Are the Midbudget Films Coming Back?

I write this post very tentatively, because I don't have a lot of data points yet.  Originally, I intended to write a post about the mild superhero film slump we saw in February and March, with the latest "Ant-man" and "Shazam!" films taking a bath.  Instead, I realized that the trend I should be focusing on is the quiet success of several smaller films, especially a string of hits enjoyed by Universal.  This year they've had "M3GAN," "Knock at the Cabin," and "Cocaine Bear," which were all small, but decent hits at the box office.  And this is in spite of Universal's much shorter theatrical window that put "Knock at the Cabin" on VOD three weeks after the theater premiere date.  

Also consider the sleeper success of films like "A Man Named Otto" and "80 for Brady," both gentle comedies aimed at older audiences.  Neither cost much, and they didn't make much, but it was enough to turn a profit.  A notably young and diverse audience also made "Creed III" a hit.  Sure, it's a franchise film, but it's a sports drama that reportedly only cost $75 million.  Horror films have always had a dependable audience, and this year they came out for "M3GAN" and "Scream VI."  Other smaller budget projects like the thriller "Missing," the action film "Plane," and the faith based "Jesus Revolution" have also made an impact on the box office.  Maybe streaming and the pandemic haven't killed off the mid-budget theatrical release quite yet.  "Ant-man" still made more than most of these films combined, but  the playing field is looking less lopsided than it has in years.           

I love the convenience of having more films premiering on streaming services and VOD, but it's clearly not good for the films in question or the theaters, which were scrambling for content for much of 2022.  "Catherine Called Birdy," "Matilda the Musical," and many of my other recent favorites went under the radar because they were streaming exclusives, and the streaming services have shown over and over again that their marketing efforts are very hit-or-miss.  There was a lot of uncertainty over whether audiences would show up to theaters in the wake of the pandemic, and some pointed to the overwhelming success of movies like "Top Gun: Maverick" last year as proof that the demand is still there for great movies.  However, the unfortunately titled Variety article "Could Mediocre Movies Save Movie Theaters?" points out that the demand is still there for merely okay movies too, and that's even more heartening.  It suggests that casual moviegoing, rather than event-movie-driven moviegoing, is still going to be a thing.    

And while we're on the subject of event movies, my armchair movie mogul theory of the week is that superhero movies have become so numerous and so commonplace that most of them no longer qualify as event movies in the minds of the public.  Disney overloaded Disney+ with blah MCU content over the past two years, and is now trying to space things out and give individual offerings more breathing space.  As for the DCEU, it's more complicated, but "Shazam! Fury of the Gods" being such a bust had less to do with the quality of the film and more to do with dull marketing and most people having finally lost patience with the franchise - which is all set to be rebooted soon anyway.  I suspect that the low ebb is only temporary, but we're not going to see superhero movies dominating the box office again like they did in the past.    

I confess that I've largely fallen out of the habit of theatergoing.  The last movie I watched in a physical movie theater was "Babylon," and I'm not planning further trips until "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer" hit the screens.  However, this is mostly because theatergoing has been a social activity for me, and my social life is only starting to recover from the pandemic.  The prospect of going to a theater to see the latest "Magic Mike" or "Creed" movie by myself is frankly pretty depressing.  Fortunately, this doesn't seem to be a problem most audiences are having.  And that's great, because I do hope to get back into the groove of theatergoing some day.  And I want the movie theaters to be alive and well when I do.           

---

"Triangle of Sadness" and "All Quiet on the Western Front"

Let's get this over with.

Ruben Östlund loves to examine the absurdities and hypocrisies of modern man, with the pretensions of the upper classes being a special target.  "Triangle of Sadness" is his most unsubtle film, about a boatload of rich elites on a doomed cruise, and the hapless crew trying to keep them happy.  Our main POV characters are Yaya (Charlbi Dean) and Carl (Harris Dickinson), a young influencer couple who are always bickering over money.  The captain (Woody Harrelson), is perpetually drunk and won't leave his cabin.  The cruise director, Paula (Vicki Berlin), is a perfectionist who won't turn down any request from a guest, no matter how inane.  Add a passel of rich morons for passengers, some bad weather, and watch the vomit fly.  

