Benedict Cumberbatch

Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

Infinity War

Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

Director:

Anthony Russo

Joe Russo

Writers:

Christopher Markus

Stephen McFeely

Starring:

Robert Downey Jr.

Chris Hemsworth

Chris Evans

Chris Pratt

Mark Ruffalo

Don Cheadle

Benedict Cumberbatch

Tom Holland

Chadwick Boseman

Tom Hiddleston

Anthony Mackie

Sebastian Stan

Bradley Cooper

Paul Bettany

Vin Diesel

Scarlett Johansson

Zoe Saldana

Karen Gillan

Elizabeth Olsen

Danai Gurira

Pom Klementieff

Letita Wright

Gwyneth Paltrow

Plot:

The Avengers and their allies must be willing to sacrifice all in an attempt to defeat the powerful Thanos before his blitz of devastation and ruin puts an end to the universe.

Review:

Thor, Chris Hemsworth, and the Asgardians that escaped from Hela have been decimated by Thanos, Josh Brolin. Well, half of them, I’m going to assume Valkyrie got away with the other half because she’s not seen in the movie. Thanos beats the shit out of The Hulk, Mark Ruffalo, and for what might be the first time The Hulk gets scared and for the rest of the movie refuses to come out which puts our heroes at a disadvantage. Bruce may be smart, but they needed brawn more than another brain.

Tony, Robert Downey Jr., is settling into life, still not really facing his fears, but wanting to make a commitment to Pepper, Gwyneth Paltrow, and become a family man. I feel like I think he’s got certain issues, but he believes he has other ones entirely, and that’s why I never get to see any movement on his PTSD and anxiety. Seeing him and Doctor Strange, Benedict Cumberbatch, interact was one of the highlights of the movie. I also really enjoyed how each group or individual still had their own style. It was very clear when you were with Strange or the Guardians or the others, which I appreciated.

Star Lord, Chris Pratt, is the real fuck up of this movie. Everyone else is heroic, but he decided to lean more toward his roguish nature. He reacted entirely in character, which is annoying, cause everyone else rose to new heights with this challenge, but he was an ass and ruined everything.

Is Thor the mightiest Avenger now? I think there’s got to be a strong case for him. The Hulk is hiding inside Banner and Thor withstood the power of a dying star, after surviving floating in space for an undetermined amount of time. He’s grieving but still did what was necessary, plus he’s a cross between an angel and a pirate, I’d read that romance novel.

The final battle takes place in Wakanda, but Black Panther and his crew probably have the least amount of screen time, with maybe Cap and his people coming in next. There are a TON of people in this movie so it’s not entirely unexpected but I’m hoping that they all have more of a part to play in Endgame.

So many people are “dead” but you don’t see a lot of them actually disappear on screen so who exactly is gone isn’t quite clear. I believe the directors may have confirmed a few people, but I refuse to believe that Loki, Tom Hiddleston, is actually dead. He’s died too many times and he had to know what Thanos was going to do, he’s alive somewhere in the universe.

This movie felt more inspired by the older movies, so some of the things I’ve loved in the last few movies weren’t here. Thor was still awesome, but apart from Gamora, Zoe Saldana, and Scarlett Witch, Elizabeth Olsen, the female representation was light. Scarlett Witch and Vision, Paul Bettany, and their relationship felt really weird, in my opinion. I’m assuming it was something in the comics. I guess it was teased in Civil War, but it came off as more Vision being kind of creepy and Scarlett Witch being polite about it in that movie. I don’t know, they’re probably my least favorite characters, so while their story plays a key part to the movie it’s my least favorite. It doesn’t help that this is the most we’ve ever really spent with them so there hasn’t been as much buildup.

The end credit scene is nothing but hype for me, especially after watching Captain Marvel. Seeing Fury, Samuel L. Jackson, and Maria Hill, Cobie Smulders, again was just so exciting!

Infinity War is technically a complete story, but not really. We all know there is no way all of those heroes are staying dead and that Thanos is going to win. It just can’t/won’t happen. It is basically a two part story with an excellent first part, but what happens in Endgame is going to make a huge impact on it and could completely change my opinion of Infinity War. We’ll just have to see what happens.

