#46. 'Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings'
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The main review is Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, which shattered Labor Day box-office records with a $75.4 million opening — nearly tripling the previous best — even while shut out of the Chinese market entirely. Sonny is the biggest fan, walking through an unusually deep box-office breakdown before praising the movie as a rare Marvel outing with properly calibrated stakes (Tony Leung's Mandarin only wants to resurrect his dead wife, not destroy the world), plus terrific wire-work choreography and a well-used Awkwafina. JVL grades it a solid B/B-plus, singling out Tony Leung's fight-turned-dance sequence as maybe his favorite piece of choreography in the entire MCU, while faulting the film for telling rather than showing (Katie's Berkeley degree, Shang-Chi's four languages) and for leaving Shang-Chi himself a total cipher next to his better-drawn sister — though he admires the very Eastern theme that you are the product of both parents rather than free of your father's sins. Vic, self-declared "sole guardian of the Quadrants," is unmoved, scoring the film Plot A-minus, Duration D, Action/Violence A, and Sex/Nudity N/A for an overall B, calling it long, boring, and one CGI set piece too many. The first third is the usual banter: JVL's son G-Money is outraged to learn that teammate "Squeaks" has left for another team (really a free-agent move, not a trade), Vic delivers a long, increasingly baffled saga about Arlington's new mandatory composting caddy (the county's advice to store rotting food scraps in the refrigerator disgusts everyone), and Sonny nurses a jalapeño-mahi-mahi-taco stomachache all episode while separately griping that his Dire Straits Alchemy live album isn't streamable and his PS5 can't even play the CD he owns. Along the way they also cover Simu Liu's pre-fame career as a stock-photo model, run down Tony Leung's résumé (In the Mood for Love, Infernal Affairs, the Red Cliff films), and joke about the MCU's ever-multiplying secret organizations, before closing with listener shout-outs — a travel clock from German listener Matthias and a "Straight Outta Beaver" T-shirt from Tanya McKenna — and a preview of Dune, including the story of David Lynch telling a fan he hates his own 1984 version.
From the show notes
On this week's episode, Sonny struggles to hold it together. JVL's kid learns the truth about baseball. Vic does some composting! And the gang talks about the new MCU flick Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Lots to discuss!
Full transcript
Vic00:00:00I gave you 10 years to live your life, and where did that get you? You walked in my shadow. I trained you, so the most dangerous people in the world couldn't kill you. Son, it's time for you to take your place by my side. Hello and welcome to another edition of the Sub-Beacon. I'm Victor Matus along with Jonathan V. Last and Sonny Bunch, just a reminder, the Sub-Beacon is now available through Patreon. Go to subbeacon.com, you'll easily find us, please subscribe, tell your friends, and don't forget about the Sub-Beacon merchandise store at tpublic.com. Gentlemen, how are we JVL?
JVL00:01:20So we're at a flash baseball game on Saturday, and after the games are done, the tournament, a meeting, the players and coaches, and it's very somber, and after the meeting, as we're driving home, Flash tells us that one of the kids on the team, Squeaks, great kid, loves this kid, Squeaks is leaving and joining another team, and he's doing, and from the backseat of the car, G Money starts throwing a fit, "I hate Coach Anthony, I hate Coach Jason, why would they do this?" And we're like, "Oh, settle down there, G Money, what's the problem?" He goes, "Why would they trade Squeaks? I really like Squeaks, why are they trading him? They shouldn't be trading kids, that's for like, the Nationals." Because
Vic00:02:16in his mind, the reason Squeaks is gone is because, well, we got some future considerations,
JVL00:02:23we think we got a really good line on a double A prospect, that's right, it's all in the
Vic00:02:28contract. Did you explain to him it's in the contract?
JVL00:02:31We explained to him that with Squeaks, it's more of a free agent signing than a trade. Yes, free agent Squeaks. Squeaks knew what he was doing.
Vic00:02:38You gotta move your family, you know.
JVL00:02:41I found this endlessly amusing. That's very funny.
Vic00:02:43That is very funny. How about you, Victorino? I am, I'm doing fine. I have for you all a recycling update. So, you know, I mentioned several episodes ago about the compost caddy, the compost caddy which every residence in Lincoln received whether or not they wanted it or not. It just arrived and they put it on top of, after they emptied out a garbage, during a, on garbage day, if they emptied out a bin, there was something sitting on top of everyone's bin and it's like a little cooler. And so, it's, I looked into it and of course, this is their compost caddy which they are now going, they want to start, you know, doing compost and I think we had this discussion. I know Sonny doesn't and I assume JVL, you don't set aside your food scraps for that.
JVL00:03:29That's, that's why I have a garbage disposal.
Vic00:03:31For, for the environment's sake?
Sonny00:03:33That's why I, that's why I have a trash can.
Vic00:03:35So, I was kind of curious and, and it comes with a, they, they gave you one, like, a, a round of, like, several biodegradable bags to use and so I, I, I lined it and I just started using, putting in just coffee grounds, coffee grounds, out of curiosity. You want to be popular with your neighbors, of course you're going to come.
JVL00:03:58I'm, I'm curious. For all of you.
Vic00:04:00Oh, it's ridiculous. Yeah.
JVL00:04:02Well, it's a little bit. You want to be able to make conversation with your neighbors when you're out.
Vic00:04:04No, no, no, no, no. It's not that at all. But I am a little bit OCD, OCDish about certain things about, like, sorting and, and, and garbage and things like that. So, I'm just, you know, out of curiosity, I started putting the, the coffee grounds and then dumping the bags into the yard waste thing. I had no idea it didn't start yet, I had just been doing it for the last month and then just throwing it in there anyway, but I, they, they said September 6th is the official start date of the composting in Arlington. I went over to Arlington now, arlenow.com to get the latest on it because they made the announcement and all the commenters were basically saying, what the hell is this thing and what are we using it for? And nobody's using it for that. And thanks a lot because I wonder, I wondered where our tax money was going to and people are just saying they're using it for their coolers and putting other, using it for storage and not doing what they're supposed to be doing. And as you know, Arlington, you know, Arlington, you know, Arlington, you know. Arlington, you also, you know, no more glass recycling. You got to take that to a facility and they don't recycle plastic bags.
Sonny00:05:05Wait, I, a question. So wait, are they collecting the compost?
Vic00:05:11Ah, yes. So you fill up, you put that liner in your compost caddy and then you, you know, wrap it up and then you put it in the yard waste disposal container and apparently the yard waste disposal people will separate that from the tree branches and other stuff. Other things and went in a fucking hole somewhere and, and, and, and then, and then, uh, so on the website for Arlington caddy, they explain, they say that, you know, uh, the best place to put your compost, first of all, all your food scraps should go in there, right? Leftovers, you know, eggshells, bones, everything. And then they want you to put it on your kitchen counter next to your food. And then they say, if you have concerns, if you have concerns. About smell or pests, we recommend putting your compost caddy cooler in your refrigerator. Oh, that makes sense with the other food, who are these people?
JVL00:06:11What? I don't understand. I don't understand.
Sonny00:06:15I know that bureaucrats are an insane race of underground, you know, dwelling cannibal human and it's humanistic, whatever their chuds, their chuds.
