Doctor Strange - Movie Review

Starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rachel McAdams, Tilda Swinton, Mads Mikkelsen, Benedict Wong, Michael Stuhlbarg and Benjamin Bratt.
Written by Jon Spaihts, Scott Derrickson & C. Robert Cargill.
Directed by Scott Derrickson.

★★★

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is like the most expensive binge-worthy series. Iron Man was just the first two episodes. And in a way, it's like the reverse Orange Is the New Black. Instead of meeting everyone and then getting their backstory, every other episode is an origin story, and we know they'll mingle with other cast members later. Like after the credits.

This time around we meet Dr. Steven Strange, a brilliant, arrogant surgeon whose hands get screwed up in an auto accident. He seeks every possible method of surgical healing, but in a moment of desperation, he goes East to pursue more mystical methods. There he meets the Ancient One (a Tibetan monk in the comics, but to make the movie more palatable for China, he's been changed to a Celtic one). Tilda Swinton plays the Ancient One, and she elevates every scene she's in.

It's one of the funnier entries in the MCU, and it would have to be since it's full of magic and bending reality and interdimensional travel. The visuals are great. Very reminiscent of Inception, but it feels like it's its own thing.

I also enjoyed his sentient cape. Reminded me of the magic carpet from Aladdin.

Random Movie Stuff - 12/16/13

- Three film icons (for different reasons) died over the weekend:

Peter O'Toole (Lawrence of Arabia)
Joan Fontaine (Rebecca)
Tom Laughlin (Billy Jack)

- Sony is looking at expanding its corner of the Marvel universe, i.e., the Spider-Man piece.  In addition to Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) and 3 (2016), they're developing spinoff films for Venom and The Sinister Six. The original Six consisted of Doctor Octopus, Electro, Sandman, Mysterio, Vulture and Kraven the Hunter.  Later incarnations would include Hobgoblin, Gog, Chameleon, Rhino, Shocker and Scorpion.

- With the Vacation sequel/reboot mothballed, Ed Helms has set his sights on starring in a Naked Gun reboot. Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant (Night at the Museum, Reno 911) will write it.

- Gerard Butler (Set), Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Horus) and Geoffrey Rush (Ra) will star in Gods of Egypt, literally playing Egyptian Gods. Newcomers Brenton Thwaites (upcoming Maleficent) and Courtney Eaton (upcoming Mad Max: Fury Road) will also star.

- Chiwetel Ejiofor, Cate Blanchett, Casey Affleck, Michael B. Jordan and Christoph Waltz will star in Triple Nine for director John Hillcoat (The Road).  It's about a group of criminals who conspire to kill an LAPD officer as a distraction for a heist they plan to pull in a different part of town.

- Filming has begun on Men Women & Children, an ensemble film from Jason Reitman (Juno, Up in the Air) about how the internet has changed lives, relationships and how we communicate, particularly between parents and children. Emma Thompson will narrate it, and it stars Adam Sandler, Jennifer Garner, Rosemary DeWitt, Judy Greer, Dean Norris and Travis Tope.

SAG Award Nominees 2013

FILM
Ensemble Cast
12 Years a Slave
American Hustle
August: Osage County
Dallas Buyers Club
The Butler

Lead Actor
Bruce Dern, Nebraska
Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave
Tom Hanks, Captain Phillips
Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club
Forest Whitaker, The Butler

Lead Actress
Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
Sandra Bullock, Gravity
Judi Dench, Philomena
Meryl Streep, August: Osage County
Emma Thompson, Saving Mr. Banks

Supporting Actor
Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips
Daniel Brühl, Rush
Michael Fassbender, 12 Years a Slave
James Gandolfini, Enough Said
Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club

Supporting Actress
Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle
Lupita Nyong’o, 12 Years a Slave
Julia Roberts, August: Osage County
June Squibb, Nebraska
Oprah Winfrey, The Butler

TV
Ensemble – Drama
Boardwalk Empire
Breaking Bad
Downton Abbey
Game of Thrones
Homeland

Ensemble – Comedy
30 Rock
Arrested Development
The Big Bang Theory
Modern Family
Veep

Actor – Drama Series
Steve Buscemi, Boardwalk Empire
Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
Jeff Daniels, The Newswroom
Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones
Kevin Spacey, House of Cards

