#i really love the name zhang meng'er

[perfectlywisedelusions]

soooo i gotta watch shang chi and it was great. firstly there was no quick cut action (yippee!!!!) and the martial arts were great. the soundtrack was also great and the humor was on point. also like 1/3+ of this movie is in chinese, which kind of surprised me but i really liked that. all the acting was great. the cg fight scene at the end was kinda long, but hey. also tony leung as the mandarin was perfect and i think his character was amazing. marvel villains are kinda lame but he did a great job and his character was just (chef’s kiss) excellent. this movie wasn’t what i was entirely expecting, but i still enjoyed it. also props to it for having very emotionally resonant moments. that’s pretty rare in marvel movies.

Spoilers:

xu xialing is shang chi’s sister (l love that name a lot ngl it’s really pretty) and ended the movie (in the second credits scene) putting satellite tv and cell towers in a crime syndicate. she’s great and i can’t wait to see more of her. also katie (awkafina) can shoot a bow and arrow well and i feel like she might be a form of kate bishop if kate bishop wasn’t already cast. and wong said that the rings were a beacon, and my thought is that they were a beacon to the deviants from the eternals, or the eternals, or the celestials. 

[dlrconlicense]

So I've gone and seen Shang Chi and the Legend of Ten Rings. Here are some random thoughts I had about the film.

(Spoilers below)

1) They had to have done the opening arrow scene on purpose and I actually busted out in a laugh. So lemme explain, like about circa 15 years ago, the "great" director Zhang Yimou had his foray into the martial arts genre with a little film called "Hero", starring your Mr. Wen Wu, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai (I always say his Chinese name because a) like Wen Wu said your name is sacred, b) there are two great Tony Leungs in HK Entertainment). So anyhoo, in that film there was an incredibly ridiculous scene where an entire army shoots like thousands of arrows at Jet Li's character to execute him. I remember one of the student groups back in college had held a screening of it (which basically is a bunch of us cramped inside a classroom showing a bootleg copy on the projector) and the entire lot of us busted out laughing.

Tony wasn't gonna die from arrows like Jet, he yeeted them away.

2) I think in a circle of Asian American friends, we knew a Shaun-like character, we all knew a Katy, we all have one of THOSE lawyer friends.

3) I actually loved the bus fight scene....and yeah that sounds about right in regards to San Fran public transport lol.

4) Why was Wong hustling for money? He clearly had a hand in fixing matches with Abomination. Was he investigating the Xu siblings and was undercover? Or they really needed money to fix the roof. Actually the Wong scene was rather...unnecessary somehow.

5) I love that this film's main character doesn't fall in to the trap of Asian film main leads...typical good at everything, classically good looking (i.e pasty a la kdrama/c-dramas), RICH by legacy. Shaun running from legacy actually makes him rather relatable in a way. He found his own path eventually to take up his mantle.

6) When I saw the trailer, I had mistook Xialing for the actress who played her mom. The actress, Fala Chen, had an extremely similar bob in one of my favorite TV series from HK. You could see similarities between Meng'er and Fala, so kudos to casting for that.

7) Speaking of Fala, I've always thought that she was infinitely wasted in the later years at her job in the TV station in HK. It was crap scripts one after the other. She was by far the most natural of the actresses that started around the same time, yet she was probably the most criticized. When I saw that she quit her job and further her career by going to Julliard, I thought good for her and what a badass.

8) God, why Ronny Chieng? Just effing why him?!

9) Katy is the best friend you wish you had. Literally.

10) So speaking as a trilingual (native Cantonese speaker, English and fluent in Mandarin), I think the part that really threw off a bit was the Chinese. I've always found Chinese dialogue that pops up in Hollywood productions a bit awkward and clunky. The interchange between English and Mandarin Chinese in this definitely was not awkward. It actually does sound like how my family would communicate at times. While I don't find the dialogue an issue, I did find Tony's Mandarin throws me off while we have other characters speak perfect Mandarin. Just let the man speak Cantonese lol. (Simu's was very typical ABC/CBC to be fair and come to think of it, this is the first time I've heard Fala act in Mandarin Chinese, her self-taught Canto is extremely good btw).

