Marvel's Doctor Strange

Marvel's Doctor Strange ~ I was first introduced to Doctor Strange during the Avengers/Defenders war in the early seventies as he was the leader of the latter superhero team. I knew he was Marvel's 'magic guy' and that he'd been around since the beginning of the Marvel Age and was created by Steve Ditko and Stan Lee, the same team that brought us Spider-Man originally, but little else.

While my impression was usually the Sal Buscema Defenders leader, as I grew older I started to read the Ditko stuff, and it was out there, very weird with outlandish villains and bizarre mindscapes. I never dreamed anything like it could be brought to the screen, and yet the previews seem to indicate it can be done. But then again, I never imagined we'd have an Avengers movie, let alone three - Marvel is just full of miracles.

Beware spoilers hereafter.

I am not a Cumberbitch. I'm comfortable enough with my sexuality that I'm not afraid to say when a man is attractive, but I have never understood what women and men see in Benedict Cumberbatch. I love "Sherlock," but he's so unlikable a character there, and let's face it, his Khan was one of the worst things about Star Trek Into Darkness. So I was not sold when I heard Cumberbatch was cast as Doctor Stephen Strange. He proved me wrong. After seeing the movie, I can't see anyone else in the role.

The story is thematically the same as the hero's first appearance from 1963's Strange Tales #110, which I had first read more than four decades ago in Stan Lee's Origins of Marvel Comics. Arrogant surgeon Stephen Strange gets in a car accident that damages his hands. Unable to continue as a surgeon, Strange searches the world for cure, eventually coming upon the Ancient One, who gives him a new vocation with magic. Long story short, of course.

All the elements are here, the desperation, the salvation, but a few things are turned on their head. I'll start with the good and move to the ugly. We get more insight on major Doctor Strange enemy Baron Mordo, fellow student of the mystic arts under the Ancient One. I really liked Chiwetel Ejiofor here, easily one of the best performances of the movie, especially as he changes in the space of the film, beginning as an ally then by the end credit sequence, more villain than the actual villain of this piece.

Let's talk about Mads Mikkelsen and the character he plays, Kaecillius. I realize now that Kaecillius is an old school Silver Age foe of Strange, although essentially a henchman of Mordo's, but until the movie I had no idea who he was, and had to look him up. Why was he chosen as our hero's first foe? I wouldn't normally mind such an unknown entity if the actor behind him was worthy, and he is - Mads is a major heavy with incredible talent, but they really do very little with him or Kaecillius here. It's all posturing and posing, no real depth. All we get is Mordo, and we really have to wait for the sequel to see his evil turn.

And then there's the Ancient One. I have nothing against Tilda Swinton or her performance, she's amazing, and funny, and ominous, and tragic. But she's white. It's her casting I still have a problem with. With Mordo, a black man was cast into the role of a white character to wonderfully add diversity to the painfully white Marvel Age of the early sixties. But the Ancient One is actually one of the few Asian characters in that same age, and the producers chose to cast a white woman in that role.

In old Hollywood, this was called whitewashing. Taking an Asian role and casting white actors to play Asian. Movies that I love, like The Mask of Fu Manchu, The Good Earth, and Mr. Wu, are stained by both this practice and the racial stereotypes depicted. Sidebar to the stereotypes, Wong, Doctor Strange's servant is treated well and as an equal if not a better to Strange in this film, gracefully and cheekily by Benedict Wong. Notably the character was also treated equally well in the often forgotten but quite good 1978 television movie/pilot of Dr. Strange. Back on point, which is worse, the color blind casting of Mordo, or the whitewashing of the Ancient One?

Rachel McAdams is merely a plot device in the film, who could have been more, but doesn't live up to potential. If they were going to use Night Nurse in this film, why not use Rosario Dawson from the Netflix Marvel Television Universe? But then again, I admit my bias toward her, but why create another Night Nurse character - isn't the comics continuity confusing enough? I would have rather had Clea, perhaps we'll get her in the sequel.

Strange's journey into the magic world is wonderfully depicted, I even dug the Inception-like special effects of turning one's surroundings into a weapon by altering its structure (up is down, shifting buildings, moving gravity, and Escher nightmares). This was one of the ways the film depicted magic, and it made the fight scenes phenomenal, something we'd never seen before. I liked that the Cloak of Levitation was like a wicked stepbrother to the Rug from Disney's Aladdin and seemed to have a fun sentience. And then there's the rings.

