Posted on 10 December 2009.
By Ninette Cheng
Northwest Asian Weekly
This November included some highs and lows for Asian American performers, some breakups, a World Series performance, a film with a mostly Asian cast, an angel, and my favorite, a sexiest man title! Let’s get the bad news over with!
Posted in Column: Pop Culture, Vol 28 No 51 | 12/12-18Comments (1)
Posted on 25 November 2009.
By Andrew Hamlin
Northwest Asian Weekly
“Ninja Assassin,” the new film from director James McTeigue, begins with a Japanese tattoo artist working on a yakuza’s back. Blood flows down from the tattoo needle. With only short respites, blood also flows throughout the rest of the film. Blood isn’t enough, however, to compensate for the film’s anemia in other areas.
South Korean pop singer Rain stars as Raizo, a lonely ninja. As the film unfolds, we see how he learned to stalk and kill as a child from master Ozunu (played by Shô Kosugi, a veteran of many martial arts films in Japan). However, Raizo later broke away from Ozunu and the entire ninja clan, and went rogue. As a result, his former “family” is trying to kill him. Read the full story
Posted in At the Movies, Vol 28 No 49 | 11/28 - 12/4Comments (5)
