The Movie Thread Reloaded

[Omega]

Yeah. The more it plays out the more jarring and absolutely NOT Moon Knight it gets. And it was not very Moon Knight to begin with.

This is just one more script for something else with some IP place names slapped on. Probably a failed Star Wars script. Khonshu is Sith Lord Jar-Jar and Moon Knight is Rey... 

[Rhymer88]

Anybody know if The Northman will be worth watching?

[HappyDaze]

Yeah. The more it plays out the more jarring and absolutely NOT Moon Knight it gets. And it was not very Moon Knight to begin with.

This is just one more script for something else with some IP place names slapped on. Probably a failed Star Wars script. Khonshu is Sith Lord Jar-Jar and Moon Knight is Rey... 

I think that a line like, "the more it plays out," is premature considering that there are only two episodes currently available.

[Wrath of God]

If someone is used to MK I doubt much will change.
I'm used to DID insane Moon Knight of Ultimate Universe so for me actual Egyptian Gods are novelty here, otherwise I have no qualms.

Then I generally very rarely have qualms about superheroes because most of them were rehashed and rewritten so many times, and that's way way before WOKE came, that Canon is meaningless in their case.

[Omega]

I think that a line like, "the more it plays out," is premature considering that there are only two episodes currently available.

I think thats more than enough to see where this is going. The gag of "just keep watching! It will get betterrrrrrrrrr!" wore off long long ago.

This isnt Moon Knight so no. Its not going to get beterrrrrrrr.

[Omega]

If someone is used to MK I doubt much will change.
I'm used to DID insane Moon Knight of Ultimate Universe so for me actual Egyptian Gods are novelty here, otherwise I have no qualms.

Then I generally very rarely have qualms about superheroes because most of them were rehashed and rewritten so many times, and that's way way before WOKE came, that Canon is meaningless in their case.

Ultimates has been a plague on Marvel since nearly the get-go.

[Wrath of God]

What can I say - I like them :3

[Pat]

Watched Shang-Chi.

The setup at the start that was supposed to establish a bond between Shang-chi and the annoying friend didn't work. They just came across as arrogant, entitled, and annoying. She did get better, but still isn't a great character, and her power-up seemed really forced.

The sister's reversal and bond with Shang-chi also didn't work. They really needed to spend more time on these core relationships.

Didn't help that the best actor was Trevor Slattery. Though Michelle Yeoh was also great.

The loss of Fu Manchu really hurt the story. Dad was pretty bland. He just felt like a thug. The romance was never really plausible. Turning the rings into generic power boomerangs and whips didn't help.

The themes were kind of broken. For instance, one of the key ideas is that Shang-chi feels shame about killing, and about hiding that from his friend. Except they had a fight earlier in the movie where he was literally throwing people off the side of a skyscraper. From the powerups to the themes, most of it felt like it didn't quite connect.

The whole thing felt more like a mash-up of a high budget Kung Fu flick, Iron Fist, and generic kid learns he's special story than anything I've ever read in the Master of Kung Fu comic book series. None of the MI-6 spying, only one scene where he took of his shirt, and none of that inner dialog setting up and explaining what turned out to be a single blow that ended the fight. Instead, it was endless back and forth Kung Fu with no real sense anyone is better than anyone else.

Liked the bestiary of oriental animals. Anyone familiar with D&D would recognize the phoenix, ki-rin, foo lions, and more. Shame they didn't do more with them. The short history that claimed it was basically a Chinese world of Wakanda added nothing.

In general, watchable but forgettable. Unlike Eternals, which felt like like they just spent too little time to develop the vast cast, this felt like they threw a lot at the characters, themes, and plots but it never really gelled.

[Lurkndog]

I thought Shang-chi was a decent flick. I at least liked the characters, and the final act was actually better than it seemed on first viewing.

They managed to have a big CGI fight at the end without it seeming like a bad videogame or an X-Men finale.

I don't know if I'll remember anything from it in a year, and I'm not likely to buy the blu-ray, but I enjoyed it.

[Pat]

I thought Shang-chi was a decent flick. I at least liked the characters, and the final act was actually better than it seemed on first viewing.