11) The action scenes were awesome, although the dragon fight was a bit dizzying.

12) So basically the final battle is like Mortal Kombat, The Hobbit movie, and Raya all rolled into one.

13) I am glad they don't overuse "honor" in this. There is no honor to defend in this entire family. In fact, speaking as a Chinese person, we don't "defend honor" like we eat rice. We either choose to live honorably like any other folks or just do our own thing.

14) Speaking of eating rice, I completely lost my shit when Wen Wu went to Guang Bo (Mr. Landlord Yuen Wah!) and said a common telling off in Chinese "I've eaten more salt than you've ate rice young man, so you better speak to me with more respect." He's seen more shit than you. I keep on forgetting Wen Wu is like thousands of years old.

15) Tony is very good looking for a thousand years old.

16) During the battle between father and son, I kept on thinking....are those rings from a similar meteor like in Wakanda? Meaning they are Vibranium?

17) So definitely love and grief are the main themes of this new era in the MCU. Wenwu's motivations definitely is like the Strange episode of "What If..." His family was his everything and his weakness.

18) When Shang Chi looked at Katy like THAT, I very audibly said "No!" in the theater. Why can't they just be besties for life? I'm telling you, BroTP for life. It's not even about making the Asian male lead asexual. Why can't a guy and a girl can be ride and die like that.

19) Ok...thank you Bruce for the answer to my questions about the rings.

20) God I wanna hang out with Wong.

21) Is Xialing rebuilding the Ten Rings and why do I have a feeling she is going to have ties to Sharon's Power Broker?

Final thought: A very fun, very solid entry into MCU. I went in with very low expectations and definitely found myself enjoying it more than I thought I would. I definitely will rewatch this film when it comes out on streaming. I actually wouldn't mind seeing more of Shaun and Katy.

P.S. Has anyone told Trevor that Liverpool won the League one year?

[dear-indies]

Hello lovely! Since Z*e K*avitz is disgusting now I was wondering if you please have any suggestions for a replacement to her Selina Kyle? I def would like them to still be a woc. Thank you so much!! Have a wonderful day xoxo

Based on movie casting:

Regina King (1971) African-American. 

Florence Kasumba (1976) Ugandan.

Danai Gurira (1978) Shona Zimbabwean. 

Melina Matsoukas (1981) Afro Cuban, Afro Jamaican / Greek, Ashkenazi Jewish.

Lesley-Ann Brandt (1981) Black South African [English, East Indian, German, Spanish, Dutch, Khoisan, Ashkenazi Jewish].

Folake Olowofoyeku (1984) Nigerian. 

Lupita Nyong'o (1983) Luo Kenyan.

Cush Jumbo (1985) Nigerian / English. 

Wunmi Mosaku (1986) Nigerian.

Jodie Turner-Smith (1986) Afro-Jamaican. 

Jurnee Smollett (1986) African-American, possibly other / Ashkenazi Jewish.

Jessica Parker Kennedy (1984) Black Canadian, Italian, Russian.

Michaela Coel (1987) Ghanaian - is aromantic.

Lashana Lynch (1987) Afro-Jamaican.

Nafessa Williams (1989) African-American.

Kylie Bunbury (1989) Afro-Guyanese / Swedish, as well as Polish, English, and German.

Hannah John-Kamen (1989) Nigerian / Norwegian.

Damaris Lewis (1990) Afro-Kittian.

Lisa-Kaindé Diaz (1994) Afro-Cuban [Yoruba] / Venezuelan [Spanish, some Italian], Tunisian Jewish.

Naomi Diaz (1994) Afro-Cuban [Yoruba] / Venezuelan [Spanish, some Italian], Tunisian Jewish.

Tati Gabrielle (1996) African-American / Korean.

Based on the comics since I’m told she’s half Cuban!

Gina Torres (1969) Afro-Cuban, likely other. 

Melina Matsoukas (1981) Afro Cuban, Afro Jamaican / Greek, Ashkenazi Jewish.

Lisa-Kaindé Diaz (1994) Afro-Cuban [Yoruba] / Venezuelan [Spanish, some Italian], Tunisian Jewish.

Naomi Diaz (1994) Afro-Cuban [Yoruba] / Venezuelan [Spanish, some Italian], Tunisian Jewish.

Other suggestions too! 

Poorna Jagannathan (1972) Tamil Indian. 

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan (1973) Tuluva Indian.

Maggie Q (1979) Vietnamese / Irish, Polish, French.

Bérénice Marlohe (1979) Chinese, Cambodian / French.

Olivia Cheng (1979) Chinese.

Du Juan (1982) Chinese.

Dichen Lachman (1982) Nepalese Tibetan / German, English, some Scottish.

Cara Gee (1983) Ojibwe.

Alba Flores (1983) Romani and Spanish.

Florence Faivre (1983) Thai / French.

Franciska Farkas (1984) Romani.

Jessica Matten (1985) Métis, Saulteaux-Cree / Chinese and British.

Sonoya Mizuno (1986) Japanese / English, Argentinian - has short hair in Devs.

Meng'er Zhang (1987) Chinese - has short hair in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

JuJu Chan (1989) Hongkonger.

Andy Allo (1989) Cameroonian / German, Irish, Welsh, English.

Paloma Ayana Stoecker / Delilah (1990) Cuban, Jamaican, Nigerian and English.

Tanaya Beatty (1991) Da’naxda’xw / Himalayan.

Medalion Rahimi (1992) Iranian, Mizrahi Jewish - she/they.

Jessica Henwick (1992) Chinese Singaporean / English.

Han So Hee (1994) Korean - has short hair in My Name.

Hong Seo Young (1995) Korean.

Includes some people have already been cast in the DC universe but they’re in different universes and/or would work really well so worth a mention! 

HERE’s an ask for general alts for her too! 

[welcome-to-the-cafe]

SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS (2021)

shang-chi and the legend of the ten rings is an american superhero film directed by destin daniel cretton, starring simu liu, awkwafina, meng'er zhang, fala chen, michelle yeoh, tony leung, and like...a ton of other large-named individuals...

jk this is not a review this is just a loose collection of comments on the movie, which i watched this weekend, in a theater.

actually no spoilers below.

disclaimers:

i have very limited context re: marvel and other superhero franchises

also even though i watched this movie a day ago, i remember basically nothing

comments:

ah yes, yet another evil organization manipulating the world from the shadows

shocked by how romantic that fight scene between xu wenwu and ying li was

i appreciate when a superhero movie has the hero hail from SF or LA or literally anywhere that isn't NYC; west coast represent

also appreciate all the kung-fu movie posters in shaun's place. i love when american movies do shoutouts to asian martial arts movies.

re: "shaun" - ah yes, bland-name anglicization

whenever i saw awkwafina on screen, i kept thinking "oh it's awkwafina" instead of "oh it's katy"

i feel like the character katy was made for this movie, like they wanted to put awkwafina in the movie so they just made up a character for her to play.

absolutely loved that oldboy-homage from-the-side baddie mowdown in the bus

i really love the whole "best friend throws aside everything to help out their friend" trope. i mean. it's kind of bad. but it's heartwarming whenever it happens. (e.g. in vol. 1 of ajin with kaito and kei nagai, in the lord of the rings with samwise gamgee and frodo baggins)

also i like that shang-chi and katy are actually just friends. they are just pals. nothing straight is happening over here.

