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Post by ironhammer on Sept 5, 2021 21:12:17 GMT -5
Saw Shang-Chi last night. I haven't seen all the MCU movies and some Marvel movies are quite annoying in that you have to reference other movies to get the plot or jokes in the actual movie you are watching. So I went to see the movie with some reservations. BUT it was a lot better than I thought. Shang-Chi started off as a sort of Bruce Lee rip-off by Marvel in the 70's to cash in on the Kung-fu craze that Lee developed back then. I was surprised how much depth however the director and writers gave to the character. At times, it was actually quite moving in how Shang-Chi dealt with his family issues, reflecting I suppose the Asian American immigrant experience.
But what really captivated me about the movie wasn't the protagonist Shang-Chi (Simu Liu) but his antagonist father Wenwu/The Mandarin, played by acclaimed Hong Kong actor Tony Leung. US mainstream audiences probably is not familiar with him, but on the international film circuit, he has won many awards. In Hong Kong, he is known for his collaboration with action director John Woo (Leung starred in "Hard Boiled", a 1992 action flicked with Chow Yun-Fat and "Red Cliff", a 2008 historical epic), art-house director Wong Kar-Wai ("Ashes of Time", 1994; "Chungking Express", 1994; "In the Mood for Love", 2000; "2046", 2004), Hollywood director Ang Lee ("Lust, Caution", 2007) and crime drama director Andrew Lau ("Infernal Affairs", 2002, which was adapted by Martin Scoresee into the Academy award winning "The Departed" in 2006). The one film US audience might have seen Tony Leung in was probably the critically acclaimed Jet Li martial arts flick "Hero", in 2002, which top the US box office.
Tony is the villain in Shang-Chi, but he is a villain with unusual depth. He isn't an over-the-top cartoon baddie. In a way, he is almost a tragic character given his backstory, you understand his motivation, even if you disagree with his method. The way his eyes project emotion without saying a word is quite engrossing. You are more fascinated with that character than Shang-Chi.
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Post by XAsstCoach on Sept 5, 2021 21:24:07 GMT -5
I find the fact that they're releasing a movie called "The Suicide Squad" to be rather confusing. Is it a sequel to "Suicide Squad"? A remake/reboot? In any case, should have done something different for the title other than just throwing "the" in front of it. Then again these comic book movies tend to be confusing in that regard. (a bajillion Batman and Spiderman movies, various versions of "Fantastic Four" and "X-Men", two different Hulk movies, etc.) Saw Suicide Squad and thoroughly enjoyed it. Director James Gunn did an amazing job although it's scary to see what he does when he's not as restrained as he would be with a Marvel movie. WARNING... it is gory. It's also dark, weird, and artistic. Definitely one of the best DC movies but that's a pretty low bar. Really? I thought DC fans hated the dark, gloomy atmosphere. They complained about Man of Steel and BvS as too dark...I loved it. Then they tried to lighten the mood with Justice League and I cringed at the forced comedy. The Snyder's Cut was much better, can't wait to get my copy this week! Looking forward to seeing this new Suicide Squad movie.
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Post by bbg95 on Sept 5, 2021 22:55:02 GMT -5
Saw Suicide Squad and thoroughly enjoyed it. Director James Gunn did an amazing job although it's scary to see what he does when he's not as restrained as he would be with a Marvel movie. WARNING... it is gory. It's also dark, weird, and artistic. Definitely one of the best DC movies but that's a pretty low bar. Really? I thought DC fans hated the dark, gloomy atmosphere. They complained about Man of Steel and BvS as too dark...I loved it. Then they tried to lighten the mood with Justice League and I cringed at the forced comedy. The Snyder's Cut was much better, can't wait to get my copy this week! Looking forward to seeing this new Suicide Squad movie. I wouldn't say Man of Steel or Batman v. Superman were "too dark." I just didn't think they were very good. I'm not super high on a lot of MCU movies either. I mean, they're fine for what they are. But most of them don't have a lot of emotional depth. Almost all of my favorite superhero movies are neither MCU or DCEU. So that would be the Nolan Batman movies, the first two Raimi Spiderman movies, X-Men: First Class, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990) and Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse. The best DCEU movie was probably Wonder Woman. For MCU, I probably liked Black Panther the best.
