Brain Dead and Loving it!

There can be only so many of those franchise spanning sprawling epic kind of films. Not that the Russo brothers don't know how to pull it off; the directing team have already proven their astounding capacity to handle a veritable menagerie of super-beings thrown in into a tapestry of increasingly complex plot-lines since they directed CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER back in 2014. While this film presented a fascinating spy drama plot delving into a vast conspiracy shaking the foundations of S.H.I.E.L.D. all the while exploring Captain America's survivor's guilt, the following 2 films, 2016's CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR, and last year's AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR, steered clear of character developments to focus on bringing bigger and bigger spectacles putting a growing number of heroes in jeopardy. With CIVIL WAR, INFINITY WAR and now AVENGERS ENDGAME, Anthony and Joe Russo have successfully upped the ante and they have, beyond all expectations, managed...

The Powers of Shazam, as demonstrated in the 1972 DC reboot of the comic book. "In time of dire need, young Billy has been granted the power by the Immortals to summon awesome forces at the utterance of a single word" What kid didn't dream of being able to do just that; shred his mortal coil and turn into a being who was faster, stronger and, ideally, had the ability to fly. ''Wouldn't my friends be impressed? Nobody could mess with me!''  Very early on in the long tradition of Superhero comics, there was a conscious decision to pander to the core audience of kids, and before we got the very fist instance of a juvenile superhero sidekick in April 1940, when Robin made his first appearance next to Batman in Detective Comics #38, Billy Batson beat him to the punch by changing into CAPTAIN MARVEL just a few months earlier. Now I don't intend to make here a complete history of Captain Marvel. Many others have done it be...

When Disney Studios made Dumbo in 1940, they seriously needed a hit. They had invested heavily in a new studio in Burbank, and World War II was hurting their business. Not counting the fact that both PINOCCHIO (1940) and FANTASIA (1940) had cost the studio over 2 million dollars (a major sum at the time)  due to Walt's quest for excellence, which resulted in rather low profit margins (for the original releases, at least). Based on an unpublished children’s book by Helen Aberson and Harold Pearl, Dumbo seemed an easier production to tackle. Closer to the feeling of the old Silly Symphonies, and even meant as a short originally, the animation, while sumptuous, never was as elaborate as with previous feature length Disney productions. Yet the story of the young elephant with freakishly large ears that would find its place in the world after facing the mockery of both its peers and humans by demonstrating its unique ability to fly would reach out to the public in need of soarin...