Shazam! (2019)

The DC Extended Universe (DCEU) has had a rough go of it from its inception. Man of Steel debuted with mixed results. It attempted to emulate the success of The Dark Knight…something that doesn't entirely work for a Superman film. Then, Batman v. Superman came out and attempted to rush up an entire universe to compete with the Marvel Cinematic Universe…and ended up doing poorly with critics and audiences alike. To make things worse, Suicide Squad followed, and though Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn was a better part of an otherwise awful movie, the movie was still awful.

Thankfully, that is not the case with Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn). But sadly, the movie doesn't seem to have reached its reported break-even point of 250-300 million dollars, earing around 205 million dollars. This make it modern cult classic that was initially a box office bomb. While yes, the fake controversy around a diverse cast and the simultaneous spread of the Coronavirus might have pushed away a few moviegoers, my theory is that DC fans have been hurt too many times before, and it’s hard to care about an extended universe when DC’s answer to Avengers was the hauntingly bad Justice League. The recent Shazam! also didn’t fare as well as expected, but I’m not too worried about the DCEU’s prospects anymore. I think Birds of Prey and the other recent movies have showed signs of finding a creative voice and not being afraid to have a little fun. The pretentious brooding and need to be dark really hurt the DCEU, but I think they’ve learned their lesson by now.

So, what is Birds of Prey about? To be fair, it really is more of a Harley Quinn movie. The film very loosely follows the events of Suicide Squad and does not even show Jared Leto’s dreadful Joker (good). Harley and the Joker breakup, and she celebrates her newfound freedom by getting into a lot of shenanigans. Eventually, she finds her way to a club run by crime lord Roman Sionis, AKA Black Mask (Ewan McGregor) and manages to get tangled up in a convoluted deal with him. Long story short, she earns his wrath, along with several other notable people in Gotham City. The Huntress (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez), Black Canary (Jurnee Smollett-Bell), and Cassandra Cain (Ella Jay Basco) all manage to irk Sionis in some way, and all them decide to come together to stand up to the crime lord.

The film is narrated by Harley and is loosely constructed in a nonlinear order. There are also possibly too many characters introduced at once. Or rather, either the structure or the characters had to be trimmed a little, or the film instead tried to tackle both and bit off more than it could chew. The comedic flourishes and immense performances coming from this talented cast saves the entire show here. Thankfully, there is clearly passion and purpose in this film, unlike Suicide Squad, which simply seemed to be a forced attempt at looking cool. While Birds of Prey can have forced humor at times, or attempt to ape on the success of Deadpool at times, it’s never boring, and never inherently offensive or stupid.

The film’s shock humor and violence are its core components. The action is top-notch. Birds of Prey had some of the best stunt work and choreography of 2020, and was the most fun I’d had in an action film since John Wick 3. Seeing a cocaine-fueled Harley Quinn break legs with a baseball bat sounds like it would be a messy affair, but the film makes it look like an art. And unlike Suicide Squad, where most of the action was shot in pitch blackness or dim lighting, Birds of Prey keeps everything neatly lit and allows every broken bone to be seen.

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson was always inevitably going to be a superhero. Like it or not, his child-friendly nature and hulking body just perfectly fit the requirements. However, ever since the very beginning of his acting career (TV: That '70s Show; Film: The Mummy Returns), he has been a controversial actor. This is most likely due to the sudden spike in wrestlers-turned-actors, who, quite frankly, do all have similar vibes on the stage... a wrestler trying to act. So, I arrived at Black Adam with my expectations on the ground. I'm happy to report that although it pretty much goes exactly as you'd expect, it was pretty entertaining. Let's get into it.

The film is pretty much a copy-paste of each superhero film before it, only this time, instead of being bitten by a radioactive spider, being born on another planet, or falling into a vat of toxic waste, our character comes from ancient wizards from the first human civilization. Black Adam focuses heavily on its setting of Khandaq (essentially DC's Egypt) and the constant enslavement and invasion of its people. In fact, the very goal of the movie is to remove foreign invaders from the city, but many different types of obstacles arise.

Black Adam's true self is actually Teth-Adam who is an enslaved father living in 1600 B.C. When the movie's second protagonist, Adrianna (Sarah Shahi), is in trouble, she summons him into the 21st Century using the word "Shazam". Now, if you're like me (and/or haven't seen Shazam!), you may be thinking: "Shazam? That sounds kind of silly." Initially it was until I realized it's an acronym for Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury which are the gods Black Adam receives his powers from. Does it randomly mix Greek, Roman, and Israeli figures? Yes, but don't think about it too hard.

Thus, the film continues as most action-comedy superhero films do in that Adam has much to learn about the modern world while also trying to save it. The very thing that put Adam away for so long is the Crown of Sabbac, a demonic crown that will give the wearer powers beyond their wildest beliefs (of course, inviting evil in). I enjoyed almost all of it as there was almost non-stop action and fun scenes. I also enjoyed how diverse the cast was with a wide mix of Black people, Middle Eastern people, and women. However, I do almost wish it was someone else's movie.

Author: Nathanael Molnár, originally published 5/27/2020

The tale of the Snyder Cut will undoubtedly go down as one of the most fascinating stories in modern film history. It is one of the rare times that movie fans were able to rally together and champion an issue so much so that it actually came to fruition.

The Snyder Cut is director Zack Snyder’s original version of Justice League (2017). It is a cut of the film that Snyder had initially assembled after the production wrapped; a cut that Warners Bros. did not like. They weren’t happy with the direction of the film, and wanted to fire Snyder. It was at this time, in March of 2017, that Zack Snyder’s daughter passed away, and he stepped down from the film on his own.

Warner Bros. then brought in Joss Whedon to oversee massive re-shoots and a full re-edit of the film, all while intending to keep their November 2017 release date. While Whedon and other creative officials lobbied to delay the film until early 2018 in order to properly finish it, studio executive Kevin Tsujihara refused. Delaying the film into 2018 would have ensured a decrease for his end-of-year bonus.

Justice League was released in theaters on November 17, 2017. It was met with mediocre reviews at best, garnering a 40% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Fans were massively underwhelmed by the film, but what was more underwhelming was its box office results. Justice League made $658 million worldwide. With a production budget of $300 million and hefty marketing costs, Justice League just barely broke even. To put this into perspective, this film was supposed to be DC’s equivalent to Marvel’s The Avengers — bringing all of their heroes together for the big team-up movie — which made $1.5 billion when it debuted in 2012.