https://youtu.be/Rt_UqUm38BI

Hope it's good.

------------------------------------------
America from 9:00 on: https://youtu.be/GUwLCQU10KQ

That was fast:

https://youtu.be/aWzlQ2N6qqg

------------------------------------------
America from 9:00 on: https://youtu.be/GUwLCQU10KQ

America Chavez
Professor gotdamn fucking X (Illuminati?)
Zombie Wanda

I can’t wait.

____________
Twitter & IG: @rulerofmyself
SC: rulerofmyself17

Yes! She's on the drugs. (c) BoHagon

I caught the cow lady from Wundagore on my third viewing.

Peace,

Spirit (Alan)
http://wutangbook.com

The Guardians of the Galaxy game had some deep cuts but this is a stab wound in comparison.

____________
Twitter & IG: @rulerofmyself
SC: rulerofmyself17

Yes! She's on the drugs. (c) BoHagon

“we should tell him the truth”

The guy who says that? Yeah that sounds like P Stewart. Wild

Peace,

Spirit (Alan)
http://wutangbook.com

Clicked on a trending actor and saw leaked footage.

Seeing it tomorrow night

------------------------------------------
America from 9:00 on: https://youtu.be/GUwLCQU10KQ

IGN has been posting their reviews waaaay too early.

And Nerdist has been fully dissecting trailers right on the TL.

____________
Twitter & IG: @rulerofmyself
SC: rulerofmyself17

Yes! She's on the drugs. (c) BoHagon

Loki and What If...? have been doing great things in setting up the multiverse with serious consequences. Literally nothing matters in this movie. This desperately needed a better script. Wanda's arc in this feels like there's something missing between this and WandaVision. Honestly, her arc should've been a slow burn over the course of a few of these projects.

With that said, it's so good to see big budget Rami again. The cast kills it especially Benedict and Xochitl Gomez as America.

------------------------------------------
America from 9:00 on: https://youtu.be/GUwLCQU10KQ

Damn, I got tickets Thursday night and again Saturday morning with my boys, hopefully will still have a good time. Is at least better than Eternals?

Btw, when you get to screen Top Gun?

I imagine most people will love this but I want a story not a plot. I want characters with agency not a movie where things happen to them and their not challenged.

I dunno. People loved SHANG-CHI, so I imagine this is gonna be eaten up.

Top Gun next week

------------------------------------------
America from 9:00 on: https://youtu.be/GUwLCQU10KQ

Outside of the shows and maybe Spider-Man i keep feeling like the formula is getting stale. I was excited for them to do a "superhero horror movie" but it sounds like they just stuck to the same old formula. Damn, i was hyped for Marvel to go outside of the box.

---------------------------------------

"The world is before you and you need not take it or leave it as it was when you came in." - James Baldwin

-at least not yet, and I don't think this movie would be a sign that they are, even if it's bad.

He did compare it to Shang-Chi, which plenty of people- me and my wife included- loved, and that comparison was that many of us did love Shang-Chi.

I think there are too many new things coming down the pipeline to begin to say they've lost steam.

-Thor Love & Thunder. I have complete faith in Taika and Chris to turn in something fun and, to his criticism here, weighty. Hell, the basic plot itself already has some weight to it.

-BP2. Though, that's anyone's guess given Chadwick's passing. But they're adding a new character- Riri Williams- everyone should be excited about. And possibly Namor!

-Guardians 3, rumored to feature a plot around Rocket's origin. I trust the hell out of James Gunn to end his trilogy in both grand and meaningful fashion.

-Ant-Man: Quantumania. We're getting Kang! And the two prior films have been fantastic, IMO. I think the addition of Kang makes this the most intriguing movie on the current slate.

-The Marvels: We're getting Spectrum, full stop!
-Fantastic Four! Which means Doctor Doom, Galactus, Silver Surfer

And once the X-Men hit, that opens up a massive new world of plots and characters.

I just think there are too many new characters, directors, and actors coming into the picture, to see this as running out of steam. The incoming slate is massive, and so much of it is fresh territory for this universe. It's exciting.

