RM Movie Club #1: Once Upon a Time in Shanghai

[Rangi Guy]

I think that the general tepid response to Kaius's pick has put me off choosing a Jet Li film in my pick.
Unleashed was in my list of maybes.

[lennytheweedwhacker]

i'm undecided as well...there's so many different approaches one can take

i'm thinking about choosing something that's generally well regarded, but i didn't like or was underwhelmed by on a previous viewing

[Kaius]

I'm also still waiting for Kaius's own take on the film

I'm polishing up my review after my 8th viewing tonight.

[lennytheweedwhacker]

I'm also still waiting for Kaius's own take on the film

I'm polishing up my review after my 8th viewing tonight.

oh heavens

[LoathedVermin72]

I think that the general tepid response to Kaius's pick has put me off choosing a Jet Li film in my pick.
Unleashed was in my list of maybes.

Love that movie!

[Simple Torture]

Argo and I must really be soulmates: like him, I really, really couldn't get into this movie. I had a lot of stuff going on in the past two weeks, but even with that, surely I could've found 90 minutes to watch a movie. But I think I only got through like 45 (the scene in the police precinct after Fist Man beats up all the traffickers?). Any time this week when I had some time to kill, I just couldn't force myself to sit down and watch it, which is too bad. I will keep it on my hard drive, though, and maybe return to it this week.

Some above (Jorge? Skitch maybe, too) posted about how the fight scenes sort of got in the movie's way, and I think I generally agree with that. Besides at a really base technical level, I am not impressed with fight choreography at all unless it has some sort of heft in the story beyond, "Hey, this looks cool!" So that opening sequence on the ship when we don't know who anyone is was a great big yawner for me. The only one that really got me interested was actually the arm-wrestling scene, because you clearly understood the stakes and the set-up, and then there's that moment at the end when they try to swindle him, but he wins anyways. That fight was about basic survival--putting food on the table, being able to afford shelter, just getting by day-to-day--whereas something like the first fight in the nightclub was very exposition-y, and required you to absorb lots of machinations about the goings-on in the Shanghai underworld before you'd be able to feel invested, and I just wasn't there yet.

The only character that stood out to me as a person was Guang. Maybe I could've felt a better connection given more time with the rest, but I dunno.

[lennytheweedwhacker]

has everybody moved on to skitch's selection?

[Jorge]

has everybody moved on to skitch's selection?

I'm gonna watch it this weekend.

But this thread is still here, so anyone could just bump it later on if they watch Kaius's pick and have some thoughts to share.

I want to read Argo's thoughts beyond "I could only make it halfway through".

[The Argonaut]

Wife Dinner Party Thanks

[Jorge]

Hey, did anyone else think all the dialogue felt dubbed-in? Or did I have a copy with wonky audio?

[Simple Torture]

Hey, did anyone else think all the dialogue felt dubbed-in? Or did I have a copy with wonky audio?

Yeah it seemed mostly dubbed.

[lennytheweedwhacker]

has everybody moved on to skitch's selection?

I'm gonna watch it this weekend.

But this thread is still here, so anyone could just bump it later on if they watch Kaius's pick and have some thoughts to share.

I want to read Argo's thoughts beyond "I could only make it halfway through".

i'm not sure this overlap of selections so soon will help in facilitating discussion of this film