Shanghai Surprise or Swept Away?

[Donna 16,497]

Two films panned by critics, the public and most fans, but let's see how Minfinity members truly feel about these two films.  Feel free to share any stories regarding the films which may or may not go along with your opinion. 

By the way, if you haven't ever seen the films, you hardly can constructively participate. 

[Blue Skies 1,304]

She looked painfully beautiful to me in Shanghai Surprise and ultra sexy as well in that one bedroom scene.  That being said the movie I thought was awful.  Like I actually tried a few times but couldn't watch it past 1/2 hour.  

 

Swept Away I thought was bad but it was watchable enough for me to finish.  I actually had trouble seeing Madonna as a bitch in that movie.  It didnt seem believable.  The ending was pretty bad imo as well.  I thought there was a funny line when Madonna was on that bike at the beginning and when talking about income inequality she said everyone else should open up bakeries or bake cakes or something along those lines.  I did think it was funny though.  But that movie defintiely was not all on her.  

 

Guess I would say Swept Away if I had to choose 

[Alibaba 1,519]

Madonna is a mediocre actress in both films, but Shanghai Surprise is also badly made, where Swept Away is average, yet inconsistent. Her voice projection in Swept Away is terrible. In fact, her determination to control her voice as an actress (so as not to sound shrill?) has always been her biggest handicap in my opinion. It was at its worst in Dick Tracy, in which she decided to play several characters in one scene alone (when she meets up with Dick and encounters the little boy 🙄), with oddly inconsistent delivery of her lines. With hindsight, aside from Desperately Seeking Susan and Dangerous Game, I think Body of Evidence and Who’s That Girl are actually her best fictional filmic performances, something the critics would have laughed at thirty years ago, but might be inclined to agree with today. I think she was almost always too self-conscious as an actress, which is why SA was her last true film role. She knew it herself. She couldn’t seem to move past her own persona. I can understand why as in many ways she’s the greatest performance artist of all time! She has always been in character, which must have been confusing and exhausting as such an exposed public figure. I wish she would be chosen to play an insanely over the top role directed by a conceptual team like The Daniels. It would be such a dream for her to return to the cinema with something truly grandiose and mind-bending. I’m sure she’s been approached by so many unknown or new directors over the years. I’m not sure what has stopped her…it can’t be the fear of being ridiculed. Surely she’s over that? Vanity? 🤷🏻‍♂️ Such a wasted opportunity after so many years of making it a priority. Her abandoning film has always seemed like the most un-Madonna thing she’s ever done. 

[androiduser 2,471]

6 minutes ago, Alibaba said:

I wish she would be chosen to play an insanely over the top role directed by a conceptual team like The Daniels. It would be such a dream for her to return to the cinema with something truly grandiose and mind-bending.

IF she had the acting chops, she'd be great now in a role like Tanya from The White Lotus.... But I don't think she'd want to play a trainwreck.

[Alibaba 1,519]

10 minutes ago, androiduser said:

IF she had the acting chops, she'd be great now in a role like Tanya from The White Lotus.... But I don't think she'd want to play a trainwreck.

I think comedy requires a very special self-awareness combined with a je m’en foutisme that Madonna has oddly had a knack for at very specific times in her career, and then seemingly completely lost. Obviously she went for it in a more naive way with her first SNL appearance, and then in Who’s That Girl, but she perfected it with her early 90s MTV skits (10th Anniversary, Rock the Vote). After that, I don’t think it ever resurfaced 100%…maybe a little when she was with Guy R (The Swept Away pool boy skit, the “But I’m Madonna MTV sketch, and to a lesser degree the Star commercial - but by the time of her marriage to him it always seemed more like his obsession with deconstructing the myth, rather than it being authentically her)…She’s been quite self-serious since then, it would seem. Maybe I’m forgetting something…

[androiduser 2,471]

2 minutes ago, Alibaba said:

She’s been quite self-serious since then, it would seem. Maybe I’m forgetting something…

I think she always wanted to be a dramatic/romantic lead, I think that was her goal. She would have been much better as Sarah Connor. I think she wanted the prestige of a "serious" career.

