4kUHD/Movie Review: Shazam

 

Shazam is one of the more lesser-known (at least to the non-comic book fans) of the DC Superheros. If you are old enough you may remember the cartoon that was on TV back in the 1980s. He is actually a kid named Billy Batson who is given powers by a Wizard that allows him to become a superhero with powers very similar to that of Superman when he says the word Shazam (and he is also transformed into an adult wearing a super-suit with a huge lightning bolt on his chest.

In the movie, 14-year old Billy is played by Asher Angel and Shazam/adult/superhero Billy is played by Zachary Levi, who was best known for the underrated series Chuck.  Billy is a kid who bounces in and out of various foster homes after running away from them trying to track down his mother who he has not seen since getting lost at a carnival when he was a little kid. He ends up getting his powers from the Wizard Shazam played by Djimon Honsou who is looking for a champion who is pure of heart to inherit his powers to battle the embodiments of the Seven Deadly Sins and their champion Doctor Sivana, played by Mark Strong. The rest of the cast is comprised of child and adult actors including Jack Grazer, Grace Fullerton, Marla Milans, Adam Brody, Faithe Herman, Ian Chen, Cooper Andrews, Michelle Borth, Jovan Armand, Ross Butler, Meagan Good, DJ Cotrona, and John Glover. Of the supporting cast, Borth, Brody, Good, and Glover are probably the most recognizable. I will not say what roles the supporting cast plays because it would spoil the end of the movie, but all of the actors do a great job with their characters.

The movie is really an origin story with Billy trying to figure out his superhero powers. Levi does a great job of playing a 14-year old kid stuck in an adult's body, and you get that he would be a kid not necessarily being a serious hero when he gets these cool powers. Mark Strong did a great job as the bad guy and really played a great villain. The movie really seems to be what DC wanted for its movies, as a mix of action, and comedy with a dash of seriousness mixed in. It feels a lot more like a Marvel movie than the other "Snyderverse" movies. 

For those who get the 4k set, there is a UHD disc that just has the movie, which looks and sounds great in the format. Then there is a regular Blu-ray disc that has the extras. Those include several behind-the-scenes and making-of features of various lengths, about 37-minutes of deleted and alternate/extended scenes, a gag reel, and a feature on the character of Shazam through the years. All in all, about two hours worth of bonus material (give-or-take). 

Overall, the movie is very good. Like I said, the tone is definitely different than the other DC movies, especially those that Zach Snyder directed, but it fits given the storyline. It is definitely worth checking out if you are a fan of superhero movies, and have not reached the superhero fatigue point yet. 

4k UHD Review: Zach Snyder's Justice League

 

+++ Warning, minor spoilers ahead +++

As most know, Zach Snyder had to drop out of directing Justice League during filming due to a death in his family, at which point WB decided to make it a single, stand-alone movie, and brought Joss Whedon, who had helmed many of the very successful MCU movies to finish the movie. Snyder originally intended to have a Justice League trilogy, so when it was turned into a stand-alone movie a ton of content was cut out. And, Whedon re-shot some portions of the movie, mainly to add humor into the movie to make it "less dark" than Man of Steel and Batman v. Superman had been. The resulting theatrical version went over like a lead balloon (I think in large part because of Whedon's rumored behavior on set), and pretty much ever since the theatrical release fans had clamored for and demanded the "Snyder Cut". The result is a four-hour-long movie that shows the direction Snyder had intended to take the films. 

As I mentioned above, Snyder had envisioned a Justice League trilogy of movies, with this movie split in two, and the third movie set in the nightmare world that we saw a glimpse of in Batman v. Superman. The biggest change from the theatrical version of the movie is that Steppenwolf was not really the "big bad" he was essentially a lackey trying to get back into the good graces of Darkseid, after having been banished from Apokolips. Lois's involvement in this cut of the movie is much different, and we get to see Martian Manhunter who was completely removed from the theatrical version. And, both the characters of Cyborg and Flash are set-up a lot more in this movie than they were in the theatrical version, and you get a lot more of each of their backstories (especially Cyborg). 

I have the UK import Steelbook. Like the US domestic release, that one has two UHD discs that have the movie split into two parts, probably where Snyder had intended to stop the first movie had he been able to execute his original plan. The first disc has the first two hours and forty-one minutes of the movie, and the second disc has the last hour and a half (approximately, excluding the credits). The UK import also has a 24-minute making-of feature that details how the Snyder Cut came to be and included interviews with the cast and crew. Unfortunately, there is no commentary track on the movie. The UHD discs are region-free and will play on US players, and I believe the regular Blu-ray discs are region-2 locked. But, there are no additional extras on the regular Blu-rays so you really do not have to watch them.

