Category Archives: Doc’s Movie Reviews

Two Strangers Who Meet Five Times (2017)

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May 14, 2022, Short 10

Alistair (Laurence Spellman) and Samir (Sargon Elda) meet five different times during their lives, but each time could not be more different. Each time, we see their interactions colored by prejudices and hatred, with the exception of the fifth time.

For a sparse film of twelve minutes, Two Strangers Who Meet Five Times does a lot with the time it allots. The film clearly labels the five times Alistair and Samir meet, starting with the second one, and we see how a seemingly innocuous interaction can affect the lives moving forward.

Written and directed by Marcus Markou, this film certainly shows how the world is a small one and how one person you do not know can have a huge affect on your life.

What’s Opera, Doc? (1957)

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May 14, 2022, Short 9

So now that the Marvel one-shots are over, it frees up this Saturday Shorts to look at one of the greatest classics of all time. It is an animated video that is one of the few inducted into the EYG Hall of Fame. Let’s get this out of the way early…

I mean, there is an image from the cartoon on the banner. So it should not surprise anyone that the Merrie Melodies animated short, What’s Opera, Doc? is epic.

Elmer Fudd and Bugs Bunny took their normal rivalry to a new level as Elmer donned a Viking outfit, including his spear and magic helmet, to chase after the rascally rabbit in his Brünnhilde outfit.

Voiced by Mel Blanc and Arthur Q. Bryan, the cartoon included some of the greatest classic music of all time, bringing a tone of seriousness despite the silliness happening on screen. With the singing Elmer Fudd and Bugs Bunny, this transcended your typical Merrie Melodies show.

What’s Opera, Doc? has been considered one of the greatest animated cartoons ever produced by Warner Brothers and appears in many lists of the greatest cartoons of all time.

The short has so much creativity and enjoyment that it ha been the one WB cartoon that sticks out in my memory, without anything else blending together with it. Kill the Wabbit!

Team Darryl (2018)

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May 14, 2022, Short 8

In the vein of the very successful Team Thor shorts, Taika Waititi returned after the release of Thor Ragnarok with another visit into the life of Darryl, Thor’s former roommate.

Of course, Darryl, who has moved to Los Angeles, needed a new roommate because Thor had left him. Unfortunately for Darryl, the only person to have answered his want-ad was The Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum).

Grandmaster, who was one of the characters from Ragnarok, has a great relationship with Darryl as Grandmaster plots to take over earth. He bonds with Darryl despite Darryl’s own discomfort and anxiety about the situation.

Jeff Goldblum is fantastic here, taking the comedic place of Chris Hemsworth in this series of shorts. Once again written and directed by Taika Waititi, he provides his warped view on the MCU through these eccentric characters.

Team Thor Part 2 (2017)

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May 14, 2022, Short 7

The follow-up to Team Thor Part 1 was more of the same from writer-director Taika Waititi and Chris Hemsworth.

Thor has taken an apartment with a human named Darryl (Daley Pearson) and Thor has been enjoying his time away from battle. Darryl struggled to get Thor to pay his rent because Thor did not understand the use of money. He believed that Asgardian coins he brought would suffice.

Instead, Thor hired a servant to help him with the tasks of polishing the hammer, making money and paying rent.

This is pretty much the same idea as the first one, which was so popular that they decided to make more.

Taika Waititi has a great grasp on the character of Thor and he brings out the fun in the situation unlike anyone else. Chris Hemsworth is extremely talented in the area of comedy and he shows his remarkable timing here.

Team Thor Part 1 (2016)

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May 14, 2022 Short 6

I was incorrect when I said that the last Marvel One Shot was All Hail the King with Trevor Slattery. I did not know that this series of Thor shorts with his roommate Darryl were from the Marvel One Shots series, but that is how they were listed on Disney + so I thought I would watch them next.

Chris Hemsworth has a remarkable comedic timing. He is very funny and he has taken Thor in a much different direction than when he started out in the first Thor film. He has truly revitalized the character and he has said that he is much more interested in Thor now than he was before.

This short takes place after Civil War and it is Thor moving into an apartment in Australia with a man named Darryl (Daley Pearson). Thor is upset that neither Cap or Tony Stark called him during the conflict between them and he is trying to go on with his life.

Written and directed by Taika Waititi, this short gives us a definite flavor of how Waititi was going to take the character of Thor with Thor: Ragnarok.

