Pinoy Movie Club: dc

Showing posts with label dc. Show all posts

After Marvel established the MCU decades earlier, now DC Comics ramps up their offerings to solidify the DC Universe. After the success of Wonder Woman, Deadpool and Aquaman, they released another super hero in Shazam.

Movie starts off with a youthful Thaddeus Sivana in a car with his dad and brother when suddenly he gets transported to the Rock of Eternity. The ancient Shazam was searching for a new champion so he was thinking Thaddeus was someone with a pure heart but he failed when he was tested and he was returned to the car right away. Thaddeus return resulted to a car accident where his dad was injured and became a cripple.

Fast forward to the present times, another teenager Billy Batson (played by Asher Angel) comes into view. A troubled teenager, he is a regular in and out of foster homes as he tries to search for her birth mother. After a few families, he is now fostered in the home of Victor and Rosa Vasquez (played by Cooper Andrews and Marta Milans respectively) who has 5 other foster children. Even with the Vasquez love, Billy continued to be alone and would not want to have anything to do with the Vasquez home.

During this time, an adult Thaddeus Sivana (now played by Mark Strong) finally made his way back to the Rock of Eternity and was able to get the Eye of Sin. He won over the ancient wizard and used this power to kill his dad and his brother along with the board of directors of Sivana Industies.

After a few scenes in school and at home, we find him running away from bullies and hides away in the subway when it was now his time to be transported to the Rock of Eternity. Finally the ancient wizard found his champion in Billy and he transferred his powers to him via Billy shouting the name "Shazam" while holding the magic staff. The ancient wizard turned to dust and Billy now Shazam, went back home as Shazam and sought the help of his foster brother, Freddy Freeman (played by Jack Dylan Grazer) who knows about superhero stuff. The latter helps him discover his powers until Thaddeus confronts him Shazam. A fight ensued and Shazam being inexperienced, he barely escaped Thaddeus' wrath, but the latter was able to guess his true identity. Thaddeus then kidnaps the other foster children hoping that Billy would rescue them which he did.

When Billy came as Shazam, he knew he can't fight all the seven sins, and remembering the last words of the ancient wizard, he shares the power to his foster brother and sisters. Now that he has levelled the playing field, he was able to confront Thaddeus alone while his brothers and sisters took care of the other sins. In the end, Shazam was able to outwit the seven sins and got the Eye of Sin from Thaddeus.

The movie for us was quirky and funny as they intended it to be. We thought they followed the formula for Deadpool complete with funny antics and lines except for the R-18 jokes and graphic representations. Consider this as mellowed down or GP rated Deadpool aimed for the younger crowd. We like Zachary Levi as Shazam and boy he is funny. He really was a good pick to play the title role while the foster parents were a perfect fit. The other foster kids gave decent performances in the minimal screen times they were given.

Storywise, as an origin story, it wasn't boring and slow. They told the story in such a simple and fast pace that we didn't miss or skipped a beat as to how he became Shazam. There might be more to the story which was "skipped" but we didn't mind it all, as long as we know where he was coming from, its okay with us. The origin and character development of the anti hero Thaddeus Sivana was similar with that of Billy Batson but we find him being resentful and wants to return to the Rock of Eternity enough motivation to be bad.

The pacing of the story was nice and it we liked the roller coaster type of story telling where you find some parts slow and then picks up the pace again. What diminish our interest is the build up of some scenes. Comedy situations were fine, but sometimes we are confused when the scenes turn to drama of sorts. We were expecting a scene to be funny then it becomes serious and then vice versa. These scenes we mentioned are just subtle so if you are not much into this film, you will never notice them. You will still be entertained by this movie. Shazam is a good super hero movie and kudos to the DCU for striking a home run with this. We just hope they can mirror this success along with that of Wonder Woman, Deadpool and Aquaman to their Batman, Superman and Justice League franchises.

Since this is still new, you can buy the DVD or Blue-ray to watch this.

I'd like to buy some of your finest beer please - Shazam (2019)

DC Comics are at it again. Trying to establish a groupie even without making stand alone movies. Unlike Marvel, we see stand alone movies of their superheroes then they join them together to form the Avengers. DC does it the opposite. They do a groupie thing then they see viewers reaction, which superhero endears to the fans, then they do the stand alone movie.

