It's very difficult to keep the line between the past and the present.

You believe that someone out of the past can enter and take possession of a living being?

We may be through with the past, but the past is not through with us.

Welcome back to the next picture show, a movie the week podcast devoted to a classic film

in the way it shaped our thoughts on a recent release. I'm Scott Tobias here again with

Tosh Robinson, Genevieve Kosky, and Keith Phipps. On last week's show, we talked about the weird

and whimsical comedy Big, about a 13-year-old jersey boy who wakes up in the body of a 30-year-old and tries to

survive and thrive in New York City. This week, we're bringing in the new superhero movie Shazam,

which owes such a debt to Big that it includes a giant piano as an homage. The latest and

perhaps lightest and silliest entry in the DC extended universe, Shazam stars Asher Angel as a 14-year-old

foster child named Billy Batson, who's chosen as quote-unquote the champion of eternity by an ancient

wizard. What this basically means is that whenever Billy says Shazam, he turns into a swole superhero,

played by Zachary Levi. Shazam has the power of the Greek

gods, the strength of Hercules, the stamina of Atlas, the speed of Mercury, and the powers of Zeus.

He can even do cool magic tricks, like charging people's smartphones. His sidekick and best friend

is a disabled kid named Freddie Freeman, played by Jack Dylan

Grazer, who lives with him at the foster home. Billy and Freddie have a great time testing

Billy's new powers, but he inevitably gets some resistance from a bad guy named Dr. Thaddeus Savana,

played by Mark Strong, who once had the opportunity to be the champion of eternity,

but failed the wizard's test and has been trying to recover that power for himself.

All this unfolds over a tight, checks notes, 132 minutes.

We'll spend a slightly shorter amount of time talking about it after the break.

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