Doctor Strange (2016)

[Lantern7]

Honest Trailer is up.

With Logan coming out this week, I would've guessed they'd do The Wolverine. They didn't use anything parallel to my "Marvel does Green Lantern right" notion, though.

[VCRTracking]

The movie was just released on Blu Ray while it went digital download a few weeks ago so Screen Junkies now has access to all the HD footage.

If they do one for The Wolverine one they should probably mention right away that X-Men Days of Future Past altered the timeline so everything that happens in the movie is irrelevant.

[piequinn35]

Hi, just want to ask who will win if Dormammu and Galactus fight?

[Slovenly Muse]

Finally got around to seeing this.

I didn't really know ANYTHING going in, so I gotta say, if I had heard about the Tilda Swinton/whitewashing issue before this movie came out, I would have been outraged. However, now that I've seen it, I can't say Asian representation really missed out on this role of "wise mentor who gets killed so White man can become a hero." Visually, this movie was pretty cool, but racially, ugh. White man as hero, sweet White girl as love interest who doesn't really DO anything, Woman (or Asian, however you want to slice it) badass Master getting killed so white man can step up and take charge, European villain, Asian character who is there to be there (did he contribute anything important to the story, apart from exposition?), and the only Black actor plays the character who gives up all his beliefs at the slightest provocation and turns evil.

It's not that I expect these cookie-cutter Marvel movies to ever take any chances, but this is the least original, most uninspired casting I've seen in a long time. It's not even anger-inducing whitewashing that's the problem here, it's just LAZINESS. It's not malice, or lack of forethought, it's just utter and complete absence of creativity.  Who can we cast as the character that is.... perfect and desirable? (White woman)  Expendable after sharing their wisdom? (Female, or maybe Asian)  Sinister and destructive? (Dane)  Likeable but unimportant? (Asian)  Untrustworthy? (Black)  Give me a freakin' break.

I'm not even disappointed, really. I don't expect better anymore. Did I enjoy the story? I'm not sure I can tell you that! Apart from the visuals, it didn't really stand apart from the rest of Marvel's formulaic superhero movies. I'm not sorry I watched it, but I can't say it was two hours well spent.

At this point, these Marvel movies are starting to feel like homework you have to do so that you will be able to understand the NEXT one.

[Bruinsfan]

Eh, they turned Mordo into a person of color with nobility and a fragile, too-rigid code of ethics that gave him some complexity. I'd say that's an improvement over the stock mustache-twirling Eastern European villain he was in the comics.

[Mom x 3]

My husband and I just rented this last night.  If you remove the special effects, there's what?  Twelve minutes of movie?

We didn't hate it; it just didn't do anything for us.  BC did a good job of being a raging asshole, and I have met plenty of surgeons who fit the bill.  I'd like to know how he was penniless so quickly though.  Just one of those Petit Phillip watches was anywhere between 1-2 million dollars. 

I asked my husband (he's Chinese) if the whitewashing bothered him and he said, "I couldn't give a crap.  I just want to be entertained."  Lol.

Most of the scenes that we were making fun of were the medical scenes (no mask, touching things after scrubbing, the ER physician assisting a surgery, Dr. Strange saying he could have done better with his hands - he's a neurosurgeon, not an orthopod (i.e. he wouldn't be placing pins in jack sh*t), him refusing to take ER call, Dr. Palmer doing a paracentesis alone with no assistance, Dr. Strange getting stabbed enough to get a pericardial effusion but not a pneumothorax?  Bah!

Loved the librarian's character (can't remember his name, Wong?)  I couldn't understand why some people were calling him the manservant though when he wasn't.  Felt bad for the original librarian.  

[Raja]

On 3/25/2017 at 0:53 PM, Mom x 3 said:

 

Loved the librarian's character (can't remember his name, Wong?)  I couldn't understand why some people were calling him the manservant though when he wasn't.  Felt bad for the original librarian.  

For those with main Marvel Comics universe, not specifically  the MCU movies and TV knowledge his first appearances was as Dr Strange's valet

[Mom x 3]

23 minutes ago, Raja said:

For those with main Marvel Comics universe, not specifically  the MCU movies and TV knowledge his first appearances was as Dr Strange's valet

Ah, that makes sense.  Thank you for the clarification.

[Kel Varnsen]

On 11/16/2016 at 9:18 AM, dusang said:

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.

The reference being Rhodes doesn't work because the guy on the phone said it was a 35 year old Colonel. Being 35 in 2016 during Civil War means being 27 in 2008 during Iron Man 1 and Terrance Howard didn't seem to be playing a 27 year old. Plus Rhodes was a Lt. Colonel in Iron Man and I don't think it is possible to get promoted all the way to Lt.Col by 27.

[Lantern7]

Before I forget . . . Tycho gets his Ancient One on with Gabe.

