Shazam! Review

Howdy ladies and gents of the internet, I know this one is a little late but back on here to share my thoughts on Shazam! in the form of a review via my podcast, Film Focus.

On episode 75 of Film Focus, I share my thoughts on Shazam!, the latest superhero film from DC and Warner Bros. Now, I recall seeing the trailer for this film online during Comic-Con 2018 and being quite intrigued. The concept of a kid being able to transform into an adult superhero with Superman-like abilities is such a crazy and unique idea with lots of possibilities cool superhero adventures. And after the early positive word of mouth came out about the film two weeks ago, I got really hyped to see it. So after seeing it a recently, how was the film? Well, check out this spoiler-free review to find out!

Check out the review:

So have you seen Shazam! and if so what did you think of it? I really want to hear your thoughts on this film so drop your thoughts in the comments below and if you have some spare time subscribe to my podcast, Film Focus on Soundcloud and iTunes. Until next time, laters! 😀

 

Films To Look Out For In 2019 Part 2

Howdy people of the interweb and welcome to Films to look out for in 2019! This is my preview of upcoming films that I believe you should check out. In PART 1 I covered films from January to March, and in this post, I’ll be covering April to June.

Now before we begin I have two main things I need to point out:

1. Obviously, a lot of films come out, so if they’re not on my list it’s either because I don’t know about them or I don’t care…
2. 2018 films getting their UK releases this year don’t count! So there. 😛

Okay then, let’s start 😀

Shazam!

Release Date: April 5th (USA & UK)

Trailer:

So back during Comic-Con when the trailers for Shazam! and Aquaman was released, it was the former that grabbed me. This film looks less familiar, a little more original and fun. I think this film could succeed in the same way Wonder Woman and Aquaman did because of its unique direction and lack of ties to the larger connected universe. And while I absolutely hate the flossing in this trailer and the potential cringe that I’ll have to endure because of the weird things teenagers find cool these days, I love the concept of Shazam, his abilities and mindset and I want to see if it’ll work in live-action.

Pet Sematary

Release Date: April 5th (USA & UK)

Trailer:

I have only really heard about the original film through pop culture references and South Park parodies, but after seeing this trailer I was like “Screw it, I’m in.” This trailer looks really creepy and unsettling. I hope that it’s good.

Hellboy (2019)

Release Date: April 12th (USA & UK)

Trailer:

I know a lot of people have written this film off because of the lack of Ron Perlman and that questionable first trailer, but I still have hope for it because of the interviews with the David Harbour and how the people behind this film want to make a darker and more comic book accurate version of the character. I really want this film to be good because as much as I like del Toro’s films, I always thought the action was a little lacking and I hope this film will have more unique and memorable action sequences.

Missing Link

Release Date:  April 12th (USA), April 5th (UK)

Trailer:

I had no clue this was coming out until I looked it up recently and after seeing the trailer I’m hyped. Now I will watch anything that Laika makes because most of their films are great, plus Coraline and Kubo and the Two Strings are like two of my favourite films ever. And while this trailer presents a film with a more comedic and lighthearted tone which isn’t necessarily my jam, some of those moments were pretty funny. Plus the character design, colour scheme and overall look of the film are very impressive. I can’t wait.

Avengers: Endgame

Release Date: April 26th (USA & UK)

Trailer:

I don’t think I need I to explain why I’m hyped for this, but for those uninformed, I’ll give a brief summary. I love the Marvel Cinematic Universe and while not all of their films are good or unique, Marvel Studios have crafted a wonderful world of interconnected films and last year’s Infinity War really did bring everything to a head with several of the individual characters/groups coming together to battle Thanos from Earth to space and all the planets in between. And so this film will be about the remaining heroes dealing with the fallout of the last film and finding the courage to defeat Thanos. It is bringing years of this version of the world of the MCU to a close an I can’t wait to see how it turns out regardless of whether it’s good or not.

Detective Pikachu

Release Date: May 10th (USA & UK)

Trailer:

Even though the more realistic style of the Pokemon still looks a bit odd/wrong, I am very much intrigued by this film. While this is still a strange direction to go for the first Pokemon film considering that most people don’t know about the original 3DS game, it does look strangely fun and intriguing and if this film works it couldn’t open up a multitude of opportunities for more live-action Pokemon films.

John Wick 3: Parabellum

Release Date: May 17th (USA & UK)

The first John Wick was fun and while the sequel didn’t have the same wow factor, I think Chapter Two was really fun and I think I loved it just as much if not more than the original because of the over-the-top and creative action sequences, cast and expanded world of the assassins and their code of conduct. Considering how the last film ended I’ll be curious to see how John survives this next adventure and with Halle Berry included I’m curious to see how she and Reeves play off of each other.

Ad Astra

Release Date: May 24th (USA & UK)

As soon as I read the premise, saw the genre and the cast involved I knew I’d have to put this on my list. Firstly the genre is a sci-fi thriller, secondly, the premise reads as follows: “Twenty years after his father left on a one-way mission to Neptune in order to find signs of extra-terrestrial intelligence, Roy McBride, an Army Corps engineer travels through the solar system to find him and understand why his mission failed.” And you have a cast including Brad Pitt, Tommy Lee Jones, Ruth Negga and Donald Sutherland? Sounds like it could be a good time.

Brightburn

Release Date: May 24th (USA & UK)

Trailer:

As soon as I saw the trailer for this last year I was all in because it was pretty much Man of Steel until the point when everything went sideways. We essentially have a Superman origin story except as a kid he turns evil and starts running amok and that intrigues and excites me.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters

Release Date: May 31st (USA & UK)

Trailer:

Now I was a big fan of Godzilla from 2014 and while I know a fair amount people weren’t as keen on it, I loved the atmosphere, scale and awesome action sequences (when they happened). When that first trailer for King of the Monsters came out during Comic-Con last year I was in love. It was a beautifully crafted trailer that had wonderful glimpses of Godzilla, Mothra, Rodan and King Ghidorah and beautiful music, and while the second trailer wasn’t nearly as elegant, it did have more shots of monster carnage and I can’t wait.

Rocketman

Release Date: May 31st (USA) May 24th (UK)

Trailer:

I can’t say I’ve ever been the biggest Elton John fan, however, I have been curious about this film since Tom Hardy was attached to portray John. But then I saw that Taron Egerton was in the starring role and Dexter Fletcher would be directing and I thought “This sounds like it could be interesting.” I have just seen the teaser trailer and it certainly looks interesting, very vibrant and fantastical. I am very curious

Men in Black: International

Release Date: June 29th (USA & UK)

Trailer:

Now Men in Black is one of my all-time favourite films because of its blend of sci-fi and comedy, the unique world with this cool and invisible organisation taking care of aliens that the general public isn’t aware of. It is a great concept. And while the sequels don’t leave up to the original, I think there are certainly fans who have wanted to return to this world again. I have been wary of this new film, but after seeing this trailer it certainly looks like fun. I love the pairing of Tessa Thompson and Chris Hemsworth, the story seems interesting enough and having Emma Thompson return from MIB3 is a nice bit of continuity. Hopefully, it’s good.

Toy Story 4

Release Date: July 20th (USA & UK)

Trailer:

Like I have said before, in an ideal world I would prefer if this film didn’t exist and we just left the Toy Story series with three films, however, this fourth entry is already out there and will be released in the summer and after seeing the short teasers I am on board again. While the teaser trailers don’t show anything about the story, I do love these characters and seeing them again is just nostalgic fun for me. I can’t wait to see how this pans out, I hope those people at Pixar know what they’re doing with this new film.

