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https://blacknerdproblems.com/still-obsessing-over-the-newly-unified-karate-kid-cinematic-universe/
The original story broke about two months ago, and I still haven’t stopped thinking about it. Ralph Macchio, the original Karate Kid, Daniel-San. Jackie Chan, an iconic martial artist and actor, who played Mr. Han in a Karate Kid remake, sure, but I remember how his likeness was used in one of the best Saturday morning cartoons ever in Jackie Chan Adventures. When you think of martial arts in the 80s and 90s media, those two are easily in the top five alongside the late great, Pat Morita. And Sony Pictures has decided that since they own the Karate Kid IP, not to do a simple remake. No, this is going to be a sequel that unifies the original trilogy and the 2010 movie.
And I’m still going “what” aggressively at my computer screen because I have so many questions and absolutely no information to work with.
If somehow you’ve managed to avoid the last five or six-ish years of extended Karate Kid content, the story behind the original trilogy has in fact been going strong. Thanks to Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Schlossberg we have actually a very detailed understanding of what an older Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence look like. We have five (soon to be six) seasons of Cobra Kai that delve into the long legacies of both Miyagi-Do and Cobra Kai, the psychological scars that bad mentors can create, a look at the evolution of bullying in the modern era, and what happens when rivalries are constructive and healthy. I could go on and on about this series. I have in fact gone on and on about this series.
Cobra Kai is one of the few shows that I’ve constantly advocated for with a consistency that alarms me. I tried to get people to get YouTubeRed because I was utterly enthralled by the unexpected sequel. When it dropped on Netflix, I petitioned even harder. Cobra Kai did the impossible and manage to create a sequel series several decades later that was just nostalgia bait, but a well-thought, well-directed, and well-choreographed sequel that used the original trilogy as a solid foundation to tell a new story.
When the season 1 finale, “Mercy,” dropped I watched that episode on repeat for days. Seeing a new All Valley Tournament had me unreasonably hyped and ever since, when I get the date for the next season, I watched everything from the beginning and then binge the new stuff the moment I get access.
Heald, Hurwitz, and Schlossberg had announced many months ago that the sixth season of Cobra Kai would be its last. While I’m sadden, it makes perfect sense given the trajectory which I will not spoil because if you haven’t watched, I hoped I’ve sidetracked enough that you’ve been convinced to watch. While yes, this particular chapter ending is timely and reasonable, all that means is that… I. Still. Have. So. Many. Questions.
This new Karate Kid project starring Macchio and Chan is supposedly not directly connected to the Cobra Kai. But this does not mean, it’s not not connected. Ralph Macchio’s been playing an older Daniel LaRusso for almost six years. As much as I love the franchise, part of that love is also predicate on seeing this older LaRusso make amends with long-term rival Johnny Lawrence. Will there be references to this character development? Will his family be featured? Will any of the Cobra Kai cast make an appearance? The Cobra Kai’s creators, again, not involved, but they have been consulted. And again, we haven’t even gotten to the fact that the 2010 Karate Kid movie is in the mix, so let’s talk about that for a second.
The 2010 Karate Kid was a remake of the series that remixed the original premise and kept the title because of recognition, but also very much probably should have been called the Kung Fu Kid, but that’s neither here nor there at this point. Jackie Chan played Mr. Han as the spiritual successor to Mr. Miyaga well and there is nothing that precludes the events of Karate Kid (2010) from existing within the greater Karate Kid universe.
But also, Mr. Miyagi was a *Japanese* martial artist (whose family in lore developed this particular branch of karate to defend against invaders, fun fact established by one of my favorite scenes of the series), and Daniel LaRusso has been shown to have a great reverence for Japanese culture having essentially been raised by Mr. Miyagi.
So, I guess the first and foremost question that I probably should have asked several hundred words ago, is how do these two cross paths? This is of course partially answered by the fact that there was a worldline casting call for the next Karate Kid, and as such as we have a vague synopsis that this new “Karate Kid” would be named Li Fong who is “smart, scrappy, and a skilled martial artist” off jump. Which at least explains how Mr. Han is tangentially involved in all of this, but I’m still entirely unsure where Daniel LaRusso fits into the picture.
