PODCAST: Film Focus Episode 53 – Avengers: Infinity War Spoiler Discussion

Howdy ladies and gents of the internet, as some of you may have seen, in 2016 I started a film podcast entitled Film Focus and on this podcast, I talk about various topics in film and reviews as well on a biweekly basis. And the latest episode is a spoiler-heavy discussion on Avengers: Infinity War.

Anyway here’s the episode 53:

I’ve done already done my posted my original review, however, unlike most reviews I do there is a written and audio-based review. But I felt that because Infinity War would be a film I would be naturally excited about, I wanted to make my main review audio-related so that you all could understand my feelings towards the film in its purest form. And I also had so much fun recording with Drew that I felt like a written review would come across a bit redundant. However, that recording wasn’t the only episode recorded, as we also did a spoiler-based discussion talking about all of the major talking points from Thanos to the funniest scenes and character interactions to the character deaths and what the end of this film could mean for the MCU going forward.

Now I actually dropped this episode online last week, but because of timing issues I didn’t share it on my blog, plus I feel like a fortnight is plenty of time to wait before busting out the juicy spoilers haha. So yeah if you’re curious to hear the fun, interesting and fun thoughts on Infinity War from Drew and I then you’re in the right place. It was one of my favourite episodes of the podcast so far! 😀

As I mentioned before I’ll cover a different topic or review in each episode and since I don’t have much in the way of listeners or promotion, I’m here to spread the word about my podcast. 🙂

You can find my main site on Soundcloud here: https://soundcloud.com/film_focus

Or if you’re on iTunes subscribe and rate me on there: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/film-focus/id1114233892?mt=2

So if you have some spare time on your hands and would like to listen to the ramblings of a passionate/strange man then please check it out, and share it with your friends if they are fans of film discussion. Also, you have any feedback or if you’d be interested in joining in future episodes be sure to let me know, until next time, laters! 😀

 

Avengers: Infinity War Spoiler-Free Review

Howdy ladies and gents of the internet, how is it going? So yeah this review is up a little later than I had wanted but let’s just say I had a hella busy weekend, but putting that aside, I am finally here to share with you my thoughts on the latest Marvel Studios, Avengers: Infinity War! Now I did consider doing a written review, but I feel like my podcast would be able to better describe my feeling about the film in a more vivid and raw manner. So my review will be presented via my podcast Film Focus and features a returning guest, my homie Drew from Drew’s Movie Reviews.

Anyway here’s the episode 52:

Now I will admit this review was largely unscripted and since we were trying to avoid spoilers, there is a fair amount of vagueness to our comments, that being said we do cover a good deal of material in the story, character and presentation departments highlighting the highs and lows of the film, and generally just gushing about how much we liked the film haha. It is a good listen and I hope that you’ll enjoy the episode because I know Drew and I had a lot of fun making the episode. 😀

If you haven’t checked out my podcast before you can find it here: https://soundcloud.com/film_focus

So have you seen Infinity War and if so what did you think of it? Did it meet or exceed your expectations? OR were you disappointed? Drop your thoughts in the comments section below and I’ll see ya in the next review, until next time, laters! 😀

 

QUICK THOUGHTS: Avengers: Infinity War Trailer

Howdy ladies and gents, how’s it going? So I just got home from work around 40 or so minutes ago and just remembered the new trailer for Avengers: Infinity War was released a few hours ago, so I just watched it and wanted to share my brief thoughts on it

Check out the trailer below:

So my initial impressions were this, “Oh my god, I’m in love!” I don’t think my words will be able to do the trailer justice and while I don’t want to watch it too many times, I’ve already seen it twice and I’ve got goosebumps! I want to avoid spoilers, but at the same time, I REALLY want to watch it like 10 more times! All throughout the trailer you feel the weight and significance of what’s happening, not only is this all the heroes coming together to face a threat larger than anything that’s come before, but it is the culmination of 10 years of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and you can see it with the Marvel logo sequence, the number of characters, locations and glowing items, but also audio-wise with Nick Fury’s speech from the Avengers being spoke by him and few other heroes, and of course they put in the Alan Silvestri Avengers theme song in there as the icing on the cake in both a darker and positive light too. That was just gorgeous for me as a massive fan of that theme song! And Thanos, wow, I REALLY pray that he’s the villain we’ve all been hoping for, not another Hela or Ultron who look cool from the trailers, but only end up being decent/average. So far he looks and talks like a badass, he looks pretty intimidating, his words feel menacing and he’s just messing people up left right and center including Spider-Man and Iron Man.

