Movie Review: Shazam (2019)

Quick review: I liked it. Lots of fun.

***Spoilers ahead. You've been warned.***

I admit I've never been a huge Captain Marvel fan. And by "Captain Marvel", I'm referring to the real name of Shazam. I gather it's not acceptable to refer to him that way any more because of the whole intellectual property rights thing... but if you look at the character's history, it's been nothing BUT intellectual property rights messes.

Anyway, this movie decided to have fun with the name, since he can't use his actual name anymore. And he can't say his Wizard name without changing. So instead, the character was given new names constantly throughout, which was a lot of fun at times. Although it did begin to get old toward the end of the movie.

Ah, and there's my one criticism of the movie. At a running time of 132 minutes, some of the jokes began to get stale before the end. Yes, we get it. He's a teenage boy in a man's body. You don't have to dwell on it quite that much. Fortunately, the movie didn't let it get too stale, and there were enough other jokes to almost completely make up for the stale ones. I didn't end up rolling my eyes too much.

So, with that criticism out of the way, how did I like it? I enjoyed it a lot. I'm glad I didn't see it in a theater, as I needed a break roughly halfway through, but that's a complaint about the current length of movies, and not this one in particular. With the opportunity to take a break, the movie worked perfectly for me.

When I first heard about Zachary Levi as the main character, I was... um, let's say "skeptical". There's a part of me that didn't find him quite right for the role, but it's a big multiverse and I'm willing to accept that in one of them Captain Marvel looks like this and not... what he looks like in the comics. Other than the look, I think Levi was perfection in the role. The sense of wonder of a child experiencing true power for the first time came across very nicely.

The plot was solid, with much of the movie focusing on Billy learning about his abilities and what it means to have powers. The introduction of Sivana was nice (does John Glover only play bad dads in DC properties?) and his development was sketched out brilliantly in only a few scenes. He didn't have to chew any scenery for his character to work, which is slightly ironic because his character in the comic books is nothing BUT a scenery-chewer.

I haven't been following recent Shazam too closely in comics, but I knew about his "family" of fellow orphans. And I've seen at least one comic where they all got powers. So that bit didn't surprise me much... but it was a heckuva lot of a fun. I also liked the inclusion of the tiger. Anyone who knows the comic knows why that's important.

The Easter Eggs in this movie jumped out at me. I guess I know enough about the character to be tickled by such gems as the name of Billy's father and Darla's last name. The mid-credit sequence was clearly going to happen based on what we saw of that particular character on the Rock of Eternity. Amazing how two shots of a glass terrarium can foretell a potential plot point so perfectly.

While a sequel cannot capture the same magic as this one managed, I hope it manages it's own level of magic. With Wonder Woman, Aquaman and Shazam all turning out to be excellent films, I do hope the DC Movie Universe can manage to maintain the altitude.

A Sunday Review

Here are reviews of the DCBS comic books that I've gotten around to reading and reviewing, sorted by the original shipping date:

• Apr 29th
• Multiversity #2 - Ok. Well. The Earth-11 Aquawoman kicking butt was nice, but overall, this was a disjointed mess of a story that made little sense without multiple re-readings. Oh, it's fun, but it's not really a good read except for the joy of seeing so many alternate heroes. Overall, the whole series, I'd say it was average. It had potential, but it kind of just fizzled.
• Justice League #40 - This isn't really a book about the Justice League, it's a prologue to the next big DC Universe event. As such, I find it minorly annoying. At least it has a funny variant cover.
• Convergence #4 - Ooh, so we finally get Brainiac? Yay.
• Convergence: Justice Society of America #1 - That's an intense JSA there. This is a sad book about aging, but then the super-heroes jump forth and... one last time.
• Convergence: Shazam #1 - Ah, so much fun for the Marvel family. Not much else to say about this one, except I'm looking forward to seeing them battle the Gaslight team.
• Convergence: World's Finest Comics #1 - Scribbly is one of my favorite comic book characters, for all he represents and all he doesn't represent. This is a pretty good tribute to him.
• Hoax Hunters 2015 #2 - Ah, so we finally get to see the other side. Does this mean the team will eventually be reunited?
• Grimm Fairy Tales: Oz: Reign of the Witch Queen #1 - Well, the nice summary made some of what happened before make actual sense. It doesn't make a ton of sense, but more than it did to me before. I'm afraid this book just doesn't really grab me.