The trouble with "Triangle of Sadness" is that it's actually two different films.  I didn't mind the first half, which is cartoonish and full of cringe humor.  It features a lot of physical comedy paired  with dark, dark social commentary.  There's an amazing set piece where a fancy dinner takes place during a terrible storm, resulting in epic amounts of seasickness and wasted food.  However, the second half of the film is  more earnest, about what happens when the established hierarchy is disrupted by disaster.  Suddenly a cleaning lady, Abigail (Dolly de Leon), emerges as the person with the most power, because she's the only one with any survival skills.  And once she has power, does she handle it any better than the spoiled elites?  

The amount of contempt that Östlund has for his characters turned me off of the film.  Every single person is a caricature, the elderly and the infirm are often treated as grotesques, and no one has any kind of psychological depth.  I might have been more receptive to Östlund's aims if there weren't so much recent media about the absurdity of the class divide, like "White Lotus" and "The Menu."  "Triangle of Sadness" is so obvious in its aims and so mean-spirited, I quickly lost patience with it.  As a comedy, it has some good instincts and gets in a few good punchlines.  As satire, however, it's entirely too blunt to have much impact.  

On to "All Quiet on the Western Front," Edward Berger's adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque's novel.  It's the first proper German adaptation of the WWI epic, and takes its cues from more recent war films like 1917 - which you can easily imagine playing out in the same universe as this one.  We follow a group of German students near the end of WWI who become soldiers and go off to war.  These include 17-year-old Paul Bäumer (Felix Kammerer) and his friends Albert (Aaron Hilmer), Ludwig (Adrian Grunewald) and Franz (Moritz Klaus).  There's been some dismay from fans of the novel that the film version takes great liberties with the sequence of events, including changing the iconic ending.  However, the themes of the film remain intact - the boys' loss of innocence, and the terrible contrast between their dreams of glory and the harsh reality of warfare.

And the harsh reality of warfare is really the main event.  For most of the 147 minute running time, we're treated to ghastly visions of combat and its aftermath.  Our young protagonists are subjected to an endless parade of horrors, climaxing with Paul's ugly showdown with an enemy soldier in a muddy crater.  Occasionally some respite is offered by interludes with a German official, Matthias Erzberger (Daniel Bruhl), who is trying to negotiate an armistice to end the fighting.  However, these are designed to elicit more rage, as the German command is completely unsympathetic to the plight of their own soldiers, and are more worried over trivialities and creature comforts.  

The film's production is impressive, and the material is certainly compelling.  However, this is a difficult film to watch.  The actors do their best, but the characters are uniformly flat and uninspiring.  The imagery is beautifully realized, and the anti-war messages come across loud and clear in a way that other WWII films don't consistently manage to get right.  However, the pacing drags, and the film is far too long.  Though I'm happy that it exists, and I appreciate its aims, I was very relieved when "All Quiet on the Western Front" was over.      

---

My Top Ten Films of 1948

This is part of a series of top ten lists from the years before I started this blog.  Entries are listed below in no particular order.  Enjoy.

I Remember Mama - George Stevens' first feature film after returning from WWII is a sentimental coming of age story, featuring a Norwegian immigrant family in 1910, led by a steady, inspiring matriarch.  This was one of Irene Dunne's final screen roles, and marked Stevens' permanent shift from comedies to dramas.  Dunne's Mama is an irresistible maternal figure, and it's easy to become involved in the lives of her hopeful brood.  

  

Hamlet - Laurence Olivier's film version of "Hamlet" is terrifically entertaining, full of Gothic gloom and portents of death, with an exciting sword fight sequence for the climax.  The play is condensed and removes several subplots, making it a more intimate drama that centers on Hamlet's psychological struggles.  It was the first British film to win the Best Picture Oscar, and cemented the place of the Bard on motion picture screens.   

Bicycle Thieves - Not just a Neorealist film, but really *the* Neorealist film.  One of the great ironies of "Bicycle Thieves" is that it was initially better received outside of Italy, because it was viewed as a negative portrayal of Italians.  However, Vittorio De Sica and Cesare Zavattini's bleak fable about a father and son in post-war Rome still holds an uncommon power.  The struggle it depicts is universal, and the expression of it remains sublime.

Unfaithfully Yours - A rather nasty little black comedy from Prestorn Sturges, featuring Rex Harrison as a celebrated conductor who can't stop fantasizing about getting revenge on his wife for perceived unfaithfulness.  There's a happy ending, of course, but the wild tonal shifts, the lofty misuse of classical music, and the unusually dark subject matter didn't do the film any favors at the box office.  However, it did help the movie stand the test of time.  