i did like that scene with katy's family, where people are speaking in both english and chinese. i liked katy's grandma and the whole qingming festival grave gifts thing

i love xu xialing (shang-chi's sister), but... why do badass asian women almost always have bob cuts? i'm having flashbacks to rinko kikuchi as mako mori in pacific rim. brb, looking up "asian women in action movies with bob cuts" ...yes, note also: faye valentine in cowboy bebop, motoko kusanagi in ghost in the shell, and sun bak in sense8

i wish i had more context re: marvel bc i want to know who the asian portal guy is... (he shows up a few times)

that whole scaffolding fight scene - cover your eyes if you're afraid of heights, i guess - i don't think it was a good idea for them to leave the inside of the building for the scaffolding, but, well. it made for a good fight scene.

morris the dijiang/hundun was really cute! usually i associate chinese mythological creatures with words like "majestic," "beautiful," and "terrifying"...but wow! cute!

i'm kind of losing steam here i don't know what else to say

oh yeah, i almost cheered when i saw michelle yeoh on screen. sorry, i love her.

idk how chinese the clothing is. it seems really colorful. does it look like it's from a particular part of china? if someone has like, an article on that, i would be interested.

also i was surprised to not hear any cantonese despite this movie being partially set in macau.

oh i should probably talk about tony leung as wenwu. idk what to say. sensitive and powerful portrayal of a villain as just an old man consumed by grief.

i appreciate that bit where wenwu (who is really old) says to an old white-hared dude, "i've eaten more salt than you've eaten rice." i think that might have been lost in translation.

weird thought: ying li and wenwu have maybe a thousand-year age difference. mayfly-december romance.

if any analyses come out about like, what kung fu styles the martial arts are based on, i would be into that. send them my way. my only uneducated comment is that the fight styles of ta lo seem kind of airbendy. like the way the foot sweeps out in a circle. also the swirling leaves effects.

i'm also curious about xialing's style. with and without the rope dart. oh man, the rope dart...i feel like it was used in super unrealistic ways...but it looks really cool.

i really like how the rings are used in fight scenes. honestly they actually seem pretty...authentic? like there's something genuinely chinese kung-fu about them. like southern chinese maybe?

also liked the hook swords the ten rings mooks use. i don't think i've seen them very much (i think jet from avatar: the last airbender uses them?). they're not used in very cool ways though (the hook-ness of the swords is used a lot less than the sword-ness)

this isn't an asian film, but most of the cast is east asian. i wonder how china feels about this film. like how do chinese people feel about the casting etc.?

the water vfx were very impressive. fun fact: shang-chi had no less than 11 vfx companies involved in its production

also there are mid-credit and post-credit scenes that i thought were worth watching

i feel like this movie could have been better, but also i didn't expect better. i don't really know what to expect from superhero movies in general. i wasn't paying much attention to how good the movie actually was because i was just busy being dazzled by the visual effects and the fight scenes and so on.

bonus xu xialing because i couldn’t resist

and a few other asian action babes with bob cuts for comparison

hey, it’s a thing.

[smokeybrand]

Smokey brand Movie Reviews: Welcome to the Hotel California

I’m a huge fan of Kung Fu flicks. Primarily old school like Enter the Dragon and Drunken Master but i have a special place in my heart for some of the newer ones like The Raid and Kung Fu Hustle. Specifically Hustle. That’s actually one of my all time favorite films. It’s a whole ass masterpiece. When i heard that Feige wanted to make a Shang-Chi flick, i found that questionable. In my head, the only way this works is if it’s a throwback Kung Fu flick. Shang-Chi is the Marvel equivalent to Bruce Lee (Who actually existed in the 616 and was canonically the strongest fighter until he died) and is the strongest hand-to-hand combatant in the entire 616. That said, the creation of Shang-Chi is hilariously problematic and, after the Kung Fu boom of the seventies that saw Marvel buying the rights to Fu Manchu and creating Iron Fist, Shang-Chi was relegated to the D-list. Dude has no stories, narrative, to pull from. Mans is a blank slate, which piqued my interest. How do you make Shang-Chi relevant? Well, his movie is out on D+, i passed on it in theaters because the Wuha, and i can finally check it out. Did Feige pull this sh*t off?