And you may well be right in that this could be the first sign of a major slide to mediocrity. But I doubt it. Bare minimum, there's plenty to look forward to

I was just looking forward to seeing Marvel do something outside of their normal box, as in attempt a "horror" superhero movie, but from the reviews coming out it sounds Dr Strange is just more of the same. Eternals, Shang, Black Widow kinda bored me. They weren't bad, just more of the same formula. One thing you can say about DC movies (the good ones) is that they all take a different approach each time.

---------------------------------------

"The world is before you and you need not take it or leave it as it was when you came in." - James Baldwin

Yes! At least DC tries (Snyder excluded) to do something different.

------------------------------------------
America from 9:00 on: https://youtu.be/GUwLCQU10KQ

I've wondered too just how long Marvel can keep up interest in these movies, especially given how niche some of these characters were. But Feige and Disney are on to something and have been batting at a HOF level for quite a while.

I think some people's lack of satisfaction with this recent phase is because of how well the last arc of Phase 2(?) was pulled off.

From Civil War until Endgame there were maybe two movies that weren't outright excellent. (Guardians 2 and Thor: Ragnarok) And even those movies had outstanding moments.

Maintaining that level of excellence just isn't likely. Especially with a new slate of filmmakers and actors working to find their voice and navigate Marvel's standards.

And also, the TV series have been mostly excellent as well. So, while the media and rollout of these movies have been different than the previous phase, I think there's still a good amount of interest in Marvel movies.

As much as the previous phase? Not right now. But they've earned the benefit of the doubt in that regard.

<--- Me when my head hits the pillow

In terms of creatively, I personally feel, especially in movies like these, that the need for everything to connect within the universe causes the stories themselves to sag. Like, here, Strange's emotional journey is more or less an afterthought, and Wanda's emotional journey is really, really similar to what she already did in WandaVision. So in movies with lots of characters, I definitely worry that the stories are growing somewhat unwieldy as they're increasingly beholden to the obligations of expanding the universe.

And tonally, obviously the vast majority of these movies are more or less the same. Some of them are fortunate enough to have gifted directors like Gunn, Waititi-- and I'd file Raimi under this umbrella tbh, enough of his flourishes are coming through here-- but they all have a necessity to remain as breezy and quippy as the previous ones, and things like the color palate/sheen and the action editing are all very similar from movie to movie with limited exceptions. It's why most of my very favorite movies in the MCU feel less like "the next entry" and more like "a director getting some free rein to have fun and tell a story." But in giving directors more voice, they're taking more risk-- and even Raimi's stuff here feels secondary to making sure it looks, feels, and sounds first and foremost like The Marvel Standard.

That said, it's very obvious that the pop culture impact continues to be as large as it's ever been-- Marvel movies are the #1 reason people go to the movies. And I imagine the formula of The Marvel Standard plays a heavy role in that, because even if the movies very, very rarely soar to being "incredible" anymore imo, they also very, very rarely sink to the level of "not good." You know when you go to a Marvel movie that you're going to get something that is, at bare minimum, entertaining, geeky, and fun. And its impact just continues to grow and grow.

(Now, do I think the fact that their impact is so colossal means they absolutely *could* take more risks tonally, absolutely *could* give directors more autonomy, absolutely *could* play with the form and deviate some from the Marvel Standard formula, that even if one movie flops, there'll be another two out that same year that'll make people forget instantly? Yes, absolutely I do. But I reckon my desire to see some risk on display is precisely why I'm not chosen to run a multi-billion dollar enterprise, lol.)

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GRANTED, I also only Saw Iron Man, Thor and Captain America before skipping everything until Civil War because A) I was vaguely familiar with the comic it was based on and B) wanted to see a new Spider-Man. Since Endgame, I've watched Wanda, Loki and the Spider-Man movies and that's it.


I like all the actors and most of their takes on the characters, I'd love to see a MCU movie that felt like a Raimi movie and I did enjoy the first Strange a lot...but even having seen most of the set up for this movie (I think?) I'm just, like...why? I could wait two years, buy a month of Disney Plus and binge it all in a weekend, right?


So, it took me a while to care about all 26 or whatever movies in the first saga (and I still never saw Thor 2) but Endgame felt like such a bold period at the end of this story I'm having a tougth time caring until they establish what the plan is. Besides, it all seems kind of slap dash anyway - what do Shang Chi, The Eternals, Dr. Strange, Spider-Man and Thor have to do with each other? Will I need to keep watching the TV (which I stopped doing after Loki) to know?


