SHANG-CHI | WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS | TIFF 2021
Pop Culture Weekly Round-Up 03/09/2021
Pop Culture Round-Up
Hello there! This week’s newsletter has some thoughts on the newest MCU movie, SHANG-CHI. I also share how happy I am with the return of one of my favorites TV shows, WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS. I wonder if Samuel L. Jackson still bothers to actually act at this point of his career and I dump on John Cena because he is the worst! There’s also a playlist of five songs I enjoyed last week.
TIFF is starting in a week and I’m super excited about it. I’m looking forward to watching a lot of new films and networking with media peers and creative people. I will write a couple of newsletters that will be completely dedicated to the festival so keep your eyes peeled.
Quick Thoughts
WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS (season 3) - They’re back! And in their third season, my favorite vampires from Staten Island are even funnier. Season 3 continues to be one of the most well-written, hilarious, and well-acted comedies on TV. They'll also have to deal with the consequences of Season 2, which revealed that Guillermo (Harvey Guillén), the vampire-loving character, was actually a vampire slayer. It's going to be awesome!
VACATION FRIENDS - This flick didn’t do anything for me. I didn’t laugh, not even once. It felt like they recycled some garbage comedies from the ’80s and early ’90s and updated them for the 2020s. Also, I don’t understand the John Cena appeal. The dude isn’t funny, can’t act to save his life, and has the charisma of a potato. Hard pass.
THE PROTÉGÉ - Martin Campbell directs an engaging but very forgettable action flick. Being the man behind two successful reboots of the Bond series, Campbell kind of dropped the ball here. The flick has all the cliches of the genre and I saw the “twist” coming from a mile away. But I thought that Michael Keaton did a fantastic job portraying a very charming antagonist and Maggie Q kicked some serious ass. and I also liked how Samuel L. Jackson was just being himself. Like, I don’t think that he is even acting anymore. He just shows up on the set and hangs around. I’m good with that though. Overall THE PROTÉGÉ is bland, but entertaining at times.
61 Days of Halloween - Shudder announced last week their Halloween countdown which started on September 1st and runs straight to Halloween, October 31st. The streaming service inspired me and I will try to watch one horror movie every night until Halloween. I picked the original NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET to start this challenge and boy that movie is good! I will rewatch MIDSOMMAR tonight when I finish writing the newsletter. And I promise that will keep you guys posted on how this experiment is going.
SHANG-CHI
A martial-arts master Shang-Chi (played by Simu Liu) gets dragged into the web of the enigmatic Ten Rings organization and confronted with a life he thought he had left behind.
Hey, look, another Marvel movie! And I kind of liked this one. SHANG-CHI is an incredibly fun ride. I loved how most of the big action scenes were so wonderfully shot and choreographed. I also really liked Simu Liu and Awkwafina chemistry. They did a great job in their roles. But it was Tony Leung that once again rose to the occasion and gave us another amazing performance. He is so great!
However, like most superhero flicks, SHANG-CHI’s final act is a mess. There is a lot going on story-wise and way too much CGI. And in a lot of instances, the special effects missed the mark for me. This is a shame because I really loved the two first acts of the movie.
SHANG-CHI is an entertaining martial arts film with a perfect amount of action, heart, and comedy. But unfortunately, it is also a very conventional MCU/superhero origin story. And I would love to see Marvel taking more risks when they tell these kinds of stories in the future.
Top 5 songs
These were the 5 songs on my heavy rotation last week. You can listen to them on Spotify and YouTube.