Alrighty then, that’s PART 2 done. Thanks a lot for reading. Are any of the films listed on your personal list of films to watch? Whatever your thoughts are, drop them in the comment section below and I’ll see you for PART 3! Laters 😀

 

My Favourite Trailers From San Diego Comic-Con 2018

Good day to you ladies and gents, so San Diego Comic-Con has once again come and gone, and even though I’ve been interested in this convention  each year it’s come around, this year, in particular, I actually found myself way more hyped than before even though I wasn’t entirely sure of what was going to appear. And this year had a lot of really cool, fun and interesting reveals. A good chunk of which we have gotten to see, and some that we haven’t unfortunately. But anyway, I just wanted to make a quick post about my favourite trailers releases from this year’s Comic-Con. 😀

Godzilla: King of the Monsters Trailer

Now if you’ve followed this blog for a while then you know I was a big fan of Gareth Edwards’s Godzilla from 2014, I know the film has it’s fair share of issues, but I still believe it had a great sense of atmosphere, tension, distinctive visuals, a great film score and brought Godzilla back into the public consciousness in a good way. And while I thought last year’s Kong: Skull Island was fine, a lot of people really liked it and the film teased the larger universe where all these characters exist, and it feeds into this trailer. Good gravy I loved it. The sense of dread and chaos going on throughout this trailer is excellent. I like the choice of that classic piece of music (though I can’t remember what it’s called), I also love the visuals, there’s a love of striking colours from the skies to the creatures, and speaking of the creatures, we’ve got good old Godzilla back but we also see brief shots of Mothra, Rodan and frigging King Ghidorah! I’m also curious to see how this new family fit into the film, Vera Farmiga, Kyle Chandler and Millie Bobby Brown are great talents and clearly, their family has gone throw some stuff due to Farmiga’s pursuit of the monsters, and it looks like their drama will only get worse. I just hope this human element will be stronger than the last film.

Shazam! Trailer

So we finally, FINALLY got a trailer for Shazam! and it looks good. Now I’ve never been a massive fan of Shazam, but I have really liked him in the animated stuff like Young Justice and Justice League Action, and from what I know of him, the film feels pretty accurate to the source material. This trailer really gives off a fun kind of vibe, the tone and overall presentation are brighter than most of DC’s previous films except for Wonder Woman and there’s a relatable factor that comes with Billy Batson becoming a superhero. Oh and the costume definitely looks better in motion than the recent images suggested. However, some of that humour was a bit hit and miss, and that stupid floss dance made it into a frigging superhero film and that just irks me. Otherwise, bring on April 2019!

Aquaman Trailer

And then there’s Aquaman, I liked this. What really impressed me was the visual style of this film, it feels like a combination of the Zack Snyder style with what was done with Wonder Woman when it comes to the scenes in darkness and scenes in the daytime with muted and vivid colours. I’m liking the sense of scale, the underwater world of Atlantis looks cool and some of the sea creatures look great. And while I know a lot of this material has to be in CGI, it looks a little inconsistent, but I know there will be time to fix it up before release. Right now I’m a little less excited for the film than before because I was hoping for something with a little more of James Wan’s style, but whatever I’m still gonna see it.

Young Justice: Outsiders Trailer

Hooray for Young Justice‘s return! I don’t know if I mentioned it on the blog before, but I LOVE Young Justice, it was one of my favourite TV experiences while I was at uni around 6 years ago, and for the longest time, I thought there was no hope of a third season, but for it to exist and for there to be a trailer, I couldn’t be happier. While I would have liked a fully new trailer without the mini recap of season 2, at the same time it was great to see the crazy and emotional highlights from the last season, and then transition into this new material with all the new and familiar faces, new locations, Darkseid and a whole load of other stuff. I’m just happy to know that it exists and I can’t wait to see it next year!

Disenchantment Trailer

Once I heard about this new project from Matt Groening I was intrigued, but seeing it in action only enhances my excitement for this new show. As much as I’ve loved the classic episodes of The Simpsons and certain elements of Futurama, it is refreshing to see Groening on another project that is different, but feels like it has his style all of it. And that’s the best thing about it to me; the fact that it is different yet familiar, and the fantasy setting mixed in with the humour feels like a nice and strange mix.

