Movie Review Shazam Fury of the Gods

Shazam Fury of the Gods (2023) 

Directed by David Sandberg

Written by Harry Gayden, Chris Morgan 

Starring Zachary Levi, Helen Mirren, Lucy Liu, Adan Brody, D.J Cotrona, Meagan Good, Rachel Zegler 

Release Date March 17th, 2023 

Published March 20th, 2023 

Just as James Gunn is about to explode the D.C Universe, Shazam Fury of the Gods arrives to recall the Snyder-verse heyday as seems to be coming to an end. Yes, we still have an Aquaman sequel and a Flash movie in our future, but the path being cut in the D.C film universe still appears to have reached an end. Whether that is a good or bad thing is entirely subjective to your feelings about D.C's scattershot personification of superheroes in the movies. Sometimes the D.C Universe is dour and bleak and sometimes the D.C Universe is broad and goofy and nothing D.C has done has married these disparate tones despite the a clear sharing of characters across movies definitively linking the movies together. 

Zach Snyder's vision of D.C's future as a wasteland ruled over by a bitter, out of control Superman still clashes violently with the vibrant, colorful and childlike wonder of Wonder Woman 84 and especially Shazam which leans further into the candy color of childhood with Shazam Fury of the Gods. Where Snyder eagerly drained the world of color, going as far as to make black and white versions of his films, Shazam and its sequel, clearly exist in a coloring book universe of childlike imagination and bright, bright colors. Fury of the Gods even has unicorns, albeit, scary snorting, warrior unicorns, they're still unicorns and that flies desperately in the face of Snyder's self-serious to the point of parody vision. 

Perhaps that is why Shazam was never glimpsed in any of Batman/The Flash's visions of the future. There is no place in that universe for an angst-riddled, slacker, dreamer like Billy Batson. Shazam is the guy who would get too confident and get himself absolutely killed by an angry Superman. That actually tracks with the bleakness of the Snyder-verse, now that I am thinking of it. Evil of the future would totally demolish the young heroes of Shazam Fury of the Gods, a group who still marvels over their own powers and obsess about their superhero names. Well, now that I have talked myself into how the D.C Film Universe actually makes sense, via the likely horrific future death of Billy Batson and his family, let's talk about Shazam Fury of the Gods. 

As we join the story, a pair of women dressed as ancient warriors have entered a museum to retrieve a staff. This staff had been used by the big bad of the last Shazam movie. In that film, spoiler alert, Billy Batson busted the staff on the assumption that breaking it would destroy its world destroying magic. What Billy could not know was that the magic in the staff was all that was keeping sisters and ex-Gods, Hespera (Helen Mirren) and Kalypso (Lucy Liu), from entering the human realm. With the staff broken, the sisters come to Earth, reassemble the staff and proceed to murder a museum full of people. These deaths are never referenced again. 

Read my full length review at Geeks.Media 

Movie Review: Alvin and The Chipmunks Squeakquel

Alvin and The Chipmunks Squeakquel (2009) 

Directed by Betty Thomas 

Written by Jon Vitti, Jonathan Aibel, Glenn Berger 

Starring David Cross, Jason Lee, Justin Long, Zachary Levi

Release Date December 23rd, 2009

Published December 22nd, 2009

2007's Alvin and the Chipmunks was an ugly exercise in low humor that had no business appealing to our children but succeeded thanks to the laziness of American parents, those unyielding masses who refuse to check what they expose their children to. That inability to nip the Chipmunks in the bud after one movie has lead to a second film, not so cleverly dubbed 'The Squeakquel.'

So, now the Chipmunks are back and somehow I am not clawing my eyes out. Don't misunderstand, I still am not willing to recommend the experience of these CGI rodents latest adventure but under the middling talents of director Betty Thomas The Squeakquel is far superior to the execrable original.

As we rejoin the Chipmunks they are still huge international stars performing sold out shows in front of screaming teenagers. Naturally, Alvin (voice of Justin Long) remains his mischievous self, vamping for the crowd and generally calling attention to himself ahead of all else. Alvin's antics at a benefit concert in Paris get really out of control and lead to his adoptive dad Dave (poor, poor Jason Lee) nearly being crippled by an Alvin sign. 

With Dave laid up in Paris for a while the boys are sent home to the care of their Aunt Jackie (Kathryn Joosten) until she too is laid up by accident, this one involving her layabout nephew Toby (Zachary Levi). This leaves Toby to care for Alvin, Simon (voice of Matthew Gray Gubler) and Theodore (Jesse McCartney) as they go off to school for the first time.

Yes, the Chipmunks are going to High School where they will encounter bullies, sports and most importantly girls and not just any girls, oh no dear reader, the Chipettes. Brittany (Christina Applegate), Jeanette (Anna Faris) and Eleanor (Amy Poehler) are talking female Chipmunks who also happen to be talented singers. Unfortunately, the girls are under the control of the nefarious record exec Ian (David Cross) who plots to use the girls to gain revenge on the Chipmunks (Ian was the villain of the first film, for those who were not aware).