The Great

The fight choreography is f*cking spectacular. It pays homage to almost every type of Martial Art film which came before. I saw a little bit of Crouching Tiger in there and a lot of Enter the Dragon. Definitely a bit of China Connection and some of Jackie Chan, too. I absolutely loved every fight in this thing and it made for fantastic visuals.

The Good

I adore this Asian representation. Aside from the cast, there was lots of Mandarin influence in this thing. It’s more an amalgamation of all Asian cultures but the Chinese aspects really stand out. From the food, to the culture, to even the dual names, all of it really rang true to what i now about the Chinese way of life. When we finally got see Ta Lo, i recognized so many creatures from Asian folklore. There were kitsune or, considering this is a very Chinese-centric narrative, Huli jing. There were Shiisa and Dragons and those weird horse dragon things. It was really a sight to behold. This is the first time I've ever experienced something so thoroughly Asian in a big budget Hollywood production.

While on the subject of representation, this cast is loaded with Asian faces. That, i think, is the strongest aspect of this entire movie; Finally giving our Asian brothers their own Black Panther moment. I always love watching Awkwafina do her thing but it was a legitimate pleasure seeing Fala Chen, Michelle Yeoh, and Benadict Wong, steal every scene in which they found themselves. It was awesome seeing Ben Kingsley again, too. The cast was very strong, particular in two performances, but a complete let down in another.

Tony Leung as Xu Wenwu was absolutely amazing. Her really delivered on hi performance as Shang-Chi’s dad. As far as i can tell, Wenwu is an original character to the Shang-Chi mythos, kind of an amalgamation of the classic Iron Man villain, Mandarin, but a lot less problematic. I think this was a positive change, especially considering how strong Leung’s portrayal turned out and the fact it gives an anchor to what is effectively the MCU’s first, original, character. All credit given where due, as great as Leung was in his role, he was absolutely outshined by...

Meng'er Zhang! Yo, whee was this chick hiding? She was outstanding as Shang-Chi’s estranged sister, Xu Xialing! This performance was a whole ass vibe. Strong, aggressive, dominant  but still incredibly emotional and even more vulnerable. Walking that line is testament to an actor’s ability and Zhang definitely nailed that sh*t. It’s funny because everyone was praising how strong a villain Leung was but, for my money, it was the Zhang show the second she popped up in Macau. I really, really, like Xialing.

I have to say, this thing had some of the bet action set pieces in the MCU to date. But that’s kind of a no-brainer as this is basically a kung fu film. If you’re set pieces, the stunts and fights, aren’t on point, what are you even doing? a few of them I've been before, that one on the scaffolding is definitely a thing that has been done to death in the genre, but they were all still really exciting to see, nonetheless.

The plot is a little derivative but as a framing device for dope ass fisticuffs, it works well. A lot of the charm can be found in the relationship interactions between the principal cast. I loved the way Shang-Chi interact with his sisters, Katy and Xialing. And, yes, Katy is definitely this man’s sister. You can’t tell me he wasn’t adopted into that family.

The overall writing s really tight. I as surprised by how many callbacks worked and the lack of glaring discrepancies. They even worked Trevor Slattery in there and made it feel very organic. Also, the explanation of Mandarin was f*cking hilarious.

The soundtrack is pretty f*cking dope. There’s a good mixture of modern hip-hp and traditional Chinese music. It blends very well and add a ton of authenticity to the movie about magic wristbands and dragons.

The Meh

Simu Liu. Like, Shang-Chi, himself, is a little dry for my tastes. We have fantastic leads in the MCU. Some are Charismatic as f*ck, like RDJ and Chadwick Boseman. Others are just earnestly endearing like Chris Evans and Tom Holland. Some are just goobers with hearts of gold like both the Chrises Pratt and Hemsworth. Liu has none of that just yet. He feels a little stiff, unsure of how his character should be just yet. A lot of that, i think, is because of the plot but some of it has to be the choices Liu made to bring Shang to life. It not a problem that will take you out of it but this feels a lot like pre-Ragnarok Thor. It took Hemsworth a while to find his version of the character and i think Simu might being working through the same process.

