Film Review: Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

 

Sam Raimi brings horror to the Marvel Universe…in a mostly good way!

It has been a while since Doctor Strange had his own film though the character has played a key role in developments since his introduction six years ago. Director Sam Raimi has form in this area having helmed the trio of Spiderman movies in the 2000’s and is able to bring in some of his trademark horror to the tale in which the concept of Multiverses is explored in more detail. It is very much a film for people who like Marvel movies and even touches on some of the tv series that most of us haven’t seen so it might be an idea to check on those storylines to bring yourself up to speed.

 

Spoilers beyond this point

Spiderman- No Way Home review

 

Waiting for the cinema to open at the early hour of nine forty, a caterpillar of school kids starts to emerge at the top of the escalators. There must be at least a year group here and guess what film they’d come to view on this most unlikely of school trips? The most we ever got to go to was a piece of waste ground to analyse whatever flora and fauna we could discover there, clearly educational outings have become far more sophisticated. It was interesting to see though that once this film began they settled down and were just as captivated as the rest of us. This was also the first film I’ve been to where I had to wear a face mask all the way through courtesy of the latest pandemic rules. Plus the fact that none of the kids were wearing them. If you’re thinking I’m playing for time to avoid spoilers in this first paragraph you’d be exactly right…

A whole web of spoilers after the break...

  

Sherlock The Final Problem

`The Final Problem` is an awesome piece of television drama that twists, turns and grips in equal measure. It’s packed with surprises and thrilling incident while it also plays with televisual formats brilliantly. Yet rarely – even though it apparently does draw aspects from three different Conan Doyle novels- did it seem like anything much to do with Sherlock Holmes. Despite the references and the nomenclature it just seemed like something that would be even better if it were not tied to the legendary detective

Major, major spoilers past this point…

 

Sherlock The Lying Detective

In which the series finally over reaches its melodramatic tendencies creating a fascinating but flawed mess yet also inspiring a magnificent performance from Martin Freeman. 
The thing about Sherlock has always been in the presentation. Much like the detective himself the programme is always several steps ahead of the viewer so as to produce those OMG moments that people get excited about. It’s a trick they have successfully navigated for some time even though we may well be at the point where we start to second guess things adding a further convolution to the narrative. In this fascinating episode we have a different presentation again. The serial killer is hiding in plain sight, indeed he is a hugely famous businessman and philanthropist who is engaged in a cat and mouse game after Sherlock- somewhat worse for wear after the events of last week- calls him out publicly as a serial killer. Is he or isn’t he? It’s all in the presentation.

Spoilers ahead. Or are there? Yes, actually there are.

Sherlock - The Six Thatchers

Blistering first episode of the fourth series

Still minutes after the events of the mind palace escapades of `The Abominable Bride` the fourth series kicks off with a superbly liberating sense of fun before dovetailing into darker matters. There’s no doubt that Sherlock has become a different series than the idea of updating the old stories to the modern day that it started out as and I think it’s because that’s happened over a comparatively short number of episodes some people are less keen. “It’s just about them now” is a common complaint but when you’ve got a cast like this and a chance to sculpt something more inventive than merely a contemporary update why not run with it? 

Spoilers beyond this point…

Doctor Strange

Marvel’s mystical medic!

The latest instalment in Marvel’s mighty Universe revolves around an unlikely character. Stephen Strange is a skilled surgeon and doesn’t he just like everyone to know it. Till one day when distracted by his phone he is involved in a terrible car crash which inflicts the most damage on his hands if not his sanity. Refusing to believe his career is over his search for an unlikely solution to his problem leads him to Nepal where he seeks what he thinks will be the cure but turns out to be a mystical cult whose calm skills seem ill matched to his temperamental sarcasm. It does seem a tad familiar albeit buoyed by Benedict Cumberbatch’s identifiably frustrated persona and some neatly planted gags that stop the whole thing being taken too seriously. Oh and then there’s some folding buildings….

Sherlock The Abominable Bride

BBC1 1 January 2016

Reviewed by Sean Alexander

Given its literary roots and the iconic film and TV adaptations over the years – take your pick from Basil Rathbone to Peter Cushing to Jeremy Brett to Johnny Lee Miller – it seemed inevitable that the makers of arguably Sherlock Holmes’ most significant pop cultural makeover would one day take advantage of one of its now standard sabbaticals and embrace the Victoriana.  When paparazzi photos emerged early in 2015 of stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman in full period dress, deerstalkers and capes as standard, speculation inevitably grew as to how Sherlock’s makeweight Christmas special would dovetail into a continuity left precipitously poised at the end of its third series and that viral meme erupting across phones, tablets and TV screens across the nation.  Would they travel back in time by TARDIS?  Was this a dream, an old case conducted by a hitherto unmentioned ancestor, or just a standalone jaunt into the aesthetic of Conan-Doyle before resuming normal service in 2017?  Amongst all those social media debates I’m pretty sure hardly anyone suggested that it would try to be all three.

Sherlock - His Last Vow

BBC1 12/01/14
Written by Steven Moffat / Directed by Nick Hurran

The reason people liked Sherlock from the start was because it didn’t conform to our expectations. Now it’s established and is not conforming to our new expectations some people are critical as if they have forgotten why they liked the show in the first place. So perhaps after the previous two episodes these critics will feel on safer ground with `His Last Vow`. That is at least until it spins around once, twice and at the very end a third time to once again confirm this is not a series to easily be pinned down. 

"And wait till you see the wallpaper in this room..."

Sherlock The Sign of Three

BBC1 05/01/14
Written by Stephen Thompson, Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss/ Directed by Colm McCarthy

This episode skates very close to the edge of being self-indulgent and may baffle some casual viewers whom you can imagine are sitting there thinking `what’s going on?` The answer is the show’s first full comedy episode and why not? After all Sherlock is, as the character himself suggests, a ridiculous man and suits the comedic riffs of this freewheeling script co-authored by all three of the series’ writers. The results do follow on from the more human Sherlock last week’s episode unveiled and just as that was a platform for Martin Freeman, this week its Benedict Cumberbatch’s show. In a tour de force of a best man speech, interrupted by flashbacks, the great detective gets to the nub of more down to earth mysteries such as marriage and friendship as well as trying to solve a case.

Sherlock The Empty Hearse

BBC1 01/01/14
Written by Mark Gatiss / Directed by Jeremy Lovering

Just how good is this? Two years after Sherlock faked his own death and ignited a debate as to how he did it comes the revelation. We knew, of course, that he wasn’t dead because we saw him at the end of the last series but the question that has been debated right up until this episode was broadcast is how they did it. By which I mean how did the character do it and how did the television programme stage it? Brilliantly, both of these notions are addressed in a script that may just be the best thing Mark Gatiss has ever written and that’s saying something. Bristling with vigour, thrills and wit, `The Empty Hearse` is a ceaseless joy to watch from start to finish as it twists and turns through several developments. As for that explanation- well, just for fun you get several options during the course of the episode until the real one is revealed by Sherlock himself near the end. Or is it?

Actually, the way Sherlock cheated death was he can fly.