This is a really funny little bit that I assume is outside of the typical MCU continuity. Watching Thor desperately trying to convince us that he was still relevant is so very funny.

All Hail the King (2014)

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May 14, 2022 Short 5

This was the final of the Marvel One Shot series that Marvel Studio produced. It was in response to the remarkably infamous twist from Iron Man 3 where the Mandarin, as played by Sir Ben Kingsley, turned out to be nothing more than an actor playing a part. To many ardent fans, this was a twist that they used to hate on Iron Man 3. To me, it was quite a wild thing for Marvel to pull off.

However, they used this short to bring Trevor Slattery, the name of the actor who pretended to be the Mandarin, back to the forefront. The fact that an actor of such renown as Ben Kingsley would be willing to do this short speaks a lot to Marvel.

The character of Trevor Slattery is a ton of fun, almost in a world of his own. The main purpose of the short was to tell the world that there was still a character known as the Mandarin in the MCU besides the one being played by Trevor Slattery.

We see Trevor in prison banking off his reputation and his ability to do the scary Mandarin voice.

In fact, this one shot would eventually lead into one of the best Marvel films of 2021 in Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, where we get to meet the actual Mandarin (though he does not go by that name) and we get a chance to see Trevor Slattery return to the MCU stage and we discover where he has been for all of these years.

Also in All Hail the King, look for a great cameo from Sam Rockwell as Justin Hammer.

Agent Carter (2013)

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May 14, 2022 Short 4

Following in the footsteps of Captain America: The First Avenger comes Agent Carter, a Marvel One Shot that proceeded a short run TV series on ABC starring Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter.

That TV series on ABC is one of the most underrated shows in the Marvel canon as it took a character and made her beloved. Hayley Atwell is charming and exceptional as an actress and every bit of it comes through in the series, as well as this one shot.

Peggy is working in the post war age in the intelligence business, a business that did not take well to a woman doing anything of the sort, and Peggy was becoming bored with the monotony of her position. Knowing she was more suited for the field, Peggy wished for an escape from the reports and the behind the scene paperwork she was being given.

When she had a chance to go take care of a mission on her own, she does so with flair and style becoming a special agent who fought side by side with Captain America.

There is a reason why Hayley Atwell keeps coming back to the MCU, most recently in Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness as Captain Carter. She is just awesome and she gets a chance to show that special oomph in Marvel One Shot: Agent Carter.

This was the first one shot to exceed double digits in minutes, and they use every second to highlight Peggy Carter and to provide reasons why we love her.

And I have to say that I felt touched when she pulled out the picture of Steve Rogers as thin, skinny Steve that we saw on her desk in Avengers: Endgame. It is one more awesome connection and a reason why we love the MCU continuity.

Agent Carter should have much more.

Item 47 (2012)

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May 14, 2022 Short 3

I thought I had seen all of the Marvel One Shots before, but then I came across Item 47 on Disney + and I realized that I had not.

Set after the events of The Avengers (2012), Item 47 was a piece of alien tech left on earth that was discovered by two people who started using it as a way to rob banks. This drew the attention of SHIELD and Agent Sitwell (Maximiliano Hernandez) and his boss Agent Blake (Titus Welliver).

It is hard to watch this short which made Agent Sitwell into the hero knowing that this could have been Agent Coulson (who died in Avengers) and that Sitwell would be revealed as a mole inside SHIELD for Hydra in the upcoming Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

It was kind of fun, but with the lack of someone who I really cared about, this one just felt like it was going through the motion.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor’s Hammer (2011)

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May 14, 2022 Short 2

Four short minutes of Phil Coulson greatness.

These short four minutes show you everything that we love about Phil Coulson, and of course, the amazing Clark Gregg who portrayed him.

Stopping for gas as the erstwhile Agent of Shield was on his way to see the unmovable hammer that had appeared on earth in New Mexico, Agent Coulson crosses paths with some dimwits trying to rob the gas station.

It was a pity for them.

Phil Coulson was funny, calm and absolutely kick ass.

I am certain that this is one of the reasons why Coulson was brought back to head up ABC’s Agents of Shield TV show.

