Doctor Strange (2016)

[Silver Raven]

The cloak was my favorite character.  Loved the special effects, and I thought the closing credits were beautiful.  And now we know how "Baron" Mordo became evil.

So Cumberbatch and Hiddleston will both be in the new Thor movie.

[Sandman]

6 hours ago, VCRTracking said:

I realized it the moment he fastforwarded and reversed time on the apple because that's not what the Eye does in the comics. And it doesn't glow green.

Agreed on both counts. I can live with the change, but I would have liked to see the Eye used more the way it is in the comics, and to see it actually, y'know, open.

[MisterGlass]

1 hour ago, Silver Raven said:

So Cumberbatch and Hiddleston will both be in the new Thor movie.

I'm curious to see this play out.  I'm kind of surprised they haven't worked together before.  It makes sense - Loki's illusions vs. Strange's magic.

[VCRTracking]

They were both in War Horse together. Here they are being interviewed:

[GHScorpiosRule]

17 minutes ago, VCRTracking said:

They were both in War Horse together. Here they are being interviewed:

Ooooh! Does Chris Hemsworth know about this bromance?????

And now I have to watch War Horse.

[VCRTracking]

Also thinking about how Stephen Strange was one of the targets of Hydra's "Project: Insight" in Captain America The Winter Soldier even though he couldn't have been a sorcerer yet when the movie was set. Then I realized that being the best brain surgeon in the country, able to save a person with a bullet in their brain, would make him a threat to Hydra's plan!

[Silver Raven]

That makeup was really messing with Mikkelsen's eyes.  His eyes were watering all the time, and in one closeup, he was actually tearing up.

[Terrafamilia]

Did anyone catch what Stan Lee was reading in his cameo?

[dkb]

3 hours ago, Terrafamilia said:

Did anyone catch what Stan Lee was reading in his cameo?

I think it was the Doors of Perception....something. 

[Enero]

2 hours ago, Terrafamilia said:

Did anyone catch what Stan Lee was reading in his cameo?

I did. He was on the bus reading a news paper during the mirror fight scene towards the end. 

We saw this over the weekend. I know nothing about Dr. Strange, but I enjoyed the introduction and the adventure his story took us on. 

I agree with others the Doctor was an ass and I too found it unbelievable that he'd go from being a self centered jerk to someone who was willing to sacrifice himself for mankind in 90 minutes. 

I thought it was interesting how Karcelilius and eventually Mordo turned on the good of the mystic arts due to the omissions of the Ancient One. My friends and I were having a debate about whether what they considered was a betrayal worth the dark turn both taken. On the one hand their disillusionment can be completely understood considering the lies and hypocrisy of the Ancient One, but to respond by using the arts for their own personal gain/agenda that entailed destroying innocents crosses the line IMO. For Karcelilius I'm assuming he wanted internal life due to what he had lost to time and death? But I'd think he would've wanted to turn back time to regain what he'd lost rather than live forever without it. So I was a little confused about the point of his motivations.  

Mordo's change of heart was also a little baffling. I got that he was devastated learning the  Ancient One wasn't who he thought she was and thus he became disillusioned with the Arts. However, his reproach of Dr. Strange for using the time loop didn't make sense to me. If that wasn't done they'd all be dead. Would he'd rather the world be destroyed than the rules of the Mystic Arts be broken? And why go after Benjamin Bratt's character in the end? What gives him the right to take away what they'd all learned to harness and use? What makes him worthy of the mystic power and Benjamin Bratt's character not? Was it be a use he didn't have the mind to fully harness the power and become a soldier? 

Anyway, good movie, probably the best Marvel movie, outside of CA: Civil War in recent years. I'd watch a sequel.

[Terrafamilia]

32 minutes ago, dkb said:

3 hours ago, Terrafamilia said:

Did anyone catch what Stan Lee was reading in his cameo?

I think it was the Doors of Perception....something. 

Ah, it must have been this then.

