Marvel’s Doctor Strange

Marvel’s Doctor Strange

By Erin

doctorstrange570e9be033a1a

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.

Continue reading »

Captain America: Civil War is Here! #CaptainAmericaCivilWar

Captain America: Civil War is Here!

By Erin

CivilWar56d9eccd2645f

Super hero fans, the wait is over! Marvel’s CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR is now playing in theatres everywhere! This is a movie that the whole family will love – and make sure you sit through the entire end credits so you don’t miss a thing! 😉 Being that Sunday is Mother’s Day, it would make for the perfect mother’s day present for all of the Marvel moms out there. There is also quite a bit of Girl Power in this one, the girls kick some major butt, which is really awesome to see. Have you decided yet if you are Team Cap or Team Iron Man? This is one action packed film you won’t want to miss.

Marvel's Captain America: Civil War..L to R: Sharon Carter/Agent 13 (Emily VanCamp), Sam Wilson/Falcon (Anthony Mackie), Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), and Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans)..Photo Credit: Zade Rosenthal..? Marvel 2016

Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War..L to R: Sharon Carter/Agent 13 (Emily VanCamp), Sam Wilson/Falcon (Anthony Mackie), Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), and Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans). Photo Credit: Zade Rosenthal..? Marvel 2016

Captain America: Civil War starts off in a situation that is suggesting the “new normal” for Captain America and company. The Avengers team that was assembled at the end of Age of Ultron is stationed in Nigeria, where they’re forced to prevent a threat from stealing a biological weapon. When the government sets up a governing body to oversee the Avengers, the team splinters into two camps—one led by Steve Rogers and his desire for the Avengers to remain free to defend humanity without government interference, and the other following Tony Stark’s surprising decision to support government oversight and accountability.

Marvel's Captain America: Civil War..Agent 13/Sharon Carter (Emily VanCamp)..Photo Credit: Zade Rosenthal..© Marvel 2016

Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War..Agent 13/Sharon Carter (Emily VanCamp)..Photo Credit: Zade Rosenthal..© Marvel 2016

I don’t want to give anything away to spoil the fun, so I will leave you with some fun facts about the film to get you even more excited to go out and see this wonder of a film.

• To bring “Captain America: Civil War” to the big screen, the filmmakers had to figure out which Avengers would side with Team Cap and which ones would ally with Team Iron Man. After careful consideration, the filmmakers decided on a split of characters that would find Sam Wilson, Bucky Barnes, Hawkeye, Ant-Man and Scarlet Witch following Captain America, with Black Widow, War Machine, Vision and Black Panther following Tony Stark.

• With the “Captain America: Civil War” story taking place all over the world, the production would find itself based in familiar territory, anchoring at Pinewood Atlanta Studios with various units shooting in Germany, Austria, Iceland, Puerto Rico, Indonesia, Brazil and the United Kingdom during the film’s production schedule.

• On June 18, 2015, the first scenes of the historic Civil War mash-up began shooting, pitting the Avengers against each other with teams led by Captain America and Tony Stark. Filmmakers nick-named the classic battle the “Splash Panel,” because it was like a double-panel illustration in a comic book. The “Splash Panel” is one of Marvel’s most epic scenes with the most interaction ever seen in a Marvel film. The sequence was shot on IMAX cameras to give fans an unforgettable immersive experience.

Marvel's Captain America: Civil War L to R: Falcon/Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), Ant-Man/Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), Hawkeye/Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner), Captain America/Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), Scarlet Witch/Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen), and Winter Soldier/Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) Photo Credit: Film Frame © Marvel 2016

Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War: Falcon/Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), Ant-Man/Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), Hawkeye/Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner), Captain America/Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), Scarlet Witch/Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen), and Winter Soldier/Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) Photo Credit: Film Frame © Marvel 2016

• One of the most advanced automobiles in the world is featured, which T’Challa/Black Panther drives. They turned to Audi, who provided the production with their newest hi-tech concept car for the shoot. The stunning car has all the newest technology that Audi has but it has never been put into production. Keep an eye out for it in the movie—you won’t see it anywhere else.

• A new Super Hero is introduced to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in “Captain America: Civil War”—T’Challa, the Black Panther, played by Chadwick Boseman. The highly anticipated character comes in not agreeing with either side in the Civil War because he has his own agenda. Black Panther will feature in his own standalone film in 2018.

Captain America’s fighting style is based in old-school martial arts like Judo, Karate, Tae Kwan Do and Aikido. However, Black Panther, one of the best martial artists in the Marvel Universe, has more of a flowing martial arts style based on Capoeira, which is a form of Brazilian martial arts that combines acrobatics, dance and music. There is also a Chinese influence in his style with the use of Kung Fu.

