see a movie that centers around regular Asian Americans living in everyday America. Not only that, but the context of Korean Americans living in the L.A. riots was a pretty unique concept and it could prove to be a surprisingly strong and emotional...

Death Note is a fantasy horror thriller Netflix movie directed by Adam Wingard based on the critically acclaimed Japanese manga and anime series of the same name. The movie stars Nat Wolff, Margaret Qualley, Lakeith Stanfield, Shea Whigham, and Willem Dafoe and tells the story of Light Turner, a typical high schooler who is granted the Death Note--a mysterious notebook that allows its user to kill anyone in any matter they wish by simply writing down their name. While initially using this power for good under the persona of Kira, Light slowly becomes corrupted, leading world-famous detective L to hunt him down. Ever since this was first announced, I've had very mixed feelings about this movie. On one hand, Death Note  is a truly amazing and highly memorable anime that everyone should watch. On the other hand, Hollywood has had a certain... history... with adapting anime, anime-inspired cartoons, and video games into live action (see Dragonball Evolution, Ghost in the Sh...