Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (September 3rd, 2021)

[Victοr]

Lol this is the most I’ve seen darkthosis stick around the forum in a while

It's probably because I've lately gotten full-force into the hobby again, so I hang around more. But with my luck with my recent buys, I do look back at my "no buy" years rather fondly...

We need a @darthkostis and @Otomofan hosted review channel.

Bah, the DOOMCast would too esoteric and sophisticated for Plebs.

Why did they go with Shang instead of Iron Fist.

I can’t believe Marvel went and made Shang Chi as recognizable as the rest of the Avengers now lol

Same reason why Snake Eyes is now a Hapa. Stereotypes are bad, so Asians shouldn't only be playing the wise magician, martial artist, ninja and genius. But martial artists, wise magicians and ninjas should only be played by Asians otherwise it's cultural appropriation.

I get it though. Iron Fist has the better lore, but I can see how Shang-Chi is an easier sell. I don't much care for Martial Arts, that genre and those kind of stories in general, so I'm apathetic to the whole thing. I'm more into swordfights.

Every continent must have at least one representative.

Africa - Black Panther
Antarctica -
Asia - Shang Chi
Australia -
Europe - Thor and Asgar, maybe? Scarlet Witch
North America - All MCU heroes
South America -

South America's getting Namor, technically.

As a Euro, I'll take DOOM over whoever else. Dunno if they'll do Captain Britain at all, or if Brian will be passed over in favour of Liz. Zemo is pretty tame in the MCU, since conversation's shifted there. It pains me that we'll never get a proper HYDRA. That's a 1/6th display that I'd have loved to set up...

This is what I don't like. Asian representation defaults to Chinese. Yes, they're Asian but Asia is not just Chinese/China. Shang-Chi is very Chinese specific that I'd say it's the first MCU Chinese superhero. That Crazy Rich Asians movie should have been Crazy Rich Chinese.

Hollywood doesn't get that. It's just cheap marketing representation to appeal to twitter mobs, white American leftists and second/third generation Hyphen-Americans.

In Hollywood/the media, diversity often just means black people. Hispanic representation often defaults to Mexican, probably because Mexico is close to the US and there's lots of Mexicans in the US. It's just the way it is. So, Asian/Asia = Chinese. They also have the largest box office outside the US and there's 1.4 billion Chinese people...that sounds like a lot. Also, Americans like fake Chinese food, like Panda Express. Speaking of which, Americans also like Panda bears. Those are from China, right? So was Bruce Lee. I think it's a way to simplify things. It's whatever is well known in the US that gets represented. It's a myopic way of looking at the world, but that's how Hollywood and most people see the the world.

Well said.

 

[jye4ever]

Watch the rings be a

Spoiler

beacon for Namor and not Galactus. We keep thinking cosmic but they really belong to Namor instead

 

[matticus]

Watch the rings be a

Spoiler

beacon for Namor and not Galactus. We keep thinking cosmic but they really belong to Namor instead

It is clearly for Sonic to be brought in cause multiverse. Need a Quicksilver replacement lol

 

[jye4ever]

They introduced black panther as a supporting character in Civil War but with this unknown character they just thru him into his own lead movie titled Shang Chi and waited to see if he would sink or swim.

What a financial risk must be nerve wracking especially over at WB lol

 

[greygoose]

I haven't seen the film, but come on. Did people already forget about Iron Man 2 and 3, Thor 2, Cap The First Avenger... Ant-Man and the Wasp? Those films we're exactly great, some weren't even good. Either nostalgia is already taking place in the MCU or The Infinity Saga is the new OT and phase 4 and beyond the PT/ST.

Infinity War was the pay off for having to watch some crappy films along the way.

Infinity War and Iron Man are my favourite films in the Infinity Saga, with Guardians 1 just behind.

TFA and The Avengers behind that.

After that the rest are pretty much OK to meh.

 

[chrisstbh]

This movie also had the best score of any MCU movie imo, can't remember a single piece of original music from the entire rest of the MCU apart from the Endgame theme.

 

[GhostBeard]

This movie also had the best score of any MCU movie imo, can't remember a single piece of original music from the entire rest of the MCU apart from the Endgame theme.

