I believe that one of the secret engines that allows cinema to work, and have the marvelous power over us that it does, is the fact that for thousands of years we have spent eight hours every night in a 'cinematic' dream-state, and so are familiar with this version of reality.
― Walter Murch

Besides her school, my daugther @richkid is keen on hip hop dance, she also studies arts, acting techniques and English language. Therefore, on weekends I usually have at least 5 hours of spare time for food purchases, having time with the friends in some cozy café, and watching movie novelties in cinema.

Thus, in 2016 in theatres I watched (I know, I've missed a lot of great movies yet):

The Revenant (20th Century Fox, imdb: 8.1)
The Finest Hours (Walt Disney Pictures, imdb: 6.8)
Zootopia (Disney, imdb: 8.1)
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (Warner Bros., imdb: 6.8)
The Secret Life of Pets (Universal Studios / Illumination Entertainment, imdb: 6.7)
Gods of Egypt (Summit Entertainment, imdb: 5.5)
London Has Fallen (Focus Features / Gramercy Pictures, imdb: 5.9)
Now You See Me 2 (Summit Entertainment, imdb: 6.5)
Warcraft (Universal Studios / Legendary Entertainment, imdb: 7.1)
Ben-Hur (Paramount Pictures / Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, imdb: 5.7)
The Light Between Oceans (Touchstone Pictures / DreamWorks, imdb: 7.3)
Sully (Warner Bros. / Village Roadshow Pictures, imdb: 7.9)
Inferno (Columbia Pictures, imdb: 6.5)
Doctor Strange (Marvel Studios, imdb: 8.1)

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While I can recommend all of the movies above for watching (except Warcraft―for me, a hardcore warcraft player long time ago, it was perhaps the biggest disappointment of the year), the last one (Doctor Strange) is really outstanding. I was always sceptical about Marvel Studios. C'mon! Comics dedicated studios, some super-spider-ant-x-richman wins and everybody is happy! So, I had some hard time choosing between another movie with Tom Cruise (Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, I love this guy, but it's always just another movie about Tom Cruise), so Doctor Strange won with a little help of my wife.

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Doctor Strange Movie Review

Imagine a mixture of The Matrix, Harry Potter and Game of Thrones (some say that it’s yet a mix of The Matrix and Inception, so imagine this also.)

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Warning: The following text might contain spoilers!

The movie begins with a thrilling and surrealistic fight scene setting the mood from the first minutes, so you better be on time for the very beginning. While the environment is casual (it was implied later that those were New York streets), the costumes are looking pretty much medieval. After the first scene ends abruptly the same way it started, we are proceeding to the main character.

Meet Doctor Stephen Vincent Strange (some strange name for a strange doctor), a talented and highly skilled neurosurgeon by Benedict Cumberbatch, who wants fame more than anything else. The introduction scene of him in action basically shows the audience that he can ‘resurrect’ his patients, giving a hint here about further disclosing the plot.

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The plot of Doctor Strange develops fast. Doc carelessly drives his car while scheduling his further surgeries and choosing the most interesting cases over the phone with his assistant. Given the speed he drives his luxurious auto it wasn’t much of surprise he totally crashes his car (here I wondered how he could be yet alive up to that moment with such a driving style). Yet, what was the worst for the poor doctor is that he damages both his hands, thus ending all his surgeon career.

(Here I wanted to add that Marvel could spend more time focusing on life of Stephen Strange before the catastrophic crash. Add some sex scenes or something… Nothing like that here (at all), hence the rating PG-13, so it’s pretty much safe to watch this movie even with the kids from ten.)

So, needless to say Strange had to do something to recover, desperately looking for any opportunities. When finally he becomes totally desperate, he finds out that one of his hopeless patients whom he refused to perform a surgery, revived all his normal physical abilities during his mysterious journey to Kathmandu, Nepal.

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Now, the next is the stage when the movie becomes an alloy of The Matrix and Harry Potter (well, perhaps Inception sometimes too). It all becomes complicated when Doctor Strange has to train to regain physical power through improving his mental power (sounds weird and lots of magic and mystery involved).

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Since, I believe it’s absolutely unnecessary for me to describe the plot further, so I will just add that since it’s an American movie by American comics it has a happy end and a hint that the story might continue. Some might also say it’s just another kiddie movie. Well, let it be, then I guess teenagers gonna love this movie too.

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Conclusion: A magnificient and dynamic movie with a great cast, beautiful scenery, nontrivial action and stunningly mind-blowing special effects. Almost 2 hours of pure enjoyment. Very good job, Marvel Studios!

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More videos and images:

Video gallery of IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1211837/videogallery
Photo gallery of IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1211837/mediaindex

More links:

Marvel Studios site: http://marvel.com/
Doctor Strange site: http://marvel.com/doctorstrangepremiere
Marvel Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/MARVEL
Release dates worldwide: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1211837/releaseinfo
Over 100 more reviews: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1211837/reviews?filter=best
Doctor Strange Easter eggs: http://www.digitalspy.com/movies/doctor-strange/feature/a812145/doctor-strange-easter-eggs/
Doctor Strange trivia: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1211837/trivia

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You might also like my previous review:

The Secret Life of Pets - information, trailer and review

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Cheers and have a great time in cinema!
Would love to read your opinions about the movies you watched this year.
Sincerely yours, @richman