But what about what happens in the trailer? Well there’s so much to mention so here are my highlights:

• There’s a massive battle in Wakanda with Black Panther, his army, plus the Avengers and some aliens? Sweet!
• Vision and Scarlet Witch look close which means their relationship is finally happening on-screen! YAAAY!
• Vision’s probably screwed as he’s shouting as someone’s trying to get that infinity stone out of his head.
• Spider-Man’s new suit looks much better in motion than it did near the end of Homecoming.
• Peter Parker’s arm hair stands up, spidey sense confirmed!
• How badass does Steve Rogers look now?
• I’m curious to see how Banner ended up with Doctor Strange and Wong, and how Tony Stark ends up there too.
• The sense of scale in this film is immense with all the big ships, and the way the cinematography frames some of those battle sequences.
• That last scene with Thor meeting the Guardians in their ship, love it.
• The overall tone feels dark and dire and I love it, very Age of Ultron, I really hope Marvel commit to this tone in the film and give us some damn good drama!

In the end, I’m stupidly excited, I’m not gonna lie, I think my experience of watching the first trailer for Avengers: Age of Ultron may still be my favourite of the Marvel Studios films so far, but this trailer, this trailer had so much going on and carried a lot of significance. It is a delicious trailer full of so many moments of hype, excitement, curiosity, mystery and seriousness. If this film is half as good as I hope it’ll be, then I will frigging blow up in May 2018, no joke! 😛

So have you seen the trailer for Avengers: Infinity War trailer and if so what did you think of it? Are you hyped, curious or underwhelmed? Let me know in comments section below and I’ll see ya on the next review, laters! 😀

 

London Film & Comic Con 2017 Review

Howdy ladies and gentlemen how’s it going? Well, today I’m doing another review, not of a film review (even though I really should have seen Dunkirk by now haha) but an event review as over the weekend I had the opportunity to revisit London Film & Comic Con for the first time in two years and I just had to talk about it on this blog. And while I was only at the convention for one day I have a fair amount to cover to so let’s get going!

Now for those unaware, this convention is to do with films, TV, comics and video games. But the big focus is primarily on the special guests who attend, most people who go are normally coming to meet the celebrities who are there for talks, photo sessions and autographs signings. Otherwise, you can buy a range of merchandise including, clothes, toys, anime and manga, DVDs, comics, artwork, posters and so on. In addition to that, you can play video games new and old, see writers and artists of comic books or take pictures of cosplayers. So now I shall talk about my experience.

Video Games

Firstly let me cover the games that I played which wasn’t much but it’s still worth mentioning. Can I just say that I was gutted to see how little representation the games side of things got at this convention, not to say that this convention has had a strong gaming presence, however, since 2014 it is like the people who have run the convention have made this element of the convention smaller with each passing year. And that sucks. I did appreciate the variety of games they had on display whether it was the Minecraft stuff, the retro side with stuff like Mario 3, Sonic 2, Mario Kart 64, Super Bomberman 2 and a few others, and they even had a section dedicated to virtual reality games which were cool too. I only played two games though, firstly there was Smash Bros for Wii U and you know I had to play it, so I got into a match with three exceptional players who all gave me a run for my money as we played on random stages with all the stage hazards which made for some proper tense and fun matches. I don’t get to play Smash in a competitive manner much since university so it was cool to do some local multiplayer and get that rush of excitement/adrenaline in my system again even if I won only one out of the four matches I played. So then there was the tournament which I signed up for just for jokes, and though there were only around 10 players, I somehow fought my way to the final and won. It was so surreal and wonderful to win a competition with a game I’m actually good at. 😛 Other than that I played Super Mario World and realised how out of touch I am with the game mechanics and the feel of a Super Nintendo controller haha, I still really love that game but good gravy I suck at it these days. Oh and I have to give mention to the Bomberman tournament, that was so intense stuff man! I have never seen such speed and strategy applied to Bomberman before and it was awesome to watch.