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Hubby and I watched two movies this past week. One was Meredith Willson's The Music Man from 2003, starring Matthew Broderick in the title role and Kristin Chenoweth as the librarian. Overall, a very satisfying version. Chenoweth is amusing and amazing throughout and Broderick is born to play lovable rogues. Taken as its own movie and not in comparison to previous versions, this is a decent little flick. Of course, there seems to be a lot of hate out there for Broderick, so if you don't like his acting, then you'll probably want to avoid this. Personally, I've enjoyed him in most roles I've seen him in, so take that as a warning.

The other movie was Divergent, based on the book by Veronica Roth. I have read the book, and in fact have a few serious issues with how the series ends, although the series is actually pretty satisfying (if depressing) on the whole. The movie condenses the book nicely while keeping the key plot points, and in some cases even explains them better than the books did (which is really odd when I think about it). In short, this is a pretty good adaptation of a problematic book. I think I'm looking forward to seeing the next one, but I am really tired of young adult dystopias. Is society really so screwed up that the only way to imagine a good story is to imagine a major disaster that tears it all down?

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Fortean Times #327 (May 2015). I really like the "northern light" ghosts on the cover of this issue, although I feel like the design itself is missing something. The story it's based on is good, with the "vardøger" being something I've actually experienced a couple of times with my husband. Since he's of Norwegian descent, maybe it's just something the Norse do? If you are wondering, it's when you are home and you hear familiar steps come to the door, the door opens and you hear a person doing what they always do when they come home, like take off their shoes or hang up keys or something. But if you check, nobody is there at all. A few minutes later, the person arrives and does EXACTLY what you heard a few minutes earlier. It hasn't happened often to me, but I have experienced it with my husband. I put it off to my imagination... I mean, I'm wishing so hard that he's home that I just imagine him coming home. But the article makes it seem like it's much more widespread and common than I'd ever thought. I'd never thought of it as paranormal, but then I've never been with other people when it happens, and that is what propels it over the edge of imagination. It happens when groups of people are together and they all hear it. Slightly freaky when I think about it, but not scary... just perplexing.

Another main article in this issue is about "the most haunted house in England" which supposedly was a jail for a bit before it became a home. The woman who bought it in 2005 has had trouble renting it out... or rather, trouble keeping renters once they've lived in it for a bit. So she decided to "rent" it out to paranormal investigators to try to figure out what's wrong with it. Lots of interesting stories around the place, a bit of woo about the house choosing its owner, but not a bad article.

The third of four main articles is about early radio in English and the problem of "oscillation". Since radios people had in their homes were not simply receivers, they also broadcast as people tried to tune into a station, there was a common problem with heterodyning... causing interference on a station as you tuned to it. And humans being what they are, some people took advantage of the problem to intentionally interfere with broadcasts. Now, I don't understand the issue well enough to explain it, but I found the article to be both hilarious and informative about a problem I never knew existed. It's almost enough to make me want to take up radio as a hobby to figure it all out.

The final article is about strange rains, like fish and frogs and killer smogs. It's a good summary of strange rainfall throughout recorded history with a major emphasis on modern cases. The article is an extract from a book about rain by Cynthia Barnett, and ends with a reminder about how important the health of animals, particularly frogs, is in telling how healthy the planet is.

