Tag Archives: Tilda Swinton

Doctor Strange (2016)

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It’s important to understand that what Marvel Studios is doing right now is unprecedented. They just released Doctor Strange, their fourteenth film in a connected series with concrete plans for eight more, a bunker full of characters at their disposal, and money coming in. Movie franchises aren’t new — the first James Bond came out in 1963 — but this is something else: A strictly interconnected universe, with complex character arcs over multiple films, and unparalleled visual set pieces. And because this is unprecedented, Marvel Studios has yet to realize that the frequency and quality of their films have spoiled the audience. It’s how a film like Doctor Strange, one that introduces a character efficiently, hits all the necessary beats with plenty of humorous interjections, and pairs the story to astonishing, unprecedented visual sequences, can only be pretty good.

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Strange Culture (2007)

So far, the 21st century seems to be the century of apathy. We ignore so efficiently that it takes something really dramatic for people to pay attention. A news story is no longer nearly enough, even for a really spectacular fuck-up, and for this reason I don’t blame you if you’ve never heard the story of Steve Kurtz. Kurtz, an art teacher from Buffalo, finds himself the target of an investigation into domestic terrorism when EMT personnel happen to see the harmless and legally acquired biological paraphernalia being used for an installation discussing the inherent problems with genetically modified organisms and our food. Eventually, federal agents come along to confiscate all his things, trash his home and, in an impressive display of callousness, lock his cat in the attic without food or water for three days. Oh, and the whole thing starts when he wakes one morning to find that his wife has died in her sleep. So, there’s the tale of Steve Kurtz.

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