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      Watch These 13 Titles on Netflix Before They Leave This Month

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeBest Netflix DocumentariesNew on NetflixAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyWatch These 13 Titles on Netflix Before They Leave This MonthEvery month, dozens of movies and TV shows expire from the streaming service. These are the ones not to miss in March.March 5, 2021, 2:31 p.m. ETThis month’s slate of catch-them-before-they’re-gone titles on Netflix in the United States is an especially eclectic assortment of romantic comedies, far-out indies, family fare and martial arts. Dates reflect the final day a title is available.From left, Selena Gomez, Ashley Benson, Rachel Korine and Vanessa Hudgens in a scene from “Spring Breakers.”Credit…Michael Muller/A24 Films‘Spring Breakers’ (March 13)The director Harmony Korine (“Gummo,” “Trash Humpers”) made his first big play for mainstream respectability with this 2012 effort, subversively casting the tween-entertainment superstars Vanessa Hudgens, Selena Gomez and Ashley Benson (and his frequent star and wife, Rachel Korine) as four party-hungry college students whose spring break getaway turns into a crime spree. A scene-stealing James Franco co-stars as Alien, a hedonistic drug dealer who puts them to work, but “Spring Breakers” is focused less on its drugs-and-guns plotline than its visceral components, casting a candy-coated, drug-induced haze over the viewer that replicates the head space of its protagonists.Stream it here‘Chicken Little’ (March 15)This 2005 feature from Walt Disney Pictures — one of the final films to make the transition from Netflix to Disney+ — isn’t widely considered one of the studio’s classics. And that’s just fine; it has the feel of a B-side, a giggly sidebar free of the outsized ambition (and, frequently, stodginess) of too many big Disney events. Zach Braff voices the title character, whose warnings that the sky will fall are first ignored as another of his tall tales. “Chicken Little” is enjoyably irrelevant and self-aware, particularly in its clever opening sequence, narrated by Garry Marshall. Joan Cusack, Amy Sedaris, Steve Zahn, and the Disney legend Don Knotts also join the fun.Stream it here‘Silver Linings Playbook’ (March 16)“Annie Hall” was advertised as “a nervous romance,” and that tagline also applies to this 2012 comedy-drama from the director David O. Russell. Bradley Cooper stars as a schoolteacher who moves back in with his parents (Robert De Niro and Jacki Weaver) after his release from a mental institution, hoping to steady himself after an ugly divorce; Jennifer Lawrence won an Oscar for her work as a young widow who becomes his unlikely partner, first in competitive dance, then in romance. It all sounds much more conventional than it is, thanks to the anything-goes spirit of Russell’s direction and the spiky, complicated performances of his knockout ensemble.Stream it hereNikolaj Coster-Waldau and Carice van Houten in “Domino.”Credit…Saban Films‘Domino’ (March 27)Production issues plagued this, Brian De Palma’s most recent feature, and the filmmaker all but disowned the final result. So it’s difficult to give the picture a full-throated endorsement. But out of its messy making and compromised completion, one can still find enough traces of De Palma’s snazzy, baroque style — inventive camerawork, creative compositions, ingenious set pieces and cheerful indifference to plot — to warrant at least a curiosity peek. It’s far from top-tier DePalma, but at least it has some personality, which is more than you can say for most thrillers these days.Stream it here‘Extras’: Seasons 1 and 2 (March 30)In the mid-aughts, Ricky Gervais used his cultural cachet to land a series of all-star cameos in this cringe-comedy look at the life of an actor. In the first season, Andy Millman (Gervais) is a struggling nobody, working as an extra and dreaming of something better; he gets it in the second season, landing a catchphrase-spouting starring role in a bad sitcom, and discovers he might’ve preferred anonymity. The series co-creator and co-writer Stephen Merchant appears as Andy’s wildly ineffective agent, while such stars as Kate Winslet, Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Stiller, Daniel Radcliffe and (especially) David Bowie entertainingly send up their own personas in guest roles.Stream it here‘Killing Them Softly’ (March 30)Brad Pitt teamed up again with Andrew Dominik, the writer and director of “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford,” for this noir-tinged adaptation of the crime novel “Cogan’s Trade.” Pitt and James Gandolfini (in one of his final roles) star as two contract killers sent by their Mob bosses to take out a group of small-timers who robbed the wrong poker game. But “Softly” is neither a traditional gangster movie nor a Tarantino-style hit-man flick. Dominik sets the film during the 2008 financial crisis and presidential election, the better to situate his central thesis: that capitalism and organized crime aren’t as far apart as we might like to think.Stream it here‘Chappaquiddick’ (March 31)The drowning death of Mary Jo Kopechne, inside a car driven into a pond and then abandoned by Senator Ted Kennedy, was one of the darker moments in a family history plagued by tragedy — and one in which a Kennedy was not the victim, but the villain. This 2017 historical drama from the director John Curran revisits that event and makes an admirable attempt at being evenhanded; Senator Kennedy, played with a combination of determination and self-doubt by Jason Clarke, isn’t drawn as a monstrous figure, but neither are his considerable sins forgiven. Most important, Curran vividly recreates the atmosphere of that fateful weekend in 1969, the same weekend as the moon landing, a moment in which anything seemed possible — except undoing what Ted Kennedy did.Stream it here‘Enter the Dragon’ (March 31)After headlining several influential kung fu movies in Hong Kong, Bruce Lee made his big breakthrough to American audiences with this 1973 