It seems to have been the Ancient One's strategy to take broken people, build them back up with a blend of 'spiritual enlightenment', martial arts, and magic training, then try to enroll them in her mystic army when they did well in the later. This might have the advantage of producing dedicated, sometimes alarmingly so, agents but has the downside of making any disillusionment that might occur even more sharp. A sounder strategy might have been to just work on the enlightenment with the broken seekers and reserve the magical woo woo for people who are more stable and less needy in the first place. Though that would require more work in going out into the world to find suitable candidates instead of just sifting through those who came crawling to them.

[Sandman]

9 hours ago, Terrafamilia said:

Did anyone catch what Stan Lee was reading in his cameo?

The Doors of Perception by Aldous Huxley. Several of the "Doctor Strange Easter Eggs" videos in various places mention it (not that I've been scrounging obsessively for them, or anything). (Oh -- as Terrafamilia found.)

Isn't one of the principles of enlightenment that it doesn't recruit? Seekers have to find it; it doesn't seek them. I suppose even the Ancient One must have failures, or those whose need to evolve is overtaken by something less worthy. Although I find the movie's version of Mordo's break with the Ancient One as a philosophical or ethical crisis more interesting than envy or "Hey, I can amass huge mystical power for my own personal gain! Yay, I'm Baron Badass!" if only slightly less short-sighted.

Edited November 14, 2016 by Sandman

[Raja]

22 hours ago, Silver Raven said:

The cloak was my favorite character.  Loved the special effects, and I thought the closing credits were beautiful.  And now we know how "Baron" Mordo became evil.

So Cumberbatch and Hiddleston will both be in the new Thor movie.

While they were sharing a beer it sure seemed like Dr Strange summoned Thor and was warning him to keep those Asgard squabbles off of Earth. That he was confident that he could take Thor being the message.

[slowpoked]

Just watched this and felt like I saw four movies all at once:

Inception

The Matrix

Casper

Edge of Tomorrow

[Bruinsfan]

On 11/12/2016 at 7:02 PM, Sandman said:

Agreed on both counts. I can live with the change, but I would have liked to see the Eye used more the way it is in the comics, and to see it actually, y'know, open.

I thought it did open and reveal the infinity stone as the iris of the Eye at one point?

My gut instinct is that the Soul Gem would have made a better correspondence to the Eye of Agamotto than the Time Gem, what with the Eye being able to reveal truth, dispel illusions, open dimensional gateways, and drain away black magic with its purifying light. Though it wouldn't have made for such a spectacular final battle or defeat of the Big Bad through lateral thinking.

Edited November 14, 2016 by Bruinsfan

[Sandman]

I could be wrong, but I don't recall the fretwork of the Seal opening to reveal the gem.

But does the use of the Time Gem reveal a plot hole? If Strange could use the Eye to "rewind" to a point where the missing pages hadn't yet been stolen, rather than just reading them, couldn't he have essentially replaced them in the Book of Cagliostro and avoided everything that came after? I'm sure Mordo would have had a bird about it, but ... could that have worked? (Time travel stories make my brain feel all spongy.)

I definitely agree about the Soul Gem, though.

Edited November 14, 2016 by Sandman
Mondo, Mordo, what's the diff ... ahem.

[benteen]

On ‎11‎/‎12‎/‎2016 at 9:22 AM, Sandman said:

I don't know, Pepper Potts I'd put in the Damsel in Distress column, at least for most of Iron Man 3. (I actually have trouble remembering that Tony and Pepper are a couple, either because Pepper seems barely to tolerate him most of the time, or because the great love of Tony's life appears in his mirror.)

Paltrow brought a lot to the table as Pepper.  What I liked about her too that unlike the Raimi Spider-Man films, the end of every Iron Man movie didn't revolve around her needing to be rescued.  In Iron Man 3 sure but even there, Pepper manages to save herself and the day.

[ribboninthesky1]

3 hours ago, slowpoked said:

Just watched this and felt like I saw four movies all at once:

Inception

The Matrix

Casper

Edge of Tomorrow

At first, I was confused by Casper's inclusion in this list.  But upon reflection, yes, quite accurate. And hilarious. 

[Sandman]

40 minutes ago, benteen said:

In Iron Man 3 sure but even there, Pepper manages to save herself and the day.