Glass Trailer

I quite liked this trailer, so much so that I recently rewatched Unbreakable and Split, and it got me super excited to see what Shyamalan comes up with in this new film. It looks cool, unique and strange. I like how Mr Glass, the Beast and David Dunn have somehow ended up in a mental institution and are being interviewed by Sarah Paulson’s character. When she says that she’s looking at people who believe they are superheroes it does make me wonder how many people she’s come across and if there will be more seen in this film. Either way, it is great to see Samuel L. Jackson back after so many years along with Bruce Willis, I’m very curious to see how their lives have changed and what brings them back together, There’s a lot of possibilities with Glass and that’s the most exciting part for me.

Christopher Sabat and Sean Schemmel Yelp Reviews

This is something I had to include, it was just too good not to. Now while this brief IGN interview was in relation to the upcoming Dragon Ball Super film and the dubbing process of the film and Super tv series. But the main thing that I took away from the interview was Chris Sabat and Sean Schemmel reading angry Yelp reviews as Vegeta and Goku. These are such silly, silly reviews, and hearing Chris and Sean bring their energy to these Yelp reviews really helps sell you on Vegeta and Goku in these scenarios and makes you wish these moments would be animated. 😀

And so that’s my highlights from this year’s SDCC, what was your favourite trailer or announcement from this year’s Comic-Con? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below and I’ll see ya on the next blog post, laters! 😀

 

BIG NEWS PART 3: Warner Bros. Reveal Their Upcoming DC Comic Movies!

Good day to you ladies and gentlemen, today I return to you to talk about more comic book film-related news that’s been going down over the last few days. So with the big rumoured announcement surrounding Captain America 3, DC and Warner Bros. deceived to fight back with their own big film announcement and as one person put it online “Go to Defcon 3.”

The following information comes from superherohype:

While speaking at Time Warner Investor Day, Warner Bros. CEO Kevin Tsujihara fully revealed their DC Comics movie slate, which was previously filled with nine untitled films.

2016 will see the release of the previously-confirmed Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, but also the Suicide Squad movie has now been placed in the August 5, 2016 release date. Additional releases for the year will include the previously-reported LEGO Ninjago on September 23 and the “Harry Potter” spin-off Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them on November 18.

2017 will see the release of the just-announced The LEGO Batman Movie on May 26, 2017 with a Wonder Woman solo film coming June 23 and the Zack Snyder-directed Justice League Part One, featuring Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill and Amy Adams reprising their roles, on November 10.

2018 will see the release of two solo DC films with The Flash on March 23, 2018, starringThe Perks of Being a Wallflower and We Need to Talk About Kevin‘s Ezra Miller in the title role, in addition to Aquaman, starring Jason Momoa, on July 27. We’ll also get a sequel toThe LEGO Movie on May 25 and the second Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them later that year.

In 2019, WB will release Shazam, starring Dwayne Johnson as Black Adam, on April 5, 2019, and Justice League Part Two, once again to be directed by Zack Snyder, on June 14, 2019 .

2020 brings us two more solo films with Cyborg, starring Ray Fisher, on April 3, 2020 and a reboot of Green Lantern on June 19. A third Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them will also be released later that year.

Furthermore WB has also confirmed that solo films for both Batman and Superman are also in development though no release date has been set for either. Here are highlights from the press release:

As part of his presentation, Tsujihara announced a bold expansion of the industry’s broadest theatrical slate, built around the largest, most important global franchises. Warner Bros. Pictures will release three LEGO-branded films over the next four years, building upon the enormous success of this year’s “The LEGO Movie” ($468 million worldwide box office), starting with “Ninjago” in 2016, directed by Charlie Bean and produced by Dan Lin, Roy Lee, Phil Lord and Chris Miller. Batman will take a star turn in “The LEGO Batman Movie” in 2017, directed by Chris McKay, and the sequel, “The LEGO Movie 2,” will debut in 2018. 