Warner Bros. production. Lee stars as a martial arts instructor who is hired by British spies to gather intelligence against a crime lord at a fighting competition — a silly plot, but one sturdy enough to hang several genuinely jaw-dropping fight sequences on. “Enter the Dragon” became one of the highest-grossing action movies of all time, but tragically, Lee didn’t live to see its success; he died less than a month before its premiere. Yet its influence lives on, in the cinema of John Woo, Jackie Chan, Quentin Tarantino and …Stream it hereStephen Chow, top, in a scene from his film “Kung Fu Hustle.”Credit…Saeed Adyani/Sony Pictures Classics‘Kung Fu Hustle’ (March 31)… Stephen Chow, who co-wrote, co-produced, directed and starred in this 2005 international hit that mashes up Lee-style action, Chan-style slapstick and Looney Tunes-style cartoon high jinks. Chow stars as a would-be gangster in 1940s Shanghai who attempts to ingratiate himself with the infamous “Axe Gang” but finds his skill doesn’t quite match his aspirations. Chow can execute an action beat with the best of them, and he packs plenty of them into the picture’s lightning-fast 98 minutes. But he also eschews the solemn seriousness of too many contemporary action movies, embracing goofy special effects and broadly comic characters to keep his audience on its toes.Stream it here‘Molly’s Game’ (March 31)The Oscar-winning screenwriter Aaron Sorkin made his feature directorial debut with this 2017 adaptation of the memoir by Molly Bloom, who ran secret poker games for the obscenely wealthy until she got in too deep with the Russian Mob. Jessica Chastain stars as Bloom, and her icy cool demeanor and rapid-fire delivery make her an ideal Sorkin heroine. Idris Elba stars as her lawyer, and the two of them perfect a rat-tat-tat back-and-forth that, at its best, recalls Hepburn and Tracy. The pace drags a bit — the film runs a leisurely 141 minutes — and the emotional keys held by Molly’s father (Kevin Costner) feel a bit too much like shorthand Freud. But it’s an engaging picture, filled with solid performers and smart dialogue.Stream it here‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower’ (March 31)Stephen Chbosky wrote and directed this 2012 adaptation of his best-selling young adult novel, in which a shy young man (Logan Lerman) attempts to survive not only the typical trials of the teenage years but also his own depression and trauma. Emma Watson and Ezra Miller play his best friends, convincingly conveying the kind of to-the-end-of-the-world tightness that never seems as indestructible as in those vulnerable years. Joan Cusack, Kate Walsh, Dylan McDermott, and Paul Rudd provide ample support as the refreshingly complicated adults in his orbit.Stream it here‘School Daze’ (March 31)Spike Lee’s sophomore film, after his micro-budgeted and critically acclaimed debut, “She’s Gotta Have It,” was this big, bold ensemble musical set on the campus of a Historically Black College over a busy homecoming weekend. Though steeped in the specific politics and activism of its 1988 release, stubborn issues like classicism, colorism and misogyny are very much in the conversation. Lee’s cast is first-rate — Laurence Fishburne, Giancarlo Esposito, Samuel L. Jackson and Jasmine Guy make early appearances — and his directorial confidence is striking as he moves smoothly from the intimacy of “She’s Gotta Have It” to an Altman-style mosaic of music, comedy and confrontation.Stream it hereRomany Malco and Mary-Louise Parker in a scene from Season 3 of “Weeds.”Credit…Monty Brinton/Showtime‘Weeds: Seasons 1 to 7’ (March 31)Before creating the Netflix sensation “Orange Is the New Black,” Jenji Kohan gave Showtime one of its longest-running series with this half-hour comedy-drama chronicling the exploits of Nancy Botwin (Mary Louise Parker), who goes from typical Starbucks-sipping soccer mom to white-collar drug dealer after the death of her husband. Parker is electrifying in the leading role, adroitly capturing the character’s combined (and often conflicting) sense of responsibility, desperation and danger. The later seasons struggle to retain that balance, but the early years, which explore the rich, comic possibilities of suburban weed-slinging, are both dark and delightful.Stream it hereAlso leaving in March:“All About Nina” (March 17); “I Don’t Know How She Does It” (March 22); “Blood Father” (March 25); “Ghost Rider” (March 26); “Inception,” “The Prince & Me,” “Sex and the City: The Movie,” “Sex and the City 2” and “Taxi Driver” (March 31).AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      A Dirty Winner at a Lonely Berlin Film Festival

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeBest Netflix DocumentariesNew on NetflixAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyCritic’s NotebookA Dirty Winner at a Lonely Berlin Film FestivalThe Romanian director Radu Jude’s “Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn” took the top prize in an online-only edition that lacked the magic of in-person moviegoing.“Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn” won the Golden Bear, the Berlin International Film Festival’s top award, on Friday.Credit…Silviu Ghetie/Micro FilmMarch 5, 2021Updated 1:01 p.m. ETBERLIN — No one wants to read more on the things we miss about going to the movies. Too much has been written about that already — and I can practically hear the pipsqueak sighing of mini-Mr. Stradivarius, stressed out by the demand for his tiny violins. But with the Berlin International Film Festival divided this year into two events — a physical edition to take place in city theaters this summer, and an online press-and-industry portion that unfolded over the past five days — the so-near-yet-so-far contrast between theatrical and home viewing has never been more stark.I’ve never felt more removed from the real Berlinale, as the yearly festival is known, nor sensed more acutely the strange sterility of pandemic-era online movie watching.