Mr. and Mrs. Smith
Remembering
Steve Dillon
We Review Marvel's Luke Cage
2 Free Comic Sneak Peeks
Sprung from the mind of a mad man, built in seclusion, machined to exacting standards, and let loose upon the unsuspecting masses, ActionAGoGo.com rose up like a mighty beast to lay waste to all other websites that dare challenge it! Its master? I would be that mad man. Derek Scarzella. But that is the fun version. The real version is that way back in 2010 I wasn’t on top of the world. I had just gotten out of college as a lit major, had no job, was about to be a father, and wasn’t writing. It was a difficult time. But then my friend Troy-Jeffrey Allen told me to start a blog — that it would be a great way to keep writing and share my (perhaps too deep) knowledge of movies with the world. So I took his advice and did just that. Nearly 7 years later, late ACTIONAGOGO.COM has blossomed into something I never thought it would be: a full fledged website with a dedicated team of writers who bring our readers the best entertainment commentary and reviews we can. It is so fun and brings me so much joy that I can’t stand it. I get so excited at the prospect of sharing all this cool stuff with you, the reader, and just want to do more. That’s why we are branching out into cars, thrill-seeking, and more awesome stuff that our readers love. We want to keep this fun train going for the forseeble future and invite you to join us. After all, we just want to have fun, and who can say no to that? Best Regards,
Derek Scarzella
Publisher and Editor in Chief of Action A Go Go Derek@actionagogo.com
1 LETTER FROM THE EDITOR DEREK SCARZELLA
4 IN MEMORIAM: MR. AND MRS. SMITH TROY-JEFFREY ALLEN
6 DECADES LATER, HOLLYWOOD STILL MAKES BRUCE LEE A SIDEKICK NICK ALLEN
7 STEVE DILLON TRIBUTE DEREK SCARZELLA
8 BAMN COMICS SNEAK PEEK 16 LUKE CAGE REVIEW SY SHACKLEFORD
21 JUSZ COSPLAY INTERVIEW DEREK SCARZELLA
26 C-LISTERS SNEAK PEEK
Released in 2005 to an insurmountable wave of tabloid gossip, Mr. and Mrs. Smith was bound to never get a fair shake from critics and ex-girlfriends. The movie’s mid-summer release was greeted by months and months of controversy surrounding the wrassling of actor Brad Pitt from actress Jennifer Aniston by Angelina Jolie — a game of celebrity musical chairs that occurred on the set of (ding ding ding) Mr. and Mrs. Smith. The line was drawn in the sand. You were either Team Aniston or Team Jolie (Don’t you dare be on Team Pitt!). Unfortunately for Team Jolie, Joli an entire generation of teenage girls had grown up hearing about the actresses’ bizarre Tinseltown exploits. Meanwhile, Jennifer Aniston was unequivocally viewed as America’s sweetheart thanks to her 10-year run on the TV show Friends. In a perfect world, a work of art would be judged on merit alone. However, our collective love/hate relationship with notoriety and muckraking made Mr. and Mrs. Smith an endless target. Specifically with American audiences. Not surprisingly, U.S. viewers weren’t responsible for the film’s box office success — international audiences were. It could be argued that tabloid culture had prevented the film from breaking even in the states. Which is a real shame since the movie is actually a very slick, oftentimes entertaining actioner from its unsung hero, director Doug Liman (Bourne Identity, Edge of Tomorrow). Written by then fledgling screenwriter Simon Kinberg (X-Men: Days of Future Past), Mr. and Mrs. Smith is the type of dark comedy that doesn’t attract A-List actors or major studios anymore. Kinberg’s story zeroes in on an icy marriage between Jane (Jolie) and John Smith (Pitt), as they struggle to reignite the dwindling sparks in their relationship while utterly lying to each other about their work as contract
