Doctor Strange 3D Movie Review

Doctor Strange 3D Movie Review

Written By: Adolph Vega

 

3D

Doctor Strange has some amazing visual effects and the stereoscopic 3D element perfectly complements this movie. I feel this is the first movie made by Marvel Studios where the 3D element is a critical element of the cinematography and not just an after thought. Doctor Strange primarily uses depth-based 3D and creates an impressive diorama effect.  The 3D element really feels like your peering into the movie. The movie looks sharp, colorful and vivid in 3D. If you have the opportunity to watch this movie in IMAX 3D I can easily recommend viewing it in that larger screen. The depth of field presented within this movie really makes things look more impressive and gives some fantastical elements a better sense of being realistic. The 3D is used in some close up shots and gives you a better sense of the emotional state of the actors. This usage of 3D makes the viewer more invested into what is happening on screen. The stereoscopic 3D element of this movie is so well done; I wouldn’t want to watch this movie in 2D and is easily one of the best uses of 3D in a movie released in 2016. 

Final Verdict:

Great 3D, Editors Choice Award for 3D

Movie

Doctor Strange is a radical departure for Marvel Studios suite of films. Doctor Strange has a fantastic setting, incredible psychedelic visuals, and mystical eastern themes, and simply feels totally different from anything else released from Marvel studios.

Doctor Strange is a self-contained origin story for the character. Doctor Stephen Strange is a brilliant world renewed surgeon, and due to an unforeseen accident he needs the assistance of eastern medicine. Doctor Strange learns of the mystical arts and trains to protect this realm of existence from threats from another dimension. Benedict Cumberbatch portrays Doctor Strange as an arrogant self absorbed cocky character. I really enjoyed this performance from Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange. I found him very likable, well acted and is a perfect fit the role. In many ways this performance reminds me of the performance of Robert Downey Junior as Ironman. Since this movie is an origin movie, many times Doctor Strange acts as the avatar for the audience and asks questions about what is going on. The main story revolves around a group of people who want and extra dimensional entity to consume the earth and Doctor Strange and his comrades must find a way to stop it. Magic has never been an aspect of the marvel comic's movies and this movie does a good job introducing it into the marvel cinematic universe. Sadly the story itself feels rushed and many of the details are quickly glossed over and under explored. Several aspects of the story fall a little too perfectly into place and seems convenient for the plot to advance. The movie ends in a clever way that is both satisfying and unique. Even if I have problems with the story being under explained I still found myself extremely entertained and interested in what was happening on screen. 

The movie has a large cast of characters that all work well together. Christine Palmer is the love interest to Doctor Strange and they have a complex history and good chemistry on screen. Tilda Swinton is “The Ancient One” and essentially is the master of the mystical arts who teaches Doctor Strange. This character is odd because her comic book version is vastly different from this film version. I really enjoyed this film version, which has a great motherly vibe and is well acted. The only problem I had with this character is that she seems out of place in this eastern setting. Another notable character is that of Wong, who watches over the library of mystical arts and acts as comic relief and a sidekick to Doctor Strange. The movie itself has a very corny sense of humor that mostly works to lighten this movie. Overall I really enjoyed the entire cast of Doctor Strange. 

This fantastical setting is brought to life with truly spectacular visual effects. The visuals of Doctor Strange look amazing and perfectly compliment the surreal storyline. I cannot understate how well executed and well shot these special effects are and how integral they are for this movie. The visuals of Doctor Strange are easily the best special effects that I have seen this year and possibly in the last decade. The movie has very fast pacing and flows well from one scene to another. The movie doesn’t try to teach philosophy or religion, which is interesting because you would expect that from this type of movie.

Doctor Strange is a fascinating movie from beginning to end. The movie has amazing visuals that are a real treat for the eye. Sadly the story of Doctor Strange feels rushed and glossed over. It’s not a perfect movie, but I definitely enjoyed entering this mystical magical world of Marvel comics. 