Vic00:06:26Do you remember? Your chuds. That's the question.
Sonny00:06:30Boat is the point. Cannibalistic human underground, humanoid underground dwellers, yes, I know. But the problem with these people is that they're insane. They've never met another human being. What human being wants a pile of rotting trash on their counter? On their counter. Where they're supposed to... I have those things on my counter.
JVL00:06:47If you don't want to put it on your counter, put it in your fridge. Put it in your fridge. With all your food.
Sonny00:06:51I hate...
Vic00:06:52Where in the fridge? I hate these... How big is this refrigerator?
Sonny00:06:55Yeah. Do they have a Nancy Pelosi fridge in there? Yeah.
Vic00:06:59They're thinking it's one of those because it's got the handle and everything.
Sonny00:07:02I legit... This whole thing is very, very baffling to me. I don't understand it and I don't understand what they hope to accomplish from all of this. Are they using it... At the end of the day... Are they using it as fertilizer for public buildings? What is happening?
Vic00:07:22Yeah. There's an ultimate goal of 100% biodegradability, but the best part is... In their press release for this, they said, "This is the product of years of planning." That's what they said. Sure.
JVL00:07:37Sure sounds like it. Years. Years of planning. Victorino, Christmas is just around the corner. Would you like your own backyard composting machine so that you do not have to keep it on your kitchen counter? This way you could just go into the backyard and toss it in the compost bin.
Vic00:07:54Toss it there with the rats, with all the rats out there. Yeah. It would be lovely. No. No? I remember our friend and former colleague, Terry Eastland, I remember a long time ago seeing in his house, they composted and it was like a giant garbage can filled with coffee grounds and things. I was surprised. I didn't know he did that, but it takes effort to put all your stuff in there. Anyway. Let's see what's going on with me. Sonny Bunch, what is happening and how are you feeling?
Sonny00:08:34I don't know what is going on with my stomach, but if I have to leave halfway through the show, you guys just keep going. Keep going without me.
Vic00:08:40You're not going to pause it.
Sonny00:08:41We'll just wing it. Yeah. Just imagine what I would say and then say it for me.
Vic00:08:47Do I see beads of sweat? Are you okay?
Sonny00:08:50If you see me, it's just like eyeballs straining out of my head.
Vic00:08:56Could you move the microphone to the bathroom? Could you bring the microphone with you to the bathroom and sit?
Sonny00:09:01I could bring the whole thing, I think. I'd turn the video off. I'd probably turn the video off. Thank you.
JVL00:09:07That's very considerate. So Victorino becomes Tom Arnold in the Mike Myers by Austin Powers. Yes, Austin Powers. Austin Powers.
Vic00:09:20That's right. Victorino's in the stall next to you.
JVL00:09:22That's right.
Vic00:09:23You fight that one out. You fight it. That's right. I don't know what's going on. Is it something you ate?
Sonny00:09:28No, no. A bug. I think it's something I ate. I think it's something I ate. I went to lunch today with a friend and I got these mahi-mahi tacos that were delicious except for the fact that each one of them had an entire jalapeno cut up on it for some
JVL00:09:42reason.
Sonny00:09:43Oh, that'll do it.
JVL00:09:44I don't know why.
Sonny00:09:45Where were they on the Scoble scale?
JVL00:09:46Don't know why. I need to get your app out to measure the Scoble scale. 50,000.
Sonny00:09:5080,000. Each individual slice was fine, but taken in total, all of them together in my stomach at the same time, I was just like, "Why is this happening? Why have they done this to this delicious taco?" So anyway, that's kind of what's going on with me right now. Other thing. Yeah. The other thing that is going on in my life. So I realized today that the Dire Straits live album Alchemy is not on Amazon Unlimited. I can't go to Amazon and through my music service download that album. And stream it to my phone, which was very annoying to me because I like that album a great deal.
Vic00:10:33When was this album from?
Sonny00:10:35Like 1984 or something like that.
Vic00:10:37Is this the Dire Straits album with Money for Nothing?
Sonny00:10:42I don't know. Maybe. But it's got a great live version of Sultans of Swing that's like 12 minutes long. Oh, yeah. Sure. Oh, that's probably after. It's after that then. Lots of fingering. Lots of fingering of the guitar.
Vic00:10:52Is it like an extended version?
Sonny00:10:53It's an extended version. Oh, man.
JVL00:10:55You know.
Sonny00:10:56Doo doo doo. Doo doo doo. I like that for like 20 minutes. It's great. So you can't get it. So I can't get it. But then I realized I own this. I actually own it on CD. I own this album on physical media. And I was like, when I get home, I'm going to listen to that album. I like that album so much. You don't have a CD player, do you? And I went to my media area and I was like, oh, how am I supposed to do this? Because PlayStation 5 does not play CD. You cannot play a CD in a PlayStation 5. You cannot play a CD in a PlayStation 4. Just Blu-rays, movies. Just movies and discs for games. I do have a Blu-ray, just a bog-standard Blu-ray player that I think plays CDs, but I haven't tried it out yet. So anyway, the long and the short of this is I may have to buy another thing for my... I may have to buy another physical media thing to really enjoy.
Vic00:11:57Well, you know what, though? You have a CD player in your house, still.
JVL00:12:01I have a car which still has a CD player, and the PlayStation 3, I don't think that plays CDs.
Sonny00:12:17I think PlayStation 3 does. Maybe it does. PlayStation 4 is where they stopped being able to play CDs, I think.
JVL00:12:24Maybe I have a 4. I don't know.
Sonny00:12:26What was the first Blu-ray? PlayStation 3. That was the first PlayStation system I owned.
Vic00:12:30Well, I mean, the thing is, that's not bad if you have it, because then your whole TV system is your stereo system for the sound, so you don't have to worry about-
Sonny00:12:38Well, I've got a sound bar, so it's not like coming out of the speakers on my TV.
JVL00:12:43I'm not savage. Do you remember the Discman Walkmans? Of course. To just carry around your CD with you, but you had to walk very carefully. Except for it skips.
Vic00:12:53You had to walk very carefully.
Sonny00:12:54Yeah, you can't go for a run. That's why you had to get the one with the buffering. You had to get the buffering. You get 48 seconds of buffering, then you can walk around. Did the buffer help?
Vic00:13:01Did the buffer help?
JVL00:13:02Oh, yeah.
Sonny00:13:03Sure.
Vic00:13:04Did you drop that thing? But not for running. No. Well, no. Just for walking casually. Yeah. Very sort of like moseying.
Sonny00:13:11You can mosey. You couldn't run with that.
Vic00:13:13No. That's right. I mean, it's just like the allure of getting a turntable, but then what do you connect it to in order to produce good sound? A friend gave me a turntable.
Sonny00:13:26Yeah, you got to get speakers and things, right?
Vic00:13:28You just get the whole hi-fi system.
Sonny00:13:29You just have to get the whole hi-fi system. I actually own an LP player now, but I don't own just a straight up CD player because that's where we are.
Vic00:13:37Where does your LP player connect you for sound, though?