killers. does open with a giant set Uncharacteristically for an action film, the movie doesn’t piece but in an uncomfortably still therapy session between the two. Immediately, because of Liman’s framing, you already can see where the schism is in the relationship. Jane is self-serious and overly specific while John is smirky and childish. This dynamic is largely the reason that the comedy in this film works so well. Pitt is all too happy to play the fool while Jolie (not known for comedic roles) is totally unflappable. Not only does the dynamic provide some fantastic comedic beats, but it also informs a lot of the action sequences. Jane’s shrewdness often betters John’s boyishness. If anything, her attention to detail ends up igniting one of the movie’s best moments. At the mid-way point, John walks back into their home while underestimating the fact that Jane is also aware that they both work for rival spy organizations. He proposes they open a bottle of wine and then deliberately sends it plummeting towards their carpeted floor. Jane reflexively catches it without thinking (a reaction from years of spy training, no doubt). Realizing she gave herself away, she then drops the bottle! This erupts into a chase between the two that is both hilarious and wicked in execution (one of many). There has been quite a few romance themed action comedies throughout the years. But unlike True Lies, (which, before redeeming itself, comes dangerously close to cruel with the way it treats Jamie Lee urtis) or Knight And Day (where Tom ruise seems to be stalking ameron Diaz more than anything), Mr. And Mrs. Smith allows both the male and female lead to achieve equal footing throughout. It’s a testament to how serious the filmmaker’s commit to the movie’s theme of honesty equating to parity in a relationship. Even if, ironically, the movie’s two co-stars threw Jennifer Aniston and her legion of fans under the bus in the process. Photographs: 20th entury Fox
Photograph: James Dittiger/TIFF
If you grew up in the 1980s, Saturday was the most epic day of the week for three reasons: 1) You got to wake up and wear your pajamas past noon. 2) You ate your favorite sugar-ladened cereal while watching your favorite cartoons (and there were plenty to choose from). 3) You burned off all those calories with your in-home kung fu instructor. Wait, you don’t remember your Saturday Saturday. afternoon kung fu instructor? Yeah, you Now fast forward to the 2010s, where Bruce Lee is a legend. do, and his name was Bruce Lee. However, the latest movie based on his life is a black eye to the man and a cinematic aspersion to his legacy. In Birth of the He dazzled us with flying fists, devastating kicks, and contorted expres- Dragon – the latest show-biz cash grab – Bruce Lee is given the sions that would make you want to pop most insulting role that could be given to an actor that paved the way for so many eastern movie stars. That of a sidekick. off the sofa – assuming it wasn’t Not that it was enough that Bruce had to suffer this treatment covered in plastic and sticking to you while alive — filming the Green Hornet as the iconic Kato – but, and copy all his moves. And after you in 2016, he has to suffer this same fate posthumously as a supworked up a sweat, porting actor in a movie that is supposed to be about him. finishing your invisible opponent with I refuse to believe that the producers of this filmed fiasco could your best “Wha-Tah,” you’d pop back be true Bruce Lee fans. If they’re claiming to be, at some point into reality looking forward to next while going from screenplay to screen they obviously lost their tao (way). They chose to waste their time and attention, focusing on a drug-addled instigator rather than on a martial arts master. Bruce’s films have stood the test of the time because of their themes, philosophies, and artistry. Any film documenting even the smallest chapter in his journey should properly respect the man and his influence; even at what could be considered a nascent point in his storied career. And while there is so much more I could say about the movie, movi that is supposed to reflect such a formative time for the young dragon, I think I will just end with a quote from the man himself: “Its like a finger pointing away to the moon. Don’t concentrate on the finger or you will miss all that heavenly glory.”
