John’s Horror Corner: Stepfather 2: Make Room for Daddy (1989), a worthy sequel to a perfectly “decent” 80s classic.
MY CALL: Good, entertaining, a worthy sequel, a bit nostalgic even, but certainly not great. This movie will best serve fans of The Stepfather (1987) and other “lighter” PG-13-ish horror fare. MORE MOVIES LIKE The Stepfather: For more “family therapy” horror, go for Relic (2020), The Dark and the Wicked (2020), The Lodge (2019), Hereditary (2018), Pyewacket (2017), The Witch (2016), Goodnight Mommy (2014), The Babadook (2014), The Uninvited (2009), The Good Son (1993), Pet Sematary (1989) and The Stepfather (1987).
Having apparently survived his stabby demise to his previous wife and stepdaughter, Jerry (Terry O’Quinn; Amityville: A New Generation, Pin, The Stepfather, Silver Bullet) has been spending some time in a mental hospital explaining his proclivities to the in-house psychiatrist. When Jerry makes his escape, I’m given glimmers of hope that this sequel may be a bit meaner and less TV-friendly than its predecessor. But alas, when push comes to stab, the stabs remain mostly off-screen as if to make the ready transition to an 8pm Lifetime Channel thriller just like part 1. I’m not so sure this is deserving of an R-rating.
Whereas part 1 picks up with Jerry recently married to his next victim, this sequel shows us how Jerry earns the trust of a soon-to-be divorcee and her son. Carol (Meg Foster; They Live, 31, Lords of Salem) sells Jerry his new house across the street from her, and she joins his all-women group therapy sessions—as he is working as a therapist somehow.
I enjoyed seeing Jerry repeatedly losing it after moving in with his new wife in part 1, but prefer this journey which includes the skepticism and suspicion of Carol’s best friend, and the development of trust with her son (Jonathan Brandis; It)… even if it is a bit less exciting. I guess the real victory here is that this sequel, despite cycling Jerry through wife number whatever, doesn’t try to reconnect the dots of its source material. Director Jeff Burr (From a Whisper to a Scream, Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3, Puppet Master 4-5, Pumpkinhead 2) most definitely makes this feel like a worthy sequel rather than retreading through familiar waters like so many other sequels.
Still, a little familiarity can be nice. Jerry is back to his temper tantrum shenanigans, and once again, his mania is witnessed by someone (Caroline Williams; Hatchet III, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, Leprechaun 3) who becomes a liability. But where Burr did not upgrade this sequel was in scariness—the scariest part of this movie involves a cat just doing cat things.
When Jerry loses it on his wedding day, I enjoyed his raging, homicidal tantrum. It’s not the slasher fare for which you may have been hoping, but it’s full of fun 80sness. And like Silver Bullet (1985) for Corey Haim or Friday the 13th part IV (1984) for Corey Feldman, the finale makes a worthy child hero of a young Jonathan Brandis.
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John’s Horror Corner: The Deep House (2021), a French ‘haunted house’ movie… underwater.
MY CALL: For me this was an interesting watch for reasons having nothing to do with the writing or horror, for which I did not care at all. Frankly, the “horror” aspects of this were boring and weak. Rather this is the movie you watch just to say you watched the “underwater haunted house” movie. And as it turns out, we enjoy a lot of really cool visuals. Just… none of them having to do with good horror. MORE MOVIES LIKE The Deep House: If you have an itch for underwater horror (or creepy Sci-Fi) that was not scratched by this movie, then try Underwater (2020) or even The Abyss (1989).
As much as I like weird, different, unfamiliar horror movies, I was hesitant to place this high in my queue. Sure, director and writer team Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury (Leatherface, Inside, Livid, Kandisha) have a strong horror resumé, including some inspiringly brutal extreme French cinema. But in my head, I’m asking myself, how does an underwater haunted house work? Then I read Mark’s review, which does not rave about the haunted house or horror elements in any way, but shines brightly on the film’s non-horror strengths. So here I am watching… and I must admit that when their guide tells them to “just follow the stairs down” to the house, talking to two people treading water in scuba gear, you have my curious attention.
Social media explorers Tina (Camille Rowe; Cosmic Dawn) and Ben (James Jagger; Sound of Violence) travel Europe and record their adventures in creepy abandoned buildings, essentially “modern ruins.” One such trek in France leads them to a lake in the woods, at the bottom of which rests a “perfectly preserved house” from an historic flood. They are led by a harbinger-like character… but, as in The Cabin in the Woods (2012), he’s the type that wants you to go somewhere.
