A mother pays tribute to the sons she lost
'No matter how long we get to parent our children, there are only limited numbers of 'I love yous' we can say to them,' writes Yiyun Li in her memoir 'Things in Nature Merely Grow.' I love you is the parent's salutation, three parting words uttered via texts, before leaving on trips, at school drop-offs. An utterance so automatic that few of us, Li included, would give much thought to saying it for the last time. We may know the days are coming when our children will outgrow us, but it is beyond us to consider their permanent departure.
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Washington Post
4 days ago
- Washington Post
A mother pays tribute to the sons she lost
'No matter how long we get to parent our children, there are only limited numbers of 'I love yous' we can say to them,' writes Yiyun Li in her memoir 'Things in Nature Merely Grow.' I love you is the parent's salutation, three parting words uttered via texts, before leaving on trips, at school drop-offs. An utterance so automatic that few of us, Li included, would give much thought to saying it for the last time. We may know the days are coming when our children will outgrow us, but it is beyond us to consider their permanent departure.
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- Yahoo
Karate Kid: Legends Review: SOOOOO Many Cliches
HENDERSON, Ky. (WEHT) – Karate Kid: Legends is the sixth Karate Kid film, not counting the spinoff series Cobra Kai, and it is so riddled with cliches that there is almost nothing new, special, or interesting about this rehashed, remixed, clone-of-a-clone-of-a-clone-of-a-clone of a movie. Jonathan Entwistle directs Karate Kid: Legends, which stars Ben Wang as Li Fong, this film's titular Karate Kid – who actually practices Kung Fu. Jackie Chan returns from the remake made in 2010, Ralph Macchio returns from the original three films from the 1980s, and Ming-Na Wen plays Wang's character's mother, who initially disapproves of Li fighting. The story is familiar to anyone who has seen a Karate Kid movie: Li must fight in a city karate tournament to save his girlfriend's father's pizzeria from loan sharks. Friendship review Karate Kid: Legends is entirely composed of cliches. It is easy to know exactly what fights he's going to win, what fights he's going to lose, and where these characters are going to go at every single turn. If the mother character begins by disapproving her son's karate, what do you think is going to happen by the end? If there is a fight at the midpoint that would solve all of the characters' problems, do you think the protagonists are going to win? If Li needs to train to be successful, do you think there's going to be a montage? That question I can answer without fearing spoilers: yes, in fact, there are going to be several montages. Even if you're going to Karate Kid: Legends for the martial arts action, you will be disappointed. The martial arts action is cut to ribbons; the editing makes it almost impossible to figure out what is going on in these fights. Like most modern action films, the frenetic cutting makes it feel like stuff is going on, but any clarity of motion or geography gets lost in all the cuts. Most deceptive is the film's use of the two great stars of the franchise, Jackie Chan and Ralph Macchio. These two actors are given almost nothing to do in Karate Kid: Legends. The plot bends itself into a pretzel to include them, and yet it still gives them nothing to do. Neither character has an arc, and both characters don't show up on screen for any extended amount of time until the film is half-over. Heavily featured in the training montages, they exist to spout cliché dialogue and block a few punches in sparring sequences. For fans of the franchise or Cobra Kai, Karate Kid: Legends wastes the franchise's main draws. Most of the film's heavy lifting relies on Ben Wang, and he is the one good thing about Karate Kid: Legends. He is almost charming enough to save it, and it is through sheer force of will that he is able to make the movie halfway watchable. But with hackneyed 80s villains, bad action sequences, and a plot that regurgitates cliches, not even Wang's strong performance can save Karate Kid: Legends. Eyewitness News. Everywhere you are. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- Yahoo
'Karate Kid: Legends' star Jackie Chan: 'I'm not the action star anymore. I'm the actor who can fight'