Overall, this cut of the movie is better than the theatrical version. While I do not think the theatrical version is as awful as some paint it, it is definitely a lot more flawed than this cut (which, admittedly, has its own flaws). There are rumors that WB might actually restore the Snyderverse and let Zach Snyder make the third installment of the movie, but for now, the theatrical version is the official DCEU canon. I personally like the darker, edgier tone that this movie takes (it is rated R, mainly because of a couple of f-bombs that get dropped), and respect that they did not try to be a carbon copy of the MCU movies. That said, Ezra Miller's quips in the theatrical version were great, and while a couple of them made it into this one (including wondering whether Wonder Woman would go for younger men), that is really the only thing I missed from that version. This is definitely worth checking out.

4k UHD/Movie Review: Wonder Woman

 

Wonder Woman was the follow-up movie to Batman v. Superman and is told mostly as a flashback telling Diana's origin story. There are a couple of scenes set in the present that ties both to Batman v. Superman, and the upcoming (at that point) Justice League movie, but most of the movie is set in the past.

This movie was one that people saw as saving the DCEU, as pretty much all of the other movies had been shit on by critics, unfairly for the most part. However, this movie had a lot better character development and setup, and honestly, it should have been a follow-up to Man of Steel. I think if the sequence had gone Man of Steel, Wonder Woman, a stand-alone Batman movie to introduce Ben Affleck's version of Batman/Bruce Wayne as well as Joker and Harley Quinn, then Batman v Superman, I think the Snyderverse would have fared much better than it did.

Most of the story in this movie is set during World War I. There are some scenes with a young Diana growing up on Themyscira, but the bulk of the story comes after Steve Trevor (played by Chris Pine) accidentally ends up in Themyscira while fleeing the Germans. He tells Diana about the war, and she is convinced that it is the doing of the god Aries, and sets out to find and kill Aries. From there it is mostly a period piece with Diana trying to integrate into early 1900s society, help fight in battles, and aid Trevor and his team to find a weapon being developed by an evil German doctor. There is a strong supporting cast including Robin Wright, Connie Nielson, David Thewlis, and other recognizable character actors.

For those who get the 4K disc, it is a two-disc set with just the movie on the UHD disc, and all the extras on a regular blu ray disc. The movie looks and sounds great in UHD, especially if you have a large screen and a soundbar. There are over two-hour's worth of extras including several behind-the-scenes features on making the movie, as well as several features on the overall character of Wonder Woman, and how the character has evolved over time.

Overall, the movie is great. It has a great blend of action and humor, and has a message without getting too preachy about the message it was trying to send. Gal Gadot does a great job with the character. There was, of course, a lot of consternation when she was cast, especially since she did not fit the mold of Lynda Carter, the only other woman to play the character in live-action. Carter was definitely bigger than Gadot (although Gadot is slightly taller) and in other areas (boob size) that even Gadot joked about. However, Gadot is much more athletic than Lynda Carter, so she brought a lot more to the fight scenes than was ever done in the TV show. The script was good, and all of the actors did a great job with their parts. It is still probably the best movie in the DCEU and is definitely worth the pick-up. 

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Suicide Squad

 

This is a movie that quite unfairly gets shit on (mostly by critics), as most of the DCEU movies have. That said, it is not a perfect movie and would have been better (I think) if they would have stuck to director David Ayer's vision and not tried to make it a clone of Guardians of the Galaxy, and just had a bunch of misfits that quip at each other.

The story is that ARGUS, headed by Amanda Waller (played wonderfully by Viola Davis) forces a bunch of inmates, some with metahuman abilities to covertly battle threats that the government cannot handle, knowing that the government can disavow them and throw them under the bus if things go sideways. And, to force their cooperation, nanite bombs are implanted in their necks, in order to kill anyone who wants to try and escape. The movie is set after Batman v. Superman and references Superman's death, and Ben Affleck does have a couple of cameo appearances as Batman. And, the movie does do a bit of setup for the Justice League movie. 

The movie is mostly an origin story for the character of Harley Quinn (played by Margo Robbie) and to some extent Deadshot (played by Will Smith), and partly a mission story of the team trying to take down a 1000-year-old witch (played by Carla Delevingne). The team is headed by Special Forces officer Rick Flag (played by Joel Kinnaman, best known for the series The Killing), who tries to keep the bad guys in line. The movie also reintroduces the live-action Joker, played by Jared Leto, whose take on the character was totally different from any prior version of the character. Almost a punk rocker version of him. Leto was apparently pretty crazy devoted to the role in real life and did a very good job being psychotic. 

