Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (4 Stars)

This is the 28th film in the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe). After watching it on Disney Plus 12 months ago, I've finally bought it on Blu-ray. I'm a collector, so I need a complete MCU collection.

I wrote badly about the film when I first saw it in the cinema. That was an emotional response. It deserves a four star rating, i.e. it's a good film, though far from perfect. Having said that, the best scene is at the beginning. It's wonderful to see Doctor Strange fighting Ditko-esque monsters in New York, even if he seems more like an action hero than a master of the mystic arts.

But picking the Scarlet Witch as the villain is just wrong. I could accept her moral ambiguity in the TV series "Wandavision", but I don't accept her willingness to kill Doctor Strange and anyone else who stands in her way.

I shan't write any more because I'm still emotionally drained by my PC breaking down. Apart from that, writing blog posts on my laptop isn't as comfortable. A 29-inch screen is better than a 17-inch screen. Size matters. I'll have to check if I can connect an external monitor to my laptop.

Today I ordered a new PC from the company Alternate, which specialises in gaming PCs. I could have saved money by buying one of their standard high quality PCs, but I decided to configure my own PC. It'll be delivered in four weeks, they said. I hope it will be faster. As far as I'm concerned, it's my Corona PC. I couldn't have afforded it in 2020, but due to the pandemic I rarely left the house and saved over 2000 Euros. That's my budget for the new PC. I've spent slightly less, but 2000 Euros was my upper limit.

Success Rate:  + 2.8

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Eurovision: The Story of Fire Saga (4½ Stars)

Netflix Thursday #11

Did I hear someone say it's not Thursday today? I know it's Sunday in Germany and most other countries, but there are different time zones. It's still Thursday in Iceland. Now stop complaining!

After being disappointed with the film I saw in the cinema this afternoon, I needed to watch something better. It's been two years since I last watched "The Story of Fire Saga". I remembered it when I saw "Stranger Than Fiction" earlier this month, and I was waiting for a chance to watch it again.

The film might seem ridiculous, but it's no more ridiculous than the real Eurovision Song Contest. It's a strange mix of music styles, from Finnish heavy metal to camp Russian ballads. It's very rare that I watch the contest or even listen to the winning song afterwards. The closest I come is reading the article about the contest on the BBC web site.

I was surprised that Dan Stevens has such a powerful singing voice, until I read that his songs are performed by the Swedish singer Erik Mjönes. "Lion of Love" is such a ridiculous, over-the-top song, but as I said above, it's no more ridiculous than songs sung in the real contest.

Supposedly the film had been planned for years before Will Ferrell finally wrote it. After the first time he saw the Eurovision Song Contest on television he wanted to make a film about it. People in Europe take the contest for granted because they've grown up with it, but when an American sees it he's amazed. Shocked and amazed. How can such a thing be possible?

One thing that makes the film so powerful is the beautiful Icelandic scenery. The first half of the film is set in Husavik, a fishing town with 2300 inhabitants on the north coast of Iceland. After the film was made a Eurovision Museum was built in the town, attracting tourists to a place that previously no one had ever heard of.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (4 Stars)

Disney Wednesday #9

I know I said this in my last review, but I'll repeat myself: the Multiverse is nothing bad in itself. It's not something dangerous. In fact, the Multiverse doesn't even exist, except as a concept. There are countless alternate realities. In the standard Marvel comics reality, usually called Earth-616, there are super-powered beings. In our reality, Earth-1218, there are no superheroes. Does that make our reality in some way more dangerous? On the contrary, our reality is harmless in comparison to the so-called Marvel universe. Of the hundreds, thousands or even millions of alternate realities, most are harmless in themselves. The Multiverse is just a word to describe the assortment of realities.

Now let's say something about this film, the 28th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). After watching it today on Disney Plus I've given it a higher rating. Maybe my positive bias in favour of Sam Raimi has kicked in. Maybe I just slept well last night. Either way, I now view it more positively. In a way, it's normal. I'm disappointed with most Marvel films on first viewing and don't give them a fair rating until the second time round. My first reaction is to compare the films with the comics. They never come up to the level of the comics, although Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man" came close. The only way to match the quality of the comics is to stick closely to the original stories. That's something the MCU screenwriters have never understood.

