Andrew Cookston
Captain Marvel Jr & Tawky Tawny
Okay! None of you asked for it but here it is! My thoughts on SHAZAM The Movie :)
Holy freaking cow! They did it! DC actually made my boy Billy B his own movie and it wasn’t absolute trash! :D
YEAH!
I absolutely loved it! If this is the road DC is going down, I’m all in! Bring on Hoppy The Marvel Bunny! Give me Uncle Marvel! I want it all! :P
Wow! They committed to the corny-ness of Captain Marvel but it wasn’t cheesy! They poked fun at how ridiculous it all was and put a lantern on the cheesiness and the dumb costume and the magic and the goofy nature of it all and it was perfect! :P
Plus I’ve got to give them credit for is that WB stuck to their guns and put this in the DCEU. Billy Batson and Jared Leto Joker are in the same universe and that’s just bonkers to me! :P
And I gotta say, Asher Angel’s “SHAZAM” has to be one of the best so far! He belts that magic word like there’s no tomorrow and I freaking loved it!
Also can we talk about Jack Dylan Grazer’s facial acting for a second? That kid is so expressive and he played Freddy so well! I gotta wonder though how he managed to get all of his fan gear though. Like does Aquaman have a PR guy in Philly that screen prints t-shirt’s for him? Do toy companies in the DCEU make replicas of throwing stars from all the other murderous vigilantes in the world?
Also can someone explain to me how Batman and Superman (two majorly controversial political figures in BvS) are now your average kids toy? Batman branded people like cattle and burned people alive! Superman destroyed a city and then got stabbed by cave troll! I find that they’re now a kids play thing much harder to believe than the magic doofus in red tights and a cape :P
Okay sorry, back on topic!
In a similar complaint I had with Aquaman, I feel like the pacing for the movie could have been a little better though. It wasn’t as bad as Aquaman clearly, but they could have cut some of the contrived Sivana origin stuff maybe, but I don’t know. Those scenes still had a purpose in the end so yeah it's a toss up.
I’ve read the New 52 book cover to cover on multiple occasions so where some of the story fluffing came in to play it felt jarring. It was inevitable to fill in the gaps and simplify the narrative but it still bugged me a little though.
Also, I really had a hard time buying the baby Billy scenes and his Mom. I get why they were there, but like, did they need to be? Like a few lines of dialogue would have also been fine, but I guess that final scene with his Mom was one of those pivotal points in the story too so I get it. It’s just that plot thread with his Mom may have been the weakest of the bunch but it was a necessary one. But naming her CC Batson was nice touch! :)
The rock of eternity set was incredible! From the Sins along the wall, to the big dumb lighting bolt poster! It wasn’t a kitschy/artsy version of the batcave or a spaceship fortress of solitude. It was the real deal! :D
And they freaking did Mister mind!!!! Oh my gosh!
Again, I need to reiterate that Will Smith’s Deadshot and Mister Mind now exist in the same universe what the actual heck! :P
Oh and I enjoyed the workaround when The Wizard referred to Black Adam and his people as just “The First Champion”. It worked and got the point across in a nice tidy way without saying “Hey remember like five years ago when we said we’d maybe kinda sorta cast Dwayne as The Reverse Shazam someday never?! ...uh yeah we’re not talking about that right now... he’s too busy hanging out with Jason and some other bald muscle-y fellas or like being a zoo keeper for a wolf with wings or something… yeah… we don’t know either...”
Can I say though, they made some bold choices with Dr Sivana! The dude is a super genius, so of course he’d find a way back to The Rock of Eternity! It was another neat work around from the source material for him to go head to head with The Wizard like that. Also this squeaky-clean glam and broody Sivana gave me the vibe that he belonged in a band and was “too cool for you” all the time.
I mean if we were to go comic book accurate Sivana, I still think either Wallace Shawn or Danny Devito would could have played him perfectly tbh, but over all, Mark Strong made an interesting new version out of him that I don’t really mind (though I still like his Sinestro WAAAAAY better!)
Another thing I really enjoyed about the movie was how the humor didn’t feel forced. It came up in good moments and didn’t kill the drama with quips, or wasn’t over saturated by lovey adored and never irritating topical 80s references.
“Stupid adult hands!” Loved it! :P
I also liked how they managed to squeeze in classic Batson phrases in an almost cynical way! Like bratty Billy would totally say Gee Whiz and Golly Mister ironically! It made so much sense and worked really well in execution!
