Hard NOC Life 304: ‘Shazam’ Fury of the Pod

On this episode of Hard NOC Life, Keith and Britney say the magic word while breaking down the latest DCEU entry, Shazam! Fury of the Gods and its place in the dysfunctional DC Movie Universe(s). Britney also shares her thoughts on last week’s Academy Awards and the latest episode of The Mandalorian.

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Top 10 Facts About ‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods’ From Director David F. Sandberg

The box office is certainly feeling the “fury of the gods” as Shazam! Fury of the Gods has officially debuted at #1 opening weekend! And as audiences have discovered, director David F. Sandberg has managed to lovingly craft homages to Harryhausen throughout the film, showcasing his youthful spirit within each frame of the picture. But now that the film is out, we at The Nerds of Color are finally able to dive into things a bit more, as we were given the opportunity to attend an event with Sandberg to find out several secrets from him about the making of the movie!

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The First DC Studios Plans Revealed in Press Event with James Gunn and Peter Safran

June 2013. That’s when the DCEU kicked off, with the debut of Zack Snyder’s modest hit, Man of Steel. It’s almost 10 years to the date, and a crowd of press has been summoned to the DC offices on a quiet January afternoon. Why? Because, as promised by new co-head of DC Studios, James Gunn, the new fate of the DCU was about to be unveiled!

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Hard NOC Life 296: The Death and Reboot of Superman

Britney and Keith are delaying their hiatus (again) to continue discussing the ongoing drama at Warner Bros. and DC Studios. If last week’s bombshell news of Patty Jenkins walking away from Wonder Woman 3 wasn’t enough; this week, we got confirmation that Henry Cavill will not be continuing as Superman — despite announcing his return barely two months ago. It’s a mess, and Hard NOC Life is here to make sense of it all!

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Hard NOC Life 295: DC in Disarray (Feat. Cody Keenan)

Hard NOC Life will eventually go on hiatus. However, Britney and Keith couldn’t avoid talking about THR’s bombshell report that James Gunn and Peter Safran might be blowing up the current DC Universe after all. Later, Keith is joined by President Obama’s former chief speechwriter, Cody Keenan, about his new White House memoir, Grace: President Obama and Ten Days in the Battle for America.

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Happy Lunar New Year from ‘DC League of Super Pets’

Happy Lunar New Year everyone! As a new year of prosperity and fortune begins, our friends at WB and DC have teamed up to send us a very special greeting! To help usher in the festivities, are Ace the Bat-Hound and Krypto the Superdog from the upcoming DC League of Super Pets, coming to theaters May 20 this year!

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‘Suicide Squad’ and ‘Gotham Knights’ Games Teased in New DC FanDome Trailer

The newest trailer for DC FanDome dropped today and with it came even more hype to get us ready for next Saturday’s event. What stood out for me though were the brief shots of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League and Gotham Knights that teased some new footage to come at FanDome.

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Full Talent Line-Up Revealed for DC FanDome

It’s coming folks! We are just about two weeks away from year two of DC FanDome. And as is tradition with most cons, the closer we get, the more is revealed! And today the good folks at DC have debuted their all-star lineup of talent that will be making appearances at the highly anticipated virtual con! Take a look here:

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Welcome Back to the DC FanDome

Suit up, DC Fans! Because on Saturday, October 16, you’re needed back at the DC FanDome!

That’s right! After the overwhelming success of last year’s inaugural virtual event, DC announced earlier this year that DC FanDome would be returning. And as of this morning, we are finally getting an official press release, and an announcement regarding the programming we can expect from this year’s event. And it’s looking to be just as epic the second time around.

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Spider-Man Day with Jordan Chiles, Simone Biles, and Their Amazing Olympic Friends

August 1 is Spider-Man Day, celebrating Marvel Comics’ best-known character in all his myriad incarnations. This year, August 1 also happens to be the first day of gymnastics individual event finals at the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. If you are in Japan, where it is already tomorrow (relative to the United States): ハッピー スパイダーマン デー! Team USA gymnast Jordan Chiles, an avid Spider-Fan, performs her floor exercise accompanied by a suite of music from the Spider-Man films, including the quote from the classic theme song for the 1960’s animated TV show.

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Exclusive NOC Interview: All-In with Mayling Ng of ‘The Suicide Squad’

Don’t let the orange prosthetics and tough alien warrior demeanor fool you! Deep down, The Suicide Squad‘s Mayling Ng is a generous, gorgeous, artistic, hard-working actress who…. yes…. can kick the ass of any action star in Hollywood!

