Plot: Follows Chang, a 16-year-old, Asian American high school student in the marching band, who bets the school basketball star that he can dunk by Homecoming. The bet leads the 5’ 8″ Chang on a quest to find the hops he needs to dunk in order to impress his crush, Kristy, and finally gain the attention and respect of his high school peers. But before he can rise up and truly throw one down, he’ll have to reexamine everything he knows about himself, his friendships and his family.
Review: The tried and true formula of sports underdog stories has been a staple of movies for decades. From Rocky to Hoosiers, The Mighty Ducks to Remember the Titans, every sport has had a cinematic showcase allowing audiences to believe that even the average can do the incredible. With training montages, adversity overcome, and some inspirational music to liven the mood, sports movies...
Review: The tried and true formula of sports underdog stories has been a staple of movies for decades. From Rocky to Hoosiers, The Mighty Ducks to Remember the Titans, every sport has had a cinematic showcase allowing audiences to believe that even the average can do the incredible. With training montages, adversity overcome, and some inspirational music to liven the mood, sports movies...
- 3/14/2023
- by Alex Maidy
- JoBlo.com
It’s easy to think that the latest offering on Disney+ will be yet another inspirational, underdog sports movie. After all, the film concerns a 16-year-old Asian-American high-school student who sets out to prove that he can perform a slam dunk despite his underwhelming 5’8” height. So you can expect that by the end of Chang Can Dunk the titular hero will defy the odds, defeat his foe and win the hearts of everyone concerned. Right?
Well, yes and no. Writer-director Jingyi Shao covers all those bases (wrong sport, I know), including the obligatory training montage and the introduction of a wholesome romantic interest. But the filmmaker, making his feature debut, also has more interesting things in mind, delivering a darker, more complex story that nonetheless proves utterly heartwarming by the end.
At the story’s beginning, Chang (Bloom Li, making a terrific feature debut, in which he’s onscreen nearly...
Well, yes and no. Writer-director Jingyi Shao covers all those bases (wrong sport, I know), including the obligatory training montage and the introduction of a wholesome romantic interest. But the filmmaker, making his feature debut, also has more interesting things in mind, delivering a darker, more complex story that nonetheless proves utterly heartwarming by the end.
At the story’s beginning, Chang (Bloom Li, making a terrific feature debut, in which he’s onscreen nearly...
- 3/10/2023
- by Frank Scheck
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
“Chang Can Dunk” doesn’t go the way you’d expect, and that’s a good thing. Here’s a Disney movie about a 5-foot-8-inch Chinese American high school basketball player who bets his rival that he can dunk by the end of the season. He gets his wish about an hour in, but there’s still a long way for the character to go — and grow — in a film that believes maturity isn’t achieved by shortcuts.
The result marks the attention-worthy debut of writer-director Jingyi Shao, and exemplifies the sort of movies Disney should be making: It has its values in the right place, but doesn’t pretend its hero is perfect. If there’s a villain in “Chang Can Dunk,” that role is arguably filled by the title character. In time, the obsessive teen’s ultra-competitive personality winds up alienating practically everyone in his life, except...
The result marks the attention-worthy debut of writer-director Jingyi Shao, and exemplifies the sort of movies Disney should be making: It has its values in the right place, but doesn’t pretend its hero is perfect. If there’s a villain in “Chang Can Dunk,” that role is arguably filled by the title character. In time, the obsessive teen’s ultra-competitive personality winds up alienating practically everyone in his life, except...
- 3/10/2023
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
"Everybody's talking about you, dude!" Disney has revealed an official trailer for a new high school sports movie called Chang Dan Dunk, the feature directorial debut of filmmaker Jing Yi Shao. The movie will be streaming on Disney+ starting in early March, which is really the ideal place for something like this to premiere." Freshman Chang is no more. Chang 2.0 is here!" Bloom Li stars as 16-year-old Asian-American Chang, who is an unpopular high schooler who loves basketball, but is always underestimated. Though his peers treat him as though he is insignificant, he becomes obsessed with learning how to slam dunk. Chang is determined to best the high school's all-star named Matt, all while hopefully winning the adoration of his romantic interest, Kristy. Also starring Ben Wang, Chase Liefeld, Eric Anthony Lopez, Nile Bullock, Zoe Renee, Mardy Ma, and Angel Oquendo as "Coach". This actually looks pretty good! Worth a watch.