This thing was fun as f*ck until the last thirty minutes or so. It was unique and really delivered a new experience for the MCU until it didn’t. The ending to this thing aggressively devolves into the Marvel Formula and, while it’s fine, i wanted something different. You could have gone in so many different ways, leaned into the strength of the martial arts put on displayed the entirety of the film, but nah. CG clusterf*ck it is! Which is kind of dubious because...

The effects are really hit-and-miss. Sometimes, they’re exceptional. The realization of how the ring work was very well done. Other times, they’re dogsh*t. There is a frame in the whole bus scenes that looks so f*cking fake, man. Hell, even Morris is questionably rendered and that thing was integral to the climax of the whole damn film!

The pacing is weird. Like, it never really drags and the two hours flu by but, i dunno? It feels incredibly rushed? Shang-Chi is over two hour long and it feels like it needed more time to tell this story. Sh*t is real weird, man. I think it would have been better as a D+ series but then that opens up it’s own can of worms

The Bad

Whoever the f*ck played Razor Fist was trash. straight basura. He’s this massive dude and never gets the opportunity to be menacing. I never once felt like Shang-Chi or Xialing were in danger when they faced off with this cat. Also, his razor fist looks like sh*t. Some more of that wonky CG i referenced earlier.

The Verdict

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings was a fun time but nowhere near as great as the hype would have led you to believe. This thing is a mid-tier MCU outing. It’s nowhere near as good as Black Panther but substantially better than, say, the Ant-Man films. It is a solid origin story and definitely feels like a throwback to Phase Two in a lot of ways but definitely one of the strongest from that era. This film is filled with exceptional performances, Tony Leung and Meng'er Zhang being absolute standout, from a cast lousy with oft neglected Asian representation. Indeed, that Asian flavor runs deep, coloring everything about this film which really gave it it’s own feel. The martial arts are amazing to see and the overall aesthetic was a feat for the eyes. That said, Simu Liu has a long way to go in being a stand-out MCU lead and some of the effects look unfinished. That, and the fact this thing feels like is should have been longer to tell this story, really tarnishes Shang-Chi’s shine. Overall, i had fun with this film but is it an integral part of the MCU? I wouldn’t say so. Do you need to see this one to stay up on the overall workings of Feige’s master plan? Not really. It’s an entertaining origin story for a promising new character but not much else. Xialing is f*cking amazing, though. Give her a f*cking movie1 I’d watch her Ten Ring shenanigans with fervor!

[acharlescoleman]

My movie weekend. 

I saw Plan B at home in the wee hours of...Saturday morning, around 1am? maybe 12:30?

Went to the Autry Museum to see Gas Food Lodging at like 1:30 in the afternoon. The director was there and the Q&A was really good. The fairly packed crowd, all wearing masks consistently which was nice, asked good questions! So it was a neat Q&A. Learned that in the original novel that there were three kids in the story and the writer-director was like gotta lose one of the kids lol. And recommended to screenwriters in the audience that like triangle situations are good for drama,   like for this movie,  the dynamics between the lead character the young middle teen girl,  her slightly older sister, and her mother was the crux of the movie. \

I really liked the movie btw,   it wasn’t like a strict Hollywood narrative movie but it also wasn’t totally like overly arty experimental either, very handheld and raw and funny at times. I remember complaining about Plan B that the parents were way too understanding and there wasn’t enough yelling between the teens and parents in that movie, I got my fill with this movie. There was like one scene where the slightly teen girl came home late, the mother isn’t happy, there’s a bit of a back and forth, then the older teen goes to in the restroom, and they’re still arguing! I felt at home in this world lol. The scene awkwardly in a good way went longer than most of those kind of scenes usually go on for which I appreciated! 

