Next Up On Critical Me: Doctor Strange, Scarlet, and Tarzan

Doctor Strange:

Doctor Strange is about a guy named Stephen Strange, a brilliant neurosurgeon.  But after an accident, he is left with a shaky-hand problem (for lack of a more intellectual scientific name for it).
He is unable to be a surgeon any more, and is left feeling a lack of purpose.  He hears about the magical people of what-ever-they-are-called, and joins them in order to get his hands healed.  As he is being trained in the ways of the magical-what-ever-they-are-called, he is approached with much larger problems then his hands, and ends up fighting an invisible battle apart from the real world.
I very much enjoyed Doctor Strange, and was worth watching in theaters.  The acting was good.  I mean, Benedict Cumberbatch.  Everyone else was as good as american actors can get.  But Benedict Cumberbatch. 💗
Character development was fairly good.  Main characters were lovable.
Dialogue was so-so.  Some cheesy Marvel liners, which is typical.
I loved the story, and the cleverness of it that branched off from the Marvel norm.   More focused on theme and emotion then on breaking-down-building scenes, which I thought was lovely.
Villain was dumb.  Unmemorable.  With any normal villain qualities and goals.  Probably the worst part of the movie.
I rarely enjoy romance.  But I thought the slight romance in Doctor Strange was sweet and well done.
Although Doctor Strange and the creators of Marvel are clearly not Christian, I found it lovely that they added some Christian elements.  Or perhaps that was just me.  I like to find Christian elements in things that weren't intended to be.  See if you catch what I'm talking about if you choose to watch the movie.
On a scale from 1 to 10, I would give Doctor Strange a 8 1/2.  
(PG13 WARNING!  For some cussing, head loping, violence and surgery scenes.  Maybe a couple inappropriate references.  Certainly much less gruesome then many other Marvel movies.)

Scarlet (the Lunar Chronicles)

Scarlet is based on the Little Red Ridding Hood story.  Scarlet's Grandmother is suddenly missing, and Scarlet is determined to find her.  She meets with a street fighter, Woolf, who assists her in the finding of her Grandmother.  On their journey, Scarlet learns just exactly who Woolf really is, and her Grandmother.  This book also continues on the story from the previous book, Cinder.  Cinder, after being imprisoned, runs into Thorn, a fellow prisoner.  They help each other escape, and begin life as refugees.

I enjoyed Scarlet.  Full of action, suspense, and kept me turning the pages.  The writing was very well done, I'd give a special complement on the descriptions.

I loved Cinder, Thorn, and Iko, and  the characters from the past book are much more lovable in Scarlet.  I didn't like the main character of this particular book, but was developed well enough. 

Story and plot well developed.  Although based on fairy tales, has it's own story.  Villain's plot is pretty cliche', but the character herself is becoming more and more likable in the hateful sort of villain-y way.

Some good liners, but I wasn't a huge fan of the dialogue.  Definitely had it's good moments though, I just wish it was continued through the whole book.

Romance was slightly disturbing.

But over all, I really enjoyed this book, being an action and emotion junkie. I also enjoyed it better then Cinder, although I'm liking Cinder's story more through Scarlet's book.  I'm excited to read the next book.

On a scale from 1 to 10, I would give Scarlet a 6.

(WARNING!  Some inappropriate references, and some very slight cussing, and violence.)

Tarzan:

 Tarzan was about...Well...Usual Tarzan stuff.  A shirtless orphan adopted by gorillas.  This was the first version of Tarzan I've seen, so I'm not sure how much of the story was changed.  So I'll spare you the story and move on;

I liked it.  I didn't love it, but I liked it.  Again, I love action.  Had some pretty cool action scenes. 

Dialogue was actually pretty good.  Some dumb humor, but when they weren't trying to be funny, it was good.

Acting was also well done, minus the fact that most of the characters were having a really hard time keeping there american accent steady.  I imagine they were all British.  Well done.  Couldn't hold an accent though.

Characters were likable.

I'd say that Tarzan was good entertainment for one night, but I'm not sure I'd watch it again unless I had to.

On a scale from 1 to 10, I'd give Tarzan a 5.

(WARNING!...Pretty much all of the above.  You get it).

The Moon Told Me A Secret

The Moon told me a secret.

It whispered through the trees.

