#168. 'Shazam 2: Fury of the Gods'
Listen to this episode ↗on Substack, where the show lives now
The main event is Shazam! Fury of the Gods, and after its disastrous $30 million opening (Morbius-level numbers, Sonny notes) the trio picks the film apart. Sonny goes on a full rant: he's fine with the first movie's odd choice to play grown-up Billy Batson (Zachary Levi) as if controlled by a "brain-damaged eight-year-old," and he actually likes much of the sequel's middle stretch — Adam Brody's blue-suited Shazam, Rachel Zegler's love-interest turn, and especially Jack Dylan Grazer's Freddie Freeman arc, which he and Mike agree is the only thing that works start to finish — but he detonates over the ending, where Shazam's heroic death and the film's theme of growing up and sacrificing for family are completely undone by a last-minute Wonder Woman cameo (a visibly checked-out Gal Gadot) that resurrects everyone and restores all their powers for no reason beyond franchise fan service. JVL is more measured, praising the film's comedy beats (the jail-cell scenes, the ghost-pen letters) while griping about an interminable splinter-removal gag and pitching a "heresy" fix for the DCEU: ditch fictional Metropolis/Gotham-style cities and set these movies in real places, the way this one uses Philadelphia. Mike, who saw the original for the first time just before the sequel, liked the first film but was bored through the sequel's back half and found the characters' lack of consistent superhero names confusing. The conversation widens into a postmortem of the collapsing DC Extended Universe — Black Adam's flop, Ezra Miller's Flash troubles, Ben Affleck's scrapped solo Batman, Henry Cavill's in-again-out-again Superman, and the incoming James Gunn regime (Booster Gold jokes included) — plus a tangent on the death of G-rated family films and a Matt Singer piece on taking kids to the movies. Before any of that, the opening third is its usual grab bag: JVL dreads an upcoming coaches' 400m relay at his son's track meet and jokes about blood doping to survive it, Mike recounts humbling batting-practice duty for his son's kid-pitch team (he beaned a kid) and describes lulling his newborn to sleep with vinyl Abbey Road on speakers gifted by Irwin Stelzer, and Sonny recaps a Reno casino trip with his wife — an obnoxious off-duty cop at the poker table, a hot blackjack streak, and a quick detour into why he thinks Creed III's Adonis Creed is actually the movie's villain.
From the show notes
Taste the product placement.
Full transcript
Mike00:00:00I'm an idiot. Welcome to the Sub-Beacon podcast. I'm your co-host, Mike Warren. Joining me, of course, are my two co-hosts, both of whom have the wisdom of Solomon, the strength of Hercules, the stamina of Atlas, the power of Zeus, the courage of Achilles and the speed of Mercury, Jonathan V. Last and Sonny Bunch.
JVL00:00:29I gotta stop you right there, Mike. I went out for a run today. No speed? I can, I have definitive proof that I do not have the speed of Mercury anymore.
Mike00:00:40Well, let's just, let's just pretend for the sake of the show, JVL. You've, uh, you'll get it back. Just, just, it'll, it'll come back.
JVL00:00:46You can, so, uh, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. Hold on here. You can, I'm just trying to give you a good transition. I was trying to give you a good transition, but go ahead. Do your, I got my bed.
Mike00:00:56I got my, I got my stuff here.
JVL00:00:58You can find us. I'm trying to do a better.
Mike00:01:00Read your, read your bed. You can find us at sub beacon.com where you can listen, subscribe, comment, and get our bonus episode because we're bringing those back. Uh, in, in this week's show, we will be discussing Shazam fury of the gods. But first let's hear how everyone's doing JVL. Did you want to start? Did you want to say something about your run? Uh, something about.
JVL00:01:23I was just going to tell you spring track season starts on Saturday. And I am assistant coaching the spring track team. And one of the problems with this is that at the first meet, there is a coaches four by four relay. And so I, I'm going to have to go out and run a 400 and I went to just do a baseline check to see what sort of time I'll be throwing up.
Sonny00:01:51Can we guess, can we, can we, I'll guess 96 seconds.
Mike00:01:59My. I'll take the under on that.
JVL00:02:01I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll say it is very, I am flattered that you guys have such a high opinion of me. Yeah. This was only a first effort and I didn't kill myself. I only expended myself. And, uh, I think I, the, my, my average time on it was seven 38, which I think translates to like a one 50. Well, you ran a whole mile.
Sonny00:02:33Then you didn't just run the 400.
JVL00:02:35No, no, no, no, no. That's, that's the 400. So it, it keeps your, the average pace for your 400 split. And so I did not go and do the, I started out, I went out at a blistering six 20, but that, uh, that, that third hundred meters. Ooh. Oof.
Sonny00:02:57I'm confused. I'm confused as to how I'm not a runner, so you have to explain this to me like I'm dumb.
JVL00:03:04It's your pace, right? So your pace is measured in what your, what, how many minute mile you would be running. So if you, if you go to run a hundred yard dash, right, you, you would, what is my pace for this? And you might be running on pace for like a three minute mile for a hundred meters, right?
Sonny00:03:25Right.
JVL00:03:25Uh, over the course of my attempt at running a 400. 400, my mile pace was at the beginning, uh, handsome 620 and at the end, not, not that.
Sonny00:03:38What, but I don't understand why would you do that instead of just getting the, the, the time for your 400 since you're, you're just running one 400 as fast as you can.
JVL00:03:47Because, because my time trial was not on a track. I was out on roads and I don't know how far a quarter mile is. And so I'm just using the Nike run app to measure out my 400 meters and.
Sonny00:03:58So, so you're not going to a, you're not going to a school and just running around the track in front of all the children.
JVL00:04:05Not yet. No, but you will wait till I am. I will have to do that at the big meet. Here's my question.
Sonny00:04:11I feel like this is, I feel like this is hazing. I feel like they're hazing the coaches.
JVL00:04:15Oh, why do this? Uh, and we've got one, the, the guy who is the lead coach is a wonderful, wonderful guy who maybe. Sometimes shows up at practice high as a kite. Uh, you know, he's just, he's a free spirit.
Sonny00:04:33He's high on running.
JVL00:04:36Sure. Runners high. And, uh, and he, but he's so fast. He's so fast. He's going to do this in probably there's a chance he'll go sub 50.
Mike00:04:48So JVL explain to me where the coaches L part of this meet. Like, how does it fit in to the rest of the meat?
JVL00:04:58Or is this just a, you know, an exhibition they're going to make us go first. Uh, oh, it's an exhibition. It's only at the first meet and it's a, I think it's to make all the children laugh. It is literally is hazing of the coaches. So all of the children, cause there'll be hundreds of children. Uh, it'll be, you know, there'll be like eight teams. Each team's going to have like 60 or 70 kids. So it's really 500 children ranging from third grade to eighth grade, pointing and jeering at me as my fat ass dies after the first
Sonny00:05:27200 meters brings you back point of being an adult. The whole point of being an adult is to not have to do this sort of thing anymore. You, you laugh at the children for their failures. Not, not the other way around.
JVL00:05:39I think I'm going to have to go on the juice, maybe do some blood doping. Cause they're not going to test the good thing about this Catholic league.