I've also listened to the score and while it is certainly Asian themed it didn't quite stand out with a memorable hook to the main theme. I'm going to give it another listen today and see if any piece stands out.

 

[jye4ever]

I've also listened to the score and while it is certainly Asian themed it didn't quite stand out with a memorable hook to the main theme. I'm going to give it another listen today and see if any piece stands out.

This movie also had the best score of any MCU movie imo, can't remember a single piece of original music from the entire rest of the MCU apart from the Endgame theme.

I thought parts were cool but nothing as memorable as the IM, TWS and Avengers themes.

I need to give it a listen though.

 

[HPGR_Thrawn]

This was the best Dragon Ball Z movie we could have asked for.

I liked it a lot! Acting was great. Had a couple of questionable character growth moments with Shang Chi himself. Thought the conflict between his mom's and dad's styles/outlooks could've been done a little better.

Some of the CGI looked a little spotty at times, particularly the bus at the beginning. And I was hoping the climax wouldn't end up being a CGI fest, but here we are.

 

[Coolest Board Name]

……


I haven't gone to see it, I'll wait to speedwatch it at home, mostly to see how they handle the Mandarin, but I'm expecting nada. Fights being weightless has been becoming more and more frequent, especially in the MCU. One could argue that when you up the power-levels so much, it's bound to happen. Myself, I'm not so sure. I think it has to do more with how it's all framed, how the impact is portrayed, many factors. I don't even think the "old & grumpy" argument works. All capeshit is silly and utterly nonsensical. Same goes for most action flicks. A hit on the head can downright kill you, when a serious drama like Whiplash has a teacher hurling chairs at musicians, and we just accept and roll with it. But there's a way to make all the powers have weight and not fall into the pitfalls of it all being just CGI-fests with nothing meaty in there.
…..
A commentary on that was the latest Eva. In previous series the fights between the Evas and the Angels were 1-on-1 and while crazy things were happening all over, you could feel the impact of the hits on each other, on the city, on everything. But in 3.0+1.0 it goes full-on CGI destructo-fest and it all stops being engrossing, immersive and they lack a punch. Lore and exposition flies at lightning speed and you're left waiting for the "spectacle" to end. The point is that it's all silly ******** and getting invested so much in fictional lore that gets retconned and played fast and loose with at any given moment is a tremendous waste of time. It's why the setting changes from the "real world" to a bunch of sets and gamepads, to show that it's all soulless, easily churned out CGI with no work or passion put into it.
…
For my money, I think it's Watching an unhinged Magneto unleash his powers could be either magnificent or downright silly and boring. It's all about how you handle it.

regarding the crappy cg fest adorning almost every superheroe movies nowadays, their lack of realism, seemingly subpar execution, disdain for basic law of physics etc…. I think there is a very simple and logical reason to that. Do you try to read through the overlong credits at the end of these movies ? If you do you’ll see that the cg effects laden action sequences are spread between several fx companies, and that within those companies certain scenes belonging to the same sequence are spread between different departments which can sometimes be in different countries from one another. This is due to the film producers trying to squeeze as much spectacle for as little money as possible. So some 3 seconds scene showing an army of Chitauris flying over the streets of New York can be modeled in California, but textured, lighted and animated in China, because the labor is 10 times cheaper there and we can push them longer hours than American artists (although I’ve heard even in the USA the job of a CG artist is a pretty ****** one, you basically have no life and no healthy sleep during the entire making of a movie of that kind, and yes it is underpaid in the USA as well, just less so than in Asia). So on one hand you have underpaid people working overlong hours on a random 3 second scene of a movie they know next to zero about, apart that it has IronMan in it , and on the other hand a mishmash of different sequences all executed by different studios by different people of different competences who don’t connect with each other, haphazardly put together in the less crappy way possible by the multiple editors and artistic directors of the project to somewhat make a watchable big finale. And you wonder why it looks like a big mess in the end ? There is no artistic unity to it all. It all boils down to save money in the stupidest way possible to please the shareholders. The hell with quality action film making

 