I’m also generically curious how Hilary Swank feels being the one Karate Kid universe alum who doesn’t seem to be involved in any of these future projects, but that’s like the tenth question I don’t have a set answer for.
The framework of the Karate Kid is as textbook as sports and martial arts drama come. The coming-of-age story of learning what it takes to fight and what it means to fight. The reason the story keeps getting retold and reinvented is because it is in fact a worthwhile story. However, Sony Pictures attempt to unify the two universes while also not directly acknowledging that they had a very successful television series is confusing to say the least.
That said, I will give props to Sony for having a Chinese/Chinese-American as the main character. I adore Xolo Mariduena, Tanner Buchanan, Jacob Pertrand, Petyon List, and Mouser, but out of those five names of principle characters, there’s only one person of color there.
I love these characters (well, at least the ones firmly in the pre-retconned unification. The 2010 movie was fine. I remember enjoying it. I remember not feeling like I ever needed to rewatch this movie) and more than anything else, I’m so very curious to see how this weird fever dream of a pitch is going to come together. And I mostly hope that whatever happens doesn’t somehow invalidate the canon of what is one of my favorite television series of the last two decades.
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The post Still Obsessing Over the Newly Unified ‘Karate Kid’ Cinematic Universe appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.
The original story broke about two months ago, and I still haven’t stopped thinking about it. Ralph Macchio, the original Karate Kid, Daniel-San. Jackie Chan, an iconic martial artist and actor, who played Mr. Han in a Karate Kid remake, sure, but I remember how his likeness was used in one of the best Saturday morning cartoons ever in Jackie Chan Adventures. When you think of martial arts in the 80s and 90s media, those two are easily in the top five alongside the late great, Pat Morita. And Sony Pictures has decided that since they own the Karate Kid IP, not to do a simple remake. No, this is going to be a sequel that unifies the original trilogy and the 2010 movie.
And I’m still going “what” aggressively at my computer screen because I have so many questions and absolutely no information to work with.
If somehow you’ve managed to avoid the last five or six-ish years of extended Karate Kid content, the story behind the original trilogy has in fact been going strong. Thanks to Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Schlossberg we have actually a very detailed understanding of what an older Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence look like. We have five (soon to be six) seasons of Cobra Kai that delve into the long legacies of both Miyagi-Do and Cobra Kai, the psychological scars that bad mentors can create, a look at the evolution of bullying in the modern era, and what happens when rivalries are constructive and healthy. I could go on and on about this series. I have in fact gone on and on about this series.
Cobra Kai is one of the few shows that I’ve constantly advocated for with a consistency that alarms me. I tried to get people to get YouTubeRed because I was utterly enthralled by the unexpected sequel. When it dropped on Netflix, I petitioned even harder. Cobra Kai did the impossible and manage to create a sequel series several decades later that was just nostalgia bait, but a well-thought, well-directed, and well-choreographed sequel that used the original trilogy as a solid foundation to tell a new story.
When the season 1 finale, “Mercy,” dropped I watched that episode on repeat for days. Seeing a new All Valley Tournament had me unreasonably hyped and ever since, when I get the date for the next season, I watched everything from the beginning and then binge the new stuff the moment I get access.
Heald, Hurwitz, and Schlossberg had announced many months ago that the sixth season of Cobra Kai would be its last. While I’m sadden, it makes perfect sense given the trajectory which I will not spoil because if you haven’t watched, I hoped I’ve sidetracked enough that you’ve been convinced to watch. While yes, this particular chapter ending is timely and reasonable, all that means is that… I. Still. Have. So. Many. Questions.