Going to the regular features, Strangedays has the usual line-up, starting with stories of people who hoard the dead bodies of their loved ones. There's also a section of follow-ups, which I always enjoy. The Conspirasphere presents an argument that Putin is a double, since the real Putin died during his recent 10-day disappearance. There's also an excellent photo of what looks like a skeleton in mud in the Thames, but was actually metal pipes and old rope. Science has more information on how electricity is being used to heal, with a grim reminder about electroshock therapy. Archaeology reports on a long-lasting embrace, Mongolian structures, a sunset that rolls down a hill and a misinterpreted DNA study. Classical Corner looks at ancient electioneering tricks.

Ghostwatch examines an apparently debunked case of a ghost channeled by a psychic, asking if what she did really was either a fraud or subconscious cues. I'm not really convinced either way. Alien Zoo looks at a recent online campaign that apparently showed dodos caught on a trail-cam in Costa Rica. The video attracted a lot of attention, as did the follow-up, which showed it was a conservation campaign. Fairies, Folklore and Forteana is about hurlers. Just go read it. The UFO files continues its look into the strange UFO sighting, part three of I don't know how many.

The Forum has three pieces. The first is about a sailor who drowned in 1850. After his death, it was discovered he was a woman. The article asks some questions about women dressing and living as men, and lists a couple of other examples before wondering how many cases there were that we don't even know about.

The second article is about Dresden and a survivor who went on to live a very long life marked by pain and tragedy. It's a good story, one I kind of feel honored to get to read.

The last article is about OOPARTS (Out of Place Artefacts), particularly metal that should not have been possible to make in the distant past that nevertheless exists despite being "impossible" for our ancestors to have made with the skills and tools they had. There happen to be a lot of them mentioned in the article, so many that the author wonders if we just have a huge gap in our understanding of the past, rather than these things being rare and strange.

The reviews are fun, as always, starting with a book about Bilderberg and another asking if dolphins are really as smart as we think they are. There's an absolutely bewildering review of a book that's apparently a companion to a spoof tv show along with a brutal review of a book on Christianity's origins and another brutal take-down of a book about Heaven's Gate. Nothing really jumped out enough to go on the wishlist this month. The letters were also good, with one even including an extensive bibliography. All-in-all, another solid issue of the best magazine in the world.

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Past Sunday Reviews -- Comics at Amazon.com -- Previews -- My Wishlist -- My Kindle Wishlist -- My Camera Wishlist

A Sunday Review

TV this week:

• How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria - The gal who did such a bad job on Over the Rainbow last week sang horribly again, and was praised for it. Either the folks in the live audience aren't hearing the same sound feed as me, or their ears are broken.
• Ace of Cakes: "Food Network Friends" - Big cakes this time. I enjoyed the hamburger cake, but the skyscraper cake bored me.
• Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives: "In the Family" - I wanna go to Baltimore and get a cake at Duff's and then go to that pit beef place he recommends. The Utah place didn't look too bad, except the serving sizes were WAY too large.
• The Next Food Network Star: "Enticing and Easy with Bonn Appetit" - They picked the right person to go, I'm afraid. I'm getting more interested in the kid, as he seems to be the one producing the best food.
• History Detectives - Season Six, Episode 1 - Very interesting stories in this one. I love this show, because they show the frustrations of research (although they cut it down a lot for TV) as well as the rewards. And they demonstrate how to look at a problem from different angles.
• Dinner: Impossible: "Disney Dinner Dash" - Heh heh. Robert running around Disneyworld looking for clues before being allowed to even start dinner. Nice.
• Doctor Who: "Journey's End" - Special extra length (63 minutes) episode with fear of cosmic reset button running through my head. So, he didn't entirely avoid the reset button, but... it was good. Solid, scary, fun, good.

Comics this week:

• Trinity #5 - I want to like this book, but it just seems like more of the same so far. The tarot angle is fine, but not compelling.
• Batman #678 - I don't think I understood a page of this.
• Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam #1 - I hoped I'd like this, but I'm not really impressed. I'll stick with Super Friends.
• Jonah Hex #33 - Brutal, as usual.
• Rogue Angel #5 - This book tries, but something, some little piece, is missing. Like it needed one more rewrite. It's good, I like the heroine, but ... there's just something not quite right.
• Northlanders #7 - The end of the beginning. Lots of potential in this one. Glad I'm picking it up.
• Noble Causes #35 - I like this one better than the last few issues, which really isn't saying much. I don't like the whole time jump storyline at all.
• Doctor Who #5 - I really want to like this book, but so far I'm unimpressed.
• Doctor Who Classics #8 - Ah, we're getting into the stories I don't remember well! Good stuff here.