“Mr. Bachmann and His Class,” directed by Maria Speth, won the festival’s Jury Prize.Credit…Madonnen FilmA jury of directors whose films have won the Golden Bear, the festival’s top prize, announced the competition prizes without fanfare via a video livestream on Friday. Some were among my favorites from an outstanding lineup: the top awardee, “Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn,” by Radu Jude; the Best Screenplay winner, “Introduction,” by Hong Sang-soo; and Maria Speth’s Jury Prize recipient, “Mr. Bachmann and His Class.” Others, I have yet to catch. That is always the way — but this year’s online-only presentation meant few buzzy, last-minute discoveries, found out by word of mouth.Instead the stellar program played at my personal convenience, in my living room, sometimes scarcely 12 inches from the end of my nose, on a laptop screen. The stories were teleported in perfect resolution directly into my brain, with a frictionless purity. At some point, I realized: It’s no longer even the sociability of the theatrical experience that I long for; it’s simply the interference. I miss the dust in the projector beam. I miss the tiny tactile imperfections of being in a public place that remind you there’s a world outside the film and your own echo-box brain. Without them, everything is too clean.“Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn” is a satire about a schoolteacher whose sex tape is uploaded to the internet.Credit…Silviu Ghetie/Micro FilmSo it’s good that some of the best films were, frankly, dirty. Radu Jude’s Golden Bear-winner, “Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn,” begins with graphic sex acts, and ends with a woman in a superhero costume shoving an oversize sex toy into a priest’s mouth. So, maybe not one to have on when the kids are home-schooling. In between, however, it’s perhaps the most direct sampler of pandemic-era filmmaking we’ve yet seen, with virus restrictions shaping both the form and the content of a scrupulously untidy satire about a schoolteacher whose sex tape is uploaded to the internet.But its central section is a different beast: a compendium of bite-size segments, most just a few seconds long, into which Jude packs a hundred sometimes blistering, sometimes banal observations about life, sex and Romanian society. It’s almost like an exorcism of all of the ideas that can ferment in a mind left alone too long with its thoughts — so it might feel familiar to anyone who has ever wildly overshared on a Zoom call because it’s their first social interaction in a week.Betsey Brown in “The Scary of Sixty-First,” about two young women who become obsessed with conspiracy theories about Jeffrey Epstein.Credit…Stag PicturesBad taste is also the chief attribute of the actor-director Dasha Nekrasova’s hysterically schlocky “The Scary of Sixty-First.” In the film, two young women become obsessed (and possessed) by the sordid story of Jeffrey Epstein, as theorized on numerous conspiracy websites, after they discover he used to own their new apartment. It’s not directly about the pandemic, but the horror of the walls closing in and being Too Much Online are certainly elements many of us can relate to.Infinitely more wholesome, Natalie Morales’s “Language Lessons” is also a response to quarantine filmmaking restrictions. Told entirely via virtual-meeting app calls, it casts Morales as an online Spanish teacher who connects with a student (Mark Duplass) after the sudden death of his partner. It’s not often that films track platonic friendships as though they’re romances, and rarer still that the process happens exclusively in head-and-shoulder close-up. But the movie, while a little, well, “millennial” in its portrayal of the duo’s angsty interactions, is surprisingly easy to watch, despite the constraints of its format — a testament especially to Morales’s amiable screen presence.Mark Duplass, left, and Natalie Morales in “Language Lessons,” a movie told entirely via virutal-meeting app calls.Credit…Jeremy MackieIt would be a reach to claim any acute topical relevance in the quietly stunning Vietnamese title “Taste,” which took a Special Jury Prize in the festival program’s Encounters sidebar. But for those of us who have experienced lockdown as an infinitely repeating cycle of postures in the same few dimly lit interiors, there is a kind of kinship with its uncannily precise and minutely choreographed tableaux. The director Le Bao’s arresting debut is a largely wordless depiction of a Nigerian footballer who lives, cooks and occasionally couples with four Vietnamese women in an eerily stripped-back Saigon tenement.At the end of “Taste” a tiny rodent sticks its quivering nose out of a mouse hole, before retreating back within. Which leads me to those Berlin titles that are the opposite of brash, that beguiled me instead with their smallness — a quality flattered by the intimacy of online home viewing. And feature films don’t come much smaller than “Introduction,” the latest miniature by the South Korean auteur darling Hong Sang-soo. It is a 66-minute black-and-white scrap of a thing that still somehow manages to play as a deep breath of refreshingly cool, oxygenated air.It won’t convert anyone not already attuned to Hong’s low-key, rueful register, but for the initiated, its delicate story of a young couple navigating a fearful entree into the adult world with the well-meaning assistance of their mothers, has all of the familiar strangeness of the director’s best work.Joséphine Sanz and Gabrielle Sanz in Céline Sciamma’s “Petite Maman.”Credit…Lilies FilmsThere’s another small, exquisitely detailed portrayal of a mother-child relationship in “Petite Maman,” the latest film from the director of “Portrait of a Lady on Fire,” Céline Sciamma. “Portrait” was something of an art-house blockbuster when it came out last year, but in “Petite Maman,” Sciamma is back in the mode of earlier films like “Tomboy,” delivering a beautifully observed growing-pains drama that is also deeply respectful of the dignity and personhood of very young children. It has a magical central twist, but the film’s real magic is in its somehow healing evocation of the bone-deep loneliness of existence, summed up by a line