Shazam!

Today is May 4 (as in "May the fourth be with you"), tomorrow is the premiere of arguably the most anticipated superhero movie of the year (Guardians of the Galaxy 3), and Saturday is Free Comic Book Day. So now is as good a time as ever to publish my annual Summer Movie Preview (where I don't actually talk much about movies, but rather delve into geek culture).

Honestly, after being all into superheroes, sci-fi, and fantasy for decades, I'm not feeling it much this year. The last couple of Marvel movies have felt more like chores than something to be enjoyed (I don't think I've really loved a superhero movie since Avengers: Endgame, which was four years ago). I haven't even bothered to see Shazam 2* yet and I doubt I'll ever get around to seeing Black Adam.

The recently completed season of Mandalorian left me underwhelmed and the Book of Boba Fett and the Last Skywalker left such a bad taste in my mouth that years later I'm still mouthwashing. 

I watched the Rings of Powers and it was okay, I guess, I just wish Jeff Bezos had made better use of all the money he took from my family's Amazon purchases and made something a little more memorable.

That isn't to say I haven't enjoyed all geek culture stuff this past year. Andor was the best Star Wars I think I've ever seen (it, more than anything, probably ruined the third season of the Mandalorian for me). Strange New Worlds is easily the best Star Trek since Deep Space Nine. And I had a lot of fun watching Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. Finally, let me give a plug for Lockwood & Co. a Netflix series that follows a band of teenage ghostbusters in London that was one of my favorite things to watch this past year (and whose fate still hangs in the balance as Netflix still is deciding whether or not to renew it for a second season--#savelockwood).

Here's the thing, though, if I were to rank my top three favorite movies I've seen over the past year, they'd probably be, in no particular order: Mr. Malcolm's List (a Jane Austen-type Victorian love story), Rosaline (a irreverent retelling of Romeo and Juliet), and A Man Called Otto (a Tom Hanks weeper). Clearly I need help. I feel like Peter Parker midway through Spider-Man 2. I need my mojo back, give me some recommendations, please.

*Shazam really should be called Captain Marvel. That's the character's name and he had it long before Marvel's Captain Marvel. Captain Marvel (aka, the Big Red Cheese) was created in the 1930s, DC Comics sued its publisher for the similarities between Captain Marvel and Superman, DC Comics won the suit, eventually purchased the character, then inexplicably failed to copyright the name Captain Marvel. Seeing a chance to stick it to his number one competitor, Stan Lee of Marvel Comics then copyrighted the name for his company and thus Carol Danvers was born.**

**Well not exactly. There were actually a couple of Captain Marvels before Carol Danvers took the mantle. Comics are convoluted.