Final Verdict: 8/10, Editors Choice Award

 © 2016 MARVEL / Disney

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Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children

Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children  

3D Movie Review

Review Written By: Adolph Vega 

 

3D

Some movies are made for 3D, and this is one of those movies. The cinematography used within this movie went hand in hand with the stereoscopic 3D visuals, and it looked fantastic. I really felt emerged within the movie with several scenes and the use of 3D. One scene specifically wowed me; it was a scene with rain drops and the pausing of time. The water droplets not only popped out -- they also went into the background and created a marvellous three dimensional visual spectacle. Toward the latter half of the movie, the 3D became more subdued, but for the first half I loved how it looked.

Some underwater scenes within this movie used 3D in a weaker fashion, but overall I very much enjoyed the 3D aspect of this movie, and it really enchanted me and enhanced my enjoyment of the movie. I highly recommend the 3D element of this movie .

Final Verdict: Great 3D

 

Movie

Occasionally a movie comes along that you fall in love with. You recognize that it has problems, but you find yourself totally engrossed into the world and characters within the film. This movie is based on a top selling book series, and this review is from the perspective of someone who is unfamiliar with the books before watching this movie .

This movie is hard to describe, because of its complex and unique nature. The movie takes place in two different time periods. The setting is both in present day (2016) and in the past (1944). The movie has a massive cast of characters that exist in both time periods, and many of the characters can go back and forth between time periods. The movie is focused on a teenager named Jake who's grandfather (in present day) tells him tall tales of a school for peculiar children in England. These peculiar children have special genetic abilities granted to each of them. They are protected from the general public by living in bubbles of loops in time. Miss Peregrine is the headmistress of the time loop that Jake visits, and she watches over a group of peculiar children. Around the world, different headmistresses and different time loop bubbles exist. Not everything is perfect for Miss Peregrine and her group of peculiar children. Barron is the villain of the movie and is a threat to the peculiar people. 

The performances of the cast were a mixed bag, but were overall well presented. Barron was easily the worst character of the movie; he over-acted and had corny lines of dialogue. Miss Peregrine reminded me of a Mary Poppins with a darker tone and was my favorite character of the movie . The peculiar children within this movie were all interesting, and considering how many characters were present within this movie, the peculiar children's time on screen was decent, but I wished that it were more. One of the characters that I disliked the most was Jake's father. Sadly, this character was just a jerk, and you didn't have any reason to like him. In many ways the story felt similar to the X-Men comic book series, but it also seemed fresh and different because of the elements of time travel and underlying tone of the movie. I really enjoyed how the movie showed off the different time periods and made a fantastical premise work on screen.

I found the setting to be confusing, yet fascinating. The concept of people living in bubbles of time loops was intriguing and something I enjoyed, but I found it hard to imagine that people wouldn't get bored with reliving the same day over and over again. Now considering how children can watch the same movie or TV show or read the same book over and over again and never get bored, it's not far fetched to assume that these characters learn to enjoy and take comfort in the inherent redundancy. 

The visual design and special effects of this movie really gave a distinct aesthetic that I adored. I really enjoyed the cinematography and the quick pacing of this movie kept it moving smoothly , but I did feel that some elements of the story were rushed. That said, the several action scenes were really fun to watch and well executed. I enjoyed watching how the peculiar kids used their powers and abilities. The visual design matched the whimsical story, and I enjoyed the special effects and visual gags.

The movie had problems, but I still found myself captivated and having lots of fun, while being thoroughly entertained. The biggest problem that I had with this movie was the simple fact that I wanted more. I wanted more time learning about the kids. I wanted more time with the villain, and I wanted more time understanding the premise and world that this movie created.

With a year filled with sequels, prequels, remakes and reboots, this movie felt like a breath of fresh air, and I was able to forgive many problems that I had with this movie simply because it was so much fun to watch. This is a gem of a movie that totally hooked me, and I can easily recommend it. Every once in a while you watch a movie, and once it ends you want to watch it again because you enjoyed it so much, and feel like you could catch more of it on repeated viewings.