Agatha Christie this week was The Mystery of the Blue Train, and it'll be my last book for awhile until we're settled into the new place, where ever that may end up being. It was about average, not great, but still interesting. Another good read, but I hope the next one is more exciting.

Past Sunday Reviews -- Comics at Amazon.com -- Previews

Really Rapid Reviews

These are mini-capsules: about one sentence per book with whether or not I recommend the book.

7 March 2007

52 Week Forty-Four: "Deaths in the Family": This book goes up, this book goes down. I liked the bits with Renee Montoya, but not the rest. Mildly recommended.

The Flash #9: "Full Throttle Prologue: Split Decision": Another good issue. I particularly like the name of the bad guy at the beginning. Recommended.

Justice League of America #6: "The Tornado's Path: Iron Man": Um. Ok. Is it over, then? Neutral.

Shazam! The Monster Society of Evil #2: "NZIB GZPVH GSV XZPV": I've never been a huge Captain Marvel fan, but this is a good book. Recommended.

Justice League Unlimited #31: "The One-Man Justice League": I admit that I never really thought of Rex as being that egotistical, but it worked for this tale. This is a great book. Highly recommended.

Age of Bronze #25: "Betrayal 6": I read through this intently, then read the text pages, then flipped back through the story and suddenly realized that the issue was entirely talking. I hadn't realized that while reading it. It was THAT good. Highly recommended.

The Phantom #15: "Walker's Line Part Two of Two": A flashback tale to the current Phantom's youth, this wasn't a bad tale, but doesn't stand out. Mildly recommended.

Castle Waiting #5: Ok, now in addition to wondering exactly what's up with Tylo (he's NOT the one she ran from, is he?) I'm also wondering what the heck is wrong with the doctor. Highly recommended.

My buddy David has me pick up a few books for him, and asked for some Marvels this week... including Captain America. Here's what I thought of the Marvels I grabbed for David, and thanks again David for letting me read them.

Daredevil #94: "Our Love Story": Wow. This is an interesting introduction to Daredevil. A very good jumping on point, as it turns out. I have no interest in the character, but this was an intriguing story. Recommended.

Captain America #25: "The Death of the Dream: Part One": Plenty of context is given throughout the issue, so the story wasn't hard to follow. It was ok. Mildly recommended.

Fantastic Four #543: A jumping on issue, with a 45th anniversary story. Fairly solid. The Stan Lee cameo story was nicely silly. Mildly recommended.

Civil War: The Initiative: Chaotic and messy, and not pleasant in what's happened in the Marvel Universe. I never thought I'd actively hate Iron Man. Very mildly recommended.

Really Rapid Reviews

These are mini-capsules: about one sentence per book with whether or not I recommend the book.

3 February 2007

JLA Classified #33: "The 4th Parallel" part 2a: Eh. I could take it or leave it. This one just does nothing for me. Mildly recommended.

Phantom Annual #1: "Five Days of the Dragon": I really liked this one. The ending was a bit weak, but the other stories were wonderful. Recommended.

Nodwick #36: "The Evil Wed(ding)": I like how everything ties up at the end. It's a good one! It's also the final issue of this version of Nodwick. Recommended.

Usagi Yojimbo #100: It's the freakin' 100th issue. Of course it's good. It's just not the normal stuff, since it's a jam issue with all kinds of guest art and writing. Recommended, but only for people who are already fans of Usagi.

7 February 2007

52 Week Forty: "Man Ain't Nothing But A Man": Lorena has a good role in this, and it confirms that she's part of the Titans during the missing year. Now I want to see more of the Titans during the missing year. Recommended.