The Cosplayers

Now I LOVE cosplayers mainly because they are dedicated fans who dress up and show their fandom in an upfront manner and if they are the hardcore types then they normally create their costumes themselves and they look so accurate to the source material that it boggles the mind. Since about 2015 I’ve stopped taking pictures of cosplayers because I’m too lazy, that being said, this time around I made a conscious effort to take pictures as some of the costumes were so elaborate, creative and accurate to the source material that it was mental. From all of the Rey and Kylo Ren people to the Rick and Morty’s, I also saw numerous women dressed as Wonder Woman and Harley Quinn. There were plenty of Spider-Men and Deadpools and so much more. The one person that I wish I’d taken a picture of was a guy dressed as Spidey from Spider-Man: Homecoming and his stark Spidey suit were so accurate to the film that it almost hurt my eyes! 😛 Anyway check out my pictures below:

The People I Met

So yeah the main reason I came to this convention was to meet some famous people, like a lot of other people haha. But seriously some of these people are individuals I’ve hoped to see in the flesh for years. So firstly there were two people from the Power Rangers: Time Force series and they were Kevin Kleinberg and Michael Copon who played Trip and Lucas. They are two of my favourite rangers of any PR series and I got to meet them, get their autographs and talk to them too, and they were so nice and kind especially Kleinberg. But then right next door to them was Selwyn Ward who played T.J. in Power Rangers: Turbo and In Space, he’s one of my all-time favourites and getting to talk to him was the best!

Here’s me with Kevin Kleinberg and Selwyn Ward, such amazing dudes!

Next up I met Phil LaMarr and got his autograph and also got to gush about how much I loved his worth and also got to thank him for coming back for Samurai Jack season 5, and he was SO cool and nice and he even shouted “AKUUU!” for me as well which was the best. So much happiness. And later on after standing in many lines I got photos with not only Tricia Helfer but also the Benedict Cumberbatch!

I know I looked silly but I couldn’t help it, I was so happy. 😛

With Tricia Helfer, most people know of her from Battlestar Galactica, but I’ve come to love her from Lucifer and she was SO nice and kind, and I told her that I loved her work on Lucifer, ad she said they have a lot of fun on the show. Ahhhhh! I was so giddy. And then there’s Cumberbatch, my man, I’ve been such a big fan since 2012 when I watched Sherlock, then the second Hobbit film and obviously most recently Doctor Strange, he’s just amazing and getting to meet him in the flesh was a moment in time I’ll treasure forever. “Hey there buddy.” That’s what he said to me and I’ll never forget it. 😛 😀

My Overall Experience

My experience was solid, the lines to get into the building didn’t take nearly as long as they did in 2015, I was in line around 8.30am and was inside the main hall from around 9.15am and I was able to get a feel for the are, learn where certain people and stalls were set up. I also ran into an old friend I hadn’t seen for two years since the last convention we attended so that was great. I also had some cool conversation with some artists who were selling their comics and later on, I ran into two other friends later on who I had seen for ages, was such a nice surprise! For a lot of the day, I was just watching around trying to waste time until my photo sessions later on, whether I was playing games, talking to artists or taking pictures of cosplayers. I would say that the organisation of LFCC was far more efficient that the previous years that I went, lines and places for entry, autographs and photo sessions were much better than before. And the general placement of stuff was solid. That being said, like before I wish there was a better presence of video games with the variety of the games, consoles and bigger and better location for them. It also felt like the illustrators and authors got the short end of the stick as their location felt so separated from the action in the main halls both upstairs and downstairs, I wish there had been more people and a better location for them to stand out. And even though the lines were better than previous years, there was still some confusion and lack of organisation or help when it came to queues and knowing which batches you fell into.