I hope to see this franchise grow on screen with sequels that expand upon the mythology created within this movie. I am a little worried that I might be biased in favor of this movie, because I love stories with time travel, quirky characters and super powered humans, so this movie was literally made for me. Maybe I am more critical toward those themes because I enjoy them so much. Regardless, this movie simply works and is easily in my top five list of Tim Burton directed movies.

Final Verdict: 8/10

™ and © 2016 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All rights reserved. Property of Fox.

Storks

Storks 3D Movie Review

Written By: Adolph Vega 

 

3D

The best way to describe the stereoscopic 3D of this movie is muted. You can barely tell the difference between the different layers of 3D depth. The single moment that played up that 3D is a tiny scene with a character playing with a paddle & ball, and the ball popped out of the screen. One tiny scene is not enough to justify the purchase of a 3D movie ticket. The 3D element of this movie is honestly an afterthought and not at all worthwhile.

Final Score: Terrible 3D Watch in 2D

Movie

This film takes the popular 'storks delivering babies' myth and updates it to fit a modern setting. The  storks are now a package delivery company and are no longer interested in delivering babies. The main focus of this movie revolves around the stork named Junior who wants to be the new head of the company. For Junior to get his promotion, he must get rid of a human girl named Tulip. Tulip is an orphaned human girl who lives with storks and is considered a trouble maker for the company. The movie also has a secondary plot with the human Gardner family. The Gardner family sent a letter requesting a baby to be delivered from the storks company. The two plots are directly interwoven, as Junior and Tulip try to deliver a baby to the Gardner family. During this wacky adventure, Junior, Tulip and the baby meet up with several characters including a pack of wolves and a character named Pigeon Toady.

Pigeon Toady is an obstacle for Junior and Tulip as they attempt to deliver the baby to the Gardeners. Pigeon Toady is easily the worst character of this movie. Toady's personality is totally obnoxious and is completely tedious to watch on screen. The annoying character trope can work in some movies, but this isn't one of those. This character alone ruined any scenes that he was involved in. I dreaded every moment that the character was on screen because he killed the flow of the movie. Pigeon Toady has annoying dialog, terrible line delivery, and awful personality traits. Pigeon Toady is the most annoying, insufferable antagonist that I have seen in an animated movie in years. This character dramatically extinguished the enjoyment that I gained from watching this movie.

In contrast, the wolf pack characters are a fantastic addition to this movie. The wolf pack is chasing Tulip, Junior and the baby for the latter half of the film. The wolf pack is a collection of wolves that fell in love with the baby and want to take it away to adopt as their own. The wolves are portrayed by the comedy legends "Key and Peele" , and they deliver a fantastic comedic performance. The wolf pack has the ability to collaborate and transform into different things. Imagine a cheerleading squad becoming a human pyramid , that is what the wolves can do to a ridiculous and extreme degree. This dynamic is silly, funny and easily the most creative aspect of the movie. This ability to transform makes no sense, but they manage to make it work on screen, which makes for some amazing visuals that are easily the highlight of the movie. The wolf pack characters are totally ridiculous, hilarious and all but steal the show from the main characters of the movie when they are present.

In closing, the movie is a combination of high points (wolf pack) and low points (Pigeon Toady) and overall is a flawed movie .  The plot of the movie is overstuffed and is too convoluted for what it is. It tries to juggle too many characters , locations and  plot points, and ultimately fails to handle them all of them in a convincing way. I also think the movie has too much dialogue and is too chatty with the character interactions and needed some editing. The writing is decent, with good jokes for both the kids and adults to enjoy. The movie has many huge plot holes and story inconsistencies. For instance, the character Tulip also has extensive engineering experience that is never fully explained. The pacing in the middle of the movie slows down dramatically and becomes boring . Most of the scenes with the Gardner family are totally forgettable. The movie ends in a tender way that is very satisfying, but also leaves many unresolved plot points. Make no mistake; Storks has some major issues, but overall I found more positive aspects than negative aspects to this movie.  Sadly, the Storks movie delivers a mixed bag of cute family entertainment, that I can only slightly recommend. 

Final Score : 6/10

© 2015-2016 Warner Bros. Ent. All Rights Reserved.

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