Whenever a great entertainer dies it comes with that particular twist that you’ll never be able to experience their great “art” again and all we’ll be able to do is look back at the achievements they’ve left behind for us. 2016 has been a year that has taught us that lesson over and over again. This year we’ve lost the legendary musicians Lemmy, David Bowie, and Prince. Now the world of comics will have to mourn one of its modern greats passing on. Steve Dillon, the artist behind modern industry landmarks Hellblazer, Preacher, and Marvel’s The Punisher, and other works, has passed away. As of this writing the cause of death is unknown. It hard to measure “influence” in the comic book industry, but Dillon was no doubt up there. It’s In comics, one of the badges of honor is having your intellectual property turned into a television show or movie. All three of those properties mentioned before have been turned into TV shows (Hellblazer and Preacher) or movies. The 2004 and 2008 Punisher films were directly influenced by the epic runs that Dillon had on that series. But never mind that. The comics themselves are what made Dillon a standout, along with his frequent collaborator Garth Ennis. Preacher, on it’s own, is a cultural landmark. Brutally violent, funny, and unafraid to push beyond the limits of good taste, the series gleefully mocks religion while at the same time celebrating the magic of Americana. It’s dogma for any comic book writer and a textbook example of how to make “controversial” entertainment that still carries itself with amazing storytelling and characters. Much the way Watchmen was “the” defining comic of the 80’s then Preacher was the comic of the 90’s. And of course, cours that comic was defined by Dillon’s art. Other artists contributed to the series along the way, but it was Dillon’s draftsmanship that shined through. In particular, his unique ability to convey emotions allowed the alternating moments of humor and the grotesque to shine throughout. The synergy that the writer and artist had would make waves again when the team joined forces to bring the Punisher back from obscurity. The character was riding a wave of popularity in the 80’s 80 and early 90’s, but towards the end of the decade he had slipped into mediocrity. In essence, no one at Marvel comics knew what to do with Punisher. That was until Ennis and Dillon hoped on board. Their work, which began in the year 2000, would be revolutionar It took a character that was essentially out in the woods and created a whole revolutionary. new world for him, bringing a gritty realism and macabre humor to a normally fun-loving Marvel universe. It would carve a whole different method of storytelling that took characters meant for kids and allowed them to cover serious subjects with no regard for continuity and other baggage. It would lead to “special forces” mentality at Marvel comics that created a explosion of new takes on old characters that was the Ultimate universe. This wave of reinvention would be the prototype for how to bring Marvel characters to the big screen. I know all this not because I did the research, but because I read issues after issue of this amazing run, and consider myself lucky to have been able to witness it. Of course Dillon worked on other projects, to great critical acclaim, but to know his work won’t grace comic book pages anymore is a great loss to the industry and legions of comic book fans everywhere. -Derek Scarzella
STEVE DILLON 1962-2016
Months ago, around the time of the release of Captain America: Civil War, the Parade Magazine portion of the Sunday edition of the Washington Post had an interesting cover. It had three action figures representing the Falcon, the Black Panther, and Luke Cage in his Power Man costume. The cover story inside examined what they considered the rise of the Black super-hero. While there’s nothing new about seeing people of color as super heroes, the problem is that they don’t get as much shine as their White peers. Marvel Studios has been slowly but surely including Black characters with prominent roles into their releases. Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury was among the first, followed by Don Cheadle as Jim Rhodes/War Machine; Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson/Falcon; and Chadwick Boseman fairly recently as T’Challa/Black Panther. But that’s all on the big-screen where they all appear larger than life. But the unsung Black super-hero is the everyman, the one who’s not a hero, but just tries to be a good guy. Netflix gave us a taste of such a hero when he appeared in 2015 with Marvel’s Jessica Jones. However, just last Friday, that very hero got his own full-length feature series. With America’s current escalating racial climate of young Black men being unjustly shot and killed by White police officers operating with impunity, this series was released at a perfect time. The first episode let me know that it’s geared towards a Black audience in a way that goes beyond the hip-hop culture that was used heavily as part of the series’ promotion.