The Karate Kid universe is expanding once again with the release of the new film Karate Kid: Legends (now in theatres), starring Ralph Macchio, Jackie Chan, Ben Wang, Sadie Stanley and Joshua Jackson. While Karate Kid and Cobra Kai fans all have a special place in their hearts for Pat Morita's Mr. Miyagi, now Macchio's Daniel LaRusso and Chan's Mr. Han are taking on that role. "I look at Ben, that's the old day Jackie Chan," Chan told Yahoo Canada. "I'm becoming a Miyagi." "This takes place probably three years after the events of Cobra Kai, which was important to me to separate some time," Macchio added. "So now, when you find Daniel LaRusso, he's gone through all those highs and lows of the Cobra Kai soap opera, because it was very much a karate soap opera in the best possible way." "And now he's landed in a very Miyagi kind of grounded, mature, balanced place in his life, and when it's time to help someone else out. Now we have a new story with an urban setting that we haven't seen before, and a style shot a little bit different, but we maintain the embrace of the nostalgia while telling a relevant story for families ... and young people, for today. So I'd like to believe that that's just the beginning of that section of this ecosystem in the universe." Teenage Li Fong (Ben Wang) is a particularly impressive kung fu prodigy, studying under Mr. Han in Beijing. But he has to leave his training behind when he moves to New York as his mom, played by Ming-Na Wen, gets a new job. She also has one rule for him: She doesn't want Li fighting anymore. A fish out of water in a new city, Li finds friendship with Mia (Sadie Stanley), whose father Victor (Joshua Jackson) owns a pizza shop, and he used to be a celebrated boxer. When Victor runs into some trouble, owing money that, if he can't pay back, means he could lose the pizzeria, the ex-boxer enlists Li to help him train for fights. But as things shift, the only way to get the money is for Li to participate in The Five Boroughs Tournament, a karate competition. When Mr. Han unexpectedly visits Li, that's when his training really starts again, with Mr. Han, who was friends with Mr. Miyagi, enlisting the help of Miyagi's protégé, Daniel LaRusso. Throughout the film, Li is also working through a significant past trauma, something he needs to reconcile with to both succeed in the competition and to have a constructive personal life. Karate Kid: Legends is a movie with a lot of heart, but also really leans into comedy, with the benefit of having Chan's expertise in that department. The actor highlighted that the family-friendly nature of the film is something he's partveryicularly proud of. "We talk about, how can we make the action sequence more family, not violent," Chan said. "Right now, in this moment, this movie makes me so happy." One of the best moments for that comedy is when both Daniel LaRusso and Mr. Han are trying to train Li, going back and forth knocking Li to the ground to try to prove which move, from karate or kung fu, will work better against Li's opponents in the tournament. "I feel like, if you have a movie with Ralph Macchio and Jackie Chan, you've got to get them fighting each other a little bit," Wang said. "It's nitpicky and it's fun and it's enjoyable, because he's [Li] is in middle of getting his butt kicked," Macchio added. "That's the entertainment part of it." As Macchio went on to highlight, director Jonathan Entwistle had a special approach in mind to film this movie, including the karate and king fu sequences, that differed from the original Karate Kid film. "The camera angles are inside the fight," Macchio explained. "Really, the camera's very close all the time. Very wide lenses, which is very different than how the original Karate Kid was shot, a little bit more ... romantic, longer takes, different styles." Karate Kid: Legends also really utilizes practical stunts, which does give the film a unique feel, especially when most new films use CGI for their action sequences. "I really admire the people [who are] so clever they can use this AI, CG, special effects to do all kinds of action," Chan said. "I don't know CGI, I have to do my own thing. In the old day, we had no money, we had no schedule. ... No rehearsal, boom, you have to jump." "I always tell the director, please hire me to do an Iron Man, Spider-Man, Batman, Superman. But no, they just hire me Rush Hour, Karate Kid. ... But honestly, me personally, I like the real things. I like to show the audience what I can do. Like 50 years ago I could do a triple kick. Twenty years later, OK double kick. But now one kick. ... I tell the audience, I'm not the action star anymore. I'm the actor who can fight, just like Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman." Now it's time for Wang to take on many of those famous Chan stunts. "One and a half is where I'm at right now," Wang said.