All things come to a head, naturally, at a singing competition and charity performance that pits the Chipmunks vs. the Chipettes. Meanwhile, Alvin's ego after joining a popular click puts the boys performance in jeopardy. Can the Chipmunks overcome the odds to win the contest? Will Alvin learn a valuable lesson about family, loyalty and respect? Do you really give a damn?

There is only one question an adult should be asking themselves about a movie like Alvin and the Chipmunks and that is : Will it somehow corrupt my children? The simple answer is no, it will not. Though I find the film to be another dreary example of the decline of children's entertainment, Alvin is mostly inoffensive.

The very typical, simpleminded value reinforcement that is Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel is just the kind of mild, forgettable distraction that works to anesthetize children for 80 minutes without turning them into murderers or thieves, a condition I honestly do believe involves exposure to lesser forms of entertainment like the previous Alvin and the Chipmunks movie.

Director Betty Thomas has never been a great director but she is a professional and far more caring than the director of the first film who shall remain unnamed by me (It's not really a protest, I just don't feel any inclination to actually seek the name of the director of Alvin and the Chipmunks, really if you care to know, why are you reading this.) Thomas, at the very least makes this Alvin and the Chipmunks one that doesn't make me want to vomit, that's something.

Ms. Thomas even made this film a charitable event. Making cameos in Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel are a version of the wonderful Save the Music Foundation, a group dedicated to keeping the arts in school, and Toys for Tots, a tremendous organization that gives free toys to poor children.

Exposing these two groups in a major studio blockbuster damn near makes the mess of Alvin and the Chipmunks worth it. I still cannot recommend the film, especially while it competes with far superior family entertainment like Princess and the Frog and The Blind Side. However, for those so inclined to see Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel you won't be offended and your kids will likely have forgotten about it by next week. That's really the best anyone can ask of this budding franchise.

Movie Review Shazam

Shazam (2019) 

Directed by David F. Sandberg

Written by Henry Gayden 

Starring Zachary Levi, Djimon Hounsou, Mark Strong, Jack Dylan Grazer 

Release Date April 5th, 2019 

Published April 4th, 2019 

Shazam stars Zachary Levi in the story of a boy named Billy Batson. Billy is 15 years old, young Billy is played by Asher Angel, and an orphan. Years earlier, Billy was separated from his mother at a carnival in Philadelphia. She disappeared and young Billy is convinced that he simply needs to find her again so they can be reunited as a family. The reality that his mother never looked for him after that day is something he is eager to overlook.

Since he was 4 years old, Billy has been shuttled from several foster homes that he has abandoned to hit the streets searching for his mother. The latest home is one filled with a diverse group of kids that are Billy’s age and younger and who seem open to welcoming him to the family. That can only happen however, once Billy opens himself to his new family and that is part of the plot journey of Shazam.

The plot of the movie kicks in when Billy saves his new brother, Freddy (Jack Dylan Grazer) from some school bullies and winds up impressing the wizard known as “Shazam” (Djimon Hounsou) with his bravery. For years, Shazam has kept the spirits of the seven deadly sins locked away while he searched for someone pure of heart to take over his magical powers. He chooses Billy despite his misgivings about Billy’s selfishness in his search for his mother.

With the power of Shazam, Billy grows into a more than 6 foot tall, red-suited, white caped, gold-booted, superhero. It takes a while, but eventually, he realizes that he can switch between his superhero persona and his kid persona by saying the name Shazam. This leads to a legitimately charming sequence, overly familiar from just about every superhero debut movie, in which he and Freddy begin to test his superhero powers.

We should be put off by this sequence as we’ve seen the same thing in Iron Man, Captain America, Batman, each iteration of the Spider-Man movies, Ant-Man, et cetera. And yet, despite the cliche, these scenes do work in Shazam. I didn’t mind the cliche this time because Zachary Levy and Jack Dylan Grazer are having such a good time with these cliches. The fun they are having doing these scenes is palpable and I had fun because they were having so much fun.

It turns out, much to my surprise, that Zachary Levy was perfect for the role of a childlike superhero. My personal bias against Levy for his dimwitted performance on TV’s Chuck and his dreadful role in one of the more recent Chipmunk movies had blinded me to the legitimate talent he has for silliness. That talent for silliness is exactly what Shazam needed to separate it from the otherwise dour and glowering D.C movie universe.

D.C has a reputation for being grim, especially under the direction of Zach Snyder.This universe needed something like Shazam to force the universe into a more of a fun place to be. That vibe began with James Wan’s Aquaman, but Shazam is the first real exploration of a comedic place within the D.C universe. It’s a course correction for D.C where director-auteur Snyder seemed to believe that the only way to escape the shadow of Marvel was to go almost absurdly serious.

If D.C ever brings the Justice League together again, Shazam will provide a strong leavening force, a lightheartedness that may be the key to bringing this to a place where the Marvel movies have been from the beginning, an entertaining and fun and exciting place. The all or nothing, apocalyptic vibe of the D.C Universe was the worst part of the Superman movies and while Wonder Woman made that tolerable, we needed a movie like Shazam to bring a little light into that darkness.