They managed to have a big CGI fight at the end without it seeming like a bad videogame or an X-Men finale.

I don't know if I'll remember anything from it in a year, and I'm not likely to buy the blu-ray, but I enjoyed it.

I think it was watchable, but they could have made it lot stronger with some real character development. The relationship between Shang-Chi and his father had a lot of potential for drama and pathos, and should be the center of the film, but it never really felt like it connected. Same with the other two most important relationships -- Shang-Chi and his sister, and their father and mother's romance.

[Omega]

I passed on Shang Chi as it just didnt look very Shang Chi at all. It looks rather generic american martial arts wanna-be really. Its connection to the source seemed even more trenuous than Inhumans.

[Omega]

One of my local gaming group went to see Morbius and didnt think much of it. Havent gotten the details yet. From what saw of the trailers it looked like it might have potential. Morbious had a pretty simple origin so it in theory it should be easy to work into a movie and run from there. This being a Marvel movie of course I guess they messed it up somehow.

[Chris24601]

This being a Marvel movie of course I guess they messed it up somehow.

To be fair, the problem isn't Marvel per se... pretty much everything made by Hollywood post 2016 (the year the Left went completely off it's meds and plunged into a full blown psychotic break and has no idea how batshit insane it sounds) has been crap.

I've got theater gift cards from years ago that I still haven't used because there hasn't been anything in theaters worth even spending other peoples' money on viewing.

[Wrath of God]

One of my local gaming group went to see Morbius and didnt think much of it. Havent gotten the details yet. From what saw of the trailers it looked like it might have potential. Morbious had a pretty simple origin so it in theory it should be easy to work into a movie and run from there. This being a Marvel movie of course I guess they messed it up somehow.

I mean technically it's Sony movie.
From what I see Morbius is simply boring movie. The plot is without any signifcant thrill or surprise or suspense.

The loss of Fu Manchu really hurt the story. Dad was pretty bland. He just felt like a thug. The romance was never really plausible. Turning the rings into generic power boomerangs and whips didn't help.

I mean he is just renamed (like in comics, though Wenwu is more correct as Chinese first name). And comics merged Fu Manchu/Zheng Zu with Mandarin before I think.
But they just made his powers and rings very boring compared to what rings were in comics, and compared to Zheng Zu being also a sorcerer.
Here he is warlord - supposedly to avoid bad stereotypes going with Asian secret society, but really he is boring warlord without much purpose, shoehorned into history in most unbelievable way.

They really should make him like 120 years old pre-commie Chinese (I'd make him of Manchurian origin as sort of wink-wink) and much more Asian mafioso than this.
Srsly making him 1000 years old do nothing to the story besides trying to make him not-a-criminal. Doesn't work despite good actor.

And they should also simply link this magical village to Seven Heavenly Cities, rather than making it some parallel reality bullshit (where people despite being from other world are Chinese speaking perfect Chinese... so are all Asians aliens from different dimension.. I need answers! That cannot be solved by Universal Translators of Kree civilisation), though I must admit at least on paper Cthulhu as main baddie in wuxia movie was kinda bold move.

The themes were kind of broken. For instance, one of the key ideas is that Shang-chi feels shame about killing, and about hiding that from his friend. Except they had a fight earlier in the movie where he was literally throwing people off the side of a skyscraper. From the powerups to the themes, most of it felt like it didn't quite connect.

With that I disagree. Shang-Chi is ashamed of ASSASSINATION he did on his father orders. That's VERY VERY different than simply killing guys attacking you in nefarious reasons in self-defence, and I am damned tired of superhero comics trying to imply self-defence is murder, fuck them. Batman was better when he was shooting gangsters with glock. Superman was better when he just smashed entire plane squadrons of III Reich.

[HappyDaze]

One of my local gaming group went to see Morbius and didnt think much of it. Havent gotten the details yet. From what saw of the trailers it looked like it might have potential. Morbious had a pretty simple origin so it in theory it should be easy to work into a movie and run from there. This being a Marvel movie of course I guess they messed it up somehow.

Saw this one last night. I was pretty bored with it within the first 45 minutes or so, and as the special effects were a big part of what bored me, it just got worse from there. The after credits scenes were fairly lame too.