Doctor Strange comes to the aid of America Chavez, a young girl who has the power to open portals to other realities in the Multiverse. She's a singularity, i.e. only one of her exists, unlike normal people, of whom there's an alternate version in each reality. A demon has sent creatures to capture her and steal her power. Doctor Strange recognises the demonic power as witchcraft, so he goes to Wanda Maximoff aka the Scarlet Witch for aid. What he doesn't know is that it isn't a demon who's sent the creatures, it's Wanda herself. Wanda wants to travel to another reality where her children exist. (Those who've seen the television series "Wandavision" will understand this. I haven't reviewed it. Sorry). Wanda could just have asked nicely and said please to America, but instead of this she wants to steal America's powers for herself, even though this will result in America's death.

And so there's a battle across the Multiverse. We see different realities. It begins in the MCU reality, incorrectly called Earth-616, but most of the action takes place in Earth-838, a universe where Doctor Strange died battling Thanos. (I always considered Thanos to be a singularity as well, but let's not discuss it here).

The film uses a lot of CGI, but it's necessary. Magical worlds need good CGI, and it's well crafted. Look at the screenshot above. The beautiful Ditko-esque monster could never have been created without CGI.

My remarks in my last review about Doctor Strange looking more like an action hero than a Master of the Mystic Arts were unfair. He fights with magic. This is portrayed in the film to the best of Sam Raimi's abilities. In the battle scenes it's obvious that Doctor Strange is using magic, not just firing power blasts from his wrists.

What really annoys me in the film is the presence of Doctor Strange's ex-girlfriend Christine. There are characters in other films with ex-wives and ex-lovers, such as Ant-Man and Venom. They're always annoying. Did any character in the comics ever have his ex tagging along? I don't think so. Maybe they had ex-girlfriends, such as the Human Torch's ex-girlfriend Dorrie Evans, but she didn't stick around comic after comic. We just saw her briefly, then she was gone.

I'll watch the film again soon. It deserves a third chance. I doubt I'll ever upvote it to five stars, but it has its rightful place in the MCU.

And it stars Bruce Campbell. Hooray!

Success Rate:  + 2.8

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Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (3 Stars)

This is the biggest disappointment of the year for me. I went to the cinema today with sky-high expectations. I expected it to be the best film of the year. It's not. Not even close.

Why did I expect so much of the film? It's the return of Sam Raimi to the Marvel fold. He's the director who made the best Marvel films before he was sacked over creative differences. I thought he would give Doctor Strange a deeper mystical style in his second solo film, but this was proved wrong in his first battle. When Doctor Strange faced a Ditko-esque monster on the streets of New York he looked more like an action hero than a Master of the Mystic Arts (capitalisation deliberate).

"Doctor Strange 2" (as I prefer to call the film) furthers Wanda Maximoff's portrayal as a bad guy. I thought she would have been reformed after "Wandavision". (That was a brilliant TV series, Marvel's best so far. I'm disappointed with myself for not writing about it). It's possible that she reforms at the end of this film. All I can say is that I'm disappointed that she plays the Big Baddy in "Doctor Strange 2". It's not faithful to her character in the comics, and why is she so powerful? In the comics she was a novice witch, no match for Doctor Strange.

Does Sam Raimi even know what the multiverse is? Judging by the dialogue, he doesn't. It's spoken of as something evil and uncontrollable. Rubbish! The multiverse is just a word to describe the different parallel timelines/universes. In the comics they're usually created by time travel, when someone goes back in time and changes events. The differences between the universes are subtle, not drastic.

In the last paragraph I bundled together the words "universes" and "timelines". In the comics (from the mid 70's onwards) they're practically synonyms, two words intended to describe the same thing. In the MCU the parallel universes in "Doctor Strange 2" and the parallel timelines in "Loki" seem to be different things. Otherwise the Time Variance Authority could have dealt with the problems while Doctor Strange stayed at the wedding sipping champagne.