La Terra Trema - The second of three films on my list from Neorealist directors, who were making films to capture the plight of post-war Europe, fast and furious.  This was only Luchino Visconti's second feature film, part documentary and part narrative feature, about the exploitation of Sicilian fisherman.  It's a beautiful film, capturing the environment, the way of life, and the social bonds of the characters, but a difficult watch due to its length and themes.  

Fallen Idol - A fantastic Carol Reed thriller, about a man suspected of murdering his wife, where the whole story is seen through the eyes of a little boy.  It's a wonderfully tense film with some great cinematography that helps to create a child's eye view of the world.  The mystery is fairly typical, and the real stakes of the story end up being the boy's faith in the continually untrustworthy adults around him, which is sorely tested by the whole ordeal.    

Germany Year Zero - An incredibly nihilistic film about a boy living in occupied Berlin, who is alternately led astray and neglected by his authority figures.  It's the last film of Roberto Rosselini's war trilogy, and by far the bleakest.  Though not as strictly realistic as his previous features, the film features non-actors and some real locations amidst a destroyed Berlin - more than enough to help convey the state of Germany in the wake of its worst defeat.

Oliver Twist - This is the adaptation directed by David Lean, starring Alec Guinness as Fagin.  It's still the definitive screen version of the story, inventing new incidents that would carry over into subsequent adaptations, and making the villains like Sykes and Fagin the real stars of the show.  I prefer the musical version a bit more because of the songs, but I'm well aware that the musical would likely never have existed without the Lean version of the story.

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein - Arguably the first "Avengers" style cinematic universe occurred when Universal decided to put some of their horror movie favorites together in the "Abbott and Costello" series for some humorous supernatural hijinks.  I prefer Stan and Ollie to Bud and Lou, but it can't be denied that they can bring laughs aplenty with the right material.  And this is the right material.

Easter Parade - A winning MGM musical that pairs Fred Astaire and Judy Garland, and features some Irving Berlin classics.  The numbers are all consistently good and Astaire and Garland are at the peak of their stardom.  Astaire's "Steppin' Out With My Baby" is a highlight, but Garland's best number, the sexy "Mr. Monotony," was left on the cutting room floor until "That's Entertainment III" in 1994.     

---

A Look at "Lockwood & Co."

What has Joe Cornish been up to lately?  Well, he's just finished adapting Jonathan Stroud's "Lockwood & Co." YA book series into a Netflix show.  It's a fun one, featuring an alternate history version of London, where malicious ghosts started appearing 50 years ago that can kill people with a touch.  Only children are found to have the supernatural gifts to fight "The Problem," so they were recruited and trained to become "Agents" - essentially professional ghostbusters.  Nearly all the firms that employ Agents are controlled by adults, but a small independent outfit, Lockwood & Co., consists of a trio of teenagers.

Initially "Lockwood" starts out with a gloomy tone, as Lucy Carlyle (Ruby Stokes), a talented "Listener" who can hear ghosts, is recruited to become an Agent, and encounters repeated mistreatment and tragedy.  Ghost hunting is a dangerous line of work, and the Agents are often exploited by the adults who handle their jobs.  Then Lucy makes her way to London, where she meets the dashing, reckless, and wildly overconfident Anthony Lockwood (Cameron Chapman).  He and his bookish partner George (Ali Hadji-Heshmati) have decided to strike out on their own, running an agency out of Lockwood's deceased parents' house.  Nobody takes them seriously, but Lucy and Lockwood are soon running around London, chasing ghosts and getting into all kinds of trouble.

The dynamic between the two leads reminds me so much of "Doctor Who" and other British adventure series.  Lockwood is very much in the romantic tradition of the cocky, brilliant, man-of-action who leaps before he looks, and takes charge of every situation.  Lucy is the sensible one who helps to keep his ego in check.  However, they're both teenagers, and no matter how mature they try to act, they both clearly have a lot of growing up to do.  Lockwood's lack of restraint and habitual self-aggrandizement keeps landing everyone in trouble.  His swagger is backed up by the fact that he actually is very heroic and self-sacrificing in a very endearing way.  However, the agency is constantly in danger of being disbanded by DEPRAC, the government agency overseeing all supernatural activity.  Inspector Barnes (Ivanno Jeremiah) is frequently looming in the background, as the representative of adult authority, keeping a wary eye on their activities.

