Doctor Strange

I know that this review is a little late, but get excited kids, its finally here. The film that caused so much controversy in its decision to cast Bananapops Cucumberpatch (we all know who I’m talking about) as the title character that many fans revolted against it before even seeing a trailer. Before we pull at that thread and this review unravels completely into a lesson about whitewashing, let’s talk about the film as a whole. To be honest, I was actually really excited for this film after seeing the trailer. The special effects, the magic, the…oh who am I kidding, I’m really only seeing this because I’ve been harbouring an all consuming love for Mads Mikkelson ever since that first season of Hannibal. Anyway, let’s move on.

Doctor Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), a young neurosurgeon with a penchant for pushing the boundaries within his work, has been living a life of constant success: he’s recognised as one of the best in his field, is well respected, and although he has a reputation for being a bit of an ass, he is skilled enough to save lives at the drop of a hat. He has just one small problem: his people skills. Steven Strange’s world revolves around himself and his work, and nothing more. However, his entire life is shattered (literally) when he is gravely injured during a car accident, leaving his hands with severe nerve damage and being faced with the possibility that he may never practice medicine again. Unable to cope with merely accepting his fate, Steven searches the world for a cure. But what he discovers in a remote corner of Kathmandu is the world of the Ancient One and her teachings, a practice that reaches far beyond his imagination could ever fathom. Facing a challenge that threatens the earth and beyond, he will have to overcome more than his cocky personality to reach his true potential and prove his worth.

The positives: I know that I’ve said this about a few films this year, but Doctor Strange is a really good time. Tilda Swinton’s wise and surprisingly funny Ancient One balances Strange’s harsher personality well, with the supporting cast of Chiwetel Ejiofor, Mads Mikkelson, Benedict Wong and Rachel McAdams providing the perfect foils for Strange’s in a variety of ways. These actors are talented and clearly had a great rapport off screen that was evident in the film. The comedy was timed well and the jokes landed (easily noted by the audience in the screening I went to) but above all the visuals were stunning. Think Inception meets Iron Man meets Harry Potter, the different universes and settings this film gives its audience is an eyeful that really helps to immerse us into the realm of the Masters. I felt that my money was well spent on that alone. This film shows how you can balance darker themes of loss and loneliness with humour and dignity (take note DC), and reminds us that even at our lowest there is always something that makes life worthwhile.

The negatives: I’ll be honest here, if you’re not a fan of Tony Stark or his character arc or progression, you’re not going to like Stephen Strange as this story is surprisingly similar. I also felt that Mads Mikkelson’s character, the villain Kaecilius (Kai-sill-ee-us), wasn’t used enough and could’ve had more screentime (I’m not being biased I swear) in order to help explain his backstory which is mostly done through other characters. Also, I felt that the pacing was a little off in this film: not nearly as bad as the pacing in Suicide Squad, but this film tended to have the same vibe in that it was trying to pack a lot of information into one relatively short film, meaning that we were shunted through a vast amount of story and locations very quickly without enough time to properly understand what we were seeing. But now for the cherry:

Remember how I mentioned we were setting aside the whole whitewashing thing at the beginning of this review? Well its time to bring that chestnut back. Yes, the film as a whole was good and enjoyable. Yes, the acting was also great and the characters were entertaining and fit the film well. But fans of the character had a right to be angry, and just because the film was good, that doesn’t negate the importance of ‘why’ they were and still are angry. To be completely honest, as a South American person, I can’t blame them. Whitewashing is still a problem today and is seen time and time again in Hollywood, from The Last Airbender (2010) to the shock that was the live action Mulan’s first leaked scriptnotes just a few weeks ago. To act like its not insulting to the characters and their creators would be doing those characters a disservice. I’m not saying we all have to openly hate this film. I understand that for some people, seeing their favourite character/s of Stephen Strange and The Ancient One brought to life on the big screen is a huge deal. But what I am saying is that it would be wrong to just ignore the facts. In today’s society where voices speaking out against oppression and racial prejudice are louder than ever? Come on Marvel. If you can make the entire cast of the upcoming Black Panther movie completely African American as per the comics, you could’ve taken the time to put the same thought and planning into Doctor Strange and maybe saved a lot of fans’ disappointment.

In the end, Doctor Strange is a fun and entertaining movie that people of all ages are gonna love. Its got comedy, action and great characters to boot, and it’ll be fun to watch this character saddle up alongside our other favourite superheroes in the upcoming Infinity War with Thanos (which gets closer by the movie). Also, the end credits scene will be a hit with Loki fans everywhere (is that too much of a spoiler? Oops). All in all, whether you’re seeing it in the movies or illegally downloading a copy, you’re in for a good time.

Triple 9

Aussie director John Hillcoat is no stranger to making brutally violent films. Triple 9 is no exception to this rule, showing the brutal lengths that people will go to when their backs are against the wall. While it is an enjoyable heist movie, it can at times seem a bit predictable and some of the character motivations aren't even evident.

In Atlanta, a small crew of criminals led by Michael Atwood (Chiwetel Ejiofor) are made to pull a heist on a bank by Russian mobster Irina Vlaslov (Kate Winslet). Among the crew are two corrupt cops, Marcus Belmont (Anthony Mackie) and Franco Rodriguez (Clifton Collins Jr), as well as brothers Russell (Norman Reedus) and Gabe (Aaron Paul). Despite the fact that they pulled off the heist without a hitch, the crew are forced to pull another with even higher stakes. To help avoid police attention, they come up with a scheme to murder a police officer, which they know the cops will have a higher priority to get to. They decide upon Chris (Casey Affleck), Marcus' new partner. Meanwhile, Chris' uncle Jeffrey (Woody Harrelson) is investigating the crew.

