film reviews

Are We Boycotting Mulan 2020 for the Wrong Reasons?

/ Sonora / 1 Comment
Screen grab from Mulan

Yes, and that’s a problem.

Disney’s release of Mulan 2020 was preceded by the headline news that the lead actress, Liu Yifei, had “tweeted” support of the Hong Kong police. Why is everyone so upset? Because the Hong Kong police have been aggressively stifling freedom of speech during protests for human rights. Why am I upset? Because the remake is a terrible film that I believe has worse connotations for human rights than Liu’s post on Weibo.

To understand the extent of why Mulan 2020 was a mistake, it’s first important to examine the 1998 film. It’s nearly impossible for a remake to exist without carrying baggage from the original and this film is no exception.

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The Best Christmas Stories – Novels, Films and Picture Books

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My favourite part of Christmas is the anticipation. Hoping for snowy days, smelling cookies in the oven, imagining people’s faces when they receive your gifts! In my opinion, traditions are key for this anticipation–remembering the events of the past and thinking about them continuing to occur, come what may. Traditions are our stories, and they make us feel grounded and safe.

In my family, stories are an important part of winter! From the much-loved picture books we’ve loved since I can remember, to some cute romcoms and wintery literature, here are a few of my favourite Christmas stories!

Please share your favourite festive stories with me in the comments! Continue reading →

My Favourite Spooky Books

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Happy day-after-Halloween, day-before-Dios de Los Muertos, and 1st day of NaNoWriMo!

As two of these events are traditionally spooky, let’s think about spooky books! Also, my NaNoWriMo story this year will probably have heavy vibes of all the books I’m about to mention, so I think this works nicely as today’s blog post. Disclaimer: I’m not a big reader of horror, so these books are not that–they’re just ‘spooky’ and play around with ideas of death/supernatural creatures/witches. You’ll also notice that there’s not much author/book variety here, so join in and please list your favourite ‘spooky’ books and why they’re worth reading in the comments! Continue reading →

Star Wars: The Last Jedi–Where it Went Wrong and Where it Went Right

/ Sonora / 1 Comment

1512369111_star-wars-last-jediI know I wasn’t the only one who shelled it out for the midnight iMax showing of The Last Jedi–the eighth film of the most iconic sci-fi series of all time. And I also know I wasn’t the only one who found it a little bit disappointing upon closer analysis in the taxi home (spoiler-free review).

It is a visually stunning film and it’s Star Wars–don’t get me wrong, I liked it. If you’ve not seen it, you should.

But I did have a few issues with the complicated plot.

I considered trying to write a spoiler-free review, but that would make it difficult to get specific about the plot from a literary viewpoint–the entire point of this post. So prepare yourself.

(WARNING–contains spoilers. A lot of them.) Continue reading →