By the time I finished the season finale, I came to this conclusion: f all their Netflix shows, Marvel’s Daredevil is dark while Marvel’s Jessica Jones is darker. But Marvel’s Luke Cage Marvel’s Luke Cage is appropriately the Blackest thing they’ve done to date. Co Showrunner Cheo Hodari Coker has succeeded in making me forget War Machine, the Falcon, and even the Black Panther. This series is Marvel Cinematic niverse’s first real attempt at targeting Black audiences and it succeeds. With several direct references to Black-American culture and interests, it captured this viewer instantly. In the press releases and promotional tools for the series, one prominent aspect of the series was its use of hip-hop. But seeing it thirteen episodes straight got me excited. For one thing, every episode title was named after a song from the classic hip-hop duo ang Starr Manifest ; Code of the Streets ; Just to et a Rep , etc. . In the episode entitled DW C , the writers managed to incorporate a lyric from that song into the dialogue, Lemonade was a popular drink and it still is . That same line was also used in another hip-hop influenced show 10 years ago, Adult Swim’s The Boondocks. Since the series takes place in Harlem, some of that region’s hip-hop luminaries got shouted-out such as Big L and A AP Rocky. Direct nods to N C rappers Mobb Deep and Raekwon were also mentioned. The score also had hip-hop written all over it, courtesy of Adrian ounge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad giving it a vintage jazzy feel mixed with hip-hop. ne of the later episodes, the penultimate one in fact, gave every viewer who’s a true hip-hop head a moment to remember. Wu-Tang Clan’s Method Man makes two appearances as himself. In the first scene, scen he’s a customer saved by Luke Cage during a botched convenient store robbery. They both recognize each other, their respective work, and show love to one another. The other scene has Meth on Sway Calloway’s radio show rapping a freestyle about Luke Cage and the good he’s doing despite media and police opposition. Without being contrite, both scenes had a mePhotographs: 20th Century Fox them. ta-textual feel to Diamondback is later revealed to be the true villain of the season and, like Cottonmouth, sometimes peppers his speech with hip-hop slang. When hatching criminal plans, he explains them in exposition to his underlings using terms like o -the-dome and pre-written freestyle . He even manages to say Bye Felicia when taunting Cage. A villain with overwhelming daddy issues, he dedicates himself to destroying Luke Cage and has the technology to do so. Harvey’s portrayal was perhaps the most menacing part of this season as he defini tely has the scary Black guy trope down-pat, much as he did during season four of HB ’s Boardwalk mpire. Mahershala Ali’s portrayal of Cottonmouth was indeed layered and reminded me of Johnny Depp in Black Mass. Like Depp’s character, Cornell Stokes hates the nom-de-crime he’s had since childhood and would kill anyone for calling that. His backstory shows that the idea of Family First was embedded into him early on, with him and Mariah being born and raised into a criminal family with their grandmother as its matriarch. The crowned Biggie picture in his office not only represents his love for the
lain rapper, but his mutual desire to be the king of New ork. Woodard’s Mariah Dillard is more of a snake than Cottonmouth which explains her holding political office. Mariah wants to escape her background but ultimately embraces it after a heated argument with her cousin. The polarity of the police partnership between Misty night and Rafael Scarfe was also of note. Scarfe is a White man and night’s a Black woman. Scarfe proves to be a crooked detective while Missick’s night is a righteous woman who, like Cage, just wants to do the right thing. Apart from Cage and Claire Temple, Misty night is one the few actively good characters on the show. She gets shot in the arm during a club shootout and, despite getting it treated, has difficulty using it afterwards. This easter egg is in reference to the bionic arm do doubt she had during her first comic appearance back in the mid-1 0s. I don’t for a second that we’ll see the bionic private detective in later episodes. n a related note, in the season finale, Claire Temple later decides to take a self-defense class after seeing a telephone pole advertisement for it. uess who’s the instructor Colleen Wing, Misty night’s best friend in the books. Rosario Dawson’s Claire Temple is the one constant in all the Marvel shows on Netflix now. She’s also a love interest for Cage here, an obvious source of tension between her and Misty. I also found it cool that she gave nods to Jessica Jones and Matt Murdock, respectively, with the latter being mentioned as a great lawyer in Hell’s itchen that she refers Cage to. Also, Coker compared this series to HB ’s The Wire in early interviews. Despite the urban landscape, crime depictions, and fre uent profanity and use of the uote-un uote N-word , this series just doesn’t compare to the stark reality of the HB series. The only connection it has with that series is the cast. Several actors from The Wire appeared in this season: Frankie Faison Commissioner rvin Burell as Pop; S. Robert Morgan Butchie, mar’s advisor/bank as a blind street panhandler; Sonja Sohn Detective ima reggs as a wait for it police detective; Michael ostro criminal attorney Maurice Levy as Dr. Noah Burnstein, the doctor who administered the experiment that turned Cage into a superhuman; and the aforementioned Method Man. In the first episode, eorge Pelecanos crime story scribe and writer on The Wire was mentioned along with Donald oines.