The Consultant (2011)

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May 14, 2022 Short 1

The first ever Saturday Short is off and running with the first of the Marvel One-Shots currently on Disney +. It was called The Consultant and it featured the ever awesome Clark Gregg as SHEILD Agent Phil Coulson. I have missed Phil Coulson since the ending of the Agents of Shield and getting a chance to see him again is one of the main reasons why the Saturday Short binge does not have to be shorts that I had never seen before.

I saw this on the DVD of Thor and the short explained the reason why Tony Stark met with General Ross (RIP William Hurt) as the post credit scene from the Incredible Hulk.

This short has very little to do except show off Clark Gregg and Maximiliano Hernandez (who played Jasper Sitwell), both of whom would play bigger roles in the beginning of the MCU.

The Marvel One Shots include more substance as they continue so the next ones will be more than a short scene with two cool actors reprising their characters.

Firestarter (2022)

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Firestarter is a remake of a Steven King film from 1984. I have not seen the 1984 version either which starred Drew Barrymore. The 2022 version starred Zac Efron and Ryan Kiera Armstrong.

Charlie (Ryan Kiera Armstrong) is a young girl, the daughter of two people with psychic powers. Charlie has pyrokinetic powers, which means she can set things on fire with her mind. Her family has been on the run as the group that experimented on her parents was looking for them.

Charlie’s father (Zac Efron) wants her to keep her powers hidden while Charlie’s mother (Sydney Lemmon) wanted her trained. When Charlie had a fire incident at school, the secret government entity known as The Shop, sent the dangerous Rainbird (Michael Greyeyes) after them with the mission to bring Charlie in alive.

This movie was bad. I had some initial thoughts that this could be a surprise, but, sadly, it was not. It was boring, among other issues.

One of the things that jumped out at me immediately was that the dialogue of the film was laughable. People do not really talk like this. It felt very unsophisticated. Maybe you saw it in the trailer, but the “liar, liar, pants on fire” line is an example of how bad it got.

I think young Ryan Kiera Armstrong does an adequate job with what she had to do. The story was just not very good and there was very little in character development.

The story felt rushed and things happen that made no sense. Rainbird as a character was all over the place. Why he does what he does in the third act is completely up in the air. The insanity of the third act was not a good thing. It was downright ridiculous. There were plenty of times where I had to hold back laughter or comments about why someone was doing something stupid.

Kurtwood Smith, the iconic actor, was in this movie kind of. He was in one scene. I have no idea why he appeared here for the few minutes of screen time that he got. His appearance had no effect on the story either.

Sadly enough, even the special effects of the new version was lacking. It did not look great which was a shock for a film coming out in 2022. Maybe they spent too much of the budget on Kurtwood Smith.

Was there a purpose for this movie to be remade? I don’t know, but, for whatever reason, this was just a bad film.

1.5 stars

Sleepless in Seattle (1993)

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Do Over: EYG Sunday Morning Revisit Week 2

The second week of the Do Over is here and this week we are revisiting the 1993 Nora Ephron film starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, Sleepless in Seattle.

I remember watching this film for the first time on VHS and being truly bored by it. In fact, I remember being so bored that I fell asleep during part of the movie. Despite enjoying the work of Tom Hanks, I haven’t been interested in revisiting this.

However, with the Do Over series, I gave Sleepless in Seattle another chance and I found it to be much more enjoyable than the first time.

Recently widowed, Sam Baldwin (Tom Hanks) moved with his son Jonah (Ross Malinger) away from Chicago where everything reminded him of his lost wife to Seattle for a new start. Jonah was seeing that his father was not moving on and he called into a radio show designed to help people with their love lives.

Jonah is able to get Sam on the phone to talk to the “doctor” and his story went out across the nation. Annie (Meg Ryan), engaged to a man (Bill Pullman) who was steady and kind, but who was not magical, became obsessed with Sam and Jonah, finding the pull of the pair to be irresistible.

Using the romantic movie An Affair to Remember as its backbone, Sleepless in Seattle is a romantic comedy that looks at the fantasy/magical side of love, how some loves are destined to come about despite distance or implausibility.

There is certainly a ton of implausibility inside this script. Just the idea that Jonah could get himself to the top of the Empire State Building from Seattle alone is implausible enough. There is the apparently live broadcast of “Dr. Marsha Fieldstone” on Network America that went live across the whole nation instead of being taped and recorded earlier. Not to mention that Jonah set this whole thing up because he read Annie’s letter that talked about Brooks Robinson. Oh, and there has never been a man like Bill Pullman’s character in the history of the world.