Mike00:05:46They do not test for steroids and there's probably actually no, no rules, you know, for, for the exhibition coaches meet. So I think I don't think it's just kind of the wild west.
Sonny00:05:56You should go out. They're a job style on a, on a rest of Segway.
JVL00:06:03I thought about having right around the track, just having flash show up and be like, yeah, I'm a, I'm JBL. Well, see how that goes.
Mike00:06:12You know, I, I experienced something like this, which was, I've sort of roped into the first, actually the second practice we had for the kid pitch team. Basically. If a, if you're a dad and you show up like the coach will find something for you to do. And so he sent me into the batting cages to pitch for the kids who will throw BP to the kids.
JVL00:06:38How many did you hit?
Mike00:06:39I only hit one. And I apologize profusely to him. And he seemed like sort of shocked that a dad would actually like be so bad at pitching that he would hit a kid. Throwing BP is hard. I agree. Thank you very much, JBL. And I hit kids all the time.
JVL00:06:59I spent a lot of time throwing BP and like, you know, the kids always learned that when they got in the cage with me, they better get ready to protect themselves at the plate because who knows where it's going.
Mike00:07:11Well, you know, there, there are kids on this team who are, who are like my son, who are coming up to kid pitch for the first season. And then there are, then there are some of the older kids, some of the nine and 10 year olds who have done it before. They, whatever modicum of respect they may have had for me as somebody's dad coming in here, like just like melted away. They're like, oh, this, this guy sucks. And I don't have to listen to anything he says. So I'm, you know, I'm, I'm like, Hey, make sure your bat's back, you know, bend those knees a little bit. And they're like, fuck you, old man. I'm not, I'm not listening to you. So that was a humbling experience.
JVL00:07:50They ought to try pitching to you. Yeah. You get in there and just sort of like, you know, take their head off of the line drive. With no L screen, no L screen, you just put a, oh, Jason, you think you're so fucking tough. All right. Here's the ball. You come out and give it up. Let's see what happens. Let's try that.
Mike00:08:07Yeah. You should try that too. JVL at the, uh, you know, if some, some kids starts laughing at you, you know, challenge him to a race. That'll work out. I do it.
JVL00:08:14I just veer off the track and I run straight at him.
Sonny00:08:18That's when you start, that's when you start hitting grounders, uh, for, for, you know, the fielding practice real hard at him real hard. So I remember, I remember it was funny when the, uh, you know, I played, I played rec league baseball. I was, I was not, uh, I was not a serious baseball player like flash. I was, uh, I was, uh, I was a, a, a normal baseball player, but I was like a decent enough second baseman. I was on a couple, you know, like rec league all-star teams. But one year the coach, one year the coach, uh, wanted his son to play second base in the all-star game. So there was tryouts, you know, there's like all-star and like the, the, the, the, uh, I will, I will say it's the hardest round of ground ball practice I have ever taken. Just screamers at me, like one hopping at my ankles and like my dad, my dad. So like, like the tiniest bit of background, tiniest bit of background on me. Uh, I like was not a great hitter, but I had extremely, I had extremely good eye and like a very small strike zone. So I had a very good on base percentage. I would be very valued in today's, today's baseball. In today's baseball I would be a, I would be a very valued prospect, but, uh, I was always a very good defender. I like, I would, I, I got, I was like in front of the ball and stopping, give the first base. Like I, my strength was always my defense. I was very much a, uh, I don't even know. I can't even remember what the nineties equivalent was, uh, a good second baseman, not, not a great hitter, whatever. Um, but, uh, it was totally reversed in this, in this tryout. I was like crushing the ball at the plate, just like absolutely crushing it. And I went, then I went out there for the, for the, for the fielding and just screamers at me all. I was like, ah, ah, what's going on? What is happening here? Um, the lesson never go against the coach's kid. Well, I came off the field. My dad was like, what, what was wrong with you out there? I was like, what was wrong with me? What was wrong with me? He didn't see what was happening. Um, but no, it was fine. I still made, I still made the all-star team, but I was the backup second baseman. Uh, only got, only got one at bat in that, in that, uh, jackass man, it was, it was honestly, it was one of the, it was my first real introduction to like, oh, so that's how the world works. I get it. I get it. Now this is, it all makes sense.
Mike00:10:34Sonny, what's going on with you.
Sonny00:10:35Uh, thank you for holding down the fort for me last week. I was in Reno. I was in lovely Reno, Nevada, uh, mistake your life, some family. It was, uh, it was a, it was a fine time. Uh, grandparents spent two days with the children, which meant two days for me and the wife to go to the Reno casinos. Let me tell you about the Reno casinos. A Reno casino is like a facsimile of a Las Vegas casino, like a fourth generation, like the lesson version, like the version it's, it's, it's the, and we were in like the nicest, uh, Reno cause we're like, are one of the two nicest. We were in, uh, the grand Sierra reserve or no, I'm sorry, the grand Sierra resort, the GSR, um, which I think at one point in time was an MGM is not anymore. Uh, uh, the, it is like, it's alongside the pepper mill is the other, I would say. It's a nicest, uh, uh, resort out there, casino. Um, but it, it's, it's very funny. So we were there, we were there the weekend, we were there the Wednesday and Thursday, um, of March madness. So like March madness starts on Thursday, but the Wednesday we were there for, for the whole day. It's the emptiest I've ever seen any casino ever a Wednesday in March in Reno, like four people at the tables. There was literally the poker room was open and there was literally. One table with like six people at it, your chance to clean that down and play that, but that's not really my preferred game. I actually prefer a full table with a lot of, um, loose idiots because then I can just sit there and then double up my money every couple of hours. Um, uh, anyway, uh, it, it was, it was fine. It's, it's just a, it was just a very, it was a very weird, almost eerie experience to be in a casino that is mostly empty. Um, then Thursday days later or something, it's it. Well, it wasn't quite like that, but it's not, it's not far off. And then the next day was first day of March Madness. So it was, it was much, there were a lot more people there. They were mostly at the sports book, but then after, after the game stopped, you know, they kind of filtered out to the, to the, the tables and things, uh, picked up out there. Um, but it was, uh, it was, it was, it's, it's as somebody who quite enjoys going to Las Vegas for like two days, once every three years. Um, it was a very different sort of experience. It was much, much more, um. Uh, I don't know how to describe just, just empty.
JVL00:12:57It was just empty in a way that I've never experienced a casino to be pleasurable is pleasurable to be empty because again, you don't have to deal with people.
Sonny00:13:06No, it's not because that's part of, I mean, that's one of the reasons I like going to Vegas for two days, once every three years is to like, you you're around people and there's a, a, there's a swirl of life and it reminds you that, you know, there's a whole world out there. The, uh, the, the, the one thing that was going on at this casino on the Wednesday, there was a cop convention. Oh, there was a, there was a cop convention in, in the casino. Uh, so there was a bunch of like, uh, highway patrolman, um, in the basement area. Oh, the, the absolute. And a couple of those guys came up to the poker room. A couple of those guys came up to the poker room. You'll be shocked. You'll be shocked to hear that the, the biggest dick at the table was not any of the regulars, uh, at the Reno, uh, casino. It was the out of town cop who was like, why am I not getting any beers? Shocking. Why, why are these games? Why aren't there any basketball games on the TV? I'm watching women's tennis over here. This is bullshit. I shouldn't even have to ask this for like four hours. The guy's like this.
