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Awix (3310 KP) rated Shazam! (2019) in Movies

Apr 5, 2019 (Updated Apr 5, 2019)

Shazam! (2019)

2019 | Action, Sci-Fi

7.4

(104 Ratings)

Movie Rating Watch

The second Captain Marvel movie in as many months is an effective piece of entertainment, although I'm not entirely sure how it manages this. Foster-child Billy Batson (Angel) is chosen by an ancient wizard to become his champion - all he needs to do is say a magic word to be transformed into a powerful superhero (Levi), known as... well, the film awkwardly dodges the issue of what his actual superhero codename is, as DC have (essentially for legal reasons) decided to stop calling this character Captain Marvel, even though that was his name for over seventy years. Lawyers, eh?

Anyway, what ensues is recognisably a Captain Marvel movie, featuring all the things you would hope to see in one, but it's also really a spoof not just of this character but of the superhero genre in general. As I say, it undeniably works, due to good performances (Mark Strong is customarily good as Cap's nemesis Dr Sivana) and a sharp script, even if I can't help thinking that a character who was once the most popular superhero in the world, bar none, deserves slightly better treatment. Let's look on the bright side: it could have been a lot worse, and the general upward trend of DC Comics movies seems to be continuing.

Kudos

Jeremy King (346 KP) rated Tolkien (2019) in Movies

May 16, 2019

Tolkien (2019)

2019 | Biography, Drama

5.7

(18 Ratings)

Movie Rating

Ok lets just come out and say i have enjoyed JRR Tolkien's work since i was 13, I remember going to a used book store looking for comics and D&D. The old man said here check this out and showed me a boxset of books LOTR. He said if I buy them he would throw in the Hobbit. Ok here is $3.00. I am 44, still have them and my kids each have a set as well. Ok enough of that back to the film.
I went in think this is going to be about how he came up with the stories and that kind of stuff. WOW how I was wrong it was about his life as boy to man and ends with him starting to write the Hobbit.

It can be slow at times but i enjoyed it. I would even watch it a couple of more times. Sound was great, acting was great, the shots were great.

Saying that i think it will not be in theater long but i am sure it will win awards. People wont see it as a movie about friends, love, war but just a the creator of hibbits and that is a shame.
GO SEE IT

Kudos

David McK (3649 KP) rated Star Wars: Vader Down in Books

Jan 28, 2019

Star Wars: Vader Down

Kieron Gillen, Mike Deodato, Jason Aaron, Salvador Larroca, Mark Brooks (art) | 2016 | Comics & Graphic Novels, Film & TV, Science Fiction/Fantasy

7.8

(6 Ratings)

Book Rating

The first cross-over event since Marvel took over the Star Wars franchise, this ties together both the 'core' Star Wars comics, alongside the seperate Vader side-issues, and sees Vader being froced to crash land on a nearby planet when he comes out of hyperspace into the middle of a rebel fleet while searchign for Luke Skywalker (who, remember, does not yet know his relation to Vader as this is set between 'A New Hope' and 'The Empire Strike Back').

A fleet that he proceeds to decimate single-handedly, until Skywalker deliberately crashes his X-Wing into Vader's own TIE.

After crash-landing, the rebels on that planet - led by Princess Leia - then throw everything they have at the Dark Lord of the Sith: once again, and in some dramatic art, Vader is again easily able to defeat everything they send against him.

Meanwhile, Han Solo and Chewie are also on the search for the crashed Luke, in a race both against time and against Dr Aphra, who wants to capture Luke herself for Vader so she can prove she didn't lead him into a trap.

I found this a quick and rather-enjoyable read which (finally) goes to show just why Vader was feared so much by the Rebel Alliance!

Kudos

David McK (3649 KP) rated Daredevil by Brian Michael Bendis & Alex Maleev: Ultimate Collection, Book 1 in Books

Jan 30, 2019

So: Daredevil.

AKA MAtt Murdock: Blind Lawyer by day, Vigilante by night.

And a character that, unlike (say) your Superman or Spiderman or Batman's, only really came to my attention with the (so-so) 2003 movie of the same name, and the more recent (and better) Marvel Netflix series'.

I'd also never read any of the comics/graphic novels before, although I knew that the TV series, in particular, drew heavily from that source, but had heard good things about them. With all that said, I thought I would take a risk on this particular collection (purchased, and read, via Comixology on my iPad) to see what all the fuss was about.

And, at first, I wasn't overwhelmed - I found the first story arc just so-so, and couldn't really get to grips with the art-style.

However, things picked up (for me) once the collection went back to a more conventional art style, with the whole story arc around the attempted coup against the Kingpin, followed by his estranged wife's revenge, then by the outing of Murdock's secret identity (wow!) and the trial of the Costumed Superhero (not him) that follows a succession of whammies (for want of a better word) one after the other ...

More, please!