The concept that certain items are imbued with magic and aid in the casting of spells is a solid and revered concept. Much of the Doctor Strange comics mythos comes from this - the Cloak, the Eye, etc., and then there's the Sling Ring, created for this film. The Sling Ring helps to cast portals, and without it, a portal cannot be opened. It actually plays well in some of the fight scenes I mentioned. When Strange says, "Sling Ring, do your thing" at one point, it completely removed me from the film.

Back in the bad old days of the 1970s when there really wasn't all that much comic book superheroism on television, and what there was was changed or made silly, there was a Saturday morning cartoon called "Fred and Barney Meet the Thing." Yes, that Fred and Barney. One of the program's segments featured a teenaged Ben Grim who could transform into the Thing by bringing two rings together and saying, "Thing Ring, do your thing." It took a while to recover when that happened in the film.

While I wished that Dormammu had a bit more fire (less Zemo, more Dormammu), I loved his representation here, and even the uncredited fact Cumberbatch did his voice. The way Strange beats him is brilliant. Casting problems and Thing Rings aside, I really did enjoy this movie. Of course stay through the credits for the two extra scenes, one a set-up for Mordo, and the other a seemingly mismatched piece directed by James Gunn that prologues Thor: Ragnarok. Highly recommended, as are most of the Marvel films.

Leonard Cohen 1934-2016

Like many of my friends, and fellow fans and music lovers, I have no words.

Coast to Coast AM Election Night

Today is Election Day, the beginning or the end of a dark age, depending on who you want to win. I'll stay away from the election and politics and direct my anger at a more convenient, and for regular readers, a more familiar target. I'm talking about George Noory, the current host of Coast to Coast AM.

I've taken aim at George before, for his ruining one of my favorite radio programs and for his complete lack of interviewing style. You can read about that here, here, and here. I've got yet another bone to pick with old George.

Tonight, Election Night, George has extended Coast to Coast AM another hour for election coverage. Election coverage. It's almost as if George has no idea what the show he's hosted for over a decade is supposed to be about. Coast to Coast is a show about the paranormal. I can hear the news, or the election on every station on the dial. I tune into Coast for something special, something specific. Unless we're electing a reptilian alien, and I'm pretty sure we're not, despite what you've heard, that's not in Coast's wheelhouse.

This is one week after a catastrophic Ghost to Ghost show. Coming once a year, a decades long tradition on Coast, this is a night-long show where callers phone in and tell ghost stories, and it rocks... until recently. The last few years George has cut it down by hours. Last week we barely got an hour and a half. That's what we waited a year for?? Why couldn't the Ghost to Ghost show have been extended???

Ghosts and the paranormal are what the show's about. It even says so on their website, nothing but news about UFOs and ghosts and Bigfoot. Or is the website too hard for someone who needs to have Uber and Instagram explained to him? It's not like George's interviewing skills could be improved (well, actually they could, a little research beforehand, not napping while a guest talks, and maybe a follow-up question once in a while...), but you could give us more ghosts and less election!

It's November, we are all sick of politics, but most of us who love Coast to Coast AM are tuning in for the paranormal. So if you're listening tonight, and can actually get through the call screeners, ask George when the real Coast to Coast AM is coming back. If we can't get the leader we want, at least give us the radio we want!

Arrow S05 E05: Human Target

When we left "Arrow" last week, Wild Dog had been captured by Charon, Tobias Church, and torture had begun, and continues as we open this week. Even though Team Arrow is on the hunt, and eventually find Wild Dog, it's too late. He broke, and told Church that the Green Arrow is actually Oliver Queen.

This is a curious turn. First, it happens offscreen and second, it seems too easy. As Rene is digging his own grave at gunpoint, he does get some vital information out of Church - why he's in Star City. Being a port city with water access Church can get drugs into and out of the country easily, perfect base of operations. As we go to commercial break, I couldn't help but wonder if this was all part of Oliver's plan. It would not be the first time we viewers were the last to know something like this.

We also know that Church is working for Prometheus, supposedly this season's big bad. I don't know who this television version of Prometheus is but I have to say I'm distressed that it's another archer. Really, another archer? It's like speedsters on "The Flash," what is it about Green Arrow that attracts so many archers?

In the comics, Prometheus was created by writer Grant Morrison as an anti-Batman (and there's the other recurring "Arrow" theme - everything Batman). He fought the Justice League using a database of fighting techniques, strategies, and information on his potential enemies that could be downloaded directly into his brain. Above and beyond defeating both the Justice League and the Teen Titans, he blew up much of Star City. In the end, Green Arrow ended him with an arrow through the head, long story short.

