I watched the movie around six months ago. And it has taken me this long to blog about it. For a movie I craved, why the long wait to see it and then to write about it? Easy – my love of Doctor Strange (the comic book) centered around the fact that I KNEW without hesitation that the entrance of the movie into the MCU HAD to mean that Cloak and Dagger would enter the stage as well. We now know that I was sadly mistaken as C&D will be a weekly teenage soap opera brought to us by Freeform. #ugh I will blog about that when the time comes (June-ish).
Now, in an effort to catch up on what I have watched and heard over the past seven months – this is the first of MANY blogs to come.
Doctor Stephen Vincent Strange, MD. Doctor Strange. The comic was co-created by Steve Ditko and Stan Lee and the first cover dropped in 1963. Although I believe he is great in the comics, he is not as flashy as the Avengers or XMen and I fear will be lost in the fog of hero-worship offered to them. We will see. I plan to reread all of the comic books (maybe this summer in anticipation for that great Freeform teen drama C&D) and do a blog on the written series alnog with a pictorial of the covers.
Overall, I found the movie remarkable in the visual context.
Thoughts I had while watching the movie:
- I hated the openining Marvel logo entry for this.
- Marvel has the corner market on great 70s jams!
- I hate to dislike Cumberbatch. But holy hell he is such a dick. And, I believe in his super hero role he is still somewhat dickish.
- shamballa > wifi passwork – ha!
- Holy shit it’s Kublai Khan!!
- At one point the thought that mad me chuckle “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Cumberbatch”. I find myself very amusing.
- Like taking D&D to the nth degree.
- The movie is visually stunning and reminds me of Inception.
- I BIG pink fluffy heart Tilda. She and Helen Miren are my girl crushes.
For those of you who have not taken the time to watch the Netflix Marco Polo series, Benedict Wong plays Khan on it and I love him in that role!
I enjoyed the movie and will more than likely add it to my DVD collection. I am just dashed to know that there is no way there will ever be a Doctor Strange/Cloak and Dagger partnership. For that, the movie dims a little for me.
Because I enjoy Looper vids:
Also, a look at 1978’s Doctor Strange:
IMDB Synopsis: While on a journey of physical and spiritual healing, a brilliant neurosurgeon is drawn into the world of the mystic arts.
Starring:
Trailer:
Additional Movie Info:
It received a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 90% Fresh. It received a Rotten Tomato audience rating of 86% liking it. Average Rating: 4.1/5 with a number of User Ratings: 105,900.
Movie Reviews:
Specs: Release date: 4 November 2016 (USA) / Runtime: 115 minutes / Budget: $165M
IMDB Trivia:
- Rachel McAdams‘ startled reaction in the broom closet was genuine, since the mop handle fell completely by accident, and scared McAdams almost out of her skin. Scott Derrickson decided to keep the reaction in the film, since she never broke character.
- While filming, Benedict Cumberbatch walked into a comic book store, in full costume, and bought an actual Doctor Strange comic.
- Benedict Cumberbatch was the first choice and was offered the lead role of Stephen Strange, but he initially had to decline due to his theater commitments playing Shakespeare’s Hamlet, which clashed with the film’s proposed shooting date. When the release date was pushed back from July 2016 to November 2016, he was able to commit to shooting. Joaquin Phoenix was the studio’s second choice for the lead role but, after a few months of deliberation, eventually turned down the offer due to his reluctance to do a multi-picture deal that was required by the studio if he signed on.
- Doctor Strange’s creators, Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, based his appearance on Hollywood actor Vincent Price. The character even bears the middle name of Vincent.
- Benedict Cumberbatch received help with finger-tutting movements from dancer Jayfunk, to make the spell-casting gestures look fluid and agile.
- The filmmakers defined the use of magic as dimensional travelling and shifting. “We didn’t want magic to simply be people throwing and blocking bolts of lightning; this is the ability to tap into different dimensions and pull aspects of those dimensions into our realm.”
- In the comics, Stephen Strange had a younger sister named Donna, who died when he was young, and motivated him into becoming a doctor. Lulu Wilson was cast as Donna in the film and shot some scenes, but they were cut out for running time purposes.
- When Dr Strange begins to experiment with the Eye of Agamotto and the Time Spells in the Book of Cagliostro, the focus of his practice is an apple, symbolically the representation of Forbidden Knowledge.
- Cinematographer Ben Davis cites the Disney experimental film Fantasia (1940) as a visual influence on the film: “It has a very psychedelic grounding, and most of the work is about other dimensions.”
- According to James Gunn, Stan Lee’s cameo in the film is one of the four Lee cameos that was filmed in one day itself. Gunn said that he only filmed three, being this film, Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 2 and another title that he did not reveal. Several one-liners with Lee were filmed and considered, but the one that appears in the film was chosen by Scott Derrickson himself.
- Christine Palmer is one of a trio of women known as the Night Nurse in the Marvel Comics Universe, making cameos in various comic books. Another night nurse is Claire Temple from the Netflix Marvel TV series. (Daredevil (2015), Jessica Jones (2015),Luke Cage (2016) and Iron Fist (2017))
- First Marvel Studios movie to feature the new Marvel Studios logo/fanfare composed by Michael Giacchino at the start of the film. Michael Giacchino also scored the rest of the music of the film. Previous Marvel Studios films featured the original logo that can also been seen in other Marvel movies such as the X-Men series. This logo was sometimes accompanied by the fanfare composed by Brian Tyler, which was first heard in Thor: The Dark World (2013).
- One of the relics in the New York Sanctum is a white mask with an ankh next to it. This is a reference to the Moon Knight, a superhero who was empowered (and sometimes possessed) by the Egyptian moon god Khonshu and wielded a stick shaped like an ankh.
- The first building-bending battle between Kaecilius and The Ancient One was filmed on the road Great Scotland Yard in Central London. Opposite the end of the street (but not visible during the scene) is the Sherlock Holmes pub on Northumberland Street.
- The building number seen in the portal to New York City was 177A Bleecker Street, the location of the Sanctum Sanctorum. This NOT a reference to Sherlock Holmes’ (whom Benedict Cumberbatch also portrays) traditional residence, 221B Baker street. It is actually the address of a townhouse apartment shared by Marvel comic book writers Gary Friedrich and Roy Thomas in the 60s, the latter of whom wrote several Doctor Strange stories, though NOT the 1963 issue of Strange Tales that revealed the address as 177A Bleecker.
Thoughts and Ponderances 
One comment