[rmontro]

According to comicbook.com, Doctor Strange will be on Netflix starting May 30.  Yay!

[Zuleikha]

Saw this on an airplane and while that is admittedly not the most favorable setting, I thought it was just okay. It was entertaining enough as a standalone bit of fluff, but frustrating that this was one of the movies Marvel decided to make instead of a Black Widow movie. I enjoyed the CGI, but thought the characterization and plot were fairly light. I also seemed to have missed an end scene with Mordo.

I do have to eat a bit of crow in that I did the thing where I complained about the whitewashing of the Ancient One before seeing it and now that I have seen it... I do think the writers made the right choice. Tilda Swinton was fantastic; the movie desperately needed a quality female role; and I do think the writers would have gotten critiqued for stereotyping if an Asian woman played the party (but NOT as a Dragon Lady--that is a specific stereotype that the Ancient One was not going to be). I think they deserved more credit than they got for the choices they made with Wong, who I thought ended up being a more significant and interesting character than reviews suggested. I really liked him. He was a nice mix of comedic and badass. The only change I would have made is that I wouldn't have had Tilda Swinton Buddhist monk bald. That just seemed bizarre and like taunting (and also, not based on the comics AFAIK)

I wish Dr. Strange had been cast as PoC, though. I didn't think Cumberbatch had a particularly interesting spin on the character, and it would have been good diversity in the Marvel lineup. I also think it would have worked better. Cumberbatch comes across as old money to me. With the movie not doing a lot to sketch out Strange's background, his arrogance read as simple cruelty to me. Whereas a PoC, I would have seen that arrogance as coming from a place of needing to front to get any kind of respect. I also think a lot of the "it's not about you"/but yet Strange is the best who will save the day tension would have been less annoying with a PoC lead.

 

Edited May 15, 2017 by Zuleikha

[ChelseaNH]

Finally got around to watching this.  It was mostly fine.  I very much appreciated that the showdown with the final villain came down to outsmarting him, although how does one hold him to his promise?  On the other hand, "sling ring" is a horrid name for a magic item and I hope I never hear it again.

Nice to see Benjamin Bratt again, however briefly.

[starri]

13 minutes ago, ChelseaNH said:

On the other hand, "sling ring" is a horrid name for a magic item and I hope I never hear it again.

 

[LJonEarth]

I watched it with my family (a rewatch for me) and we woke up right before the credits and had to put it on again later. The effects just don't have anywhere close to the impact on a regular television that they had in the theater. The ending and the credits were the most interesting parts anyway. The rest of the storyline has been done in Iron Man and now Iron Fist.

Edited June 14, 2017 by LJonEarth

[catrox14]

It was okay. Is it weird that I thought the best part was post credits tag?

[ohjoy]

Not really -- the origin story was fine, but I'm looking forward to seeing a more established Dr. Strange hang out with the other heroes from around the MCU.

[rmontro]

I just saw this finally.  I thought it was okay.  I'd have to put it in the bottom half of all the MCU movies.  To be honest, I've never been that big of a fan of Doctor Strange to begin with (sorry, Stan).  I think he works better as a guest character than as the lead, someone who can lend some expertise to the main hero when he's in a particular fix.  Which you can kind of see in the mid credits scene.

I thought there was never really any good reason for there to be all those "Inception style" effects with the buildings folding in on themselves.

It reminded me a bit of Iron First, to be honest.  That's not a bad thing though, since I'm beginning to think I'm the only person on the planet who actually liked Iron Fist.

[Lantern7]

I don't know how long it takes to prep a Robot Chicken sketch. Tonight, they got to Doctor Strange. Well, he is called "Sorcerer Supreme," so maybe it's not a real MCU gag.

[Dandesun]

Doctor Strange is the Sorcerer Supreme. That's his whole thing. So, yeah, it's absolutely a MCU gag.

[Lantern7]

2 minutes ago, Dandesun said:

Doctor Strange is the Sorcerer Supreme. That's his whole thing. So, yeah, it's absolutely a MCU gag.

But he did not have that title at the end of his movie, hence my nitpick. Fudge it, I'll let it go.

[Dandesun]

I thought he kind of ended up with the title what with the Ancient One dying and the guardians of the other Sanctums also dying and then him saving the world and all of that. I may have to do a rewatch but I thought the Ancient One kind of gave him the title.

I get the nitpick now... you're right it's not absolutely clear.

[Bruinsfan]

Wong's still around and his senior, as is Master Hamir (Baron Mordo too, though he apparently broke all ties with the order). Strange will probably end up growing into the role—hey, he's the title character, played by the notable white actor. But it wasn't a clear succession like in the comic books, where Strange had been acting as the de facto Sorcerer Supreme for years prior to the Ancient One's death.