They did this already three times, DC Comics. First off, the Justice League (except for Batman and Superman who their own stand alone franchises). Second they did Suicide Squad (only with Joker which they did a stand alone movie after this movie was shown) and now this, Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn).

Movie starts off after the end of Suicide Squad where Mr. J or the Joker breaks it off with Harley Quinn. This left Harley devastated and is going around Gotham carelessly. To show the city that she was not J's girlfriend anymore, she blows up the chemical factory where she became Harley Quinn and eventually Mr. J's love interest.

When the town knew that she was no longer under the J's protection, all those people whom she wronged were now after her, including Roman Scionis aka the Black Mas, (played by Ewan McGregor). Just before she was about to be killed, she pleads with Roman to let her get the Diamond that was lost. This diamond is the key to the Bertinelli fortune, large enough to make Roman as the best or biggest gangster ever.

Harley needs to track down the girl who stole this diamond and she raided the police station just so to get it. After some gunfire and explosions, Harley was able to secure the girl, Cassandra Cain (played by Ella Jay Basco) but the diamond was swallowed by Cassandra so it will take some time to get it. Lots of twists and turn and some characters making their thing, they all bunch up in a place where they were surrounded by Roman Sionis' goons.

Harley Quinn, Renee Montoya (played by Rosie Perez), Helena Bertinelli aka Huntress (played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead), Dinah Lance aka Black Canary (played by Jumee Smollett-Bell) all band together to help protect Cassandra Cain (and the diamond in her).

In the end a group of bad guys or ladies, finally defeats the even more bad guy, the black mask. Montoya leaves the police force and joins Black Canary and Huntress to fight crime as the Birds of Prey, while Cassandra Cain went with Harley Quinn and started their own contract killing venture.

This third outing of a groupie thing should have been a launching pad for the Birds of Prey but what are they doing in a Harley Quinn movie? Is this a HQ stand alone movie or a groupie movie? Judging from the title, try holding your breath, Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), That's quite a mouthful and it should feature the Birds of Prey. Why are we watching the movie about Harley Quinn?

Is this a two in one movie of sorts? Nope. This was all about Harley Quinn. Half of the movie she was moping about her separation from the J and that all the bad things she had done were a result of her emotional breakdown. Since a lot was shown about Harley that there were no more time left to feature the Bird of Prey members. Back stories on them, or the lack thereof, were all narrated by Harley. So we can't fully relate to the rest of the group. The only back story we liked was about the Huntress' experience of having her family killed with her the only survivor saved by one of her family's killers. What? And she grew up trained to avenge their death. She didn't bother killing the person who rescued her? Why?

The movie we think was done to show how Harley Quinn mind works. Just when you think you are chugging with the story then suddenly a back story comes up. Not a short back story but a long one then by the time it goes to present times, it leaves you gasping for air already. Like Quinn's mind is, the movie is a convolution of ideas and back stories that sometimes get confused and left us hanging.

Story is just simple guys, a diamond showing the whole Bertinelli money was stolen by a kid and it is the pursuit of that kid is the story. Throw in some back story and character development for the Birds of Prey members, and that's a tall order but they chose to deal with Harley Quinn's story instead. So the title is a misnomer. It's not a Birds of Prey movie, its Harley's. It was near the end of the movie that they banded together, out of necessity.

The lack of screen time for the members left us wanting for more. Renee Montoya was just a cop who's having bad luck all the time. That's her story then she teams up to form the Birds of Prey. Back story on Black Canary was narrated by Montoya, albeit a very short one. Then nothing else except she became the driver for Roman Sionis. There was supposed to be a connection between her with the kid, but it was just her giving 20 bucks to the kid. It was only the Huntress who had a decent character build up with a decent flashback which was shown twice or thrice, the same scene always.

Story wise, this had a very simple plot yet made confusing by making all the other things thrown in haphazardly hoping to get two objectives in the end. To make a Harley Quinn stand alone movie and introducing the Birds of Prey as well. Sadly, the birds didn't fly as we hoped it would.

Now critics said the action scenes were great, but we can't say the same. It's easy to identify the bad guys (Harley and the girls) and the even more bad guys (Sionis' goons) and the latter were waiting to be hit by the girls. The jumps and leaps and punches might be cinematic and great to look at, but mostly it was just the men waiting to be punched and kicked in the end.