Like yeah man... this movie just felt nice. Like it felt like what all these movies are trying to feel like. It was fun and emotional but dumb and also it new it was dumb but it still played with the genre in a fresh way. Here’s hoping we can get an appearance from Bulletman or some other Fawcett characters in the sequel :P
I know this ‘review’ was bit all over the shop but these are just the things I was thinking and I wanted to share them with you all! Plus, I’m just proud that one of my favorite superheroes got the best movie he could have gotten and that’s pretty great :)
ALSO HIS NAME IS CAPTAIN MARVEL AND I’LL FIGHT ANYONE WHO DISAGREES WITH ME! I MEAN IT’S THE CAPTAIN MARVEL FAMILY FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! THEN THERE’S CAPTAIN MARVEL JR AND MARY MARVEL AND UNCLE MARVEL! I MEAN UNCLE SHAZAM SOUNDS JUST AS DUMB BUT LIKE COME ON! THIS IS ANOTHER REASON WHY I HATE THE NEW 52 SO DARN MUCH! I MEAN FOR CRYING OUT LOUD BECK NAMED THE WIZARD SHAZAM! HE CALLS UPON HIM FOR THE POWERS OF HIS MAGIC! LIKE HOW WOULD BILLY EVEN INTRODUCE HIMSELF TO ANYONE EVER LIKE I MEAN COME ON DID ANYONE THINK THIS THROUGH?! BILLY BATSON IS AND WILL ALWAYS BE CAPTAIN MARVEL AND YOUR WRONG IF YOU TRY TO CORRECT PEOPLE ON THE INTERNET LIKE ME… oh wait
Okay I’m done. Review’s over! Go home!
SHAZAM! :D
***
You should check out my Patreon if you want to see even more Brickheadz! I've shared a bunch of photos on how I built Tawky Tawny's head and torso, some photos of all my Marvel Family BHz, plus a photo of my entire BHz collection on display (every single one of them)!
Besides that, there's other behind the scenes posts shared every single week, like stuff that's not Brickheadz if they aren't your jam :)
So check it out ya mooks!
Also tell me what you thought of SHAZAM the movie! Let me know if it was any good or not and that I'm not just being biased! :P
***
Patreon: andrewcookston
Instagram: a.cookston.photography
Twitter: @acookston_photo
Captain Marvel Jr & Tawky Tawny
Okay! None of you asked for it but here it is! My thoughts on SHAZAM The Movie :)
Holy freaking cow! They did it! DC actually made my boy Billy B his own movie and it wasn’t absolute trash! :D
YEAH!
I absolutely loved it! If this is the road DC is going down, I’m all in! Bring on Hoppy The Marvel Bunny! Give me Uncle Marvel! I want it all! :P
Wow! They committed to the corny-ness of Captain Marvel but it wasn’t cheesy! They poked fun at how ridiculous it all was and put a lantern on the cheesiness and the dumb costume and the magic and the goofy nature of it all and it was perfect! :P
Plus I’ve got to give them credit for is that WB stuck to their guns and put this in the DCEU. Billy Batson and Jared Leto Joker are in the same universe and that’s just bonkers to me! :P
And I gotta say, Asher Angel’s “SHAZAM” has to be one of the best so far! He belts that magic word like there’s no tomorrow and I freaking loved it!
Also can we talk about Jack Dylan Grazer’s facial acting for a second? That kid is so expressive and he played Freddy so well! I gotta wonder though how he managed to get all of his fan gear though. Like does Aquaman have a PR guy in Philly that screen prints t-shirt’s for him? Do toy companies in the DCEU make replicas of throwing stars from all the other murderous vigilantes in the world?
Also can someone explain to me how Batman and Superman (two majorly controversial political figures in BvS) are now your average kids toy? Batman branded people like cattle and burned people alive! Superman destroyed a city and then got stabbed by cave troll! I find that they’re now a kids play thing much harder to believe than the magic doofus in red tights and a cape :P
Okay sorry, back on topic!
In a similar complaint I had with Aquaman, I feel like the pacing for the movie could have been a little better though. It wasn’t as bad as Aquaman clearly, but they could have cut some of the contrived Sivana origin stuff maybe, but I don’t know. Those scenes still had a purpose in the end so yeah it's a toss up.
I’ve read the New 52 book cover to cover on multiple occasions so where some of the story fluffing came in to play it felt jarring. It was inevitable to fill in the gaps and simplify the narrative but it still bugged me a little though.
