Everything Everywhere All At Once - 媽的多重宇宙

Everything Everywhere All at Once (媽的多重宇宙) is an 2022 film. The movie stars Michelle Yeoh. The supporting cast include Stephanie Hsu, Ke Huy Quan, Harry Shum Jr., James Hong, and Jamie Lee Curtis. The movie is directed by the Daniels, Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert. The movie has had a great awards season run of late and making headlines. I wanted to get this post out before the results of the Oscars.

Michelle Yeoh plas Evelyn, who is married to Waymond, played by Ke Huy Quan, the mother of Joy, played by Stephanie Hsu, and the daughter of Gong Gong, played by James Hong. Evelyn is full of responsibility as she is running a cleaning store that is attached to a laundry mat. The IRS has taken a keen interest in their tax fillings and has a meeting with an IRS agent, played by Jamie Lee Curtis , to discuss our submissions. While there, Evelyn finds out about her multiverse selves and has to decide is she can help those that contacted her to save it. There is an evil being trying to kill these other universes off. The first universe to fight back, Alphaverse, has contacted her to join the battle. Can Evelyn understand the alpha universes' cause and join in the fight to save them all?

This movie was well made and it kept my attention for most of the movie. There were moments where I had to decide if I wanted to press the forward button. But I did not and immediately felt like I would have rewound. The movie is a play on the multiverse concept that is in comics and the current MCU storyline. The concept of multiple versions of yourself being out there that can be better is a concept older than time. In Asian culture, the concept of the next life is a play on this very concept, abet a little different.

Michelle Yeoh does a great job in this movie in playing all the various versions of Evelyn. Ke does so as well in the role of Waymond. Stephanie has many versions, but they are essentially only two versions. The movie goes a round about way to get to the ending concept of Kindness. The family dynamic of Gong Gong, Evelyn, and Joy plays out dramatically here. Waymond’s struggle is of a son-in-law and husband looking for renewed longings.

I think this is a great American made Asian lead film that moves the needle. I’ll be looking to pick up the 4K Blu-ray someday to support the continued rise of Asian representation in American entertainment. I did not watch this movie in the theaters, but through streaming.

As for the Oscars, I do not have any respect for the awards that they give out, but my opinion doesn’t matter. When introducing things in the future, an instant way to give credibility to a movie or performer is to note how many Oscar noms or awards they got. Doesn’t matter if you care about the Oscars, it’s a standard that’s still used these days. Unavoidable, so I hope ETEWAAO can haul in the Oscars to give itself a standard that generally isn’t disputed.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings - 尚氣與十環傳奇

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings(尚氣與十環傳奇) is an 2021 film. The movie stars Simu Liu, Awkwafina, and Tony Leung. The supporting cast include Meng'er Zhang, Fala Chen, Florian Munteanu, Benedict Wong, Michelle Yeoh, and Ben Kingsley. This is the 25th and the first Asian led movie within the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film was originally set for release in February of 2021, but due to the pandemic, things got shifted around many times. During the shuffling, summer dates came and went.



Simu Liu is Shang-Chi and Awkwafina is Katy, whom are valet parking attendants at a high end hotel. On the way to work on the bus, they are attacked by a brute with a sword attached to his arm. Shang-chi comes clean with Katy about his past and that they were sent by the Ten Rings organization. Shang-Chi also tells Katy that his father is the leader and he must stop him. How will Shang-chi do that?



I went in with very low expectations and was pleasantly surprised. It is hard to put into words exactly how I feel as there is a sense of pride. Because Asian led products in the "west" have generally been very high on playing to stereotypes. This movie however played very little to it. It was also the first one that I felt was able to mix the world I grew up into a movie a little. I mean this in terms of the mix of English and Mandarin. The use and mix of the two was the best that I've seen in "western" films.



The story itself was fundamentally simple. But the items of each piece was complex in nature. In all, the movie was 4 acts. Each act built up to the next. The pace was really good as I didn't really want it to end. Tony Leung was his amazing self. Because I haven't seen his recent films, it was good to see him onscreen again. The rest of the cast met up with an amazing script so it was hard to mess up.



Some other parts of the MCU made their appearance to welcome their Asian buddy in. Very happy about that. I highly recommend this film. Go watch it!

My Expectations for Shang-Chi

In a few weeks, Marvel will be debuting their first Asian lead movie with Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. I am excited and cautious at the same time. Currently, my opinion of Asian lead activities in the "west" are that they play too much into the stereotypes. Mind you that I do not watch all of the Asian lead stuff, but watch some of the more mainstream ones.