spoken by its 8-year old star: “Secrets aren’t always things we try to hide. There’s just no one to tell them to.”Great films often feel like a secret you’ve been told, and that’s how it is with Alexandre Koberidze’s “What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?,” a gorgeous modern fairy tale about ill-starred love, mysticism, soccer and street dogs, which is also perhaps the most bewitching love letter to a hometown that I’ve ever seen. Throughout, the filmmaker’s own wry baritone narrates, and sometimes contradicts or digresses from, the story, and the effect is almost a flirtation, as he invites you to amble with him through the ancient city of Kutaisi, Georgia, making briefly visible the invisible, supernatural forces that connect us all even though we don’t believe in them anymore.Ani Karseladze in Alexandre Koberidze’s “What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?”Credit…Faraz Fesharaki/DFFBFull disclosure: I got to see this one in a movie theater, at a socially distanced press screening before the festival began. (I’ve since watched it online, and its miraculousness was not lessened one iota.) So in addition to the transcendence offered by the scene in which a gang of local kids plays soccer in joyful slow motion while a gloriously cheesy song by the Italian singer Gianna Nannini plays, just this once, I also got the dust in the projector beam. It was like a glimpse of better, dirtier days to come.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      ‘Coming 2 America’ | Anatomy of a Scene

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      Film directors walk viewers through one scene of their movies, showing the magic, motives and the mistakes from behind the camera.Film directors walk viewers through one scene of their movies, showing the magic, motives and the mistakes from behind the camera. More

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      ‘Coming 2 America’ Review: Comedic Royalty

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeBest Netflix DocumentariesNew on NetflixAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main story‘Coming 2 America’ Review: Comedic RoyaltyMore than 30 years later, Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall reunite for a return trip from Zamunda to New York.The director Craig Brewer narrates a sequence from the film, which has Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall reprising their roles from the 1988 comedy.CreditCredit…Quantrell D. Colbert/Paramount Pictures/Amazon StudiosMarch 4, 2021Coming 2 AmericaDirected by Craig BrewerComedyPG-131h 50mFind TicketsWhen you purchase a ticket for an independently reviewed film through our site, we earn an affiliate commission.Breaking away from a lavish palace party meant to celebrate his engagement, Lavelle Junson (Jermaine Fowler), the newly minted crown prince of Zamunda, complains about the state of Hollywood filmmaking. He never says what kinds of movies he does like, but he’s vocal in his disdain for superhero spectacles and “sequels that nobody asked for.” Mirembe (Nomzamo Mbatha), his royal groomer and love interest, disagrees. Zamundan cinema isn’t so great, she says, and some of those sequels aren’t so bad.Their conversation is one of several meta-jokes scattered through “Coming 2 America,” a genial, mostly inoffensive, sometimes quite funny sequel to a beloved comedy from way back in the 1980s. “Coming to America” — the original, directed by John Landis — starred Eddie Murphy as Crown Prince Akeem, who traveled to the royally named borough of Queens to sow his wild oats, accompanied by Arsenio Hall as his aide-de-camp and comic foil, Semmi.Eddie Murphy returns as Akeem in the genial sequel “Coming 2 America.”Credit…Quantrell D. Colbert/Paramount Pictures/Amazon StudiosIf you remember that movie — it holds up pretty well in spite of a few bits that may chafe against present-day sensitivities — you will recall that the prince fell in love with a New Yorker named Lisa (Shari Headley), whose father (John Amos) owned a fast-food restaurant called McDowell’s. If you haven’t seen or can’t quite recall “Coming to America,” the relevant background is helpfully supplied here, along with some new information. Back then, it seems, there was an oat that got away — a not-even-one-night stand with Mary Junson (Leslie Jones) that resulted in Lavelle.Akeem, who has three daughters with Lisa, learns of his son’s existence during an eventful first act, as he and his queen celebrate their 30th anniversary and bid farewell to King Jaffe (James Earl Jones). Complicating factors include threats from General Izzi (Wesley Snipes), the bellicose ruler of the neighboring country of Nexdoria, and the patriarchal laws of Zamunda, which stipulate that the occupant of the throne must be male. Lavelle, a college dropout and part-time ticket scalper with some of his father’s good-hearted charm, looks like the solution to the kingdom’s problems.But of course the laws of comedy require that further problems ensue, and the many-authored script supplies plenty. Akeem and Semmi return to New York for what feels like a too-brief visit. The fish-out-of-water delights of “Coming to America” could hardly be repeated, but that film’s comic view of America from the perspective of a naïve African aristocrat could have used a more energetic updating. It’s nice to catch up with some of the secondary comic characters — the barbershop guys played by Hall and Murphy in old-age prosthetics, most especially — but any time a ripe satirical opportunity comes into view, “Coming 2,” directed by Craig Brewer, runs in the other direction.But maybe satire isn’t really the point. It isn’t hard, at the moment, to find comedy with a sharper edge, or a tougher view of American dysfunction. “Coming 2” — not unlike Brewer and Murphy’s previous collaboration, “Dolemite Is My Name” — is a sweet and silly celebration of Black popular culture, with a sincere respect for history and a welcoming regard for the new generation. (Speaking of “Dolemite,” this movie provides further testimony to the absolute comic genius of