Movie Blog Post: DOCTOR STRANGE (featuring Black Tribbles)

I THINK I’M NOW A CUMBERBITCH!

Who knew Benedict Cumberbatch had small parts in Atonement and The Other Boleyn Girl?  I’ve seen both those movies and don’t remember him at all. I first made notice of Cumberbatch in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy , but was far more into Tom Hardy. Then, for the sheer fact that I see a fair number of movies every year, I began to be more and more familiar with Cumberbatch – Star Trek Into Darkness,where he played the villain Khan; slave owner William Ford in 12 Years a Slave; albino haired Wikileaks inventor Julian Assange in The Fifth Estate; incestuous cousin in August: Osage County; voice of Smaug the Dragon in both The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug & The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies; homosexual computer genius in The Imitation Game; and Whitey Bulger’s brother in Black Mass.  But as Doctor Stephen Strange, he’s finally a stand out!  And I now understand why so many women find Cumberbatch sexy.

Note: films with links are T&T posts.

His wide set eyes, odd angles of his face, together with the grey at the temples, really works as Doctor Strange.  I was drawn into his cocky God complex, as a sought after neurosurgeon; his mean spirited despair when unable to heal the nerve endings in his prized hands; and the humor and determination he puts into learning the Mystic Arts after being convinced by The Ancient One (Tilda Swinton) and Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor) of its existence.

For years, I’ve been a student of the mind, body, spirit connection and the power of our subconscious minds over our existence. I haven’t been a very good student, as I would be in a much better set of circumstances now; still, I see truth in books by Abraham Hicks, Deepak Chopra, Wayne Dyer, Paul Coelho and the likes. I fall off too often, but definitely see the benefits of meditation, and when sick, I’m the last person to go to a doctor, but when something is persistent, am thankful for the ancient healing of acupuncture. So, DOCTOR STRANGE hit me in just the right place.  The movie doesn’t delve as deeply as I might would want it to, but I felt satisfied in their handling of the ancient arts of Mysticism.

Strange learns how to open portals, how to shift reality, how to astral project, and even how to stop time. Each new power is given proper attention and the learning curve adjusts as needed, allowing an audience to process the various rules and dramatic stakes. It’s a structurally smart assembly of mini-goals to keep an audience secure in what otherwise could be overwhelming for its New Age mumbo jumbo – Nate Zobel Super Reviewer Rotten Tomatoes

SPOILED TRIBBLES

After the screening I once again got a chance to hash it up with those who really know about all things sci-fi, comic books and geekdom – THE BLACK TRIBBLES!

Listen to our Spoiled Tribbles Podcast which includes my declaration that Doctor Stephen Strange has usurped Tony Stark as my favorite Superhero crush, well, nearly.

Note: only listen if you’ve already seen the movie or you don’t plan to see it, cause we held nothing back:
 

Doctor Strange opened November 4, 2016
Directed by: Scott Derrickson
Writing Credits: Stan Lee, Jon Spaihts, Scott Derrickson, C. Robert Cargill
Based on the Marvel comics by: Stan Lee & Steve Ditko

Q: Strange is a unique character. Did it help to know you had an actor like Benedict Cumberbatch to carry the role? Did you feel like you needed to up your game given who was playing the part?

A: It certainly was incredibly reassuring to know there was an actor of Benedict’s intelligence and humanity. There’s nothing that we could write that could be beyond him. The entire cast is gold standard, so it required us to raise our games as high as we could, but the nature of the character is so rich that all we really had to do was render that and respect it.

This is a man with cosmic power in his hands, but his hands are crippled. This is a person who loves knowledge, but who has to come to grips with the fact that knowledge is imperfect and incomplete, and with the fact that there is a wider knowledge of the universe to be gained. This a person who is totally full of himself, who has built his world around himself and who has to get over himself to get on, and that’s great material. It’s a fundamentally sound story…
READ MORE Justin Kroll Variety interview with writer Jon Spaihts

My Cinema Sneak n Snack for Doctor Strange preview screening was Moose Tracks Ice Cream from WaWa #CinemaSneaknSnack

T & T’s LAMB (movie bloggers association) Score: 5 outta 5