Like that scene took me back to all the bickering I had had with my parents, along with the ones I overheard my sis had had with my parents. Good times! Like you start arguing about the initial thing of being late but then other stuff sometimes comes out too, especially if you have teens with tongues like me and my sis,   like man,  sometimes looking back,  we just weren’t kids that would accept just getting yelled at lol. At some point, around 11 maybe? I think kids start talking back and it’s rarely good because as an older person reflecting,  like you’re not experienced enough to really fight back with your folks but if you’re also young and reactive so you gotta say something and hope it sticks and hurts lol. 

I don’t know why I’m harping on this but I remember in Plan B,   there was like a classic 90′s TV show scene where a girl came home late (that’s the whole movie!) and she’s sort of confronted by the mom when she got home,   there’s not much of a back and forth and at the end, the girl is more upset at her mom and she gets in the last word and walks away. The mother just stood there for a while until the next scene where she goes to her her daughter’s bedroom and they hash it out. I don’t know, I’m not a parent lol but I’m still not convinced a mother, especially an immigrant mother,  would let their daughter do that do them, get the last word and walk away from them. I also don’t see how that’s a good thing,   like shouldn’t the more ideal thing be that they just talk it out then there? idk. Gas Food Lodging does a bit of it too, as my parents and many others,  where you do let the parties calm down after a fight and then talk it out better. idk. That whole bit just seemed too rush and that so bothered me that the mom just stood there. 

Anyways,  I liked Gas Food Lodging!

After the movie,  I decided to get my iPhone fixed,   I needed a new battery and a glass replacement and I found a dude in Los Feliz who gave me a deal to do both for a really good price. And he was fast about it too which was neat. I really might give that dude a yelp review and I don’t think I’ve done that before,  as of day 2, the service was really that good. I think I’ll wait a week though to make sure the phone keeps working. (Knock on wood it is so far)

I had planned to get something to eat then go to the Landmark in West LA to see Language Lessons,   but I wound up just going straight to the Landmark from Los Feliz and eating there which was alright because they had like Hebrew Nationals. Pretty good dog imo. Popcorn was so-so but whatever, that’s fine. 

I liked Language Lessons even though I could see why other people wouldn’t like it, the whole movie is done by zoom chats and like phone video messages by the two lead characters. A guy gets signed up for like online Spanish lessons and because and he and his Spanish teacher are vibing each other, the lessons don’t go in a formal way, they have like more free forming conversations in mostly Spanish and she corrects his Spanish when she feels needed, or when he asks if he’s saying something correctly. It’s neat, the whole first part was pretty long which was nice, to just have scenes play themselves out. Then as the movie goes on rough stuff happens to each character and they continue with their Spanish lessons thing. 

The dramatic stakes just keep getting raised as the movie goes on which teetered on going overboard with trying to make a clear story out of the film but I was fine with it and obviously,  I won’t spoil the ending but I totally dug that ending too even though it’s kind of hokey. Sometimes I’m fine with hoke and schmaltz!

At the Q&A,   the writer-director Natalie Morales, who was also the Spanish teacher,  said the film was shot last year, had some improv but not too much and interestingly she said she was kind of inspired by some of the bad directors she had worked with (didn’t name) throughout her acting career. She was like if they can do it,  she could certainly do it too and she encouraged other artists to like to press on with their passions because even if you suck,  you might inspire good work too. Something like that. I appreciated that honestly I feel like that’s a real thing being inspired by stuff that doesn’t impress you where you think you could do it better. 

So that was neat.    

Then,  I walked to the blue line on Pico, took the blue line train to the red line in downtown LA and that lead me to Hollywood and my last two movies of Saturday/Sunday.

It was a part of a film festival and the movies started after midnight, my first midnight movie in like over two years! 

The first movie was a short film that was a sci fi experimental satire thing that got into social media influencers (I think?) and I couldn’t get into it. It was a little too offbeat for me but I did think it was neat that the movie was shot by iPhones and it looked alright. 

The second movie was the Alternate, a sci fi thriller feature that I really dug. A would-be young filmmaker finds out about like a loop thing from his computer,  that allows him, if he goes into the loop thing to go into an “alternate” world where “he’s” a successful filmmaker and his girlfriend is now his wife, they have a nice home and a daughter. A pretty good life. It’s not entirely clear early on why the young filmmaker keeps wanting to go back into this “alternate” world but as the movie goes on that becomes clearer and darker. It’s a really good trippy movie. 