So many random things are thrown together, We see the Illuminati, admittedly an alternate version of the Illuminati in the parallel universe Earth-838. The introduction of the Illuminati in an Avengers story in 2005 was one of the sillier ideas of Marvel's post-canon age, but in the film they look even more ridiculous.

What's with the Darkhold? We already saw it in Marvel's "Agents of Shield" series. It briefly appeared in the final episode of "Wandavision", but it plays a major part in "Doctor Strange 2". Is it the same book? It has different characteristics to the book in "Agents of Shield". The continuity of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is breaking down. Can't Kevin Feige, or whoever's responsible for the MCU, keep things better under control?

There's an unforgivable blunder. Sam Raimi should be ashamed of himself. It's claimed that the Doctor Strange in the film comes from Earth-616. Wrong, wrong, wrong! The main Marvel Universe in the films is Earth-199999. Earth-616 is the universe in the comics. They're very different to one another. Mysterio already called our universe Earth-616 in "Spider-Man: Far From Home", but he was a liar, so his mistake was deliberate.  Although, admittedly, they're becoming more alike. After films are released, stories are written in the comics that match the films. There's a major incursion of Earth-199999 into Earth-616.

Who is Charlize Theron supposed to be in the mid-credits sequence? The film itself doesn't name her, but in the credits she's listed as Clea. I hope her character isn't ruined by rewriting her in future films. She's Dormammu's niece, the daughter of his sister Umar. All true Marvel fans know that.

There's a silly post-credits scene in which Bruce Campbell speaks into the camera and tells the audience that the film's over. That made me smile. I know what it's about. Sam Raimi has said in interviews that he's opposed to post-credits scenes. Marvel probably insisted on a post-credits scene, so Sam made one as short as possible, not worth watching. Unless, of course, you're a Bruce Campbell fan.

When I walked out of the cinema my first inclination was to give the film a one star rating to signify my severe displeasure. I calmed down a bit on the train on the way home. Three stars is a fair rating. It's a reasonably well made film, even if it isn't Marvel.

The Marvel bubble has burst. When the MCU was launched in 2008 with "Iron Man" I was excited. I rushed into the cinema to see every film as soon as possible. I could hardly wait to buy them on Blu-ray. That's changed. The Marvel films don't excite me any more. "The Eternals" is the first MCU film that I refuse to buy on Blu-ray. It's not worth the money. There may come a time when I skip Marvel films in the cinema. That time isn't far off.

Eurovision: The Story of Fire Saga (4½ Stars)

When I logged into Netflix I was told that "Eurovision: The Story of Fire Saga" is the #1 film in Germany today. By watching it I've added my vote to the list.

Maybe I like the film for the wrong reason. I expected it to be a parody of the Eurovision Song Contest, something I've hated as long as I can remember it. I was surprised to see that it was quite respectful to the contest. The butt of the jokes is the Icelandic entry, Fire Saga, made up of Lars Erickssong and Sigrit Ericksdottir. They're ridiculously inept at performing on a big stage, but there's no criticism of the other performers, neither stated nor implied.

The film is a love story. Lars and Sigrit have had a platonic relationship for more than 40 years. Sigrit wants their relationship to move to the next level (the first level?) while Lars is only interested in winning the Eurovision Song Contest.

For me, the film's strength is in the music and the presentation of the Song Contest. The romantic aspects of the film interest me less, even though they're the film's backbone. If I were to summarise the film in one sentence, I'd say that it begins and ends great, but it sags in the middle. The Icelandic scenery is also breathtaking. The main reason that the film sags in the middle is that the romance is in the foreground. Okay, the romance is also emphasised in the final scenes, but that works out well, because it's accompanied by big musical numbers.

This isn't a film that will make you cry, but it's a film that will make you laugh. I enjoyed it, and I'll probably watch it again.

P.S. There's a brief guest appearance by Netta Barzilai, the winner of the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest. She deserves the red carpet for her entrance. I wish we could have seen more of her.