[chrisstbh]

regarding the crappy cg fest adorning almost every superheroe movies nowadays, their lack of realism, seemingly subpar execution, disdain for basic law of physics etc…. I think there is a very simple and logical reason to that. Do you try to read through the overlong credits at the end of these movies ? If you do you’ll see that the cg effects laden action sequences are spread between several fx companies, and that within those companies certain scenes belonging to the same sequence are spread between different departments which can sometimes be in different countries from one another. This is due to the film producers trying to squeeze as much spectacle for as little money as possible. So some 3 seconds scene showing an army of Chitauris flying over the streets of New York can be modeled in California, but textured, lighted and animated in China, because the labor is 10 times cheaper there and we can push them longer hours than American artists (although I’ve heard even in the USA the job of a CG artist is a pretty ****** one, you basically have no life and no healthy sleep during the entire making of a movie of that kind, and yes it is underpaid in the USA as well, just less so than in Asia). So on one hand you have underpaid people working overlong hours on a random 3 second scene of a movie they know next to zero about, apart that it has IronMan in it , and on the other hand a mishmash of different sequences all executed by different studios by different people of different competences who don’t connect with each other, haphazardly put together in the less crappy way possible by the multiple editors and artistic directors of the project to somewhat make a watchable big finale. And you wonder why it looks like a big mess in the end ? There is no artistic unity to it all. It all boils down to save money in the stupidest way possible to please the shareholders. The hell with quality action film making

The movie was also made 100% during COVID, I dunno if that has any impact on post production, probably not as much as the actual filming but probably still some impact. I didn't mind the CGI as much as it's mostly all magic/fantasy stuff so I don't need it looking hyper realistic, I thought it was a good looking movie regardless.

I've also listened to the score and while it is certainly Asian themed it didn't quite stand out with a memorable hook to the main theme. I'm going to give it another listen today and see if any piece stands out.

It's not the best score ever, but it's pretty good imo and in terms of MCU scores it's pretty high up there cause the music has been pretty much forgettable for 13 years (for me anyway).

 

[jye4ever]

Cgi in this movie was pretty darn good

 

[Victοr]

regarding the crappy cg fest adorning almost every superheroe movies nowadays, their lack of realism, seemingly subpar execution, disdain for basic law of physics etc…. I think there is a very simple and logical reason to that. Do you try to read through the overlong credits at the end of these movies ? If you do you’ll see that the cg effects laden action sequences are spread between several fx companies, and that within those companies certain scenes belonging to the same sequence are spread between different departments which can sometimes be in different countries from one another. This is due to the film producers trying to squeeze as much spectacle for as little money as possible. So some 3 seconds scene showing an army of Chitauris flying over the streets of New York can be modeled in California, but textured, lighted and animated in China, because the labor is 10 times cheaper there and we can push them longer hours than American artists (although I’ve heard even in the USA the job of a CG artist is a pretty ****** one, you basically have no life and no healthy sleep during the entire making of a movie of that kind, and yes it is underpaid in the USA as well, just less so than in Asia). So on one hand you have underpaid people working overlong hours on a random 3 second scene of a movie they know next to zero about, apart that it has IronMan in it , and on the other hand a mishmash of different sequences all executed by different studios by different people of different competences who don’t connect with each other, haphazardly put together in the less crappy way possible by the multiple editors and artistic directors of the project to somewhat make a watchable big finale. And you wonder why it looks like a big mess in the end ? There is no artistic unity to it all. It all boils down to save money in the stupidest way possible to please the shareholders. The hell with quality action film making

All true. CGI has become too easy to just farm out. They're pumping out too many flicks with too little care put in them. I remember when we'd get two or three capeflicks a year, and we'd wait for leaked comic con stills or pics from the shooting and so on. Now it's all done in studios. There's no "magic" to it anymore.

 

[loki2371]

So, reports are starting to show that it looks like this will make about $60mil opening weekend (Domestic at the US BO). Black Widow made $80mil + another $60 mil on D+, for a total of $140mil (Domestic).

** Some sites say $70mil... (We shall se tomorrow)

Bob Chapek isn't looking so dumb anymore about his "experiment" that got old Simu's panties in a bunch. His point was a theater only release wouldn't bring in higher revenue. Wonder how this will affect the even more blah Eternals movie. This actually looked good/entertaining, Eternals looks like shiiite.