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Sept 5, 2021 23:08:35 GMT -5
Post by ironhammer on Sept 5, 2021 23:08:35 GMT -5
Really? I thought DC fans hated the dark, gloomy atmosphere. They complained about Man of Steel and BvS as too dark...I loved it. Then they tried to lighten the mood with Justice League and I cringed at the forced comedy. The Snyder's Cut was much better, can't wait to get my copy this week! Looking forward to seeing this new Suicide Squad movie. I wouldn't say Man of Steel or Batman v. Superman were "too dark." I just didn't think they were very good. I'm not super high on a lot of MCU movies either. I mean, they're fine for what they are. But most of them don't have a lot of emotional depth. Almost all of my favorite superhero movies are neither MCU or DCEU. So that would be the Nolan Batman movies, the first two Raimi Spiderman movies, X-Men: First Class, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990) and Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse. The best DCEU movie was probably Wonder Woman. For MCU, I probably liked Black Panther the best. Agreed. The Dark Knight trilogy were the still the best Batman movies in my opinion. And before that, the first two Spider-man movies by Sam Raimi, the first X-Men movie, and the first two Superman movies starring the late Christopher Reeves. MCU...is a hit and miss. Some MCU movies were ok, others were a bit too...formulaic and candy light. Which is why I was surprised by the emotional depth of Shang-Chi, parts of it was actually moving, that was not what I expected of MCU movies.
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Sept 6, 2021 8:59:24 GMT -5
Post by AmeriCanvbdad on Sept 6, 2021 8:59:24 GMT -5
Saw Suicide Squad and thoroughly enjoyed it. Director James Gunn did an amazing job although it's scary to see what he does when he's not as restrained as he would be with a Marvel movie. WARNING... it is gory. It's also dark, weird, and artistic. Definitely one of the best DC movies but that's a pretty low bar. Really? I thought DC fans hated the dark, gloomy atmosphere. They complained about Man of Steel and BvS as too dark...I loved it. Then they tried to lighten the mood with Justice League and I cringed at the forced comedy. The Snyder's Cut was much better, can't wait to get my copy this week! Looking forward to seeing this new Suicide Squad movie. No I'm a hardcore DC fan and I don't mind the darkness. I'm not thrilled with the swearing but overall there have been some enjoyable DC movies although now that I think of it Harley has been a common factor. The comedy in Justice League did seem a little forced and I HAVE to watch TSC at some point to see what the movie was SUPPOSED to be. I'm interested to see your take on Suicide Squad, as always ymmv.
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Sept 6, 2021 10:09:02 GMT -5
Post by Deleted on Sept 6, 2021 10:09:02 GMT -5
The Snyder version is pretty good...certainly fills in all the stuff that was left out of the first. Suicide Squad is pretty hilarious but they push the limit on profanity. Some could have been cut without lessening the movie.
I think you guys should mention the two Captain America movies in terms of good ones, Winter Soldier especially.
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Post by AmeriCanvbdad on Sept 6, 2021 10:20:10 GMT -5
The Snyder version is pretty good...certainly fills in all the stuff that was left out of the first. Suicide Squad is pretty hilarious but they push the limit on profanity. Some could have been cut without lessening the movie. I think you guys should mention the two Captain America movies in terms of good ones, Winter Soldier especially. I'm gonna be that geeky guy and point out that there are THREE Captain America movies. One and Two are good but I also like the themes explored in Three.
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Sept 6, 2021 11:12:16 GMT -5
Post by ironhammer on Sept 6, 2021 11:12:16 GMT -5
The Snyder version is pretty good...certainly fills in all the stuff that was left out of the first. Suicide Squad is pretty hilarious but they push the limit on profanity. Some could have been cut without lessening the movie. I think you guys should mention the two Captain America movies in terms of good ones, Winter Soldier especially. I'm gonna be that geeky guy and point out that there are THREE Captain America movies.One and Two are good but I also like the themes explored in Three. I only saw the first one, it was good. But haven't kept track of the other ones. That's the problem with being only a casual viewer of the MCU, you lose track of which movie is supposed to follow the next and how something happening in movie A is supposed to connect with movie X. Don't get me wrong, I do like some Marvel comics very much, like Spider-man and X-men, but I was never hardcore enough to follow in any detail the second-tier and third-tier characters like the Eternals.
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Post by basil on Sept 6, 2021 11:33:47 GMT -5
Just watched Shang-Chi yesterday, really enjoyed it. I didn’t think it was the best MCU movie ever like some were saying, but I thought it was one of the better ones. To add to the Captain America comments above, Winter Soldier is one of my favorite MCU movies of all-time. The other two are good but don’t quite meet that mark imo.
