Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Episode 7: "Shang-Chi" Review
93 Plays3 years ago
Hey everyone,
This week I had my Dad on the Pod to discuss this week's movie news and review "Shang-Chi"! I hope you all enjoy the episode we had a great time recording it. Make sure to like and share the podcast and I can't wait to talk to y'all soon!
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/tommy-cresta/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/tommy-cresta/supportRecommended
Transcript
Introduction and Overview
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome back everyone to episode seven of the popcorn podcast. I am your host, Tommy Cresta. And this week we'll be going through the movie news and we were also doing a short review on the new Marvel film, Shang-Chi. This week I have on my dad, who's actually the one that got me into film, got me to want to study it more. And yeah, so how are you doing? I'm good. Thank you. Thank you for having me. I'm, I'm excited. Yeah, it's pretty exciting to have you on finally. I know you went to be on a couple of episodes ago. Could it make that happen at first?
00:00:29
Speaker
And I also wanna introduce my other little co-host for the day, Annie. Annie, wanna say hi? Hi. Annie's gonna help us with the fan questions a little later on.
Trailer Discussion: Netflix's Red Notice
00:00:40
Speaker
But hopping into the first topic of the day, Red Notice, a Netflix original film starring Dwayne Johnson, Gal Gadot and Ryan Rose has premiered its first trailer. What'd you think about it? I gotta be honest.
00:00:55
Speaker
I've seen similar trailers from Netflix with similar movies and I'm expecting similar results. A mediocre film, maybe a little bit of fun, a little bit of action, excitement, obviously he's got Gagadot, so I'm excited to see her, but I'm just not, I'm not buying it. You're not buying into the whole buddy cop between Ryan Rose and The Rock? Well, you know, my feelings are Ryan Reynolds as it is. Best actor of all time.
00:01:26
Speaker
Sure, if he's playing the same role in every movie. But no, I'm just not buying it. And I love Dwayne Johnson. I love, again, Gallop Godot. But I don't know if I'm buying it. Well, I think everyone should go check out the trailer, because even though maybe it's not going to be, it's going to be like a 50-some percent run to me as an avid critic site. In my opinion, I think for people who love like a fun action movie just to throw on on a rainy day or something like that,
00:01:54
Speaker
I think that that's what this movie is. Yeah, it's like a fun movie. Like it doesn't have to win an Academy Award. This movie needs to be fun. And if Ryan Rounds is in it, it's going to be a fun movie. Yeah. If you have the flu and you're taking some like, well, I just want to sit back. Yeah, I think it's
Venom PG-13 Rating Disappointment
00:02:09
Speaker
I think it will be fine. You'll get a little bit of entertainment out of it. Sorry, everyone, if you heard my dogs barking in the background. But moving on to the next subject, even though I can't even talk to you about Ryan Rounds right now, that's it's going to really aggravate me.
00:02:24
Speaker
But sadly, moving on to some news I know me and all my friends are going to be pretty annoyed about, is that Venom Let There Be Carnage is officially PG-13. I personally have wanted Venom to be rated R because Venom is supposed to be this gruesome, super dark anti-hero, especially with Carnage playing the villain in this one. I really wanted them to stretch it this time, but they didn't. No. Yeah.
00:02:52
Speaker
I love Woody Harrelson and I think his carnage is going to be awesome. Could have been better rated R, sure. You know, my feelings on the first Venom, I think it was overrated. I liked it. I didn't love it. I think Venom was just a little, still a little too hokey for me, but carnage looks like the way carnage should be. And Woody Harrelson's a top notch actor who I think will do a good job.
00:03:22
Speaker
Yeah, because I don't think Tom Hardy and Woodyhouse can really do bad movies. But my only problem is what you're saying. Venom was a little hokey. Venom's not supposed to be hokey. He's supposed to be scary, dark. Yeah. And the last time, the two times we've seen him so far, the Venom and Spider-Man 3, he's been a little hokey, which isn't what I want out of the character. I agree. Um, I won't even talk about Spider-Man 3 and pretend that Venom didn't happen, but this one's good. It's just, it's lacking. And, and if you watch the,
00:03:51
Speaker
The trailer, Tom Hardy tells Venom he can eat whoever he wants, and we get an, oh yeah, out of Venom. And it doesn't fly with me. Whereas on the other side, Carnage, again, looks scary. It looks awesome. Woody Harrelson looks like he's going to kick some butt with it. Except for his fake wig, which I'm not buying in on it. I can't do it. He's a serial killer. Maybe he knows he has a fake wig on.
