Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021) - Simu Liu, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Awkwafina

[Majin Android]

28 minutes ago, Super Ninja said:

Hm.. now I'm actually tempted to watch Twilight, didn't think that would ever happen.

Heard good things about US Seals 2, now I'm twice as interested. Am I wrong in understanding it's actually one of Florentine's finer films, action wise?

I saw one final battle at the end of a later Twilight and it was mostly not good cgi on the ice.

US Seals 2 is tight. Good stuff.

[AlbertV]

13 hours ago, Super Ninja said:

 

Heard good things about US Seals 2, now I'm twice as interested. Am I wrong in understanding it's actually one of Florentine's finer films, action wise?

Here is Andy himself sporting blond hair against former Power Ranger Dan Southworth,  who would end up as his assistant on a few films including The Rundown before collaborating again with Michael Worth on some movies. 

[Majin Android]

Watched Shang-Chi in theaters for a second time last night and I enjoyed it more this time around seeing it with my friends (who don't follow martial arts cinema and mcu as much as i) and with my expectations dialed down 1.5 notches.

My first viewing was on a smaller screen, on a less robust sound system with a little picture noise during darker scenes.

[DrNgor]

Interesting article about Shang Chi and its relationship with Asian-American and East Asian audiences.

As someone who attended school in California where a) the majority of the students were Asian (Chinese, Cambodian, Vietnamese, Laotian and Hmong) and b) I thought all Asian ethnicities were beautiful, it's kinda mind-boggling for me to read about how East Asian audiences bitch about Hollywood casting actresses based on "Western Standards" of a Asian beauty (i.e. the Lucy Liu model), as opposed to "Asian Standards" of Asian beauty (i.e. the Fan Bing-Bing model).

[OpiumKungFuCracker]

1 hour ago, DrNgor said:

Interesting article about Shang Chi and its relationship with Asian-American and East Asian audiences.

As someone who attended school in California where a) the majority of the students were Asian (Chinese, Cambodian, Vietnamese, Laotian and Hmong) and b) I thought all Asian ethnicities were beautiful, it's kinda mind-boggling for me to read about how East Asian audiences bitch about Hollywood casting actresses based on "Western Standards" of a Asian beauty (i.e. the Lucy Liu model), as opposed to "Asian Standards" of Asian beauty (i.e. the Fan Bing-Bing model).

Yeah, there's always someone bitching and complaining about everything and not being accurate enough. Still haven't seen Shang Chi yet and I'm sure it's good. I'm Cambodian, first generation and My favorite movies are usually Gangster epics like Goodfellas and Scarface, etc.. If a movie is good, that's all that counts to me. Growing up, I had plenty of Asian faces to look up to like, Haing S. Ngor, Data from the Goonies, and then you have hong kong cinema, Ernie Reyes Jr. Plenty of stars and never had a problem with representation. 

I'll go on and say it, this generation of kids are soft. It's not their fault though, the parents bringing them up are a bunch of idiots. Not all but, you get the picture. 

[Super Ninja]

On 9/19/2021 at 8:27 AM, AlbertV said:

Here is Andy himself sporting blond hair against former Power Ranger Dan Southworth,  who would end up as his assistant on a few films including The Rundown before collaborating again with Michael Worth on some movies. 

No other recommendation needed, thanks.

On 9/21/2021 at 3:11 PM, OpiumKungFuCracker said:

If a movie is good, that's all that counts to me. 

Amen to that brother. Everything gets overly politicized these days and looked through the prism of race, ethnicity, religion, gender etc. It's in to be tolerant nowadays with everyone demanding their rights, even to the point of exaggerating, so you gotta be careful what you say, take a look at Arnold's "screw your freedom" case. On the other hand, you have influencers taking a photo doing charitable work, only to sit in their BMW and drive away afterwards. Everything seems to be losing value including movies and music, fake like some people today, glossy on the outside, empty on the inside.