Wesley Snipes.)Murphy, left, with Jermaine Fowler in the film, directed by Craig Brewer.Credit…Quantrell D. Colbert/Paramount Pictures/Amazon StudiosGladys Knight, En Vogue and Salt N Pepa show up (as themselves, in fine vocal form), and so does KiKi Layne, a rising star (see “If Beale Street Could Talk”) who plays Meeka, Akeem’s oldest daughter. Generational conflict may drive the story, but the vibe is of an all-ages party, a blended family reunion with Tracy Morgan as the wacky uncle.Still, like Lavelle and Mirembe at the big bash, you might be tempted to wander off in the long, soft middle, when the music and jokes are put on hold in the interests of a creaky, corny, self-helpy plot. It takes “Coming 2” three-quarters of its running time to arrive at the place where “Coming to” started — the rejection of an arranged marriage in favor of the search for a soul mate. The feminist gestures at the end have an obligatory, let’s-all-nod-our-heads-in-unison feeling that a more daring movie, or one with a stronger idea of what it wanted to be, would not have needed. Lavelle’s cynicism about sequels isn’t challenged very effectively, I’m afraid.I do have one more thing to say, though, which may in itself be a sufficient recommendation, and that is: Ruth E. Carter. One of the all-time great costume designers, she won an Oscar for “Black Panther” and could win another one just for General Izzi’s warlord couture. (Don’t skip the credits or you’ll miss him in a kilt.) The art of “Coming 2 America” resides most fully in the costumes, which are at once travesties of globalist modern style and inspired tributes to it, as well as fully realized examples of a cultural collision that the movie itself can’t quite imagine.Coming 2 AmericaRated PG-13. Mild cross-cultural naughtiness. Running time: 1 hour 44 minutes. 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      Kelly Marie Tran: ‘I’m Not Afraid Anymore’

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeBest Netflix DocumentariesNew on NetflixAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyKelly Marie Tran: ‘I’m Not Afraid Anymore’The actress has left the “Star Wars” bullies behind to star as Disney’s first Southeast Asian princess in “Raya and the Last Dragon.” She says, “I’m finally asking for the things I want.”Kelly Marie Tran in Los Angeles. Three years after enduring vicious online trolls, “I’m a much stronger person now,” she said. “And I have the tools to react to those situations.”Credit…Tracy Nguyen for The New York TimesMarch 5, 2021, 11:24 a.m. ETThere are two Kelly Marie Trans in this story.One is self-assured, confident and eager to show young Asian-American girls that, yes, women who do not have long blond hair, big doe eyes and porcelain skin can get major roles in films.The other is a distant, if prominent, memory.When Tran wrote a scathing essay in The New York Times in August 2018 excoriating a culture that had marginalized her for the color of her skin, she’d just deleted her Instagram posts amid online harassment from “Star Wars” fans. Her performance as Rose Tico, the first lead character in a “Star Wars” film to be played by a woman of color, had been a proud moment for her. But then, she wrote, she started to believe the racist and sexist comments from online trolls. “Their words reinforced a narrative I had heard my whole life,” the Vietnamese-American actress wrote. “That I was ‘other,’ that I didn’t belong, that I wasn’t good enough, simply because I wasn’t like them.”But recent box office successes like “Crazy Rich Asians” and critical hits like “Minari” that have focused on Asian characters have brightened her view of the film industry — and contributed to her own empowerment. “I’m finally asking for the things I want and learning to trust my own opinion,” she said in a video interview from Los Angeles last month. “And I wish so badly that I grew up in a world that taught me how to do that at a younger age.”Tran voices the starring role of the warrior princess Raya (which rhymes with Maya) in the animated film “Raya and the Last Dragon,” out March 5 on Disney+. That makes her the first actress of Southeast Asian descent to play a lead role in an animated Disney movie, a milestone she doesn’t take lightly. “I feel an overwhelming sense of responsibility,” she said. “To be honest, I haven’t slept in, like, two weeks.”Tran’s title character in “Raya and the Last Dragon.” She said she felt “an overwhelming sense of responsibility” as the first actress of Southeast Asian descent to get a lead role in a Disney animated movie.Credit…DisneyIn a conversation, Tran discussed how the “Star Wars” films prepared her for the pressure that comes with being a Disney princess, the boom in Asian and Asian-American screen stories, and the pros and cons of life without social media. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.Do you intentionally target barrier-breaking roles?I wish! I never thought in a million years that I would be doing what I’m doing now. I was the first woman of color to have a leading role in a “Star Wars” movie; I’m the first Southeast Asian Disney princess — these are things that no one that had looked like me had done before.In your New York Times essay, you spoke out about the harassment you experienced after your role in “Star Wars: The Last Jedi.” Given the recent slate of successful Asian and Asian-American films, does it feel like things have shifted in Hollywood?I’m so [expletive] excited that more of these movies like “Crazy Rich Asians,” “Parasite” and “Minari” are being made. I’m really proud to be part of that change in terms of making movies that honor people from those parts of the world. But there have also been a lot of anti-Asian hate crimes recently, so there’s still a lot of work to be done.Would you still have done “Star Wars” knowing the harassment you’d face?