Marvel’s Doctor Strange

Marvel’s Doctor Strange

By Erin

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Marvel Studios brings us the 14th installment in theMarvel Cinematic Universe, “Doctor Strange,” the story of world-famous neurosurgeon Dr. Stephen Strange whose life changes forever after a horrific car accident robs him of the use of his hands. We join Strange on his dangerous, mystifying, and totally mind-bending journey. The movie has all the usual action and explosions that you can expect as it shares the same look, feel, and fancy corporate sheen as the rest, but it also has a lot of originality and freshness to it. The main character is a little different, where a flawed hero’s personal search for purpose leads him to the New Age realm of magic and sorcery where he ultimately finds his calling in life. He discovers powerful magic in a mysterious place known as Kamar-Taj—the front line of a battle against unseen dark forces bent on destroying our reality. It’s thrilling to see Strange embrace his inner spirit, finding power by going with the current, instead of against it. Staring Benedict Cumberbatch as the superhero Doctor Strange and Tilda Swinton as “The Ancient One.”

Marvel's DOCTOR STRANGE..L to R: The Ancient One (Tilda Swinton) and Doctor Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch)..Photo Credit: Film Frame ..©2016 Marvel. All Rights Reserved.

 Dr. Stephen Strange is completely arrogant, he senses himself as the greatest neurosurgeon in New York, if not the world.  He is also a bit of a different kind of superhero being that he is a sorcerer. At the start, his arrogant and selfish ways shine through, but he slowly learns humility: to better himself and to think of others. This film is filled with comic book-style action, violence includes large-scale destruction, a brutal car crash as the result of distracted driving as he was texting and driving and not paying attention to the road, bloody wounds and scenes on operating tables, a lot of crashing through glass and falls from large heights. There’s also  tons of martial arts fighting, fighting with magical and supernatural weapons, and other rather dark and scary stuff. For those with kids, this might be one you don’t want your  really young ones to see with all of the blood, gore and dark moments. It just depends on what your child can handle and what they’ve already been exposed to.

Marvel's DOCTOR STRANGE..The Ancient One (Tilda Swinton)..Photo Credit: Film Frame ..©2016 Marvel. All Rights Reserved.

The Ancient One (Tilda Swinton) ©2016 Marvel

The doctor is an unusual, but very entertaining, member of the superhero club, and the movie’s mystical elements provide food for thought as well as fun.

Before you go out and see the film (but even if you have seen it these are still some fun facts to know!) check out these fun facts about Doctor Strange!

Marvel's DOCTOR STRANGE..Doctor Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch)..Photo Credit: Film Frame ..©2016 Marvel. All Rights Reserved.

Doctor Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) ©2016 Marvel

*Marvel’s “Doctor Strange” was shot in London, New York, Kathmandu (Nepal) and Hong Kong.

* Steve Ditko’s comic book art influenced the environments that were created for the film.

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Meet the Cast of Doctor Strange!

Meet the Cast of Doctor Strange!

By Erin

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Marvel Studios has created more movie magic with “Doctor Strange!”  Coming out in theaters this Friday, November 4. You won’t want to miss it! Doctor Stephen Strange, the Master of the Mystic Arts, made his first appearance in Marvel comics in 1963. Th Marvel Cinematic Universe opens up a host of new, electrifying stories and exciting, mystifying, never-before-seen action with this one. There has always been a very important supernatural side to the Marvel comics, and ‘Doctor Strange’ is the perfect entry point into that realm, with parallel dimensions, alternate dimensions and the multiverse, which unlocks an entirely new area of storytelling.

The story follows world-famous neurosurgeon Dr. Stephen Strange, whose life forever changes after he gets himself into a horrific car accident where he ends up losing the ability to be able to use his hands. Traditional medicine fails him miserably, and he is willing to do anything to heal his precious hands. He ends up in an unlikely place—a mysterious enclave known as Kamar-Taj. He soon finds out that this is not just a center for healing but also the front line of a battle against unseen dark forces bent on destroying reality. Strange finds out he has some magical powers of is own and is forced to choose to either return to his old life or to defend the world as the most powerful sorcerer in existence.

The other week I had the opportunity to meet the cast of this action-packed film. Here are a few fun and exciting things they had to share with us.

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Talent in attendance

·         Benedict Cumberbatch (“Dr. Stephen Strange”)

·         Rachel McAdams (“Christine Palmer”)

·         Tilda Swinton (“The Ancient One”)

·         Benedict Wong (“Wong”)

·         Mads Mikkelsen (“Kaecilius”)

·         Director Scott Derrickson

·         Producer Kevin Feige

Kevin Feige shared with us about the right time to bring Dr. Strange into the Marvel Cinematic Universe “Sometimes things just work out, timing often, particularly in the cinematic universe, works out well for us, and it’ll be our 14th film within the MCU and we always say we have to push the boundaries, we have to keep surprising people, we have to keep making them unique and different, and certainly this movie and this character fits all of that. Also tapping into other dimensions and tapping into sort of that supernatural realm of the Marvel Comic Universe is going to come in handy, as we move forward throughout the Cinematic Universe, so the timing was perfect.”

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Scott Derrickson added to that how Doctor Strange was a product of the Sixties and was a big breath of fresh air into the world of comics at that time, and as a fan watching movies felt ready for some new, daring, weird left turns in the world of comic books and the MCU. Guardians of the Galaxy was that and was such a bold that movie. When he came in to meet for Doctor Strange, his approach was, let’s make this as weird in the MCU as the comic was in the comic book world in the Sixties. I think they’ve done a good job accomplishing this!

One of the biggest challenges of the movie and to keep it fresh according to Scott, was to try to make a movie that is as visually progressive by movie standards as the Ditko art was in the Sixties. “The primary source of inspiration was the early Stan Lee, Steve Ditko comics, and that artwork is still progressive. That was the primary source of inspiration and visual effects have just caughten up to where we can do some of the things that we did in this movie. The trick of it was to not hold back and to push ourselves as far as possible to do original things with the set pieces.”

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