The big controversy over the movie is the extensive reshoots that WB forced Ayers to do to make the movie more like an MCU movie. His version would have had much less comedy, no pop songs, and would have been much more of a dark drama/action combination. After the Snyder Cut of Justice League was actually released fans are now clamoring for an Ayers cut of this movie. Whether it will actually come to pass, remains to be seen.

For those who get the Blu-Ray, the movie looks and sounds great in HD. There are over an hour's worth of extras including several making of and behind the scenes features and a gag reel. Definitely, a lot if you like going through the bonus material. There are also two cuts of the movie, the theatrical version, which clocks in at just over two hours including the credits, and an extended version that really just has some extended scenes in it, that adds about 12 minutes of footage. 

Overall, the movie is much better than it was made out to be. I do think WB would have been better served to follow the MCU format of introducing the main characters in stand-alone movies before they got to the team-up movies. I think this movie would have worked a lot better if there was a stand-alone Batman movie that introduced this version of Joker and Harley Quinn in order to set up her capture, and then had the Suicide Squad movie be a follow up to that, instead of just throwing a bunch of new characters into a movie that only fans of the comics or Batman the Animated series would be familiar with. That said, it is still a good movie that could have been great if the studio would have left it alone and let Ayer make the movie he wanted to.

4kUHD/Movie Review: Batman v. Superman Dawn of Justice Ultimate Edition (Spoilers)

 

WARNING: This review will contain spoilers from the movie. For a spoiler-free review please read my review for the original blu-ray set.

This is the remastered 4k disc of the Ultimate Edition of Batman v. Superman which was made about the same time Zach Snyder was restoring his cut of Justice League. It should be noted that this just has the movie itself and a commentary track that Snyder made just for this restoration as the only extra. In his commentary, he does spoil his version of Justice League (identifying Martian Manhunter, for example) and generally discusses his vision for where the movies would have gone had he stayed on.

The ultimate edition of the movie adds about 30 additional minutes to the theatrical version, and aside from a couple of throwaway scenes that could have been omitted, really helped flesh out the fact that Lex Luthor, having figured out the secret identities of Batman and Superman, was really pulling the strings behind everything. And, added details like the fact that the guy who blew up the capital during the hearing had no idea the chair was a bomb. 

I think the movie gets an undeserved bad rap. While it could have been set up better with a stand-alone Batman movie first, to really establish his distrust of Superman and show a bit more of Lex pulling strings, you can get all that if you pay attention to the movie. I think Affleck did a great job as an older, more jaded Batman, and a stand-alone movie would have helped establish why he has no qualms against killing criminals as he did at times in this movie. 

Overall, the movie looks and sounds great (especially the restored IMAX scenes) in 4k UHD, and is worth the double-dip. The only thing is that it does not carry over any of the original blu-ray extras, so if you purchased that two-disc set, you will need to keep that one if you like watching the bonus material. 

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Batman v. Superman: The Dawn of Justice

 

Batman vs. Superman was in part a sequel to Man of Steel and in part, a setup for The Justice League movie, introducing the new DCEU versions of Batman (played by Ben Affleck), Wonder Woman (played by Gal Gadot), and via short cameos the new Flash (Ezra Miller), Aquaman (Jason Mamoa), and Cyborg (Ray Fisher). It also brought back Amy Adams in her role as Lois Lane, Laurence Fishburne as Perry White, and brought in Jeremy Irons as Alfred, and Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor.

I won't go into too much of the storyline so as not to spoil it for the few who may not have seen the movie, but it essentially dovetails off the end of Man of Steel in which Metropolis was destroyed in the climactic fight between Superman and Zod. We see that battle from the perspective of Bruce Wayne who is trying to get to Wayne Financial to get his employees out of the building. This sets up his distrust of Superman, and then there is an 18-month time jump and Batman is becoming more violent which gets him on Superman's radar, and with Lex orchestrating things in the background, the two end up in battle, until they have to team up. 