Sonny00:13:40It connects to my sound bar. I have a 3.5 millimeter jack that goes right into the sound bar.
Vic00:13:46I need to get that. I need to get that, yeah. I'm all for that. Okay. Good. Well, Sonny, good luck with your other experience. What are you drinking? Because that may or may not help. Clench up.
Sonny00:13:58Just buy a Dr. Pepper.
Vic00:13:59What did you say, JVL? I said clench up, big boy. I hope it's not like milk. Don't drink milk. You know, because that's probably not going to agree with that. When I was...
Sonny00:14:08Coffee. Coffee is good. Black.
Vic00:14:11Coffee. Black. Good. Well, speaking of explosive performances over the weekend, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings kicked some box office butt with $75.4 million, followed by Candyman with $10.3 million, and Free Guy with $8.9 million. Box office thoughts.
Sonny00:14:32JVL, do you want to say it?
Vic00:14:35JVL. Biggest ever? Biggest Labor Day ever, they're saying?
JVL00:14:40This was... You had said if this thing only does like $75 million, if this can't get to $90 million even without being on premiere access, it could be a problem. And yet, the whole world is treating it as if the movies are saved.
Sonny00:14:55No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. That's not what I said. You said it wouldn't get to $50 million. You said it wouldn't get to $50 million, and I said that's wrong. But if it only does $50 million to $60 million, that's a problem. And early in the weekend, it looked like it was going to do... I think the range was $59 million to $63 million. It only did $8.8 million on Thursday night previews. That's right. It did... After that and after the early Friday shows.
JVL00:15:25Sure, I thought the Thursday and Friday numbers... The Thursday numbers were really strong.
Sonny00:15:28No. Thursday numbers were $8.8 million, which was about $5 million under Black Widow. The initial projections off of those numbers and the early Friday numbers, it was something like between $59 and $63 million, which would have been okay, which would have been not great, but whatever. It would have been very much on the lower end of what everybody was hoping for. And then it just kept ticking up through the weekend. It kept ticking up and ticking up. Eventually, it got to $75 million. It depends on how you want to look at it. Is that on the lower end of a Marvel opening weekend? Yes, because it's not $150 million, it's not $200 million, it's not $100 million. But it's better than the first Captain America, it's better than the first Thor, it's better than the first Ant-Man. Those are like 15 years old.
JVL00:16:27No, they're not.
Sonny00:16:28The first Ant-Man's five years old.
Vic00:16:29You mean like not adjusted for inflation?
Sonny00:16:31Not adjusted for inflation. I mean, again, it kind of all depends on how you want to look at it. But the bottom line is that it is currently on a per day basis outgrossing Black Widow already. It has grossed more over its first five days than Black Widow grossed over its first five days. Nobody knows who Shang-Chi is, which is, this is based entirely on the strength of the Marvel brand and the fact that it's got great word of mouth. I mean, it's just people just wanted to see a movie and that it's not on premier
JVL00:17:04access. And that it's not on premier access. I mean, none of all of this is apples to oranges because hence the lawsuit, they, hence, hence the lawsuit. Uh, yeah, I, I am very, very interested in what each of you thinks of Shang-Chi, Shang-Chi.
Vic00:17:25It depends on. Some people were saying Shang-Chi in the movie, and then he said it was Shang-Chi, but of course it's, you know, Chinese is very nasally says char see, like it sounds exactly like you're the voicemail you get from the, the, the, from the Chinese voice that you get from the, uh, spam ever get those sounds like, okay, you don't know what I'm talking about.
JVL00:17:50Really? Really?
Vic00:17:52Really? Victorino Mattis. I had no idea what you were talking about. Well, it sounded just like my people. Uh, Sonny.
Sonny00:17:57Uh, so I like the, the long and the short of it is this is, this is a very good weekend for, uh, just on just objectively, it's a good weekend for, uh, the film. It is, you know, this tripled the previous best labor day opening, um, what a quiet place to open to a quiet place to open to 48, something like that. So this, this is, this is, this isn't, this isn't quite double that, but it is double that over the, over the four day instead of the three day. It's, it's a big, it's a big, big number.
JVL00:18:29It's it's, it is, I'm sorry, what was, what is the three day number on this?
Sonny00:18:33The three day number 75, the four day numbers 94.
Vic00:18:37Okay. It's, it's also like a culmination of, I don't know, it feels like because there were no, you know, the rest of the summer and last summer for that matter, there was no big fourth
Sonny00:18:46of July weekend for movies because it's, there's a lot of pent up demand. There's a lot of pent up demand and people thought that black widow would kind of, uh, would fulfill some of that. And it did kind of, except for the fact like JBL says. It was on premier access. You could buy it for 30 bucks. You could take your, instead of taking your family to the theater and buying four tickets at, you know, 12 to $15 a pop, you could buy it for $30. Um, and you know, that, that ends up costing Marvel a lot of money. It costs, it costs them not just the family fair, but also repeat viewings. Cause people were going to watch it over and over again are more likely to buy it on premier access. I mean, like it's, there's, there's all sorts of, there's all sorts of downstream effects. The big, the big question will be what? The second weekend drop looks like if it looks like if it's a, if it does a black widow drop a 70% drop, then I think, I think there's, I think there's a lot of, I think a lot of people suddenly get very, very nervous again. Um, but if it does a 50% drop, which is about what it should with an a cinema score and 90% definite recommends things like that. Like I, this movie could end up doing $60 million more than black widow predict a pretty
JVL00:19:56small drop. Because I think people are going to want to actually repeat view this people.
Sonny00:20:02I think people want to repeat view it. But also I think other people are going to, I think, I think it's going to have very good word of mouth. And I think that this is the sort of movie that gets people back into a movie theater who had been avoiding it for a while.
Vic00:20:13Is there a worldwide box office that, I mean, did it, did it come out at the same time or no?
Sonny00:20:19Yeah. I think the worldwide is 150 or $160 million, something like that. But the problem is it's not playing in China.
Vic00:20:24So here's the other thing, the whole point of this movie.
Sonny00:20:27It's just even, even, even if, even if this movie grosses a hundred or let's say this movie grosses $250 million in domestically in the United States, which would be an enormous number. That would be, that's, that's a huge number for a, for a, for a movie like this. That is not, that's not black Panther. That's not, you know, captain Marvel, but that's better than, you know, Dr. Strange.
JVL00:20:50It's better than, um, it's better than Dr. Strange, better than Dr. Strange, better than
Sonny00:20:55Thor, better than captain America. It's you know, what it is, what it is. Shanghai again, Shanghai is not, Shanghai is much less well-known than Dr. Strange, just a general general audiences. Uh, but the, even if it grosses $250 million in the United States and does, I don't know, another $250 million around the world, a $200 million movie like this grossing $500 million is not great. It's got, it, it has to gross $500 million plus another $200 million from China. Yeah. It's not going to get $200 million from China because it's going to be, it's as we are speaking right now. Now, Chinese audiences all over the country are watching it for free via the Chinese pirated networks. So I, I like that, that's just, that just is what it is. Um, and you know, it's, it's, it is, it is what it is.
Vic00:21:41Before I get to the next segment, are you speaking of segments, are you, are you, are you doing okay?