I like the worldbuilding here, which is very reminiscent of anime - in the sense that it utilizes some familiar tropes, and it is absolutely committed to a wild fantasy premise.  You've got the idealistic rebel kids versus the adult establishment.  You've got the dystopian world where the only hope is putting youngsters with unusual weapons into combat situations.  The Agents are all armed with rapiers, and occasionally get into showy fights with each other.  Other weapons include iron chains, flash bombs, and salt circles.  The atmosphere is creepy, but rarely very scary.  The show's live human enemies are much more unsettling than the dead ones.  The ghosts are honestly pretty underwhelming, and the effects work is dodgy if you look too close.  However, the action is exciting and the show does a good job of keeping the emotional stakes high.  

The young cast is very good, and I expect they'll all go on to long and fulfilling careers.  Ruby Stokes shoulders the lion's share of the dramatic weight of the early episodes, and is easy to root for.  This is Cameron Chapman's first screen credit, and it looks like he's having a ball playing an intrepid action hero.  Ali Hadji-Heshmati doesn't get nearly as much fun material as the other two, but acquits himself well with what he has.  They all have the tricky task of being early twenty-somethings playing teenagers who have had to grow up too fast because of their circumstances, thus acting older than they really are.  In this case, it mostly works.    

My biggest complaint is that "Lockwood & Co." is only eight episodes long, and only scratching the surface on the source material.  The first season gets us through two major cases, but it still feels like an overture to a much longer and more interesting story.  This bodes well for the show if it gets renewed, and I'm crossing my fingers that it will.  It's darker and spookier and better executed than similar YA shows like "Locke & Key," and I suspect it'll only improve from here.    

---

Eating Up "The Menu"

Mild spoilers ahead.

It's a nice surprise to walk into an innocuous looking horror film and find something more interesting going on.  "The Menu" features one really good idea, which is to take the theatricality and the pretensions of haute cuisine restaurant culture and take them to totally extreme, absurdist ends.  Written by Will Tracy, and directed by Mark Mylod (both "Succession" alums), there are thrills and chills aplenty to be found, but the joy of "The Menu" is in its pitch black humor and a very committed cast - starting with the insane celebrity chef played by Ralph Fiennes.

Julian Slowik strikes me as having more in common with Lydia Tár than Hannibal Lecter.  He's a passionate artist who has given over his whole life to his craft, and risen to the top of his field.  However, being forced to serve so many toxic "eaters" has soured him on his art.  He uses his chosen medium - an elaborate multi-course meal served at his remote island restaurant, priced in such a way that he can control the list of diners - to vent his frustrations.  The customers include a prominent food critic (Janet McTeer) and her toadying editor (Paul Adelstein), a movie star (John Leguizamo) and his assistant (Aimee Carrero), a trio of finance bros (Rob Yang, Arturo Castro, and Mark St. Cyr), and a wealthy couple (Reed Birney and Judith Light) celebrating their anniversary.  And then there's Margot (Anya Taylor-Joy), a total newcomer to this scene, who isn't supposed to be there.  She's a last minute invite, whose seat is being paid for by Slowik fanboy Tyler (Nicolas Hoult).  

"The Menu" doesn't become a horror film for a long while, leaning into the dark comedy as the various characters are introduced and arrive at the restaurant.  Sure, Slowik's staff displays creepy, cult-like devotion to their jobs, and there's an uncomfortable amount of contempt coming across in the early courses, but this mirrors the often unbearably high concept fine dining experiences that cater to the privileged crowd in real life.  The critiques aren't especially deep, but I do appreciate how thorough they are.  Jabs are aimed at everything from the uber perfectionism of the food presentation, to the gleefully condescending service of the maitre d' Elsa (Hong Chau), to the smug course descriptions that serve as chapter breaks in the film.  Each of the customers stand in for various sins of the industry and its supporters, and Slowik doesn't leave himself out either, confessing to his own mistreatment of his workers at one point.  Horror aficionados might be disappointed that there's not much by way of blood and guts, but the foodies will surely recognize the skillfulness of the skewering.  