And at lastly, Mike Colter’s portrayal of the title character. I like how he portrays Cage as an everyday Black man who just always happens to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Apart from being a giant with incredible strength and durability, he’s got two idiosyncrasies that stand out. He foregoes using profanity when possible, taking the swear jar in Pop’s barbershop very seriously. He even uses his trademark exclamation of SW T CHRISTMAS at least twice. He also fre uently wears bullet-ridden clothing, hoodies in particular. Speaking of clothing, when he escapes from prison and ditches most of his prison garb he still kept the metal wrist-bands and the tiara from when he was experimented on , he dons a long-sleeve yellow shirt and some blue-colored pants he found hanging out to dry in a suburban backyard. This is a nod to Cage during his Heroes For Hire Blaxploitation look as Power Man, a look that Colter’s Cage deemed as ridiculous and uickly discarded it. There’s more meta-textual references that serve as social commentary too. When Method Man is at the radio station, he mentions that there’s something powerful about seeing a Black man who’s bulletproof and unafraid. That’s not just about Luke Cage, but a commentary on the police shooting deaths of Terence Crutcher, ric arner, Michael Brown, and Trayvon Martin. For the latter, Colter confirmed that his character sporting a bulletproof hoodie is a way of paying homage to Martin. The one thing I didn’t like was the fight scenes except for the one against Diamondback, which looked a lot like the street fight in 1 0’s Rocky . Anytime Cage is in a physical fight, its completely predictable. Cage has too much of an advantage over any non-superhuman he fights. Cage has super-strength, so I know what to expect every time he fights someone who’s clearly outmatched. The other thing I didn’t like was the redundancy of firing a gun at him. After word of his reputation spread throughout Harlem, every criminal and cop knew that bullets are ine ective on Cage. Cag After that, I kept yelling at the T , WH are you idiots still shooting . With the exception of Diamondback’s weapon, using bullets on Luke Cage is an exercise in futility.
Mike Colter’s Luke Cage is a super but without the hero part. Well, he is a hero, but not in the sense of costumed heroes like all of the Avengers. nlike War Machine, the Falcon, and the Black Panther, Colter’s Cage is more grounded and literally down-to- arth compared to the other three. As a Black man, I enjoyed this series and am ecstatic to have a character aimed towards my demographic taking center stage. When season two is released, I’m sure they’ll take it further. Though Marvel’s Daredevil is still my favorite of the Netflix series, at least me and mine now have a character to call our own.
Photographs:
y es rono t
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Recently we had the pleasure of talking cosplay with the illustrious Shiveeejam, star of Fury Fingers Tomb Raider parody, Boom Raider. Now we’re returning to the Land Down nder to chat with another action heroine and cosplayer, Jus . Jus hails from Canada but made Adelaide, Australia her home. When she makes the rounds at cons she drops jaws with on point costumes and a flair all her own. ven more impressive is her foray into live action videos. Recently, she starred in The Diversion, an homage to Tom Clancy’s The Division produced by yep Fury Fingers. It was serious business, sponsored by bisoft and featuring special e ects as well as loads of action. What follows is a portion of our interview ACTI N A : When did you first want to get into cosplay? And what was your first costume? J S : I started cosplaying in 2011 with the arrival of our town’s first comic convention. I’d seen cosplay online, but didn’t know anyone who cosplayed at all, so taking the leap to dress up the first time was a bit scary. But it was an amazing experience and I was hooked. My first costume was Zatanna from DC Comics. Everything was bought or rented, I didn’t even own a sewing machine at the time. AA : When did you decide to take your cosplay to the next level? J : I started focusing on cosplay seriously in 2014. I made 9 costumes that year, filmed two short fan videos and started pushing myself to learn new techniques and refine the ones I knew. It was when I started actively using my social media not just to connect with people but also with photographers and businesses.