Margot Robbie who we loved playing the titular lead Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad is still the lovable character here in this movie. We liked her more here as she showed us lots of her character here. She talks and walks Harley and the fight scenes were a level up from that she showed us in Suicide Squad. We tried finding fault in her here but simply we can't and we adored her even more.

Due to limited screen time and maybe the script, the other actors (except for Ewan McGregor) like the film, they might have been confused as to who they really are. We are not fans of the comics so we based our opinions on what we see in movie. Rosie Perez was really way off to be cast as detective Renee Montoya, Jumee Smollett-Bell was too slow to do her fight scenes, Mary Elizabeth Winstead was too sweet still to be the Huntress. The kid, Ella Jay Basco was too cuddly to be a thief. We simply can't relate them to their characters. Sorry guys we tried.

Ewan McGregor as the Black Mask was okay however a lack of character development prevented us from really relating to his character. He is a splendid actor and he brought the bad character out of Roman Sionis. Although we don't really know why he wears that black mask and the reason why he wants to peel off his victim's faces. Sadly we won't see him in the future as his character gets killed off in the end. Since the movie is confusing enough already, we might see him come back as a prequel or back story perhaps.

When we first saw the trailer for this, we really want to watch it. After a few other trailers came out, we seem to decide against it. It's like a confusing movie and we were right.

But we like all the scenes with Harley Quinn in them. Its vibrant, colorful and witty sometimes. She maybe eccentric in appearances but she's lovable at the same time.

Will they fly? - Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) - 2020

The new trailer is out and we are all over it like kids in the candy store. DCEU is not something we are excited about yet we only are with two, Wonder Woman and Aquaman. So it is a surprise we were thankful for DC to finally release a second trailer that revealed more about the film.

With lots of scenes shown, we were just focused on the the costume that is reminiscent of that we know of in the comics. Prior costumes we saw did not represent the Aquaman we know while growing up. So when it was finally revealed the gold and green costume, we heaved a sigh of relief.

To watch the extended trailer before the movie is shown on December 21, 2018, simply click on the thumbnail. Enjoy!!!!

Aquaman Trailer 2 Reveals More About The Film

Finally Arthur Fleck gets an origin movie. We have seen a lot of Batman movies, lots of reboots and origins yet we have not seen one on his best enemy ever. Yes Arthur Fleck is the Joker. Finally we shall get one with Joaquin Phoenix as the Arthur Fleck.

In the past, there have been a lot of actors who played the greatest arch nemesis of the Batman. For us we liked how Heath Ledger interpreted how the Joker would be. Its a tall order for Joaquin Phoenix to even match up to that Joker. We know he can pull this one off as Phoenix is not a push over in terms of acting.

A three time Academy Awards Nominee, a Golden Globe winner (Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture 2006) with 4 nominations, three time BAFTA nominee, and a slew of other awards including the Grammy. No push over and best candidate for the Joker role. (For his list of wins and nominations - click here).

What will struck a wrong chord with him playing our favorite will be the disruption in the timeline of the DC Universe. If you have seen the latest Joker in Suicide Squad, we saw Jay Leto performing very well in said character. The problem? Jay's portrayal is a young joker while this origin movie, is being played by Joaquin Phoenix (an older actor). This is a conundrum for DC and we are in waiting how the director, Todd Philips, will connect the dots so to speak. Is DC playing a joke or they have a card up their sleeve?

The origin movie aptly titled "Joker" is slated to hit theaters October 2019.

DC Origin Introduces Arthur Fleck

As a disclaimer, we are approaching this on the side of a fan and not of a geek. There are spoiler alerts here - so don't read further. Watch the film first.

Now that we got that out of the way, now on to the review. They said DCU films are darker compared to the MCU however this time, I had mixed feelings about this. First off, the film was megged by two directors. Zack Snyder started to shoot the film only to give way to Joss Whedon. So if you find the film confusing blame it on the two directors. Joss had to re write and re shoot some of the scenes done by Zack so as to create a film to his vision. Joss by the way was the director for two Avengers films Marvel side so it was an exciting thing to see what he made this film different.