True enough. (The thought of her having to be un-Extremis-ed at the end still freaks me out, though.)

[MisterGlass]

On 11/12/2016 at 9:14 PM, VCRTracking said:

They were both in War Horse together.

Ah, I didn't realize.  Well, worth a reunion.

[dusang]

22 hours ago, Sandman said:

True enough. (The thought of her having to be un-Extremis-ed at the end still freaks me out, though.)

Do they specify whether she's depowered or just not going to explode?

Just watched Dr. Strange. Not sure how I feel about it - I don't have a problem with time travel on principle but I'm not sure how I feel about it here.

Edited November 15, 2016 by dusang

[JustaPerson]

I loved the film, but I too think the timeline should have been stretched. If the film hadn't had that shot of a plaque with 2016 on it, I could've fanwanked a longer timeline. Say, Strange's accident happening around the first Iron Man (2008) and his going to Nepal sometime after the first Avengers film (2012) or AOU (2014) since Wong explicitly mentions them. Put Kaecillius's betrayal right before Strange seeks out the Ancient One (2012 or 2014) and have it come to a head in the central conflict in 2016. It could have been told in flashback, or with time jumps (though that might have been too many.) They still could have had Strange be noob-ish with magic. Studying abstract concepts even as diligently as Stephen obviously does doesn't always translate to perfect application. It would make Sitwell's mention of Stephen in Winter Soldier (2014) not work as well, although an outspoken, questioning man like Stephen could still have been a threat to Hydra.

But anyway...Wong was my fave. I was heartbroken when he died in HK, and when Stephen was rewinding time I was like "YES!! Where's Wong?!" 

I wasn't happy with the whitewashing, but Tilda Swinton did do a great job and had that ethereal quality (let's just admit it, TS is an alien) needed to play the role. BC was also great, although hearing him with an American accent is odd no matter how well he did it. 

The special effects did not disappoint. Amazing. The cape wiping away Stephen's tears was hilarious. Especially his reaction. "Stop. Stop...!"

"Mister Doctor..."

ETA: I think the film did a good job of showing Strange was still learning -- he struggled against Masters and more experienced sorcerers like Kaecillius and his minions. I do buy him progressing quickly, he did have a natural affinity for it (even if that took some time to unlock) and was obviously the worst kind of nerd -- one that studies everything all the time and never lets you forget it. I mean the man was even studying by Astral projection while his physical body slept! A photographic memory like Strange's helps too. Again, in actual battle he was still a noob.

I was surprised that Mordo had so many comedic moments. Not that Chiwetel Ejiofor wasn't great, I just expected his character to be a major wet blanket. His look of "Oh no..." when the Ancient One told him she left Strange on Mt. Everest and best of all his "Ya think??" face when Strange proclaimed that trapping Kaecillius in the Mirror Dimension was a mistake. 

Edited November 16, 2016 by JustaPerson

[Sandman]

18 hours ago, dusang said:

Do they specify whether she's depowered or just not going to explode?

As far as I can tell, we weren't told explicitly -- because Pepper's condition becomes a springboard for Tony to remove his arc reactor; granted, it is a good thing that he's moving forward, but, once again, it's all. About. Tony. (I presume Pepper gets depowered, given the reliance on the Reset Button that this genre has, especially where the mundanes are concerned.)

I can never work out the timeline for the MCU in any case, but I do wonder if the mention of Stephen Strange in Winter Soldier meant that he was already training at Kamar-Taj as the events of WS were unfolding.

I fully support the notion that The Swinton is probably an alien -- "otherworldly" is certainly in her wheelhouse.

[vibeology]

4 hours ago, Sandman said:

I can never work out the timeline for the MCU in any case, but I do wonder if the mention of Stephen Strange in Winter Soldier meant that he was already training at Kamar-Taj as the events of WS were unfolding.

The shout out to Rhodes just before the car crash means this started just after Captain America: Civil War. Strange powered up way too quickly. 

[Raja]

34 minutes ago, vibeology said:

The shout out to Rhodes just before the car crash means this started just after Captain America: Civil War. Strange powered up way too quickly. 