[Long pause] I think I would’ve done it anyway. Doing that first movie was so fun — it was like being admitted to Hogwarts. It was like, “This is impossible,” and then I was doing it. I don’t really look back with that much regret anymore. “Star Wars” feels like I fell in love for the first time, and then we had a really bad breakup, and then I learned how to love again, and now I’m in a better relationship with “Raya.” I’ve moved on, and it feels great.Tran with John Boyega in “Star Wars: The Last Jedi.” After enduring online harassment over her role in the franchise, the actress said, “I don’t really look back with that much regret anymore.”Credit…David James/DisneyHow are you a different person than you were three years ago?I was so afraid and put so much pressure on myself starting out. You feel like you have to do it the right way or else no one else is going to get a chance. But I’m a much stronger person now, and I have the tools to react to those situations when they happen. I’m not afraid anymore. I’m finally making room for myself and asking for the things that I want. God, I wish I knew how to do that 10 years ago!What are some of the things you feel comfortable asking for now?I’ve been very, very loud about the projects I do and don’t want to be involved in. I never want to further a stereotype or take a job that makes me feel like I’m perpetuating some sort of idea about what it is to be Asian. And I’ve been really, really adamant about my boundaries. Leaving social media was so mentally healthy for me, even though I’ve been told over and over again, “Kelly, you’re not going to get brand sponsorships.” I just don’t care, because I know what’s best for myself, and I know that I’m happier than I ever was being on it.What is most encouraging to you about the entertainment industry right now?I’m most inspired by the people who continue to fight in order for their voices to be heard, and not just in the Asian community, but in the Black, trans, L.G.B.T.Q. and other underrepresented communities. On my dark days, when I feel sad and insecure about myself, those are the shows that I watch and the stories that I turn to. It brings me so much hope that people are speaking their truths and actually having people listen.Asked if she sets her sights on barrier-breaking roles, she said, “I wish! I never thought in a million years that I would be doing what I’m doing now.”Credit…Tracy Nguyen for The New York TimesAre microaggressions something you still encounter?I haven’t recently experienced outward racism in the way I experienced it when I was a young child, but now I experience subtle racism in terms of people who are publicly allies but privately complicit. In Hollywood, there are people who outwardly are like, “We believe in this,” and then when you’re actually in the trenches with them, they do things that show you they are actually complicit with white supremacy, and with institutions of power that have allowed specific types of people to get away with injustice over and over and over again.Your Vietnamese name is Loan. When did you start using the name Kelly?The name on my birth certificate is actually Kelly. My parents, who are war refugees from Vietnam, adopted American names when they started working — my dad worked at Burger King for almost 40 years, and my mom worked at a funeral home. And they gave their children American names. I didn’t realize it until I was older, but it was them protecting us so that people wouldn’t mispronounce our names. But I didn’t realize until later on that it was also an erasure of culture. It makes my heart hurt a lot to think about it.What advice do you have for young Asian-American actors?Do not blame yourself if someone is not educated enough to understand that there are different types of people in the world who exist and who deserve to be heard. Do not internalize racism, do not internalize misogyny, make space for yourself and ask for what you want, because no one else is going to make space for you.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Watch Eddie Murphy’s Return to Queens in ‘Coming 2 America’

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeBest Netflix DocumentariesNew on NetflixAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyAnatomy of a SceneWatch Eddie Murphy’s Return to Queens in ‘Coming 2 America’The director Craig Brewer narrates a sequence featuring the star alongside Arsenio Hall, Leslie Jones, Tracy Morgan and Jermaine Fowler.The director Craig Brewer narrates a sequence from the film, which has Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall reprising their roles from the 1988 comedy.CreditCredit…Quantrell D. Colbert/Paramount Pictures/Amazon StudiosMarch 5, 2021, 11:01 a.m. ETIn “Anatomy of a Scene,” we ask directors to reveal the secrets that go into making key scenes in their movies. See new episodes in the series on Fridays. You can also watch our collection of more than 150 videos on YouTube and subscribe to our YouTube channel.The best approach for directing a roomful of comedy giants? Let them laugh with each other long before saying “Action.”That’s the route the filmmaker Craig Brewer took for “Coming 2 America,” the sequel to the beloved 1988 hit starring Eddie Murphy.Murphy reprises his role as Akeem, then a prince, now the king of Zamunda, who realizes he fathered a child from a one-night stand on his previous visit to the States.This scene, narrated by Brewer, includes comedic work in various styles from Arsenio Hall as Akeem’s friend and right-hand man, Semmi; Jermaine Fowler as his newfound son, Lavelle; Leslie Jones as Lavelle’s mother; and Tracy Morgan as Lavelle’s uncle. It’s a lot of humor to wrangle.“When I was younger, I used to think that being a director meant that you constantly have to go in and assert yourself,” Brewer said. “But I’ve found, especially with comedic artists, is what they really want is a safe room. They want to feel like they’re free to try things.”Brewer said one of the best things he could do as a director, when he has Murphy, Hall, Jones and Morgan on set, is to not roll the camera immediately, but give them time and space to connect.“You’ve got to let these four people tell old jokes about people they knew on the comedy circuit,” he said. Or riffs that would sometimes include Murphy and Morgan re-enacting full scenes and dialogue from movies they love.“I would allow a good 10 to 15 minutes of just these guys coming into the room and laughing and joking and saying all this stuff. But then it was like, OK, now it’s time to get to work. And Eddie would nail it in two takes.”Read the “Coming 2 America” review.Sign up for the Movies Update newsletter and get a roundup of reviews, news, Critics’ Picks and more.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Eddie Huang: Filmmaker Was on His List of Things to Do Even Before Chef