The Studio will release three pictures, in 2016, 2018 and 2020, based on best-selling author J.K. Rowling’s original story and screenwriting debut, “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.” Set in an extension of her familiar wizarding world, featuring magical creatures and characters inspired by Harry Potter’s Hogwarts textbook and its fictitious author, Newt Scamander, “Fantastic Beasts” will be directed by David Yates, who directed the last four Harry Potter movies, and reunite the filmmaking team of David Heyman, J.K. Rowling, Steve Kloves and Lionel Wigram. 

And, in a massive expansion of the Studio’s DC Entertainment-branded content, Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line Cinema will release a slate of at least 10 movies–as well as stand-alone Batman and Superman films–from 2016 through 2020 that expands this prized universe of characters: 

• “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” directed by Zack Snyder (2016) 

• “Suicide Squad,” directed by David Ayer (2016) 

• “Wonder Woman,” starring Gal Gadot (2017) 

• “Justice League Part One,” directed by Zack Snyder, with Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill and Amy Adams reprising their roles (2017) 

• “The Flash,” starring Ezra Miller (2018) 

• “Aquaman,” starring Jason Momoa (2018) 

• “Shazam” (2019) 

• “Justice League Part Two,” directed by Zack Snyder (2019) 

• “Cyborg,” starring Ray Fisher (2020) 

• “Green Lantern” (2020)

Well, damn, this came out of nowhere. Now don’t get me wrong, it isn’t like Warner Bros. and DC hasn’t been making announcements since their Batman V Superman film has been in production, but I didn’t think their progress was real… Until now. Looks like these companies are starting to show some balls now and I’m surprised. They have been cowering in the shadows while Marvel have been taking all the glory in the film department, but now they have a list of films dating up until2020, that’s a long way off, but the fact of the matter is, after all this time, we see that there are plans of DC Comics’ character and they will have a their day in live-action, provided that the film schedule works out. Now I have to say that I am a bit of a Marvel fanboy and I love how much they are owning everyone in the realm of live-action comic book films (with the exception of 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. from time to time), but to hear that some of these films will actually start happening, it does make me super giddy and curious as to how it will turn out.

As for the films chosen, it is interesting the way they’ve structured it. Did not expect there to be a two-part Justice League film, they must have some major story plans for that if they’re calling part one and two. As for the Suicide Squad film, I’m not too fussed, however, having David Ayer behind it does make the project seem more interesting. I know of the SQ and their iterations in Arrow and Batman: Assault on Arkham., but to have a film based on them is a bit risky since they aren’t that well-known, but hey, if Marvel can make something as obscure as Guardians of the Galaxy mainstream, then DC can try it too right? And speaking of risky, I’m not sold on the choice of actor relating to The Flash, now I like Ezra Miller a lot, but he does not come across as superhero material at all, ESPECIALLY when it comes to someone as cool as the Flash, but hey, maybe he and the filmmakers will prove us wrong, but man they will have their work cut out for them, the internet fan boys aren’t too happy about this decision.

As for the rest of the films, Wonder Woman, I dunno, Gal Gadot is gonna have to do something amazing in BvS to prove that she deserves her own solo film. Shazam, I’m sold, I only know a bit about the character from Young Justice, but he seems like such a cool character that belongs on the big screen at some point. Aquaman sounds like a badass in the comics these days, so it will be interesting to see id that cool version of the character can be translated into live action with Jason Momoa. Cyborg is the one I’m not too interested in seeing a solo film about, why? Because as much as I’ve liked him in the animated adaptations of Teen Titans and Young Justice, I’ve always liked him as an ensemble character rather than having a solo film focused on him. And finally, there’s Green Lantern, coming back to the world of live-action after nine years, well it will be by that point, hopefully they’ll get it right the next time.

So all in all this is good news and I’m intrigued for Warner Bros. and DC have coming up in the future beyond BvS, if they can play their cards right.

Anyways, what do you think of this news and which new film are you excited for the most? Please comment below and let me know people! Laters. 😀