Excitement for No Time to Die
00:04:21
Speaker
But moving on from Venom, going into one of my favorite trailers that I've seen that's got me super excited is the No Time to Die final trailer has been released and I thought it looked absolutely incredible. I really believe, I hope this isn't the spoilers, this is my theory, I really do believe Daniel Craig's James Bond will die in this film. I think that's what they were setting up through the trailer, it just seemed like in my opinion that's how they were going for it.
00:04:48
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, we got lucky. We just saw it on the big screen, the trailer. Um, and I felt like I got my money worth just, just from that trailer. I love Daniel Craig as James Bond. I probably thought two or three of the previous James Bond movies were okay. I think his movies are excellent. I think the, the villains are excellent. I think he, um, is a perfect character for that. And I like the serious, serious tone of his James Bond movies.
00:05:16
Speaker
Um, I will be very sad to see him go unless, unless Idris Elba becomes James Bond, but I will be sad to see him go, but the trailer looks amazing. Um, Rami Malek is, is going to be creepy, I think. And, um, I mean, we've been talking about this for how long we've been wanting this to come out and, uh, it's going to be, it's going to be exciting. Uh, we have a, we have a nice couple of months coming up with some good movies coming out. We got a lot is.
00:05:47
Speaker
Idris or Idris Elbow. Is he your main choice for the next James Bond? Is that who you want? Yeah, I think he'd be perfect. I just think he would play that part perfectly. And he's a Brit and you're not you're not fitting a square peg into a round hole. I think he he's debonair. He's a good looking guy. He's he's badass. And if I can say that, you can. And I think he would he'd be perfect. Perfect is.
00:06:16
Speaker
I love him since he was Stinger Bell, and I love him in any role he plays. I think mine, I have two that I've been wanting to see played, you know, Richard Madden, which you guys don't know, plays Rob Stark in Game of Thrones, and he's also going to be in the Eternals. And he was in bodyguard. I think he would be a really suave James Bond, especially through the parts of bodyguard, which I have seen. He gives off that James Bond vibe. He looks good in the suit. A lot of cool aspects to him. But my number one is Charlie Hunnam.
00:06:45
Speaker
I would love Charlie Hunnam to play him. Charlie Hunnam would be cool. Got that suave look though. The other guy, I don't think he's a James Bond. I think he's like a Jimmy Bond. I don't buy it. Richard Mann is suave, super cool.
00:07:05
Speaker
Yeah, and they walked right into a massacre. I hope no one was listening that hasn't watched Game of Thrones. I am so sorry. If they haven't watched Game of Thrones, they better catch up. But no, I don't buy him. Charlie Hunnam, I love Charlie Hunnam. I don't even know if I buy him his game's bond. But I also didn't buy Daniel Craig at first. I think Idris Elba is the right choice.
00:07:35
Speaker
I think we should go back to Pierce Brosnan. No, stop. Bring back the goat. Stop. But yeah, moving on from that, we're both very excited about No Time to Die. Annie, do you have any thoughts on James Bond? I don't know who he is. Oh, OK. Well, moving on from that, Annie, cover yours.
Jackass Forever Delay and Opinions
00:07:55
Speaker
Now, Jackass Forever has been delayed from October 2nd to February 4th. We got to see this trailer on the big screen today. I'm a huge Jackass fan.
00:08:05
Speaker
I love the movies. I think they're a lot of fun to watch. They're stupid, but that's the point of them. But I'm super excited for it. It's going to be sad not seeing Giant Knoxville get hurt anymore for money. I'm going to let you talk about this because I have nothing to say. I've never liked the first one. I'm not going to like this one. I just don't buy into it. And it's not my age. It's been around for a long time.
00:08:33
Speaker
I get nothing from it. And I don't know how you review a movie like that either. But, but I'm sure people will like it. I'm sure people have fun with it. Yeah, like, it's not, it's not supposed to be like a movie like Oh, the new jackets coming out. I can't wait to review this. It's kind of like the movie that you're like, Oh my god, jackass, let's go watch it.