This new Karate Kid project starring Macchio and Chan is supposedly not directly connected to the Cobra Kai. But this does not mean, it’s not not connected. Ralph Macchio’s been playing an older Daniel LaRusso for almost six years. As much as I love the franchise, part of that love is also predicate on seeing this older LaRusso make amends with long-term rival Johnny Lawrence. Will there be references to this character development? Will his family be featured? Will any of the Cobra Kai cast make an appearance? The Cobra Kai’s creators, again, not involved, but they have been consulted. And again, we haven’t even gotten to the fact that the 2010 Karate Kid movie is in the mix, so let’s talk about that for a second.
The 2010 Karate Kid was a remake of the series that remixed the original premise and kept the title because of recognition, but also very much probably should have been called the Kung Fu Kid, but that’s neither here nor there at this point. Jackie Chan played Mr. Han as the spiritual successor to Mr. Miyaga well and there is nothing that precludes the events of Karate Kid (2010) from existing within the greater Karate Kid universe.
But also, Mr. Miyagi was a *Japanese* martial artist (whose family in lore developed this particular branch of karate to defend against invaders, fun fact established by one of my favorite scenes of the series), and Daniel LaRusso has been shown to have a great reverence for Japanese culture having essentially been raised by Mr. Miyagi.
So, I guess the first and foremost question that I probably should have asked several hundred words ago, is how do these two cross paths? This is of course partially answered by the fact that there was a worldline casting call for the next Karate Kid, and as such as we have a vague synopsis that this new “Karate Kid” would be named Li Fong who is “smart, scrappy, and a skilled martial artist” off jump. Which at least explains how Mr. Han is tangentially involved in all of this, but I’m still entirely unsure where Daniel LaRusso fits into the picture.
I’m also generically curious how Hilary Swank feels being the one Karate Kid universe alum who doesn’t seem to be involved in any of these future projects, but that’s like the tenth question I don’t have a set answer for.
The framework of the Karate Kid is as textbook as sports and martial arts drama come. The coming-of-age story of learning what it takes to fight and what it means to fight. The reason the story keeps getting retold and reinvented is because it is in fact a worthwhile story. However, Sony Pictures attempt to unify the two universes while also not directly acknowledging that they had a very successful television series is confusing to say the least.
That said, I will give props to Sony for having a Chinese/Chinese-American as the main character. I adore Xolo Mariduena, Tanner Buchanan, Jacob Pertrand, Petyon List, and Mouser, but out of those five names of principle characters, there’s only one person of color there.
I love these characters (well, at least the ones firmly in the pre-retconned unification. The 2010 movie was fine. I remember enjoying it. I remember not feeling like I ever needed to rewatch this movie) and more than anything else, I’m so very curious to see how this weird fever dream of a pitch is going to come together. And I mostly hope that whatever happens doesn’t somehow invalidate the canon of what is one of my favorite television series of the last two decades.
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The post Still Obsessing Over the Newly Unified ‘Karate Kid’ Cinematic Universe appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.
Writer and director Johan Grimonprez, known for impressionistic documentaries like Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Trade and Double Take, returns to the Sundance Film Festival with his latest documentary Soundtrack to a Coup D’etat.
First announced in 2021, the Belgian-born filmmaker sheds light on the overthrow and assassination of Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba, the dark history of the United Nations weaponizing jazz artists and their music, and so much more. It opens with drums to establish a rhythm of bebop, rumba, and jazz music that continues to flow throughout the film as it does throughout these events in history.
The decolonization of the Congo and the subsequent violence are seemingly at the center of this kaleidoscopic 150-minute-long exploration. However, there are many points of focus and multiple protagonists, including the huge part music itself plays. Grimonprez told Variety, “Music is an actor of this global story. Louis Armstrong was there for the first months of Congolese independence, while Max Roach and Abbey Lincoln took inspiration from the independence movement in Africa.”
Grimonprez presents a collage of diverse perspectives from activists, politicians, musicians, and leaders, told through images, archival footage, and various excerpts from Andrée Blouin’s memoir “My Country, Africa” (narrated by Belgian-Congolese musician Marie Daulne aka Zap Mama), In Koli Jean Bofane’s “Congo Inc.,” Conor Cruise O’Brien’s “To Katanga and Back” (narrated by his son Patrick), and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev’s audio memoirs. Other important figures featured include musicians Dizzy Gillespie, Nina Simone, Duke Ellington, Melba Liston, and activist Malcolm X.
