Master Z: The Ip Man Legacy (2018)

The martial arts scenes are well-choreographed fun, especially the glass of whiskey scene, and the fight atop the famed neon signs of Hong Kong. But the rest of Master Z is god awful. There is a combination of Mandarin and English; no Cantonese despite taking place in 1960s Hong Kong. It's near impossible to tell which Chinese people understand English and which white people understand Chinese. There are some half-hearted efforts to translate in the scene, but the biggest question remains...does Bautista's character understand Chinese? There are some unintentionally funny scenes amidst the bad dialogue. The movie is abnormally chaste for an action movie, there being only a slight tease of a romantic story line. And one note on the sound effects. Good sound effects usually have the quality of not particularly standing out because they sound natural. Just imagine how bad the sound effects have to be for me to notice. It's like they've never heard what gift wrap sounds like.

Crazy Rich Asians (2018)

I really can't emphasize enough how important representation is. I first came to realize at the Cannes Film Festival a couple years ago where I was first exposed to a large number of Asian films. It's not just about seeing people that look like us, it's seeing them confront the many interesting and mundane things that we all face. It has a real effect on the psyche to see these Asian actors receive such praise and applause. The last major Hollywood production to feature an all Asian cast was The Joy Luck Club 25 years ago, a movie specifically about the immigrant experience. The leading lady of Crazy Rich Asians is the daughter of an immigrant going "back" to Asia for the first time in a bit of a reversal. There is significance that this once in a generation film is a romantic comedy, a refreshing take on a generally cookie-cutter genre featuring pretty white people. It tells audiences that Asian-Americans go through the same typical experiences as everyone else, while preserving the cultural specificity of the story (the central conflict underlines the identity crisis that Asian-Americans face--implicit is the assumption that she is Asian in America but American in Asia, in fact too American, too individualistic and ambitious, for Nick, a valid concern). It shows audiences a leading Asian man that not only gets the girl but is a desirable sex symbol in his own right (Though...there's no sex. It's suggestive but by Hollywood standards it is tame, accessible to younger audiences but not completely fulfilling his sex symbol status). These two messages are not nothing. They are immensely important for our society to digest these ideas.

The movie is good fun. Let's start from the beginning. The movie begins with a Chinese cover of Money (That's What I Want), starting a soundtrack that is full of Chinese covers (including a reclamation of Coldplay's Yellow and Madonna's Material Girl) and jazzy Gatsby-tunes. The Chinese music is a really nice touch, and it's not all Mandarin, there are Cantonese songs too. There is a little language confusion in a country that is language confused. Nick's family speaks Cantonese, except for the grandmother that speaks Mandarin, for some reason. I would have liked to see more Singlish in the movie, to give it more of a local flavor. Though I suppose it is notable that the actors get to use their own accents, no one being asked to use a stereotypical accent like they would for other roles. As a side note, Constance Wu is fantastic but she doesn't sound natural. She sounds like Emma Watson doing an American accent, which is weird because she's from Virginia.

Director Jon Chu does glitz and glamor well. The movie's extravagance is full of brilliant color and riches. The set pieces are beautiful and capture the essence of Singapore in all its gardens, by the bay and bottanical, and plants and rare flowers and trees, real and fake. The texting scene at the beginning of the movie is stylish and could have been perceived as childish from a less skilled director. Chu's boldest choice is the mahjong scene. Paralleling the poker scene from the beginning of the movie, Chu does not bother to explain the rules of mahjong, assuming a familiarity with the game, not talking down to his audience. They do hit you over the head with the "throwing away a winning hand" metaphor just in case you couldn't figure out the rules.

The whole supporting cast is excellent (the fierce Michelle Yeoh is brilliant in everything) but Awkwafina is the breakout star. She is hilarious and I wish there was more of her. I think she has a Tiffany Haddish-like meteoric rise coming ahead in her career. And she raps, the Queens native first rose to fame in the hip hop world. She is genuinely fun, and her personality is allowed to come out in the character of Peik Lin.

Just one final note, the trailer features a joke about Nick being the "Prince Harry of Asia," rather than a Prince William. It was ultimately cut from the movie. My theory is it was cut because it was too true. Prince William courted Kate Middleton for many years before they got married. He prepared her for a life in the spotlight, making a point to prepare her to be the future Queen. Harry on the other hand has thrust Meghan Markle into the spotlight with much less preparation. Nick has told Rachel nothing of his family, and this is cruel because she is simply thrown to the wolves without any warning. Harry wasn't that bad, but the joke may have been in poor taste.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)

This Chinese classic is one of the best martial arts films I have ever seen.  The choreography is complex, fast-paced and mesmerizing. Action choreographer Yuen Wo Ping is returning to direct the sequel.  It is very impressive that these actors do their own fighting sequences.  Attached to invisible strings, the actors fly through the air in fantastical chase sequences.  Consider this film an introduction for the western world to the Chinese wuxia genre, which follows the adventures of heroic martial artists in ancient China. And a good one at that, mostly free from the cheesiness that westerners might perceive from Asian films. As an introduction to China, the film does an unusual tour of the vast country, from the well-known regal courtyards of Beijing to the lesser-known barren deserts of China's western region, to the majestic temples of the mountains straight from a painting.

The story is not particularly unique, but it is engaging and under Ang Lee's direction, the story is told beautifully.  Lee creates a grand fantastical world full of wonder, supported by very likable characters in Chow Yun-fat and Michelle Yeoh.  Tan Dun takes traditional Chinese sound and gives it searing melodies and a driving force in Yo-Yo Ma's beautiful cello solos.  Altogether, Lee strikes a perfect balance between action, emotion, beauty and substance.