Mike00:14:04I can't believe it. I was just like, that's a, so wait, what, what's your game? Shocker.
Sonny00:14:12Shocker.
Mike00:14:12What were you playing?
Sonny00:14:13Well, the only, I mean, literally again, the only poker game that they had playing when I got there was a one, two, no limit game. A one, two, no limit game with a thousand dollar buy-in, which I've actually never, I've never.
JVL00:14:23Did you sit for a thousand dollars?
Sonny00:14:25No, no, I sat for, I sat for 300, which is like the, the rule of thumb is a hundred times the big blind. You want, you want a hundred or so times the big blind. So usually I play a one, three game and I sit down with 300 bucks at the start. But there were guys at this game that, I mean, there were, it was, it was one of the craziest games I've ever been in. There were like 1500, $2,000 pots on a one, two, no limit game, which is unusual. It's, that's not a, that is not a, I, I, I, sadly, my cards were so fucking bad. All, uh, my cards were so bad and all of these people stayed in every hand until the end that I, I just like, I, I ended up, I, I ended up down at poker. I think like 40 bucks over the course of the two days, which is not something that usually happens to me. Luckily I won $150 playing blackjack. So I still came out.
Mike00:15:11I was going to ask how the blackjack tables were blackjack.
Sonny00:15:14Blackjack was the crazy. So I sat down at, I sat down again at the one blackjack table that had anybody playing at it. And, um, I was sitting there and the, the, the table was very cold. Everyone was like super cranky and like not, not playing very well. And the, I sat down and the lady to my left was like, I'm out of here. This is really, and she leaves. And then all of a sudden I won like nine straight hands. Like the, the dealer busted on like nine straight hands. I instantly doubled my money and left. I just left the table. I was like, I'm out. I'm out. I got my, I got my 150 bucks here. I'm done.
Mike00:15:50That might be a benefit of, of the sort of a cold play. A cold casino and kind of a, a language. It's like, you, you don't feel any need to keep the party going. You know what I mean? Yeah.
Sonny00:15:59Yeah. No, I was, I was, I was like, I got my money. I'm out.
JVL00:16:02How are the accoutrements? So, you know, like how does the food, if I assume you went to a high end steakhouse.
Sonny00:16:08We went to, we went, we went to, they are, there's a Charlie Palmer.
JVL00:16:11How do they compare to like Vegas eats? How are the hotel rooms compared to like Bellagio hotel rooms?
Sonny00:16:17I mean, it's, it's a Charlie Palmer. So it's, it's pretty good. It's pretty, I wouldn't say it's the best steak I've ever had, but it was, it was, uh, it was solid. Um, and the, the cocktails were very good. Uh, the cocktails were, were very good. The sushi restaurant was not as good as the steakhouse. The sushi restaurant was not a, like a Nobu or something. It was, you know, it was whatever. Um, but the, the Charlie, I mean the, the Charlie Palmer was the Charlie Palmer. It was, it's a, it's a, you know, you're, you're getting a certain level of, of quality there.
JVL00:16:44And in general, were prices at like a Vegas discount price or were you paying the same
Sonny00:16:48for everything? Vegas, Vegas prices, 100% Vegas prices. Wow. The only exception was the, the rooms were cheaper because they were like, again, the deadest days of the year. I can't, I'm not sure if they were, they would have been cheaper in Vegas at the same time, but the, the days we were there, the, the rooms were very, very cheap.
JVL00:17:06Okay. All right.
Sonny00:17:08Which was nice, which was, uh, that was a, that was a win. But the, uh, no, the, the Charlie Palmer is very nice. Again, the sushi restaurant, not as good. Um, I, the sushi, I frankly have better sushi here in Texas than, than that, uh, that, that was. Um, I don't know, but all, all in all thumbs up, thumbs up to the Charlie Palmer. They, they have a very nice, uh, sports bar at the grand, the GSR. It was, uh, I don't know. It's like some, but it was, it was, uh, like reasonably priced as far as these things go
Mike00:17:40there to watch TV's, uh, collapse.
Sonny00:17:43Oh, I know. I, I watched most of that on my phone. Um, because I was, uh, that's preferable. The tournament wasn't preferable tournament, tournament, not all bad for UVA. So tournament, not all bad for UVA since another number one seed finally lost another two number one seeds in like five years. I feel like we have reached the tipping point where like the difference between a one and 16 seed is not as big as it used to be.
Mike00:18:06And it's not even, it's not as shocking, you know, when, I mean, I just remember even, you know, 10 years ago, how shocking it would be if, if, you know, a, you've a 16 or 15
Sonny00:18:16seat and a 15, right, right, right. We had a 15 beta two and a 16 beta one.
Mike00:18:21Remember the George Mason run and all that, you know? Um, anyway, uh, well, welcome back Sonny. Um, not much going on.
Sonny00:18:27Thank you. Thank you for holding. I, I want to, can we, I just want to say that I really enjoy, I enjoy listening to the show. I usually don't listen to the show when I'm not here. I don't listen to the show usually when I'm not here, but I, but I, but I did listen this week, uh, cause I wanted to hear what you guys thought about Creed three. And I, I love to talk about, uh, I love to talk about the fixing angle, uh, which, which was, which was really entertaining to me. I have one, I did, I texted you guys this, but I have one. Quibble with, with the take here. I actually think, I actually think it's more villainous that Adonis Creed wasn't doing the straight up fixing. Like we're, we're doing a, we're doing a quickie rigged bout. I think it's actually more villainous that he put his friend in there who went to prison for him and kept his mouth shut all those years to get his ass beat for real by the heavyweight champion of the world. Because like, I like the difference between a heavyweight champion in the world and like a good boxer is, is big. There's a big gulf there. Like in, in a real fight. Like Dame would have gotten his, he would have gotten killed, would have gotten murdered in the ring by the champion. Yes. I mean, like just would have, would have, that's not, that's not how boxing works. And I think it, I think it's actually, I think it speaks much, much worse of his character, which all goes back to JBL's point that like the movie, there's a real, I wrote about, I wrote this in my review, but there's a real problem at the heart of the movie, which is that like Adonis Creed is a bad dude in this movie. He's a, he's, he's the bad guy.
JVL00:19:50I think that's very clear. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. I think the movie knows it too. I think Michael B. Jordan knows it.
Sonny00:19:57Yeah. I mean, totally, because I like, it's a problem with trying to move him into that promoter role because you know what, you know what promoters are? They're bad people. They're bad people. They're bad people who make money on other people getting hurt. And like, I don't know. Anyway, good episode.
Mike00:20:14Thank you.
Sonny00:20:15Mike, how are you doing?