Sonny00:21:49Can we get as long as I keep talking?
Vic00:21:50I'm fine.
Sonny00:21:51Okay, good.
JVL00:21:52Hey Sonny. Hold on. Before you, I want to say one other thing. Yeah, please, please. We've got plenty of time. Yeah. So there was, I think some question as to whether or not you would get Marvel fatigue because of the Disney plus programming, right? So we've, we've got the low key show, we've got the, whatever, I didn't even finish. I didn't even finish that. One Division, right?
Sonny00:22:15One Division, Captain America and the Winter Soldier, Falcon, Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
JVL00:22:20Are people going to just be marveled out?
Vic00:22:23Yeah.
JVL00:22:24And I think that's been answered pretty definitively. Which is that the movies are different. People can take or leave the TV series, but those are viewed as second class citizens. They, they may be part of Canon, you know, in MCU continuity or something, but that's not how audiences view them. Audiences them view them as a different product that does not, they're a bad, poorly watched Disney plus Marvel series does not dampen an appetite for a Marvel movie.
Vic00:22:57Also, the series tend not to have a lot of the A-list superheroes in the movie. It's going to be one carrying the weight, right? It will be like one big superhero and then, or some middling superhero. You're not going to see for, well, not going to see it now because Captain America, you know, post Infinity War end game. Well, this is the other big question is whether- Could you imagine if there was a series with, you know, Chris Evans or Robert Downey Jr., but you're not going to see that.
Sonny00:23:23Right. Well, I mean, this is, this is the other question is how does, how does the MCU? Fair when it, after in the, in the after time, after Tony Stark and Captain America and all those guys, you know, like, I don't, I don't know. I do think that, look, I think this is, this is a huge, this is a huge win for, for Marvel and Kevin Feige and Disney that they, they, they, they took a chance here by not leaning on the Disney plus crutch. And I think it so far, at least it has paid off again. We'll see what that will see. If it drops, if it drops 70% next weekend, people are going to be kind of freaking out again.
Vic00:24:01And then the next, the next one to roll out is going to be Spider-Man.
Sonny00:24:05The next, uh, so, uh, Sony looking at these numbers, bumped, uh, Venom to Venom, Let There Be Cardage, uh, up to the first weekend in October. Uh, there's the Eternals movie that is coming out the first weekend in November. And then there's Spider-Man No Way Home, which comes out, I think Christmas. Oh, okay.
JVL00:24:27Wow. That's a lot going on between now and then. I have a question. Yeah. Is it possible that we are overthinking all of this stuff and that the answer is to why this did well, it's just very simple. Black Widow did poorly because it was a bad movie. This did well because it's a good movie. Is it possible that it's just as simple as that?
Sonny00:24:49I mean, I would argue that quality of movie has very little impact on first weekend box office.
JVL00:24:56You don't think audiences. They smell that.
Sonny00:24:58I mean, I think, I think, I think you can see, I mean, you can see two things. You can see two things happen and, and we saw, we saw this happen with both of these movies. So, you know, maybe you're right that we're just overthinking it. But what you, what you can see is that happened as a movie has a big Thursday and Friday and then tracks down the rest of the weekend from the initial projection. So if you looked at the early numbers off of Black Widow, the projections off of the Thursday and Friday numbers were for a $93 million weekend, something like that. I'm, if I'm remembering correctly, I'm in that those numbers came all the way down to 80 million, which is a huge drop. That was a huge, huge drop. Uh, this, again, this movie was, was projected at about 59 to 63, 64 million after the, after the Thursday night, Friday, Friday showings. And it did $15 million better than that, which is, which is a big, big, big win, but don't
JVL00:25:50forget, like Kevin Feige has seen the movies, he knows which ones are good and which ones aren't, you know, that that's the other thing that I don't know, it makes looking now with hindsight, had I been Kevin Feige looking at these two properties, I probably would have made the same decision run, run black widow on premier access to try to get as much money as you can upfront and then keep this one only in theaters because it's good and it will play.
Sonny00:26:18Well, but, but he has also said that he did not want black widow on Disney plus he is, you know, he is his said that, you know, he wanted, he wanted that to be theatrical only. And then it was a Disney decision, not a, not a Marvel Bob Chapek, Bob Chapek, try to boost those Disney plus numbers. And the other thing to look at, the other thing to look at here is we're doing so much box office talk. People are going to be skipping ahead, but the, but the other thing to look at here is, you know, the movies that have been put into, uh, the movies that have been put into theaters have done much better, have had much better holds and much better multiples. So like, I'm just going to do like very quick, uh, remedial box office math. The multiple is, is essentially the percentage of a movie's final box office that is, is comprised of the opening weekend. So if the average multiple is 2.7, which means if a movie grosses a hundred million dollars on its opening weekend, uh, on average, that movie will end up grossing $270 million, right? That's like basically how that, that math works. Black widow had a multiple of 2.3, very bad multiple, uh, for, for, uh, a Marvel movie, but also just like a big blockbuster in general. Um, the movies that have only been in theaters, uh, have done, there, there are two tiers. The first tier is like not great, which is like green night F nine. Those both did 2.5. Your average, you had your averages don't breathe too, was a 2.7 spiral from the book of saw, right? So a couple of horror sequels that are kind of past their prime and longer than tooth. Those are 2.7 still water and old did 2.8. So like you, you see that in the, in like, that's about what you would expect. For those movies. A quiet place. Part two had a multiple of 3.4 big number. That's a, that's a big number for a horror sequel. Um, the forever purge again, 3.5, that's a big number for a horror sequel for a series that is probably past its prime and, and then free guy is at 3.3 already. And that's just going to keep going up because it is, it's dropping like 30% a weekend. Um, you know, it could end up with somewhere between four and five, a multiple of four and five, which is a huge number. So if this, if, if, again, if, if again, we're just. If we're just doing some basic box office math here, Shang Shi and the legend of the 10 rings, because it's only in theaters and because it's very good and getting very good word of mouth, I would, I would put the floor of the multiple of this at three, which puts it at 2 25, which puts it at 45 million better than black widow, which I think is a huge win for, again, for a character that nobody knows, um, you know, doing better than doing better than, uh, again, captain America. Um, Dr. Strange, Ant-Man, you know, those movies, like, I, I think that's a win.
Vic00:29:02Thank you. So you, you, you, you pause there for a second. I got nervous. I was gonna say, no, no, no, because if you can't do a review, I'm sure JVL can do one in a pinch.
Sonny00:29:09Oh, Sonny having a big boy review, Shang Shi and the legend of the 10 rings is a Marvel movie. That's what, that's what it is. It's a big, uh, budget, uh, well executed, competently told story. Yeah. With some good action set pieces and some decent special effects looks a little bit flat, but it's very funny. It's got good performances, uh, and audiences love it. It is, it is a, I get it as a perfect example of the Marvel method of filmmaking. Um, so, uh, you know, short, short plot summary here, uh, we get a little prologue where we find out about who the real Mandarin is and the, the army of the 10 rings turns out he got some, he got some rings, 10 of them. Yeah. And they made him immortal. He's a thousand years old. Four, 4,000. Oh, I thought it was 1,000. He's 4,000 years old.
JVL00:30:02I believe.
Sonny00:30:03I thought, I thought it was 1,000. Vic, Vic, how many thousands of years old is he?
Vic00:30:09I don't know, but he looked like the same age as his son.
Sonny00:30:12Okay. Uh, but the, uh, the, the Mandarin or whatever, whatever he actually was called, it was four. I thought it was one. Uh, anyway, um, uh, he is, uh, played by Tony Lung in this movie, uh, the great Tony Lung, Lung. Lung. Lung. Uh, I can't pronounce it. I don't know. Lung. Lung. Lung. Uh, he is fantastic in this. He's a, uh, a, a Chinese movie star, very big, very good in lots of, uh, Chinese movies. Uh, but this is his first, I believe, Hollywood studio movie, um, which is, uh, exciting for, for the rest of us in the West. Um, uh, his son Shang Shi played by Simu Liu, uh, is prod, the prodigal son, he leaves the Sim family from whence he came, uh, to, uh, live in the West. He is friends with, uh, this woman named Katie, who's played by Awkwafina, who I sometimes find very annoying, but is, I think she's very good in this as the comic relief. Um, and they live in San Francisco and, uh, they're happy there until, uh, the Mandarin sends assassins to get a little pendant from him. He's like, he wants the pendant. Whatever. Uh, great action scene on a bus, then they move to Macau and there's another great action scene off the side of a building. Uh, and then they go to a mystical Chinese village, which is very dedicated to gender equality. I found that to be exceptionally funny. The, the ancient Chinese mythical village, the mother's, the mother's village, the mother's men and men and women are equal here in, in Talo. I'm like, okay, all right, sure. That sounds, I bet, I bet, uh, anyway, long story short, the, the, the reason this movie works for me, uh, is because look like all Marvel movies, it ends with a big CGI razzmatazz harumph harumph, uh, big fight, whatever. But the reason it works for me is because the stakes, uh, are properly calibrated. Tony Loon's, uh, Mandarin character is not trying to destroy the world. He's trying to save his wife who has died. He thinks he can bring her back. Um, and what he is trying to do could end up destroying the world, but he's not trying to destroy the world. And that's a big difference. Like a, it's a, it's the sort of thing that makes sense. It makes them very sympathetic. It makes the whole movie work on a personal, uh, just character driven level. Like the, everybody, every, the actions of all the characters in this movie makes sense more or less. Um, which is big, which is not always the case, which is not, and certainly in Marvel movies, there's often a lot of like, I'm going to destroy this world. And like, I don't care about it. I don't, I don't care about any of that. Uh, so they avoid that trap here, which is very nice. Um, but yeah, the whole thing is just like, it's just, it's just good. It's just a good movie. It's just competently shot. It's very, you know, uh, Western audiences, you know, have gotten to know the style of wire work fighting, uh, that is, that is prevalent through, uh, certainly the first two big action set pieces, um, because we've all seen Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and the Matrix movies and all the Yuen Woo Ping, uh, fight, fight, uh, team movies, you know, from Kill Bill on. Uh, so like we're, we're kind of familiar with that, but I don't think we've ever seen it quite at this scale before and quite, uh, this, this slickly done it's there's a slickness to it that is, um, that is often absent, frankly, from big Marvel action films. Uh, you know, the, the, the, the, the action here is not totally generic as, as is often the case in these movies. And they do. They do a pretty good job with it. I don't know. I like, I liked it. I'm, I'm, I'm kind of a hard sell on these movies sometimes, but I, I really like this
JVL00:34:03one. Who is the director of this Sonny?
Sonny00:34:05Uh, I'll have to look it up. Yeah.
JVL00:34:08It's nobody. It's not Destin Daniel Cretton. Destin Daniel Cretton. Yeah.
Sonny00:34:12I don't know him. I don't know him.
JVL00:34:14So. He's from Hawaii. Oh. Uh, just mercy. He directed, uh, he directed Killmonger and just mercy.
Sonny00:34:21Oh, the, uh, the Michael B. Jordan is the. Yeah. I don't, I don't, I, I didn't see that one either.
Vic00:34:30So yeah. Killmonger.
Sonny00:34:32Okay. Thank you. JVL. What did you short term 12 short term 12 was his like big Indy hit. He's that's the, the Indy movie that Marvel found him from and assimilated him into. I see.
Vic00:34:40Uh, JVL. What did you think?
Sonny00:34:42Yeah. I, I liked it.
JVL00:34:44Um, I didn't love it and I see how it, how I could have loved it, but solid B, maybe even a B plus, uh, totally middle. A hack, maybe even top half Marvel movie. And this story is just very interesting. You, you have this guy with the, who gets this power with the, and it makes him immortal in some way. It's not clear if he's a mortal or just, he's not going to die of old age, right? Could you kill him? If you, you know, if a dragon ripped his soul out of him or something. Yes. Right. You, you, you, he can die. He does die. In fact, he does die. Uh, but he's not like Kurt Russell powerful, but right now he chooses to be a Russell and
Vic00:35:32guardian.
JVL00:35:33Sorry. Yeah. So he chooses to be a bad guy, uh, until he goes and meets this girl and they have this beautifully choreographed fight slash dance screens dance scene, which is the, you know, the initial moment when he is fighting his wife to be, uh, which I think is maybe my favorite bit of choreography in any of the Marvel movies. Is that fair? Cuz it's just great. And it's, it's, I mean, it, it's dancing. It's like Fred Astaire stuff. Uh, but anyway, the, the point is he reforms and he becomes a good guy and he basically remains a good guy throughout the movie, even though he's nominally the villain of the piece. He's not really the villain. He never really goes back to being evil. And, uh, and I liked that a lot. I liked all the family stuff with the sister and, and him.
Sonny00:36:38Played by the great Michelle Yeoh. Oh, all right. No, no.
JVL00:36:41Not auntie. Not auntie. No. The one who looks like Chinese, uh, Chinese. What's her name from Evangeline Lilly. She looks like the Chinese version of Evangeline Lilly from Ant Man. Yes. Like the very severe.
Vic00:36:54I would say that. I would say that. Yeah.
JVL00:36:57That's accurate. Yeah. Uh, but, uh, anyway, there, there are a lot of things to like in it and there are also some things which keep it from being like a really great movie, like a top five Marvel movie. And we could talk about that, but I am very interested in what you think, Vic, because you're the voice of the people and the people like this. I know.
Sonny00:37:19People, people, big fans.
Vic00:37:20Uh, yeah. Uh, I, I'm, I'm going to, uh, uh, uh, I'm going to have to disappoint the voice of the people. I didn't like it that much. Um, I give it about a B. Yeah. I thought it was long and I wasn't that interested in it. I just found it kind of boring and I'm just so tired of the CGI. Another CGI movie, man, that eternal movies is coming up. I hope there's no CGI in that.
Sonny00:37:41Well, I, you know, it's interesting though, because the dragons fighting, this is not
Vic00:37:45what I'm watching.
Sonny00:37:46Lord of the rings. I mean, I, I agree that the, the big, the big CGI set piece at the end is like, okay, that's fine. The fight scene on the bus is good.