«I LOVE ACTION CHARACTERS.»
AA : What characters do you have the most fun with? Were they more inuenced by your childhood or were some of these characters from more recent movies games comics manga you are a fan of? J : I love action characters, which for me tends to be movie and comic characters. Black Widow, Black Canary, WWE wrestlers, he unger ames. I really like getting to pose for photos in dynamic ways and I really love to climb on things, which is hard when you’re in a ball gown though not impossible . A lot of the media I’m inspired by is recent, like the Marvel Cinematic niverse, DC Comics’s shows and even my love of comics is from the last ten years. AA
: What is your favorite costume so far?
J : It changes so much based on new costumes, but my comic Black Widow is always a favorite it’s so sleek and I love the wig, plus it usually has lots of guns. My new teampunk Wonder Woman is the other favorite right now, because I’m so proud of it and how it looks. AA : ow long does it take you to make the average costume? What materials do you prefer working with? J : he time can vary so much depending on the number of pieces, how much needs to be made from scratch, etc. My claim to fame is making ey from he orce Awakens in days right before the premiere, but that’s not a terribly complex costume. sually a few months, though, starting with sporadic sewing until it becomes more and more frantic the closer I get to the event. I prefer to sew costumes versus making armour and giant props, so give me some spandex or anyday. I love stretch fabrics because they give you a bit of leeway with fit that can be comforting when you’re new. AA : If someone asked you what cosplaying is about, what would you tell them? What drives you to do it? J : It’s a bunch of giant nerds dressing up and getting really excited at each other. Cosplay is really, in my opinion, the best way that I know how to show my love for a character or a fandom. ike a sports fan buying a jersey and making a sign and painting their face, this is how we show our dedication to what we love. I’d say that passion drives me to do it. assion and the feeling of accomplishment I get when I finish a costume and finally look at everything that I made.
You can check out more of this interview at ActionAGoGo.com. For more JusZ, follow her ar Facebook.com/juszcosplaa.
My Grandpa was a salesman. And a good one. He made his money talking, and was a great conversationalist. He is retired now, but everyone still loves him. But when it came to conversations about politics and religion he always got quiet. I asked him why, and he told me he “stayed away” from them. Of course I pushed further, and he told me “Those are arguments that can’t be won. So don’t fight them.” thoug my Grandpa was just being foolish, but being responsible for Action A Go I thought Go’s social media accounts I have seen my fair share of arguments going back on forth on the internet. Over the past half decade, controversies in entertainment have been a non-stop comedy of errors, ranging from the type of shirts scientist wear to how a character named Spider-Woman poses on the cover of her own comic book. Most recently the phenomena of whitewashing has been under the microscope, with Tilda Swinton being cast as “The Ancient One” in the Doctor Strange film and Scarlett Johansson being cast as “The Major” in the upcoming Hollywood version of Ghost In The Shell. Both characters were of Asian decent in their respective source materials, the former being a Marvel comic, the later being a manga and movie of Japanese origin. Both were replaced by white women.