Early in their scuba-diving adventure we learn that Ben’s gadget game is strong, fish don’t care for death metal, and Tina is a rookie scuba-diver. The cinematography tickles your eyes—it’s so different looking from the visuals we expect or know as two divers in murky water approach… an iron-rod fence surrounding a crypt and a grand manor. It’s disorientingly weird because… they just swim over the fence and hover in front of the house. The shots are gorgeous. This alone makes the movie cool. (Mark assesses the photography in more detail)
Weak “surprise” fish, creepy floating doll jump scares, shadows playing tricks on us—the movie takes its time before anything visually substantial threatens Tina and Ben. But eventually, a more haunting presence becomes obvious.
In some ways, this film reminds me of faaaar less intense As Above, So Below (2014) as our divers spelunk deeper through the house finding one disturbing oddity after another, only to eventually find themselves trapped in a way that defies logic.
Really, as a horror movie, this is weak; very poor even. Brutally honest, I know. However, true movie buffs probably need to see this. Not necessarily horror buffs, but movie buffs. Those who enjoy good filmmaking as much as they enjoy good films. Because this film should truly please and entertain a movie buff simply by virtue of the CGI-less underwater shots throughout the film.
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John’s Horror Corner: The Dentist 2 (1998), a little bit meaner, bloodier, tooth yankinger, drillier.
MY CALL: A bit bloodier than part 1, but not quite as fun in tone. Still if you enjoyed part 1, you really ought to enjoy this. It’s not like you were looking for Oscar bait. MORE MOVIES LIKE The Dentist: For more feisty “medical horror” movies, consider Re-Animator (1985), Doctor Giggles (1992), Fresh (2022) and The Dentist (1996).
After escaping a mental institution, Doctor Feinstone (Corbin Bernsen; The Dentist, Temptress, Tales from the Hood) makes his way to northern Arizona where he had apparently long-stashed away a safety deposit box with an alternate identity and a stack of cash for a fresh start. But when he encounters a small-town dentist who doesn’t practice good hygiene on his patients, Feinstone’s manic rage is incited, and he murders and replaces him.
My primary criticism of The Dentist (1996) was that it was far too light on gore, especially for a Brian Yuzna (The Dentist, Society, Bride of Re-Animator, Beyond Re-Animator, Necronomicon: Book of the Dead, Faust, Return of the Living Dead III, From Beyond) movie. Back to direct part 2, Yuzna has returned with a bigger budget, and I’m happy with how he spent the money… somewhat.
Yikes! Drilling into bloody teeth with white chunky tooth dust showering over bloody gums get me every time. At one point, Feinstone slowly tears open his own stitches and digs his finger inside the gash to remove a shiv from the wound in his calf. Very effective for such a simple visual. The gore (what we get) is definitely a graphic upgrade from part 1—it’s just not more frequent. In a way it’s more of the same. But the tooth extractions are meaner, the drilling is longer and more macabre. Few patients (e.g., Clint Howard; Pigster, Ticks, Evilspeak, Ice Cream Man, Leprechaun 2) get away unscathed. The budget is better, but not great. There are still some cheaper, hokier effects to be found. But overall, this sequel was most welcome for me.
The downside is that all the good scenes are in the very beginning (mostly), and very end. Whereas the long middle plays out more like made-for-TV thriller/drama about a temperamental escaped mental patient with an unhealthy crush (Jillian McWhirter; Strangeland) and a mute, tongueless ex-wife (Linda Hoffman; The Dentist) tracking him down. What’s more is that the tone of part 1 was a bit more fun and feisty and playfully cat-and-mouse-ish, doing a better job expressing Feinstone’s mania. Part 2 doesn’t capture that same magic. So all told, this sequel is better in some ways but not in others. Still an enjoyable ride while well-complementing part 1.
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The Movies, Films and Flix Podcast – Episode 425: Executive Decision, Kurt Russell and Straws
You can download or stream the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker (or wherever you listen to podcasts…..we’re almost everywhere).
