RRA

If JC with its weaker numbers is getting a sequel because it’s seen internally at Disney as a success, I don’t see why BW can’t get a sequel. Granted MCU needs more franchises/IPs like Tom Brady needs more Super Bowl rings, but it’s always nice to have another. (That said I could see a BW “2” be a D+ series, since the boundaries between streaming and movies are increasingly blurring. I mean the theatrical Cap 4 just got launched by a D+ show.)

In

This is trending rn. Definitely movie of the moment on Twitter, either you love/hate it or just baffled by it.

Considering a lot of the people there, that’s actually a complimentary towards SM

Peanuts to the 700M-1 B that Wan’s FishDude 2 will gross for WB. I would call that an acceptable sunk cost.

Yeah this wasn’t a horror film made for mass appeal or for the “elevated horror” snobbish critics or even Film Twitter*, though many of them seemed to have enjoyed it or got what he was going for so there’s that. It’s an inspired DePalma/Fulci riff, nasty and nutty. It was never going to be anything but cult classic material. But Wan has made a lot of money for WB over the years from Aquaman to the MCU of horror that is the ConjuringVerse, and he will keep being a license to print money for them. Wan will get to indulge in more passion projects… *=OT but Edgar Wright has his own giallo movie coming soon and Film Twitter adores him, probably already ready to spread their legs open for that one. I’m curious about it. Can he match the insanity of Wan? Will it be well-made but sterile like Baby Driver? I’m sure it’ll be good.

75% on RT. So far it’s critically doing better than WB maybe expected?

This is catnip for Fulci/DePalma fans. Bonkers, imaginative. That jail cell setpiece will become a classic among horror/gore fans.

I love it when numbers inform these decisions…

I think the half hour format hurt here, felt like they struggled to deal with that. It could also be that I loathe Marvel Zombies (creatively trite property that many fans love.) Yeah that was nice, especially one second banana from one of the MCU properties. Whoever thought that up deserves a cookie.

Tracking thread says this is having a slow start in PS so far, though I wonder how much that has to do with this out in 3 weeks and the many date changes some people might not even know it's coming that soon? Hell I had a co-worker who thought this was coming out in January (remember that rumored move that didn't happen?)

Considering how some people over there were finding ways to not want that movie over there as it was, they would’ve found something else if not this. Did anybody around here really expect this to get released there? On the bright side SC now has “banned in China” street cred.

One of my pet peeves of modern movies are them being unnecessarily long (Space Jam 2 was a half hour longer than the original. Did more of it make it better?) so I welcome this news if true.

Paul Hogan would care.

Since I did something similar for SHANG-CHI, I'll go back and span do the same for other released MCU movie joint Ten Random Things I LIKED about this movie (1) Florence Pugh. Ready for primetime as a MCU lead if things had gone to plan. Sa La Vi... (2) David Harbour. As written, Harbour certainly made his character more likeable than it had any right to be. Like Pugh, excited to see when both return to the MCU. (3) Pugh firing the bazooka at the prison escape setpiece is an underrated Indiana Jones-y action beat. It's the sort of thing George Lucas loved doing, heroes doing something that seemingly solve a problem, only to trigger a much bigger issue they have to escape from. (4) ScarJo being a MOONRAKER fan got a kick from this old 007 fan. Reveals King Kevin's age and who *his* Bond probably is. Also kinda clever since it foreshadows the 3rd act where both films involving villain fortresses in the sky that come crashing down to Earth. (5) Yeah rubbish CGI aside, the ending reminded me of that SAINT'S ROW 3 level. You know the one. (6) Pugh casually explaining to Harbour about how she was forcibly sterilized, yeah it plays into the stereotype of non-pervert guys uncomfortable about female reproductive anatomy being discussed and funny in delivery of something rather dark for the MCU. Handled the delivery much better than how Whedon did in AGE OF ULTRON ("I'm a monster" yeesh.) (7) I think most people agree the 2nd act with the family "reunion" is best section. Some great actors doing some great work. I know these MCU things are action/comedy CGI affairs, but moments like that remind you that the characters are why MCU has such a massive fanbase and they tend to stick around. (8) In a callback to AVENGERS, Natasha using manipulation on the villain in his office to get what she wants. Specifically playing on his fragile manhood. (9) As much as people complained about this going backwards in the MCU and thus having no "stakes" (weird they never used that logic for say Captain America: TFA), as a MCU dork I do enjoy it when they can "lost tales" that try to fill in the canon-gaps and flesh out that world/point in time of that universe and some characters we already know. I also liked SOLO which was whacked for similar things. (10) nerd easter egg porn for its own sake, but it's still a nice retroactive touch that Natasha was wearing pieces of her INFINITY WAR gear that belonged to her "family." Ten Random Things I HATED about this movie (1) Taskmaster. For a movie that was flagrant about rehashing THE WINTER SOLDIER, Taskmaster being an unstoppable TWS-esque Terminator beast on paper makes sense. Yet they screwed the pooch here. (2) Natasha's friend/fixer...who are you? who cares? (3) A consequence of not doing a BW franchise earlier for Natasha, you're stucking burning down a good meaty running storyline for a trilogy (her guilt over murdering a kid) that you have to cram all into one movie. All things considered I think they did what they could in making chicken salad out of chicken shit, but still one of those long term things for MCU that came back to haunt them here. (4) I thought the action here was generic overall, and SHANG-CHI obviously makes this even more apparent. Fascinating how two movies from the same studio could be 180 from each other. (5) Natasha had money to buy her own jet but Sam Wilson didn't even have enough to fix his boat? What horseshit. (6) Ray Winstone. I like how during the middle of a scene he quits bothering with his Russian accent and goes back to his native cockney tongue. Shabby, Marvel. (7) The original ending was much better, our hero revisiting her childhood home and a little girl looking up to her. Worth looking up on YouTube. (8) Rumors about this movie exist, like original version before reshoots changed things up. That useless fixer/friend? He was Taskmaster for example. Harbour died fighting him, etc. As likeable as Harbour is and King Kevin probably thought "hey let's keep this dude around"...Harbour redeeming himself could've given this film an extra ummph. (9) I laugh when people whine about "but how did Natasha survive that freefall ending?!?" Guys, you all forgot early on when she fell off a friggin building and walked it off? Yeah that one that me and my suspension of disbelief made me go "oh BS." (10) Yeah that ending looked green screen-y AF, didn't it?