I'm nostalgic about the times when watching movies was about movies. It doesn't make you a smarter audience commenting if Asian-Americans are well represented in Shang-Chi or not, why bother unless it's really your concern, unless you're Asian-American and you're bothered by it. Is Kate really about a white girl killing Japanese, is there nothing more to Birth of the Dragon than whitewashing? Care about if a movie is good or not, how good is the action, what's the comedy like. Personally, I prefer politically incorrect humor, hope it lives through these wild times. 

Edited September 22, 2021 by Super Ninja

[OpiumKungFuCracker]

22 hours ago, Super Ninja said:

No other recommendation needed, thanks.

Amen to that brother. Everything gets overly politicized these days and looked through the prism of race, ethnicity, religion, gender etc. It's in to be tolerant nowadays with everyone demanding their rights, even to the point of exaggerating, so you gotta be careful what you say, take a look at Arnold's "screw your freedom" case. On the other hand, you have influencers taking a photo doing charitable work, only to sit in their BMW and drive away afterwards. Everything seems to be losing value including movies and music, fake like some people today, glossy on the outside, empty on the inside.

I'm nostalgic about the times when watching movies was about movies. It doesn't make you a smarter audience commenting if Asian-Americans are well represented in Shang-Chi or not, why bother unless it's really your concern, unless you're Asian-American and you're bothered by it. Is Kate really about a white girl killing Japanese, is there nothing more to Birth of the Dragon than whitewashing? Care about if a movie is good or not, how good is the action, what's the comedy like. Personally, I prefer politically incorrect humor, hope it lives through these wild times. 

I'm with you bro. The internet is just one giant cesspool of complaining and not being enough of something.  I miss the video store days man. 

[paimeifist]

On 9/21/2021 at 9:11 AM, OpiumKungFuCracker said:

Yeah, there's always someone bitching and complaining about everything and not being accurate enough. Still haven't seen Shang Chi yet and I'm sure it's good. I'm Cambodian, first generation and My favorite movies are usually Gangster epics like Goodfellas and Scarface, etc.. If a movie is good, that's all that counts to me. Growing up, I had plenty of Asian faces to look up to like, Haing S. Ngor, Data from the Goonies, and then you have hong kong cinema, Ernie Reyes Jr. Plenty of stars and never had a problem with representation. 

I'll go on and say it, this generation of kids are soft. It's not their fault though, the parents bringing them up are a bunch of idiots. Not all but, you get the picture. 

Well said, good man OKFC.

[AlbertV]

On 9/18/2021 at 1:12 PM, Majin Android said:

I saw one final battle at the end of a later Twilight and it was mostly not good cgi on the ice.

I believe Andy only worked on the first Twilight movie. The Edward vs. James fight won Best Fight at the MTV movie awards that year. 

[Majin Android]

4 hours ago, AlbertV said:

I believe Andy only worked on the first Twilight movie. The Edward vs. James fight won Best Fight at the MTV movie awards that year. 

i remember all that now

[DrNgor]

Shang Chi is the most successful Hollywood movie of 2021 so far (at least domestically), so I can imagine someone at Time-Warner-DC-whatever getting the idea to do their own. Could we possibly get a Lady Shiva movie (I know there are other DC martial artists who are Caucasian)?

Edited September 29, 2021 by DrNgor

[OpiumKungFuCracker]

15 hours ago, DrNgor said:

Shang Chi is the most successful Hollywood movie of 2021 so far (at least domestically), so I can imagine someone at Time-Warner-DC-whatever getting the idea to do their own. Could we possibly get a Lady Shiva movie (I know there are other DC martial artists who are Caucasian)?

I’ll look into shiva, first time hearing it. Only comic book movie I hope they make in the future is: The punisher or something like it 

[DrNgor]

9 minutes ago, OpiumKungFuCracker said:

I’ll look into shiva, first time hearing it. Only comic book movie I hope they make in the future is: The punisher or something like it 

Here's a list of DC heroes who are martial arts masters.

[laagi]

I've yet to catch this but was rather irritated by the bad press it got in the twitter verse. Glad to see that the majority of members enjoy a movie as entertainment first and foremost.