[Alibaba 1,519]

11 minutes ago, androiduser said:

I think she always wanted to be a dramatic/romantic lead, I think that was her goal. She would have been much better as Sarah Connor. I think she wanted the prestige of a "serious" career.

For sure…she grew up being fed the propaganda of silver screen legends and the Hollywood system, and she often emulated the vamps. She got kind of stuck in a filmic time warp. None of Madonna’s films are particularly modern or forward-thinking; sort of the opposite of her music career. 

[androiduser 2,471]

1 minute ago, Alibaba said:

None of Madonna’s films are particularly modern or forward-thinking. 

Even as a producer she made questionable choices. I mean.... Agent Cody Banks 2? C'mon.....

[Alibaba 1,519]

Just now, androiduser said:

Even as a producer she made questionable choices. I mean.... Agent Cody Banks 2? C'mon.....

The other Guy in her life has very little artistic vision.

[androiduser 2,471]

1 minute ago, Alibaba said:

The other Guy in her life has very little artistic vision.

i get it, but... they don't even have the nose for money in the movie industry... so odd... I think she just genuinely doesn't understand the film industry. She probably thinks it's the same as the music industry, and what she says goes.

[Alibaba 1,519]

11 minutes ago, androiduser said:

i get it, but... they don't even have the nose for money in the movie industry... so odd... I think she just genuinely doesn't understand the film industry. She probably thinks it's the same as the music industry, and what she says goes.

Yeah. Her celluloid career will forever remain one of the great mysteries. 

[Donna 16,497]

1 hour ago, androiduser said:

Even as a producer she made questionable choices. I mean.... Agent Cody Banks 2? C'mon.....

She and Guy produced both the first film and the sequel through Maverick Films.  Both films profited, especially the first. They may not be huge blockbusters by any means, but it's not like they produced huge flops either.  Also, a lot of people who help produce projects do it to help finance friends, associates or family without expectation of making a lot of money from it.  I'm not saying this is the case, but I don't really see anything "questionable" about it either.  Plenty of huge celebrities produce projects that aren't always huge successes!    

[Voguerista 11,835]

I pick Shanghai Surprise! It and Swept Away may not be the best, but it’s always cool to watch her in anything. 

[Blue Skies 1,304]

 

2 hours ago, Alibaba said:

Madonna is a mediocre actress in both films, but Shanghai Surprise is also badly made, where Swept Away is average, yet inconsistent. Her voice projection in Swept Away is terrible. In fact, her determination to control her voice as an actress (so as not to sound shrill?) has always been her biggest handicap in my opinion. It was at its worst in Dick Tracy, in which she decided to play several characters in one scene alone (when she meets up with Dick and encounters the little boy 🙄), with oddly inconsistent delivery of her lines. With hindsight, aside from Desperately Seeking Susan and Dangerous Game, I think Body of Evidence and Who’s That Girl are actually her best fictional filmic performances, something the critics would have laughed at thirty years ago, but might be inclined to agree with today. I think she was almost always too self-conscious as an actress, which is why SA was her last true film role. She knew it herself. She couldn’t seem to move past her own persona. I can understand why as in many ways she’s the greatest performance artist of all time! She has always been in character, which must have been confusing and exhausting as such an exposed public figure. I wish she would be chosen to play an insanely over the top role directed by a conceptual team like The Daniels. It would be such a dream for her to return to the cinema with something truly grandiose and mind-bending. I’m sure she’s been approached by so many unknown or new directors over the years. I’m not sure what has stopped her…it can’t be the fear of being ridiculed. Surely she’s over that? Vanity? 🤷🏻‍♂️ Such a wasted opportunity after so many years of making it a priority. Her abandoning film has always seemed like the most un-Madonna thing she’s ever done. 

Yeah her as a missionary seemed a little far fetched there 

 

But in Swept Away I was actually able to forget her persona for the most part.  Just except that one scene where she sung and danced to Come On To My House seemed pretty played up for who she was.  The scene where she was drunk in the film was actually kind of a nice change of pace to see her like that from her usual health/control freak image. 