I expect Matrix 4 to be on level of the sequels for better or worse, but at least we’ll get some good action scenes. (the fact Keanu came back when he didn’t need to gives me some hope that maybe he sees something worth doing? Call it fool’s hope.)

Ten Random Things I LIKED about this: (1) Tony friggin Leung. Just think of how many new fans of him have been created because of his first Hollywood gig who'll get to explore a treasure trove of work (many being gems of world cinema.) It's nice when both casual moviegoers and movie buffs win when a legend does good work. (2) Benedict Wong/Ben Kingsley. Sure it's MCU connection obligation time, but it's cool how Wong is becoming this cool fan-favorite Hoss in the MCU. Always delighted when he appears. Sure many fans still haven't gotten over IRON MAN 3 and the Mandarin twist, but I get a kick from Kingsley's character as a likeable fool. Kingsley is having fun. His PLANET OF THE APES story is a highlight gag from this. (3) Awkwafina. Latest example of the MCU trope that is "hero's normal ally/friend who gets in the middle of this spandex mayhem circus and do their part," she reminds me of a young coked-up Robin Williams as a giant ball of comic energy that dominates scenes. Her reaction to Liu revealing himself to be the love child of Bruce Lee and Sonny Chiba, wouldn't that be most of us? (4) This movie reminded me of THE WINTER SOLDIER in how it felt like tonal-wise this is a good G.I. Joe movie come to life in regards to how the Ten Rings is depictured. Modern paramilitary outfit, yet it's traditionally costumed ninjas and stuff everywhere. This is the tone of verisimilitude with comic book-y fantasy touches which many films trip in trying to pull off, but here it's organic and effortless. (5) The action. Well-praised for a reason, though not mentioned enough for my taste is that because we see Simu Liu clearly doing the fights himself this actually gives some credibility to when he goes into superhero movie CGI antics. I know it's not real, but dammit I want to believe he did ride that dragon. Really appreciated that POV shot on the side in the tunnel during the bus fight, emulating a comic book panel and an old school beat-em up 2-D scroller video game. (6) Could it have been executed? Sure but I liked the idea of the Ta-Lo villagers and the Ten Rings stop fighting and start working together out of self-preservation. I'm a sucker for the "villains going good because crap got too evil/bad" trope. (7) I'm whiter than sour cream, but I've been appreciating reading how Asian/Asian-American folks online have mentioned stuff they've noticed and appreciated which the rest of us might've missed. Whether it be the "I know ABC" line (paraphrasing it) from the club dude to Awkwafina. I thought that was him saying he knows English, but it's a reference to her being ABC (American-Born Chinese.) There's even an intriguing argument that Shang-Chi being called "busboy" is a callback to the sort of stereotypical parts Asian-descent actors played in Hollywood and him being a valet is a stab of inverting that background guy in a blockbuster, except this is his story. Maybe a stretch, but it's interesting. (8) I'm not anal about CGI as much as some folks are because I focus more on the acting/framing/writing/cutting, crap like that. But I do appreciate good CGI when I see it, and it looked dope on the big screen here. Certainly contrasts quality-wise with what we saw in BLACK WIDOW's climax. (9) Loved how Leung voluntarily gives the rings to his son as he's defeated and dying, knowing his race has finally been run and his son has proven himself. (10) Sure the ending sets up Shang-Chi being in the Avengers' orbit, but I like the concept that in the period before that and after saving the world...he and Awkwafina apparently went back to their boring dead-end jobs and apparently none of their friends believe them. Ten Random Things I HATED about this: (1) For a movie that well-shot action up to the finale...why was the final battle shoddily staged that felt like it was shot in somebody's backyard? Man the people who gave Black Panther grief over its battle should apologize after seeing this. It looked like 20 