Triple 9 ends up being a very generic heist movie. It does have some surprises, but it turns out to be very predictable. As you watch it, you can pick out who will turn on who and which characters will end up dying. I suppose that that is one thing where John Hillcoat makes a tiny bit of a difference. Life in this movie is cheap, people die when you think for sure that they are the main character. Maybe that stems from packing the movie with so many big name actors. I felt as though they were all important because of the star power that they brought to the movie. Turns out, they aren't.

Another problem that arises from stacking a movie like this with stars is that no one stands out in any way. Actors like Teresa Palmer, Gal Gadot, Norman Reedus and Michael K. Williams were only cast so that their names could be put on the poster so that people would go see the film. Casey Affleck, who ends up becoming the main character only appears after twenty minutes into the action. Clifton Collins Jr. is the only actor to give a truly good performance as the surprising second villain only due to the fact that he has no star power and has to work to be noticed. Kate Winslet is also good, but only when you compare how different her role here compared to Rose in Titanic is.

All in all Triple 9 is a movie that you're going to watch for the action over the story. It has surprisingly little heart. If anything you're not going to ever want to go to Atlanta.

The Martian

    "I'm Mark Watney and I'm still alive...obviously"

The red sands of Mars have settled following a forceful storm, the sky is a healthy red, the Sun bearing down on the rocky mesa's of the Martian landscape. One certain mound of sand is disturbed by the twitching movements of a man laying prone, waking from unconsciousness. His orange-and-white space-suit is both punctured and sealed by a small piece of debris shallowly embedded in his stomach. The debris, leftover from a destroyed long-range communications satellite, is not the only problem the astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon) now has to face as he scans the nearby arid landscape. Close by is the habitat Mark and his team have occupied on the planet for the eighteen days preceding the storm and the remains of the launch pad of the team's only rocket back home, which has long since departed with Mark's colleagues believing him dead. Alone on Mars with no communications and limited food, Watney resolves to sustain himself, to communicate, to survive, or as he puts it to "science the shit outta this."

The Martian, Ridley Scott's latest, distances itself from the last decade of epics from the prolific director (Robin Hood, Prometheus, Exodus: Gods and Kings and Kingdom of Heaven) and also, perhaps especially so, from the recent survival dramas of Everest, All Is Lost, Interstellar and the powerhouse Gravity, most notably through the solid writing from Drew Goddard (Cabin in the Woods, World War Z, Cloverfield, Daredevil). Goddard's writing of the characters in the Martian is a blend of Aaron Sorkin's jargon-fuelled relentlessness and Joss Whedon's comical perfection and wit, which has a wonderful effect on the film's tone. Unlike Gravity's direct minimalism, Everest's biopic cliches and Interstellar's cold, Doctor-Who-eyness, The Martian thankfully manages to keep a keen sense of humour to balance out the drama and despair. And this is sold by an ensemble cast of both dramatic actors and practiced comedians including Damon and Jessica Chastain of Interstellar, Benedict Wong of Prometheus, and Kate Mara, Michael Pena, Sebastian Stan, Jeff Daniels, Donald Glover, Kirsten Wiig and Sean Bean (who delivers a silly and charming Lord of the Rings gag).

                        "Every human being has a basic instinct: to help each other out."

Visually, The Martian is pretty, even with it's occasionally questionable computer effects and over-use of Go-Pro footage. The production design is obviously (and smartly) adapted from Prometheus and at times the score the soaring French horns of that score threaten to burst onto the soundscape here. The obligatory Chinese pandering scenes of The Martian are perhaps even more contrived than those in Trans4mers, and even the Chinese Space Agency exterior is the same as the Chinese corporate headquarters in Age of Extinction. But in summation, The Martian is a sci-fi survival story that is slightly more fun than it is tense, but with a strong ensemble, capable lead, balanced writing and solid production. It all comes together to make NASA's perfectl, pretty and impeccably fashioned geek army and the film's two-and-a-half-hour run-time downright fun.

12 Years a Slave

Steve McQueen makes confronting films. His previous two, Hunger and Shame, were especially confronting for their portrayals of both the struggles of the 1981 Irish hunger strike and a New York sex addict, respectively. 12 Years a Slave is no less confronting than those two films.

The film follows the true story of Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a freed slave, who is sold back into slavery in a set of nefarious circumstances. Solomon eventually ends up as the property of Edwin Epps (Michael Fassbender), a psychotic cotton plantation owner, after attacking a carpenter at his previous plantation. Epps is an especially cruel master and regularly punishes his slaves. Solomon tries many times to get word back to his family, but is unable to, due to the resistance of people around him who are too afraid.

McQueen superbly conveys the pain of his characters in the film. Likewise, he is unflinching in the depiction of violence toward the slaves. At many times the whippings and lynchings are extremely hard to watch. What's even more hard to comprehend is the fact that this actually occurred, not only in the case of Solomon Northup, but to slaves throughout the South in the pre-Civil War period.

Chiwetel Ejiofor (Love Actually) plays Solomon with such pain that I could see through his performance to the reality of both the character and the actual man within who feels for the injustices that happened in the past. Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock) is amazing as Solomon's previous master.

The most amazing performance for me comes from McQueen's muse Michael Fassbender (Shame). His ugly and honest portrayal of a southern plantation owner is painful to watch, but that's a good thing. If you like his character there's something wrong with you.

Verdict: An extremely confronting film about a dark time in not just the history of the United States, but the history of man in general.