RED
Of these two incidents I find the Ancient One’s casting to be the most interesting, but not for the most obvious reasons. Originally the character was a Tibetan man. For years he was nothing more than a footnote in comic history, occasionally bandied about to retell the story of Dr. Strange. Now, the character has been changed to be of Celtic descent. The reasons? To please the Chinese market, or at least “not offend” them. That comes straight for the movies screenwriter himself, C. Robert Cargill. For those of you unfamiliar, China invaded the nation of Tibet in the 1950s and has claimed it as its own sin refusing to recognize any sovereignty over itself as a nation or the authority of its since, Buddhist leader, the Dalai Lama. His exact quote is: “The Ancient One was a racist stereotype who comes from a region of the world that is in a very weird political place. He originates from Tibet, so if you acknowledge that Tibet is a place and that he’s Tibetan, you risk alienating one billion people who think that that’s bulls**t and risk the Chinese government going, ‘Hey, you know one of the biggest filmwatching countries in the world? We’re not going to show your movie because you decided to get political.’ If we decide to go the other way and cater to China in particular and have him be in Tibet… if you think it’s a good idea to cast a Chinese actress as a Tibetan character, you are out of your damn fool mind and have no idea what the f**k you’re talking about.” -Quote from Cargill via from ScreenRant.com To me this is the most fascinating part of this episode because it wasn’t too long ago that Hollywood was churning out movies about just this subject. Movies like Seven Years in Tibet (1997), starring Brad Pitt and directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud, were about the Dalai Lama and the Chinese invasion that took over the country. There were others like Kundun (1997) — directed by Martin Scorsese — that were directly about the Dalai Lama himself. Films like these were part of a wave of fasciation with Asian cultures that took place in the 90’s. They were also pushing a political agenda by showing the world what was going on in China, which was motivated by the Free Tibet Movement. Richard Gere
was the most vocal star in Hollywood to support this movement, as he is a practicing Buddhist and has worked with various charities that include Tibetan awareness as well HIV/AIDS prevention. He has even gone so far as to host the Dalai Lama on numerous occasions. Gere also starred in one of the most critical films of mainland China to date, Red Corner (1997). The movie is about an American business man (Gere) who gets framed for murder and is trapped in the Chinese criminal justice system. Along the way it touches on China’s human rights violations and the harsh treatment one is exposed to when in this system. It’s also a fairly good film on its own. Of course, these movies were made in 1997. This was also the year that Hong Kong was only just going to be given back to China after its 99 year lease to Great Britain expired. Oh, and China wasn’t the economic super power it is today. Back then, the idea of China’s (as well as other countries) economic potential was already being discussed. In the meantime, it was a convenient target for a Hollywood living in a world where our old communist enemy, Soviet Russia, had collapsed.
CORNERED
Flash forward 20 years and movies like Red Corner would be unthinkable because of the political and financial ramifications. Hypothetically, even if a pseudo “Red Corner” came out, the studio that made the movie could be punished by having its other non-political movies blocked as well. Or worse, as was the case with the movie The Interview (2014), all hell could break loose. The movie was about two bumbling interviewers (played by James Franco and Seth Rogen) who are tasked with assassinating Kim Jong Un, the leader of North Korea. Depending on who you ask, the REAL North Ko Korea lashed out by cyber attacking Sony pictures, who made the film, and released personal info of their employees. This lead to identity theft, embarrassment, and loss of employment. So real people suffered very real consequences for making a very fake (if amusing) movie. And then there is the simple matter of money. China is doing heavy lifting in terms of overseas box office, saving films that bomb or do mediocre box office in the United States. The Expendables 3 is one example. Pacific Rim is another. That’s not to say those movies weren’t good in the first place, but it shows just how powerful that market has become when it can save movies that are doomed in the west. The one thing that is clear is that these problems are going to get worse before they get better, as the international market is here to stay, as well as our interconnected economies. Which, in and of itself, is not a bad thing. The side effect, however, is that we’ll see more of what Marvel and Disney are doing right now. They will play it safe, hiding behind imaginary creatures and made up places and slice out the inconvenient bits as necessary. I guess my Grandpa was right. Arguments over religion and politics can’t be won. If you want to make money, don’t fight them. By DEREK SCARZELLA
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