Mean Girls (4½ Stars)

Merry Christmas to all my readers. To be honest, I don't celebrate Christmas, but if Santa looked anything like this I might change my mind.

I watched "Mean Girls" recently, and I was so fascinated that I had to return to it as quickly as possible. It's just like "Scream", but without the screaming. The narrative style is so effective that it's hyper-realistic, so that you're not sure whether it's parodying a documentary or attempting to be a real documentary. The main character, Cady Heron, directly addresses the audience in her voiceover.

The last two times I reviewed this film I didn't go into the plot. I'll make up for that now.

16-year-old Cady Heron (Lindsay Lohan) grew up in Africa, where her parents worked as zoologists. All this time she was home-schooled. Now they've moved back to America, so she has her first day at school, ten years too late. She's introduced to all the school cliques, from the math nerds to the football jocks. She makes friends with Janis, the school's only goth girl. Janis can't form a clique by herself, so she hangs out with Damian, the school's only gay boy. Actually, he's more than just gay. He seems to think of himself as female. He uses the girls' bathroom, and when the principal orders all the girls to go to the gym he goes with them. He's one of the girls.

Cady is invited to join the Plastics, the school's elite group of fashionable but shallow girls. They offer her friendship, as long as she doesn't challenge the Queen Bee of the Plastics, Regina George (Rachel McAdams). Cady doesn't feel comfortable with them, but Janis recommends that she join the Plastics so that she can spy on Regina George. Janis used to be her best friend in middle school, but now that she's been dumped she's obsessed with her ex-friend.

Isn't Janis too beautiful to be a goth girl? Or maybe I'm biased. I've always liked girls in black, as long as they don't overdo the piercings. As I often say, "There should never be metal in any place that I like to kiss, lick or suck".

Cady's work as an undercover spy for Janis gets confused when she falls in love with Aaron Samuels, Regina's ex-boyfriend. Now we see just how mean Regina can be. She dumped Aaron, but when she finds out that Cady is interested in him she takes him back, just because she can. Maybe she thinks that if Cady dates her ex-boyfriend the other girlswill think that Cady stole him from Regina.

One of the most important things about being a Plastic is regular telephone conferences. Clockwise from bottom left it's Cady Heron, Gretchen Wieners, Karen Smith and Regina George.

I've always had something of a crush on Amanda Seyfried, who plays Karen Smith. Her eyes fascinate me.

Or do I prefer Lizzy Caplan as Janis? It's a tough choice.

No, I have to stick with Amanda Seyfried. Lizzy Caplan only dressed up as a goth for this movie. She looks a lot more conservative in real life. Unfortunately. On the other hand, Amanda Seyfried always has big eyes.

But let's get back to the plot. Cady started out pretending to be one of the Plastics, but the lifestyle corrupts her. She enjoys being a member of her school's elite clique. She takes revenge on Regina for taking Aaron away from her, but the end result is that Cady has become the new Queen Bee.

Cady has to decide what's important. Is it better to be popular or to be loyal to your friends? That might seem like an easy question to answer, but when you're a 16-year-old girl and your best friends are the school's outcasts there's a big difference between knowing what's right and doing what's right.

This is a very good film that I'm sure to watch again soon.

Success Rate:  + 5.6

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Mean Girls (4 Stars)

Gretchen: "Ex-boyfriends are off limits to friends. That's just like the rules of feminism".

Cady: "The limit does not exist!"

Many thanks to my friend Crystal Berry for hosting a watch party, even if she kept me up all night.

It's been eight years since I last watched this. I'd forgotten the plot, and all I could remember was the mean girls in their short skirts. In my last review I hardly wrote anything to remind me what it was about. But yikes! There was a horrible spelling mistake in that review, which I just corrected, so there's no point in looking for it. I'm so ashamed! There was a spelling mistake for EIGHT YEARS and I never knew!

I enjoyed the film today, despite being tired and hardly able to concentrate. I'll have to watch it again soon.