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From Amazon to Zombie Hunter: Samantha Win Reflects on Her Career

Samantha Win is blowing up. It’s only May, but it’s already been quite a year for the actress / martial artist / stunt performer / Amazonian warrior / zombie hunter. In March, she wrote, produced, and starred in a genre-bending shortfilm called Unwelcome. She can currently be seen on HBO Max as Euboea in Zack Snyder’s Justice League. On May 14, her latest Snyder-collab, Army of the Dead opens in theaters nationwide — making it Netflix’s widest release ever — before coming to the streamer the following week on May 21.

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‘Justice League’ Side-By-Side

Today is the day. Zack Snyder’s Justice League has finally been released to HBO Max and people can now see the director’s four-hour magnum opus as he bids adieu to the DC Universe. And while a lot has been made about the restored scenes and characters that were left on the cutting room floor of the theatrical edition, I was most struck by the differences between shots that appear in both versions. Below you will find side-by-side comparisons of several of these scenes.

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NOC Review: The Snyder Cut is Good, Actually

Long time readers of this site will know that I have a a complicated history with Zack Snyder’s take on DC’s most iconic characters. While my opinion on his first foray, Man of Steel1, has waxed and waned over the years, I’ve never been able to see Batman v Superman as anything more than a convoluted mess of bombast and pretension feigning to be more profound than it actually was (Batman’s fight in the warehouse was cool, I guess). Moreover, the ferocity of the online debate about these films — both the religiosity of Snyder’s fans and the unnecessary cruelty of his detractors — turned me off to the whole enterprise. Talking about these movies on the internet was not worth the hassle or the harassment (says the guy who actively engaged in online arguments defending The Last Jedi for at least three years).

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The Middle Geeks Episode 21: ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ and its MENA Issues

We are joined by the wonderful Hanna Flint to discuss Wonder Woman 1984 in this special bonus episode! We discuss the various ups and downs of the film, how well we thought the actors did with the script and story they had, and whether this movie did Diana Prince/Wonder Woman justice. We also discuss the many racist and Orientalist aspects of its depiction of Egypt and Egyptian people, and how detrimental it is for MENA representation. There’s a LOT to discuss, and we go through it all. Enjoy listening!

Spoilers for Wonder Woman 1984 begin around 11:26.

TW for discussion of rape and sexual assault 11:44 -12:57

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NOC Review: ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ Wish Granted

So real talk time: I’m sure this won’t make me very popular, but I’m not a fan of 2017’s Wonder Woman. I think it’s a movie with a lot of really good ideas, some really terrible villains, a lot of bad acting (the terrible, cartoony “Boris and Natasha Show” that is Danny Huston and Dr. Poison, along with Mortal Kombat Lupin at the end), and a terrible final act that invalidates some of the best themes introduced in the first two-thirds of the movie (Steve explains to Diana that wars don’t just end because one person dies, then 20 minutes later she kills Ares and the war ends). So for me to go into Wonder Woman 1984 expecting more of the same, but coming out, not just surprised, but actually quite happy should be a testament to how much I think the film improves on its predecessor. As a film, I think it’s not only going to make the millions of fans of the first happy, but also make believers out of the skeptical, like myself. And that, I think, all comes from the incredible storyteller that is Patty Jenkins (with a great assist from Geoff Johns).

**Please note, it’s a bit difficult to get into the intricacies of what I liked about the movie without diving into some spoilers, so please be warned, and feel free to skip ahead to the final verdict if you don’t want details spoiled for you! (Then come back and read this after you see it.)**

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Bringing the ‘Wonder’ Back with Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot of ‘Wonder Woman 1984’

You may be looking at the title of this article and saying to yourself, “yeah… but what does that really mean?” Truth be told part of it was my self-indulgent way of pretending to be clever by using the double entendre about the long-awaited screen return of Diana Prince, courtesy of the amazing duo of director Patty Jenkins and star Gal Gadot.

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DC FanDome: Get Ready to Explore the Multiverse

Upon its announcement the DC FanDome experience was going to showcase four separate rooms to explore and a full schedule of DC fan experiences that users could choose from to create a customized itinerary. However, as you can see from the incredible Hall of Heroes event itself two weeks ago, there was just too much awesome to contain to one day.

So on September 12, for 24 hours, get ready to return to the FanDome, to explore the multiverse!

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