Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

And this week's Friday night movie has been... Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness!

Original image located here. Accessed 22nd July 2022

I have been following a lot of criticisms about the current phase (no.4) of the MCU. Chief among them is that the movies of this phase seem to lack a sense of direction and, after such a pay-off (Endgame) from years of build-up, there is nowhere left to go.
Personally I did enjoy the Eternals and Spiderman: No Way Home but even I will admit that the criticisms of being directionless are hard to ignore. After all, when you climb the mountain and find nowhere left to go, what do you do?

That being said, I did find this latest instalment to the MCU something of mixed bag. On one hand, there is so much continuity to cater for that the movie seems to groaning under it's own weight. Also, there is a lot going on here that the pacing seems to go at light speed and is therefore difficult to pick up. In addition, this isn't quite the horror movie I was expecting.
But that's for the first half: Maybe it's just me but once the second half kicks in, this movie remembers it's a Doctor Strange movie and plays into it's strengths: The creative & striking visuals and Benedict Cumberpatch. It's great to see Benedict playing different iterations of this character and some truly impressive visuals (the staircase immediately comes to mind). And I also must give credit to director Sam Raimi who is able to make his own stamp - especially when doing so isn't an easy task in the MCU.
So yeah, not a bad effort but the problem of 'where do we go from here' still persists....

The Eternals

And this week's Friday night movie has been... The Eternals!

Original image located here. Accessed 29th April 2022

Here we are: The MCU's first 'flop'. Sure it may have made a lot of money (hey, it's the MCU of course it's going to make money) but it has polarized both critics and audiences alike. Given MCU's track record it would be interested to see if they can bounce back from th...what a minute, the new Spiderman movie was a box office hit? Oh well never mind then.
Personally, I was a bit cautious about this one. The trailers seemed to indicate something that breaks the tried and tested formula and, to me, suggest a movie akin to 2001: A Space Odyssey. In which sense, I do give credit to MCU for taking their guaranteed success and attempting to stretch out & try something different. So how is it?

People have said this was long and tedious. I won't deny that. People say there is a lot going on here. I won't deny that either. People say that a lot of blame for this movie's shortcomings rests on either Jack Kirby and Chloe Zhao. That seems awfully harsh to me (will Zhao's; career bounce back? Now there's a thought...).
But I still find a lot to admire here. I like the diversity and how it is handled. I like the action sequences. I like the visuals. I like seeing Richard Madden and Kit Harrington back on screen together. I like the handling of time in the narrative. And I like the use of Pink Floyd in the opening titles.
Actually the mention of Pink Floyd is an apt one. For when I was listening to them in my university years, i was drawn to idea of listening to Pink Floyd with undivided attention and absorbing what was being presented to me. Which, in a way, is very much like this movie. Was that what Zhao was going for? One can only wonder...
So in the end is this movie the failure I was led to believe it was? I don't think so. But ultimately, i would rather a noble failure than a weak success any day.