Success Rate:  + 5.6

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Doctor Strange (5 Stars)

This is the 14th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, released in November 2016. I voted it my top film of 2016, but to be honest, I could just as well have picked "Deadpool" or "Captain America: Civil War". All three are outstanding films, and it's difficult to decide between them.

Stan Lee appears for about three seconds as a bus passenger in New York City. He's reading "The Doors of Perception" by Aldous Huxley, and it's making him laugh out loud. I don't know what the significance of his laughter is. I read "The Doors of Perception" when I was a teenager, probably 15, and I don't recall finding it funny. The book was an influence on my poetry over the next few years. I wrote about experiences after eating peyote, but the experiences were fake. I was never able to find peyote on sale, and I could only take LSD as a substitute.

I only took LSD for a few years, and I only wrote poetry for a few years. When I stopped taking LSD I stopped writing poetry. Without it I lost my inspiration. I'm still curious about peyote today. From what I understand, it's a weaker substance than LSD, so it's easier to dose.

The more I watch "Doctor Strange", the more I can accept Tilda Swinton as the Ancient One. I still think she was a curious choice for the role, but she's such a good actress that she plays the part perfectly. On the other hand, I never had any problems accepting Chiwetel Ejiofor as Baron Mordo. His racial characteristics in the comics are ambiguous, so he could have been played by a white or a black actor.

At the risk of making enemies, I have to say that I've never considered Mads Mikkelsen to be a good actor. He's too one-sided. He can only play characters that are cold, or troubled, or both. That's just the sort of person Kaecilius is, so he was the right person for the role.

I still can't make my mind up whether or not I like Benedict Cumberbatch as an actor. When I first heard that he'd been cast as Doctor Strange I groaned. Anyone but him! I changed my mind after seeing the film. He totally won me over. It's as if he was born to play the role. He doesn't just look like Doctor Strange, he walks and talks and casts spells like Doctor Strange. At least, he casts spells like the 1970's Doctor Strange drawn by Gene Colan.

Doctor Strange has appeared in other MCU films since this, but I'm still waiting patiently for his next solo film. From what I've read a sequel has already been planned, but no release date has been announced.

Success Rate:  + 2.1

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Doctor Strange (5 Stars)

After watching the undisputed weakest MCU film yesterday, I decided to watch one of the best MCU films today. Despite complaints of whitewashing (casting a white British actress as an Asian character) it's an excellent film. Tilda Swinton fits into the role much better than I expected. My readers might accuse me of being a hypocrite. I'm one of the strongest critics of Idris Elba being cast as a Norwegian God in "Thor", so why do I accept Tilda Swinton as the Ancient One? I think the answer is that I don't accept her, I merely tolerate her. I know that she's the wrong actor for the role, but she's such a good actress that I can overlook the casting mistake. She was killed in this film, so we don't have to put up with her in future MCU films.

I have less problems with Chiwetel Ejiofor being cast as Baron Mordo. In the early comics his race is ambiguous. It wasn't until much later, 25 years after his first appearance, that an origin story was written claiming that he was of Romanian descent. For me this was a non-canon story, so I'm happy with him being portrayed by a black character.

I love the visual effects in "Doctor Strange", but what makes the film so good to me is the fact that after the origin story is out of the way the action comes fast and furious with hardly a pause. This is what an action film should be like.

One very slight criticism I have of the film is the portrayal of Dormammu as an enormous non-corporeal being, similar to Galactus in the second Fantastic Four film. The comics always showed him in humanoid form with a burning head. I assume the filmmakers wanted him to look scarier, but the change was unnecessary. Whoever Stan Lee created was perfect exactly exactly as he created him.

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Doctor Strange (5 Stars)

Since moving to Germany I've acquired a lot of new readers. I've been handing my card to people I meet, and judging by the boost in readers based in Germany (according to Google's statistics) my marketing strategy has been successful. There's something that might not be obvious to my new readers. This isn't a film review site, it's a film diary. That's a subtle but significant difference. It means that if I watch a film five time I'll write about it five times. You might ask what happens if I run out of things to say. Do I repeat myself? Not usually. I just add a few random thoughts, such as telling you what the weather was like when I watched the film. My "reviews" aren't always informative, but I hope they're always entertaining.