 

In conclusion, London Film & Comic Con was pretty good. After two years it was good to be back in this convention, it has a different feel and vibe to it and thankfully there was so much more room to breathe and chill when compared to this year’s MCM London Expo. While there were certain things I would have changed, it was a solid convention for the one day that I attended, this is certainly a convention that needs a full weekend in order to experience everything on offer and I probably will be back next year hopefully. 🙂

So if you attended London Film & Comic Con this year what did you think? Did you go for one day or the full weekend? And if you didn’t go would you consider going next year? Whatever your thoughts are drop them in the comments below and I’ll see ya on the next review. Laters! 😀

 

QUICK REVIEW: Doctor Strange

Howdy ladies and gents, its been a while right? I was meant to review Jack Reacher: Never Go Back last week, but since Doctor Strange just came out I thought I’d skip ahead and review the latest Marvel film instead because it’s one of my most anticipated films of 2016.

So the story can be described as the following:

“Steven Strange is a brilliant yet arrogant neurosurgeon, but after his hands get horribly damaged in a car accident he seeks out help and on his journey he gets drawn into world of the mystic arts. And so Strange has to put aside his ego and open his mind to become a hero and save the world from dark forces.“

Firstly I think everyone who worked on this film deserve a pat on the back, they took what is arguably the hardest sell yet from Marvel Studios and made a solid, fun and entertaining film. Now this film isn’t without its flaws, but for what it was able to do with adapting its source material while also keeping in line with Marvel’s current style of comic book films is impressive. Doctor Strange‘s story is an origin story and certainly has familiar elements that we’ve seen in other superhero films, however, it has its own presence, sense of style and unique elements which make it feel completely different from what’s come in the genre before. This adventure was filled with excitement, mystery, drama and humour with some really interesting themes about life and death, the corruption of power, trust and betrayal, and changing for the better. This film did well to incorporate magic into the real world by diving in early in on, explaining how it worked and then dug even deeper as the film progressed and for the most part it worked. The only nitpicks I had with the film was that I thought the humour was a little hit or miss sometimes, and even though this film introduced magic in the MCU in an effective way, I feel like there were a few points where a bit more an explanation about the way magic works wouldn’t have gone a miss.

When it comes to the cast they were all really solid. Firstly there’s Benedict Cumberbatch who killed it as Doctor Stephen Strange, this man was smart and great at his craft yet arrogant, self-centered and not very likeable, however his transformation was quite significant and he later became someone you could root for. This film continues to show the brilliance of Cumberbatch’s acting skills as he showed a great deal of range and committed 100% to this character so you could understand him, love him, hate him and love him again over the course of the film. The next strongest performance came from Tilda Swinton as The Ancient One, I knew she’d be good in this role but I didn’t expect to love as much as I did. The Ancient One was wise, calm and collected, but was also tough, badass and quite witty too and I really liked what Swinton brought to the role. I also loved Chiwetel Ejiofor as Baron Mordo, Mondo was clearly a strong-willed individual with charm, wisdom but also some minor issues of his own and Ejiofor added such a good level of energy, charisma and intensity to this character. Rachel McAdams as Christine Palmer was also quite good, while I would have liked more screen time and information about her beyond her interactions with Strange, she worked well in the film as she had good chemistry with Strange and had some pretty humourous moments too. As for Mads Mikkelsen as Kaecilius I thought he was good, his villain character went the way of Nero from Star Trek (2009) as he was relevant but took a backseat to Strange’s hero-based journey, so overall I thought Mikkelsen brought a great screen presence and charisma to the character, but he wasn’t a MCU villain to write home about. Also Benedict Wong as Wong was quite good, he was a no-nonsense, stern and knowledgeable character and I liked Wong’s performance. And finally Michael Stuhlbarg, Benjamin Bratt and Scott Adkins had minor yet notable roles to play in this film and did well too.