This is rather ironic coming from Swedish born director David F Sandberg whose previous features were the horror movies Lights Out and Annabelle: Creation. He’s not exactly the guy you would expect to bring lighthearted fun to the DCEU but that is exactly what he’s done. Shazam has a lot of laughs, a lot of big laughs. Laughs in which we are more often than not laughing with the movie and not at the movie.

That was a major concern for me based off of the trailer for Shazam. I was concerned that I would find the movie pathetic and laugh at things that perhaps were not intended while not laughing in places where laughs were sought. I didn’t laugh much at the film’s trailer which wasn’t embarrassingly bad but was definitely awkward and leaned far too heavily on the immaturity of the character of Shazam.

The movie leans heavily on that same immaturity but given a little more room to breathe, Zachary Levy makes it work. And when it is time for the movie to take on a modest amount of seriousness in the final act, Levy makes that work as well, he earns enough of the needed weight for us to genuinely care about him and his newfound family and the peril posed by the film’s big bad, played by Mark Strong.

Here, unfortunately, is where I must talk about the flaws of Shazam. Mark Strong is unquestionably the weakest part of this movie. His Dr Sivana is remarkably unremarkable. Strong is a fine actor but I didn’t buy into his charismatic, free, whiny villain. We spend far too much time on his uninteresting backstory and he’s further undone by the underwhelming special effects that make up both the Seven Deadly Sins and the rubbery CGI Strong in the flying scenes.

Sylvana's backstory is part of why Shazam’s runtime is way too long. As enjoyable as the movie is, it is terribly bloated at more than 130 minutes. The film repeats a little too much of Billy and Shazam being frightened and incompetent and while the idea of a learning curve for a kid superhero makes sense, the film could have used a device to speed things up so that the middle didn’t sag so much. Losing a few minutes from Sivana’s full backstory would have been a good first step.

Nevertheless, even a bloated runtime and underwhelming villain didn’t prevent me from enjoying Shazam. The film has way too many good laughs and way too much fun for me to dislike it. Shazam is joyously silly and yet still a movie that can fit nicely into the overall DCEU. The four franchises needed a lighthearted shot in the arm ala Ant-Man in the Marvel Universe, and Shazam is a terrific comedic fit.

Movie Review Tangled

Tangled (2010) 

Directed by Nathan Greno, Byron Howard 

Written by Dan Fogelman

Starring Mandy Moore, Zachary Levi, Donna Murphy 

Release Date November 24th, 2010 

Published November 23rd, 2010

In their 50th original animated feature Disney has once again hit a home run. “Tangled” is a joyous musical treat for the ears and the eyes as even in 3D Disney's classic hand drawn style manages to shine. Re-imagining the fairy tale Rapunzel as romantic musical adventure directors Nathan Greno and Byron Howard and writer Dan Fogelman have reinvigorated the tale for a new audience to love.

Mandy Moore offers the voice of Rapunzel. Trapped in a tower by Mother Gothel, the woman she believes is her real mother, Rapunzel spends her days reading, painting and singing with her chameleon pal Pascal, who thankfully cannot duet, he's not a talking chameleon. One day, while indulging her usual pursuits, Rapunzel finds a man in her tower; Flynn Ryder (Zachary Levy, NBC's Chuck) is on the run from the kingdom having stolen a precious royal heirloom.

Rapunzel may have spent the last 18 years trapped in a tower but that doesn't stop her from whipping pretty boy Flynn's butt with her magical long blonde hair. Using her enchanted tresses to toss, trip and tie up Flynn, Rapunzel quickly realizes that what her 'mother' told her about the outside world being dangerous might be true but that she cannot take care of herself is completely false. Once Flynn is subdued Rapunzel decides that the rakish thief would be the perfect guide to the outside world. She will hold his stolen goods until he shows her the kingdom's annual Lantern Festival, up close. If you cannot guess where this is heading, a few songs, romance, more cute animals and eventually a happy ending, you aren't trying.

”Tangled” is not about the preordained outcome thankfully. Rather, it's about a joyous musical journey where the gorgeous music of composer Alan Menken and the perfect Disney Princess voice of Mandy Moore takes hold of you and elevates you to a state of blissful happiness. In all seriousness, “Tangled” is one of the happiest, most joy filled movies ever put to the screen.

Tangled is the rare movie that manages to be happy and joy filled without being cloying or too cute. Mandy Moore and Zachary Levy strike just the perfect chords as the spunky Princess and the suave yet goofball rake. Director's Nathan Greno and Byron Howard create a gorgeous world for these characters to inhabit and while there is darkness on the edges, a pair of twins is known as the Stabbington brothers, the focus is on the warm, the fuzzy, and the fun.

The music of Alan Menken may not hold a standout single, nothing that could become a hit beyond the movie, but he nails the joyful tone and Moore seems born for Menken's spunky lyrics that she delivers with effortless, honest delight without ever becoming excessively sweet or sentimental.

There is a simple, honest excitement that radiates from every inch of “Tangled.” The film is a complete delight, a near overdose of fun. Even in 3D, which I mostly loathe, “Tangled” manages to shine. Great songs, great characters and even a touch of chaste romance combine with classic Disney animation to create arguably the biggest surprise of 2010. “Tangled” may be one of the best movies of the year.