00:08:54
Speaker
Or if it's free somewhere, you put it on because you get to watch these six idiots hurt themselves for hours or two hours. Like we saw in the trailer, Johnny Knoxville gets hit with a bull and gets absolutely catapulted from it. Listen, I can see some comedy in it, but right after you watch Red Notice, when you take that, like, well, throw Jackass on and you can round out your night. But yeah, that's a little thing on Jackass. Can't wait for that. Sadly, it has been deleted again. And going on to something that I'm... Not sad.
00:09:26
Speaker
And something I'm actually really upset about, I know you're going to be sad about it too, is that Mission Impossible 7 has been delayed from May 27th to September 7th of 2022.
Mission Impossible 7 Delay
00:09:38
Speaker
So we have to wait a whole year for this movie now. Yeah. You know, I love these movies. As silly as they may seem sometimes, they're just super, super fun.
00:09:55
Speaker
You know, it's almost, the Bourne movies was a little more spaghetti-ish, I guess, but I love them. I'm excited about this movie and the fact that it keeps getting delayed is killing me. But with the Slator movies coming up, I think we're okay. But Tom Cruise, he does a great job with these. And I'm sure this one's going to be as good as the rest. I've liked them all. They all keep me entertained. They're fun. Definitely excited.
00:10:25
Speaker
Yeah, I'm super excited. So quick little thing I didn't get to put this on the outline. First, Tom Cruise is doing a stunt for this movie, where he's riding a motorcycle off a cliff and then parachuting and he there was a set video of him doing the jump like no strings or anything. He's jumping off a bike off a cliff and then parachuting. Like live is not tied in. No, he's
00:10:47
Speaker
He, yeah. And he's, I mean, he's 60, right? No, he's 56. 56. 56, 57. Jesus. That's crazy. You know in that scene when the halo jump, him and Henry Cavill, you know the actual halo jump? Yeah. Because they like practiced it and that whole scene has really shot them falling and all that. And he did that jump scene where he broke his leg. Broke his leg. Yeah, broke his leg. And they used the scene that he broke his leg. Yeah. In the actual cut. Yeah, I like that. And just like you pointed out when I watched Django again the other day with the scene when Leonardo cuts his hand.
00:11:17
Speaker
It's cool. There's little, there's little tidbits of information that they're so, that they're so into their job. They love it so much that they're willing to go through this pain of bleeding, breaking bones and continue to do their job. Yeah. They believe what they're doing, which is that. That's the part of acting, right? Yeah. But, uh, I don't have the exact dates, but I know that Top Gun Maverick has also been delayed now. So Tom Cruise has two movies delayed. I'm pretty sure it's coming out around next August, but it has been delayed as it was supposed to come out two months from now.
00:11:46
Speaker
But moving on from that, we will get into the Shang-Chi
Shang-Chi Review
00:11:50
Speaker
review. This is a spoiler-free review. So if you have not seen the film, this is just us giving our thoughts. And we'll give it an out of 10 score when we get to the end. But I'll let you give the synopsis, actually. Yeah, so Shang-Chi is a kid who grows up in a, again, without giving spoilers, in a special kind of family.
00:12:14
Speaker
He leaves the family, comes to the United States, and spends years there. Something drags him back into the family business, and we learn his origin. And it takes us through his origin to who his parents were, who his family is, and what he's fighting for, where they've been. We always get that question, where were these guys when Thanos and
00:12:44
Speaker
and everyone else was attacking the planet, you get those kind of answers. And you get to see some cool known Marvel characters, like Wong. And I'm not going to mention the other ones, but Wong's in the trailer, so I'm not spoiling anything. But it was really fun. When I go, I want to be entertained. I want it to be fun. I won't tell you it's an Academy Award winning movie.
00:13:13
Speaker
but the characters are fun. Aquafina, I think, stole the show. And I definitely recommend it. Yeah, I would recommend to everyone. I do think that maybe some of the critics overdid what they got with the score. But all in all, I think the action sequences were the best so far out of Marvel's, all of their movies so far, except for maybe Winter Soldier, which I think that their action sequences were super well done, super well choreographed.