I was initially a little surprised at the high caliber of the cast for a film with such a pulpy premise.  However, "The Menu" is full of fun characters for the actors to sink their teeth into.  Ralph Fiennes is absolutely the MVP here, for playing Slowik with far more restraint than I was expecting.  Instead of an over the top lunatic, he comes across as a  deeply sad and damaged man whose brilliance has led him off the deep end.  There's some real pain in his rants that gives him some pathos.  Anya Taylor-Joy's Margot does nice work as the only really normal and sympathetic person in the story.  The rest are mostly comedic caricatures, but they're good ones.  Nicolas Hoult continues his excellent streak playing self-absorbed assholes. Hong Chau's microaggressions are priceless, especially her use of the word "tortillas."  And kudos to John Leguizamo for playing himself.

When it comes to depicting the dining experience, "The Menu" is no slouch, recruiting professional chefs and even the creator of "Chef's Table" to make the presentation of the food look perfect.  I admit that I left the film more curious about the fine dining experience than ever.  I suspect that the film will play best to those with more experience with fine dining, though it works just as well as a thriller, revenge film, and all-around takedown of the rich and insufferable.  The messages aren't subtle, but at the same time they're not obnoxious, never letting us forget that Slowik and his crew are all completely mental, and "The Menu" is totally contrived exercise.    It's a very entertaining and creative one, however,  and left me completely satisfied.

---

Rank 'Em - MCU Phase Four: the Movies

This is the counterpart to the previous "Rank 'Em" list I put together for the MCU Phase Four Disney+ series.  From best to least, here are the post-"Endgame" MCU movies released over the past two years.  Spoilers ahead.

1. Spider-Man: No Way Home - This absolutely does not hold up in rewatches because the gimmick with the multiple Spideys and the lack of crowd reaction kill a lot of the experience.  However, I'm a sucker for any kind of story progression, and this version of Peter Parker finally becomes the universe's punching bag in a big way.  The use of the secondary characters like Doctor Strange and Aunt May is much improved.  And Alfred Molina and Willem Dafoe stealing the show is the best justification I've seen yet for the MCU putting so much emphasis on the multiverse concept.

2. Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings - I have a lot of complaints about this film, particularly the boring last act, where everything devolved into another big battle sequence with too much CGI.  On the other hand, the amount of care and effort that went into this one is clear, and Simu Liu is such a good addition to the MCU roster.  I'm looking forward to the future team-up movies just so we can have him back in action.  Tony Leung's Wenwu is also one of the better villains we've seen recently, and the fight scenes are great - the clash on the MUNI bus is one of my favorites.

3. Wakanda Forever - This was always going to be a tough film, because of the loss of Chadwick Boseman and the uncertainty of how to move forward.  I think that Ryan Coogler and company did the best that they could, but "Wakanda Forever" is such a glum film, and Shuri suffered drastic changes to her character as her role was forced to expand.  I'm also still very ambivalent on Namor, probably because underwater kingdoms are such fundamentally screwy concepts, and taking a more realistic tack than "Aquaman" didn't really help.  Still, this is a well-made film with some great disaster and action sequences, and ensures that some of the MCU's best will have a path forward.

4. Thor: Love and Thunder - I'm honestly puzzled as to why this flopped so hard, and garnered such a poor reception.  Then again, I'm one of the few who seems to have missed the joke with "Thor: Ragnarok" and genuinely liked "Love and Thunder" better.  The mix of terribly serious subject matter and goofy humor is rough at times, but I love how ambitious it all is.  And as previously established, I'm a sucker for story progression. Thor moving on to a new phase of his life is exactly what I wanted to see.  If nothing else, I'm thrilled that Natalie Portman got to be a badass.  

5. Black Widow - It's impossible for this film not to feel like an afterthought, coming after "Endgame" and taking place earlier in the timeline.  I think the best thing that I can say about it is that it's middle of the road - no serious flaws and no special highs.  Still, the new characters are very good, especially Florence Pugh's Yelena.  The concept is clever, and ultimately it feels like there would be a significant absence if this film didn't exist.  However, "Black Widow" may become best known for everything that went on behind the scenes of its release during the pandemic.

6. The Eternals - I was really rooting for this film to be better, with Chloe Zhao directing, and a cast full of interesting names.  Unfortunately, it was a mistake to have Gemma Chan in the lead role, along with such a large ensemble to keep track of.  The film looks absolutely gorgeous, from the cinematography to the costuming to the effects work.  Sadly, Zhao's approach to the Eternals as characters leaves a lot to be desired, and the story is entirely too clunky and self-serious.  I applaud it for its ambitions, but this one stands out from the pack for all the wrong reasons.

7. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness - Finally, the more I think about this movie, the more exasperated I am with it.  Wanda and her kids' characterization from "Wandavision" is mostly ignored.  The multiverse elements are underwhelming, and the big crossover event with the "Illuminati" left me cold.  While it was fun to see Sam Raimi adding some horror flourishes (and his car) to the MCU, Doctor Strange remains one of the most under-developed MCU characters, who has had a much better track record as a supporting character than as the lead of his own movies. 

---

Rank 'Em - MCU Phase Four: the Movies

This is the counterpart to the previous "Rank 'Em" list I put together for the MCU Phase Four Disney+ series.  From best to least, here are the post-"Endgame" MCU movies released over the past three years.  I haven't had the chance to see the most recent one yet.  Spoilers ahead.

1. Joker - My take has always been that "Joker" is an excellent Scorsese homage and a terrible "Batman" movie.  No matter what you want to say about what the film does with the comic book elements, it is great as an operatically over-the-top crime drama, and Joaquin Phoenix is fantastic as the instantly iconic Arthur Fleck.  So much of this film worked for me in ways I wasn't expecting, and the hand-wringing over its antisocial elements only made its appeal more evident.  No riots or mayhem happened as a direct result.  So, I say bring on Harley and "Folie a Deux."

2. The Suicide Squad - This is so much better than the first "Suicide Squad" movie, I'm astounded that it didn't make more money at the box office, pandemic or not.  However, it did result in the universally beloved "Peacemaker" spinoff, and it did get James Gunn a new job, so clearly the right people were paying attention.  I just adore these versions of these characters so much - Harley Quinn as the unkillable badass, David Dastmalchian perfectly cast as the unstable Polka Dot Man, and live action King Shark!  Heck, even the Taika Waititi cameo was a nice surprise!

3. The Batman - What I like least about Matt Reeves' "The Batman" is the titular Batman.  That's okay, however, because we're working with a version of the character who is still very much in flux.  The real achievement here is the Gotham City that has been brought to screen - a nightmarish world of urban blight, constantly beset by all manner of disasters.  And we don't just get Batman as a detective here, but Batman as the detective in a David Fincher-esque crime film, up against a radically reimagined Riddler.  Everything is unexpected, and I'm so glad to see it.

4. Birds of Prey - This was my last theater trip pre-pandemic, and I'm so glad I got to see these ladies on the big screen.  And it's nice to have a comic book movie that is operating on its own, very distinct wavelength.  The timeline is chaotic, the colors are bright, and the breakfast sandwich is doomed.  Yes, it's a glorified girl's night out episode, but there's so much packed in here to enjoy.  Awkward Mary Elizabeth Winstead!  Scummy Ewan MacGregor!  Margot Robbie on fire!  We may have to say goodbye to her Harley Quinn soon, and I'll miss her terribly.

5. Wonder Woman 1984 - I clearly liked this movie better than most.  Yes, it's cheesy and the plot doesn't make much sense, but the film is designed to be a throwback to the "Superman" movies of the 1970s and 1980s, which were similarly ridiculous.  Quibble all you like with how they brought back Chris Pine, but the important part is that we got Chris Pine, and we got him in terrible '80s clothing. We also got Pedro Pascal and Kristen Wiig hamming it up for all they were worth, and it was glorious.  If this movie had been released in theaters, I feel the discourse would have been very different.  

6. DC League of Super-Pets - This is "The Secret Life of Pets" with superpowers, and perfectly fine for what it is.  Kate McKinnon is the only one giving a remotely memorable performance as a spurned, hairless guinea pig, but the whole star-studded cast is clearly trying.  For the nerdiest viewers, there's also a fair amount of comic book lore worked into the film in some interesting ways.  I suspect that the film will end up having a long shelf life, and if this is the comic book film that Dwayne Johnson ends up being better known for in the long run, it will definitely serve him right.  Speaking of which…  

7. Black Adam - Well… at least it looked very expensive.  I understand why Johnson would want to play an anti-hero like Black Adam, but I don't understand why anyone thought it was a good idea to make him the star of his own movie, and to tilt the entire franchise in his direction.  I mean, he should have played the villain in the "Shazam!" sequel first to see if there was even any interest.  At least we got decent Hawkman and Doctor Fate appearances.  My biggest peeve, however, is the waste of Sarah Shahi, who got stuck in the role of human bystander and exposition machine. 

---