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeBest Netflix DocumentariesNew on NetflixAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyEddie Huang: Filmmaker Was on His List of Things to Do Even Before ChefHe discusses his debut drama, “Boogie”; what moving to Taiwan showed him about America; and what it was like to work with Pop Smoke, a star of his movie.Eddie Huang said that his movie, which follows a Chinese-American basketball player, is really about the difficult questions facing the children of Asian immigrants in America.Credit…Brad Ogbonna for The New York TimesMarch 5, 2021, 11:00 a.m. ETThere was a time before Eddie Huang became Eddie Huang, the outspoken restaurateur, travel show host and author who once seemed ready to burn down “Fresh Off the Boat,” the network sitcom inspired by his own childhood. In that earlier moment, the aftermath of the recession, he was simply hustling in New York, begrudgingly working at a law firm while selling weed and streetwear on the side. The day he was laid off, he had a moment of clarity and wrote out a list of six things he wanted to do with his life.The final entry on the list — own a restaurant — was what eventually made his name. But two spots up — write screenplays — revealed his true desire to become a filmmaker. “This is all that I’ve ever wanted to do,” Huang recently said days before the premiere of “Boogie,” the new drama he wrote and directed.As with much of Huang’s career, the debut, which follows a Chinese-American high school basketball star (Taylor Takahashi, a first-time actor and Huang’s former assistant), often reads as a sharp-toothed consideration of what it means to grow up Asian in America. In his telling, the experience can be dubious, although Huang may have lately softened on his views.The 39-year-old recently returned from Taiwan, where he was living throughout most of the pandemic, a time when he re-evaluated his life back home. After the thrill of the first six months abroad, he eventually found himself depressed, facing the pressures of conformity in a culture that, heightened and distorted by his celebrity image, could feel suffocating. Coming back, he appreciates the complexity of America’s diversity anew: “It’s the best experiment running,” he said.By video chat from his home in Los Angeles, Huang spoke about his new film, being accepted and rejected by his community, and his parents. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.“Boogie” stars Taylor Takahashi as the title character and Pop Smoke as a rival. Credit…David Giesbrecht/Focus FeaturesYou’ve done many things in your career — how and why did you come to filmmaking?I always wanted to be a director, but I had professors that told me, no one’s going to make a film with an Asian lead, an Asian story. I was told that by my former agency even after “Fresh Off the Boat” came out. The reason I sold sandwiches (at his restaurant Baohaus), the reason I went to books and hosted shows is because the door to film was not open to me. I had to basically create a cult of personality and create leverage within Hollywood so that people believed in me to make this film.Your first major foray into the industry was through “Fresh Off the Boat.” Do you now look differently on how you handled that experience?I really do think about it a lot. But I was right about “Fresh Off the Boat.” I was right not to settle, and I was right to argue. Because they really were telling white narratives through yellow faces. That show didn’t challenge anybody. It was historic because it broke a wall and we got representation, but representation is nothing. It’s almost just like acknowledging that we’re in this country.“Boogie” ostensibly centers on basketball, but what is the movie about to you?This film is really about this conundrum: We immigrate from East Asia to America, and the way we run our families, the way we run our societies is almost completely opposite to America. So as a kid coming of age in America, you have to ask yourself some very difficult questions. I know my parents do things this way, my culture does things this way, but what choices would I make?The protagonist, Boogie, lives in a violent household, but you’re careful about not demonizing his parents. Is that a reflection of your own life?I grew up in a house with a lot of violence, and you see quite a bit of domestic violence in this film. It’s actually been toned down for American audiences. It was 10 times worse in my house. But I wanted to use that as the primary thing we were unpacking and examining — the presence of violence in an Asian home. I remember growing up feeling it was [messed] up, but the older I’ve gotten, I started to realize, in an Asian family, love is assumed. In the very end, you forgive all of these things and you put up with it because we love each other and we sacrifice so much.Our culture and our families sacrificed so much for us, and they would rather we hate them and be great people than love us and not live up to our potential. That is the defining feature of our parents. But I would change the narrative one bit — if there’s one thing America taught me, it [should be]: I don’t care if I’m the bad guy, I just want you to be happy. They’ve equated success and social standing with happiness, and they’re completely disconnected things.Huang made a list of things he wanted to do in his life. Make a film came before owning  a restaurant.Credit…Brad Ogbonna for The New York TimesIn your mind, were you writing the film for your own community?When I write this, I do feel the power of 5,000 years of culture running through me. [Laughs] I really