00:13:42
Speaker
But Simu Li, the guy who plays Shang-Chi, he put in over three months of martial arts training. And so did Tony Luen. I don't want to say that wrong. But if I did, I'm sorry. But he plays the Mandarin. He also put in three months of training. All the fights you see in there, there's no de-aging or anything. They're not using a different actor. He learned and he's around 60 years old. He's learning these fight scenes. But a cool little side character that I brought up to my buddy Matt, who was on the podcast last week.
00:14:12
Speaker
was that there's a guy in the trailer that everyone saw with the metal arm, sort of. He plays Drago's son in Creed II. People didn't realize that. I was like trying to... The entire time we're sitting there watching it, I was trying to remember where he was from. I knew I saw him from somewhere. Thank you. Thanks for putting that out to me because it was bothering me during the whole movie.
00:14:34
Speaker
But no, you're right about that. The fight scenes are awesome. Well choreographed, seem realistic, exciting, and I thought that was a huge part of it. It's a funny movie. It tells a good story, and it introduces this new character who's going to be part of this Marvel universe. Yeah. It seems like they're setting him up to be one of the key guys of Phase Four because they already announced a sequel.
00:15:05
Speaker
They announced it yesterday before the film even fully came out. They had announced that there is going to be a sequel and I really like how they went to the lore like of his powers They really explained like the whole background to it how this has been through generations and generations and now it's his time. I actually Watching the trailer. I was didn't like his suit But then when he actually like gets going in the suit, I was like, okay, this is pretty cool even though he's wearing like joggers and I
00:15:32
Speaker
all blacked out Air Force Ones. But besides that, I thought it was a really cool suit. Again, Aquafina stole the show. But one of my things I actually really, really liked about it is that they made a lot more adult jokes. Like normally they do a lot more kid friendly. Some of the jokes I would I kind of like look like thought my brother's watching this like I wasn't expecting that. But I thought it was really funny, really well written.
00:15:57
Speaker
Yeah, Marvel has sometimes struggles with some pacing, in my opinion, and doesn't always... They don't always get the best shots, because there are a couple of shots in this that me and my buddy were laughing at. It's like close-up shots that I didn't personally like. But all in all, I thought it was a really well-done origin story for a character that no one really knows. Yeah, I know the shots you're talking about. I didn't see it that way, but I do see how you saw it that way.
00:16:25
Speaker
And definitely, when you go see this, definitely stick around. There is a post-credit scene or a mid-credit scene, I believe. It's only a mid-credit scene. And it's actually, the credits are very short for the mid-credit scene. But we left, I'm really hoping there wasn't a second end-credit scene. Was there a possibility that there was? I didn't look it up. So we're not doing very good justice on this. So I would stay the whole credits, because we only watched the one that got up and left.
00:16:52
Speaker
I don't think there was because the lights come on. They usually don't come on if there's a second one. But oh, it was good. It was a it was an important scene. Yeah, it's very it sets up some stuff for Phase Four. And the next Phase Four movie we get is The Eternals.
Anticipation for Eternals
00:17:10
Speaker
Yeah, which I'm really, really excited for. You see my boy Jon Snow and Rob Stark battling again. Best characters. Yeah, Rob Starks in the right role there.
00:17:22
Speaker
Yeah. Like I said, the same thing with no time to die. We, we got to see no time to die and we got to see the Eternals trailer. Um, I could have left after that and I felt like I got my money's worth. I'm super excited about the Eternals. The cast is unbelievable. I think that the storyline is going to be good. And, um, there's, there's, it just had a, it felt like it had a different feel to it, right? It didn't, it didn't feel like it had the normal.
00:17:50
Speaker
Marvel formula to it. It felt it feels a little different. Well, it feels different because Marvel. Kevin Feige. I love the dude. He runs a lot of other stuff. But Chloe Zow's directing this and she directed Nomadland. Yeah. And she actually won Best Director for that. I highly recommend that film going a little bit off topic. But she he told it was like, this is your movie because she she came to them as like, I want to do The Eternals. Right.