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Mark and John Leavengood (@MFFHorrorCorner on Twitter) discuss the 1996 action film Executive Decision. Directed by Stuart Baird, and starring Kurt Russell, Halle Berry, John Leguizamo, Steven Seagal, and a straw, the movie focuses on what happens when terrorists are forced to deal with Kurt Russell (Russell wins). In this episode, they talk about lucky straws, landing planes, and Oliver Platt. Enjoy!
If you are a fan of the podcast, make sure to send in some random listener questions (we love random questions). We thank you for listening, and hope you enjoy the episode!
You can download the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker.
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MY CALL: An interesting premise with a well-told story. But where is the horror in this horror movie? There’s basically none. MORE MOVIES LIKE The Sonata: Another recent film finding horror in stringed instruments would be The Perfection (2018).
After the death of her long-estranged and transformatively famous music composer father (Rutger Hauer; Bleeders, The Hitcher), concert violinist Rose (Freya Tingley; Hemlock Grove) inherits all that was his, from his music to his sprawling 11th century French estate. With his passing comes the discovery of his most precious, and yet unfinished work: a sonata. But it is cryptically mystified with symbols.
In the spirit of The Ninth Gate (1999), these symbols are meant to open doors between worlds and much labor is required to decipher them. Rose’s agent Charles (Simon Abkarian; Casino Royale) works with her to crack the code and unveil the meaning of these symbols. However, it seems that how her father came to use these symbols is as disturbing as their meaning.
The journey had me ever curious, but never satisfied. There are basically no scares or gore or… this is more like “telling” me a horror story “on-screen” than actually showing me one. Too bad. It’s acted well, shot well, overall made very well.
This is the kind of horror that begins interesting, but ultimately offers way too little, way too late. The premise was intriguing, as were many of the plot points along the way, but it just never delivered at any point during this sluggish movie. Moreover, the “big ending” felt completely unearned. Too bad. I was hopeful. However, as far as the filmmaking is concerned, director and co-writer Andrew Desmond (Galaxy of Horrors segment “Entity”) did well for his first feature film. He just needed more horror in his horror movie.
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MY CALL: If you love bizarre and violent 80s horror oddities, or enjoyed Basket Case (1982) or any other Henenlotter film, then you should enjoy this, too. MORE MOVIES LIKE Basket Case: If you want more communal-living monstrosities, try Nightbreed (1990) or Digging Up the Marrow (2014). I’d also recommend other films by director Frank Henenlotter (Basket Case, Frankenhooker, Brain Damage), as his films share a similar zany tone.
This sequel picks up right where we left off in 1982, when after somehow surviving their fall from their hotel room window to the pavement, Duane (Kevin Van Hentenryck; Basket Case, Brain Damage) and Belial awaken in the hospital under police watch. Upon their escape, they are aided by Granny Ruth (Annie Ross; Witchery, Basket Case 3) and her granddaughter Susan (Heather Rattray), who have dedicated their lives to helping monstrously disfigured people who all live together under one roof. These mutants are of comically weird appearance, every bit as out there as Belial. Among the denizens of Granny Ruth’s commune, Belial finds Eve, a strikingly similar female counterpart to himself.
Now with a slightly better budget, Belial has more defined characteristics from his teeth down to his scrotum-like “lower” body. I never fully understood how Belial can perch on a wall as if he had a giant suction cup under him, but who am I to complain when it helps him grab some poor unsuspecting victim by the throat with his mangled claws? Likewise, Belial “leaps” and “flies” at victims at times. All in good fun.
Like part 1, the writing is a bad kind of wonky and occasionally pretty hokey. But that doesn’t mean it’s not enjoyable. Part 1 was clearly a bit slapstick of a horror comedy, and now Part 2 wanders into yet sillier territory—I’d go so far as to call it cartoonish. With all its quirky characters, Basket Case 2 is a lot like Nightbreed (1990) meets Dumb and Dumber (1994). When a reporter threatens to expose their house of friendly freaks, they rally together to defend their way of life (i.e., and kill those who threaten it).
The strength of this sequel is not in any increase in gore or violence, really it’s about the same. However, the amount of latex monster work is tremendous and even extends into a victim’s gore. Likewise to all the latex monsters, this movie also thrives in its cartoonish lunacy. Oh, and like part 1, you can expect another monster sex scene. It’s awkward, weird, uncomfortable, maybe a little funny, and even a little endearing. So naturally I’m thrilled it happened! There’s even something of a not-quite birth scene/monster baby scene. So there’s a lot to please monster movie fans here.
