Watched Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022) by an author from letterboxd.com
Doctor Strange, with the help of mystical allies both old and new, traverses the mind-bending and dangerous alternate realities of the Multiverse to confront a mysterious new adversary.

This review may contain spoilers.

On a rewatch… this is actually a very good Marvel movie and I think it might be under-appreciated…

Like many people (I’m sure), on first watch I spent way too much time trying to see what it what was setting up. With hindsight, turns out it wasn’t setting up anything! Who knew?! Who WOULDN’T think that a movie with the word multiverse in the title was pivotal to a mooted “multiverse saga”?

KF has come out recently and acknowledged that they’ve messed this up. That they’re mismanaging audience expectations in relation to this absolutely packed slate of movies and TV shows. Just what is “relevant” to the current “saga”?

To be honest, there were plenty of Infinity saga movies that did little to further the overarching storyline (Ant-man) and plenty of story threads (Mordo in DS1) that were never going to be revisited. Coming off the back of the conclusion of the Infinity saga, where the movies all tied together very closely, I think maybe audiences forgot this.

So, what we actually got here was a GREAT comicbook movie, that actually gave us some top tier sorcery action, amazing visuals, and a very neat little arc for our main character.

On the downside, we’re supposed to understand that Wanda is traumatised to the point of psychosis by the loss of the children she never had (which is a big thing in the comics) but it’s woefully under-developed here and she just comes across as “irrational woman”. This is very bad, not just in terms of writing, but in stoking recent criticism of the MCU that boils down to “too many women”.

Because this aspect of her is badly under-written, it feels like it takes a very long time for her to “come to her senses”. I mean, if you hadn’t seen Wandavision (again cursed with “but what is this setting up”) you’d really have very little basis for understanding the extent to which she’s flipped. As a result, her side of the story is a bit of a drag.

By contrast, the scenes in which Strange’s character is fleshed out are really satisfying. It happens in this wonderful safe space (for Strange) via “838 Christine” and neatly avoids uncharacteristic sentimentality.

We also got to see even more of Wong, which was undoubtedly one of the best things about She-Hulk too.

I really loved the tone of this story. Some people might find the moments of levity jarring but, again, we’re passed the poe-faced seriousness of Endgame. Lighten-up people, this is supposed to be fun! This guy made Evil Dead, which despite the name and reputation, is almost a parody of the sub-genre it invented! Take the Illuminati: they’re just there for the coolness of it! Don’t take it so seriously or try to read things into it!

I revelled in the later decent into full on Raimi-ness too. Again, I found it weird the first time around, but this time I really “got it”. Zombies and evil spirits? Fantastic!

I was also impressed with how neatly the story gave itself carte blanche to do some of these whacky things through the Darkhold and an unleashed Scarlet Witch. Previously there was just a lot of allusion to her potential but this time we really got to see how over-powered she truly is and why she needed to leave the MCU.

Also, some might call it lazy writing, but introducing a MacGuffin like the Book of Vishanti, an artifact powerful enough to defeat Thanos, and then destroying it immediately seems, again, more like parody to me!

Overall, I’ll look forward to watching this again and I’ll look forward to seeing Strange, Wong and America return in the future.

★★★★ (contains spoilers)

My review

Watched I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998) by an author from letterboxd.com
Ever since killing the Fisherman one year ago, Julie James is still haunted by images of him after her. When her best friend Karla wins free tickets to the Bahamas, Julie finds this a perfect opportunity to finally relax. But someone is waiting for her. Someone who she thought was dead. Someone who is out again for revenge.

Thank goodness for Karla and Ty, without whom this would be completely unwatchable

★★

My review

Watched Doctor Strange (2016) by an author from letterboxd.com
After his career is destroyed, a brilliant but arrogant surgeon gets a new lease on life when a sorcerer takes him under her wing and trains him to defend the world against evil.

My 9 year old hated it.

★★

My review

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Imbolc (pronounced IM-bolg or IM-bolk) is Old Irish for “in the belly.” It’s also known as Oimelc, Lady Day, and, in Christianity, Candlemas or St. Brigid’s Day. Traditionally, Imbolc represents the beginning of spring… – https://www.pagangrimoire.com/what-is-imbolc-celebration/

I was raised in the Christian faith but became very disillusioned in my tweens. Part of it was all the “deal making”: do this, get this. It never seemed very spiritual to me. The focus on death also became pretty depressing. While Christians will argue that, actually, it’s about new life from death, “the afterlife” is one of the main things that tested my suspension of disbelief. As a person that doesn’t much like the world as it is, the idea of spending enternity in it… seems a bit shit. It seems to me, if you see the afterlife as more like a field of wheat at sunset, maybe you actually need a change in your life, not your death. Something about the dichotomy of the before and after never sat right with me either.

