A few reviews

[mnkykungfu]

I found and listened to some of that Shanghai Surprise podcast but it's not for me. 1.5-hr show with about 30-mins of discussion of the film, 30 mins of commercials and 30 mins of unrelated annoying goofing off. A shame because the discussion bits were good.

I thought that 'Loving' film looked worth a watch and Joel Edgerton usually does interesting projects. Sad to here it's not.

The Foreigner (2017)
Former Bond Director Martin Campbell and former Bond star Pierce Brosnan re-team for this Jackie Chan vehicle, set in peace-process era Northern Ireland. I thought this was going to be a brutal and efficient old-man revenge action film like 'Taken' (which partly it is) but it's more of a tightly plotted political thriller.

For sure the podcast is goofing around-type comedy, not especially informative.  I can understand it not being what everyone is looking for.

Similarly, Loving is not really the kind of movie I usually go for.  I won't go so far as to call it Oscar-bait, but I wouldn't fight someone if they did.  It may be exactly what some people like, but just didn't have any punch for me.

Totally agree with everything you said about The Foreigner!  Chan has mostly been really pushing to show some dramatic chops rather than doing lots of action nowadays, so I think that's what he was going for here, much to my surprise.  The little bits of action he did do were really great though!  Better than his Hollywood films.  
 

Gringo (2018)
 I'm not really sure why this got such bad reviews and limp box-office, it's a blast.

That trailer looks like a hot mess to me.  I love Copley, but he's often the best part of the films he's in.  Maybe the film is different, but that trailer looks bad-cheesy.

I saw a film!  Well, 2 actually, a little pre-Valentine's journey.
Frida (2002)
The trailers for this suck, this clip is a much better representation: 

There was already a Spanish-language film about her, so Salma Hayek made this passion project English language film that is a bit looser with the biopic structure.  Director Judy Taymor uses lots of artistic transitions and kinds of animation in scenes, resulting in scenes that sometimes feel jammed together despite the passage of time.  But it succeeds in conveying the passion and creativity of its subject.  Full review here: https://letterboxd.com/nottheacademy/film/frida/

Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)
Again, the trailer doesn't represent the feel of the actual movie as well as listening to the dialogue would... here's a great example:

I thought this was supposed to be a sexy romance?  Turns out it’s an execrable rom-com that comes off as Allen fantasizing himself as Bardem and writing every other character with the same voice.  Full review here: https://letterboxd.com/nottheacademy/fil...barcelona/