- 2/21/2023
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Disney+ has unveiled the trailer for “Chang Can Dunk” from filmmaker Jingyi Shao, one of Variety’s “10 Directors to Watch” for 2023.
The coming-of-age sports film — which begins streaming March 10 — follows Chang (Bloom Li), an unpopular high schooler who loves basketball and Pokémon. Chang finds himself wagering a bet with the school’s all-star player, Matt (Chase Liefeld), that he will be able to make a slam dunk — in 12 weeks time.
The film also stars Zoe Renee, Ben Wang, Dexter Darden, Anthony Lopez, Nile Bullock, Mardy Ma and Angel Oquendo.
“I was really inspired by early ’90s coming-of-age films, but specifically sports-coming-of-age films like ‘Mighty Ducks,’” Shao tells Variety of his feature directorial debut.
The film examines teenage social hierarchies and family dynamics from the perspective of people of color living in communities where they’re a minority population.
“In a town where there aren’t a lot of other Asian American families,...
The coming-of-age sports film — which begins streaming March 10 — follows Chang (Bloom Li), an unpopular high schooler who loves basketball and Pokémon. Chang finds himself wagering a bet with the school’s all-star player, Matt (Chase Liefeld), that he will be able to make a slam dunk — in 12 weeks time.
The film also stars Zoe Renee, Ben Wang, Dexter Darden, Anthony Lopez, Nile Bullock, Mardy Ma and Angel Oquendo.
“I was really inspired by early ’90s coming-of-age films, but specifically sports-coming-of-age films like ‘Mighty Ducks,’” Shao tells Variety of his feature directorial debut.
The film examines teenage social hierarchies and family dynamics from the perspective of people of color living in communities where they’re a minority population.
“In a town where there aren’t a lot of other Asian American families,...
- 2/21/2023
- by Charna Flam
- Variety Film + TV
Horror Highlights: Wizard World Minneapolis, Comet TV April Contest, Two Sentence Horror Stories: Ma
In today's Horror Highlights, we have an exciting update on the guest lineup for Wizard World Minneapolis, as well as Comet TV's April contest and details on Two Sentence Horror Stories: Ma, which will be featured at the Tribeca Film Festival.
Minneapolis Wizard World Lineup: Press Release: "Minneapolis, April 2017 – Wizard World, Inc. (Otcbb: Wizd) continues its 2017 schedule with its fourth trip to the Minneapolis Convention Center at Wizard World Comic Con Minneapolis, May 5-7. Charlie Sheen (“Two and a Half Men,” Platoon), Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman (“Doctor Who”), Nichelle Nichols (“Star Trek”), Charisma Carpenter and Nicholas Brendon (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer”), Lou Ferrigno (“The Incredible Hulk”) and “The Monkees” duo of Peter Tork and Micky Dolenz headline the roster of celebrity guests scheduled to attend the comic con and pop culture extravaganza.
Sheen, Carpenter, Capaldi and Coleman will attend Saturday and Sunday, May 6-7; the others are scheduled for all three days.
Minneapolis Wizard World Lineup: Press Release: "Minneapolis, April 2017 – Wizard World, Inc. (Otcbb: Wizd) continues its 2017 schedule with its fourth trip to the Minneapolis Convention Center at Wizard World Comic Con Minneapolis, May 5-7. Charlie Sheen (“Two and a Half Men,” Platoon), Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman (“Doctor Who”), Nichelle Nichols (“Star Trek”), Charisma Carpenter and Nicholas Brendon (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer”), Lou Ferrigno (“The Incredible Hulk”) and “The Monkees” duo of Peter Tork and Micky Dolenz headline the roster of celebrity guests scheduled to attend the comic con and pop culture extravaganza.
Sheen, Carpenter, Capaldi and Coleman will attend Saturday and Sunday, May 6-7; the others are scheduled for all three days.
- 4/17/2017
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
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