Mike00:20:16Oh, I'm fine. You know, nothing, nothing too much going on. We, let's see. I, well, I figured out, you know, with the baby. Uh, there are many different things. Once you have more than one, you realize babies are different and they need different things. And, uh, it's not always what worked for the last one doesn't work for this one. Um, so we're learning that, uh, we're having some struggles with the, the daytime sleeping, you know, the nighttime sleeping is great, which is for me terrific because that's when I sleep. So the baby sleeps, I sleep, everybody's happy. Uh, but the, the daytime sleep does put a cramp in. Uh, especially in Melissa's style, just being able to get stuff done. He's not sleeping. She usually has to put them in the car or, you know, and drive around, go do some errands, that sort of thing. So, but I did figure out, uh, just this morning, actually, uh, just a few hours before we, uh, we are taping this, that if I turn up, so I have a, a, a vinyl turntable and speakers. And if I turn up the music on the Bose speakers and run the vinyl today was the second side of Abbey road, uh, the 1969 Beatles masterpiece, uh, and put him in the swing and let it go and just get through. Here comes the sun and boom, he's out. And so I just, I, I just, the, the vinyl, uh, approach to, uh, you know, never would have worked for our other kids. They needed like quiet spaces and all this stuff. This kid needs noise. He needs like to feel like other people are in the room and then he can go to sleep. So. Just a little observation.
JVL00:21:54You know, every kid is different. G money, what a G money was a terrible sleeper always has been. And they were many, many nights when I would put him in the car and drive around. I remember you telling me, yeah. And the only thing which worked was the sound of John pot, Horace's voice. And so I would listen to the commentary podcast and he would get, you know, like even the, you know, the level of like six months, he'd get agitated when Noah was talking and not the only one was okay. It was okay, but, but it was John's what John was. He just loved the sound of John's voice. Uh, yeah, everybody's different now.
Sonny00:22:32That's fair. Wait, Mike, does it have to be vinyl? Could you put a CD on?
JVL00:22:37Oh, no. I assume that Mike, the, the musical ear of a Warren child is so perfectly tuned that the cold digital rendering of what was recorded, not as the compression does not work. I hear the cracks.
Sonny00:22:53Could you take, could you take, could you take your phone and play, uh, via the Spotify streaming app through your phone speakers next to your, your child's head? The baby would throw that. Would that get the same thing?
Mike00:23:07Yeah, exactly. He would throw up, he would scream his, uh, scream his head off. It's gotta be that, you know, that Chris says this is shit.
Guest00:23:15Neil Young says this is shit.
Mike00:23:16That's what basically the baby is screaming, but it's not just that it's the specific speakers that I have set up, uh, for. The turntable, which I actually got, they are vintage Bose speakers. I was gifted to by, uh, one Irwin Stelzer, um, who back in the, oh, I know Jesus.
Sonny00:23:34Well, those are probably, those are probably $50,000 speakers.
Mike00:23:37Exactly. So he, he was like back in the weekly standard offices. He was sort of closing things down in his office and he was walking around with stuff he wasn't going to take with him to Arizona and he, uh, came up to me and he said, would you use these speakers? And I said, uh, well, yes. Or when I would, I would love them and I've been looking for a use for them. And, and ever since I got this turntable about six months ago, uh, they've been blasting this such good quality for like really small, like dinky looking speakers. You know, I'm not even a subwoofer, but it's great. It's beautiful. The, uh, the remix on the vinyl for the Beatles, uh, is, is terrific. So, uh, it is basically lullaby music, uh, for, for the baby.
Sonny00:24:17Oh, it's not vintage vinyl. It's not vintage vinyl.
Mike00:24:19No, I have, I have a vintage, I have a vintage disc, but it's warped, it's warped. So the remix is better. The remix lifts up the, the base and the, and the rhythm. So you can hear Paul's bass lines, which are, uh, terrific. And, uh, and, and Ringo's drumming is terrific. So, um, that's what I got crap. Okay.
Sonny00:24:37Okay. Uh, I wish I had, I wish I got, I wish I had been there when Irwin was doing his office cleaning. You're like, ah, you take it, take that Warhol.
Mike00:24:45So for people who don't, we all know that kind of stuff, but, but there was, you know, it was, I seem to remember me and Daniel Halper being the. Beneficiaries of his, uh, of his moving out. He was just sort of giving stuff to the first people he saw. And we were sitting there. All right, well, let's move on last weekend and it's box office debut. Shazam fury of the gods raked in just over $30 million to top scream. Six Creed three 65. There's a lot of numbers here, 65 and Ant-Man and the wasp quantum mania rounding out the top five, uh, I thought before we got in there discussion, uh, you guys have any thoughts on, on these numbers for Shazam fury of the gods, uh, seems to be at the top of the box office, what's going on?
JVL00:25:32Correct me if I'm wrong, but this means the death of the Shazam verse. I mean, I like black Adam's performance followed by this.
Sonny00:25:40I'll, I'll discuss all of this in my review. Cause I got, I, I got a lot of thoughts about the Shazam verse and what, what WB and DC are doing with this whole series of movies. But we can, we can, we can talk about that in a minute. We can talk about that in a minute.
Mike00:25:56Okay.
Sonny00:25:56Well, I mean, I don't have anything in terms of box office in terms of box office. Uh, I mean, I like, it's a disastrous performance. It's it's 40% below the, the first, um, it is, it's going to, it's doing Morbius style numbers. That's a bad thing. You don't want, you don't, you don't want to be at Morbius levels. Um, you know, uh, and it's, it's, I think this movie costs a little bit less than black Adam. I think this is closer to a hundred million dollars. And $200 million. Um, it's, uh, um, it's these, these Shazam movies have been cheaper. They look cheaper, but they, they've been cheaper. Um, so it's, it's not, it's not the end of the world, I guess. Um, except, except I, I don't, I, uh, I I'm so. Uh, I'm so frustrated with this movie.
Mike00:26:43I, why don't we, why don't we just jump into the, into your review then Sonny? Cause, cause that will say that will answer the question of what's going on with these box office. Numbers.
Sonny00:26:53All right. So Shazam fury of the gods. Uh, it, uh, it, it picks up where the first left off Shazam, AKA Billy Batson played by a Zachary Levy or Zach Zachary Levy in his older form. And some kid in his younger form who gets almost no screen time in this movie. They very clearly like, oh, you know what? We don't, we don't really need any more him. Um, he's trying to, he's trying to make his, uh, Marvel family, the, the superheroes of Philadelphia and they keep. They keep messing things up. Apparently. I don't know, people get mad at them because somebody knocks down a bridge and they aren't able to fully save the bridge. They just save all the people and people are like, ah, these, these guys are idiots. Why can't they save our bridge too? Whatever. Um, let me, let me, let me go back to the first one here. Uh, so the first Shazam is a weird and kind of interesting movie in that. It is totally all over the place. You have, you have this movie that is like on the one hand, it's like superhero big, right with the Tom Hanks movie, but superhero. Zachary Levy Levi plays Shazam. And he, uh, plays, he plays the character as if he's being controlled by a brain damaged eight year old, which is, which is a choice. It's a choice to make. I mean, I, whatever it like it, it it's fine, I guess. It's like kind of funny. And, and it's like, oh, look at this, look at the superhero grownup. He's acting like a kid. He's doing crazy lighting bolts. Oh, he's so he's always learning his powers. He's why he's, he's hurting these criminals. Oh. That's funny.
