Pet Sematary/Shazam (Double Review)
***Warning, contains spoilers***
So, today I saw two literally epic outstanding movies. I'm so greatful to the makers of both movies for making such incredible films! Why are they so awesome? Well keep reading and you'll find out!
You may not know this about me, but as well as watching movies I also love reading novels. I'm very fussy about the authors I read but I do have some big favourites.
My all time favourite author is the simply outstanding horror novel writer Stephen King. Excluding the Dark Tower series, which I didn't find interesting at all, and I don't think fantasy suits King, everything he touches turns to gold. From Carrie to I.T (can't wait for part 2 of I.T by the way), to Christine, his novels are both terrifying and incredibly difficult to put down. Even though you are just reading it in a book, the things he writes feel so real that they are actually disturbing. But that is the sign of possibly the greatest author of all time and certainly the greatest horror writer of all time.
Pet Sematary is a novel of Kings' I particularly like. It has all the elements of a great horror story, but it doesn't stray too far from reality. It feels like something that could happen. 'What?' I hear you say, 'it's a book about the dead coming back to life, how can that be real?'. But it's the way it's done and the possibilities it discusses that are convincing and believable.
I never saw the original Pet Sematary movie, but I was well placed to watch this latest version having read the book. There are lots of articles on the Internet about Indian burial grounds and rituals etc, so the events of this film feel more possible than you may think, and very disturbing!
Neither of the movies I have seen today have lots of well known actors in, but that doesn't stop them being great movies. In fact, it is carrying on a tradition that has expanded over the last few years of older more well known actors doing less and less movies as they get older and being replaced by new, less well known actors who clearly are the future, a fact that is illustrated more in the second movie I saw, Shazam, rather than this movie as in Shazam most of the actors are young.
Moving back to Pet Sematary, there are two well known actors in this movie, namely Jason Clarke, who recently starred in a great movie alongside Keira Knightley, and John Lithgow, who is more well known for being a comedy actor, especially in the t.v series Third Rock From The Sun. The rest of the cast are not well known but put in an epic performance.
The storyline is that Clarke and his family move to the country to escape city life in Boston. They move into a large house with a large amount of woods directly behind the house.
In these woods is a cemetery called Pet Sematary where people bury their deceased animals. So far, not so bad. However, as Lithgows character well knows, behind this cemetery is an Indian burial ground and that is a whole different ball game. What happens is you bury your dead there and they come back alive. The only problem with this disturbing idea is that when they come back they come back as evil psycho killers and it gets worse from there.
Clarke and his family lose their pet cat after it got run over and what happens is that Lithgows' character feels so sorry for Clarkes' daughter losing her beloved pet cat that he shows him the burial ground and the cat comes back alive. However, it may be alive but it's also vicious and evil.
Clarkes' daughter then gets killed by a truck and, stricken with grief, Clarke buries her in the burial ground. You can guess what happens next! The events of this movie and the movie itself are truly terrifying and not just with Clarke, the cat and his daughter. Clarkes' partner also has her own bad memories of her sister that died in very sad circumstances and the events of this movie bring it all back to haunt her.
This is one of the scariest movies I've ever seen. There were many times during the movie that I could feel my heart racing and I was watching the movie through my fingers as it was so scary. It is brilliant, you will struggle to see a better horror movie, you really will. It really makes a strong case for the existence of life after death and that there really is something too Indian burial grounds. Terrifying.
Absolutely terrifying and truly brilliant, 5 stars easily awarded.
Right, onto Shazam. It is well known that I don't rate DC movies anything like Marvel movies. DC has for as long as I can remember been Marvels poor relation. Marvel has had the better characters, the better storylines and the way their movies interact with each other is far better than with DC.
From the trailers this movie looked only o.k. it only had one really well known actor, namely Mark Strong, who plays the villan in this movie. A big question that I want to ask American film makers is why do they continually put British actors as the villans in movies? Why is the British actor so rarely the hero unless he puts on an American accent? They must clearly think the British accent sounds villanous is all I can assume!
Strong plays a fantastic role as the villan, but he is not the focal point of this movie, the kids that play Shazam and his friends and their adult counterparts, especially Shazams adult counterpart are the real hereos and focal point of this movie.