It's just too much, really.


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

It's fine. Some fun Raimi stuff, some nice moments. Some characters given nothing to do. Endless exposition. Lots of CGI of varying quality. Multiple bad Cumberbatch wigs.

And one cameo I really didn't like that I'll mention in a different, clearly-labeled spoiler post.

Here's my full spoiler-free review: https://letterboxd.com/russellhfilm/film/doctor-strange-in-the-multiverse-of-madness/

My movies: http://russellhainline.com
My movie reviews: https://letterboxd.com/RussellHFilm/
My beer TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thebeertravelguide

We agreed, if I remember right, in the Spider-Man thread that the movie felt like it was afraid to trust the audience would just love Spider-Man unless the movie felt as huge as Endgame, so it was a fun movie but it just didn't feel like it happened to me by the end of it. I'd walked through the toy aisle and dad told me I couldn't have anything 'cause I'd failed multiplication that month.


I haven't seen this yet (who knows if it'll be in theaters, though I did like the first Strange and love Raimi) but it's my greatest fear, that so much of its momentum is going to hinge on what came before and what will come after rather than the movie on the screen right now. I know people have had that complaint about MCU movies forever but I never really felt that was the case until Far From Home. Maybe that's just me flipping from excited to cynical though and it really was always there.


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

Spoiler coming below.
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Boy oh boy, I do *not* like John Krasinski as Reed. At all. I didn't like the idea of it, and I really don't like it in execution. Krasinski's entire career has been built on "I'm the charming guy," whereas Reed should be giving off "I'm so smart that being normal is hard." And it seems like Krasinski is maybe *trying* to do something like that here, but it just comes off bored.

I thought Black Bolt ruled (as did his demise), which I feel like is proof positive that we don't need famous motherfuckers playing all these parts. And we certainly don't need this sort of meme-level fan casting. Marvel fucking rules at casting, it's one of the things they're best at... but this Krasinski casting feels like a big time misfire, especially considering how central a character he should be in the MCU.

Also, while the Illuminati stuff has some interesting moments as does its subsequent fight, I tell you what, it definitely drags the plot to a halt, lol. Obviously didn't need any of it. This is the hard part of trying to balance the extended universe as these movies get bigger and bigger: for you to spend time on the whole universe, you almost always have to halt your movie's plot. It makes me appreciate way more things like Moon Knight that feel like their own thing, that don't have to hit pause because we have to check in with some other character from some other thing to remind us they exist or to introduce some other person.
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Okay, the spoiler was above.

My movies: http://russellhainline.com
My movie reviews: https://letterboxd.com/RussellHFilm/
My beer TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thebeertravelguide

I think they're doing it because all of the major Marvel characters are done. Iron Man, Captain America, Black Panther etc. are gone so the next phase has to be "fan service" to keep making bank. I liked the Spiderman movie for what it was. But in the end, the script seemed like it was written with "hey, how do we get all the Spiderman actors into the same movie!" The plot was dumb, if we're being honest.

---------------------------------------

"The world is before you and you need not take it or leave it as it was when you came in." - James Baldwin

I had a lot of fun watching it. Is it top ten or groundbreaking? No, and kinda agree illuminati part seemed a bit thrown in and awful spoiling the biggest cameo in the trailer. Overall solid Marvel entry that will make a lot of money.

He definitely didn’t have it.

Peace,

Spirit (Alan)
http://wutangbook.com

--------

1) It feels like there’s a missing movie (probably between the first one and Infinity War) where Mordo is the main antagonist. Here we just have an alternate Mordo with one line of dialogue from Strange explaining what happened between one of the better end credit scenes and now. That was really glaring to me. I suppose they decided it wouldn’t be an interesting character to carry a movie, which I get, but it still feels like a missing puzzle piece.

2) The trailer hinted that the plot would be the consequence of Doctor Strange’s actions in Spidey 3 (and maybe Strange 1/Infinity War), but that’s not really the case. The America/Scarlet Witch plot is happening whether he’s there or not, and has nothing to do with his past actions. It was interesting that the Dr. Strange in each universe has the same flaw of doing a calculus of what sacrifices are worth it or not, but that’s not really the same as addressing this Dr. Strange’s actions head on.