The long-overlooked Blouin acted as an advisor to post-colonial leaders in Africa, including becoming chief of protocol for Patrice Lumumba, the first democratically elected prime minister for the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Grimonprez explained that “because she was a woman, she was actually written out of history.” Both were labeled communists because of their influential advocacy for the Pan-African movement, which posed a threat to colonial power.
King Baudouin of Belgium and the Eisenhower administration agreed that Lumumba needed to go in order for them to remain in control of the majority vote of the Global South. The CIA led a coup to overthrow Lumumba in September 1960. In an effort to improve the image of the United States, jazz ambassador Louis Armstrong was deployed to the Congo in October. Of course, the legendary musician was completely unaware he was being used as a smokescreen.
Lumumba was executed in Katanga in January 1961, and on February 15, 1961, writer Maya Angelou, singer Abbey Lincoln, and drummer Max Roach, protested his murder at a UN Security Council meeting, along with about sixty other shouting demonstrators. Excerpts from Angelou’s The Heart of a Woman appear on screen: “On Friday, our women are going to the United Nations.” Set to the sounds of Roach’s furious drumming (part of Max Roach’s “Freedom Now” suite, which opened the film), we see the chaotic, chilling scene unfold with emboldened text of the protestors’ declarations.
As someone who wasn’t previously familiar with the coup or Lumumba’s murder, Soundtrack is eye-opening and intrigued me enough to do my own research to better understand the full scope. Grimonprez’s ability to craft a film using extensive research, archival footage, and first-hand experiences is an impressive feat, not to mention the vibrant aesthetic.
However, the film holds an overwhelming amount of information to digest — the importance of the West’s access to mine uranium in Congo (notably used for the atomic bomb), the Cold War, Nikita Khrushchev infamously banging his shoe on a table at the General Assembly, nationalist movements, and the continued exploitation of present-day Congo. Between its nonlinear structure and the several historical events and important figures entwined, it’s easy to get lost in it all, even with the bold lettering of quotes and excerpts.
Soundtrack to a Coup D’etat is a visually engaging, dizzying lesson in the history of global politics and its fascinating connection to jazz. Without conventional omniscient narration, it can be hard to follow what unfolds on screen, especially if you’re not even vaguely familiar with the subject matter. There’s a lot of story to tell, which could’ve been easier to absorb as a three-part docuseries. Even with its high energy, this stylish, almost avant-garde documentary essay’s 150-minute runtime will likely feel a little too long for some audiences’ attention spans.
Soundtrack to a Coup D’etat had its World Premiere on January 22 as part of the 2024 Sundance Film Festival’s World Cinema Documentary Competition.
Best known for her work in television, writer-director Laura Chinn (Pop TV’s Florida Girls) debuts her first feature Suncoast at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.
Set in 2005, the semi-autobiographical dramedy follows Doris (Nico Parker), a socially awkward teenager living a far from normal life in Florida. Instead of participating in any extracurriculars or socializing with classmates, she spends her time outside of school helping her overwhelmed mom Kristine (Laura Linney) care for her sick brother Max (Cree Kawa). They move him into Suncoast hospice, where he’ll spend his last months.
While the film dramatizes some elements of Chinn’s experiences, the deeply personal story is also set against the backdrop of a real-life right-to-die debate that dominated news coverage starting in the late 1990s. Terri Schiavo, a woman who was in an irreversible vegetative state after suffering a cardiac arrest in 1990, happens to be in the same facility. When they arrive, it’s anything but peaceful.
In a panel discussion with TheWrap, Chinn explained that it was “such a[n] odd, coincidental thing that I was going into this hospice to visit my brother but getting patted down for guns and bombs, dealing with all of this at the same time.” Due to the controversial case, the front entrance is always crowded with protesters and police, only adding to Kristine’s perpetual frustration.