Sure, there are plenty of moments that are just not realistic, but that works in this movie. The movie depends on the unlikely to pull the viewers into the magic. We know that Annie is not a creeper and that there is some unspeakable connection between the two of them and you root for them to overcome these unlikely odds to find a way together. And the ending scene on the top of the Empire State Building is both amazingly romantic and downright weird at the same time.

Sleepless in Seattle is considered one of the greatest rom-coms of all time by many and I have a much more appreciative opinion of the film than I did before. It helps that Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan are exceptionally likeable actors and that Ross Malinger is as charming of a kid in the movies as you are going to find.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

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The Marvel Cinematic Universe continues on thru its massive storytelling with the latest huge film, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, the sequel to Doctor Strange and the continuation of stories that have been told in WandaVision Disney + series and Spider-Man: No Way Home.

There is almost no way to give a plot synopsis of this movie without spoiling something in this movie. This entire movie is a spoiler. So I am going to do my best to try and give a plot synopsis without spoiling anything. Dr. Strange gets pulled into a multiversal struggle by the appearance of new young hero America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez). Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olson) is involved too.

There. Plot summarized.

Let’s talk about the stars of this movie. Elizabeth Olson is absolutely fantastic. She was amazing in WandaVision and she just kept killing it in MOM. She is such an asset to these films and has such a grasp on her character that she brings so much gravitas to her role. Wanda Maximoff is dominant.

Benedict Cumberbatch continues to grow into the character of Stephen Strange. Every time he played the Master of the Mystic Arts, he has gotten better. Strange has a definite character arc going on through this film and he carries it extremely well.

Benedict Wong, Rachel McAdams and Xochitl Gomez all give solid performances. I liked America Chavez here actually much more than I ever liked her in the comics. Xochitl Gomez is extremely charming and you connect to her right away. Rachel McAdams’s Christine is much more important to this story than she was in the first Dr. Strange flick. And Wong is just always awesome.

When Sam Raimi stepped in to replace Scott Derrickson as director of MOM, there was a lot of excitement, but also some doubt. Excitement because Raimi could bring an aesthetic to Doctor Strange unlike any other director. Raimi’s résumé seemed to fit perfectly with the weirdness that Dr. Strange could bring to the movies. Doubt because many people wondered how much freedom Raimi would have to create something that had his flavor to it in the MCU. Never fear, the film is ripe with Raimi flavor and it is a Sam Raimi film made inside the MCU. There are so many wonderful Raimi touches from the images to the camera angles that he makes a feast for the senses.

The special effects are tremendous. It is a beautiful film and there are very few missteps in the visual creation.

However, this is also a Sam Raimi film in the sense that it is a horror movie. There are some distinctly scary scenes dealing with body horror or frightening imagery that it might be too much for some of the MCU’s younger fans. It has a really nice balance between a horror movie and the super hero film that we are accustomed to.

I will say that there were a few scenes, particularly in the middle, that I found it difficult to connect to or that I thought I should feel more than I did. I have some theories about why that was, but I can’t go into them without diving into spoiler area so I will just say that some of the emotional beats very not as emotional as I would have liked them to be.

Part of that could be the pacing of the film. It was at a rapid pace and I think I would have liked to have seen this movie get maybe 20 minutes more. That might have allowed me some more time to let certain scenes breathe. Much like the finale of Moon Knight from earlier this week, the shorter run time might have been a challenge.

Another reason may have been the expectations I had for the special cameos that were going to be in this movie…or so I thought. Again, no spoilers, but there were way fewer cameos than I thought there would be. I think it is a good thing, but my own expectations may have been playing havoc with what I watched. I plan on seeing the film again tomorrow and I will see how a second viewing does or does not change that feeling. Expectations about what COULD have been in this movie is always my fault, not the films. I should learn to just sit back and enjoy what it gives me instead of me worrying about what it doesn’t.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is an insane film, with great imagery and some unbelievable story beats. Benedict Cumberbatch and Elizabeth Olson are MVPs of the film and we are introduced to a great new character (another possible ‘Young Avenger’). Sam Raimi brings his directorial skill to the film that makes it feel like nothing we have seen in the MCU yet while still maintaining its connection to the ongoing story of the MCU. Some pacing issues aside, MOM is another success for Marvel Studios.