Vic00:37:57That was good. The fight scene on the bus was good. And then, uh. The fight scene on the scaffolding. And Macau was good. Yeah. Macau was good. But I was just like, all right already. Okay. And what all of a sudden Awkwafina is this, uh, Archer marksman. That's amazing. Uh, she saves the, uh, she saves the, she saves the day. Okay. Sorry. Just checking in on you over there.
Sonny00:38:18Well, it, because, uh, you know, because of the equality. Oh. She can do that.
Vic00:38:22She can do that. Okay. Well, okay. So I give it about a B. Uh. It's an A minus. Uh. Duration. I gave a D. The action and violence. I give an A. Um. And obviously sex nudity is an NA because it's a Marvel movie. Um. My biggest concern about this movie is I'm going to be going around everywhere now. People are going to be thinking that I'm the actor, Shang, who plays Shang-C because we look so much alike physically speaking. Sure. That's, that's, that's my big concern.
Sonny00:38:48Yeah. You vary.
Vic00:38:50You're both about the same. Okay. Uh. I, I did feel like it's, I don't know. Are you, is, it was very much like a. Crouching Tiger. Hidden Dragon.
Sonny00:38:57I. You didn't, you didn't like Ben Kingsley in this movie?
Vic00:39:00He saves this movie in many ways because even with him, the lines aren't that great. But any, he could deliver any line so well. And if you want to go to, obviously I love them. I, I, every movie he's, every movie Ben Kingsley is great in. Um. Schindler's List, for example, as it's such stern. But uh. Um.
Sonny00:39:21If you.
Vic00:39:22Interesting that you go straight to Schindler's List. I, I did. I didn't go to Gandhi. You know what I'm saying? No, no, no. No, no. As it's such stern, he's the best. Uh. But uh. If you, you can go on YouTube, there's the outtake from, I'm speaking of which, of Iron Man 3. And he does impressions. And it's a quick bit with Robert Downey Jr. and Don Cheadle. And he does a bunch of different impressions. They're really good. Uh. So I like, I like him a lot.
Sonny00:39:46Um. The Sopranos.
Vic00:39:48Yeah. The Sopranos. He's great. The Sopranos. He's great. Okay. So I do have questions. Can I just throw out questions? Uh. Is this, uh, really legitimately based on a comic book? Or was this just a naked ploy to make billions of dollars from China?
?00:40:04Yes.
Sonny00:40:05Both.
Vic00:40:06Both. Yes. Okay. C. All of the above. Okay. Uh.
Sonny00:40:12So it was a comic book? Yeah. Yeah. Shang-Chi is a, he, I mean, he was a Bruce Lee knockoff. Ah. From the 1970s.
Vic00:40:18Seventies. Okay. So. All right. Doctor Strange. Same Doctor Strange. Either early 70s or late 60s, yeah. I asked my question already about Awkwafina as the Archer, which he picked up. Like, that was a bit of a stretch. Oh.
Sonny00:40:28It's, I, oh, I'm sorry. You don't believe that she went to the Magical Equality Village and then immediately become- Oh, you mean it just happens that way. Okay. And then she could, she could- All right. Because somebody believed in her. Sure. Somebody believed in her, you know, that nobody had ever believed in her before, because she's a woman. But now- Is- I just, I'm sorry. I find, this is like, if I was a Chinese person, I would actually be offended by this. I'd be like, this is not what our villages are like. We oppress the women. That's what we do. I mean, it's like, it's actually- It's actually like, it's so, it's so weird to me that that's the way they-
Vic00:40:59It's funny that that's what struck you about it. For me, are those, is that stuffed, it's going to be a stuffed animal that every kid wants for Christmas now, isn't it? Without the face. The thing with the wings. The fuzzy thing.
JVL00:41:11The fuzzy thing. JVL. No. Okay. Yeah. People, kids, little kids, like eyes. Yeah. They like big eyes on their- Oh.
Vic00:41:20That's a good point. They will not like that. Okay. Can I ask you, fellas, your thought? I hope you don't mind, I just jump right to the ending here. Your thoughts on the Stingers, and I stayed for both. How valuable was that first Stinger because this Captain Marvel, oops, I got to go, sorry. That was it. I didn't stay for them. Tell me what the- You didn't even stay for the first one. No.
JVL00:41:44I had to go to a meeting for work, so I couldn't.
Vic00:41:47It was long. I told you. Plots indeed. Duration. Sonny, explain what happens. They get, they get summoned.
Sonny00:41:55Basically, Wong shows up and he says, "You got to come with me, Shang-Chi. You have the rings, and we got to figure out what's going on with those rings." Break it down. It's chemical composition. Wong takes them to, I guess, Dr. Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum, and they do some tests, and Bruce Banner is there, and Captain Marvel is there.
Vic00:42:25They're videoconferencing because of COVID. Yeah. They're hologramming in. I think it's because of COVID, but ... They're hologramming in like they're the
Sonny00:42:33emperor from Star Wars, and they're both like, "Oh, we don't know what this is. It's thousands of years old. Who knows? Magic. It's magic stuff."
Vic00:42:44That was it? That was it.
Sonny00:42:46That was the whole thing. The very, very end ... And then the very end is ... Yeah, go ahead. The sister ... I actually didn't stay for the last one because
Vic00:42:51I read about it. But you read about it. The sister is back at the compound. She's at her father's compound, and she is training a new army. At first, you see all these women, but then you see men because it's an integrated army of assassins. It's quality time. She's like, "Let's get to work." What are they doing? I have no idea because I thought in the end she turned out to be nice, and I thought it's obviously not a fight club. This is more, what is her goal? We have no idea. That was that. Okay.
JVL00:43:20Do you have more questions or can we go a little ...
Vic00:43:25Those are my questions. I do have other thoughts in terms of the actors. I agree with Sonny. Sometimes Awkwafina is ass, sometimes she's funny. She was mostly funny here. I mean, she was also good in Ocean's 8. Can either of you explain her career to me? No. I can't. The first time I saw her was in Ocean's 8, so obviously she's been around for a long
Sonny00:43:47time. She's a comedian.
JVL00:43:49I want to say ... She's like a rapper or a DJ or something.
Sonny00:43:51Like a YouTube comedian slash rapper. I don't know. She's somebody the young people like. I know. But I really liked her in The Farewell. No, no.
JVL00:44:00I mean, I know who she is. What I'm saying is I don't understand her career. I don't understand why she is put on movie screens because she's not a great actor. Right. She's comically. She's serviceable. There are probably two dozen real actresses you could have given that role to who could have done more with it. Whatever.
Vic00:44:21Is Michelle Yeoh going to be in every movie I see now? Because didn't I just see her in Gunpowder? Gunpowder Milkshake? I got to get her agent. Her agent. She was in the Frank Grillo/Mel Gibson movie. Yes. She does a real bonus, that agent, whoever it is.
Sonny00:44:31Boss level. My other observation.
Vic00:44:33This is really funny, actually. BuzzFeed did a story about Simu Liu, the actor who plays Shang-Chi, and that before he became famous, he was a model for stock photos.
