JANUARY WATCH PARTY - Tropic Thunder (2008), Haunting in Venice (2023), Shang-Chi (2021)
"Through a series of freak occurrences, a group of actors shooting a big-budget war movie are forced to become the soldiers they are portraying."
- IMDB
What the actual f- I will never forgive my friend for making us watch this lololol. I will never be able to unsee Robert Downey Jr.'s performance. It was so offensive in all the right ways - the only instance of "black face" that seems to excepted (based on comments I've seen on the internet), you know, since he was just a dude playing a dude disguised as another dude playing a dude.
While RDJ is the unquetionable standout of the film, the rest of it is quite funny. The plot of these actors running wild in the jungles of Vietnam while facing dangers of this mob run by a child was great. Comedy is so hit or miss for me, but I found myself laughing pretty much every other scene. Being in the height of cancel culture, I also found myself to be missing the 2000s as I was not prepared for the controversial bits that plague this movie. I recommend everyone to watch this movie. Led by RDJ, Ben Stiller, & Jack Black - everything just works.
My Rating: ★★★★★★★★★☆
"In post-World War II Venice, Poirot, now retired and living in his own exile, reluctantly attends a seance. But when one of the guests is murdered, it is up to the former detective to once again uncover the killer."
- IMDB
I've seen all the Kenneth Branagh Poirot films as they've released. Oriental Express was amazing. The Nile one... I don't really remember. So I was 50-50 about Haunting in Venice. I saw this in theaters with my mom, who is an actual Agatha Christie fan. We both ended up enjoying the movie. I was pleasantly surprised - it was very well done. Cinematography was stunning. The set designs had a great aesthetic to them. The actors all did a good job.
Now this film promoted itself as a mystery AND horror film. It was definitely more mystery than horror, but there was still a creepy element to many of the scenes and it truly worked. The audio was a true standout in this regard as 4D audio was used for the singing girl. Watching this in a theater or with really good headphones is the way to go because the girls voice felt like it was coming from right next to us and it also sounded like it was panning behind us as well.
The story was also well written. I almost complained about how there weren't enough characters around to give us an Oriental Express level twist, but hen the little boy was revealed to be the blackmailer, not his shellshocked dad who died because he took the blame and protected his son. those Bulgarians ended up having enough money to live their Judy Garland American dream. So maybe not a Orient Express level twist, but this move still captured the same emotional vibe the 1st film did.
Just go watch Haunting in Venice & Murder on the Orient Express. Their solid films.
My Rating: ★★★★★★★★★★
"Shang-Chi, the master of weaponry-based Kung Fu, is forced to confront his past after being drawn into the Ten Rings organization."
- IMDB
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings was a movie I knew I would like, one that I look forward to watching, but one that I wasn't in a rush to see. Therefore, 2 years later, I've finally watched it.
The one thing that will bring me back to this movie is the fighting. Marvel usually does well with it's fighting sequences, but real martial arts hits different. Seeing bad@$$ Asians going at it as masters of martial arts can never be done wrong, even in bad movies. The fight choreography was so great and was made interesting in the first act through the bus and scaffolding sequences.
Simu Liu was great, and the supporting cast was fine as well. Despite a good cast and several well acted scenes, nobody was a standout. The plot itself was quite basic as I feel like I've seen similar stories. And it also forces itself to be an MCU installment, with cameos with Wong, Captain Marvel, and Bruce Banner. They really can't make a standalone Marvel film, everything's gotta be MCU??? Overall, it's a fun experience. I'll watch it during Marvel marathons anyway, but I won't go out of my way to watch otherwise.
My Rating: ★★★★★★★☆☆☆
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