Film review: Shazam

This cover actually is a scene from the film.

Of all the recent DC movies, this is the closest to the spirit of the Richard Donner "Superman." Unlike the others this one expresses the notion that, hey, maybe it's fun to be a super hero.

And the movie stays pretty close to the source material, orphan Billy Batson  turns into an adult and is given the powers of six Greek gods when he says the name Shazam. Meanwhile, villain Sivana wants Billy's powers for himself.

Most of the movie is spent on the gee whiz aspect of Billy and his foster brother Freddy Freeman trying out the new super powers in mostly adolescent ways. Let's buy beer, let's go to the strip club. It's all a lot of fun for them until the villain shows up. It's light, funny and the writers have a love of the original material. (though if he has the wisdom of Solomon, he really shouldn't be doing this stuff.)

Some niggling things, for copyright reasons, they go through the whole movie without giving him a name. I was just waiting for someone to slip and call him "Captain Marvel," and they never do it. If Sony can lend Spider-Man to Disney, can't Marvel let DC use the name Captain Marvel if only once of twice, then call him "Cap" from then on like they did in the comics?

Also he now has lightning powers, where did that come from? Granted it looks cool, but is it even necessary?

That being said, after years of reading the comics, it's a thrill to actually watch Billy get struck by lightning and turn into Captain Marvel.

Spoilers:

And some crazy trivia, in the comics Freddy Freeman and Mary Batson remain teenagers when they say Shazam, why do they turn into adults here?

And I knew his foster family would turn into Marvels by the end of the film from years of reading the comics, but my 11 year old said they gave it away in the trailers anyway. Hollywood, please, leave us some surprises.

As a Philadelphian I enjoyed the scenery, but kind of rolled my eyes at the inaccurate police cars and subway station geography. (not to mention you can't buy beer in convenience stores.)

But it's still a lot of fun and except for a few grisly deaths, kid friendly.

Film Review: Captain Marvel

Samuel L. Jackson helps an amnesiac badass.

Some minor spoilers...

Captain Marvel is another sturdy entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Brie Larson is this charismatic, low-key superhero whose past and powers are slowly being revealed to her. We get great action sequences but, like Black Panther, there's a lot of backstory to get through.

What bothered me most is when you boil it down, it's just another hero-with-amnesia story. Amnesia hardly exists in the real world, yet we get movies where amnesia is the main plot point all the time. The character has the "now I remember who I am," moment in the last ten minutes or whenever it's most convenient for the plot.

In fact, Samuel L. Jackson already made a film where he's on a road trip with an amnesiac badass when he co-starred with Gena Davis in "The Long Kiss Goodnight." If you look at some of their plot twists, this is close to being a remake. And I knew Jackson was in the film, but I just thought he'd be making a cameo. Putting him in the entire film just brought more attention to its "Long Kiss Goodnight" parallels.

And since this film takes place in the 90s, we get a de-aged Nick Fury so he's not as much a badass as he is in the other Marvel films and this kind of takes the fun out of it. Speaking of the '90s, why is the film set in the '90s? We get a '90s soundtrack, a Blockbuster Video joke and a Radio Shack joke, and that's it. There was nothing in the film that demanded it be set that long ago, nor do they press it. It could have easily started with a title card that said, "Five years ago..."

I wasn't too keen on the end when she escapes the clutches of death. She pretty much wills herself out of it.

I was also bothered by Goose the cat. He plays a prominent part but it's never explained where he comes from exactly, or how they found him where they found him.

It's a good night at the movies, just don't think too much.