The single mom is assertive, always frazzled, and tends to lash out. All of her compassion and love is directed at Max, even though she still has a living daughter. Considering she’s forced to watch her son slowly die, her behavior is understandable. However, Kristine is too preoccupied with him to truly care about Doris. More often than not, their interactions consist of her scolding the teenager for thinking about herself and things she deems frivolous.
As a young girl who’s lost relatives in the past, Doris is almost desensitized to the thought of death. She loves her brother but also longs to be normal like her peers. Like most teenagers, Doris wants to sit and watch TV (namely the early aughts reality classics The Hills and The Anna Nicole Show), have friends, and go to parties. But she lives a very different reality than the typical teenager and is easily embarrassed about it.
Kristen and Doris both have their moments when they’re (mostly) unintentionally cruel to one another because they don’t understand each other at all. It’s unfair of Kristine to get in the way of her living child having any semblance of normality. But Doris also doesn’t really consider all that her mother does, how it must feel to be losing a child and anxiously anticipating the end, all while working hard to provide for the family.
Taking advantage of her current living situation (Kristine sleeps at the hospice), Doris does the irresponsible thing and offers up her empty home as the new adult-free party spot for her classmates. She becomes fast friends with Laci (Daniella Taylor), Brittany (Ella Anderson), Megan (Ariel Martin), and Nate (Amarr), who introduce her to drugs, alcohol, and playing truth or dare in underwear. Doris’ excitement, awkwardness, and genuine happiness are so authentic to joining a new friend group, especially if you were previously friend-less.
Doris also begins an unlikely friendship with Paul (Woody Harrelson), one of the activists against pulling Shivo off of life support. He’s a widower who believes all life is precious. It’s hard not to love the always charismatic Harrelson, which he perfectly infuses in Paul, making him just as lively and positive as he is sometimes melancholic, a character who’s lived through a lot of pain but still sees joy in living. It’s a balance the actor always pulls off well and a welcome salve after the heart-wrenching scenes.
Chinn’s style is reminiscent of Greta Gerwig, Jason Reitman, and early Taika Waititi, specifically 2007’s Eagle vs Shark. Given the time period, it reminds me a lot of Hulu’s aughts-centric PEN15, especially the more heartfelt scenes between Maya and Anna. Anyone nostalgic for the early to mid-2000s will love the film’s throwback hits from artists like Weezer, Erykah Badu, and Christina Milian. Music supervisor Mary Ramos (Wu-Tang: An American Saga), along with composers Este Haim and Christopher Stracey (Cha Cha Real Smooth), used songs that perfectly captured the time, not to mention Megan Stark Evans’ (Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin) wardrobe choices. Crop tanks and baggy pants galore!
Suncoast tells the unique coming-of-age story of a teenage girl trying to live a normal life while being surrounded by death. Laura Linney and Nico Parker deliver strong, nuanced performances as a mother and daughter with a disconnected dynamic, struggling to deal with an impending loss. The film shows how everyone confronts mortality and grieves in their own way, whether it’s humor, anger, or avoidance.
Suncoast premiered in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival on January 21. Laura Chinn’s Suncoast will be released in select theaters on February 2nd and will stream exclusively on Disney’s DTC platforms on February 9th as an Original Film on Hulu in the U.S.
We live in a time where established properties are considered a sound investment. This is why, among other things, we’re getting an Avatar: The Last Airbender live action adaptation, we got a One Piece live action adaptation, there’s a second attempt at Percy Jackson and the Olympians currently airing, and why the Hunger Games got a prequel movie. The media making machines likes known values, safe bets, a return on investment that is guaranteed.