The very final scene is actually pretty wild, fully capturing 80s gory mania in about 15 insane seconds. So I’d so writer and director Frank Henenlotter (Basket Case, Frankenhooker, Brain Damage) has pleased his fans yet again.
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MY CALL: I know some people like these movies—I’m definitely not one of them. Probably just as disappointing as Mirror Mirror (1990), I found this movie very weak in every possible way. From story to death scenes, there is little to offer and not a single pleasing scene. For the record, I only watched this because Mark Ruffalo is in it. Let’s just say Mark owes me one. MORE MOVIES LIKE Mirror Mirror 2: For more evil mirror movies try Mirrors (2008), Mirrors 2 (2010), Oculus (2014), Into the Mirror (2003) or the original Mirror Mirror (1990). But I’d skip Mirror (2014).
Seventeen years after an incident between an evil mirror and a hysterical pregnant woman, we find teenager Marlee (Tracy Wells; After Midnight) at an orphanage. For whatever nonsense reason, a hardcore metal band is setting up at the orphanage for some sort of charity show. Unfortunately, they’re all douchebags that offer little more than bullying and harassment to Marlee and her little brother, who are somehow the only orphans present for their charity concert. But when Marlee “wishes” someone would teach them a lesson in the presence of the cursed mirror, we learn what this mirror is all about. Similar to Wishmaster (1997), the mirror is inhabited by a demon that grants wishes and feeds on… something. The movie doesn’t do the best job explaining how the wishes and demonic possession work. After some crackling magical electricity burns the band members to cinders (with no appreciable gore of special effects to enjoy really), Marlee’s brother “makes friends” with the demon as if it were an imaginary friend.
So all that happened in the first 12 minutes. A lot of very random things, and none of them satisfying or interesting at all. To continue the trend of inexplicability, Marlee (who is in an orphan?) also has a wicked, suspiciously older, and rather stylish stepsister Rosyln (Sally Kellerman; Doppelganger). Roslyn has commissioned the sleazy, slimy Doctor Lasky (Roddy McDowall; Fright Night I-II, Shakma) in some sort of plan to steal Marlee’s inheritance. So Marlee is a rich orphan living in an orphanage, but also has a 50-some year-old stepsister who is staying at the orphanage as well for some reason. Sure, makes total sense.
Blinded from the evil mirror events of 17 years ago, Sister Aja (Veronica Cartwright; Alien, The Witches of Eastwick, Invasion of the Body Snatchers) is approached by the mysterious Christian (Mark Ruffalo; The Dentist, Mirror Mirror 3), who Aja does not trust. Christian is a major character who injects as much exposition as he does confusion into the story.
The budget must have been destitute. There is a buzzsaw death, an aging scene and an animated toys scene. All of them were executed as cheaply and joylessly as possible, as if performed by a kid scribbling mostly wrong answers on his homework right outside of his classroom door. Just say your dog ate it and stay home. Just joyless.
This movie is a boring, uneventful, generally deathless slog. It feels a lot like a needlessly long and bad episode of that Twilight Zone-esque Friday the 13th series (1987-1990). Marlee’s brother spends more time talking to the demon in the mirror (and nothing happens), Marlee spends more time fixated on the mirror (and nothing happens), Marlee spends more time with the mysterious Christian (and nothing happens)… Christian keeps threatening people and disappearing as if to confuse us as to whether he is a real person or a ghost…. and then there’s all the dancing.
This movie has several scenes of Marlee dancing, and some of them are not short. This dancing is not impressive at all, nor is the presentation at all sexualized. So why bore us with all these dancing scenes? This movie is just terrible. Don’t get me started on the raven that flies out of the mirror then just innocuously appears here and there, like the dancing, for no apparent reason at all. I am now annoyed this sequel is called “Raven Dance.”
Perhaps this could have been fun and laughable if watched in the company of a friend. But as a solo watch, this was like serving penance for my sins.
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MY CALL: A feisty Full Moon sort of horror that keeps a fun cheeky tone, but doesn’t deliver the gore for which I had hoped. Still worth a visit on a weekend afternoon. MORE MOVIES LIKE The Dentist: For more feisty “medical horror” movies, consider Re-Animator (1985), Doctor Giggles (1992) or Fresh (2022).
