![]() ![]() It’s true that Tom is not technically Asian but Inuit, but in the 1960’s, comic books didn’t make those kinds of distinctions. The real reason for his “Pieface” nickname is that the term was (and still is) a racial slur for Asian people, especially Inuits, referring to their relatively flat and round facial features, like the bottom of a pie. Interestingly enough, in the comic book lore, there was a time when his character was referred as “Pieface ” the current explanation for that nickname is because he likes to eat pies. In the Green Lantern film, Taika’s character of Thomas Kalmaku was a computer geek but he came off more as a genuine person than a caricature or stereotype. Recently, he wrote and directed Boy, New Zealand’s highest grossing local film of all time. One of the coolest things about Taika is that not only is he an actor, he is also a writer and director. ![]() Even though the director is from New Zealand, the casting find was done purely through the casting director Pam Dixon which, in my personal opinion, is pretty awesome considering that Taika is well known in New Zealand and internationally but virtually unknown in the United States. More details, after the jump.ĭuring the press junket conference, I asked the director Martin Campbell how he came across the Maori actor Taika Waititi to play Thomas Kalmaku, who plays Hal Jordan’s best friend and one of the few who knows Hal’s Green Lantern identity. What is Green Lantern’s significance to an Asian American blog, besides our Green Lantern prize giveaway? The film features Waititi’s character Thomas Kalmaku and his former history of being called “Pie Face,” a racial slur used against Inuits and Asians. Both of these actors did a grand job with the roles given to them. Within this film are two Pacific Islander actors who play significant roles in this blockbuster film: Taika Waititi and Temuera Morrison, an actor who has never appeared in any American films and the other actor you may recall playing Jango Fett in Star Wars, Episode II. The director is known to direct good flicks like Goldeneye and Casino Royale (two good movies), but I wish he did more studied more, had split up more stories to be more single- minded and not work on a cluttered material.On June 7th, I had the privilege of checking out a press screening of Warner Brothers’ Green Lantern which opens in theaters on June 17th. ![]() This is a summer of superheroes, with 3 down and one more to go (well, technically 5 with Transformers if you're thinking comic book stories), so it's quite impossible not to compare them to each other. Kids will enjoy it, but adults likely will not. But the way the writers and director put things together were a mixture of various plots and subplots crazy glued into one movie for pure entertainment. > Some scenes and even some characters were not necessary (Hal's best friend, even some scenes with Blake's Carol Ferris were not needed) they should have added more action instead Summary, visual effects, actors, GL base story good. (like when there was a build up of momentum, things go slow or boring or from serious to funny without proper pacing) too many stories were crammed into one movie > Humor was misplaced at times (good peg is Thor which had it in the flow rather than contrived/forced) > Parallax looked comical scary at times but only a couple of times > Like Iron Man 2, I wish the fight scenes were so much more they spent too much on the set-up that the fights were short and could have been so much more and elaborate. > It tried to fit too much into one movie, moving back and forth from Earth and outer space/OA, thus there was no proper flow. Visual/CGI effects were pretty good Bad Points. Hammond) to Angela Bassett (Amanda Waller) 8. Good supporting cast from Tim Robbins (Sen. Hector Hammond was well portrayed by Peter Saarsgard (though it lacked a proper finish) 7. Green Lanterns Tomar Re, Kilowog and Abin Sur were damn good but didn't have enough screen time to be significant 5. Blake Lively was eye candy super hot, but not much else 4. ![]() Ryan Reynolds did decently as Hal Jordan (though he fits more with the Kyle Rayner/Guy Gardner type than Jordan) - but I wish he was more serious though non-GL fans couldn't care less about this 3. It stuck fairly consistently with the mythos of the origin and Planet OA 2. As someone who's followed Green Lantern a little bit of a decent amount (not big but fairly decent, for DC character), I liked some things about the movie but I definitely say that it could have been made better, both for casual fans, non-GL fans or hard core ones. ![]()
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