[Robertthenurse 2,921]

Shanghai Surprise (yes I watched the full movie) was a train wreck. I still to this day have no fking idea what the movie is about. M's acting...not bad but not good either lol

Swept Away...not a Guy Ritchie fan...never liked any of his movies...including Aladdin...M's acting in that was bad until they got to the beach. That being said, I love the plot of Swept Away. I felt a little chemistry between M and whatever his name is...but I'm being generous when I say "a little chemistry". Perhaps if Guy did not direct the movie it would have been better. Ultimately I blame the director overall if the movie is bad.

Prefer Swept Away.

[SuperBicycle 602]

Shanghai Suprise, only because I lived right up the street from where the opening scenes (and many others around the dock area) in Hong Kong were filmed - thought long before I lived there, and the area has been redeveloped to be unrecognisable.

[Honey Little 3,996]

I picked SS.

[geert 3,074]

Shanghai Surprise

[Enrico 15,823]

Shanghai Surprise. I love many scenes, including the romantic ending, and the music by George Harrison.

 

Swept away is so bad, especially if compared to the original, but it's worth watching cause Adriano Giannini is so hot. I'd be his slave too on a desert island ahaha

[Prayer 14,381]

"Shanghai Surprise". She looked beautiful and she is, BY FAR, the best thing out of that terrible movie and the only one there trying to make an effort. Even Sean Penn couldn't give a f**k.

"Swept Away" on the other hand... well, it's a Guy Ritchie movie. Let's leave it there.

[wtg1987 10,169]

She looked beautiful in SS but her acting was dreadful- Sean just looks drunk most of the time ( he was hot though ) the rest of the cast aren’t much cop either - I think swept away is a better well made film. I did like the title song Shanghai surprise from George Harrison 🥰

[Alibaba 1,519]

5 hours ago, SuperBicycle said:

Shanghai Suprise, only because I lived right up the street from where the opening scenes (and many others around the dock area) in Hong Kong were filmed - thought long before I lived there, and the area has been redeveloped to be unrecognisable.

Ha! I’m from Hong Kong, and was able to see Madonna shooting the film as a young boy! I just remember the crowds were insane, and she did indeed look absolutely miserable. 

[cosmic_system 3,156]

Loving both. Great flms? No, but I love them anyway.

[scamper 1,998]

For me "Shanghai Surprise" I watched on cinemas in 1986 and I didn't thought it was so bad as people say. Maybe the years doesn't make it justice, it's not a classic film but it wasn't intended to be. I've seen much worst movies than this one. If you see it now for the first time I can understand people saying is terrible (and I guess that lots of fans have said that since Madonna started to try to forget the film) but for me is an average movie. We all know how was the experience for her at that time, all the paparazzi thing, the "Poison Penns", the director that never had made a movie and all those things. Looking how was made I thik we could get a better movie even if Madonna had made the best interpretation.

For me, lots of people hate the movie for two reasons. The first one because Madonna is the actress (and is funny to say how bad actress she is) and because it's considered a really bad movie. Even people that didn't watch it says that. I hate when everybody talks about other movies like "Pretty woman" as great movies... The sinopsis is completly stupid, to play the characters you don't need to be Bette Davis, but people acts with it like if it was an incredible masterpiece... Well, what I is that, for me, Shanghai Surprise is not the best movie in history but is not as bad as people are always saying. But hey, I love "I know it", "Shoo-bee-doo" and "Jimmy, Jimmy" so maybe I'm completly wrong.

About "Swept away" I only watched it once and I had enough of it.

[Circle Life 474]

I choose Shangai Surprise. Maybe it's not her best movie, but I enjoyed it so much. I don't belive it's a bad film.

4 hours ago, Enrico said:

including the romantic ending

Actually, one of my favorite scenes of the movie.

 

About Swept Away, I've got not so many things to say... At least Madonna's there, and it's always cool to see her in a movie. But I wouldn't watch it again.