JVL00:28:23Um, but it's a hundred percent different from the actual Billy Batson character, who is this clever scamp, right?
Sonny00:28:29Billy Batson is actually like kind of smart. He's like tracking down his lost mother. He's he's like a street, a tough street wise kid. And then he re he regresses to the, to again, like a brain damaged, mentally challenged nine year old, who's like, oh, almost a wacky, oh, um, so like, but whatever, it's a choice you can, you can, you can do that. I, I don't. I don't love it. You can do it. Um, but then the other part of the movie is this terrifying horror film where like bodies are turning into piles of ash and like smoke monsters are throwing executives out of skyscraper windows. Like it's, it's a weirdly, it's a, it's a weirdly jarring tonal mix. I didn't hate it. I didn't hate the original. I thought it was fine. I kind of, I kind of enjoyed it. Um, the second one again, leans into this, uh, uh, Shazam as, as a mentally challenged child thing, which just graded on me more and more as the film went along. But smartly, a lot of the focus here is not on, on, uh, Zachary Levy, but, uh, Adam Brody's like blue Shazam character, whatever, whatever. And like that kid, the kid, the, the handicapped kid who becomes, um, the Adam Brody hero and like that, that, that stuff is all, is all actually pretty good. I buy, I buy that stuff so much more. Like Brody plays that, that character so much better than. Uh, Levi plays, plays Shazam, just smarter, more interesting. Um, it all works. Uh, the, the, the basic plot here is, uh, the daughters of Atlas, which are, uh, I don't, I mean the daughters of the actual Titan Atlas, um, uh, who are played by Lucy Liu and Helen Mirren have decided that they need to come back and get their powers or something. So they get the staff that was broken at the end of the first one, they put it back together and they're stealing the powers from the Shazam kids. Does none of this, none of this matters. None of this matters. None of it's interesting. What is interesting is that as the movie progresses, uh, idiot Shazam starts to kind of grow up a little bit and he realizes that, you know, by, by film's end, he has to make a big sacrifice. He's got to make a big sacrifice to save his family. It's basically a replay of Batman versus Superman, Dawn of Justice, which I think you've watched relatively recently, JBL, but, uh, it's, it's basically a big, it's a replay of that. He's got, he's got just like Superman. He's got it. He's got a spear and he's got to fly into a big terrifying monster and kill it. And that doing so will also sacrifice himself, but it's worth it because it saves his loved ones and his family and the rest of the world. He's grown up. He's grown up and he's grown up and he's grown up. It happens. Spoilers. It happens. He dies. He loses his powers. The family has lost all his power, all their powers. And I have like at this point in the movie, two hours into it, I've begrudgingly been like, Oh, you know what? This is, this is okay. This worked. I kind of admire what they're doing here. They have to wrap up this whole universe anyway, because the DCEU is kind of collapsed in on itself. James Gunn is taking over. They got to get, they got to get rid of all these characters and clear out space for like the next generation of DC stuff. Yeah.
JVL00:31:40For Booster Gold.
Sonny00:31:41We got to get ready.
JVL00:31:42They got to clear space for James Gunn's Booster Gold.
Sonny00:31:45We got to get Booster Gold in there, but like, whatever, like, all right. If you're going to, if you're going to wind down this universe, this is a almost touching way to do it. I was like, okay, I can live with this. And then the last 10 minutes of this movie reverses all of it in service, in fan service to a dead universe. Wonder Woman shows up and she's like, I'll bring him back to life, which is great because he's horny for me. And then he, and then he gets all horny for her. And then, and they're making jokes and he's like, oh, can I bring my, my, my family's powers back? Yeah, they can all have powers again. Everybody's got powers again. None of these sacrifice mattered. It was all for naught. Uh, none of this mattered. They're all, they're all, uh, Shazam's again. And then, and then, and then in the mid credits, James Gunn's wife shows up. She's the, she's the blonde woman who is in peacemaker and, uh, and the squad. It's his wife. Uh, she shows up and she's like, you should join the justice society and Shazam is once again, uh, fucking mentally challenged child is shooting bottles with his lightening fingers. He's regressed again. I would just, I hated it so much. I hate it. It took all of the progress of the movie and just reverted it back to stage one. Uh, for no reason, again, in service of a totally dead dying cinematic universe. There's no reason for any of this to happen. You know why there's no reason for any of this to happen? Cause they fucked up this whole thing. They have fucked up this whole thing from the beginning. The whole, the whole idea of having Shazam, uh, not be in the black Adam universe. Like there's all sorts of back backstory here. Uh, you know, Dwayne Johnson didn't want black Adam to be part of the Shazam movies because the Shazam movies were like kind of cheap, the cheap hokey side project of DC. He wanted to be a Superman, uh, nemesis or possibly partner. Um, and that's why at the end of black Adam, Superman, Henry Cavill shows up and Henry Cavill, like two days after that movie came out, was like, I'm back as Superman. And then two days after that, James Gunn was like, you're fired as Superman. And then two days after that, Henry Cavill was like, I tried to come back. I'm back as Superman, but they don't want me like all of this is happening. All of this is happening. Instead of just doing the thing that made the most sense at the beginning, which was have Shazam and black Adam do their thing together. Cause they're both, they got the same powers from the same powers. Just have them together, do their thing. And they, they have, and they've, they've managed to totally mess all this. I like, again, like set aside all of the dumb nerd connected universe stuff, just within the context of this movie itself. Is a betrayal of every dramatic principle that I know and revere, uh, to have what happens happen in this movie. I hated, I hated it so much. I was sitting there getting angrier and angrier at my, at my, uh, recliner seat in the Alamo draft house, drinking my, uh, revolver blood and honey. And when I heard the wonder woman theme music came on, if I hadn't been in such a nice theater, I would have thrown my cup at the screen because I was so mad. I was so mad. I was like, don't do this. Don't, there's no reason to do this. There's no reason. Let it die. Let it die and move on to the next thing. And they can't. This is the problem with all these corporate franchises. They don't know how to let anything just let it die. Slash rant.
Mike00:35:10So B plus. Wow.
Sonny00:35:12I was, I was so mad. You guys, I was just, I was sitting there steaming in my seat. I was like, I can't believe that. I cannot believe they're doing this. And they did it and they did it. And I was, I was very angry.
JVL00:35:25Well, did either of you get the trailer for the flash movie?
Sonny00:35:28Yes.
JVL00:35:29So, so DC has been sitting on flash for, I don't even know how long dealing with their Ezra Miller problem. Because the fact is they've made the star of this movie, uh, an actor who is maybe a cult leader and a kidnapper and certainly a drug addict. And, uh, their flash. Movie seems to basically be flash into the multiverse of madness or something flashpoint, Michael Keaton playing the original Prince scored Batman. And, and that is like the, I don't know what, not the afterbirth, but like the after death of, of this cinematic universe. Right. Which is, has, as you say, collapsed in on itself in, I guess I blame the second. I guess it started with the second, uh, uh, Wonder Woman movie, right? That's that's where everything started going sideways because things went pretty good. They had Joker, which was, you know, both the, an artistic and a commercial success Aquaman, which was a commercial success. Uh, like they, you know, they, the first Wonder Woman, which did very nicely. Um, like it looked like it was basically viable.