In recent years, DC has made many o.k but not much better than that movies such as the recent Ben Affleck Batman movies, and the Justice League movie. Henry Cavill has been his usual decent self as Superman too but none of it has been truly epic.
On top of that they've also made the dissaponting Suicide Squad, a movie which with the actors in it should have been far far better than it was. They also made the recent Aquaman which wasn't amazing either. Again, nothing they have done has been truly awful but nothing has been amazing, except one movie, Wonder Woman.
Wonder Woman, as you will see by my review on it, is an exceptional movie. The actress that plays Wonder Woman is incredibly attractive, and is an outstanding actress. The whole movie is one of those where you can't take your eyes off the screen. It is actually one of the greatest super hero movies ever made, and that's rare for DC.
I say all this because Shazam had the potential to be a turkey. It doesn't have many well known actors in it, and from the look of it, it's a kids movie.
However, I couldn't be more wrong. DC with Shazam have come up one of the greatest super hero movies ever made they really have.
The makers of this movie have clearly been watching Marvel for tips. It is Marvels Deadpool that attracted rave reviews and brought in a refreshing humorous take at super hero movies, rather than the intense, heavy stuff you often get. DC is well known for its heavy intense style movies. Batman is especially like this. Dark, foreboding and depressing with them is the order of the day. Don't get me wrong, Marvel do intense, but even their intense movies they intersperse with light hearted moments.
Shazam is almost completely light hearted, but with serious bits too. It starts off in the 70s where Mark Strongs character is taken by a wizard and tested to see if he is the chosen one. He fails and this sets the chain of events that leads to Shazam.
Since the 70s the wizard has been taking hundreds of people to see if they are worthy and none have passed the test. Strongs character has got a job as a scientist to interview people about their experiences because he wants to get back to the wizard to get his revenge. He finally unlocks the symbols needed to get back there and steals an orb that drains the wizards power and releases the seven deadly sins into the world via strong, making him a super villan.
Billy is a child that has gone from foster home to foster home, escaping each home to go and search for his mother, who he lost as a child. He gets placed with a foster family of kids of different ages after his latest escape. Whilst he's on the subway train he gets transported, like many before him to the wizards realm, only this time as the evil has escaped the wizard is so weak he gives Billy the super hero power even though he isn't the perfect candidate.
What the power does is turn Billy from a teenage boy into a fully grown man and also a super hero, impervious to bullets, able to fly, super human strength, the works. He goes back to his foster home and convinces the disabled child there that is still him and he becomes his sidekick or manager I guess is the better word.
There are so many jokes and funny bits in this movie, I can remember laughing as much as I did during this movie outside of a comedy movie I really can't. Truly hilarious but also truly awesome.
It is brilliant the way Shazam gets the other kids from the foster home involved, unbekownst to their foster parents in the inevitable battle against Strongs villan.
Recently, both Marvel and DC have done many origin movies and I think it's refreshing to see so many new characters coming into both universes. However, I think both Marvel and DC have to be careful they don't get rid of too many of the original characters we know and love, it's about balance.
Another thing I have to say is PLEASE stay until the very end of the credits. There's a mid credits scene which clearly sets up a sequel and another humorous scene right at the end of the credits which keeps the laughs going right till the very end.
Also, clearly Shazam and his friends are going to link up with the Justice League team as there is a scene very near the end of the movie which has a brief appearance of a very well known character from the DC stable! I think with acting and hilarity of this quality the unknowns from Shazam will quickly become famous actors. Exceptionally good performances.
This is an hilarious, exciting, brilliant, can't take your eyes off the screen super hero movie. I really hope that DC introduce more great characters like this and make more brilliant movies like this. This movie is the joint best DC movie I've ever seen, joint with Wonder Woman and that shows you how good it is!
It's like someone at DC finally realised that to compete with Marvel they need decent character development and humour and what a recipe for success it is!
One of the greatest super hero movies ever is the biggest compliment I could possibly pay a DC movie and massive credit to all involved.
Truly an outstanding must see movie for all fans of the super hero movie genre, 5 stars easily awarded. Well done all involved.