Wealthy and successful but far from happy, Doctor Feinstone (Corbin Bernsen; Temptress, Tales from the Hood) loses his grip on his sanity when he witnesses his wife (Linda Hoffman; The Dentist 2) cheating on him with the pool guy. Rattled and manic over this, he begins to see delusionally enhanced flaws in people’s teeth, much to his patient’s suffering.
Corbin Bernsen plays delightfully into the mania of the character. His tantrums remind me of a hokier version of Terry O’Quinn from The Stepfather (1987), and his visual figments of slimy rotten teeth are giggle-worthy as I shake my head at the nonsense on screen. And from what I can tell, the entire tooth-mutilating rampage to come was induced by a medication overdose.
The movie takes a while to build up to the real horror. Early delusions threaten something horrible will happen without the gruesome follow-through. But the real blood and gore must wait until he gets his wife in the examination chair. Following Feinstone’s bloody trail is Detective Gibbs (Ken Foree; Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III, Dawn of the Dead, Death Spa, From Beyond). Considering his strong horror resumé, Ken Foree felt woefully underutilized, but I still enjoyed seeing him on screen. And watch out for a young Mark Ruffalo (Mirror Mirror 2-3) as well!
Unfortunately, this was not nearly as gory as I had remembered. Sure, there are some entertaining visuals. But they are shorter-lived and less extreme than my 90s teen memory served (and, to be clear, it is a rarity that this happens to me). The tooth extractions aren’t nearly as mean or grueling or graphic, the slashing stabs are less obviously apparent and barely on screen, and the “jaw widener” scene was not as jaw-dropping. Although, that device probably offered the best gag of the movie, and they got a lot of mileage out of it.
For me the most horrifying part was the syringe needle penetrating a patient’s gum. Yikes. Oh dear Lord and the drill scene with the “tooth dust” accumulating as the patient yelped while Feinstone wore her tooth down to a craggy hollow chamber! ACK! It’s the more real-ish stuff that freaked me out in this movie.
Despite all my criticism, this movie has a very fun vibe to it—the kind of feistiness you’d find in Puppet Master (1989) or Re-Animator (1985). I just expected so much more gory, slimy, macabre grossness from director Brian Yuzna (Society, Bride of Re-Animator, Beyond Re-Animator, Necronomicon: Book of the Dead, Faust, Return of the Living Dead III, From Beyond) and co-writer Stuart Gordon (Dolls, The Pit and the Pendulum, Dagon, King of the Ants, Re-Animator). I’m hoping The Dentist 2 (1998) offers a bit more in the gore department.
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MY CALL: This film is not your fun popcorn Friday night thriller, though a thriller it is. Rather this is your higher-brow, hush and pay close attention thinker, as you’ll constantly find your curiosity tickled as you wonder what is really going on. A bit intense, graphic gore at a few brief times, and harrowingly grounded. MORE MOVIES LIKE Kill List: While completely dissimilar in subgenre and delivery, I’m inclined to suggest patient yet dire atmospheric revelations like The House of the Devil (2009), The Blackcoat’s Daughter (2015), Midsommar (2019), The Witch (2016), Hereditary (2017) and The Dark and the Wicked (2020).
Having fallen on tough financial times, Jay (Neil Maskell; The Mummy, Peaky Blinders, Doghouse) and Shel (MyAnna Buring; The Descent, The Witcher) suffer a strained marriage as their fights become more frequent over Jay’s long absence from gainful employment. Still, Jay and Shel clearly care for each other and their son very dearly. When they have their friends Gal (Michael Smiley; Freefire, Gunpowder Milkshake, The Hallow, The Nun) and Fiona (Emma Fryer; In the Dark) over for dinner, a tempting work opportunity is presented—Jay and Gal are hitmen, and the work opportunity is a series of three hits.
This film takes its time introducing us to Jay and Gal, this mysterious triple-or-nothing job, and their inner workings. As their ‘work’ is underway, there’s something strange about their first target, and something equally strange about Fiona’s behavior around Jay and Shel’s house. The greater plot is an enigma, and I’m expecting some deep cuts to be revealed. The story seems rather straightforward—a little too straightforward. We know something is afoot, we just don’t know what. As the story proceeds, Jay begins to lose it. And a hitman on the job losing it is, well, very unnerving.
We enjoy some brutal knee, hand and skull mutilation; exposed entrails; and numerous flesh wounds. The scenes are just plain mean, yet very grounded and unsensationalized at the same time. Keeping things more tempered, the atmosphere is very dry. Dry delivery, unpredictably manic behavior, and an ominous job all leave me begging to know what’s behind the proverbial door.