Some folks think that was to the pilot in the Hammer armor  "the pilot survived" in Iron Man 2. Given the timeline and Rhody needing to try tier two medicine before Dr Strange would get involved just as Strange moved up the ladder for his hands later it just seems too tight.

Edited November 16, 2016 by Raja

[dusang]

I've read that Marvel denies that was Rhodey but also that one of the plaques shown in Strange's case says 2016 - the timeline is tight & messed up by pretty much any measure.

[Bruinsfan]

I suppose if it becomes an issue they could always say that Strange messing with time DID cause paradoxes and other weird temporal side effects.

[Lantern7]

At the end of the credits: "By the way, Scott Lang has a son, not a daughter."

[dkb]

4 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

At the end of the credits: "By the way, Scott Lang has a son, not a daughter."

LOL. I got soda in my nose after reading this line. 

I'm surprised they didn't do a better job at time line management, as isn't this supposed to be Kevin Feige's baby. He really wanted Doctor Strange on the big screen so I'm alittle surprised it's not more connected to the events surrounding the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Unless they are going with the super genius with photographic memory or something.

[Raja]

11 hours ago, dkb said:

 

I'm surprised they didn't do a better job at time line management, as isn't this supposed to be Kevin Feige's baby. He really wanted Doctor Strange on the big screen so I'm alittle surprised it's not more connected to the events surrounding the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Unless they are going with the super genius with photographic memory or something.

I guess as an origin story it really doesn't matter. Except why would Hydra go after a surgeon and he would be called out specifically as happened in The Winter Soldier? And then at end when Thor is given a friendly warning

[Grace19]

On Monday, November 07, 2016 at 3:24 PM, JessePinkman said:

And Rachel McAddams was a doctor but she still didn't have a damn thing to do.

I don't know what else her character could do in this movie. Most of this movie is set in the mystical world, there is no room for a character like hers in it. She served her purpose as Strange's link to the real world, anything more and she would be shoehorned into the movie. Short of having everyone turn up injured at the hospital or have her go into the mystical world, there is nothing more they could have done with her.

I enjoyed her character and was pleasantly surprised they didn't get back together in this movie, and she have good chemistry with Strange.
 

[Grace19]

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, I think its Marvel best origin film except for Iron-man. I loved every character

Strange arrogance was well portrayed by Benedict, and I love that the film didn't end with him completely humbled, he arrogance was still there though toned down. I think what I love most about this film and Strange is that he didn't defeat the villain with strength or even magic, at the end, he did it with just being clever. This is the same for everyone he fought, he's not even yet the great sorcerer supreme, we clearly see him struggle.

I fell in love with the ancient one, I've never seen that actress in anything before and she won me over with her performance. I love that she is flawed and also a bad ass.

Mordo's arc was convincing and I don't believe he will be a full fledged villain, rather an anti-hero.

Wong is one of my favourite, I lol when he started laughing after they defeated dormamu.

I love that the love interest was not really a love interest, but an ex, I;ll love to see more of her in the sequels

The villain was well used, understood his motivations and he served his purpose. What we got of him was enough, I didn't need to see more of him or him training under the ancient one. The actor did a great job too.

And the Cloak, I love it.

I can't wait to see Strange in Thor 3.

Favourite quotes;

"you cannot win", " yes, but I can loose, again, again and again, and that makes you my slave".

"Mr..".

"Doctor"

"Mr doctor"

"its strange"

"who am I to judge".

lol, Marvel never disappoints, I've loved all their films.
 

[DrSpaceman73]

I had no idea about Dr Strange prior to seeing the movie.  He seems to be a cross between Ironman and Dr. House. 

It was an OK movie.  To me it just seems so many of these comic booked based movies anymore are just so repetitive and overlapping with similar things, ideas, stories. 

On the other hand, for those counting, this is movie #4 where Rachel McAdams plays the love interest of someone who can travel through time or manipulate time :  About Time, The Time traveler's wife, Dr. Strange and Midnight in Paris.  I like her as an actress just fine, but odd though to have 4 roles in that specific genre. 