*These reviews are all my own work, please don't reproduce without my permission but please visit my advertisers pages as they help keep the blog going thankyou. :)
So, today I saw two literally epic outstanding movies. I'm so greatful to the makers of both movies for making such incredible films! Why are they so awesome? Well keep reading and you'll find out!
You may not know this about me, but as well as watching movies I also love reading novels. I'm very fussy about the authors I read but I do have some big favourites.
My all time favourite author is the simply outstanding horror novel writer Stephen King. Excluding the Dark Tower series, which I didn't find interesting at all, and I don't think fantasy suits King, everything he touches turns to gold. From Carrie to I.T (can't wait for part 2 of I.T by the way), to Christine, his novels are both terrifying and incredibly difficult to put down. Even though you are just reading it in a book, the things he writes feel so real that they are actually disturbing. But that is the sign of possibly the greatest author of all time and certainly the greatest horror writer of all time.
Pet Sematary is a novel of Kings' I particularly like. It has all the elements of a great horror story, but it doesn't stray too far from reality. It feels like something that could happen. 'What?' I hear you say, 'it's a book about the dead coming back to life, how can that be real?'. But it's the way it's done and the possibilities it discusses that are convincing and believable.
I never saw the original Pet Sematary movie, but I was well placed to watch this latest version having read the book. There are lots of articles on the Internet about Indian burial grounds and rituals etc, so the events of this film feel more possible than you may think, and very disturbing!
Neither of the movies I have seen today have lots of well known actors in, but that doesn't stop them being great movies. In fact, it is carrying on a tradition that has expanded over the last few years of older more well known actors doing less and less movies as they get older and being replaced by new, less well known actors who clearly are the future, a fact that is illustrated more in the second movie I saw, Shazam, rather than this movie as in Shazam most of the actors are young.
Moving back to Pet Sematary, there are two well known actors in this movie, namely Jason Clarke, who recently starred in a great movie alongside Keira Knightley, and John Lithgow, who is more well known for being a comedy actor, especially in the t.v series Third Rock From The Sun. The rest of the cast are not well known but put in an epic performance.
The storyline is that Clarke and his family move to the country to escape city life in Boston. They move into a large house with a large amount of woods directly behind the house.
In these woods is a cemetery called Pet Sematary where people bury their deceased animals. So far, not so bad. However, as Lithgows character well knows, behind this cemetery is an Indian burial ground and that is a whole different ball game. What happens is you bury your dead there and they come back alive. The only problem with this disturbing idea is that when they come back they come back as evil psycho killers and it gets worse from there.
Clarke and his family lose their pet cat after it got run over and what happens is that Lithgows' character feels so sorry for Clarkes' daughter losing her beloved pet cat that he shows him the burial ground and the cat comes back alive. However, it may be alive but it's also vicious and evil.
Clarkes' daughter then gets killed by a truck and, stricken with grief, Clarke buries her in the burial ground. You can guess what happens next! The events of this movie and the movie itself are truly terrifying and not just with Clarke, the cat and his daughter. Clarkes' partner also has her own bad memories of her sister that died in very sad circumstances and the events of this movie bring it all back to haunt her.
This is one of the scariest movies I've ever seen. There were many times during the movie that I could feel my heart racing and I was watching the movie through my fingers as it was so scary. It is brilliant, you will struggle to see a better horror movie, you really will. It really makes a strong case for the existence of life after death and that there really is something too Indian burial grounds. Terrifying.
Absolutely terrifying and truly brilliant, 5 stars easily awarded.
Right, onto Shazam. It is well known that I don't rate DC movies anything like Marvel movies. DC has for as long as I can remember been Marvels poor relation. Marvel has had the better characters, the better storylines and the way their movies interact with each other is far better than with DC.
From the trailers this movie looked only o.k. it only had one really well known actor, namely Mark Strong, who plays the villan in this movie. A big question that I want to ask American film makers is why do they continually put British actors as the villans in movies? Why is the British actor so rarely the hero unless he puts on an American accent? They must clearly think the British accent sounds villanous is all I can assume!
Strong plays a fantastic role as the villan, but he is not the focal point of this movie, the kids that play Shazam and his friends and their adult counterparts, especially Shazams adult counterpart are the real hereos and focal point of this movie.