People already brought up the issues with the Illuminati stuff. It didn’t bother me quite as much, but it did feel like a checklist they were checking off on the way to completing their multiverse vision, which is kinda deflating.

All that said, Scarlet Witch is one of their stronger villains imo. Maybe it took too long for the character to evolve to this, but I’m glad we finally got to see it. Olsen is great in this role.

>It was
>interesting that the Dr. Strange in each universe has the same
>flaw of doing a calculus of what sacrifices are worth it or
>not, but that’s not really the same as addressing this Dr.
>Strange’s actions head on.

Like, the dude's *entire deal* is that he makes cold decisions for the greater good, that he's the one who has the burden of making the tough call.

... so he's gonna casually rewrite reality because a teenager's having a tough go of it? Like... word? lol just didn't vibe at *all* with what we know about Doctor Strange in the MCU to me.

My movies: http://russellhainline.com
My movie reviews: https://letterboxd.com/RussellHFilm/
My beer TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thebeertravelguide

Gotta wait until least July fam

It’s lonely out here on “I Thought It Was Just Fine” Island, but I’ll respect the moratorium.

My movies: http://russellhainline.com
My movie reviews: https://letterboxd.com/RussellHFilm/
My beer TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thebeertravelguide

>It’s lonely out here on “I Thought It Was Just Fine”
>Island, but I’ll respect the moratorium.

Lol

yeah I can see that as a special kind of hell
I'm just joking, I do hope you realize that lol

>
>Like, the dude's *entire deal* is that he makes cold decisions
>for the greater good, that he's the one who has the burden of
>making the tough call.
>
>... so he's gonna casually rewrite reality because a
>teenager's having a tough go of it? Like... word? lol just
>didn't vibe at *all* with what we know about Doctor Strange in
>the MCU to me.

“We’ve used that spell for a lot less, remember that party at ______?”
“No.”
“Exactly.”

That was fine as a throwaway joke, but it still makes Doctor Strange more of a renegade than he should be. Like when he was mad at Peter for not trying to appeal to the board of admission first, he should be mad at himself for not ASKING Peter if he did that before casting the spell. That is obviously something that wouldn’t occur to a teenager, but a fucking Wizard should know better than to do ANY of this, especially without getting all the facts.

>... so he's gonna casually rewrite reality because a
>teenager's having a tough go of it? Like... word? lol just
>didn't vibe at *all* with what we know about Doctor Strange in
>the MCU to me.

The core parts of Strange's personality he had to get over to truly be Strange and the Sorcerer supreme were impulsivity and selfishness.

Strange WANTED to try that spell, Peter's predicament just gave him an opportunity to do what he was going to do anyway, also, he didn't think it all the way through, CLEARLY.

Impulsivity & selfishness.

BS like NWH is supposed to be the shit that MAKES him the cold self-less dude we know him to be NOW.

my 2 cents.

********************************

Get Out The Room!
http://getouttheroom.podomatic.com
@fakewilliamkatt

"You probably wouldn't worry about what people think of you if you could know how seldom they do!" - Olin Miller

>Strange WANTED to try that spell, Peter's predicament just
>gave him an opportunity to do what he was going to do anyway,

Like, is there a part of the movie NWH that makes it clear that this was a fault within Strange for doing this? That he wanted to try to tinker with space-time? That he was going to do it anyway?

Maybe there was some scene where they explained this, but I missed it if that's the case. And even if they did have a textual scene making it clear that was the reason, I still don't think it vibes with the character arc the MCU had set him on.

>also, he didn't think it all the way through, CLEARLY.
>
>Impulsivity & selfishness.
>
>BS like NWH is supposed to be the shit that MAKES him the cold
>self-less dude we know him to be NOW.

But it's the same guy who put himself in an infinite kill loop to save the world in the first movie-- and the same dude who let himself and half the population die for a *chance* at beating Thanos. Wasn't he already calculated and selfless before NWH?

In fact, the whole plot of Multiverse is around the idea that his calculated nature makes him believe that sacrifices made for the greater good are worthwhile-- that it's building on the idea of Infinity War/Endgame. And as mentioned above, clearly in the first movie, in Infinity War, and Multiverse, he's completely cool with sacrificing himself and his well-being, as long as it's for the greater good.