do feel, like, “by us, for us.” But I have that mentality because my entire life, older Chinese-Taiwanese people, they understood me. Younger ones were always like, he’s more into Black culture, he’s not Boba Asian. I really relate to old values and I’m not the most accepted by my own community. I think that my community [is interested in] me because of my success, not because of who I am. I definitely don’t think they like how I wade into other cultures.Why do you think you’re not entirely accepted by your own community?I think every community makes race for immigrants so binary. If you adopt some American traits, and you open yourself up to different cultures, you’re not Chinese, you’re not Persian, you’re not Black. It’s very prefixed. No substitutions. “Boogie” is a film about a kid who’s clearly raised in a very Chinese-Taiwanese home with insane values, but he’s decided to choose basketball as his craft. His girlfriend is Black, his best friend is Dominican, he plays in downtown New York — he made choices. He’s like, I’m going to order à la carte and fill my Lazy Susan with the things I want.That questioning about identity comes up a lot in the film. The director Justin Chon recently took part in a round table I held and talked about seeing a lot of projects in development that overly emphasize the idea of being Asian. Do you worry your questioning in this film might read as exoticization in that way?I know and understand Justin’s frustration. I hang with Justin, but I learned a few years ago, just do you. I love Justin because he’s genuinely curious, and we always have been when there wasn’t money in this.I won’t name names, but there’s a person in your [round table], where the first time I met that guy was the year “Fresh Off the Boat” got picked up, and he said to me, “I had no idea you could make money telling Asian stories — that’s crazy, thanks man! I’m going to get into it, too.” It was just so flippant, and I was like, I don’t think he even realizes how insulting that is, not just to me, not to our culture, but to himself. That he never thought his stories were good enough.This was the late rapper Pop Smoke’s acting debut, and you cast him at a time when he was on the rise. Did he have a sense of his impending superstardom?[His hit] “Dior” came out around the time we started shooting with him. It was really bananas to watch him just become the king of New York during production. I was telling him, you need to buy a house, move to New Jersey, do some rich people [stuff]. In between scenes, he was just in his trailer making up dances, like the “Woo” dance. He’s just a kid and it was all happening around him, and he was adjusting to it. And he had no fear of it — he had no fear of anything. He was never overwhelmed. It was, like, humorous to him.You cast your own mom in a small role as a fortune teller. What did your parents think of the movie?I played them the director’s cut in my house. They were sitting on the couch, and after the movie was over, it was very somber. It was quiet for a solid 20 to 30 seconds. And then I just saw my mom nod. My mom felt really good. My dad’s like, “I understand. You did really good. I’m just very proud of you because I also feel like you understand me.” It was so emotional for the three of us. We didn’t hug. When they see that final scene, they’re like, Eddie knew we loved him. And I think that mattered the most to them.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      ‘Boss Level’ Review: Game Never Over

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeBest Netflix DocumentariesNew on NetflixAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main story‘Boss Level’ Review: Game Never OverFrank Grillo gets to die another day — again and again and again — in the time-loop action comedy.Frank Grillo and Naomi Watts in “Boss Level.”Credit…HuluMarch 5, 2021, 7:00 a.m. ETBoss LevelDirected by Joe CarnahanAction, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller1h 40mFind TicketsWhen you purchase a ticket for an independently reviewed film through our site, we earn an affiliate commission.Frank Grillo’s character in “Boss Level” is named Roy Pulver, which must be short for Pulverize because that’s what he does to the assassins out to destroy him. No matter what they try — machete, grenade, Chinese sword, the tight-end Rob Gronkowski machine-gunning from a helicopter — Roy has a parade. Up until he doesn’t and gets killed, only to wake up back in his bed, ready to repeat the exact same ordeal and die another day.Directed by the B-movie expert Joe Carnahan (“The Grey), the lighthearted “Boss Level” is the latest iteration of the popular time-loop scenario, spelling out the video-game concept — repeat an action until you get good enough to move on — that has always fed this subgenre.[embedded content]Roy has an unlimited number of lives, which allows him to accumulate the experience necessary to overcome each obstacle. He’s a fast learner, too, becoming a sword master in just a few lessons; it probably helps that his instructor is no less than Michelle Yeoh. Roy eventually discovers that the plot against him involves a supersecret device overseen by his ex, Jemma (Naomi Watts, keeping an impeccable straight face amid the ambient silliness), and that her boss, Mel Gibson’s Col. Ventor, is up to no good — a big clue is that he’s named Col. Ventor.Roy grows as a killer over the course of the movie, which involves an increasingly tedious amount of repetitive violence played for laughs — he’s like Wile E. Coyote, brushing himself off after falling off a cliff or being blown up.As in most other time-loop iterations, Roy also grows as a person. But still a fun one with great hair! When he takes a break from battling his pursuers, he enjoys demolishing arcade-game baddies with his son, Joe (Grillo’s own son Rio). The lessons take longer to sink in when emotions are involved, but Roy eventually gets it. We knew he would, because we too have been there before.Boss LevelNot rated. Running time: 1 hour 34 minutes. Watch on Hulu.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More