00:18:17
Speaker
And their budget was, the budget's still 200 million, but the reason it's not 300 million, which was the original cassette, is because Chloe's out, loves shooting on locations. So most of the shots are really there. Of course, the space ships and stuff that you see aren't there, but the actual place is there. She's very well known for her cinematography because she does it herself, but the Eternals looks really, really well done. And I can't wait to see it on the big screen, because I feel like this is a movie you have to see on the big screen. It just looks like a big epic.
00:18:47
Speaker
Yeah. So I, I'm, I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that, um, much like they did with the revenant that she did a lot of natural lighting. Oh yeah. Yeah. She, she liked one location filming, um, which I think that's the different feel. Um, it doesn't feel like that animation, like CGI in the background, like a little noticeable. This looks like they're really there. Yeah. You said it felt like Marvel.
00:19:16
Speaker
goes to nomad land like yeah that combination yeah that's a good that's a good way but um but the i mean the cast um it's just it's really exciting and and i'm i'm looking forward to it we've been looking forward to it we've been waiting for this uh long time you know covid obviously messed everything up but i think now we're starting to get with all these coming out at the same time for some people it's overload for me it's heaven oh no this is perfect i will i mean you know i'll go to
00:19:47
Speaker
a movie every night if I could.
Shang-Chi Ratings Discussion
00:19:50
Speaker
It's gonna be fun. Yeah, but now we can give our scores out of 10. I'm gonna actually give it, I think I'll give it a seven, nine. I didn't think it was like, cause I gave Civil War an eight. I think this is right full of Civil War in my opinion. It's like a seven, nine. I would not give Civil War eight. I probably would give it like eight and a half. I'd give this a,
00:20:17
Speaker
I give it an eight. It's not as good as Civil War, but it's a fun movie. It's good. When I leave there and I'm not disappointed, I'm entertained, that's good to me. You know, not every movie is going to have the end game storyline and all that kind of stuff. And, you know, Civil War and Infinity War and stuff like that. But I say eight. I say an eight.
00:20:46
Speaker
But yeah, so that was our spoiler-free review on Shang-Chi. I hope that was helpful. Again, I gave it a 7.9, but it's really hard for me to give a 9. So a 7.9 is still really good. I really would recommend this to anyone that asks, is this worth going to see? It's worth the money. It was worth it for just the trailers that we got to see. But moving on from that, we will move into our three fan questions, and then we'll close it out. Annie, did you want to read question one for me?
00:21:14
Speaker
Do you think James Bond will die in this film? From Connor. From Connor. Do I think James Bond will die in this film? As I said earlier, yes, I do because they do. They say like from his beginning to his climactic end, which kind of seems like that they're setting up. This is it. Like he's done as much as I wanted to get that happy ending with a girl. Finally, I don't think they're going to give him it. And maybe this is wishful thinking. I'm thinking more on the
00:21:43
Speaker
the lines of a Dark Knight Rises ending where you think he's dead and maybe you do see him in Morocco with the girl this time. I'm hoping. I would be surprised if he does die, there's gotta be the introduction of a new James Bond in my mind and I don't think that's gonna happen. No. Therefore, in my opinion, I do not think he dies.
Debate on Perfect Movies
00:22:13
Speaker
And any I'm going to let me do this one. You would do the last one. OK, now here's a question from Aaron from Nerd Soup. Aaron always asked the best questions. What makes a movie perfect? In my opinion, there hasn't been a perfect movie yet. Like nothing. I don't think any movie is perfect. You can pick something out of each movie that you didn't enjoy and doesn't make it perfect to you. But in my opinion, if there was a perfect movie, it would be
00:22:44
Speaker
I think thrillers bring me to the closest to a perfect movie because I think they have a good sense of suspense. If it's a good one, they have good pacing. It keeps you intrigued the entire movie and entertained. So I think if you can keep the audience intrigued the entire movie and keep them on the edge of their seats with good pacing, good acting, great acting, and a great script, I think you can make a perfect movie. I just don't think it has happened yet. And I will disagree.
00:23:12
Speaker
look across the room at one of my posters on the wall. I think the Shawshank Redemption is as perfect as they come. Amazing acting, incredible story, cool twist. It just, for me, it's a perfect movie. You know my feelings, and I think it's the best movie ever made. And I love it.