Sonny00:36:52And, uh, man oof, what I, well, I mean like the Joker thing was always separate. I mean the real problem, I mean, I, again, like the real problem here is you have to go all the way back to the aftermath of Batman or Superman dawn of justice, which got savaged by critics. People were like, this is no fun. We need fun stuff. Uh, then guardians of the galaxy comes out and does huge business. And DC is like, you know what? We need suicide squad to be like guardians of the galaxy. Remember? And then they released the like Bohemian Rhapsody trailer, and then they recut the whole movie. By the people who cut that trailer and it like, it, it changes the whole tone of everything. And then of course, like Snyder gets Snyder either leaves, uh, justice league because of a terrible personal tragedy or gets fired and replaced by Joss Whedon. Who can say, um, uh, and they decide to like totally muck about with that, that whole thing. They call Henry Cavill back for the terrible mustache removing reshoots. Um, it, it's a disaster. It's a, it's a complete disaster. Um, but then Aquaman comes out and makes a billion dollars and they're stuck. They're stuck because it's like, well, we've got, we've got wonder woman, which made almost a billion dollars worldwide. We've got Aquaman, which made more than a bill. This is the, I mean, the funniest thing in this whole thing is that Aquaman remains the highest grossing DCEU movie. And there's an Aquaman sequel that's supposed to come out in December. So they don't know what to do. They don't know what they don't have any idea what to do with any of this stuff. The flash movie took forever to come together in part because Ezra Miller's an insane person. Also, there were just script. There were script problems for a while. Ben Affleck was going to do a standalone Batman movie. And then that got scrapped because Ben Affleck started drinking. Uh, he got, he, the, the thing was so traumatic. He got drunk all the time. It was like, I can't handle this. So, so he was out and he went and made his drunk basketball movie. Um, and then, uh, and Matt Reeves came and he made his own pocket universe Batman. There's the pocket universe, Todd Phillips, uh, Joker movie. Like none of this coheres into anything. None of this coheres into anything. And now they're going to scrap it. All. And they've got James Gunn. He's coming in to make Superman, going to make Superman movie. Sure.
JVL00:38:57Booster gold.
Sonny00:38:58And there's a booster gold movie.
JVL00:39:00I like none of this booster gold.
Sonny00:39:03It doesn't matter.
Mike00:39:05I mean, I, I could tell you take that question back.
JVL00:39:09I, you don't want, okay, I'll take it back. Uh, JVL, what booster gold is like the poster child for pre comic book bust, right? So the con entire comic book industry goes bust in like 1991. And it's because of things like booster gold, which was DC when the market was incredibly hot in the mid eighties, just looking to take their number of titles that they were printing monthly from like 25 to 150 in by whatever means necessary. And they're like, uh, here's a new hero. His name is booster gold. Sure. Somebody go draw that.
Sonny00:39:47Somebody go draw that.
Mike00:39:49Right. JVL, what are your thoughts about this movie?
JVL00:39:52Uh, it didn't, it didn't work for me, um, on the whole, but there were aspects of it that worked. Um, you know, there are, when it leans into the pure comedy, like the stuff with Jim on Hansu and the kid who plays Freddie, you know, stuck in the, the, the jail cell together and the rock of attorney, whatever the fuck that is, uh, like they have very good business
Mike00:40:21together.
JVL00:40:22And some of the stuff, do you, do you know what does work? The, uh, the girl who plays the, the older version of Darla, right. Who plays her character, the superhero Darla as if she's like 10 years old, that works very well because the character she's playing off is 10. Um, and it, you know, whenever it was working, it reminded me of what I like about this idea, which is to have a superhero movie. Basically just a comedy. And I, I like that. I, I enjoy that. I would like to have things like that for me to take my six-year-old son to, but the problem is then they also have the wizard grab a staff and get a splinter of the staff, which he then uses. But instead of just like, you know, oh, I got a splinter. I'm going to have, you know, damn pull off off camera. We get like nine excruciating seconds of him pulling a splinter out from under his fingernail, which has. And I brought G money to G money would have been freaked the F out. Right. And you're like, what, why would you make that true? This isn't, it does not matter to this movie at all, how the character gets the splinter. Right. And so the choice of, Hey, we got this sort of kids movie where everything is fun. This is the fun movie. This is the fun universe.
Sonny00:41:43Oh, it's a, it's a, let's show you some body horror, but it's, it's a similar problem with the first one, right? Like what's, what's the first big action sequence, the Lucy Liu and Helen Mirren showing up and murdering like 20 people, turning them into statues and then destroying the statues and killing them all. Or like the C the sequence with Diedrich Bader, who for some reason, who for some reason they bring into this movie and then convince him to walk off a roof for no reason at all. No reason. No reason. There's no reason for that.
JVL00:42:11Lucy Liu, terribly miscast. I think she's terribly miscast in, in a role that I mean, like her whole thing is like controlled rage. That's, that's what she does. She does very well. And this character does not supposed to control the rage. This character is supposed to be sort of a wild, wild card.
Mike00:42:31What did you think of Helen Mirren slumming it in this?
JVL00:42:35It's fine. I mean, the truth is she elevates everything she touches, right? Every scene she's in is like 5% better because she's doing it. But I want to talk the weird, the weird choice about having, so all of these kids have, they and then they say Shazam and they turn into the adult superheroes, except played by different actors, Grace, Carolyn Curry, right? Who in the first Shazam, she, she says Shazam when she turns into like, it's some other woman playing this.
Mike00:43:09Now she's the one who plays both parts and it is, I mean, it shouldn't matter.
JVL00:43:16Like who cares? Like you're in a, you're in a universe with magic where people transform. Like why did? But it is just sort of not you like, well, I don't understand. Why is this? I mean, I, why is this actress playing both characters?
Sonny00:43:30I mean, look, I, I think it, I think it works thematically. I, I told you this on text. I think it works thematically because she is now an adult. She's an adult. She's over the age of 18. She's trying to go to college. She's going out to bars and getting hangovers. Like she's, she's an adult now. So like when she changes, she remains her adult form, which she already is.
Mike00:43:52And they did establish in the first one that they're, they're, they're changing into what they, they're like what they will be.
JVL00:43:59So, oh, well, there we go. Uh, and I would say it has the, the least annoying product placement I've seen in a long time. So Skittles clearly paid a lot of money to this, to be not only be included, but to become a plot point. And at first I was annoyed by it, but the Skittles endorsement deal. It culminates with the Darla character yelling, taste the rainbow motherfucker. And that was so gonzo and out there that I suddenly was like, yep, you know what? That's fine. I'm cool with this.
Sonny00:44:37Uh, although it's another, I don't know. It's another moment where I'm like, this just, it's, it's like you have a movie that should work for an eight year old and it's not really for an eight year old.
Mike00:44:47That's, that's, and I don't know, like I, boy, I love.
JVL00:44:52I love Gal Gadot more than anything. I think she is great as Wonder Woman. She is not served well by being put in this.
Mike00:45:00She had dead eyes. She had dead eyes in her little cameo.
JVL00:45:03It was like, well, her soul was probably dead because she was being asked to do this.