Ad then there’s the presentation which was lovely. Visually the film was amazing and beyond what I could have imagined, before this film came out there was a lot of talk from Kevin Feige and Scott Derrickson about the use of visual effects and how they’d not only honour the Steve Ditko artwork but also expand upon the crazy visual material in last year’s Ant-Man, and boy do they deliver. Visually the film’s very colourful and has some good cinematography, but it was the use of GCI that was truly impressive. Whether it was other dimensions, magical symbols, shape-shifting buildings or astral forms, there were some really cool and unexplainable imagery, and some super trippy sequences in particular were just insane, plus the action scenes were really cool with an “Inception times 1000, on drugs” kind of vibe and a fair amount of it was incredibly inventive, fun, frantic and made good use of hand-to-hand combat and magic. And the film score by Michael Giacchino is really good, I’ve made it no secret on this blog that Giacchino is one of my favourite film composers and his work in this film was familiar yet quirky, beautiful, harrowing and heroic and while it’s not overly memorable when compared to some of Marvel’s other films, it certainly has some standout moments especially with the two songs playing in credits, they were gorgeous and should have been incorporated into the main film.

In conclusion Doctor Strange was a lot of fun and continues to show the diversity of Marvel Studios’ work with their comic book properties. This was film was a pretty big risk which for the most part paid off with a solid origin story, solid performances from the cast, awesome visuals and a lovely soundtrack. Now while this film doesn’t correct a lot of the issues that the MCU films have accumulated over the last few years and some might not understand or like what this film has to offer, overall I do believe it is worth a watch. Oh and if you get the chance to see it in IMAX do it! 😀

So are you going to see Doctor Strange or if you have seen it what do you think of the film? Whatever your thoughts are be sure to drop them in the comments section and I’ll see ya on the next review! Laters!:)

 

QUICK REVIEW: Doctor Strange Trailer #1

Howdy ladies and gents, it’s time for another trailer review yo! There’s been a lot of trailers dropped recently with the third for Suicide Squad, and the second for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows and Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them. And while I could talk about the other trailers, the one I’ve really been waiting for is Doctor Strange. I’ve made it very apparent on this blog that I’ve been hyped for this film for AGES and now that we finally have some footage its time to talk about it.

So here’s the trailer below:

After seeing this trailer I’m definitely more interested in this film than before at least from a story and presentation standpoint.

What this trailer tells me and fans of the MCU is that Doctor Strange will be the most unique/different adventure that Marvel Studios have produced so far. I mean you’ve got another origin story, but with this trailer it is painted in the most non-superhero fashion similar to Iron Man with Tony Stark. I think how we get glimpses into the life of Steven Strange when it comes to his car crash, him being a sergeant and then going coming into contact with the Ancient One (Tilda Swinton). Now if that sounded a little like a mouthful of nonsense to you then fear not, I just know a fair bit about the mythology of Doctor Strange from what remember in Spider-Man: The Animated Series, Marvel Ultimate Alliance and my research online, and since I know about what happens to Strange before, during and after he gains his powers, so when I see this footage I’m seeing how closely their sticking to the source material and I love it.

Benedict Cumberbatch’s Steven Strange looks like he goes through a lot from being all suave and sophisticated, to being in hospital and on a global trek for knowledge looking all rough and homeless-like haha. Oh and seeing Tilda Swinton bald as a female version of the Ancient One is so odd and yet intriguing as she’s very calm, yet firm and otherworldly too. I liked getting the glimpses of Rachel McAdams and Chiwetel Ejiofor, and I’m curious about Mads Mikklelsen’s villain role as he’s not looking like anyone I’m familiar with in the comics, but I’m liking what I’m seeing so far with his magic reality-shifting abilities.

