The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Our Flag Means Death

Two excellent productions.

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar

This short 39 minute film is based on a short story (which I previously didn't know existed) of people being able to see without using their eyes, with protagonist Henry being played by Benedict Cumberbatch. It is a strange one as it is fully narrated by the characters on screen and makes use of very basic but effective stage props. As we went into this blind it was a bewildering start for us with the method used but as the tale continued on I definitely got mesmerized by it. Excellent that it can fit so much relevant content in such a short time span - recommended!

Our Flag Means Death

This so far two season comedy romance focuses on newbie pirate captain Stede Bonnet (Rhys Darby) and his adventures on the sea during the golden age of piracy. While it is a slowish start by the end of episode two you'll either by fully into it or not, as its not just the comedy that may not be your cup of tea - it is also very LGBT catering while also being very PG. That's ok though, because the characters are great and the story primarily focuses on their growth rather than stuff that happens around them. Recommended!

Decluttering Day  19: Unused flower vase.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

When a dimension hopper is targeted by monstrous demon-aliens(?) it falls to Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and sorceress Wanda Maximoff (Elisabeth Olsen) to sort it out. Unfortunately this all boils down to a bunch of "oh so powerful they can't be real" spell books, a somewhat predictable plot, and a run time that is far too long for its own good.

It's magic time?

As usual the visuals are nice and the hook of being able to dimension hop introduces some cool people to fight but this is muted by some silliness like throwing in the random monsters at the end and a little too much "magic can do everything, oh except dimension hop - but it can also do that, sort of". What?

It almost feels like the creators separately thought up of cool scenes and then went: lets keep all of them and just try mash them all together! Anyway, this definitely makes it one of the weaker Marvel movies. Wandavision was better.

Jumanji: The Next Level and Spiderman: No Way Home

A poor sequel and a great sequel.

Jumanji: The Next Level

Having not learned the lesson from last time, people find themselves in Jumanji once more in this action comedy which is somehow even lighter / more nonsensical plot wise. While the acting is ok, what kills this is the script and comedy aspect with repeating jokes and honestly a few mind numbing fools that deserved to be offed. It also over stays its welcome and is a threat of being a snooze fest as some points. Not recommended.

Spiderman: No Way Home

When Peter Parker (Tom Holland) and those closest too him start feeling the problems of fame, he decides to visit master magician Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) for a spell to make people forget who he is. A spell he promptly keeps interrupting until it misfires, opening tears to dimensions which just lead to more problems for spidey and his gang.

While the start is a tad slow, this is an excellent superhero action flick and one that rewards long time fans by putting in many familiar faces on the screen. While non-spidey/non-superhero viewers might not like this, I found it to be really great once it started to pick up. Good pace, good story and basically a lot of fun. Highly recommended!

Doctor Strange

Magicians sure are weird, but that doesn't necessarily make them interesting.

Dr. Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) is an arrogant surgeon who gets his craft taken away from him due to an accident. Intent on regaining his lost skill he goes looking for a cure which leads him to a place of martial art magicians who, predictably, are suffering a crisis of their own.

This movie has crazy fantastic visuals, almost to the point of "whoa that's too much" since the mirror realms are a bit like Inception x 10 (careful all of you that suffer from motion sickness). That's perhaps the biggest strength this film has going for it, as all other areas for me seem weaker than the usual Marvel fare. The main actors are ok but some supporting roles are a bit off, with comedy bits seeming more forced.

Unintentionally using movie magic to create vertigo.

The plot suffers from some pacing issues as well with some slow bits that could have been removed, and some holes that are just not explained or simply ignored. Suspension of disbelief is quite challenging in more than a few segments (common when trying to explain mass oddities in the real world) and even the music seems weaker than the other superhero stuff I've seen... cartoon stuff included.

Still, I do quite like how he deals with the big bad - so bonus points for that. All up, I found Doctor Strange to be an entertaining action flick, but not one I'd want to watch again. I give it three library books out of five.