Original Review

4/5

Advertisement

Doctor Strange (2016)

Doctor Strange

Doctor Strange (2016)

Director:

Scott Derrickson

Starring:

Benedict Cumberbatch

Chiwetel Ejiofor

Rachel McAdams

Benedict Wong

Mads Mikkelsen

Tilda Swinton

Plot:

While on a journey of physical and spiritual healing, a brilliant neurosurgeon is drawn into the world of the mystic arts.

Review:

Doctor Strange, Benedict Cumberbatch, is a world renowned neurosurgeon. He is the best at what he does, he makes a ton of money, and has a massive ego to go with it. One night, on his way to a benefit, he’s driving his expensive car at unsafe speeds on windy wet roads and takes his eyes off the road. For possibly the first time in the man’s life, the worst case scenario happens to him and he’s not able to fix it. He careens off the side of the mountain and his hands are damaged beyond full repair. His entire life is now over.

Dr. Christine Palmer, Rachel McAdams, is a good doctor in her own right, and considers herself his friend, and tries to help him. He lashes out at her, after months of her helping, and he says some truly heinous things. She walks away and then he’s free to wallow in his miserableness. Except, he does continue to try and find a way to fix his hands. Using his last dime he travels to Nepal and searches for the Ancient One.

Doctor Strange continues the white male egomaniac tropes with the superheroes, but unlike Tony Strange actually grows by the end of the movie. We don’t know yet if that growth will stay or if he’ll backslide into thinking he’s the most amazing thing ever created, but I have high hopes. He actually gives Dr. Palmer a legitimate and good apology.

Dr. Palmer is one of only two women with significant speaking parts in the movie, that I remember. She at one point dated Strange, but apart from trying to help him get better and being a doctor is given no kind of backstory.

The other woman in the movie is The Ancient One, Tilda Swinton, she is ancient and powerful, and steals her long life from the dark one, Dormammu. She trains Strange and puts him in his place in several instances, which is very fun to watch. She pushes him. She recognizes that there is more than just a light and dark side, which ultimately is what creates what I guess will be the next Strange villain, Mordo, Chiwetel Ejiofor.

I liked Doctor Strange more than I remember, but clearly there are some troubling issues with it, though, that probably has a lot to do with the source material too. My hope is that there will be more female characters in the next one, because at this point it’s a glaringly obvious problem with the franchise.

Original Review

4/5

Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

Director:

Anthony Russo

Joe Russo

Starring:

Robert Downey Jr.

Chris Hemsworth

Mark Ruffalo

Chris Evans

Benedict Cumberbatch

Chadwick Boseman

Zoe Saldana

Tom Hiddleston

Paul Bettany

Elizabeth Olsen

Tom Holland

Danai Gurira

Scarlet Johansson

Josh Brolin

Chris Pratt

Letitia Wright

Plot:

The Avengers and their allies must be willing to sacrifice all in an attempt to defeat the powerful Thanos before his blitz of devastation and ruin puts an end to the universe.

Review:

SPOILERS

So I’ve seen Infinity War. Once. On opening day. That was pretty cool and even with pre-purchased tickets kind of a surprise. It happened though, so here are my thoughts.

My one desire for this movie was to see Tony, Robert Downey Jr., dead. I liked him in Iron Man 1 & 2, and I think RDJ is perfectly cast, but I am so freaking over Iron Man. He really pissed me off in Civil War and…I’m not going to get into that here, but I wanted him gone. He is not. He’s still there. Living. Breathing. Marrying Pepper. Color me annoyed.

Plus side Captain America, Chris Evans, is still alive too. Love Captain America, he’s awesome and all the things you want in a Leader. He was barely in the movie sadly and I hope that changes in the next.

Thor, Chris Hemsworth, was the Thor from Raganrok, so yeah! He was funny, and mourning, and determined, and his 1500 year old self kicked some ass. His interactions with the Guardians of the Galaxy were great.

The Russo’s managed to do a great job showing the differences between all the heroes and groups. Doctor Strange’s, Benedict Cumberbatch’s, fighting in particular was spot on. It is stylistically different from all the others and distinct and they did a great job showing that. Everyone sounded like they should and they reacted how you would expect them too, it was great.