But what really excited me about this trailer was the teaser was the tone and visual presentation. I’ve been hyped for Doctor Strange since I saw the concept art came out and found out about Scott Derrickson’s involvement coming from a horror film background. In this trailer things felt dark, a little horror-like and definitely had shades of the supernatural in there as well. I also love the use of visual effects, things look so trippy and beyond the realm of realism with all the unfolding buildings and astral projection stuff, holy crap it looks so cool. And some of the visual material reminds me of the acid trip sequence in Ant-Man so I can’t wait to see full-on magic, other dimensions and stuff that can’t be explained with science or basic logic.

To conclude the first trailer for Doctor Strange looks very promising. It’s still kind of weird to think that this film is actually coming out in 2016 but this trailer certainly has my attention, and while the trailer doesn’t blow my mind, it’s still got me excited for the latter ide of this year. Bring it on yo! 😀

So have you seen the first trailer for Doctor Strange and if so what do you think of it? Are you more or less excited than before? Be sure to drop me a comment and I’ll see ya on the next review! 🙂

 

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies Review

Howdy people, time for an important film review in the form of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. It has been a long journey to the end of the Hobbit trilogy, the first film I liked a lot and the second film I liked a fair amount too, and now we have the final film in the series. I think that my interest in this film and the series has waned a fair amount since last year and I’m not sure why, but whatever it was, it wasn’t going to stop me from seeing this film. So how does The Battle of the Five Armies fare? Read on and find out.

The storyline in nutshell goes like this:

“Bilbo and Company are forced to engage in a war against an array of combatants and keep the terrifying Smaug from acquiring a kingdom of treasure and obliterating all of Middle-Earth.”

The story in this film was serviceable. It done the job of tieing up all the loose ends from the previous films and leading us into the Lord of the Rings films. The film has a strong start continuing off from the last film, but then gets kind of boring with all the standing and talking, the pace felt very slow at times and my interest was dropping until the action picked up. My favourite moments of the film involved stories relating to Bilbo, Thorin and Gandalf, everyone else was either decent or uninteresting. There were times where it felt like there were too many things going on, with separate sets of characters in different locations, dealing with individual issues, just hopping forward and back continuously was kind of annoying, I just wanted to stay in one scene for longer than five minutes. I also can’t help but feel a sense of dissatisfaction for the way that this film turned out, the way Smaug was handled was very anti-climatic and disappointing, some of the ties to Lord of the Rings felt a bit too on the nose and forced and none of the epic moments in the film felt that breath-taking.

The cast do a good job, but some definitely stand out more so than others. Martin Freeman continues to be one of the strongest elements of this trilogy of films as Bilbo Baggins. His performance is fabulous as it is humourous, confident and engaging and I think it is the small moments where he does things subtly with his face that makes the most amount of difference. Richard Armitage is great as Thorin Oakenshield, in this film Thorin deals with psychological demons that really changes his persona, makes me paranoid, aggressive and distant from all of his comrades and Armitage does such a great job with his material. Sir Ian McKellen, once again brings his A game as Gandalf the Grey, McKellen is one of those actors who just makes me happy to be watching an actor at work, the man is all-powerful and has a screen presence that not many other people do. Whether he is delivering monologues or chilling smoking his pipe, the is all-round awesomeness. Also thanks to additional screen time Graham McTavish was even better as Dwalin and Aidan Turner does a good job Kíli. I missed James Nesbitt as Bofur, he deserved more screen time.

Orlando Bloom is once again good as Legolas, not as amazing as he was in the last film, but the guy still had some awesome moments and it seems like Bloom was having fun being a badass in this film. Evangeline Lilly as Tauriel was good, she had some cool action scenes and acted well, but I didn’t care for character as much as before. Luke Evans as Bard the Bowman was good, while his character is one of the people I cared for least, as a leader and one of the more vocal people in the battle for the Lonely Mountain he was pretty good. Lee Pace I liked more in this film as Thranduil and Pace was put to better use here than he was in Guardians of the Galaxy to a degree. I also enjoyed seeing Cate Blanchett as Galadriel, Hugo Weaving as Elrond and Christopher Lee as Saruman the White. Oh and quick shout out to Billy Connolly as Dáin, he was cool.

