The Incredibles 2
Dir. Brad Bird
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In 2004, when The Incredibles was released, we were just at the beginning of the superhero movie tidal wave - with only Spider-Man 2 also hitting it big that year. We're now in a completely different cinema landscape, one where superhero movies seemingly come out every week (Marvel alone has FIVE properties being adapted in 2018), which means that Incredibles 2 has a much more difficult job to set itself out from the rest of the pack. The way in which Brad Bird accomplished this was by making his heroes not gods fighting for the fate of the universe - but instead a typical nuclear family concerned about paying bills, getting homework done, and trying to keep the baby in its crib. The juxtaposition of the mundane and the fantastic is what makes The Incredibles 2 so hilarious and relatable. It's by far the best superhero movie this year!
The story picks up right where we left off 14 years ago, with Bob (Craig T. Nelson), Helen (Holly Hunter), Violet (Sarah Vowell), Dash (Huck Milner), and baby Jack-Jack Parr having defeated Syndrome and putting the finishing touches on saving their hometown of Municiberg from another threat. Despite this, "supers" are still outlawed (due to all the property damage), and the Parrs only have two weeks to find a new home and new jobs before they lose their funds. However, the return to the "glory days" of superheroes catches the eye of Winston (Bob Odenkirk) and Evelyn Deaver (Catherine Keener), brother and sister owners of a telecommunications company that wants to make supers great again by using Helen - "Elastigirl" - as its figurehead. This means that while mom is out doing superhero stuff, Bob - "Mr. Incredible" - is stuck at home with the kids, with their own host of problems.
The overall story goes to predictable places (especially in regards to the identity of the mind-controlling villain, Screenslaver), but it's the family drama at the center of it that makes Incredibles 2 so great. Each character's power represents some aspect of their personality: Helen can stretch because the duties of a mother requires one to be ever-flexible, Bob is super-strong as is expected of a dad, Violet turns invisible since she is a nervous, infatuated teenager, Dash has super-speed to represent the undying energy of a young boy, and Jack-Jack has dozens of powers because babies are so unpredictable! Each member of the family has their own, "real world" issues they are dealing with, and seeing "Mr. Incredible" reduced to an unshaven, red-eyed mess is relatable on a level few other superhero movies even attempt.
Pixar always spoils us in this regard, but the animation here is truly spectacular. From beginning to end, this is a visual feast. The way in which the action scenes play out is constantly exciting and fluid, perfectly using and combining the powers of each character in inventive ways. There is a motorbike sequence in which Elastigirl, while on a mission to save a runaway monorail, discovers her bike splits in half, causing some ingeniously gymnastic stretching moves. There's an almost psychedelic sequence inside the Screenslaver's strobe-lit lair, as well as a series of other heroes brought on by the Deavers whose powers are crazy-cool, like a girl named Voyd who essentially shoots portals (like the video game), and an older hero named Reflux, who belches out hot lava. One of my favorite scenes in the film is an almost vaudevillian slapstick bit involving a giggling Jack-Jack using his powers to chase a raccoon around the yard - it's honestly one of my favorite "action" sequences this year!
Incredibles 2 is a perfect sequel. Everything you loved about the first is back, and with 14-years' worth of advances in animation the action sequences are even more thrilling to watch. But beyond the typical "whiz-bang" eye candy, what The Incredibles really gets right is that it embraces the real superheroes: parents. For the Parr family, fighting bad guys is easy - it's staying together as a team that's the tough part. But, as evidenced by the movie, family is something worth fighting for!
Final Verdict:
SEE IT!
Hotel Artemis
Dir. Drew Pearce
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An original sci-fi thriller with a star-studded cast - just the breath of fresh air we needed in this packed summer season of remakes and sequels, right? Although I was hoping Hotel Artemis would be another "Upgrade" in terms of fantastic low-budget, high concept science fiction, instead it's a messy, pointless bore, failing at generating any meaningful level of suspense or entertainment.
Set in 2028, Hotel Artemis focuses on the goings on of the 13th floor of a Los Angeles hospital-for-criminals during some massive riots. It's operated by a no-nonsense nurse (Jodie Foster), whose hands are full with such patients as a misogynistic arms dealer (Charlie Day), a French assassin (Sofia Boutella), a couple of bank-robbing brothers (Sterling K. Brown & Brian Tyree Henry) and an injured cop (Jenny Slate). Once word gets out that the criminal kingpin who owns the hotel, The Wolf King (Jeff Goldblum), is en route, everybody gets nervous for different reasons - such as the brothers who inadvertently stole his valuable pen during their last bank heist.
Although there are some kind of interesting visual flourishes here and there - like having Foster carry a "portable vinyl" player around with her, and the ability to 3D-print guns - the story here simply lacks purpose. The film gives us no reason to care about anything that's going on. The acting is surprisingly terrible as well! I was excited to potentially see the first good Jodie Foster role in a while, but her phony New York(?) accent is cringe-worthy. But the cringe-worthiest character has to be Charlie Day's, whose xenophobic and misogynist rants are hard to endure, like this movie in general. Bad dialogue, bad characters, bad MOVIE.
Final Verdict:
SKIP IT
Won't You Be My Neighbor?
Dir. Morgan Neville
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Celebrities like Mister Rogers don't really exist anymore, and I'm honestly not sure if they can. Fred Rogers' long-running PBS show Mister Rogers' Neighborhood had low production values, a quiet older man as its lead, and an understated warmth, lacking the frenetic pacing, slapstick humor, and violence of other kids' programming then and now. He believed in the sadly outdated idea that TV could be used as a positive tool to foster a community. From 1968 to 2001, the sweater-wearing Presbyterian minister and children's advocate, after a near accidental foray into television, became the unlikeliest of role models, and this emotional documentary from Morgan Neville (20 Feet from Stardom), tells us not just about his story, but also his deep-rooted beliefs and philosophies.
Despite his reputation as a sweet, "grandfatherly" type guy, it's fascinating to see how he never "talked down" to children by sugarcoating things; we see him tackle subjects like assassination after the death of Robert Kennedy (within the first week of his show!), racism, self-hatred/worth, all the way up to 9/11. This doc will definitely dispel any of the serial killer/pedophile rumors you may have heard about the guy - he was just a genuine human being that "preached" in a way that spoke to everyone. Supposedly Fred Rogers was the same way off-screen the way he was on, and for that, this documentary could be a wake-up call for our troubled, divided times.
Final Verdict:
SEE IT!
Nancy
Dir. Christina Choe
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From first-time feature director Christina Choe, Nancy is a drama about a woman, Nancy (Andrea Riseborough), who becomes convinced that she was kidnapped as a child. She's grown distant with her "mother" (Ann Dowd), and craving some kind of connection in her life, she goes on to the Internet, creating elaborate identities as an escape. However, one day she comes across a couple (Steve Buscemi & J. Smith-Cameron) whose daughter went missing 30 years prior. As fact and fiction starts to blur in her mind, she convices herself that she is this couple's missing daughter, and the film is mostly their strange lukewarm relationship as they spend a weekend together, leading up to the DNA test results.
Although this film was not at all the "thriller" I was expecting (much unlike the similarly-structured documentary The Imposter), the three leads here do a great job with their complicated, understated performances, each capturing a sense of intangible loneliness with little more than their facial expressions. While I wish there was a bit more involved in the actual mystery of "Nancy," the film is a testament to the acting talent of its cast - each helping to deliver a mature, emotional, tense atmosphere of longing.
Final Verdict:
SEE IT!
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