Melvin & Dan rushed to the movie theater to catch the latest Marvel picture, because that’s what every good little movie podcast is supposed to do! From enjoying martial arts to pondering the future of Phase Four, and ending with some pipe dreams, check out this episode of Cinematic Doctrine!
Topics:
- Melvin pitches to Daniel an opening for Season 10 Episode 1 of The Office.
- Daniel talks about how his theater screening for Shang-Chi was better than Black Widow, except for one weird argument a couple had before the movie started.
- Contemplating why movie theater bathrooms are always the worst bathrooms on the entire planet.
- Introducing Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings [11:38]
- Daniel has a soft spot for martial arts flicks.
- Every MCU Phase seems to have a gripe people collectively complain about. Melvin posits Phase Four’s gripe will be a mixture of two things: Not using real sets and overly relying on CGI for backgrounds and settings, and the over-abundance of bloodless violence and deaths.
- Discussing The Mandarin’s “previous outing” in Iron Man 3, and how this version is a nice change to a bonafide racist figure in classic Marvel history.
- Our curious excitement about where the Ten Rings are from and if they’re connected to The Eternals.
- Melvin hopes future Marvel movies would introduce feelings of dread and hopelessness as a plot mechanic, which often in stories (when done carefully) produces more hope and excitement for future installments.
Recommendations:
- W. Phillip Keller’s “A Shephard Looks at Psalm 23” // Max Lucado’s “Safe in the Shepherd’s Arms: Hope & Encouragement from Psalm 23” // Derek Kidner’s Psalms 1-72 Commentary
- Mouse Rat’s “The Awesome Album”
- What If…?

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is Rated PG-13 for sequences of violence and action, and language. It features Simu Liu, Awkwafina, Tony Chiu-Wai Leung, Meng’er Zhang, Fala Chen, Michelle Yeoh, Florian Munteanu, and Jayden Zhang. Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is currently in theaters.

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Melvin Benson is the Founder, Editor-In-Chief, and Lead Host of Cinematic Doctrine. He’s written fiction and nonfiction for over a decade with short stories featured on the Creepypasta Wiki and Wattpad. His novelette Ethereal Temptation, a teen drama with a tinge of magical-realism, can be read for free here. His hope is to see King Jesus glorified as far as the east is from the west!
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