At the Q&A,  I didn’t think of my question until near the end of the sessions and I didn’t get to ask my question which stunk lol.

So that was that, then the real fun happened which was me trying to get home at 2am. I missed my first bus which stunk because the subway was closed so I couldn’t do subway then Lyft. And Lyft/Uber from Hollywood to home was out of the question because that would’ve costed like $70+! So I spent most of my time, waiting for the bus and walking back and forth to the closest 7-11′s that I knew in Hollywood and they were both closed! I didn’t know they did that! 

Anyways,  that was a wild time,  almost everyone I encountered was not sober in some way or another. I was also surprised at how many people were awake at almost 3am too. Just wild, wild stuff. 

I finally made it home at like just before 4am. One cute thing that happened as I went to my room was the yorkie left his bed to see me. I didn’t pet him, I don’t know why but I was tired and he was probably tired too,   I had thought he needed to pee but I think he was concerned that I was gone for so long. It was so funny,  he saw me, shook his tail, did a little stretch, then I asked him if he needed to pee and he didn’t even acknowledge I had said something, and he just walked back to his bed to go to sleep. Love that dog.

AND THEN,  on Sunday, yesterday,  I went to the Grove to meet up with friends to see Shang-Chi which I thought was barely okay. I liked the actors but the story just reminded me of too many other Marvel movies plus the movie was insistent on popping in flashbacks almost every 15 minutes or so. That reminded me of Captain Marvel in particular! (although to be fair,  to that movie they spread out of the flashbacks more but it was still annoying). Non-marvel movie,   Aquaman did that too in possibly the most annoying way. I laughed a few times during the movie BUT there were at least two times where there was an attempt at a funny moment when it was so not needed at all. Marvel loves to pull shit like that. One I will spoil is Shang-Chi is basically doing the first part of his explaining who he really is Awkwafina’s character and like 3/4′s of the way into the flashback, the flashback stops because a stewardess asks them if they wanted to order food. Beef or vegan. They both say vegan. Stewardess says they’re out of a vegan so they say fine, they’ll get beef. And then, I think Shang-Chi went back to his story but to me, that was so unneeded. 

The action was mostly fine but there was also tons of CGI too and it got excessive especially the ending where Shang-Chi almost has nothing to do because of CGI circumstances and I was like lost at what was going on at times. That was so poorly executed. 

Tony Leung and Michelle Yeoh were great though. Newcomer Meng'er Zhang was solid. Shang-Chi himself was alright considering like he spends a lot of the movie,   telling stories and kicking ass. He’s very good at the latter. Okay at the other which I mostly blame on the script and story,  he had to do so much exposition yeesh. 

Anyways, so that was my movie weekend.

Today,  I might go with my sister to the Raiders game in Vegas. She’s a Raiders fan and just instantly got the tickets. The funny thing is like three weeks ago or so she got buyers remorse so she’s tried to sell the pair of tickets on some profit and it’s been a challenge because the Raiders are only letting ticket holders who have proof of vaccination to inside the stadium to see the game. I think they’re the only team in the league doing that, it’s like a step above of admission for even most businesses in Los Angeles too including movie theaters. None of the places I went to the movies at required that. 

And if you can believe it,  some football fans are not all-in on getting vaccinated yet so even though,  it’s a home opening game,  it looks like it’s not going to be  a guarantee that it’ll be a packed stadium. As of now they haven’t changed that policy which is interesting to me, obviously my sis would prefer to sell the tickets and make some money off it instead of go, she said she even went under value BUT there still weren’t any takers so it looks like we’re going to the game! Weird stuff. I have the day off and I don’t go into work tomorrow until like 11:45pm. Fun times. 

If you’ve made this far,   hope you’re well and have a good week! (if not, that’s cool too no biggie!)