Wednesday, July 05, 2017

The Doctor Who Can Do Magic

Started the morning off with breakfast and an episode of Wonder Woman. Diana Prince is on vacation in a small southern California town in the third season episode "Skateboard Wiz." The wiz of the title is the teenage daughter of a friend of hers. She's not only an excellent skateboarder, but is brilliant at math, too. After a compulsive gambler sneaks her into casino hidden behind her local arcade to help him out, she accidentally finds the hideout and maps for a citywide gambling ring. Diana's vacation ends up on hold as she chases the head of the ring...and rescues the kid when she becomes their target.

Took down the 4th of July decorations while the show was on, then switched to AM Gold 1966 as I cleaned the bathroom. I'm going to put off some cleaning until after Charlie finishes the roof (and making a mess), but that needed to be done now. It was really grungy. (And Charlie doesn't need to work in there at the moment.)

Did a little writing after I finished the bathroom. Cedric is awkward in his role as Hux at first, but he finally gets the swing of things...maybe a little too much. He introduces Henry as a wealthy rancher, Leia as his wife, and Luke as his brother. Henry also gets into his role a little too much, turning on a heavy (and fake) Texas accent and shaking everyone's hand he comes across. Leia warns him that he's overdoing it.

Broke for more Wonder Woman while eating lunch and making a list of things I'll need to pack when I start preparing for vacation next week. Diana poses as the newly married wife of a government official in the second season episode "I Do, I Do." A desert health spa has been selling secrets gained from the wives of government officials while being massaged. She has to figure out how they're doing it...and how to stop them from harming one of the wives, who has found out what's going on and hopes to use the information to get her neglectful husband out of his current job.

Headed to work at 3. Other than gathering trash, I spent most of the day doing carts. It was on-and-off busy for most of the evening, but not to the degree of Monday. Blahh, cloudy, humid weather did nothing to improve anyone's mood. I was alone for most of the day until the night bagger arrived during my last hour, too.

When I got home, I had a quick dinner, then settled down with Doctor Strange. Marvel moves from science fiction to the supernatural with the tale of an arrogant surgeon (Benedict Cumberbatch) who loses the use of his hands in a nasty car crash. He travels to Hong Kong to seek a cure...and finds a magical cult that can warp reality and create infinite time loops. The head of the cult, The Ancient One (Tilda Swinton), Sorceress Supreme, her second in command Mondo (Chiwetel Ejiofor), and Wong (Benedict Wong), a particularly tough teacher, show him the ways of magic and of warping reality and controlling time itself. She also gives him two relics, a cape with a mind of its own and the mystical Eye of Agamotto, that aid his magic. He'll need all the help he can get to go up against the sorcerer Kaecillius (Mads Mikkleson), who is seeking magic that'll give him eternal life.

I have vague memories of occasionally seeing this character in Marvel-based media when I was a kid, but other than that, he's another new one on me. While this starts out as sort of a reworking of Iron Man with surgery and magic standing in for corporations and Transformers-type suits, the supernatural angle makes it feel less like a superhero movie and more like a cross between The Shadow and the Harry Potter universe. Cumberbatch, well-known for playing arrogant but (somewhat) likable characters, was perfect for Strange. Ejiofor and Wong also did well as two of his mentors. And the animation for the magic sequences were amazing, eye-popping, and pretty darn wild.

Some minor complaints, mainly that Strange's girlfriend has one good scene where she helps him out after he was badly hurt in a major fight, but otherwise seems tacked on just for him to have a love interest. Otherwise, this is a worthy and fairly unique addition to the continually growing Marvel Cinematic Universe.

No comments: