Doctor Strange & Other Reviews...
Jun. 25th, 2022 06:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatHot day. In the 90s. Ninety degree weather is not kind to menopausal women who recently had COVID. I sweat profusely, get winded, and feel like I'm going to faint. Best to just stay indoors with the A/C.
So I stayed inside with air conditioning, watched television, a movie, and did a bit more archiving. (The archiving is weirdly addictive. Also, I got an odd email that someone had requested a password change on my account. I was told if it wasn't me - to feel free to ignore and the request would expire. Maybe I requested and forgot? Or there's another shadowkat and they accidentally put in the wrong name?)
Yesterday, walking by my co-workers, who are Long Island Italians, emphasis on the Italian - New York Italians sound like them came out of the Godfather movies, overheard the following...
NC: Never put oil in the pasta.
M: Exactly - heard Lidia on her cooking show state that -
NC: Salt. The oil it ruins the pasta and the sauce
Me: Okay, are you talking about putting oil in the boiling water prior to the pasta ?
NC: Exactly! Never do that. Always put salt. The oil causes everything to slide off the pasta, it can't stick. And you want the sauce to stick to every inch of the macroni and ziti, and the penne, get in every crevice. Otherwise it doesn't work.
***
As promised, Reviews
1. Doctor Strange and Multi-Verse of Madness
This was directed by Sam Rami (reminding me of why I'm not a fan of Sam Rami movies and television shows - he's into cheesy effects and on the busy side of the fence, also I find his direction style jumpy).
Sam Rami films tend to have four things in them:
* Cheesy special effects
* Zombies or references to the evil dead in some winking way
* An old car running into something
* Bruce Campbell being beaten up
In 2021, I read Bruce Campbell's autiobiography (two of them) - no wait, I listened to them on audiobooks for free. In both, Campbell states that his pal Sam Rami likes to put him in all his films - just to beat him up. It's kind of inside joke between the two of them - going back to their first film together - The Evil Dead Franchise - which consisted mostly of Sam Rami beating the crap out of Bruce Campbell.
In this film, Campbell plays an annoying pizza ball vendor, who America (portrayed by Xoitchel Gomez) steals pizza balls from and Strange spells - so that he keeps hitting himself. The poor man is in one of the alternate universes. He's white headed now, but I'm getting there.
***
Anyhow. I was disappointed in the movie. The trailers mislead me into believing it was going to be an entirely different movie. Also, Marvel? Please stop it already with the cute side-kicks to appeal to the tween demographic. I feel like this movie was made for ten-thirteen year olds.
America was not in the trailers. I was mislead into believing Strange goes to the Scarlet Witch for help resolving a mistake he made back in Spiderman - which was opening up the Multi-verse, and needed her help to close it. Which was a far more interesting story in my head than the one I got.
In my version, Wanda and Strange were equally at fault, and had to help each other towards redemption - and fight a villain together. Again, not the story I got.
So I was, suffice it to say, pissed off.
Very happy that I did not make the colossal mistake of seeing it in the movie theater and wasting $15-19 on it. (I paid to see Spiderman on streaming - since it's impossible to see otherwise. But because of a lovely social media friend - I was able to see Doctor Strange on Disney + for free.) Seeing it for free, made it a little less annoying and more watchable. I was able to appreciate certain aspects of it. Also I adore Benedict Cumberbatch. Plus it had some interesting cameos.
But, it was not as good as Spiderman : No Way Home, and possibly the worst Marvel film I've seen in a long time, comes to close to Thor: Dark World and Rami's Spiderman films in that department, but not quite. Also it still isn't as bad as the Fantastic Four films, several of the X-men franchise films, and oh god the last reboot of the Fantastic Four (which is unwatchable). There have admittedly been worse comic book films, too many to count.
So I'd say this was better than those - I liked it better than WW 1984, which a co-worker and I agreed was a bad film. So, yes, it was better than that.
Do I want to explain why I didn't like it? Not really. Mileage it varies.
Also I'd have to spoil you to explain it. Plus, I think I disliked it because I wanted a different movie - worse, was expecting and looking forward to a completely different movie. This is a problem with books, movies, television serials - whenever the audience goes in with different expectations, whether they be high expectations or expecting a completely different direction. It is akin to watching your favorite sports team lose the championship - when you thought they were going to win.
This is why I like to be spoiled for things - that way I don't get disappointed. I was dumb, I didn't read the reviews first. Note to self - read reviews on Marvel movies in the future.
Overall grade: D for disappointing.
2. The Offer
Is Al Ruddy, Bob Evans, and Coppola's story of making the Godfather.
Wales: Is it documentary?
Me: No -
Wales: Is it a fictional -
Me: It's a dramatization of real events, based on Coppola, Ruddy, and Evans accounts of what happened, specifically Al Ruddy - so it's an inside look on what was involved producing the Godfather, and honestly, I'm amazed the movie ever got made.
I am. Amazed.
The best character is Juno Temple's Bettaye, a brassy blond assistant producer to Ruddy, who manages Ruddy and everyone else. She's smart, she doesn't take shit from no one, and she is tough as nails. I adore her to pieces.
For a film that is about 90% male characters, there are some interesting female characters in there.
We deal with Bob Evans marriage to Ali McGraw, which breaks up during the shooting of the Godfather. (Ali McGraw does the Getaway with Steve McQueen and falls for him on the shoot and has an affair - breaking up her marriage, and destroying her career - her film career kind of collapsed due to her marriage to McQueen. Evans would have kept her employed.)
Both Evans and Ruddy are still alive by the way and still producing movies and television shows. Actors die. Producers are too wicked to do so, they seem to live forever.[ ETA: I was wrong, Evans apparently died in 2019.]
Matthew Goode (Discovery of Witches, Downton Abbey) is playing Evans, and is rather good in the role. The whole cast is surprisingly good. The guy who played Alex Kirov in Grey's Anatomy is playing Marlon Brando, and sounds like him. And the guy playing a young Al Pacino is brilliant.
My only quibble continues to be the emphasis on the mob, which I find boring.
3. Stranger Things
Halfway through it. Love everything that is focused on the kids in Hawkins, investigating the weird events in Hawkins. But everything else is dragging.
Eleven's story is frustrating, and she was a touch more compelling in previous seasons (also she looks better with no hair - which is an odd thing to say, but there you go.) Mike hasn't aged well. Will, on the other hand, has - but he was better as a kid. The kids in Hawkins are excellent, the kids in LA aren't.
Joyce and Hopper's storyline doesn't quite work. Joyce goes off to save him and he kind of asks her too, which doesn't quite work - considering she's trying to take care of and protect three kids. OTOH - she'd be dead if she stayed in LA, so I'm glad she took off to save Hopper. It's just frustrating to watch Joyce and Hopper's clumsy attempts to get free from the dumb-ass Russians.
So it's a mixed bag, part of it works, part doesn't. Kind of like the previous seasons. But at least everyone is less whiny than they were in S3.
4. Essex Serpent on Apple TV
It's okay, kind of drags. Similar to the book actually, which also drug.
I liked the female characters in both, the male characters annoyed me - in both.
Kind of agree with SmartBitches review of it. Except the reviewer is raving about her love of Tom Hiddleston, and I'm thinking in the back of my head, you'd be singing a different tune if you knew what I did about him.
[Really don't worship humans, they are flawed creatures. Particularly male humans.]
5. Dark Winds on AMC (broadcast cable) - it's well done. Based on the Tony Hillerman Joe Leaphorn mysteries. And the casting for once is actual Navajho actors, and it's filmed in or around Arizona and on the reservations. Robert Redford, and Hillerman's daughter, and George RR Martin are involved with it.
I found it fairly well cast.
Will stick with it. Just wish it was on PBS - because, ugh, commercials.
6. Decided to try the first episode of Alias on Disney +, which I'd forgotten, but it came back to me in snatches as I watched. The difficulty with Alias - is Bradley Cooper and the guy who played Danny have more on-screen charisma and chemistry with Jennifer Garner, than the CIA agent, Vaughn does (who is her love interest throughout the series). I remembered as I was watching the pilot again - that I watched that series for her friends, who weren't with the CIA or SDX. I think if you loved Victor Garber, Garner, Vaughn, and Sloan - then you probably stuck with and loved the series more than I did. I remember flipping between it and Angel, then between it and West Wing, they put them opposite each other back in the day. And this was before DVR's or streaming existed. Back in those days, you had to choose.
I may or may not stick with it - in that I have far too many other television series to watch and have been rec'd to me by co-workers and other people.
(Co-workers rec'd Bobba Fett, Obi-Wan, Severance, Man on the Moon or to the Moon - Apple TV's series (I think), Time Traveler's Wife, among others.)
So I stayed inside with air conditioning, watched television, a movie, and did a bit more archiving. (The archiving is weirdly addictive. Also, I got an odd email that someone had requested a password change on my account. I was told if it wasn't me - to feel free to ignore and the request would expire. Maybe I requested and forgot? Or there's another shadowkat and they accidentally put in the wrong name?)