Just between me and the Moon, 

And the hushing of the breeze.

The stars are lockets of memories,

Holding fast to time.

Time for you to look to the sky,

For this twinkling of a rime.

Where the dark ones are,

The stars will be there too.

Breaking through the darkness,

Unlocking time for you.

In The Wings

Last night I lay awake with a terrible, twisting feeling that ripped my guts to shreds.

What if this play I'm in, Pride and Prejudice, is the last play I'll ever be in?  

I've always had this notion that, of course, I would be in other plays.  Like how we think we always have another day to live.

But what if we don't?

It hit like a bullet, straight to the most sacred parts of my soul.

Like a flash back, I starting seeing my last plays.

All of the sudden I'm back in my Shakespeare play.  We only had one week to pull off a professional performance of As You Like It.  But it felt like a whole life time.

The stage is light up in a dim blue light.  The actors on stage are trembling through their words, and the audience is still.  I'm in the shadows, watching, waiting to enter.  That black curtain and newly painted stage and clusters of props, like a little boys toy box, I've never felt so at home.  I don't want to go.  Right here, in the shadows, I feel purposeful.  Like that feeling I got when we found our house in the mountains, I've finally come home.

Once one comes back from an experience like that, life just feels like mud.  I had a repeat of that experience after I came back from a writing camp. 

But what if it was all just a fluffy feeling?  That acting is all fluff and fun, and there's no point or depth to it?  It's all pretend any way. 

It's easy to hear about a missionary who made a difference in peoples lives, but rarely will you ever here about an actor who made a difference in peoples lives.

I exist to serve God and help people.  And he's given me a passion for acting.  Now what?

My mind went back to another play.

I'm in Our Town again.

I'm the stage manager, so I'm supposed to introduce the play and set the scene.  The feeling for the play.  A dry humored, somber, real kind of feeling.

But we're all a bunch of high school/middle schoolers, and half of us have never even been in a play before.

I sit on the chair, behind the curtain.  The spot light shines through, giving it a red glow.  It looks like Christmas.  Squimp is the only other person on stage, waiting in the corner to pull back the curtains.  I listen to the voices in the audience talk, and I try to recognize some of the voices.  My legs are numb.  My hands can't stay still.  I've forgotten how to breathe.

I've been praying about this play for a long time time.  Gods given me a part, he's given me these few words to say, and I want to make the most of it.  I want them to walk out of this auditorium like I did when I first saw this play.  Changed. 

So I pray again, behind that curtain, a few seconds before the light went down and the curtains drew back.

The stage light is blinding.  The audience below are darkened and disappear as the rows go back, like smoke.

I'm not me any more, I'm the narrator and I don't know anyone in the audience and they don't know me.  I dust a few chairs off and make then look straighter, and I smile with satisfaction, looking into the audience.  All at once, they giggle.

I did it.  I've caught my audience.  

I've hooked there attention and they're interest, and they giggle although I've done nothing very interesting or funny.  

"This play is called Our Town." I said.

I say many speeches throughout the play, and more then likely they wanted me to stop talking and move on to the actual story.  I'm not even a technical character in the play.  But they look at me.  They leaned forward.  They laugh.  They nod.  And not everyone in the audience was attentive to the dull things I was saying, but for those few people who were, it was all worth it.

I've gotten people I've never even seen before come up to me with they're thumbs in their pockets like I did on stage and say, "This play is called Our Town."

And it wasn't just me.  It was our whole cast.  The audience talked about how they loved the characters, and how it effected them, and cried when Squimp started singing, or Emily enters through the crowd, or George kneels by his wife's grave.  Simple things.

I've been in many plays.

But the Shakespeare play changed my life.

And Our Town also changed my life, and gave me the opportunity to share the change with others.

So I go back to the question, is acting really worth it?  Or if this is my last play, was acting really worth it?

Yes.

Does God want me to continue acting?  That's up to him.  I have absolutely no clue.

If I die today or tomorrow, I think people would think I was a simple person.  She didn't do much.  She just sort of, existed.  But maybe they'll remember my simple things, like, "This play is called Our Town."

"Machines never come with nay extra parts.  They come with the exact amount they need. so I figured out, if the world is one big machine, I couldn't be an extra part.  I had to be here for some reason."

-Hugo