Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2023)

Shazam! Fury of the Gods is the sequel, and probably the last Shazam! movie for a while. With the reboot coming later this year, any setup this has for an end to a trilogy is up in the air.

Directed by David F. Sandberg, who I loved for Lights Out. It's interesting that James Wan, known for horror took David F Sandberg under his wing and now they both direct major DC super hero movies. They should really stick to horror. Maybe I'm just biased because I love horror.

Henry Gayden is back in the writing room, even though it wasn't the writing that brought people to see the first Shazam! This time I think the writing is actually worse. There are subplots that land and some that feel overly forced and politicized. Some actors didn't get enough dialogue or scenes to do much in. Some characters felt throwaway and to check a box.

Grace Caroline Currey was top-billed or at least is at the top of the list for IMDB. She really carries the film for Shazam, she makes all the smart choices since Billy is still too stupid to string a sentence together. He still acts like he's thirteen even though he's supposed to be turning eighteen.

Zachary Levi plays Shazam again and this time he's lacking even more intelligence. I wish the ending would have landed the way they were going with. They just had to mess it up and it makes Levi's send off even more distasteful since we'll probably never see him as Shazam again.

The visual effects were pretty bad. I look forward to Corridor making fun of them later this year. The only saving grace of the film was Rachel Zegler's charismatic performance regardless of bad writing. It almost made me forget how disappointing West Side Story was.

All in all the movie felt longer than it needed to be, not enough money was spent on visual effects, or the team wasn't proficient enough. I would never want to watch this again, but it has some saving grace. Result: C-

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Cinderella (2021)

Cinderella is a modern take on the classic tale. This time everything is politically upside down. Written and Directed by Kay Cannon, Cinderella takes any chance it can to push an agenda. It's nauseating in the forcefulness of the propaganda. It's hard to take any scene that isn't singing seriously. It lives in a dystopian world where anyone who doesn't think progressively like-minded is a fool and shouldn't have joy. The direction is okay, but that's to be expected as she probably picked up some being the producer of the Pitch Perfect trillogy. Camila Cabello plays Cinderella and her first major film. She can sing and performs well next to her stepmother played by Idina Menzel, who needs no introduction. Surely, she will be in future musicals and I can only hope for one with a better writer. Pierce Brosnan plays King Rowan and is forceful in his performance but given the point of his character, it's sad to see. Someone had to be the punching bag, and ...

Escape Room (2019)

Escape Room is presented as a Saw-like game of puzzle solving or your life ends. This time around they remove the gore to get a PG-13 rating and a January release. Adam Robitel is best known as the director of Insidious: The Last Key. Which I 'saw' and meh'd about last year. He also did Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension which I haven't seen. I stopped watching the Paranormal movies after The Marked Ones. There are some camera/direction problems nothing an average movie-goer would notice. Taylor Russell plays the main character Zoey. Don't take any offense, but she has a really hard time going full Aspergers, but once she turns Lara Croft she does a decent job. She also did the over-looked Lost in Space TV series which I still need to watch. I want to see Deborah Ann Woll in more movies after seeing her in this. She was a shining star in this film. She plays a former military survivor with a lot of baggage. You'll remember her as Karen Page from ...

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 (2023)

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 is the third installment in the Big Fat Greek franchise, this time they're in Greece. Written, directed, and starring Nia Vardalos, just like the previous films. Now she is being asked to become the head of the family. I imagine if they do a fourth installment that like the other sequels they will never live up to the first one and will have throwbacks you've come to expect now with any sequel. Paris is back, played by Elena Kampouris , she's pretty but her beauty isn't going to draw a crowd, and her counterpart, Elias Kacavas, isn't going to bring in the crowd looking for young eye candy. Both of them haven't been in much and their future doesn't look great either. Stephanie Nur is a newcomer to this franchise and you might recognize her from 1883 as Melodi. She does a pretty good job with the role that was designed for her. She's not heavily utilized but that was because the franchise has become an ensemble. Melina Kot...

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