Ed Skrein – the dude who played Ajax in Deadpool — made headlines recently. Not for taking a role but rather for stepping down from one. See, he was tapped to be in the reboot adaption of Hellboy. But the character he was slated to play, Major Ben Daimio, is Japanese-American in the comics, and… Continue reading Stepping Away
Author: Joshua Tong
The First Seventeen
I was recently on a plane back to New York from Montréal (if you wondering: poutine’s really good, the Canadians are onto something). It’s a short flight in a relatively small plane, but apparently, still one that lets you have those screens in the seatbacks. Which is nice because, y’know, you can watch a movie… Continue reading The First Seventeen
The Economy
I think it’s time we talked about The Economy. In video games. A lot of games have an economy of some sort, where you earn something and spend that something on a something beneficial. In Super Mario Bros. and Crash Bandicoot you collect coins and wumpa fruit (respectively) and when you get a hundred of… Continue reading The Economy
Characters Like Poetry
I talk about characters a lot on this blog. Okay, this blog’s been around long enough that you could say I talk about anything a lot. But that’s not the point. The point is characters. Like how in Crazy Rich Asians there aren’t really characters so much as vague ciphers used to progress a not-really-there… Continue reading Characters Like Poetry
Jumping Karps
The concept of Magikarp Jump is delightfully straightforward. The town has fallen on hard times and is a shadow of its former glory: a town that had the best jumping Magikarp. You are the town’s last hope to regain its reputation. You raise Magikarp, feed them, train them, and enter the fishy Pokémon into competitive… Continue reading Jumping Karps
Space Nazis
I'm tired, I've had a long day. And I'm reading the news, and some days reading the news leaves you unable to finish your silly rant essay about a silly mobile game where you make karps flop around. So let's talk about Star Wars. It's hard to not read the original trilogy as a product… Continue reading Space Nazis
Trusting The Story
I was initially hesitant to watch Dunkirk, given that it seemed like Christopher Nolan being as Nolan-y as possible. Which, after The Dark Knight Rises and Interstellar, wasn't terribly enticing. The Dark Knight Rises was long on ideas and short on smooth implementation. Interstellar too had big ideas but lacked the characterization they needed to… Continue reading Trusting The Story
Top Nine Movies of 2016
There comes a point in time when you realize you aren’t going to get around to watching those movies on your list. And then it’s almost August and you’re still thinking about 2016 movies and honestly it’s just embarrassing at this point. But then again, that’s why it’s a Top Nine, to save one space… Continue reading Top Nine Movies of 2016
What’s The Point of Movies?
I’m replaying Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End (and it is wonderful) and I can’t help but to be reminded that there’s supposed to be a movie adaption of this game happening. Like, it’s been in development since 2010. Every now and then there’ll be some announcement (apparently Tom Holland is playing a young Nathan Drake… Continue reading What’s The Point of Movies?
Haven’t We Heard This Before?
Spider-Man’s a superhero whose central theme is conveniently spelled out for us: with great power comes great responsibility. And it’s a great one too. A nobody gets given amazing powers and has to learn what to do with them. It's a pretty essential part of most incarnations of Spider-Man, be it Miles Morales or even… Continue reading Haven’t We Heard This Before?
Essays, Not Rants! 