When it comes to the presentation, it is impressive, however, it isn’t perfect by any means. The cinematography is nice and the action sequences are vast, vivid, detailed and visually beautiful, especially with the use of CGI on Smaug and the large masses of combatants on the battlefield. That being said, the way some of these camera movements are done didn’t feel necessary and the overuse of CGI made it easy to notice the difference scenes and the not so detailed scenes. At times the CGI made the film feel very artificial and felt no different from watching a super impressive pre-rendered cut scene in a video game. The score from Howard Shore is good and covers all emotional basis with new material and ties to Lord of the Rings too, that being said there is nothing that stands out that I will remember from this film.

In conclusion The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies is a satisfactory conclusion to this trilogy of films. I can’t deny that I was left a bit disappointed by this film, the story was good, the performances were great and the action was awesome, but none of it wowed me or felt new. If you loved the last Hobbit films then you’ll love this one, but for everyone else this film is a good ending, but not one that is amazing.

Rating: 7/10 (a decent finish to a decent trilogy)

So what did you think of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies? Was it better, on-par or worst than the last instalment and what do you think of the Hobbit trilogy in general? Whatever your thoughts are, be sure to drop them in the comments below and I’ll see ya on the next film review. Laters! 😀

 

Marvel Confirms Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange!

Good day to you ladies and gents, time for some more film news, this week went from being super boring to super fun with the announcements recently. After the news about Suicide Squad, Spectre and Terminator Genisys, we have some Marvel news relating to Doctor Strange. The following information comes from superherohype:

Marvel Studios has just officially announced that, as has been long suspected, Benedict Cumberbatch will headline director Scott Derickson’s Marvel Studios Phase Three film, Doctor Strange!

Scheduled to hit theaters November 4, 2016, Doctor Strange is scripted by Jon Spaihts and is said to follow the story of neurosurgeon, Dr. Stephen Strange who, after a horrific car accident, discovers the hidden world of magic and alternate dimensions.

“Stephen Strange’s story requires an actor capable of great depth and sincerity,” says Producer Kevin Feige. “In 2016, Benedict will show audiences what makes Doctor Strange such a unique and compelling character.”

Cumberbatch, who is in theaters now in the Alan Turing biopic The Imitation Game, is likely best known as the star of the BBC’s contemporary Sir Arthur Conan Doyle adaptation, “Sherlock”. He stars on the show (which is soon to begin production on its fourth season) opposite Martin Freeman, with whom he also stars in this month’s The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies as both Smaug and the Necromancer.

Cumberbatch can also be seen coming up in director Scott Cooper’s Whitey Bulger biopic Black Mass. There, he stars opposite Johnny Depp and Joel Edgerton.

Check back for additional casting news on Doctor Strange as soon as it becomes available!

All I can say is “I knew it!” I had hoped and loads of people, even actors had confirmed him as the role. Though its been rumoured for a while, there had not been any proper confirmation… Until now. Cumberbatch has been considered an odd choice or not exactly the one that people expected from the actors shortlisted a little while ago, maybe it was because of his facial features, I don’t know. All I know is Cumberbatch is one hell of an actor, he’s gotten better with each film I’ve seen him in especially in The Imitation Game and for him to be part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe now just makes me giddy. I can’t wait to see what he does with this role. Bring it the hell on! 😀

 

The Imitation Game Quick Review

Howdy ladies and gents time for a late film review in the form of The Imitation Game. Now I was meant to see this film sooner, but life got in the way and since it was still playing in my local cinema I had to see it. Generally I’m not into films related to war just because it isn’t my cup of tea, that being said this film’s story looked interesting, plus Benedict Cumberbatch was in the film. As an avid fan I have to see whatever film he is in, regardless of the subject matter. So is it any good? Well read on and find out.

So the story can be described as the following:

“Based on the real life story of legendary cryptanalyst Alan Turing, the film portrays the nail-biting race against time by Turing and his brilliant team of code-breakers at Britain’s top-secret Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park, during the darkest days of World War II.”