Sonny00:44:52Yes. It's great. There's one of... There's an IMAX one of him at an IMAX. It's fantastic.
Vic00:44:58Oh, really? Yeah. He's on the cover of accounting books, posing like he's learned. I mean, it's great. Okay. That's funny. Back to you, JVL. Good for him. Those are all my thoughts, but I'm happy for them. Great representation for my people, JVL.
JVL00:45:15So, I think the only reason the movie works is because of Tony Leung, who's an absolute movie star. Yes. He's so good in this. And, uh, he, he's got the best character, but he also does the most with it on the screen
Sonny00:45:34here.
JVL00:45:35I mean, so here are my, my two central complaints. Um, there are a series of narrative reveals about the story, which we don't have to get into all of them because I don't think we've done spoilers, although it's a Marvel movie. Um, and these narrative reveals, every time you get one, it changes. How you are looking at the characters on screen, because it, it tells you something unexpected about, about how they got to this place. But the problem is that the reveals are doled out purely according to when the plot needs them to happen and not in any organic way. I mean, the movie is just going along and then all of a sudden we're in a flashback because this is the moment where you have to know the thing X about, about Chiang. Right.
Sonny00:46:24It's very. Totally chopped up. Yeah. Like the, like they flash back to, they flash back to the moment when his mother like confronts the guys. Right. And then like they flash back to a different part of that flashback later in the film because it feels very, it feels very slap chopped together.
JVL00:46:40Just not in a, in a movie that traffics in that sort of thing. Like for instance, uh, you, the usual suspects, right? The, the, when your story is really being propelled by those reveals. You have to be very careful in how the reveals are introduced to the audience so that you're just re it's like you're being guided around a room by the story. And I think this just doesn't spend enough time and energy doing that, which bothered me. There's a real, real problem at the heart of the movie with the character of Chang see himself. Um, could either of you describe Shang Chi using three adjectives that don't have to do with his appearance? No, he's, he's a total cipher total, total. No, there's, there's nothing there as a character. Uh, his sister is a much better developed character, like his sister. We could say, you know, she is jealous. She is hurt and, uh, is determined to, he's just sort of there. And that the, the story does a lot of telling, not showing there's, there's this scene early on. We are told that Sean and Katie are smart and we're told there, we have seen nothing about them to indicate any sort of intelligence, but we're told that she has a master's from Berkeley. Oh, right. And that he speaks four languages. So don't worry, they're, they're underachievers, but there's, we have, we've been not shown anything. That's right. To just tell it. And that, that's just sort of weak, weak writing. That bugs me because you don't, you don't need that. And then, you know what? The very last thing, the final scene in the movie where they are breaking bread again and telling this fantastical story about what happened to them, to their loops back their couple friends, that scene should take place with Aquafina's family. So the, you know, there's this charming scene early where he goes to pick Aquafina up from work and we meet her family and her family. Yeah. They're great. You know, the grandmother is there. The grandmother really funny business, the brother, the brother, right. And they're like, what are you going to do some of your lives on it? And the friends are not interesting. We don't need the friends. The friends have nothing going on with them. The Aquafina's family do though. We should have that. That's should have been sitting with them at their dinner table. We're doing something. And again, this is just a, so there, these are the things that for me kept it from being an, a movie, you know, that kept it from being really good. But I, I want to say one thing that I think is very interesting and very specifically Eastern about the movies, the message the movie has. So in a, to the extent that the movie has an emotional conflict is Shang Tze himself, uh, who has idolized his mother and hates his father. And it is him coming to terms with his parentage and the Western version of this is you are not your father's sins. Your father is, is his own person and you are your own person. But the Eastern version of this is you are both your mother and your father, you are the product of all that came before us. And it's just totally different ways of looking at history. Like, you know, the West, we want nothing to do with, especially in America. Right. You know, like history began the day we were born and the, the East, everything is like, well, you know, the ancestors are all there and this is, we stand in a long line. I, I found that highly interesting and I was bugged that the story doesn't do more of it with it. You know, like when, when it, when the key is given to him that like, you know, the, the key to, to unlock your potential is making peace that you are his kid too. And that's great. But again, we're told this and we're not shown it. Exactly. There's a lot of telling and not showing, so tell that that's why Sonny, are you okay? You holding it all in?
Sonny00:51:02Good. Good.
Vic00:51:04Yeah. I'm still here. Yeah. I was going to mention, you know, Tony lung was in that movie. Infernal affairs. Speaking of infernal affairs, honey, you're still there.
Sonny00:51:11Well, I was going to say I, I, I, do we want to give a quick rundown of some of his, uh, he's in the mood for love, uh, infernal affairs, which was the movie that the part was based on. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. Uh, and the, the red cliff movies, which are the kind of big Chinese epics of the, the, the late two thousands, um, that, that are much, much admired and beloved, uh, by sending asks. Uh, so he's a, he is a, he is like, as JBL says, he is a real deal movie star. Um, and this is, it's, it's frankly a little surprising. It took this long to get him in a proper, uh, big budget Hollywood production. Yeah.
JVL00:51:53He's great. He's great. And I could've spent the whole movie with him, honestly.
Vic00:51:59Do we have any other, other, um, shanksy thoughts?
JVL00:52:04I don't think I do.
Sonny00:52:06Do you guys? I do not. I do not. I again, thumbs up. I liked it.
JVL00:52:11I will. I just ask one question. How many secret groups are there in the Marvel cinematic universe, which control everything that's going on around us? We've got the 10 rings, there's Hydra, there's shield. There's the time authority, the time of the internals, right? I mean, what, what, how many more of these, do they ever go to war with each other or
Vic00:52:35they all just, were they, were they not in the same sort of, they were all in semi separate universes in Stan Lee's mind, do you think in, in, in, in, in, within that's the whole,
Sonny00:52:47that's the whole point that everybody is together. I remember, you know what? It's interesting though, that like you, you have, you have this character, you know, who, and he's essentially the Mandarin, he doesn't, I don't think he actually ever accepts that moniker. He uses it as like a joke. Like this is what some Western asshole called me, uh, you know, a chicken dish, but like, uh, but like the, the, he, he has these rings that grant him enormous power and eternal life and he uses them to basically be a robber. He's like, I'm gonna be a crook.
Vic00:53:18Well, I mean, I don't know why he would, I, you know, like the, his quest, like he has this insatiable thirst for like, it's not enough. He wants to find some myth, even though he has, does he really have every though? Yeah. Right. Because he claims that he was responsible for in his, he and his army responsible for all these things around the world over, over the centuries, right? Wars. He's caused wars.
JVL00:53:39A league, a veritable league of shadows.
Vic00:53:41Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Yes. Basically. And so the only thing left is to find the magical village. That's that's, that's his final quest is to find the magical village. Well, initially to live there before that, that's where he meets his wife.
Sonny00:53:54Wakanda.
Vic00:53:55Really? It is. It was like Chinese Wakanda because how come nobody can just, you know, like you gotta go the whole thing, the whole thing about the forest. You can't go. Can you fly over the forest?
JVL00:54:04But Fala Chen is there and she is, Oh, she is.
Vic00:54:07She is. She is even by my standards.
