(In conclusion, I have nothing to add and am posting mostly to see my own pixels? Hi, I'm Jessica and I like the sound of my own voice.)
(Hi Jessica!)
Discussion of all Marvel Cinematic Universe related movies and TV shows, including, but not limited to, the Avengers, Captain America, Agent Carter, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Daredevil, Spider-Man, Ant-Man, etc., etc., etc. ad-infinitum.
Discussion of non-MCU Marvel titles like the X-Men or the Fantastic Four is also permitted. Ties to comics may be discussed, but this is not the primary forum for comics discussion (see the Other Media thread).
Spoiler policy: For broadcast TV shows, blackfont is allowed after the show has aired on the east coast. For movies and Internet streaming shows, whitefont all plot-related discussion until it's been in wide release two weeks. Posters are encouraged to preface their posts to indicate the subject, particulary if switching subjects.
(In conclusion, I have nothing to add and am posting mostly to see my own pixels? Hi, I'm Jessica and I like the sound of my own voice.)
(Hi Jessica!)
Can AoS please stop with the cheesy-ass Ghost Rider tagline already? The storyline is fine, but damn is that shit nerving me. ("Nerving me" came from a German friend - isn't it the best?)
Devin Grayson wrote a Dr. Strange novel: [link] Interesting.
All caught up on AoS. Will Ghost Rider's brother's paralysis be magically cured at the end of this story arc? And if not, why couldn't they have hired an actor with a disability? Either way, I'm annoyed.
So Dr. Strange was good, gorgeous to look at, worth seeing, but it easily could have been way better. Whitefont rant below:
So in what has to be the best-cast Marvel movie ever. The performances from Cumberbatch, Swinton, Ejiofor, McAdams, everyone, was really, really, really flat. So disappointing. And then suddenly, in the mid-credits sequence, for a brief moment, Cumberbatch suddenly came to life and started projecting. That's because the mid-credits sequence was directed by Taika Waititi and not Derrickson.
In short, Scott Derrickson makes a really gorgeous looking film, but can't work with actors. I hope they get someone else to direct the sequel.
Maybe more in the morning.
Good to know, Tom. I wasn't planning on seeing it, but it's good to be validated.
I mean, I don't want to overstate things here, nobody turned in a BAD performance, they're all pros here. But everyone here was completely straight¹, when given the subject matter, they could have easily had a lot more fun with their roles.
¹ Except that Marvel desperately wants Cumberbatch to be another RDjr; he was probably specifically told to base his performance on RDjr, but his attempts at RDjr-style quipping were forced and fell flat. Again, maybe with a different director it could have worked.
In comparison, in Ant-Man, everyone on the screen looked like they were having fun; nobody looked like they were having fun here.
In the first Thor movie, Hiddleson and Hopkins were given free reign to chomp their way through the scenery, and it worked and it was awesome. But while Dr Strange is objectively a better film than Thor in terms of plotting & pacing, visuals & special effects, and action & fight scenes, it still felt kind of off.
My friend wants to know if we should see Dr. Strange in 3D or IMX, or if it's not worth it.
I saw it in 2D, but it looks like it would be pretty trippy in 3D, if you're into that sort of thing.
It definitely was. I figured why not go for broke since I'm having a magic-themed day anyway, and splurged on the IMAX 3D at what used to be Grauman's Chinese Theatre. The visuals were pretty amazing (one sequence in particular was like the lovechild of Contact and Pacific Rim).
I felt that Swinton did bring some humor and nuance to her performance, but it was subtle rather than big. I thought that fit the character well.
My concerns about Chiwetel Ejiofor playing Mordo were borne out; they made him a noble character to fit the performance to the actor rather than having him play a traitorous weasel with no redeeming features. It was a good performance, just for a character that bears little resemblance to the one in the source material.
I think they made a major slip-up in having all the events of the movie occur in 2016. Way too much happened in Strange's backstory with recovery from his accident, and way too much went on with his tutelage in Kamar-Taj for it to all take place in 10 months. Given that his name was mentioned as a person of interest to HYDRA/SHIELD in 2014, this could have occurred several years ago and it would have fit better. Or they could have just used the movie's Macguffin to explain how he could have been on the radar of organizations years before his actual origin.