Sonny00:45:08She's being asked. This is probably like the last movie on her contract. This is probably like the, you know, they, these, these people all sign eight movie deals or whatever. This is probably the last one. And so she's just there to fill out a contractual requirement. She's never going to play Wonder Woman again.
JVL00:45:22There's not going to be another Wonder Woman movie, which is really, which is really kind of shitty. I have to say. So, you know, I look, say what do you want about the DC cinematic universe? Uh, Gal Gadot was an absolute triumph as Wonder Woman, instantly iconic, very hard to imagine somebody else doing it, uh, better. She just did so many little things right with the character and for this to be the send off, the character, the, her. Her time in that role ends up as his kind of like the Henry Cavill. Yeah. It's like, really? Like I, I really enjoyed Henry Cavill's Superman. I thought he was quite good. And this is how it goes out. Yep.
Sonny00:46:06Yep. You know what happened? This is, this is what happens when you, when you rip the intellectual and artistic guts out of a project midway through it. I just sit, just throwing that out there. Just throwing that out there. Mike, what did you make of this? Michael, did you, did you love it?
Mike00:46:21No. So the context is that I didn't see the first one until this week and my wife and I watched it maybe a day, maybe the night before I saw, I saw that. So I liked the first one. I agree with you, Sonny, about it's jarring tonal shifts. You know, it's, it's cutesy fun, you know, kind of knockoff guardians at one moment. And then there's like seven deadly sins personified into these monsters, like tearing apart people in a, in a boardroom, like in like a horrible horror movie. But I liked it. I mean, there's, there's a, there was a bit of Ghostbusters feel to it, you know, I mean that, that sort of mixing the horror and, and action and the comedy. So, and I actually thought that the first movie does a good job of establishing things about Billy Batson's character as a kid before he meets Shazam the wizard. That explains some of his actions. I agree with you on, on the way Zachary Levi plays it sort of dumbs down, but some of the actions that he takes, the boldness, they really do a good job actually of establishing that this is what he was like as a kid. He's a bold kid who was, you know, from, from, from the word go, the movie started is doing kind of things that a, even a normal kid would be a little too shy to do, you know, playing the prank on the, on the, on the police officers. So I liked it. It was cute to, you know, bring the, the, the, the sort of found family. Together, uh, all well done. I liked the idea of these sort of, um, uh, over the top eighties comedy style, uh, bullies as well. You know, I mean, it's like it, it hit all of it, all the notes, I think well in this sort of heightened, uh, uh, movie, uh, that it was. And then the next day I saw this second one and I have to say, I was so bored throughout basically the second half of it. I just was like, I could feel myself. Zoning out and be like, what, what, what is going on? I following, even as you were explaining the plot, I was like, remembering again. Oh yeah. Then that happened. And that happened. It was, it just went in one ear and out the other for me. And I was just kind of ready for it to be over, uh, too many action.
JVL00:48:40And you think it was just over and over again, right? It tries to be too much of an action movie when, what this, what it wants to be as a comedy.
Mike00:48:47No, you're right about that, JBL. And then, and then the reveal at the end with wonder woman was just. So, I mean, I thought it was cheesy enough with the little dream sequence where he's on the date with wonder woman in Paris and did not like, I didn't like it because it was so obviously hiding the face. So you, so in your mind, you're going, oh, well, they were obviously not able to get Gal Gadot for this. And then they do the fake out with the wizard with Juman Hunsu or however you say his name's like being in the face. I was like, oh, that was really bad. And then got even worse. And then when she actually shows up at the end, I was like. Oh, this is terrible. This is awful. And, and, and it just, you could see it again in Gal Gadot's eyes. Like she's like, I, you know, how much longer do I have to be at Pinewood studios, Atlanta before I can like get out of here and get back to Tel Aviv or wherever she, she lives. I did not like it. I didn't like pretty much anything about it except for Freddie Freeman's arc. I did like, I did like sort of his part of. The story.
Sonny00:49:52It's the only thing in the movie that really works from start to finish.
Mike00:49:55Yes.
Sonny00:49:56And you, it, it, it helps that, um, it helps that, that the, the actress who's playing his love interest in the third Atlas sister, Rachel Zegler, Rachel Zegler, who was in West side story, um, is, is delightfully charming. I find her, I find her delightful. And there was like, there was a whole like effort to turn her into like the new and Hathaway. They were people who wanted to hate her on Twitter after the West side story. Uh, came out and I, I never got it because she is, she like is, she's the best thing in both those movies.
Mike00:50:27I think she, she's got great screen presence. Um, yeah, I, I just, the other thing about this and maybe you guys who are more comic book folks than I am can, can elucidate this for me because I find the whole, what is his name? What is their name? Like, are they like, it was, it was funny in the first one, you know, trying to come up with this name, but now they've presumably been superheroes for all these years and they don't have a name for it. And I found it just hard to keep track of who, who the characters were because they don't have any names there. They have their own like given names, but they don't have superhero names. So I just, it was all very confusing to me. And like, I kind of had to remember, uh, what I guess it's color coded. So it's a little helpful, you know, Oh, Oh, she always wears purple. So she's, you know, all of that. But I, I, I found it. I wonder if audiences, if part of the reason audiences aren't coming to it is like, they don't know who, like, who's the superhero. Like his name is Shazam in the end of this movie, but he's not actually called Shazam throughout the movie. And he's captain Marvel, but he's not allowed to be captain Marvel. Uh, I'm just like, I mean, I have no idea.
Sonny00:51:44I can't, I can't, you might know the background better than I do, but there, there is a whole rights fight between Marvel and DC. Or two captain Marvels.
JVL00:51:53And maybe it's not interesting, but I am, or, uh, it's not interesting, but, but for the purposes of the movie, it's stupid to fixate on the name because, uh, the truth is, if that's his name, it doesn't make any sense. And saying his name transforms his back. Like he can never say, hi, I'm Shazam. Right. Right. Because if he were to do that, he would transform like just fucking idiot. You know, I would say another comedy beat that, that worked for me is the, uh, when they were sending like the letters to parlay. Right. So they've got the, the, the magical ghost pen, which, uh, like those bits again, those bits worked for me really well. Yeah. And there, there's a lot of stuff in the cave of wonders or rock fraternity, whatever it is, where we have the, they're so dumb, the kids in the lair and the doors and the, anyway, just there were, this is, this is what I struggle with. There were actually a bunch of things that worked for me, maybe even like 30 to 35% of the movie. Uh, and yet the, the, the, it just doesn't know what it wants to be. And this is, and nobody over there cares enough to have shepherded it to, to become what it should have been. Yeah. Because this is, as, as you say, like they're just shitting this out to like, just push it out the door so we can move on to the next thing.
Sonny00:53:16But that's, but like, and that's what I think drives me the craziest about the, the end of this movie, because like, if that's all you're doing with these. Fine. Just do it. Let them die. Let them die. Let them, let them move on, shuffle off into the next realm. Fine. But like this, this whole, okay, now he's, he's back. He's going to be in justice society. I hated it. I hated it. I like, I really be. And I think, again, the thing I resent the most was that the movie had kind of won me over by the time the finale rolls around. I was like, I was like, okay, I can, I can deal with all of this that they're doing. I, I, I like the idea of heroic sacrifice. And, and growing up and like it, it, it brings the whole theme of family and, you know, sacrificing for your family together. Like it worked more or less. And then they just, they just, they, they were just like, no, no, we're not. We're just kidding. We're just, you wanted a serious end off. Fuck you. Here's a teaser for a next movie. That's never going to happen.
