Stacy's Blog Has Got It Going On

"I'd like to purchase some of your finest beer, please." -Billy Batson Billy Batson (Asher Angel) has been shipped from foster home to foster home as he continually runs away in search of his birth mother.  After saving his new foster brother, Freddy (Jack Dylan Grazer), from bullies, Billy is chosen by an ancient wizard, Shazam (Djimon Hounsou), to become a champion and take on the wizard's power.  As Billy learns how to control his new superhero body (Zachary Levi) a dark force arises.  Dr. Thaddeus Sivana (Mark Strong) was rejected by Shazam when he was a boy and now he wants to take Billy's power for himself. What Works: The DCEU has been getting away from the overly-serious nature of its first few films and Shazam! is the best example.  This film is hilarious and almost more of a comedy than a superhero movie.  The cast does a great job of keeping things light and the film is a lot of fun. That said, there are some really dramatic a...

"You didn't bring enough pigs to hurt me." -Ronnie Barnhardt Ronnie Barnhardt (Seth Rogen) is the head of security at a shopping mall.  He's emotionally unstable with extremely violent tendencies.  Ronnie is determined to catch a serial flasher, stop a mysterious thief who seems to know everything about the mall's security, and date Brandi (Anna Paris), who works at a department store makeup counter, but Detective Harrison (Ray Liotta) is getting in Ronnie's way at every turn and he is getting fed up. What Works: I used to work as a security officer at a shopping mall, so watching this movie gave me some flashbacks.  There are a few brilliant moments in this film that only someone who worked at a mall could really appreciate.  There is a montage sequence that opens the film that shows the various types of people you see at a shopping mall.  This was way too real for me, but I enjoyed it. Seth Rogen is extremely committed to the insan...

"Sometimes, dead is better." -Jud Crandell Dr. Louis Creed (Jason Clarke) and his family move to Ludlow, Maine, where they live next to a busy road.  Soon after, their pet cat, Church, is hit and killed by a truck.  Louis' neighbor, Jud Crandall (John Lithgow), takes Louis to an ancient Micmac burial ground to bury Church and, the next day, the cat is back, but different.  Soon, Louis learns the hard way that sometimes, dead is better... Does this summary seem familiar?  That's because I copied and pasted it from my original Pet Sematary review.  The vast majority of this film is exactly the same as the original and it doesn't do anything different until the last third of the film.  I will have to spoil this film below, but it's a pretty meh film.  Everything in this movie is done better in the original, so just go watch that instead. What Works: There are a few creepy moments in this film.  Most of them have to do ...

"Hey, guys, I heard what happened at the challenge.  Eat me." -David Wright I'm shocked.  If you had told me that that no Idols would be played and no rocks would be drawn in this episode, but Eric would be the one to go home, I would not have believed you.  This was a really fun episode, but it was filled with bad gameplay.  Who was the worst of the worst and who rose to the top of the heap?  Let's find out. Who Played Well: Let's start with Kelley, who did a great job of patching things up with David, managed to hold onto her Idol (balls of steal!), and got a Kama voted out.  Her ally Lauren did a lot of the same things; like holding onto her Idol and getting Eric voted out, though I will say, when she started to get dizzy, she should have just dropped out of the challenge.  If the block had landed on her head when she fell, she could have been evacuated from the game. David Wright (my winner pick!) also had a good night. ...

"John, no more lies." -Sayid Jarrah The 21st episode of Lost picks up with the survivors reeling from the death of Boone (Ian Somerhalder).  During the funeral, Jone Locke (Terry O'Quinn) shows up and tries to explain what happened, but Jack (Matthew Fox) physically attacks him and calls him a liar.  With Jack on the verge of collapse, but refusing to rest, Kate (Evangeline Lilly) slips him some sleeping pills to finally get him to sleep. Locke attempts to apologize to Shannon (Maggie Grace), but she does not accept it.  Instead, she goes to Sayid (Naveen Andrews) and asks him to do something about Boone's death.  Sayid gets Locke to take him to the plane, while asking pointed questions.  He gets Locke to turn over the gun he found on the Nigerian priest and Locke then admits he was the one who attacked Sayid when he was trying to find the source of the French transmission.  Sayid is furious, but restrains himself from inflicting any harm on ...

"Walk away." -Vasili In 2008, Mumbai, India suffered a brutal terrorist attack that left at least 174 people dead.  This film focuses on one of the major locations in the attack, the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, and follows the guests and workers trapped inside as they fight to survive. What Works: Hotel Mumbai is essentially Die Hard in a hotel; a group of terrorists take control of a building and those trapped inside have to stay alive and avoid the killers, but it's all a true story.  This film is both brutal and disturbing.  The filmmakers did not hold back in terms of violence.  Many people are wounded or killed, some are shot point-blank and we see it up close.  It's a very effective and realistic film that shows the sheer horror of these attacks.  Some may find this to be too much, but I commend the filmmakers for not downplaying how horrific this violence was. The tension is incredibly high in this film and you are always on th...

"Julie, you're hot." -Lauren O'Connell This was a pretty exciting episode of Survivor , though it does leave me worried about what is to come.  Most importantly, Devens is back from the Edge, but how did he and the other contestants do gameplay wise?  Let's take a look! Who Played Well: Let's start with the Kama 6 as a whole.  Even though we didn't get a ton of screen time from most of them, Eric, Gavin, Julia, Julie, Ron, and Victoria all did a great job in this episode.  They took out a major player in Joe and alienated David and Rick from the other original Manu's by getting Kelley, Lauren, and Wardog to vote for David.  It really couldn't have gone any better for them.  Ron got his way on the vote, but he has to be careful not to ruffle any feathers. by taking charge like that. Julie did the best of the Kama 6.  Not only did she win Immunity, but she also bonded the most with Rick out of the Kama's, which may bene...