Brandon Yu

Los Angeles, San Jose

Writer and Journalist at Freelance

culture writer // film critic @nytimes, @TheAtlantic, @VanityFair, @RollingStone, @variety, @sfchronicle, etc.

Articles

Five Free Movies to Stream Now

1 week ago | nytimes.com | Brandon Yu

In films like Andrew Haigh's "Weekend," you'll find new beginnings in time for spring. Here's a rundown of what's currently on Tubi, Plex and PlutoTV. Spring, with its blooms and many unfurlings, is a time of awakening. Yet birth and renewal also means being confronted with the cold light of day. The early seconds of Josephine Decker's 2018 film "Madeline's Madeline" opens on a theater exercise that doubles as a kind of transformation for its teenage protagonist.
‘A Minecraft Movie’ Review: Block by Bizarre Block

2 weeks ago | myheraldreview.com | Brandon Yu

Occasionally, amid the cycles of nostalgic clip-sharing that periodically occur online, you might happen upon the Berries and Cream video. The viral Starburst commercial, involving a briefcase-toting pilgrimesque lad, is a concise distillation of the particular brand of mid-to-late-aughts humor that dominated the early internet: quaintly absurd, silly, and above all, random.
'Sacramento' Review: Best Frenemies

2 weeks ago | nytimes.com | Brandon Yu

In this warmly funny indie comedy, two friends with a complicated past confront their grief and anxieties on a California road trip. SacramentoDirected by Michael Angarano ComedyR1h 29mFind TicketsWhen you purchase a ticket for an independently reviewed film through our site, we earn an affiliate commission.
Reseña de 'Una película de Minecraft': muy rara, bloque a bloque

2 weeks ago | infobae.com | Brandon Yu

MoviesBlack, JackMomoa, JasonHess, JaredA Minecraft Movie (Movie)Jack Black y Jason Momoa protagonizan esta adaptación del exitoso videojuego que evoca la tontería sin sentido de las comedias de principios de siglo XXI. De vez en cuando, en medio de los ciclos de intercambio de clips nostálgicos que se producen periódicamente en internet, puedes toparte con el video de Berries and Cream.
muy rara, bloque a bloque

2 weeks ago | nytimes.com | Brandon Yu

Jack Black y Jason Momoa protagonizan esta adaptación del exitoso videojuego que evoca la tontería sin sentido de las comedias de principios de siglo XXI. Video Back transcript'A Minecraft Movie' | Anatomy of a SceneJared Hess narrates a mine cart sequence from his film, featuring Jack Black, Jason Momoa and Sebastian Hansen. Hey, this is Jared Hess, director of "A Minecraft Movie." OK, in this scene, our main character is Jack Black.
‘A Minecraft Movie’ Review: Block by Bizarre Block

3 weeks ago | flipboard.com | Brandon Yu

NowI can’t believe it either. Hear me out. I too rolled my eyes when A Minecraft Movie was announced. We're all tired of seeing Jack Black in video game movies — he was fine in Super Mario Bros., but good god Borderlands was a disaster. And the Minecraft film's trailers did it no favors, another soulless …
Block by Bizarre Block

3 weeks ago | nytimes.com | Brandon Yu

Jack Black and Jason Momoa star in this adaptation of the megahit video game that leans into the mindless silliness of mid-aughts comedy. A Minecraft MovieDirected by Jared Hess Action, Adventure, Comedy, Family, FantasyPG1h 41mFind TicketsWhen you purchase a ticket for an independently reviewed film through our site, we earn an affiliate commission. Occasionally, amid the cycles of nostalgic clip-sharing that periodically occur online, you might happen upon the Berries and Cream video.
‘Novocaine’ Review: Sticks and Stones Will Never Hurt Him

1 month ago | myheraldreview.com | Brandon Yu

If we’re in a post- “John Wick” era, when action cinema has been revitalized and modernized — more bullets and blood, more choreographed spectacle — the thrills of the genre have strangely edged closer and closer to that earliest of movie pleasures: slapstick. Particularly in the man-on-a-rampage subgenre, as the violence and gore becomes increasingly absurd, these movies begin to echo that old format, where the more creative and outrageous the pain, the more visceral the pleasure.
Five free movies to stream now

1 month ago | sanjuandailystar.com | Brandon Yu

By Brandon YuMaybe Big Tech hasn’t delivered on its disruptive promise for movies after all: We’ve cut our cable cords for price and convenience only to pay just as much (if not more) to jump through hoops and across platforms, with diminishing returns in quality. But there’s always good work being made. This new column, then, is not about free stuff, but about discovery.
Five Free Movies to Stream Now

1 month ago | myheraldreview.com | Brandon Yu

Maybe Big Tech hasn’t delivered on its disruptive promise for movies after all: We’ve cut our cable cords for price and convenience only to pay just as much (if not more) to jump through hoops and across platforms, with diminishing returns in quality. But there’s always good work being made. This new column, then, is not about free stuff, but about discovery.