So, since my tweens, I’ve always felt a little adrift. One of the good things about faith is commonality: it’s something to share with other people. I was in the Cub Scouts, which is very big on God/faith, and St. George’s Day is a special day for them too. I liked being a part of that but as I get older and more cynical I see that faith separates us more than it keeps us together. Also, as I got wiser, I realised just how many existing “British” traditions/festivals had been co-opt by Christianity. As time has passed I’ve looked more closely at those traditions and festivals and I start to take some comfort from them.

Living in a country that invented the Church of England (basically so the King could shag around), not declaring yourself a Christian is almost as bad as saying you’re not interested in football. Plenty of people here identify as Christian but I guarantee they never go to church or mark more than two of their festivals. In the UK, “pagan” is a bad word. Pagans (and the like) are hippies and hippies are lazy. Despite the fact that we, as a nation, do love to knock off early on a Friday to go to the pub, being lazy (or jobless, or worse jobless and alcholic) is also a social crime. But, as I read and learned more about Paganism, some of the details resonated very strongly with me.

The first of those details is that Paganism is about life, not our lives and deaths. The death of any living thing is just part of life and, life goes on. Life is an endless overlapping cycle of birth and death, of which we’re simply a part. We all learn in school that this is a biological fact. Faith just seems to get in the way of this by throwing in arbitrary deadlines for us, despite the fact that, as mentioned above, Christianity is fundamentally focussed on rebirth.

I’ve never been one for arbitrary deadlines. Take New Year’s Eve for example. I hate it. What are we actually celebrating? The start of a new year? A new year based on a calendar that had two extra months added to it for the vanity of two men? Could that be much more arbitrary? It’s another line in the sand to me. This is before, this is after. It’s the most awful arbitray holiday.

The main Pagan holidays are often represented by a wheel. The wheel has eight points but none of these is considered the start. It is a circle after all. As someone raised on the Gregorian calendar, I tend to align the top of the wheel with the start of the calendar, and that annoys me. It defeats the point and I desperately want to shift away from this. Because, you see, all Pagan festivals are linked to the Sun. The main four being Yule (the winter solstice), Litha (the summer solstice), and the two equinox (Ostara and Mabon) in between. It’s funny how the Spring Equinox, Ostara, which happens in late March (Northern Hemisphere obvs), sounds a little like “Easter” and celebrates pretty much exactly the same things…

In between each of these four there are four more festivals: the cross-quarter days. These are also the Gaelic seasonal festivals. Imbolc is one of these and, for me, marks a very special time: the return of the Sun. Eminently noticable on a day like today, with clear skies and no wind. The Sun is in the sky and that just makes you feel great because you’ve got tens of thousands of years of instict telling you “more sun is good”.

And my message to you is as simple as that. I’m not going to say any more about what Imbolc means, I’m not here to proselytize, there is no need. I just want to enjoin you to be grateful for, and enjoy, what is literally all around you. I don’t call myself a Pagan or a Wicaan and you don’t need to either. Mark this wonderful time in your life, it’s much more worthy than New Year’s Eve, after all.

Quoted UNKNOWN

This is a story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody.

There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it.

Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it.

Somebody got angry about that, because it was Everybody’s job.

Everybody thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn’t do it.

It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have.

FIN

I’m not a manager but if I ever become one I’ll be ashamed if I find myself in this position.

Watched Vertical Limit (2000) by an author from letterboxd.com
Trapped near the summit of K2, the world's second-highest mountain, Annie Garrett radios to base camp for help. Brother Peter hears Annie's message and assembles a team to save her and her group before they succumb to K2's unforgiving elements. But, as Annie lays injured in an icy cavern, the rescuers face several terrifying events that could end the rescue attempt -- and their lives.

The story may be absolute nonsense but a) it’s a lot of fun, b) there is genuine tension and c) the views are amazing.

★★★

My review

Watched Black Panther (2018) by an author from letterboxd.com
King T'Challa returns home to the reclusive, technologically advanced African nation of Wakanda to serve as his country's new leader. However, T'Challa soon finds that he is challenged for the throne by factions within his own country as well as without. Using powers reserved to Wakandan kings, T'Challa assumes the Black Panther mantle to join with ex-girlfriend Nakia, the queen-mother, his princess-kid sister, members of the Dora Milaje (the Wakandan 'special forces') and an American secret agent, to prevent Wakanda from being dragged into a world war.

Working through the Infinity Saga with the children (9/11), instantly became the eldest’s favourite. He watched it again the next day. He hasn’t wanted to immediately rewatch any of the MCU up until now.

★★★★

My review