The plot ever thickens, but slowly, ultimately arriving to a conclusion that I find bizarre and inexplicable. Not sure I was happy with where it ended up—I was quite impressed with some aspects of it, but not others. I wanted to know more, but we all know that knowing more rarely produces a satisfying answer. And I’m sorry to say that upon “sight” of the finale, I immediately predicted the ending twist. By some freak movie-going experiences, I’ve essentially seen this exact twist more than once before (in another folk horror film for at least one such incident). Although, that’s not to say this wasn’t an engaging film, or that the big twist shouldn’t be shocking and disturbing to most viewers.
And to be fair, another opinion from this very website found the movie yet more impressive than I did–REVIEW. So take my opinion with a grain of salt, or even a few shakes. Director and co-writer Ben Wheatley (Freefire, The ABCs of Death U is for Unearthed) did a great job delivering patient, grounded horror in a package that felt largely original—a very difficult conquest in the horror genre!
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Quick Thoughts – Grade – B+ – Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is an absolute blast and it’s cool knowing that Marvel let Sam Raimi be Sam Raimi. This might be the least MCU movie of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and that makes me very happy. I hope Disney/Marvel continue to allow directors to take chances and have fun.
First and foremost, writing a review for a Marvel Cinematic Universe film is tough because I hate giving major plot points away. These films rely on secrecy and I was able to avoid all the spoilers, so I want you to have a chance to watch the movie without anything being spoiled. Just know that this sequel to the popular 2016 film Dr. Strange focuses on Dr. Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Wong (Benedict Wong) protecting a multiverse traveler named America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez), from villains who want to use her multiverse traveling power for nefarious purposes. What follows is a chase through different timelines that features weddings, bloodshed (lots of death here), and stolen pizza balls that lead to a great Bruce Campbell cameo. I’m pretty sure the trailers have already given away who the villain is, but I don’t want to do that. Instead, I want to focus on the reason I was so excited to see the film. That reason is Sam Raimi, the director of Evil Dead, A Simple Plan, Spider-Man (2002), and Darkman (listen to the MFF episode we recorded about it).
The best thing about Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is that it allows Sam Raimi to be himself. Sure, he can’t go full bonkers, but that would never be expected because the MCU is carefully managed. However, this is a gnarly picture that tosses you into the action and never stops. It’s chaotic, messy, violent, bloody, cheeky, and barely has enough time to develop characters. Raimi loads it up with his famous dutch angles, roaming camera and absurd moments that make you feel like you’re back in the 1980s watching Evil Dead in a theater (except it’s PG-13 and has a giant budget). There is WAY too much CGI, but Raimi finds a way to use it in his favor as Strange, Wong, America, and Wanda Maxmioff (Elizabeth Olsen – so good) battle demons, musical notes (yep), zombies and a one-eyed monster whose eye is plucked from its body with a sound effect that sounds like a gooey pop. There are moments in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness that I never thought I’d see in an MCU film (a certain character goes full T-1000 from Terminator 2), and for that, I applaud Raimi and Kevin Feige.
It’s nice seeing Dr. Strange moving on from being Dr. Jerk Face, to become a less-jerky man who has helped save the world multiple times, but lost most of the people he loves in the process. His all-time love Christine Palmer has married someone else, and he lost the Sorcerer Supreme title because he was blipped during the rampage of Thanos. The character change makes him more human and appealing, and it’s nice not watching a sassy Cumberbatch be smarter than everyone for two hours. The biggest issue I have is that the America Chavez character is given very little to do aside from run, get caught, and run more. I’m hoping her further adventures allow her to become more of a character and less of a sprinter.
The production design by Charles Wood (Dr. Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy) is excellent and he must’ve had a stressful and fun time designing loads of sets that range from futuristic to total nightmares. Also, the cinematography by John Mathieson (Gladiator, Logan) has a corporate MCU-esque shine, but still finds ways to incorporate old school Raimi techniques that blend well and don’t take you out of the experience because the dutch angles are too insane.
Final thoughts – I love Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. It’s messy, chaotic and over-loaded, but that makes me like it more. It means that the folks at Marvel are allowing things to get messy, chaotic, and over-loaded.
Movies, Films & Flix 