[Bruinsfan]

On 11/20/2016 at 0:21 PM, Grace19 said:

I fell in love with the ancient one, I've never seen that actress in anything before and she won me over with her performance. I love that she is flawed and also a bad ass.

Oh, what a feast for the senses you have an opportunity to embark on! Tilda Swinton's career is one highly worth catching up with. She's astounding in pretty much everything she's done, whether realistic drama, fantasy blockbuster, or quirky/surreal independent film.

[JustaPerson]

Given what a chameleon TS is, you've probably seen her and didn't realize it Grace19.

[Jediknight]

On 11/18/2016 at 8:43 AM, Raja said:

I guess as an origin story it really doesn't matter. Except why would Hydra go after a surgeon and he would be called out specifically as happened in The Winter Soldier? And then at end when Thor is given a friendly warning

He would have been well known at that time, and Strange was a guy who hated that he killed somebody in self defense, there's no way he'd go along with Hydra's plan.  He'd be a threat to Hydra because having a surgeon that good on the opposite side, means the good guys could heal faster.  Also, remember Hydra targeted a valedictorian in Iowa.

[Raja]

15 minutes ago, Jediknight said:

He would have been well known at that time, and Strange was a guy who hated that he killed somebody in self defense, there's no way he'd go along with Hydra's plan.  He'd be a threat to Hydra because having a surgeon that good on the opposite side, means the good guys could heal faster.  Also, remember Hydra targeted a valedictorian in Iowa.

So well known that he was mentioned by name as if the others should know who he was and not just a name on the screen by Agent Sitwell? Either the movie pushes into "our" and perhaps the Agents of SHIELD/Netflix future and then the timeline for Rhodes/War Machine (who as I understand MCU sources flatly state it is not him) being the injured Colonel works better or we saw the MCU near past and the post credit scene with Thor brings us from Doctor Strange's first fight to the next movie as someone who it seems posed a serious threat to Thor.

[MisterGlass]

On 11/28/2016 at 8:18 AM, Raja said:

So well known that he was mentioned by name as if the others should know who he was and not just a name on the screen by Agent Sitwell?

It does seem odd for him to have had that mention prior to training in magic.  The Hydra computer program that selected targets was looking for threats to Hydra using data mining to predict future behavior.  It hardly seems likely that it would predict that he would turn to magic, so he must have been making some waves in the medical community that were threatening.

[Lugal]

I always saw it that the Hydra data-mining program looked at everything someone did to predict future threats (like the valedictorian in Iowa).  They knew Strange would do something that would threaten Hydra, but it couldn't predict exactly what.

[Bruinsfan]

Sitwell said it like the name would mean something to Cap and Black Widow, though. Maybe Strange has consulted with SHIELD over the weird things Loki's sceptre could do to people's brains?

[MisterGlass]

SHIELD consultant is possible.  He could have been indirectly involved in some of the biomechanical/surgical implant technology.

[VCRTracking]

Another thing about I like about Doctor Strange is he's the only superhero who got his superpowers just by reading a lot and studying really, really hard!

[Which Tyler]

5 hours ago, VCRTracking said:

Another thing about I like about Doctor Strange is he's the only superhero who got his superpowers just by reading a lot and studying really, really hard!

Have you met Tony Stark yet?

Edited January 7, 2017 by Which Tyler

[AimingforYoko]

1 hour ago, Which Tyler said:

Have you met Tony Stark yet?

Tony didn't study that hard, he's a genius. He does tinker a lot, though.

[Which Tyler]

Fair point, well made

[Bruinsfan]

Strange is supposed to have a great aptitude for sorcery (hence being able to hold his own against masters after a relatively short period of training), so the comparison is pretty apt.

[Lantern7]

In case you didn't see it, How It Should Have Ended covers Doctor Strange.

[IWantCandy71]

"Sherlock" has just about ruined any interest I have in watching Ben in anything right now-I guess it's a good thing Dr Strange isn't my kind of movie.

[romantic idiot]

But he's quite different in it.

[Lantern7]

Just found a/the gag reel, coming in at under a minute.