I also wasted four hours of my life watching the Snyder cut after watching Justice League the first time. I’m not sure what it is about the DC live-action universe in general but I just can’t bring myself to get into those movies. The Snyder cut was better but I still struggled to get through it entirely.
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Post by ironhammer on Sept 6, 2021 11:41:16 GMT -5
Just watched Shang-Chi yesterday, really enjoyed it. I didn’t think it was the best MCU movie ever like some were saying, but I thought it was one of the better ones. To add to the Captain America comments above, Winter Soldier is one of my favorite MCU movies of all-time. The other two are good but don’t quite meet that mark imo. The third act in that fantasy world in the movie got a little hokey to be honest with the dragon and soul suckers. I prefer the more grounded approach in the first two acts. Still, I do agree Shang-Chi is one of the better MCU movies. The more nuanced and complex villain of Wenwu and the real emotional heft you can feel at times, is a departure from the normal MCU fare.
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Post by bbg95 on Sept 6, 2021 12:42:45 GMT -5
The Snyder version is pretty good...certainly fills in all the stuff that was left out of the first. Suicide Squad is pretty hilarious but they push the limit on profanity. Some could have been cut without lessening the movie. I think you guys should mention the two Captain America movies in terms of good ones, Winter Soldier especially. I'm gonna be that geeky guy and point out that there are THREE Captain America movies. One and Two are good but I also like the themes explored in Three. I think Civil War is definitely the best Captain America movie, though it feels more like an Avengers movie with its huge ensemble cast. For MCU movies that aren't primarily focused on one character, I'd say that Civil War, Guardians of the Galaxy, Infinity War and Endgame were the best.
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Post by bbg95 on Sept 6, 2021 12:47:58 GMT -5
I wouldn't say Man of Steel or Batman v. Superman were "too dark." I just didn't think they were very good. I'm not super high on a lot of MCU movies either. I mean, they're fine for what they are. But most of them don't have a lot of emotional depth. Almost all of my favorite superhero movies are neither MCU or DCEU. So that would be the Nolan Batman movies, the first two Raimi Spiderman movies, X-Men: First Class, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990) and Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse. The best DCEU movie was probably Wonder Woman. For MCU, I probably liked Black Panther the best. Agreed. The Dark Knight trilogy were the still the best Batman movies in my opinion. And before that, the first two Spider-man movies by Sam Raimi, the first X-Men movie, and the first two Superman movies starring the late Christopher Reeves. MCU...is a hit and miss. Some MCU movies were ok, others were a bit too...formulaic and candy light. Which is why I was surprised by the emotional depth of Shang-Chi, parts of it was actually moving, that was not what I expected of MCU movies. The first X-Men film is pretty good, though I think that First Class is easily the best X-Men movie. This was a very pleasant surprise, as my expectations were very low after the debacle that was X-Men 3. I'll have to check out Shang-Chi, as I do like emotional depth in my superhero movies. Oh, and as I mentioned before, I think the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is still one of the best superhero movies ever made. In 1990, I think it was definitely the best superhero movie to that point and wasn't surpassed until arguably Spiderman 2. It was way ahead of its time, and it still holds up 30 years later. The second TMNT movie is decent, though it doesn't hold up nearly as well when watching as an adult. Even as a kid, I could tell that the third one was a disaster.
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Post by AmeriCanvbdad on Sept 6, 2021 14:17:09 GMT -5
I'm gonna be that geeky guy and point out that there are THREE Captain America movies.One and Two are good but I also like the themes explored in Three. I only saw the first one, it was good. But haven't kept track of the other ones. That's the problem with being only a casual viewer of the MCU, you lose track of which movie is supposed to follow the next and how something happening in movie A is supposed to connect with movie X. Don't get me wrong, I do like some Marvel comics very much, like Spider-man and X-men, but I was never hardcore enough to follow in any detail the second-tier and third-tier characters like the Eternals. Completely agree! I like the MCU but it is a lot to digest and if you miss (or two) there are typically ties that bind. I feel for anyone who didn't see Loki! I think that one's going to have a lot of ripple effects.
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Sept 6, 2021 15:03:50 GMT -5
Post by yoda on Sept 6, 2021 15:03:50 GMT -5
In keeping with the thread theme...
Where do all super heroes live?
CAPE Town
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Sept 6, 2021 21:19:25 GMT -5
Post by XAsstCoach on Sept 6, 2021 21:19:25 GMT -5
In keeping with the thread theme... Where do all super heroes live? CAPE Town Yeah...Yoda was never a good jokester.
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