I wasn’t much of a fan of Vision, Paul Bettany, and Scarlet Witch’s, Elizabeth Olsen’s, relationship. Well, not the relationship, but the focus. I just don’t care about those characters at this point. Vision is supposed to be this super powerful being but he’s forever getting his ass kicked. Scarlet Witch is pretty boring too.

The scenes in Wakanda were great, though I really wish we had more Shuri, Letitia Wright, and Okoye, Danai Gurira. The fight with Okoye, Black Widow, Scarlet Johansson, and Scarlet Witch was the worst filmed fight of the movie which was a huge disappointment. You couldn’t see what the hell was going on.

The movie had a huge cast so while I missed getting to see more of my favorite characters I understood it. So I’m not going to complain too much about it.

Thanos, Josh Brolin, while not as empathetic a villain as Killmonger, was still really good. You could understand his goal and motivations even if you thought he was fucked up in his methods.

The endings was expected, for me at least. It was definitely a downer, like Rogue One, but I fully expect it to get reset in the next Avengers movie. If that doesn’t happen, well, it will definitely end up impacting how I feel about this movie. Infinity War was a set up. Technically it was a complete story, but it was also buildup for the future movies so it’s going to be interesting to see what happens next.

4.5/5

Doctor Strange (2016)

doctor-strange

Doctor Strange (2016)

Director:

Scott Derrickson

Starring:

Benedict Cumberbatch

Chiwetel Ejiofor

Rachel McAdams

Tilda Swinton

Plot:

A former neurosurgeon embarks on a journey of healing only to be drawn into the world of the mystic arts.

Review:

Probably the best way for me to go into a comic book movie is to know nothing about the character, which is how I went in with Doctor Strange.

My first thought was surprise that there was a character out there that was a bigger dick than Tony Stark. There was some character growth on that part but I doubt the two of them would work well together or even fit in the same room.

I’ve come to accept, though not really like, the fact that superhero movies do not know how to film action scenes. Tons of quick cuts and you could rarely fully see the action when it was happening. The fact that Scott Adkins was in the movie but never fully utilized felt like such a waste and disappointed my husband who had been excited about his inclusion.

They basically introduced a whole new world in the Marvel universe so there was a lot of information that needed to be told and I don’t think it was completely. There were still some things I’m unsure of and other parts that were slightly confusing. Maybe if I read the comics it wouldn’t have been that way but I couldn’t be the only person going in blind.

I also thought that the little bits of comedy they tried for were out of place and didn’t fit the tone of the rest of the movie. It’s like they were trying to channel Guardians of the Galaxy lite and they really shouldn’t have at all. I get that Marvel movies like to have lighter moments but the jokes fell flat for me and those moments could have been done differently.

Overall I enjoyed the movie, it added a new element to the Marvel universe and I thought Tilda Swinton’s character was awesome. There were some flaws and it was nowhere near as good as Guardians of the Galaxy but I enjoyed it a lot more than several other Marvel movies.

3.75/5

Side note: Cumberbatch didn’t appear to get as ripped as previous male stars which kind of sucks for the other dudes but I hope it’s not a new trend lol

August: Osage County (2013)

august osage county

Director:

John Wells

Starring:

Meryl Streep

Julia Roberts

Chris Cooper

Ewan McGregor

Margo Martindale

Benedict Cumberbatch

Plot:

A look at the lives of the strong-willed women of the Weston family, whose paths have diverged until a family crisis brings them back to the Oklahoma house they grew up in, and to the dysfunctional woman who raised them.

Review:

I’m not even sure I should review this movie. After watching it I’m not positive what it is I was watching, which makes me feel stupid. It seemed to be about a family that each had their own individual issues coming together and dealing with their family issues. There was nothing positive. I learned nothing, except maybe how not to act or that I do not want a family like theirs. It was a pretty depressing movie and the ending was just Julia Robert’s character looking out across Oklahoma.

Wtf?

Seriously I do not understand movies/plays/books that are like this. I don’t know, maybe I’m missing something. I ended up reading the Wikipedia entry for the play and feel like I might have either missed some scenes in the movie or they were just not there, but it still didn’t make sense. Why am I supposed to like this? Seriously if someone wants to tell me I’d love to know.

Fair warning, even with an explanation I probably won’t like it.

1/5