Blueprints: "Crazy Rich Asians"

I’m back. Thanks everyone for bearing with the small hiatus that the column took for the past few weeks. Who knew being overworked and sick wasn’t a good time? For our return, let’s take a look at the biggest movie of the summer, and how a pivotal scene operates in many emotional levels. -Jorge

Warning! Crazy Rich Spoilers ahead!

There are many things to admire in Crazy Rich Asians. Consider theway it reinvents a rom-com formula that seemed to have gotten stale. Or its historic all-Asian cast, something that hadn’t happened in an American movie in over two decades. Big themes of family, legacy, tradition and culture running through its veins. And Michele Yeoh’s stare. One scene in the movie encompasses all of these traits.

The mahjong game, the final confrontation between Rachel (Constance Wu) and Eleanor (Michelle Yeoh) was not in the original novel; it was written specifically for the film. It's one of the most emotionally powerful moments of the movie, where Rachel finally gives up the fight and backs away from her fiancée and his family that clearly doesn’t want her there. But in the scene, Rachel reclaims power and control in many levels at the same time. Let’s take a look at the script to see how the most tense movie moment of the summer was crafted. Sorry, Mission Impossible...

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Review: "Crazy Rich Asians"

by Chris Feil

Crazy Rich Asians feels like something sterling from the past, the kind of wholly satisfying and rapturous romantic comedy that we bemoan is missing from the multiplex. Director Jon M. Chu’s loving embrace of the genre pulls its influences from across the decades, infusing Doris Day/Rock Hudson rompiness with the cutting character detail of The Devil Wears Prada. It’s a high mark that the film clears and safely so, sliding with ease onto a shelf next to your rewatchable favorites - and it’s been a minute since something new joined the ranks.

The film’s massive ensemble is led by Constance Wu as Rachel Chu, a self-made economics professor set for her fated meeting with the overseas family of her charming boyfriend Nick Young, played by a painfully dashing Henry Golding. Unbeknownst to Rachel, this family wedding getaway is about to thrust her center stage in front of one of the wealthiest families in Singapore. And all of the generational expectations and deceptive opulence that entails...

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Beauty Break: "Crazy Rich Asians" Covers THR

Chris here. While August is usually a slow winding down of the summer movie season into unfortunateness, one of this summer's most anticipated is still to come: hit lit adaptation Crazy Rich Asians! We fans of Kevin Kwan's extended family book series already know why you should be very excited about this Jane Austen-esque delight, but allow me to quickly illuminate you what's in store: an ever rare romantic comedy, set in the glamorous and opulent lifestyle of the filthy rich, and most crucially, the first American studio film led by an Asian American cast in decades.

The film is currently sitting poolside on the cover of The Hollywood Reporter, which gives us a moment to luxuriate in its gloriousness...

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YNMS x 3: Crazy Rich Asians, Venom, and Woman Walks Ahead

So many trailers hitting recently. So little time to Yes No Maybe So them all. So let's catch up with three of the newer ones after the jump: Crazy Rich Asians, Venom, and Woman Walks Ahead...

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Four Better Ways to Spend Avatar's Billion Dollar Budget

By Ilich Mejia

Avatar 2 just began production after it was announced that the saga's four upcoming sequels (filming back-to-back) will have an alleged combined budget of $1 billion. For those of you too pretty to be bothered by mental math, that's an estimated $250 million per sequel. Very good news for the realtor finalizing the purchase of Sigourney Weaver's next vacation home; less good for our over-stuffed "sequels no one needs" file.

To be fair, $250 million doesn't come close to matching the fourth installment no one wanted of the Pirates of the Caribbean series' ($370 million budget), but it is still two handfuls of zeroes (if—for whatever reason—you are missing a pinky) for movies that will come out in the next eight years. 

In an effort that could willingly be misinterpreted as a cry against the threat of capitalism, we have come up with four more pressing ways to spend someone else's money. Come disagree!

01. $250 MILLION for the Crazy Rich Asians press tour + sequels

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