Also, I really had a hard time buying the baby Billy scenes and his Mom. I get why they were there, but like, did they need to be? Like a few lines of dialogue would have also been fine, but I guess that final scene with his Mom was one of those pivotal points in the story too so I get it. It’s just that plot thread with his Mom may have been the weakest of the bunch but it was a necessary one. But naming her CC Batson was nice touch! :)
The rock of eternity set was incredible! From the Sins along the wall, to the big dumb lighting bolt poster! It wasn’t a kitschy/artsy version of the batcave or a spaceship fortress of solitude. It was the real deal! :D
And they freaking did Mister mind!!!! Oh my gosh!
Again, I need to reiterate that Will Smith’s Deadshot and Mister Mind now exist in the same universe what the actual heck! :P
Oh and I enjoyed the workaround when The Wizard referred to Black Adam and his people as just “The First Champion”. It worked and got the point across in a nice tidy way without saying “Hey remember like five years ago when we said we’d maybe kinda sorta cast Dwayne as The Reverse Shazam someday never?! ...uh yeah we’re not talking about that right now... he’s too busy hanging out with Jason and some other bald muscle-y fellas or like being a zoo keeper for a wolf with wings or something… yeah… we don’t know either...”
Can I say though, they made some bold choices with Dr Sivana! The dude is a super genius, so of course he’d find a way back to The Rock of Eternity! It was another neat work around from the source material for him to go head to head with The Wizard like that. Also this squeaky-clean glam and broody Sivana gave me the vibe that he belonged in a band and was “too cool for you” all the time.
I mean if we were to go comic book accurate Sivana, I still think either Wallace Shawn or Danny Devito would could have played him perfectly tbh, but over all, Mark Strong made an interesting new version out of him that I don’t really mind (though I still like his Sinestro WAAAAAY better!)
Another thing I really enjoyed about the movie was how the humor didn’t feel forced. It came up in good moments and didn’t kill the drama with quips, or wasn’t over saturated by lovey adored and never irritating topical 80s references.
“Stupid adult hands!” Loved it! :P
I also liked how they managed to squeeze in classic Batson phrases in an almost cynical way! Like bratty Billy would totally say Gee Whiz and Golly Mister ironically! It made so much sense and worked really well in execution!
Like yeah man... this movie just felt nice. Like it felt like what all these movies are trying to feel like. It was fun and emotional but dumb and also it new it was dumb but it still played with the genre in a fresh way. Here’s hoping we can get an appearance from Bulletman or some other Fawcett characters in the sequel :P
I know this ‘review’ was bit all over the shop but these are just the things I was thinking and I wanted to share them with you all! Plus, I’m just proud that one of my favorite superheroes got the best movie he could have gotten and that’s pretty great :)
ALSO HIS NAME IS CAPTAIN MARVEL AND I’LL FIGHT ANYONE WHO DISAGREES WITH ME! I MEAN IT’S THE CAPTAIN MARVEL FAMILY FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! THEN THERE’S CAPTAIN MARVEL JR AND MARY MARVEL AND UNCLE MARVEL! I MEAN UNCLE SHAZAM SOUNDS JUST AS DUMB BUT LIKE COME ON! THIS IS ANOTHER REASON WHY I HATE THE NEW 52 SO DARN MUCH! I MEAN FOR CRYING OUT LOUD BECK NAMED THE WIZARD SHAZAM! HE CALLS UPON HIM FOR THE POWERS OF HIS MAGIC! LIKE HOW WOULD BILLY EVEN INTRODUCE HIMSELF TO ANYONE EVER LIKE I MEAN COME ON DID ANYONE THINK THIS THROUGH?! BILLY BATSON IS AND WILL ALWAYS BE CAPTAIN MARVEL AND YOUR WRONG IF YOU TRY TO CORRECT PEOPLE ON THE INTERNET LIKE ME… oh wait
Okay I’m done. Review’s over! Go home!
SHAZAM! :D
***
You should check out my Patreon if you want to see even more Brickheadz! I've shared a bunch of photos on how I built Tawky Tawny's head and torso, some photos of all my Marvel Family BHz, plus a photo of my entire BHz collection on display (every single one of them)!
Besides that, there's other behind the scenes posts shared every single week, like stuff that's not Brickheadz if they aren't your jam :)
So check it out ya mooks!
Also tell me what you thought of SHAZAM the movie! Let me know if it was any good or not and that I'm not just being biased! :P
***
Patreon: andrewcookston
Instagram: a.cookston.photography
Twitter: @acookston_photo