Which is why I’m perpetually baffled when yet another year passes without a proper live-action adaptation of K.A. Applegate’s Animorphs. The mid-1990’s that bled over to the earliest of the 2000’s young adult science fiction was one of the most iconic novel series of that era. You couldn’t go to a library or bookstore without seeing the shelves lined with the book, each with a cover of a human transforming into an animal (and well… a couple other transformations here and there, but that’s beside the point). This was one of my first forays into serialized fiction and endeared me to reading alongside its horror anthology counterpart R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps. And as another aside, Goosebumps managed to have a very successful live action modernization just last year, so I’m holding out hope that the trend continues for a long time to come.
The premise, which I know by heart but the IP is nearing three decades, is that after taking a short cut through a construction site, five teenagers find a strange blue centaur-esque alien with a scorpion-esque tail called an Andalite who telepathically communicates that Earth is under threat by the parasitic species Yeerk who will subjugate humanity. Thankfully, the strange blue centaur-esque alien with a scorpion-esque tail also happens to be in possession of a morphing cube which allow those who touch it to acquire the DNA of any animal they touch and be able to transform into the animal. However, there are rules, the most crucial of which is that there is a strict two-hour time limit lest you get stuck in the morph. (Given that this is a book about teenagers, it should be unsurprising that one of the teens gets stuck in the morph relatively early on in the series.) And from there, this randomly assorted group of teenagers now possess an exceeding strong and weird power and are tasked with fighting a covert war against an entire invading species of alien.
With fifty-four main books and ten additional supplemental stories that fleshed out the rest of the lore, the Animorphs universe is chock full of material. You could very easily get several seasons of television and TV specials and various spin-offs. The sky is very much the limit. K.A. Applegate masterfully wove a story about the horrors of war and got a whole generation of kids thinking about the consequences of actions and what they would do in impossible situations. A strict structure that helped younger readers understood the gravity of the situation; the structure was broken. An ensemble cast that allowed each kid to pick their favorite out of the crew that was diverse from the jump. You had a multi-perspective narrative from very different vantages that saw the group infiltrate office buildings, submarines, and artic bases. You had two mysterious god-like figures playing simulated chess. There’s such a deep lore, a compelling story that continually tried to fully realize its premise, it’s actually staggering that in an eternal arms race to make high profile consumable content that Animorphs doesn’t seem to remotely be in the zeitgeist. But it is there. In the outskirts, just waiting to pounce into prominence.
In 2020, Boom! Studios enlisted Chris Grine to adapt the source material into a graphic novel. And this news was quickly followed that a vague Animorphs movie was in the works. But it’s been almost four years of silence, and I’m gonna stake that Animorphs needs more than a movie or even a trilogy of movies. This is a serial epic. This is a tale of a secret with warring factions, political intrigue, and the potential for some of the coolest uses of CGI this side of the 2000s. Animorphs deserves prestige television funding. It deserves Game of Thrones and The Expanse money. Animorphs deserves to jump start the career of six young actors and catapult older ones back into the line-up. The poignancy of the story hasn’t wavered, and I want a new generation to experience the full story. It was designed with such a format in mind ever since the opening paragraph.
I had the fortune of reading most of the series (64 some books is a lot) and I also have fond memories of watching Nickelodeon’s ultimately doomed attempt to adapt the series in 1998. It was ambitious, and to their credit, it was a solid foundation that was just hampered by 90s technology and having the budget of a teen drama. If you don’t believe me, you can go watch it yourself on YouTube. You’d probably even recognize some younger versions of familiar actors. This is the perfect example of a series that was adapted too soon and deserves to be adapted properly. With the right resources, it could… well morph into one of the greatest sci-fi endeavors of the era.
Jake, Rachel, Marco, Cassie, Tobias, and Ax went through hell and while I wouldn’t call their ending happy, I will call their ending necessary and seminal. I am but a random voice on the internet who still thinks about a YA novel series they read decades ago and wants something that feels increasingly impossible these days: a chance to see a story told from start to finish.
Fifty-four novels is a nontrivial amount of story material and even if HBO-money were to suddenly fall into the lap of the producers, there’s still a decent chance that such an epic could not be told in full. But the dream is nice. The idea is one worth believing in. And if nothing, maybe we can start a book club.
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