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Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)
2021 | Action, Adventure
Approximately sixty-seventh Marvel Studios project to date starts off as a pretty good king fu movie, as parking attendant Simu Liu is forced to come clean to his best friend that he is in fact the renegade son of an immortal warlord, before turning into a not quite so good fantasy movie (immortal warlord wants to invade a magic kingdom, which may inadvertently cause the end of the universe).

Good martial arts choreography, but the non-stop CGI of the climax isn't nearly as interesting or fun to watch, and the movie seems to lose its edge and sense of humour as it goes on. Feels very much like an attempt to do something akin to Black Panther, but with Chinese culture; may well do very good business in Asian markets. The usual links and references to other Marvel movies are a mixed bag; some of them feel very contrived and gratuitous. Still, they're integral to the Marvel project and I doubt this movie will disappoint the faithful.
  
Dances With Wolves (1990)
Dances With Wolves (1990)
1990 | Action, Drama, Western
I had watched it when it was released, I was a little over 10 years old.... and I had already loved the movie. I must have watched it again a while later, but until today I had never seen it again. I took the extended edition of almost 4 hours to watch it on my London - São Paulo flight. The film remains strong, beautiful, powerful in its message even more today than in the 90s... especially for us Brazilians who see a government trying to decimate indigenous culture in our country. Charismatic characters, beautiful scenes, opening up a cruel reality of the human being that many try not to see, which is even stronger in a time of pandemic. The length of the film never bothered me, people today seem to be in a hurry to see a movie...
I used to be a weird kid, but I keep thinking about ten-year-olds these days watching this Fast and Furious shit that can't watch anything good. Dark times.
  
As a self-proclaimed ECW nerd, this is an unusual choice of setting for Michael Arnold: ancient Britain, just before the Roman Conquest, instead of (as in the Stryker series) during the 17th century period of the English Civil War.

It's been a while since I last read any by the author - indeed, a while since (I believe) he has published any - the last I read being, I believe, "Marston Moor", so I was a bit unsure if I would read this one or not.

In the end, I'm glad I did.

This is, largely, a 'coming of age' tale that sheds some light on the pre-Roman Britain and the culture therein, which modern evidence has shown to be more sophisticated than originally thought (after all, "history is written by the victors" and all that), following the main character of Cullen as his tribe (the Atrebates) is first destroyed by the Catuvellauni, and then finding himself fighting for the very same against the Roman invaders.

I reckon I'll pick up the inevitable sequel.