extras, split between both sides. (2) Yeah the "Expositional City Dump" jokes write themselves, but this only annoyed me was how this movie dealt with the hero's confession that he did murder somebody...why? I think back to BATMAN BEGINS (which SC took notes for it's non-linear flashback structure for a spandex film from) where that beautiful montage of Bale throwing that gun into the river, without words you know Batman won't use guns or kill for a reason. Imagine if Nolan had directed a scene where Bale just says all that instead? Wouldn't be as powerful. (3) Awkwafina. She reminds me of a young coked-up Robin Williams in the best and worst way. I know many people nostalgic for Williams forget this, but as funny and charming as Williams could be...sometimes his heavy manic improv nature can be overbearing and obnoxious, sometimes to a movie's detriment. Sometimes it's just too much. (4) They really could've done a better job in tying together narrative/theming that our hero seeing his mom gets mob murdered made him in part the man he would grow up to be. Again I bring up BATMAN BEGINS again but (1) still so good which emotionally evokes something in me (2) it's a good role model to emulate in this spectrum. Maybe I would've been more invested beyond the MCU boilerplate of a decent afternoon diversion? (5) They could've designed a cooler looking "superhero" costume for Shang-Chi, right? I think back to Anthony Mackie's Captain America costume (which looks like a Rob Liefeld wet dream) and that was splendid. This? I just go "eh." (6) Simu Liu is a likeable presence, his comic charm shines through many times. Yet they give him brooding/reflective scenes which handcuffs him. I'm reminded of how MCU did this to Chris Hemsworth for his first few movies, the noble heroic (bland) Thor who's always serious. When THOR RAGNAROK let him be silly, people loved that "new" Thor. If SC gets a sequel, embrace Liu's asset more. (7) Always floors me in the MCU (well this applies to general comic books too) when characters play the "I don't believe it, that's too fantastical" card in a lifetime when they've had alien invasions, Norse Gods, Hulks, galactic genocide (and return), you name it. At this point, wouldn't you just buy something insanely far fetch just to be on the safe side? (8) Not really something in *this* movie I hated, but I liked that Liu and Awkwafina weren't a couple, just buddies. Platonic friendship between the sexes is rare for major roles in spandex films, which I appreciated instead of a trite obligatory romance angle. Yet (perhaps just me) I noticed steps towards them becoming a couple in a sequel which doesn't exactly interest me. But hey if they can make it work, cool. (9) Why specifically set this post-blip? I hope it was more than simply to excuse for that post-ENDGAME era Banner cameo. (10) I hate the Eagles, I'm in the same boat with The Dude from THE BIG LEBOWSKI. Yeesh.

Personally I’m now morbidly curious about Chicago’s love life.

Another reason why the Larson “unlikeable” thing is nonsense is look at another MCU actor: Jeremy Renner. He’s always come off to me as a douche in interviews. Nevermind those accusations thrown his way after his divorce, which whether true or not at least there I would get why some folks theoretically could find him “unlikeable.” And yet notice there isn’t as much sustain effort on him as there is on Larson.

They were signaling their true owner

So unlikeable, she fronted a billion dollar hit. I swear the lame tryhard nonsense a vocal minority use to hate a celebrity sometimes. 🤣

Honestly I’m waiting for them to start a complaint meme that SC is “too powerful” like they did CM.

Somebody on Reddit suggested a sequel should be a pseudo-Agents of Atlas movie and I dig it.

Yeah people forget that some folks did whine that BP got “overshadowed” in his own movie. They’ll never admit that now, but it was out there. if I’m giving notes for SC2, embrace Lui’s comic charm more. We had flashes of this. I’m reminded of how Hemsworth was called bland at times as Thor but then Thor Ragnarok we get wisecracking Thor and BOOM.

Everybody in Hollywood owes him a fruit basket for ensuring nothing else moves this fall