It also show's regardless of whether this was good or not, that Shang Chi isn't all that popular, nor the MCU is a "must see" event anymore. Pandemic or not. But, since it'll most likely 'Break" Labor Day Weekend BO totals, the media will hail this as a success (awfully low records to break). Meanwhile behind the scenes the execs at Disney will have some explaining to do to the shareholders about why this wasn't the next Black Panther event it was made out to be... A 2nd cultural phenomenon.

 

[matticus]

So, reports are starting to show that it looks like this will make about $60mil opening weekend (Domestic at the US BO). Black Widow made $80mil + another $60 mil on D+, for a total of $140mil (Domestic).

** Some sites say $70mil... (We shall se tomorrow)

Bob Chapek isn't looking so dumb anymore about his "experiment" that got old Simu's panties in a bunch. His point was a theater only release wouldn't bring in higher revenue. Wonder how this will affect the even more blah Eternals movie. This actually looked good/entertaining, Eternals looks like shiiite.

It also show's regardless of whether this was good or not, that Shang Chi isn't all that popular, nor the MCU is a "must see" event anymore. Pandemic or not. But, since it'll most likely 'Break" Labor Day Weekend BO totals, the media will hail this as a success (awfully low records to break). Meanwhile behind the scenes the execs at Disney will have some explaining to do to the shareholders about why this wasn't the next Black Panther event it was made out to be... A 2nd cultural phenomenon.

Yep, the so called "stars" don't have anything to lose as they already got paid and their butts kissed. The execs still have to do their best for the company and clearly there is a market at home day one. The experiment certainly proved to capture both revenue streams, as you get to keep it all on D+. Granted ScarJo and Widow are bigger and more proven names and was obviously going to make more money than this, you get to keep more money on the D+ side. You could argue school started and this is just for Labor Day weekend with lots of travel vs. a summer with no school and less infection rates. Spin it all you want, but 60 in theaters v 60 on D+, Disney sees the writing on the wall.

I think Eternals and NWH are set for distribution though, so no changes there so far. Maybe next year you could see a change. Curious what the Shang numbers will be first weekend on D+.

BTW this was pirated online day one anyway, it is just whether it is HD or SD

 

[The Clown Prince of Crime]

This was the best Dragon Ball Z movie we could have asked for.

Don't even joke about that. Goku and the gang don't need silly rings.

 

[jye4ever]

Patty Jenkins is now trashing WB digital release day and date but she sure took that extra money for WW84 because back then in december it wasn’t a problem but now it is.

 

[jye4ever]

Grace said if it makes over 50 it’s considered a big success lol

 

[GhostBeard]

Yep, the so called "stars" don't have anything to lose as they already got paid and their butts kissed. The execs still have to do their best for the company and clearly there is a market at home day one. The experiment certainly proved to capture both revenue streams, as you get to keep it all on D+. Granted ScarJo and Widow are bigger and more proven names and was obviously going to make more money than this, you get to keep more money on the D+ side. You could argue school started and this is just for Labor Day weekend with lots of travel vs. a summer with no school and less infection rates. Spin it all you want, but 60 in theaters v 60 on D+, Disney sees the writing on the wall.

I think Eternals and NWH are set for distribution though, so no changes there so far. Maybe next year you could see a change. Curious what the Shang numbers will be first weekend on D+.

BTW this was pirated online day one anyway, it is just whether it is HD or SD

It will be interesting to see if this has the massive 2nd week drop I read that Black Widow suffered, my understanding is that with promotion added Black Widow may have been lucky to break even. WW84, unless I'm mistaken, didn't show a profit, but that's doubling the reported budget to account for promotion. Black Panther was aided by an early introduction in an otherwise great (IMO) MCU flick. Plus, Chadwick was fantastic in the role, may he rest in peace. This, obviously, is not the case with Shang-Chi. And even with Black Widow's name recognition the movie wasn't a barn-burner, we'll never know what might have been sans pandemic.

 

[The Clown Prince of Crime]

South America's getting Namor, technically.

Yes, they made him Mexican, because the US likes Mexican food, and everything South of the border is all Mexico. So Namor is now a Mexican fish.