Yesterday I went to see Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. It took me five attempts to not bury the lede. I’m joined the AMC Stub Club. It’s free and with it I get discounted tickets on Tuesdays. They also give discounts to seniors and for early shows. These can all be combined so if I go to the movies, it’s an early show on a Tuesday at an AMC theater. Someone posted on Facebook that you don’t have to see every superhero movie. That’s true. I just have to see every Marvel superhero movie. It’s a religious obligation, don’t judge. I have avoided spoilers, but I’ve picked up that the reviews were not good. I didn’t let that stop me. Two things worked it the film’s favor; Mark liked it and said the audience did too and Spiderman No Way Home got excellent reviews and I thought it was clearly the worst of the current trilogy. For years Marvel was a rare area where my taste and the taste of the masses agreed. Our tastes seem to be diverging now.
I can’t walk to the Magic Johnson Theater in Harlem, but it only takes me a half an hour to get there by subway, a straight shot on the D train. My plan was to get there exactly at 2:00, showtime. I timed things perfectly, I arrived at the subway station three minutes before the train was due. In those three minutes I can walk the length of the train to the front which is where I want to exit from. The departure board at the station concurred with the app, three minutes until the train left. I walked down the steps to the train pulling out. When I got to the platform departure board it said, “Train departing in 0 minutes.” That means it’s still in the station with less than a minute until departure. That was wrong. The motorman left early. After a minute, the board said “Next train in 15 minutes! Arggleboggle! I spent the time writing the MTA and complaining that they made me miss the start of the movie. When I walked into the auditorium, they were finishing the pre-movie announcements. The film didn’t start until 2:25. I knew it didn’t start at the announced time, but 25 minutes late is ridiculous. Still this time I benefited.
I was not the only one in the theater. There weren’t many people but there were some, so I stayed masked. This is my compromise with COVID-19. I live my life but stay masked and get regularly tested. I will eat indoors when the risk level is low but not high as it is now.
So, the movie, what’s my judgment? It was great! It had the bizarre look and field Dr. Strange should have. Many of the monsters look like the came off the pages of H.P. Lovecraft. One of Lovecraft’s few full-length novels is At the Mountains of Madness; I suspect that is not a coincidence. I have been calling the film Dr. Strange at the Mountains of Madness since it was announced. It takes an effort by me to remember the correct title. Though Dr. Strange is in the title he shares the focus with Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch. I love Wanda’s story arc through the MCU films and her TV series Wandavision. I find it hard to accept that Elizabeth Olsen, the sister of the Olsen twins is a good actress, but there’s no denying that she is. The writers have given her a great story. I would like for her to be the title character of a feature film. DSITMOM introduces a new hero, America Chavez. She doesn’t have a superhero name yet. She’s doesn’t even know her own powers yet, and that’s part of the fun. She comes across as a teen that’s gone through bizarre things that made her grow up fast while remaining a teen. I like the way the MCU handles representation, they are not self-congratulatory like the CW. America played by Xóchitl Gomez is clearly Hispanic, and she has two moms, and those things are just accepted as people do about their own lives. I just looked up how to pronounce the actress’s name, Xóchitl is pronounced SOH-chee. That was not one of my guesses. In this bizarre film it’s great that her performance comes across as naturalistic. The same can’t be said for Benedict Cumberbatch’s Stephen Strange but that’s because the character is not supposed to be normal; as his name says, he’s Strange. Did Benedict Cumberbatch get the role because he has a strange name? I’d like to think so.
Did I make you want to see the film without giving spoilers? That was my goal. Are you saying, “Well Gordon is strange” so of course he likes the movie?” If you doubt that I’m strange this is my Facebook Cover Pic. That’s for baseball player Dee Strange-Gordon. See, there are real people named Strange and even Gordon.
After I go to the Magic Johnson theater in Harlem, I walk to the Trader Joe’s on the Upper West Side. Ever since I stopped using MTA monthlies, I think about these things to save money. It also gives me my daily exercise. I don’t just go to TJ’s for their specialties, there are some things that are much cheaper there. The eggs are 50¢ cheaper than I can get them in the Bronx. I treated myself to their thick-sliced brioche which I used to make French Toast this morning. That’s the best thing after Challah and is cheaper.
I was up late listening to the Mets lose an exciting and very strange game 12-11 to the Giants. That was a lot stranger than anything in the movie. Have I mentioned that I love baseball? I made poutine for dinner. That’s a great streak I’m on, A movie, Trader Joe’s, poutine, the Mets, and French toast.
I find I cannot carry out my original plan of sticking to the horrors of the Multiverse and not mentioning the horror that happened in Uvalde. I avoided the topic not because I don’t care and not because I think it’s normal, but because I don’t have anything of value to add. I have always hated when the families of victims are interviewed, it’s an invasion of privacy with no social value. We know they feel horrible and don’t need to witness their suffering. Similarly, you don’t need to hear how I feel or even my thoughts. Read a newspaper, you’ll find everything I have to say. You know my politics and support of stronger gun regulations and the events of yesterday didn’t change them. It’s important to bring these things up at times when everyone isn’t already thinking about them. What I have to say is that I have nothing of value to add.
Now that’s out of the way go to the movies. Denying yourself pleasure does not help the dead. It doesn’t help those in danger. It just makes you unhappier. Happiness is a virtue.
Wise Madness 