In recent years, DC has made many o.k but not much better than that movies such as the recent Ben Affleck Batman movies, and the Justice League movie. Henry Cavill has been his usual decent self as Superman too but none of it has been truly epic.
On top of that they've also made the dissaponting Suicide Squad, a movie which with the actors in it should have been far far better than it was. They also made the recent Aquaman which wasn't amazing either. Again, nothing they have done has been truly awful but nothing has been amazing, except one movie, Wonder Woman.
Wonder Woman, as you will see by my review on it, is an exceptional movie. The actress that plays Wonder Woman is incredibly attractive, and is an outstanding actress. The whole movie is one of those where you can't take your eyes off the screen. It is actually one of the greatest super hero movies ever made, and that's rare for DC.
I say all this because Shazam had the potential to be a turkey. It doesn't have many well known actors in it, and from the look of it, it's a kids movie.
However, I couldn't be more wrong. DC with Shazam have come up one of the greatest super hero movies ever made they really have.
The makers of this movie have clearly been watching Marvel for tips. It is Marvels Deadpool that attracted rave reviews and brought in a refreshing humorous take at super hero movies, rather than the intense, heavy stuff you often get. DC is well known for its heavy intense style movies. Batman is especially like this. Dark, foreboding and depressing with them is the order of the day. Don't get me wrong, Marvel do intense, but even their intense movies they intersperse with light hearted moments.
Shazam is almost completely light hearted, but with serious bits too. It starts off in the 70s where Mark Strongs character is taken by a wizard and tested to see if he is the chosen one. He fails and this sets the chain of events that leads to Shazam.
Since the 70s the wizard has been taking hundreds of people to see if they are worthy and none have passed the test. Strongs character has got a job as a scientist to interview people about their experiences because he wants to get back to the wizard to get his revenge. He finally unlocks the symbols needed to get back there and steals an orb that drains the wizards power and releases the seven deadly sins into the world via strong, making him a super villan.
Billy is a child that has gone from foster home to foster home, escaping each home to go and search for his mother, who he lost as a child. He gets placed with a foster family of kids of different ages after his latest escape. Whilst he's on the subway train he gets transported, like many before him to the wizards realm, only this time as the evil has escaped the wizard is so weak he gives Billy the super hero power even though he isn't the perfect candidate.
What the power does is turn Billy from a teenage boy into a fully grown man and also a super hero, impervious to bullets, able to fly, super human strength, the works. He goes back to his foster home and convinces the disabled child there that is still him and he becomes his sidekick or manager I guess is the better word.
There are so many jokes and funny bits in this movie, I can remember laughing as much as I did during this movie outside of a comedy movie I really can't. Truly hilarious but also truly awesome.
It is brilliant the way Shazam gets the other kids from the foster home involved, unbekownst to their foster parents in the inevitable battle against Strongs villan.
Recently, both Marvel and DC have done many origin movies and I think it's refreshing to see so many new characters coming into both universes. However, I think both Marvel and DC have to be careful they don't get rid of too many of the original characters we know and love, it's about balance.
Another thing I have to say is PLEASE stay until the very end of the credits. There's a mid credits scene which clearly sets up a sequel and another humorous scene right at the end of the credits which keeps the laughs going right till the very end.
Also, clearly Shazam and his friends are going to link up with the Justice League team as there is a scene very near the end of the movie which has a brief appearance of a very well known character from the DC stable! I think with acting and hilarity of this quality the unknowns from Shazam will quickly become famous actors. Exceptionally good performances.
This is an hilarious, exciting, brilliant, can't take your eyes off the screen super hero movie. I really hope that DC introduce more great characters like this and make more brilliant movies like this. This movie is the joint best DC movie I've ever seen, joint with Wonder Woman and that shows you how good it is!
It's like someone at DC finally realised that to compete with Marvel they need decent character development and humour and what a recipe for success it is!
One of the greatest super hero movies ever is the biggest compliment I could possibly pay a DC movie and massive credit to all involved.
Truly an outstanding must see movie for all fans of the super hero movie genre, 5 stars easily awarded. Well done all involved.
*These reviews are all my own work, please don't reproduce without my permission but please visit my advertisers pages as they help keep the blog going thankyou. :)
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