Marvel's Captain America: Civil War Black Panther/T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) Photo Credit: Film Frame © Marvel 2016

Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War. Black Panther/T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) Photo Credit: Film Frame © Marvel 2016

• The Black Panther costume was carefully designed to incorporate a panther, cat-like vibe with African aspects in the embellishments. With minimalist shoes that add a stealth element and root the costume to the ground, it also has a ninja feel.

Hawkeye has some new weapons!!! Including a collapsible baton for close-in fighting. His iconic bow has undergone some modifications as well. It is now left-handed, lighter in weight and easier to handle. He also sports a different look, with a fullsleeved jacket instead of a vest, as well as a return to the more traditional purple color.

Brock Rumlow/Crossbones, played by Frank Grillo, has new jackhammer-type gauntlets that amplify the power of his punches.

Continue reading »

Meet the Cast of Captain America: Civil War | #CaptainAmerica

Meet the Cast of Captain America: Civil War

By Erin

*I was invited as a guest of Disney*

CivilWar56e1aedc39124

This Friday, May 6th comes the highly anticipated creation of Marvel Studio’s latest film, “Captain America: Civil War.” Directed by Anthony & Joe Russo, the start of Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Phase 3 sees the Earth’s Mightiest Super Heroes divided when the government sets up a governing body to oversee the Avengers, where the team splinters into two camps—one led by Steve Rogers and his desire for the Avengers to remain free to defend humanity without government interference, and the other following Tony Stark’s surprising decision to support government oversight and accountability.

Captain America-Press Conference

At a recent press junket in Los Angeles, the two sides made a grand appearance to talk about the new film. Team Iron Man was first to tell us their side of the story. This included; Director Anthony Russo, Paul Bettany, (“Vision”),  Robert Downey Jr., (“Tony Stark / Iron Man”), Don Cheadle, (“James Rhodes / War Machine”), Emily Van Camp, (“Sharon Carter / Agent 13”) although she is not on Team Iron Man, and Producer Kevin Feige.

Here are some of the fun things we learned from the “Team Iron Man” group:

*Robert Downey Jr. is still reeling from the fact that Paul Bettany was Jarvis and now he’s Vision… “If you just stop, you go ‘so here’s what’s going on with Tony,’ I go ‘waitaminute. Did he make a guy?!’ Look at him!”
 *Technological advances in film-making: Anthony Russo shared with us that, “You sort of reap the benefits and you sort of push forward every film and this movie has a very remarkable sequence I think where Robert Downey Jr. plays a twenty-year old man…which is pretty incredible.” Robert Downey Jr. added in how nostalgic it all is. Very expensive nostalgia.

Captain America Cast

*Spiderman was flawlessly brought into the film. The producers took the opportunity to create organic ways to bring new characters into the movie and to create more balance to the story.  This helped them to tell a more complicated story between captain America and Iron Man. By bringing in characters without any baggage allowed the dynamic of the movie to stay unchanged as they have not been emotionally invested into the Avengers storyline.

*War Machine doesn’t get an upgrade? War machine isn’t given any new tricks or fun toy upgrades like the other characters are. Don Cheadle commented, “Thank God somebody finally laid it bare…I think we’ll see. It’s not over…unless it is, ’cause I haven’t seen the movie. Do…I live? Does War Machine live? ”
Robert Downey Jr.

*Chadwick was the only choice for Black Panther: Kevin Feige  told us how he was the only choice to play the role of Black Panther. ” We wanted somebody who perhaps was invested but didn’t have allegiances to any one side. As these discussions were going on, we thought ‘I think we’re going to bring Black Panther into this movie. I’m not kidding when I say Chadwick (Boseman) was the only choice. His performance in ’42,’ his performance in ‘Get on Up,’ how different those performances are, and my memory is that we called him on the conference room speaker when we were developing the movie. He was in his car either about to get out or had just gotten back in and we said, ‘have you ever heard of Black Panther,’ and he went ‘Yes! Yes! Why are You asking me that??!!’ And we said ‘do you want to play the part,’ and he was very excited.”

*The girls get to kick some butt and are still good with guns! Emily Van Camp shared with us that she is out of the “rookie stage” with portraying Sharon Carter and has matured. “I think I was definitely slightly intimidated in the first one, in ‘Winter Soldier,’ just kind of getting used to it. I think that lent itself well for the character, she was sort of more in like a rookie stage, and it’s great to see her come back in a little bit more of a mature light, she’s confident and she’s still good with guns and she gets to kick a little butt in this one. It’s a great time.”

Continue reading »