The movie gets shit on a lot, undeservedly so, in my opinion. It is clearly setting up a larger story and has to be seen as a piece in a multi-movie arc. While I do think it would have been better for DC to follow the Marvel format of setting up the characters in individual movies before bringing them together, so there would not have been so many logic jumps as this movie took, the plot does make sense (especially after you see it a couple of times), and the darker tone that Snyder used for the movie (really all the movies in his "Snyderverse" worked well. And, of course, when Joss Whedon attempted to shoehorn his brand of humor that worked in the MCU into the DCEU, it totally fell flat and was universally rejected. 

For those who get this set, there are two blu-ray discs. One with the theatrical cut of the movie and the bonus features, and one with the Ultimate Edition of the movie that adds about 30 additional minutes to the run time. Some of the scenes are kind of useless, but others really flesh out how much Lex had put the events of the movie into motion. The extras included several behind-the-scenes and making-of features, character profiles for Wonder Woman and Batman, and shorter ones on the characters of Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg. All, in all, there is about two hours' worth of extras, so those who like watching the bonus material will be satisfied. Also of note, there is a 4k version of the Ultimate Edition of the movie that does not include the theatrical version or any of the blu-ray extras (that I will review separately), so even if you double-dip for that one, you probably want to hold on to this version unless you are only interested in the movie and just want the Ultimate Edition of the movie.

Overall, the movie is very good. Dark, but good, and it makes a lot of sense. I do think it could have used a better setup through a stand-alone Batman movie first to establish that character more and possibly releasing the stand-alone Wonder Woman movie first. But, despite the reputation it has as a bad movie, it is not. Affleck did a great job as an older, more jaded Batman, and I liked the idea of Batman trying to figure out how to stop an unstoppable alien. 

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Man of Steel

 

Man of Steel is a much better movie than it gets credit for being. I think it gets shit on by a lot of whiny comic book fans who would frankly never be satisfied with anything that deviates from the story they want to be told. This is, of course, the movie that launched the current version of the DC Cinematic Universe. It tells the origin story of Superman in a much different way than the 1978 film did, but still stayed true to the comic book mythology. Like the 1978 movie, this one starts out on Krypton, showing the planet in its last days, and setting up Zod, played by Michael Shannon, as the villain of the film. It has many of the same elements as the origin story we know, Jor-El (played by Russell Crowe) trying to convince the leadership of Krypton that the planet is doomed, Zod being sent to the phantom zone, and Jor-El and Lara (played by Ayelet Zurer) sending Kal to Earth.

Then the movie jumps to a time when Clark/Kal-El is an adult (played by Henry Cavill), working odd jobs as a drifter until he would be discovered helping someone and then have to move on. His childhood is told in flashbacks as he learns how to deal with powers like x-ray vision and super hearing, and learning to control them with the help of his Earth father and mother, Jonathan and Martha Kent (played by Kevin Costner and Diane Lane). So, for much of the movie, he is not Superman until Zod comes to Earth and threatens all of humanity. The movie is really about how he becomes Superman, which he fully is by the end of the movie. 

The movie was directed and produced by Zach Snyder (of 300 and Watchman fame) and as a result, has a much grittier feel than the original movies with Christopher Reeve or the Superman Returns reboot with Brandon Routh. This version of Superman is not the "big blue boy scout" but you can see that he has that in him. Lois (played by Amy Adams) is much wiser than any other version of the character and finds out pretty much immediately who Clark is and about his abilities. The rest of the cast is made up of very recognizable actors including Laurence Fishburne, Michael Kelley, Richard Schiff, Christopher Meloni, and Harry Lennix. 

For those who get the blu-ray set, there are three discs, two blu-rays, and one DVD. The first blu-ray disc and the DVD has the movie and about an hour's worth of behind-the-scenes and making-of material. The second Blu-ray disc has the movie with an in-movie mode in which clips from the cast and crew are interspersed throughout the movie explaining how various scenes were shot, how they approached making the movie or a particular scene in the movie, and the like. It adds about 30 additional minutes to the running time of the movie but is entertaining to watch. Then, there is a mockumentary made for the movie about Krypton and Kryptonian technology that was gleaned from the aftermath of the invasion. 

Overall, the movie is very good. Very well written and acted. Yes, it changed the origin story of the character a bit, but as I said above, it still stayed true to the overall mythology. Henry Cavill did a great job in the role, getting absolutely jacked for it, and totally pulled off the superhero look. He, wisely, did not try to mimic Christopher Reeve or any of the other actors that ever played the role. He made it his own and ran with it, as did Amy Adams with her version of Lois. Of course, the movie sets up the larger DC Cinematic Universe that would go on to include characters like Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, etc., but they really kept this a contained Superman movie. It was very well done and is definitely worth watching.