Today Shazam: Fury of the Gods director, David F. Sandberg took to social media to drop our first official look at the Shazam family in their new suits, and gotta say… they look AMAZING!
Continue reading “Marvel at the ‘Shazam’ Family in This Sneak Peek”
Today, director David F. Sandberg took to Twitter and YouTube to drop a fun little 17-second clip of our favorite kid-by-day, hero-by-night crusader, Captain Sparklefingers Shazam!
The super short sneak peek has Zachary Levi returning to form (literally) in the red suit and gold boots… only we can’t see any of it because it’s so dark! “Why’s it so dark?” he quips.
Billy, we’ve been asking ourselves that about the DCEU for years!
Continue reading “A Super Short Sneak Peek at ‘Shazam: Fury of the Gods’”
Hands down, my favorite movie in the DCEU, and probably the biggest surprise of 2019, was Shazam! Directed by David F. Sandberg, and starring the brilliant Zachary Levi and Asher Angel, along with the charismatic Jack Dylan Grazer, the film really brought a wonderfully charming superhero-spin on Big, while remaining completely faithful to the New 52 run of the characters. It was funny, different, and most of all, unexpectedly full of heart. Today at the DC FanDome, the cast was reunited once more to talk about not talk about insights for the upcoming sequel!
Okay, so… someone’s got to say something.
It’s been three months since the launch of the Disney+ streaming service. Since then, viewers have fallen in love with Baby Yoda on The Mandalorian, shed tears over the new shorts released from Pixar’s SparkShorts program, and of course, revisited and binge watched old favorites.
Continue reading “The Missing Episodes of Disney’s ‘Andi Mack’”
There are two superhero movies dominating the box office right now, and they both happen to have the same name — well, historically at least. Marvel Studios’ Captain Marvel starring Brie Larson and Warner Bros.’ Shazam! starring Zachary Levi both center around a superhero named Captain Marvel, though neither use that name in their respective movies.
On a recent episode of the DC TV Classics podcast, Keith and Britney discussed the 1970s Shazam television series but also reviewed both movies. On this special crossover pod, we’ve isolated Keith and Britney’s movie talk to focus on their reactions to both movies.
Continue reading “Hard NOC Life: When ‘Captain Marvel’ Met ‘Shazam’”
This past weekend I had the opportunity to attend “Incredible Kid Day!” with the cast of Shazam! in Hollywood! The event, sponsored by Warner Bros., Camp Fire, Hispanic Heritage Foundation, Kizuna, and Jack and Jill of America, was organized to celebrate the achievements of some of the most impressive youths in the Southern California region, in such areas as science, sports, academia, and responsible citizenship.
Helping these kids celebrate their wonderful achievements were Marta Milans (Rosa), Jovan Armand (Pedro), Grace Fulton (Mary), Ian Chen (Eugene), and Faithe Herman (Darla), who play Billy Batson and Freddie Freeman’s adopted family in the movie. The cast passed out awards and the kids were able to take one-on-one pictures with the whole crew following the conclusion of the ceremony.
Continue reading “Talking with the Cast of ‘Shazam!’ on Incredible Kid Day”
That’s two in a row for the DCEU! At this point in time, given that even other WB/DC properties like The Lego Batman Movie have openly mocked the franchise’s former unnecessarily dark and cynical roots, we’ve certainly seen a gradual shift towards optimism and fun from Wonder Woman to Justice League. Then to the colorful craziness of Aquaman,and now, Shazam!; DC’s lightest and most family-friendly movie to date. And honestly, especially after seeing Shazam!, in my opinion the results work so much more than they did in the earlier stages of the franchise.
The wisdom of Solomon! The strength of Hercules! The stamina of Atlas! The power of Zeus! The courage of Achilles! And the speed and flight of Mercury! Those are all the powers that are imbued upon mere mortal 14-year old Billy Batson to become The World’s Mightiest Mortal, SHAZAM! (Note for all you noobs who have no idea what I’m talking about — I said SHA-ZAM, not to be confused with KA-ZAAM, the genie who plays basketball better than he acts, raps, or plays Shaq-Fu.)
A lot of people of color of my generation who are passionate about diversity and representation in the media tend to point to the media we consumed as children as the reason why — to the absences, omissions, and misrepresentations, and to the token presences we latched onto like lifelines. Today, our childhood experiences are ever-present motivators in our lives as fans, consumers, and creators in our own right, trying to redress past wrongs by ensuring the existence of the mirrors, windows, and doorways we were denied years before.
As a father watching contemporary media aimed at kids, tweens, and teens with my own tween and teen daughters, I’m slowly getting the hopeful feeling that their future will be different — or, if it isn’t, there will be hell to pay. That’s not to say that there isn’t vast room for improvement — we haven’t solved it, not by a long shot — but the energy, the diversity, the mere and sheer presence in the media world with which my children interact and which they take for granted as normal is so far from what we grew up with, and so close to what we wish the media landscape at large looked like, that I can’t help but be a little optimistic.
Continue reading “‘Andi Mack,’ Children’s Television, and a Future in Full Color”
