Sorcerers, School Dances, and Spies

Date: November 19, 2021

Music Video of the Day:

Interstellar News: I’m sorry I’ve been away, again, but life has been difficult to say the least. Seasonal depression is real, family drama is draining, and being away from people you love makes it all that much harder. It was wonderful to celebrate a dear friend upon his achievement of his fourth degree black belt (Osu Sensei!) and to have dinner with family tonight. The holidays are also almost here – so there will be some days I may not post. In honor of this being my 500th post, however, here’s a trio of Marvel movies.

Doctor Strange (2016)

“Mister Doctor? It’s Strange. Maybe. Who am I to judge?”: This movie has its ups and downs, but the dialogue is fantastic. It’s hard to believe all of this happens in a year, but it’s totally believable that Stephen Strange is a complete and utter bastard who has to lose his whole world before giving a shit about other people. I love some of the messages in the movie – like not texting and driving, caring about other people even if they don’t benefit your career, and magic always coming at a cost. I also love Christine Palmer, Wong, and Mordo – for very different reasons.

Christine Palmer is a bad ass doctor who cares about her patients, not just her career. She is just as quick as Strange with medical knowledge or a comeback and she has a large heart that just can’t handle being abused by the self-centered Strange. I love how she just goes with the flow when Strange is knocked out of his body, she’s absolutely wonderful. Mordo makes the transition to villain very slowly and you kinda don’t fault him for the way he has changed his allegiance. It’s extremely hard to be lied to and then be expected to just keep following anyway. I don’t agree with his methods at all, but I also kind of understand how his mind jumped to it. Wong, of course, is the best. He’s such a supportive yet commanding force. I love him listening to Beyonce, doing his best to keep Strange out of trouble, and just being an easygoing and strong character.

Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

“Someone’s got to look out for the little guy.”: There is SO MUCH good in this movie, it’s hard to remember it all. Keaton is fantabulous and Holland has the right amount of ridiculousness we expect from our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man who is also still in high school. We get all the “fun” high school things, like bullies and parties and dances, while also having the added PSAs from Captain America. Aunt May and Iron Man do their best to rein in Parker, but he’s too invested in “the next mission”. He obsesses over contacting Happy, but he also shows classic signs of needing attention that he obviously isn’t getting. The plot twist of Toomes being his date’s father made me gasp the first time I saw this, and still gets me every time. Toomes does everything he can to get Parker to stop once he knows he’s just a kid – but takes the gloves off when Parker continues to get in his way.

Every single character, no matter how small, plays their role wonderfully. The man at the bodega (and his cat), the guy who wanted to buy guns, the best friend, the teachers, and just everyone make the movie the success it is.

Black Widow (2021)

“This would be a cool way to die. // Such a poser.”: This movie makes me happy that Natasha finally got HER movie. We find out more about her past, get to see David Harbour and Florence Pugh have the time of their lives, and get some good notes about the state of women in the (fictional) world – that maybe aren’t so fictional. While the movie isn’t perfect, it’s a lot of fun. I watched it when it first came out with a friend and then we watched it again as a group when it was “free” on Disney+. On the second watch, I was able to really focus more on what I liked and disliked about the movie. There are so many callbacks to previous outings by Johansson as the Widow and this gives her character so much more depth. I thought there were some pieces that could have either been cut or better explained, and I wasn’t a fan of Dreykov, but I did enjoy Ross getting fooled once again. The convenience physics and some of the fight scenes were a little hard to believe, even in a fake comic book world, but I did enjoy the idea of Alexei finally getting to meet Captain America for realsies. Maybe we’ll get something like that in the future!

Go get you an awesome vest with pockets and catch these movies if you haven’t already – you won’t be disappointed, even if you have no idea what’s going on.

TA Out!