4.75 stars

Blade 2 (2002)

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Do Over: EYG Sunday Morning Revisit Week 1

With the DailyView concluded, I am beginning one of several new features at EYG. Every Sunday morning, I will be watching a film that I had seen before, but did not like. Many of these will be loved by others and I am going to do a Do Over to see if my thoughts on the film have changed since the first viewing. It has happened several times (Seven, Fargo being two major examples). Starting on May 1st, I have revisited Guillermo Del Toro’s sequel to the Daywalker himself, Blade 2.

I really enjoyed the first Blade and I had high expectations for the movie. I remember going to see it in the theater with a bunch of my friends down in Iowa City and coming out of it very disappointed. We had spent time before playing video games, particularly a fight video game, and I could not shake the feeling that Blade 2 was nothing more than just another video game. I thought the graphics were terrible and that it looked no better than the animation in the video games that we had played prior.

Unfortunately, I felt that way still after watching it this morning. There are just so many moments that are so rubbery in the fights that it takes me completely out of the movie.

Of course, Wesley Snipes is perfect casting. He personified the character of Blade beautifully, even in the moments of this movie that I did not like.

The return of Whistler (Kris Kristofferson) was ridiculous. They just wanted him back after his impactful death in the original and I am not sure I bought how they brought him back.

Norman Reedus was there too as a Whistler-lite replacement. His story arc made no sense and was there just for the predictable swerve. Reedus does much better work in The Walking Dead and, hopefully, gets a chance to play Johnny Blaze in the MCU because that feels like perfect casting. Here…not so much.

The villains are dull and reminded me too much of the Ubervamps from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. To be fair, this movie looks to have been released before (right around the same time) the Ubervamps made their appearance on Buffy, so this is most likely coincidental.

The story was lackluster and simplistic. I did like the idea of Blade being forced to team up with the vampires to face a greater threat, but, in the end, that plotline fell apart. There were plenty of moments that made no sense. It was just included in the film because the plot needed it to be there. There was very little in way of character development.

Leonor Varela was an interesting addition to the cast as Nyssa, but she was the only one of the entire vampire team that had any personality at all. The rest were all just characters there to look cool and to get picked off. Even Ron Perlman’s Reinhardt was the bad ass that you knew eventually would face off against Blade. And then that confrontation was anticlimactic.

Overall, I did not find much more enjoyable about Blade 2 than I did the first time. I am hoping that Marvel Studios will do better with their upcoming Blade film.

Ambulance

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I have to admit that I get tired of the excuse, “It’s a Michael Bay movie, what do you expect?”

I found that Ambulance was available to rent on Vudu this weekend. I had actually considered heading to the theater tomorrow to see it, but now I did not have to. I could watch it at home.

I’m not a fan of Michael Bay, but there have been a select few movies of his that I have liked and with a talent such as Jake Gyllenhaal in the film, I had some hope.

Did I mention that it is a Michael Bay movie?

Will Sharp (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) was desperate. His wife needed a surgery, but the insurance would not cover it. So he went to his adoptive brother Danny (Jake Gyllenhaal) for help. Unfortunately, Danny is getting ready to rob a bank and needed his brother’s help.

The robbery goes terribly wrong and Will, Danny a paramedic named Cam (Eiza González) and a cop that Will had shot (Jackson White) wind up inside an ambulance being chased by the police.

This is very much a Michael Bay movie. It is loud, stupid, has characters of little to no substance, dialogue that is laughable at times and a plot that makes little sense.

Sure, there are a few scenes of action that can be exciting, if you do not let yourself think about what is happening, because it rarely makes sense.

Jake Gyllenhaal is doing his best, but even he is too over the top. One of the issues is that none of these characters are worth rooting for. They are horrible and, despite the film trying its best, I just could not find anything redeeming about them. Even the heroic Cam is anything but likeable. Even if you could like her, she does some things that are just not possible or that make any sense at all. Cam’s last few scenes almost make her bearable. Almost.

By the way, I found the driving and pounding score to the film to be obnoxious and loud.

Some people will be happy with this. It is nothing more than ridiculous action with explosions and gunfire and car crashes. It had a minimal story with a group of actors giving what they had despite there not being much. Some will say that it is okay since it is just a “Michael Bay movie and why would you expect more?”.

2.4 stars