I feel like these scandals spread like wild-fire once hitting social media and being shared (of course) without any interest in the actual subject matter. Blowing up a small piece and opinion; which we all obviously have, to almost biblical proportions. Thus making us believe that's how the majority feels about something. When as a matter of fact it's quite the opposite... Sound too familiar?

I wished I could say this will be the last time we hear of this but it's only getting worse. As for Shang Chi and especially Simu Liu. Apparently now some forces try to bury his career before it can take off with yet another "you know what (enter name here) said on (enter website here) back in (enter year here)" scandal. Truly strange times we're living in!

[Drunken Monk]

27 minutes ago, laagi said:

I wished I could say this will be the last time we hear of this but it's only getting worse. As for Shang Chi and especially Simu Liu. Apparently now some forces try to bury his career before it can take off with yet another "you know what (enter name here) said on (enter website here) back in (enter year here)" scandal. Truly strange times we're living in!

I'd like to think Marvel are more wary of "cancel culture" after they fired James Gunn and then, due to pressure, had to rehire him. It amazes me that these multi-billion dollar companies are so terrified over a couple of dweebs online yelling "He made a dirty joke!"

[laagi]

18 hours ago, Drunken Monk said:

I'd like to think Marvel are more wary of "cancel culture" after they fired James Gunn and then, due to pressure, had to rehire him. It amazes me that these multi-billion dollar companies are so terrified over a couple of dweebs online yelling "He made a dirty joke!"

One dweeb or should I say tweet seems to be making all the difference nowadays

[laagi]

Finally watched it. And I gotta admit for the most part I was totally wrong about this one.

I'm gonna go as far as saying that for the first act of the movie I've had an absolute blast and loved every minute of it. Really reminded me of these early modern day Jackie Chan movies (obviously not surprising). The blend of action and humour. Just great fun to watch and something that immediately got a hold on me. Not to mention the story which also worked great, thanks largely to the great perfomances with Tony Leung leading the way. 

Therefore it really hurts me to say that after a fantastic start it kind of slows down and becomes this typical Marvel movie. There is still glimpses of the same joy towards the end with Shang Chi fighting his Dad. But it never reaches the same level of overall entertainment as the first act did. Which made me sad and also kind of upset. I'm not familiar with the source material so they probably followed that. But even the last 30 minutes felt more like watching Godzilla Vs Kong than anything else.

Another thing which I found weird was the varying level of CGI. Something I'm usually not aware of when it comes to Marvel movies. Also some sudden disappearances of characters only to come back in the last second, seemed rather akward.

Overall I would give this the highest recommendation for the first act, easily some of the most entertaining on screen fighting in combination with story and humour I've watched in a long time. However due to the second and third act this only comes with a recommendation. I hope they'll give us more of the good stuff in the near future. The potential is certainly there.

[nectarsis]

finally getting to see (AWESOME seeing Michele Yeoh, Yuen Wah).

[Drunken Monk]

It was announced today that Destin Daniel Cretton has signed on to write and direct a Shang-Chi sequel. He's also signed on to write an upcoming Marvel tv project, though no details have been disclosed.

[DrNgor]

And Shang Chi has gotten an Oscar nod for Best Visual Effects. Congratulations to Christopher Townsend, Joe Farrell, Sean Noel Walker, and Dan Oliver!

[AlbertV]

This will be posted in the TV streaming thread, but director Destin Daniel Cretton and Michelle Yeoh  will reunite on a new Disney+ fantasy action series called American Born Chinese. 

[DiP]

I'm glad that the movie is being recognized globally for it's Asian cast, and being very successful at the box-office. In the midst of its' release, it has also become apparent to me how Hollywood are starting to cast Asian performers in various movies without relying on stereotypes.

All that being said, I must unfortunately set myself among the minority and say the overall movie is bland. Something I already predicted by watching the trailers. Good action scenes, and great performances by Tony Leung-Chiu-wai and Michelle Yeoh. But this was a typical Marvel movie relying too much on CGI and doesn't engross enough with the story.