I will admit that since the pandemic started, 75% or more of what I watch are directly out of Asia from Zhong Guo, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, and Japan.

My opinion is based on a couple of trailers and some recent Facebook clips. And I have high hopes! Seems that Simi Liu is going to bring a regular guy role who turns out to be awesome. Kinda like Ant-man.



Tony Leung, Tony Leung. My favorite actor from the 1980s through 1990s. I first saw him in Duke of Mount Deer, then in Heaven Sword, to the first TVB of Handsome Siblings. I grew up on his TVB series. Then his transition to movies with John Woo's Bullet In the Head and Hard Boiled. I have been a life long fan of his. I am hoping Kevin Feige lives up to his word that they will not play to Asian stereotypes, especially with Tony's role.

I have purchased tickets to watch the movie during its first weekend out. Although I am no longer brave enough to make the open nights, I still want to watch them in the theatre.

As much as I love seeing Asian representation in the West. I am sad that some of my favorite Asia based actors cannot join the fun. My favorites right now are a pair of Darrens in Darren Wang and Darren Chen. I also think Xiao Zhan and Yang Yang can play both gritty and slick roles. But Hollywood is not likely to tap the Asia market for their leads. We'll continue to see the same faces over and over again, because the pool is so small. It's a numbers thing in my opinion. Not likely to change in my lifetime.

The Children of Huang Shi - Escape from Huang Shi -- 黄石的孩子 -黃石任務

The Children of Huang Shi (黄石的孩子) is a 2008 film about children who travel the silk road during the China-Japanese war. The movie stars Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Radha Mitchell, Chow Yun-Fat and Michelle Yeoh.

In 1937, the Japanese have invaded Nanjing and George Hogg sneaks in to report on it. Hogg is saved by Chow, a communist officer and eventually lands in Huang Shi to recover. While there, he sets up a mini society with the children. But as the Nationalist are driven closer to Huang Shi by the Japanese from Nanjing, Hogg decides to take the children to Shan Dan. This prevents the children from being targeted for involuntary enlistment into the army and is far away from the heart of the war.

The movie is loosely based on Hogg's life. From Hogg's profile on Wikipedia, the events of the movie and the real life children are very far apart. In real life, Hogg lead the children in 1944, but the movie places it in 1937.

I was really surprised at Rhys-Meyers and Mitchell's Chinese. If you compare it to RDJ's Chinese from Topic Thunder, this was so much better. I could understand it for the most part.

In Hollywood, the normal procedure is that the Asians can't save themselves but its the white guy that swoops in and cultures them to salvation. This film is no different, but it is based on a true story. It is what is is.

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (The Mummy 3) - 神鬼傳奇3

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon (The Mummy 3 - 神鬼傳奇3) was released to world in the summer of 2008 and is now on DVD. If you've seen the first 2 of this trilogy, you can expect some of the same but its mostly a departure from the first 2 Mummy films. Brandon Fraser reprises his role as Rick O'Connell as well as John Hannah as Johnathan Carnahan. The rest of the crew are new to the franchise. Jet Li, Michelle Yeoh, Isabella Leong, Anthony Wong, Jacky Wu, Jessey Meng, and Russell Wong (李連杰,楊紫瓊,梁洛施,黃秋生,吳京,孟廣美,王盛德).

The movie is the same formula of the first two. A mummy is resurrected and its up to the hero and friends to take care of it. In this installment, the main mummy is Jet Li. Jet Li has to get to the eye of Shangri-la to find the fountain of youth. Once there, the fountain gives him powers, including the ability to raise his mummified terracotta army. The heroes try to prevent this and you know the rest.

There are varying degrees of Mandarin Chinese spoken in the film. However, of the main Chinese cast, only Jet Li and Jessey Meng are fluent in Mandarin. Michelle Yeoh, Isabella Leong, Anthony Wong and Russell Wong would not call Mandarin Chinese their first tongue, and you can tell. Its weird to hear and see this unfold in an Hollywood film.  And this is only the Chinese actors.  Imagine when you hear Luke Ford and friends speak Chinese.  I can imagine, I took Chinese 1 and 2 in college.  Its like that.

I selected this off Netflix because I liked Mummy 1 and 2. I also wanted to see if the movie was as bad its been made out to be. It was that and much more. I won't ever want to watch this again.

Having scored $400 million plus worldwide. You can bet another sequel is coming. The epilogue points to Peru. Will Isabella Leong reprise her roll now that she's an love interest and mortal?