Yesterday, walking by my co-workers, who are Long Island Italians, emphasis on the Italian - New York Italians sound like them came out of the Godfather movies, overheard the following...
NC: Never put oil in the pasta.
M: Exactly - heard Lidia on her cooking show state that -
NC: Salt. The oil it ruins the pasta and the sauce
Me: Okay, are you talking about putting oil in the boiling water prior to the pasta ?
NC: Exactly! Never do that. Always put salt. The oil causes everything to slide off the pasta, it can't stick. And you want the sauce to stick to every inch of the macroni and ziti, and the penne, get in every crevice. Otherwise it doesn't work.
***
As promised, Reviews
1. Doctor Strange and Multi-Verse of Madness
This was directed by Sam Rami (reminding me of why I'm not a fan of Sam Rami movies and television shows - he's into cheesy effects and on the busy side of the fence, also I find his direction style jumpy).
Sam Rami films tend to have four things in them:
* Cheesy special effects
* Zombies or references to the evil dead in some winking way
* An old car running into something
* Bruce Campbell being beaten up
In 2021, I read Bruce Campbell's autiobiography (two of them) - no wait, I listened to them on audiobooks for free. In both, Campbell states that his pal Sam Rami likes to put him in all his films - just to beat him up. It's kind of inside joke between the two of them - going back to their first film together - The Evil Dead Franchise - which consisted mostly of Sam Rami beating the crap out of Bruce Campbell.
In this film, Campbell plays an annoying pizza ball vendor, who America (portrayed by Xoitchel Gomez) steals pizza balls from and Strange spells - so that he keeps hitting himself. The poor man is in one of the alternate universes. He's white headed now, but I'm getting there.
***
Anyhow. I was disappointed in the movie. The trailers mislead me into believing it was going to be an entirely different movie. Also, Marvel? Please stop it already with the cute side-kicks to appeal to the tween demographic. I feel like this movie was made for ten-thirteen year olds.
America was not in the trailers. I was mislead into believing Strange goes to the Scarlet Witch for help resolving a mistake he made back in Spiderman - which was opening up the Multi-verse, and needed her help to close it. Which was a far more interesting story in my head than the one I got.
In my version, Wanda and Strange were equally at fault, and had to help each other towards redemption - and fight a villain together. Again, not the story I got.
So I was, suffice it to say, pissed off.
Very happy that I did not make the colossal mistake of seeing it in the movie theater and wasting $15-19 on it. (I paid to see Spiderman on streaming - since it's impossible to see otherwise. But because of a lovely social media friend - I was able to see Doctor Strange on Disney + for free.) Seeing it for free, made it a little less annoying and more watchable. I was able to appreciate certain aspects of it. Also I adore Benedict Cumberbatch. Plus it had some interesting cameos.
But, it was not as good as Spiderman : No Way Home, and possibly the worst Marvel film I've seen in a long time, comes to close to Thor: Dark World and Rami's Spiderman films in that department, but not quite. Also it still isn't as bad as the Fantastic Four films, several of the X-men franchise films, and oh god the last reboot of the Fantastic Four (which is unwatchable). There have admittedly been worse comic book films, too many to count.
So I'd say this was better than those - I liked it better than WW 1984, which a co-worker and I agreed was a bad film. So, yes, it was better than that.
Do I want to explain why I didn't like it? Not really. Mileage it varies.
Also I'd have to spoil you to explain it. Plus, I think I disliked it because I wanted a different movie - worse, was expecting and looking forward to a completely different movie. This is a problem with books, movies, television serials - whenever the audience goes in with different expectations, whether they be high expectations or expecting a completely different direction. It is akin to watching your favorite sports team lose the championship - when you thought they were going to win.
This is why I like to be spoiled for things - that way I don't get disappointed. I was dumb, I didn't read the reviews first. Note to self - read reviews on Marvel movies in the future.
Overall grade: D for disappointing.
2. The Offer
Is Al Ruddy, Bob Evans, and Coppola's story of making the Godfather.
Wales: Is it documentary?
Me: No -
Wales: Is it a fictional -
Me: It's a dramatization of real events, based on Coppola, Ruddy, and Evans accounts of what happened, specifically Al Ruddy - so it's an inside look on what was involved producing the Godfather, and honestly, I'm amazed the movie ever got made.
I am. Amazed.