Actress – Drama Series
Claire Danes, Homeland
Anna Gunn, Breaking Bad
Jessica Lange, American Horror Story: Coven
Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey
Kerry Washington, Scandal

Actor – Comedy Series
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
Jason Bateman, Arrested Development
Ty Burrell, Modern Family
Don Cheadle, House of Lies
Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory

Actress – Comedy Series
Mayim Bialik, The Big Bang Theory
Julie Bowen, Modern Family
Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie
Tina Fey, 30 Rock
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep

Actor — TV Movie or Miniseries
Matt Damon, Behind the Candelabra
Michael Douglas, Behind the Candelabra
Jeremy Irons, The Hollow Crown
Rob Lowe, Killing Kennedy
Al Pacino, Phil Spector

Actress – TV movie or Miniseries
Angela Bassett, Betty & Coretta
Helena Bonham Carter, Burton and Taylor
Holly Hunter, Top of the Lake
Helen Mirren, Phil Spector
Elisabeth Moss, Top of the Lake

STUNTS
Television Stunt Ensemble:
Boardwalk Empire
Breaking Bad
Game of Thrones
The Walking Dead
Homeland

Film Stunt Ensemble:
All Is Lost
Fast and Furious 6
Lone Survivor
Rush
The Wolverine

LIFE ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Rita Moreno

12 Years A Slave - Movie Review

Starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Giamatti, Brad Pitt, Lupita Nyong'o, Sarah Paulson, Paul Dano, Alfre Woodard, Adepero Oduye, Garret Dillahunt, Michael K. Williams, Bryan Batt, Taran Killam, Scoot McNairy and Quvenzhane Wallis.
Directed by Steve McQueen.

★★★★

Chiwetel Ejiofor and Michael Fassbender

Probably the best movie on slavery since Roots. But very difficult to watch.

Chiwetel Ejiofor (Serenity, Salt) stars in the true story of Solomon Northup, a free man living in 1841 New York who was kidnapped and sold into slavery in the Deep South.  Solomon is an educated man, well off from what we can tell as a violinist for hire.  He is our window to the experience, and it's a shrewd way to let us in.  Solomon is not a slave, nor is anyone in the audience, and so it makes easier to relate to the horrors thrust upon him, as opposed to someone who just grew up with it as their lot in life.

I've read some articles recently on trauma and PSTD, both what it does to children and to adults, but then there's the entire spectrum of damage done by slavery.  What does it do to generations beaten and imprisoned their entire life, family routinely removed from them, dehumanized daily.  What does it do to generations to raise them believing these humans over here aren't really humans so you can torture them and degrade them all you like.

Some of us descend from psychopaths who were okay with treating other people worse than animals.  Some of us descend from those other people who lived their entire lives at the mercy of those psychopaths.  How can a nation heal from such origins?

There's a scene where Solomon, on his way to the store, runs into some white men about to hang two black men.  And it's all treated so casually by everyone else in the scene.  The white men are just doing what's done, the black men know they can't do anything to resist, and Solomon has to walk away in despair as he hears the death throes of the slaves behind him.

Director Steve McQueen has an unflinching eye in the brutality.  There's another scene where Solomon is strung by his neck and his toes can barely touch the muddy ground.  We keep hoping the scene will cut away to something else, but it stays on him, and we hear him choking, and in the background, we see the other slaves ignore and go about their day. This is just the way life is.

Solomon spends most of his 12 years under a mentally unstable alcoholic named Epps (Michael Fassbender).  Epps has a mantra that "a man can do whatever he likes with his property." Epps' wife (Sarah Paulson), in ways, is as evil as he is, for when she gets upset, she wants to see some slaves beaten.  Slavery in all its brutality could only happen if there were women in on it.

I view it similar to Passion of the Christ, in that it's very violent, but it also leaves you with a lingering sense of the scope of suffering.  I was impressed with the pacing of it, and the way each event led to the next.  This is sure to get award nominations for Picture, Director, Screenplay, Actor, Supporting Actor (Fassbender) and Supporting Actress (Lupita Nyong'o, as slave-girl Patsey who unfortunately is liked by Epps).

One other note: there's a scene when a supervisor played by Paul Dano starts singing "Run N----r Run" to the slaves. It shows off his own deranged joy at keeping slaves in their place, but it also seems relevant to the headlines of today with Richie Incognito and others are still using the word. Let's just say I agree with Isiah Thomas's take on it.