Detective Comics #828: "Sharkbite": Another great standalone story, yet set in the wider context of modern Batman comics. WHY CAN'T MOST COMICS BE LIKE THIS? The Aquaman reference didn't hurt my opinion of the book, either. Highly recommended.

Action Comics Annual #10: Not bad. Kind of Silver Age-y in a good sort of way. If I was more interested in Superman, I would have enjoyed it much more. Recommended.

Justice League Unlimited #30: "Heavy Mettle": Booster Gold and Speedy? Booster Gold and Speedy!?? Oh my. Recommended.

Shazam: The Monster Society of Evil #1: "YROOB SZH Z HVXIVG!*": Very cute. Kinda cuddly, even. And sweet. Odd, in some ways. Recommended.

Astro City: The Dark Age Book Two #2: "Eyes of a Killer": If you are going to set up a story like this, the cliffhanger at the end of this issue is definitely a fantastic pay-off! Highly recommended.

X-Men Annual #1: "Covenant": My friend asked me to pick this book up for him because he'd been told it would be a good jumping on point. So I thought, what the heck, I'll read it too! Not bad, but the cliffhanger means nothing to me. Mildly recommended.

Lone Ranger #4: This book jumps around a little too much for me, but it's starting to come together in my mind. Mildly recommended.

Star Trek: The Next Generation #1: "The Space Between": Artwork on a licensed comic is so difficult to do "right", and I think this book just barely manages it. The story was intriguing, at least. Mildly recommended.

Really Rapid Reviews

These are mini-capsules: one sentence per book (unless I feel like writing a bit more) with whether or not I recommend the book.

25 October 2006

52 Week Twenty-Five: "Liminal Times": Best. Cover. Ever. Insides weren't as good. Mildly recommended.

JSA Classified #18: "The Venom Connection Part 2": Not too shabby. Recommended.

Action Comics #844: "Last Son Part One": Promising enough start, though I'm not sure just what happened at the end there, or how this is an opportunity for Luthor. Mildly recommended.

Secret Six #5: "Life As We Know It": I'm liking this book less and less with each issue. It's just too depraved. Not recommended.

Trials of Shazam #3: "Cover Me!": The art bothers me in some mild way that I can't describe. Otherwise, it's an ok book. Mildly recommended.

Ion #7: "Home Again": Eh. Neutral.

Justice #8: Ah, Mera and Aquaman. Who the heck is "Yuko" though? Recommended.

Thieves & Kings Presents: "The Walking Mage": Quinton has a very interesting way of looking at the world, and of teaching lessons. I would NOT want to be on his bad side. Recommended.

Cindy and Her Obasan: "Elvis and the Lost Halo": Sounded promising, so we got it. It was fun. Recommended.

Castle Waiting Vol II #2: A lovely trip into Jain's past, with a cliffhanger and wonderful sketches. Highly Recommended.

1 November 2006

52 Week Twenty-Six: "Halfway House": I'm liking Osiris, he seems to work well as a foil to both Isis and Black Adam. Mildly recommended.

Justice League of America #3: "The Brave & The Bold": Still hasn't hooked me, but at least the story seems to be starting to pull together. Mildly recommended.

Detective Comics #825: "The Return of Dr. Phosphorus!": I liked this book better with Dini writing it. Mildly recommended.

Justice League Unlimited #27: "Climb the Mountain": Fantastic Black Lightning story. Highly recommended.

Fallen Angel #10: "A Sad Song for Terry May": A nice short tale, more or less standalone, though it refers to previous events. Recommended.

Local #7: "Hazardous Youth": Megan had hit the point where she was not likable... now we meet her cousin Nicky and his Arizona life. Recommended.

Mouse Guard #5: "Midnight's Dawn": Intriguing. This is going to be a good title to read all at once. Recommended.

Aquaman review will go up later this evening. At the moment I'm off to see the Dead Sea Scrolls!