Shazam! (2019)

Shazam! You can tell when a studio is confident in their film when allowing reviews 2 weeks before it's wide release and DC Films rightfully should be confident. This is one of DC's best movies to date. If this is the direction DC is going, then they are trending upwards big time. Shazam's origins is exactly how a kid would react, go about discovering his powers, and learning to be a hero. The movie pokes fun at some superhero tropes, most notably a scene with Mark Strong and Zachary Levi during the final fight. The jokes are funny and land every time. I haven't genuinely laughed in a DC movie like that in a long time. CGI is excellent. The movie keeps it's comedy roots with Shazam, but also keeps it a bit dark as well. Blends both the dark of the DCEU and comedy of Shazam very well. I believe there was some nods to Black Adam, but they never actually say Black Adam.

Let's talk about Shazam! Zachary Levi is the perfect embodiment of the character. His acting in on point and he plays a 14 year old kid who gains superpowers perfectly. I thought he did a better job playing a kid than the teen actor did. The teen actor, Asher Angel, does a very good job as well. For me, when he is Billy Batson, he is a bit unlikable. However, as soon as he transforms into Shazam, he is the best character. Shazam is not over powered. He struggles to fight the main bad and still hasn't discovered his full potential by the end of the film. His character has great character development with more room to grow.

Now, my favorite character in the film is the best friend of Billy Batson, Freddy Freeman who is played by Jack Dylan Glazer. His acting is phenomenal. He can play the comedic part and dramatic part perfectly. Honestly, he steals the entire movie for me.

Mark Strong as the main villain, Doctor Sivana, was was legit scary. His first scene after getting his powers actually caused some horror movie level anxiety. Mark Strong is at his best. They show his motivation, but his is essentially a stock supervillain origin and craving power motivation.

The rest of the cast is great as well. The kids were funny and they all get do some special stuff in the film that I didn't think would happen until the sequel. Story was pretty simple, not much risk taking, but it does it's job. Overall, the film was top notch and is a well put together film, both in the filmmaking aspect and the fan aspect. I highly highly recommend this film. 9/10.

2 credits scenes. One sets up a sequel that I'm not quite sure who the character was. 2nd one is a joke, which is a nod to DC fans. There is also a Superman cameo, but you do not see Henry Cavill's face. Hope that doesn't mean he is out as Superman.

Justice League (2017)

Ladies and Gentleman, the Pinnacle of DC's movie franchise and the fifth installment into the yet to be titled and unofficial name "DC Extended Universe," the Justice League is finally here. After two viewings, a lot of my opinions changed, so let's cut to the chase.

Criticisms - The out of place Josh Whedon jokes brought this movie down a bit. If you are into that stuff, you will love this movie. The pacing was too quick. Warner Bros. mandating it to be under two hours hurt the film. It needed more time to slow down the pace and introduce the backgrounds of the characters in greater detail. The plot of the movie is the basic plot you would see in a standard Marvel movie. Bad guy wants to destroy the world, good guys fight bad guy. These were the weak points of the film, but nothing that hurt the fun factor nor was it overwhelming and took away from the movie.

Sustains - STICK AROUND FOR THE 2 POST CREDIT SCENES, THE HYPE IS REAL!!! THIS IS NOT A DRILL!!! The characters are what make the movie. The chemistry is just perfect when they are together. The action is amazing, but the best scenes are when the league is sitting around talking and planning, especially when they are in disagreement. Steppenwolf is intimating as hell. Dude is straight up beast. Great villain, clear motivation. Scary dude. It is not as light hearted in tone as originally thought. It is lighter than Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, but when you add light hearted characters to the mix, of course, it will be less dark in tone. I think it was a great blend of seriousness and light, but still mostly serious in tone.

The Leaguers themselves. Aquaman is here. He steals the movie for me. Jason Momoa kills it. No complaints for Aquaman at all. Perfect. Aquaman hype is real. 13 months until his movie. Side note - Amber Heard as Mera is in a brief scene, but my goodness is she stunningly gorgeous. She did a fantastic acting job and her voice was very sexy.

Ezra Miller as The Flash? Yes! Yes! Yes! The Flash is a funny, lovable character. At first, I thought the The Flash was a bit dumbed down, but he really isn't. For him, he is young and naive. I would chalk up any dumb moments to him being excited/anxious about what's going on because everything that happens in Justice League is nothing he would have ever experienced or thought of experiencing ever in his life. You will see what I mean. Excited for his next movie.

Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman? Yeah, y'all already know. Gorgeous, funny, and a badass. She is struggling still with the events from the her standalone movie, 100 years ago, and shows great character development. What else is there to say, she was great again.

Cyborg wasn't too bad. Nothing really made me excited for him, but he was good. Nothing bad to say about Cyborg.

Originally, I had a big problem with Batman. I thought he was out of character and not very "Batman" like by telling to many jokes and not doing much against the big bad. However, Batman doesn't say as many jokes as originally thought. Sure, maybe he says a few more than normal, but nothing I felt that was too out of character. Affleck does another fantastic job. Bats is still pretty savage.

Do I wish Batman did a bit more against the big bad? Absolutely. My inner Batman fanboy wants him to solo Steppenwolf, but looking at it from a strategic standpoint. It makes sense why he was less involved with Steppenwolf and concentrating on fighting Parademons. Flash saved the civilians. Cyborg was focused on something that prevented him from fighting which is why Bats fought the Parademons. Aquaman and Wonder Woman fought Steppenwolf. All were focused to get attention away from Cyborg. It made sense this way.

I think we all knew Superman was coming back, but let's just say he is fantastic. His first scene is, honestly, my favorite scene in the entire movie. Say goodbye to brooding Superman. I loved brooding Superman, but this new one, that's Superman. Henry Cavill is Superman.

Overall, if the movie didn't try to do to a bunch of unneeded Josh Whedon jokes and we were allowed to get 15-20 more minutes of film to help with the pacing, it would have been damn near flawless. Don't get me wrong, 90% of the jokes were funny, but I felt they were, at times, unneeded and took away from the seriousness of the situation. However, it is a really enjoyable and fun movie to watch. There is very little to criticize about this movie. The heroes have great chemistry together. All the actors do great jobs as their characters.

Overall score: 6 out of 10. I recommend to everyone.