00:23:42
Speaker
But I think what you said, the nuts and bolts of what makes it is true. But I think that movie comes close. And I got to say Goodfellas. I think, yeah, I was going to say Goodfellas is up there as one of the movies that I find almost perfect. Sure. Yeah. But moving on to the last question, Andy, would you like to read it? Do you have a favorite director from Anthony?
Favorite Directors Discussion
00:24:03
Speaker
I personally have a favorite director, but it is a tie. It goes between Vilnu, who has directed some of my favorite movies of all time.
00:24:12
Speaker
And David Fincher, who has directed most likely my favorite movie of all time, which is Seven. As of right now, it's Seven. My favorite movie changes almost daily. But yeah, those are my two favorite directors. Tarantino's right there, too. Yeah, I mean, I like, you know, I like Tarantino. We'll debate this one another day. But I think it's got to be Scorsese. I mean, just love his movies. Except Shutter Island.
00:24:41
Speaker
I'm going to watch Shutter Island again. I'm going to give you that. I will watch it again. Sometimes I don't like Shutter Island. I figured it out early on. You also didn't like Fight Club until like four months ago, five months ago, because I had to make you go back and watch it. I think I was tired. OK. Listen, I will admit I was wrong. Fight Club is a lot. And listen, I don't want to say that. I love Ed Norton and I adore Brad Pitt.
00:25:11
Speaker
I'd say Scorsese. I mean, you can't go wrong, Sam Orange Scorsese. But Annie, I'm going to start with you.
Show Recommendations and Farewell
00:25:20
Speaker
Do you have any recommendations for people to watch a movie or TV show? You should come close. You should watch High School Musical, the Musical, the Series. And where do they find that? Disney Plus. Thank you, Annie. Dad, do you have any recommendations for everyone? Not so much a recommendation.
00:25:41
Speaker
But I'm embarrassed to say this, that it took me all these years to watch Sopranos. I have a couple episodes left. It's very good. I don't think it's the best show ever, like some people say, but it's very good. But I just started watching the Queen's Gambit and I'm liking that. So maybe that's a good recommendation. And I'm going to go back to a limited series that is on HBO Max. Technically, it's a limited series.
00:26:09
Speaker
A bunch of different seasons, all different stories with different directors. I would highly recommend anyone that is into thrillers, as I was just saying. I would highly recommend True Detective season one, which stars Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrison playing detectives hunting down the serial killer over 20 years. I think it might be the best season of television ever. It's right there with season four and six of Game of Thrones and the final season of Breaking Bad. It is.
00:26:37
Speaker
You're, you're not going out on a ledge saying it might be the best single season of television. Um, you know, we talked about Woody Harrelson earlier. He's just awesome. Matthew McConaughey is just, I mean, he, he just goes to a different level in that show. Uh, that's definitely one. If people haven't watched it, definitely one to sit, sit down and watch. Yeah. Highly recommend that. And that will actually wrap up the episode. Dad, thank you for coming on.
00:27:06
Speaker
Oh, thank you. I'm looking forward to coming back so we can debate a little bit with some, some other stuff that we on a daily basis, we debate movie wise, but thank you for having me. And, um, um, this is great. Yeah, I had a great time. Annie would thank you for coming on. Did you want to say bye to everyone? Bye. Everyone again, thank you for tuning in and listening to the podcast. Make sure to like, and share the episode. You can find us on Spotify, Apple music.
00:27:35
Speaker
anywhere else that you can find podcasts. Again, thank you to my sponsors. Thank you everyone for making this show happen. Thank you for all the support I've been getting. Oh, and Annie, thank you for that. I will be making a YouTube channel starting probably two weeks from now. Me and my buddies will be setting it up. We will have a desk. We'll have a whole video section of this. So you will be able to find us on YouTube soon. As of right now, you can follow me at the popcorn podcast or at my other Instagram, which is at Tommy Cresta.
00:28:04
Speaker
Thank you again, everyone, for tuning in. I had a great time. Thank you again, Dad. Thank you, Annie, for coming on. And I will see you guys next week with my big guest country singer, Charlie Cope, where we will rank the top 10 comedy movies of all time. Thank you again, and I will talk to you guys next week.