JVL00:54:09She is. Oh, okay. Sorry. Uh, yeah. And you know what else she is? Juilliard kid.
Vic00:54:18Really?
Sonny00:54:19Yeah. Interesting.
Vic00:54:21Right up there with Val Kilmer. Yeah. Uh, well then moving right along. Thank you. Um, do you, we have any, uh, corrections or I certainly hope not a spirit of a week for you Sonny.
Sonny00:54:34No.
Vic00:54:35Like I said, diet, that'll calm your stomach down. I think that's what you need. You know, ginger ale diet, something, anything carbonated is good. Anything carbonated.
Sonny00:54:47Oh, I'll go get a beer.
Vic00:54:48Yeah.
Sonny00:54:49Go get a Shiner bottle.
JVL00:54:50JVL. I got a shout out. Oh yeah. Okay. Go. Uh, listener of ours, Matthias, a nice, nice fellow from, uh, from Deutschland, Matthias, Matthias, Matthias, who, uh, who is currently down at our beach place and he, he and his, his lovely wife and his two very cute little girls. One of whom is like three months old, uh, came by our house and picked up the keys and he dropped off a little bag of gifts for the three of us. Oh boy. So I have to send you boys yours. They're wrapped. I do not know what you have, but I opened mine up and I'm going to show this to you.
Sonny00:55:30Shuffer Huffer time.
JVL00:55:31It is a Shuffer Huffer, little analog travel clock and a clan of it's perfect. Very nice. Perfect. Thank you, my friend. And I hope you're having a good time at the beach.
Vic00:55:46That's right. Matthias Armstrong.
Sonny00:55:48Thank you. Uh, we got to, uh, and, uh, there, there, there was much, there were, I mentioned people in Dallas meeting up there. There, there was much discussion in the comments about that. So maybe we'll try and, uh, set a time in October, go see a dune, uh, on my TV or my laptop. Everybody will come to my house. We can watch it on my laptop or possibly my iPhone.
Vic00:56:08Is that going to come out, uh, on like streaming and, and, and, and, and theaters on HBO max
Sonny00:56:15and theaters at the same time, then even knew bad news for Denny didn't even know. He's like, no, no, no, not in. Not in the theater. Only in theater. Why? Why is this happening?
JVL00:56:29Cinema? Uh, am I, am I wrong to just say it kind of looks great.
Vic00:56:35Did you? So did you get that trail? Did you get a chance? Did you come early enough? I haven't seen it. I did.
JVL00:56:41I did. I started rereading the book because I'm a sucker.
Vic00:56:47I got to start reading the foundation reading the next that's next for me, Sonny, because
JVL00:56:54the new foundation series looks so good. Yeah.
Vic00:56:57Did you like the original movie at all? The first dude? Yes. Not at all.
Sonny00:57:04The David Lynch dude? Yes. Hated it. No. I know a lot of people are trying to make it a thing now. They're like, oh, David Lynch is doing it so good. You know who hates that?
JVL00:57:11You know who hates that movie?
Sonny00:57:12David Lynch. David Lynch. Literally. I mean, he like, this is a very funny. It was a very funny story I saw on Twitter, but some, some guy went, uh, to, to hear David Lynch talk at American university and there was a Q and a afterwards and he goes up there. Uh, I, Mr. Lynch, I am a huge, enormous fan of Dune. Um, it is, it's actually the reason I came to film school and I wanted to, to, you know, be a, be a filmmaker and there's a beat. David Lynch says, I hate that movie. I wish I'd never made it. That's it. That's good.
Vic00:57:45That's the, that's the anecdote. Um, okay. I, yeah, it'll be interesting. What do you think? How do you think that's going to do on my, uh, plot quadrant duration quadrant or plot for that matter?
JVL00:57:54The lowest scoring movie on the quadrants ever. I'm terrified.
Vic00:57:59I saw it. I saw it. Is that possible? I don't think you could explain this movie to an hour and a half widows.
Sonny00:58:05I was going to say, it's going to be, it's going to be up there with widows, even the,
JVL00:58:09even the other movie that I absolutely hated widows have that tall blonde girl you like naked in it.
Sonny00:58:14I know it's the, it's the most, it's the most ridiculous. Yes, she was. She was with the Vicky. Yes. Takes her clothes off. And like I probably fell asleep because it was so boring. This is why your, your quadrants are a sham. It was really boring. They're a sham. I'll tell you. It's not you. You, you have these ridiculous standards that you don't live up to yourself and I'm tired
Vic00:58:35of it. I am the sole guardian of the, of the quadrants. Uh, you know, the beach bum, I hated that movie, but it did really well on one quadrant.
JVL00:58:41It's just like out of control. It did well on two quadrants.
Sonny00:58:44It's also 90 minutes long.
JVL00:58:45It's 90 minutes long.
Sonny00:58:46It's got a lot of nudity.
Vic00:58:47He's using a spatula.
Sonny00:58:48It's A, A, A plus in one quadrant, A plus in another quadrant and still you're like at D.
Vic00:58:54It was like, it was like, it was so like there was nothing redeeming about it. Okay.
Sonny00:58:58What I'm saying, you're, you're, you're, the quadrants are alive. They're alive.
Vic00:59:01The quadrants, the quadrants are what they, the quadrants are what they are. Now I have a shout out too, before we go. And this is a listener and friend, Tanya McKenna sent to me, remember she was the one who pointed out that place called Vic's oven, uh, with the giant octopus, uh, I know what this is and she says, sorry, I saw a package arrives in the mail just yesterday. And she says, hi, Vic, sorry that I couldn't get you a Vicks oven t-shirt thought this one, which they had at the local grocers, the beaver super might be an acceptable alternative. And I'm wearing it right here, see it straight, straight out of Beaver and it looks just like in the, the font and everything is straight out of Compton, but instead it's straight out of Beaver. Speaker 1: That's a microaggression. Speaker 2: Yeah, but, and an Asian man wearing a straight out of Beaver, like what do people make of that?
Sonny01:00:02I don't know. Speaker 1: I think that makes it worse. Speaker 2: Okay.
Vic01:00:05Well on that note, Sonny, congratulations for surviving. That's all the time we are giving to this episode questions, comments, compliments tweet us at Sonny Bunch at Victorino Matus again, be sure to subscribe to us on Patrion. Just go to some beacon.com. We're there. Tell your friends and keep thinking. Oh, what did I say? Keep thinking. Happy thoughts. Sorry. That's from the last script. Until, until next time. Speaker 1: So you think I should just walk around with this way or like, I don't know, it'd be a good conversation piece.
Sonny01:00:43If I, I bet Aaron Harrison, we get a kick out, he would, he would.
Vic01:00:48I should wear that, uh, uh, or my other Cape may shirt that I still have only went, uh, wore once. Which is the map of New Jersey and Cape may is at the very bottom and it just is Cape may. Just the tip. I can wear that one.
Sonny01:01:00Um, yeah, I have all sorts of, you should make a quilt of all your, uh, grotesque t-shirts.
JVL01:01:05Speaker 2: I don't think these are things you should wear in the workplace. Victorino too late.
Sonny01:01:12I'm sure it's fine.
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