Justice League is darker yes, as most of the film was in darkness LOL maybe this is what Joss wanted it. Now the timeline is after the Batman V Superman so there should be a consistency there but I find nothing of sort. Except for the death of Superman, I don't think there are other things linking this movie to the BVS. BVS introduced Wonder Woman into the picture, In Wonder Woman, I don't remember any superhero which was introduced. Here in JL, we see an introduction of Flash, Aquaman and Cyborg. One thing that entered my mind was, is it only Batman that introduces new superheroes? This is a JL movie right? Why do I feel its a Batman movie?

I still feel that Ben Affleck is the wrong actor for the role of Batman but somehow with Wonder Woman in the film, they have a sexual chemistry that I felt would help along the way. So I will keep Ben Affleck in the role for a longer period of time. I just hope he improves his acting.

Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman is still great. I can't say bad about her portrayal of the amazonian princess. Keep her!!!!!! She's great in this film. So great that I thought this was Wonder Woman film, except the Flash keeps reminding me its not.

Now, I usually watch DCU online and not go into the theaters even if the tickets are free. This time I went and first day at that. Why now? It's because of Aquaman and the Flash (I'll discuss cyborg in a while).

Jason Momoa as Aquaman is super great work in casting. I couldn't understand him in Game of Thrones but somehow I can relate to his character here in JL. He was casted as a heavy drinking, care free citizen (king?) of Atlantis. Typical bad boy that turned good at the end. Something familiar right? But here it was forgiveable and watchable. He had good lines here in JL for which we feel was still fall short. We feel that his 2018 solo film will feature more of his banters and one liners for which I know this writer will line up on first day.

Ezra Miller as the Flash was also great. DCU wanted him to be the comic in JL so forgive me if I compare him to the new Tom Holland's Spiderman. They both have the innocence in their lines and their awkwardness is what makes their character stand out. I felt that Ezra stole most parts of the film. By the way, you can't help compare him to Quicksilver (in X Men: Days of Futures Past not in Avengers: Age of Ultron). Watch the movie JL and you will see it. I don't need tell you which part.

As I have seen a lot of trailers of JL, they almost told the whole story in Youtube. WARNING SPOILER ALERT.

What surprised me during the watch was the resurrection of Superman. There were a lot of rumors prior and this film answered it. If you have read the comic comeback of Superman, then you are in for a surprise how he came back. Watch the film, I won't add to the spoiler alert. Although Brandon Routh for me is a better superman, Henry Cavill here didn't disappoint.

In a back story portion on Steppenwolf, you will see the Green Lantern Corps thrown into the mix. Will this a precursor that another GL movie is in the works? How will they reboot the disastrous Ryan Reynold's adaptation? Oh well, that's another story altogether. GL Corps, great band of superheroes we like to see more in the future.

Cyborg honestly I wasn't able to catch up in the comics or animated series ever so his character comes to a surprise for me. I never knew that he would be that powerful, full of unlimited untapped power. Not your usual limited cyborg. Casting Ray Fisher for the role is a toss up for me. His face was mostly covered with CGI that I can't feel his presence and his lines doesn't compensate either. I hope they can create better lines or scenes for him. His character is a powerful one and it's a pity if its lost to poor acting or poor script.

Overall, I couldn't say watch it because its great, but it's not a waste of your money either. For me the story line is so simple yet so complex. Simple in the sense that its about an alien invasion that needs the JL to stop it. What makes it complex is the fact that the movie is relying heavily on the comics version. If you are just an ordinary fan and not a comic geek, you will have a hard time understanding some of the scenes. Some portions I had an inkling of when I was outside the movie theater, a friend of mine was explaining some of it. So if you are not a geek, find one. You'll appreciate the film more.

I have read and watched some of the reviews of JL and I found out that there were a lot of sub plots and deleted scenes. Maybe this is another reason for my confusion about the film. I hope to watch the director's cut once the Blu Ray version is out.

This is a watchable film and don't believe that this thing is darker than MCU. With lots of kids in the theaters I don't think it would be that dark of a story. Simple film, not bad, not great, but as an introduction film for Cyborg, the Flash and Aquaman, its a semi-origin film. Let's hope they can improve on the story line and links between the films so that we can have a great DCU era.

Pinoy Movie Club

I'd like to buy some of your finest beer please - Shazam (2019)

Will they fly? - Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) - 2020

Aquaman Trailer 2 Reveals More About The Film

DC Origin Introduces Arthur Fleck

Did It Give Justice to DC? - Justice League

Help Us

Instagram Feed

Popular Posts

About