Mike00:54:14It was, it really was. No one's ever really gone. Like they took that seriously.
JVL00:54:19Yeah. Yeah. Can I, can I offer. Can I offer something that I think is, is heresy, but is a bandaid that I think DC needs to rip off.
Mike00:54:30Go ahead.
Sonny00:54:31Sure.
JVL00:54:33No more Metropolis and Gotham and star city.
Sonny00:54:36Oh, see, no, I think. I'm sorry. No, that's wrong.
JVL00:54:39Rip that bandaid off because when you set something in Philadelphia, which is an actual place.
Sonny00:54:44Should not have been in Philadelphia. It should have been in Fawcett city.
JVL00:54:46You can have a sense of place. No. And this movie has a sense of place about. It in a way that all of the other DC things do not. One of the great things about Christopher Nolan's Batman movies, the Gotham is clearly in the first one. It's a, it's Chicago, clearly Chicago. Uh, and then by the time we get to the third, it's New York. He's turned into Manhattan. We see it with the bridges around Manhattan blowing up, right? He's decided that he's me. So let's just make. Gotham city is Chicago from now on, just the name metropolis is New York city or just, you know, just kill the name entirely. Just Superman doesn't live in metropolis. Superman lives in New York. And you know what? All of the nerds will cry for five years, but then you'll be in a recognizable world and presumably they want to keep making movies for more than five years. So let's start grounding these things in a sense of place. Here's a better idea.
Mike00:55:50Stop making these movies. For like, just stop making them for, for a bit. Like you stop thinking of it as, well, we're leaving money on the table. Cause we got these franchises. We've got this IP and just like, just take a breather. Just, just, just go outside for a walk for a bit. And then like come back in five or 10 years when you've cleared your head and just, just make a good movie again.
JVL00:56:16Can't do that. That's what they're doing with star Wars. Yeah. It seems literally what they've done with star Wars. It seems to be working out. It's not, no, not working great. Now they got to, because if they don't keep making these movies, the entire theatrical exhibition business is going to go under.
Sonny00:56:30Yeah, that's true.
JVL00:56:31So we do need them to keep making, making these movies. And, uh, and you know, they also got to start making some, some fucking family movies too, because if you had kept going down your top 10, I suspect that you would have gotten to puss in boots for top 10 grossing.
Sonny00:56:47Yeah, it was like number six or seven, I think. Yeah, it's just been out for a while.
JVL00:56:50When did puss in boots come out, Sonny?
Sonny00:56:51Three months ago. It came out at the end of December. That's right. Yeah. So three months.
JVL00:56:56Uh, puss in boots is, you know, cumulative total now is how much?
Sonny00:57:01It's about 400 million worldwide.
JVL00:57:04And it only opened to like a very low number. You know, you'd have to look that up. I don't have it. But the point is, if you make a quality children's movie in this environment, you are printing money.
Sonny00:57:14They're just, they just play forever because there's nothing else. I mean, this is why, I don't know, the Super Mario Brothers movie is going to make a billion dollars. Because totally nostalgia. It's going to open to a hundred million dollars.
JVL00:57:25And they're like, yes, it'll be every six year old. I know has this march down on his calendar. That's right. All right.
Mike00:57:30All right. Uh, any, any final thoughts about Shazam Fury of the Gods?
Sonny00:57:35Shazam.
Mike00:57:36Shazam.
Sonny00:57:36Bad movie.
Mike00:57:37Just, and can I say also just so dumb that the whole Shazam thing and these, I hate it. I hate the, that, that phrase, whatever. Uh, okay. Well, that's all the time we're going to give to this episode. Thanks for listening. Remember sub beacon.com. Uh, you can, uh, follow us, uh, listen, subscribe there, comment, uh, check out our bonus episodes. Uh, and, uh, thanks for listening.
Sonny00:58:10We got any, got anything Mike?
Mike00:58:12Uh, I, I mean, I could keep talking about the, uh, the whole kids movie thing because it's been something that I've been like furious about for. For years. And I was thinking about like the last movie that I actually took my kids to see in the theater. Um, well there was that minions movie, but, but my then four-year-old like walked out for reasons had nothing to do with the movie itself.
JVL00:58:36Um, but then there was that he, I thought you were gonna say he was just frustrated with all the toilet humor. Exactly.
Mike00:58:42He wanted something more sophisticated. Exactly. He's, you know, he has got, he's got a kind of a high bar for what, no, but then like the one we actually sat down in. The theater for the whole time. And the three of us, the two big boys and me saw together was that Clifford movie. You remember that Clifford, uh, movie, which was, which was not good. Uh, but at least it, and you know what, it was like this memorable thing for my kids. Like they still talk about that Clifford movie. Um, and you know, it was kind of one of the first live action movies they saw in the theater. And, and I think it just all kind of, you know, it just reminds me, I don't know who this writer was Sonny. That, that, that published this thing about Matt singer, Matt singer. Yeah, that's right. Um, and I guess he got, cause I'm not on Twitter right now, but I guess he got a lot of grief on Twitter.
Sonny00:59:30People were trying to say that like things like a bunch of, a bunch of, well, no, a bunch of, a bunch of, he got a lot of responses from idiot 22 year olds who don't have kids who were like, just take your kids to Shazam. Let's there are all these superhero movies. I'll just take your kids to the superhero movie.
Mike00:59:44They don't understand.
Sonny00:59:44Like, let me drive people who don't, people don't, people who don't have children should shut up. Shut, shut the fuck up about kid stuff. You don't, you don't know what you're talking about. Shut up. Totally.
Mike00:59:56Anyway, but is there are no G rated movies either? I mean, even these puss in boots and, uh, and Mario are PG, right?
Sonny01:00:04I mean, that's G G is basically dead. Why is that? It's basically a dead.
Mike01:00:07Have we talked about this before? Cause I it's like, it's confusing to me.
Sonny01:00:11I, I mean, the, the, the problem is a G movie says to tweens and teenage kids, this is a baby movie for babies, um, and they don't wanna go see it. Uh, the PG is kind of the, the sweet spot where you, you can get some adult humor in there and also like stuff that appeals to kids. Um, it, it, it just, it, that, that I, the, the long and the short of it is your, your two best bets for box officer PG 13 and PG.
Mike01:00:38I guess I, I just, the purity of the G rated movie is like something like, like my kids are not pure, but I would like to try to hold on to some level of purity. So like if I could. Just take them to a kid's movie that like doesn't have like toilet humor in it. That would just be great because then that's just a little less toilet humor. I have to hear in my house every single day. Good luck, buddy.
Sonny01:01:04Yeah, sure.
Mike01:01:05It's fine.
Sonny01:01:06I'm sure it's fine.
Spot something wrong in this episode? Suggest a correction →
Comments
Loading…