So what's the weather like today? It's snowing.

That's my card. Cute, isn't it? I designed it myself. The only thing I don't like is that the dancing logo isn't quite centred, it's slightly to the left of centre. When I reprint the card I'll correct the error, but at the moment I still have a few hundred copies in a box, so I'll have to use them first.

Since this blog is a diary, it's as much for me as it is for other people. Usually I remember a film after watching it, even though I watch hundreds of films every year, but sometimes there are exceptions. This is most apparent with this years's Fantasy Film Festival. It was only three months ago, but last week I realised that I couldn't remember some of the films, so I went back and read my reviews. I can clearly remember the best films and the worst films, but after watching four films a day my memory of the average films is hazy. I wish I'd had time to write more detailed reviews.

One film that I didn't and never could forget is "Doctor Strange", which I saw in the cinema last year. For me this is the new direction of Marvel films. Benedict Cumberbatch was perfect in the title role. After initial resistance I could even accept Tilda Swinton as the Ancient One, however weird it is to cast a white woman as an oriental man. At least she's dead now, so she won't be appearing in the next Doctor Strange films.

Mads Mikkelsen, always a wonderful actor, plays the part of the arch-villain Kaecilius in the film. There's a character in the comics with this name, but I don't think it's the same person. In the comics Kaecilius is a minor character without much mystic power, but in the film he's a powerful enemy. That's a problem with the Marvel films. So often a character is thrown in, and it's impossible to know whether he's an old character from the comics or someone completely new.

I enjoy the film very much, especially the Inception-ish cityscapes, but there's one criticism I have to make. It was too early to feature a battle between Doctor Strange and Dormammu. In the comics Dormammu is Doctor Strange's greatest enemy, so Marvel should have built up to him over a few films; first weaker enemies, and then finally a big showdown with Dormammu in the third or fourth film. After that Umar could step in as the main opponent. The trouble is that the Marvel film producers are too impatient. I blame Kevin Feige. There are hundreds of issues of the comics of each superhero to draw on, but the Marvel films want to do it all at once to keep the comic fanboys happy. It doesn't work with me. I'd rather progress slowly though the storylines.

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Passion (3 Stars)

I only gave this film three stars when I watched it three years ago, but I thought I would watch it again. I don't usually rewatch three-star films, but I thought I might have judged it unfairly. After all, no film with Karoline Herfurth can be that disappointing, can it?

Unfortunately, yes, it is. I almost felt tempted to lower the rating this time round, but I'll be generous.

Something is seriously wrong with the film, and it's difficult to say what it is. It had a budget of $25 million, but the end result looks as cheap as a low budget television movie.

Noomi Rapace and Karoline Herfurth are two of the best actresses alive today, but based on the evidence of this film you wouldn't think so. They deliver their lines woodenly without a shred of emotion. When Karoline says "I love you" her face looks as blank as if she's saying "You forgot to put sugar in my coffee". Even when a tear runs down Noomi's cheek her face looks blank, as if she just remembered she has to buy a Lotto ticket after work.

The soundtrack contributes to the cheapness of the film. It's little more than orchestral elevator music thrown in at random intervals in an attempt to highlight the suspense that isn't there.

Karoline Herfurth is Germany's best actress, but she needs to do better than this if she wants to make a breakthrough into the American market.

This is a beautiful picture of Noomi Rapace looking through a door, but it doesn't make up for the film's weaknesses.

When you see this screenshot of Rachel McAdams you might expect a steamy, erotic film. You'll be disappointed. You'll find more eroticism in "Titanic".

Noomi and Karoline share a passionate kiss.

"Did you enjoy that, darling?"

The film is about women who live in the superficial world of the advertising industry. They work in high paying jobs, they wear the best clothes and they go to parties where they exchange meaningless small talk. There's no problem with that. A film can reveal the shallowness of society and still be a deep, meaningful film. What disturbs me is that the film itself is superficial. If I described the plot to you it would sound like a good film, but it got derailed along the way.

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