
Deciding What's True: The Rise of Political Fact-Checking in American Journalism
Book
Over the past decade, American outlets such as PolitiFact, FactCheck.org, and the Washington Post's...

Gertigstrasse 56
Book
A gripping narrative account of one family's struggle against fascism in Germany. Spanning...

The Book of Cold Cases
Book
A true crime blogger gets more than she bargained for while interviewing the woman acquitted of two...
ghost story

Who Okayed This?! The Riveting Life of Grant Davis
Book
"A must-read thriller! Based on true events!" You know the saying ” Keep your friends close but...
thriller true crime bookbuzz

LeftSideCut (3776 KP) rated Shazam! (2019) in Movies
May 14, 2019 (Updated Dec 15, 2019)
I left feeling pretty positive about the whole goofy experience.
As with most DC material, the film starts on a fairly dark note, introducing us to a young Dr Sivana (a truly old school super villain, dating all the way back to the late 30s).
After a bit of back story as to why he gets all villainy, the movie wastes no time introducing us to Billy Batson (Asher Angel) and the rest of his foster family, and the movie succeeds in making all of the younger characters likable.
After a bit of comic book magic, we're eventually acquainted with the true power of Shazam!
Zachary Levi absolutely shines as he clearly relishes in playing this goofy, excitable teenager trapped in the body of a God. He bounces back and forth with Jack Dylan Grazer pretty well, and for the most part the relentless stream of jokes land nicely.
The film starts to waiver slightly towards the end, as the story hurtles towards a standard comic book movie CGI showdown, with a by the numbers comic book movie performance from Mark Strong, and some sketchy CGI cloud monsters, but it's hard not to grin with the surprise introduction of the Shazam! family (something I would surely expect from a sequel).
Shazam! also struggles at times to balance it's humour with it's more serious beats, but for the most part is an enjoyable origin story that the whole family can enjoy.

Simple Story: In Search of Argentina's Gaucho Dancers
Leila Guerriero, Thomas Bunstead and Leo Nickolls
Book
'Everything in him seemed to shout this is what I am made of: there is nothing that I cannot do.'...
The Endless Night
Book
An incident packed autobiography of growing up in Bangladesh and India. A childhood of trial and...

Elvis Memories: The Real Presley - by Those Who Knew Him
Book
This is not just another Elvis Presley biography, although it gets closer to the real Elvis story...

Keeper of Dreams: One Man's Controversial Story of Life in the English Premiership
Book
John Hendrie, Barnsley's ex-manager, on Lars Leese: 'Lars Leese is a shambles. He's a loser who...

No Picnic on Mount Kenya
Book
A rediscovered mountaineering classic and the extraordinary true story of a daring escape up Mount...