The best character is Juno Temple's Bettaye, a brassy blond assistant producer to Ruddy, who manages Ruddy and everyone else. She's smart, she doesn't take shit from no one, and she is tough as nails. I adore her to pieces.
For a film that is about 90% male characters, there are some interesting female characters in there.
We deal with Bob Evans marriage to Ali McGraw, which breaks up during the shooting of the Godfather. (Ali McGraw does the Getaway with Steve McQueen and falls for him on the shoot and has an affair - breaking up her marriage, and destroying her career - her film career kind of collapsed due to her marriage to McQueen. Evans would have kept her employed.)
Matthew Goode (Discovery of Witches, Downton Abbey) is playing Evans, and is rather good in the role. The whole cast is surprisingly good. The guy who played Alex Kirov in Grey's Anatomy is playing Marlon Brando, and sounds like him. And the guy playing a young Al Pacino is brilliant.
My only quibble continues to be the emphasis on the mob, which I find boring.
3. Stranger Things
Halfway through it. Love everything that is focused on the kids in Hawkins, investigating the weird events in Hawkins. But everything else is dragging.
Eleven's story is frustrating, and she was a touch more compelling in previous seasons (also she looks better with no hair - which is an odd thing to say, but there you go.) Mike hasn't aged well. Will, on the other hand, has - but he was better as a kid. The kids in Hawkins are excellent, the kids in LA aren't.
Joyce and Hopper's storyline doesn't quite work. Joyce goes off to save him and he kind of asks her too, which doesn't quite work - considering she's trying to take care of and protect three kids. OTOH - she'd be dead if she stayed in LA, so I'm glad she took off to save Hopper. It's just frustrating to watch Joyce and Hopper's clumsy attempts to get free from the dumb-ass Russians.
So it's a mixed bag, part of it works, part doesn't. Kind of like the previous seasons. But at least everyone is less whiny than they were in S3.
4. Essex Serpent on Apple TV
It's okay, kind of drags. Similar to the book actually, which also drug.
I liked the female characters in both, the male characters annoyed me - in both.
Kind of agree with SmartBitches review of it. Except the reviewer is raving about her love of Tom Hiddleston, and I'm thinking in the back of my head, you'd be singing a different tune if you knew what I did about him.
[Really don't worship humans, they are flawed creatures. Particularly male humans.]
5. Dark Winds on AMC (broadcast cable) - it's well done. Based on the Tony Hillerman Joe Leaphorn mysteries. And the casting for once is actual Navajho actors, and it's filmed in or around Arizona and on the reservations. Robert Redford, and Hillerman's daughter, and George RR Martin are involved with it.
I found it fairly well cast.
Will stick with it. Just wish it was on PBS - because, ugh, commercials.
6. Decided to try the first episode of Alias on Disney +, which I'd forgotten, but it came back to me in snatches as I watched. The difficulty with Alias - is Bradley Cooper and the guy who played Danny have more on-screen charisma and chemistry with Jennifer Garner, than the CIA agent, Vaughn does (who is her love interest throughout the series). I remembered as I was watching the pilot again - that I watched that series for her friends, who weren't with the CIA or SDX. I think if you loved Victor Garber, Garner, Vaughn, and Sloan - then you probably stuck with and loved the series more than I did. I remember flipping between it and Angel, then between it and West Wing, they put them opposite each other back in the day. And this was before DVR's or streaming existed. Back in those days, you had to choose.
I may or may not stick with it - in that I have far too many other television series to watch and have been rec'd to me by co-workers and other people.
(Co-workers rec'd Bobba Fett, Obi-Wan, Severance, Man on the Moon or to the Moon - Apple TV's series (I think), Time Traveler's Wife, among others.)
no subject
Date: 2022-06-26 04:31 pm (UTC)Amazingly, the only way that Netflix can cope with my having changed country was for me to cancel, wait for the end of the billing cycle, then rejoin from my new abode. Not that I have an immediate need to rejoin and, well, yes, Netflix are really challenging the question of value proposition. I may join for a month later this year or somesuch, once they've completely released enough of what I want to see. Once cancelation gets more awkward, the calculus will change again. Though, I had just the most basic, cheap plan on Netflix, I don't need HD, multiple screens, etc.
no subject
Date: 2022-06-26 10:31 pm (UTC)I have the HD Netflix, but not the multiple scree version.
no subject
Date: 2022-06-27 10:07 am (UTC)I do notice the difference with HD, I just don't much miss it when I watch SD instead. I can sure see it's a nice to have, though.