There were two other villains who called themselves Prometheus in the DC Universe. One was a henchman of Doctor Alchemy who gained super powers from an industrial accident at Kord Industries, went on to fight the Teen Titans, and died in one of Roulette's fight clubs. Notably, Roulette, who recently clashed with Supergirl on the CW, also in the comics believes her grandfather to be the Terry Sloane Mr. Terrific. The other Prometheus was an imposter disguised as the first one I talked about above, an inferior pretender.

Of course speculation on who this television version of Prometheus is a game for another day. This episode is about something else - someone else. And for comics readers, the title of the episode alone spoils any surprises that may occur within the show. For the uninitiated, the Human Target is a comics character with a very specific skill set and modus operandi.

Christopher Chance is a master of disguise who used to appear in the back-up slot of 1970s Action Comics. Created by writer Len Wein, Chance would assume the identity of a person marked for murder until the killer was captured. Oftentimes Chance would appear to be murdered, making it easier to find the killer, thus the name, the Human Target. Earlier in the episode, he is namelessly referenced as John's old friend.

Here on "Arrow," Chance is played by Wil Traval, no stranger to comics television as he played Will Simpson on "Marvel's Jessica Jones" on Netflix, a character who in the comics becomes the powered psychopath Nuke. The Human Target has had two other TV incarnations, the first was a limited run in 1992 with Rick Springfield, and two seasons played by Mark Valley in 2009. So, as I was saying, when Oliver is shot dead, no comics fans were surprised.

The ending of the episode seems incredibly rushed. The threat of Tobias Church is ended prematurely, a dangerous complex criminal exited in favor of yet another nearly invincible mystery archer. Boo, hiss. Chad L. Coleman is wasted if this is his run on "Arrow," and furthermore Wild Dog not getting a proper shot at payback is just as bad. Before dying at his hands, Church gives up the secret of Green Arrow's identity to Prometheus, eliminating the problem of Church telling everyone in prison.

It's all too easy, too convenient, and rushed as if the showrunners wanted the Charon storyline over as soon as possible. If so, then they know how we all felt about Damien Darhk all last season. And then they throw a real monkey wrench on the trashfire. Chance saved Oliver's life in the Bratva flashbacks, unknown to Oliver, but now known to the pesky reporter Thea has been clashing with. One manufactured plot point, made to order, why was Oliver in Russia when he was supposed to be on a deserted island?

There were a few good points this episode, among them the return of Spartan, and John and Rene bonding. Oliver did actually have a few moments of sanity and normality, but unfortunately it turns out that was really Christopher Chance. Although, the writers must have been confused because Oliver continues to act human with Felicity, saying they should both move on romantically.

One hope for this wholesale shoveling away of prior storylines should be that perhaps we'll have a clean slate to start from. Also I hope having Spartan back won't overshadow the new Team Arrow recruits who I'm really starting to like, more than Oliver, but then again, that's not all that difficult. And I wish we'd seen more of Scimitar, named only in the credits, Church's masked freak bodyguard. That was a quick cameo.

Next: So It Begins!

Konga

Konga ~ Now I've written a little bit about this movie before over at Biff Bam Pop! as part of my review of the Charlton Comics monsters, all of which were originally from film. Konga as a comic lasted over five years and included art by the amazing Steve Ditko, co-creator of Spider-Man and Doctor Strange, among many others.

The movie, also tragically known as I Was a Teenage Gorilla, was made in 1961. Konga stars a young Michael Gough, who folks probably know better as Alfred in the 1990s Batman film franchise. He brings a proper English elegance to what is pretty obvious crap, and even manages decorum while stark raving mad. He's good and the movie is bad. Konga is even filmed in "SpectaMation," a made up gimmick to lure folks into theaters.

Here's the gist: an explorer brings a baby gorilla and some man-eating plants back from the Ugandan jungle, then goes a little mad. He uses a serum from the plants to grow the chimp, Konga, to man size, then commands him to kill his enemies. Then later, after a super dose of the serum, Konga grows to giant size for some real (and cheap, even by kaiju eiga standards) monster action and rampage in London.

Besides the cheaper than usual effects, there are a couple things that set Konga apart from its Japanese cousins. The English crowds, rather than run from the monster, politely stand and watch. Also when the police are alerted to the presence of a giant monster ape, they immediately believe, and call the war department. That's a far cry from flicks like The Blob and other teenage scifi flicks of the decade previous.

Gough carries the film despite a cast that tries very hard. He remains interesting even while the titular ape takes the screen, something unusual for this genre. The giant monster scenes are sad, due to the ridiculous gorilla suit, but it's worth seeing for Gough. Although watch out for the disturbing cat scene early on. The comics are much better.