But, like, his behavior in NWH doesn't remotely vibe with that character arc imo. There's no argument that what he's doing is for the greater good, and he's acutely aware of the dangers. He's definitely a guy who tinkers with dangerous spells, but only when it's for saving lives.

I just don't think the guy who let half the universe die for a shot at long-term success is the same guy who'd mess with space-time because a sad teenager he'd fought with a couple times asked him nicely to.

My movies: http://russellhainline.com
My movie reviews: https://letterboxd.com/RussellHFilm/
My beer TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thebeertravelguide

but to your greater point, although it is part of his personality, it is wildly out of step with his current character arc. I'm with you on that one.

********************************

Get Out The Room!
http://getouttheroom.podomatic.com
@fakewilliamkatt

"You probably wouldn't worry about what people think of you if you could know how seldom they do!" - Olin Miller

definitely has flaws, to me i enjoyed it as much as now way home and it kind of has a lot of similarities with the cameos. i definitely enjoyed it more than shang-chi and eternals (i didnt hate either).


spoilers below
















--
i was thinking how messed up it was that they wiped out so many figures in the other universe. this one came out mostly unscathed except for everyone at kamar-taj. although how many people even died, seemed like a full house at the end.

i do think the wanda plot was accelerated too much. i was ready to leave this movie seeing her as a full blown villain.

i enjoyed america chavez. i came into the movie thinking i dont really care about the characters that are left and expected to play a big role. the spanish parts made me laugh.

--





















spoilers above

<--- Big Baller World Order

Rented a theater and had 15 people (all covid tested) come.

The "action" is the film was driven by boring, clunky exposition. For all of the action I felt very little.

I cared about none of the characters that were introduced.

The Dark Hold was not given nearly enough buildup to make Wanda's motivations.

We learn almost nothing about America Chavez.

Why can Wanda kill a 1000 people at once, but can't remove the powers from jean-jacket girl for 15-20 minutes?

Professor X standing up and tugging on her arm was LAME.

Reed Richards saying "Be careful Black Bolt could kill you!" instead of just killing her was lame. Alt Christine was lame.

Why at the end of Wanda vision she hears her kids calling for her? I thought that might be tied into Shang Chai - but it wasn't.

Charlize Theron opening the dark dimension might be fun - but that was just so clunky the way it was done.

The good:
Liked some of Raimi stuff.
Some visuals were great.
Wong showing up in the opening scene was cool.
Bruce Campbell's back in the MCU.


I paid $200 for the theater, made arrangements with over a dozen people and I still couldn't like the movie much.

I didn't hate it.

------------


Gone: My Discogs collection for The Roots:
http://www.discogs.com/user/tomhayes-roots/collection

Generally with comic book movies, as long as I can understand motives and the plot holes aren't too gaping, I can rock. This was the case for me

Some things certainly could have been better, but I enjoyed the product and didn't really think much past that

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That was like 5 movies at once. That had several ideas that easily could have been its own movie and they just toss them in and hope we don't think too long about any one thing.

Spoilers.


I'm old school so to bring in people like Reed Richards and Dr. X just to kill them in 10 minutes is a waste of the big moments of having them appear on screen. You can't treat those characters like red shirts.

This movie also drove me Crazy because there are no rules or logic regarding Dr. Strange or Wanda's powers. Why is Dr. Strange making weapons out of music? Why is wanda chasing people on foot when she can fly. If she can't seal people's mouths than she can easily kill anyone with a blink?

Wanda in general is too powerful. Like she does too much damage and kill too many people for her to get redemptions. They should murk that woman in her sleep when she is good because she is too powerful when she is evil (and she turns evil often).

This movie is like the Tik Tok of movies. Just a constant stream of things without any cohesiveness.

**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

this one qualifies as well.

it's still stuck in the trappings of an MCU movie (checklist of auxiliary plot-points and characters so we can advance to next stage of movies). but it was interesting.

--------

Marvel's gotta tighten the ship when it comes to this. It makes it hard to follow this shit. Like with the power levels of Wanda there was NO reason this movie should have lasted longer than 15 mins.

********************************

Get Out The Room!
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@fakewilliamkatt

"You probably wouldn't worry about what people think of you if you could know how seldom they do!" - Olin Miller