I thought the story was surprisingly engaging, dramatic and full of tension and mystery. All I can say after watching this film is I wouldn’t want to work in MI6, so much secrets and lies! That’s a lot of what this film is about; secrets and lies, so much deception and secrecy involved in what Turing and his co-workers were involved in, it led to so much trust issues, pain and suffering. Sure it was for the better good but in the end victory did not come without sacrifice. I don’t know how accurate this is to the actual events that took place, but it was interesting to learn about the interception of German messages and the crafting of early computers.

When it comes to the performances, they were all pretty good from everyone involved but it is definitely Benedict Cumberbatch as Alan Turing who stands above the rest. This must be Cumberbatch’s best performance to date, the man is incredibly versatile and totally inhabits the role of this odd, yet brilliant man who doesn’t have the best of social skills, but has the talent necessary to be an asset to MI6. Keira Knightley was also good in this film as Joan Clarke, a smart individual who is the only person who understands Turing. Knightley is quite good and she’s actually tolerable which makes her decent in my book. Other great performances come from the lovely Charles Dance as Cdr. Alastair Denniston, Matthew Goode as Hugh Alexander, Allen Leech as John Cairncross, Mark Strong as Maj. Gen. Stewart Menzies and Rory Kinnear as Detective Nock.

In conclusion The Imitation Game is a very compelling and interesting film with a good story, a wonderful soundtrack and an incredible central performance form Benedict Cumberbatch. For fans of Cumberbatch it is a must-see film.

Rating: 8/10

So The Imitation Game, have you seen it and if so what do you think of it? Be sure to leave your comments below and I’ll see ya on the next review yo, laters! 😀

 

Tom Hardy & Benedict Cumberbatch Apparently Shortlisted For Doctor Strange

Hello again ladies and gents, time for me come to my blog to write about an interesting tidbit of news that’s started circulating recently about two well-known actors up for role of the Sorcerer Supreme in the upcoming Doctor Strange film. Now we’ve heard the chatter about Jared Leto, but these next two choices are much more interesting to talk about. The following information comes from superherohype:

(Photo Credit: FayesVision/WENN.com)

Deadline brings word tonight that Marvel has begun putting together their casting short list for the upcoming Doctor Strange having finally secured a director in Scott Derrickson.

The site reports that the list consists of two names for the time being, the first being Star Trek Into Darkness and “Sherlock” star Benedict Cumberbatch with the other being Tom Hardy of Bronson and the upcoming Mad Max: Fury Road, whose The Dark Knight Rises co-star Joseph Gordon-Levitt was previously linked as a potential candidate for the role.

Who would you like to see take on the master of the mystic arts? Sound off below!

Although a specific release date for Doctor Strange has not yet been set, Marvel has two placeholder dates set for unnamed features on July 8, 2016 and on May 5, 2017. It’s looking more and more likely that the good doctor will be claiming one of those spots.

Well this is certainly two casting choices I did not see coming. So now one has to ask “Do they fit the profile?” Well the answer to that for me is both yes and no. While I can see the advantages of having both actors play this kind of character because of their individual talents, I’m not sure they could bring both the visual look, physicality and screen presence of Steven Strange to the big screen. I know it is an adaptation so there are some things that are likely to change to accommodate the MCU and casual film audiences, however this is an important casting choice that needs to be done correctly. So with that being said, as much as I LOVE Cumberbatch, I’m not sure I can see him in this role, I’m not sure it is for him. On the other hand I possibly see it for Tom Hardy, if he lost a bit of muscle and became a bit more lean. But even then I’m not sure I’d even want to see him in the role either. I’m more curious about this Jared Leto rumour floating about because of the randomness of it, plus it’d be great to see Leto in such a high-profile role like a comic book film and I can’t dismiss his acting skills since seeing Dallas Buyers Club.

So yeah my overall thoughts, I’d be curious for either of these men to get the job but I’m swaying more towards Tom Hardy at this point. How about you lot, what do you think of these casting choices? Be sure to comment below and let me know.