Incredibles 2 (2018)

I'm one of those people who completely snubbed The Incredibles when it came out —mainly because I was 10, I had a bigger brother and therefore I had no power over which film to see at the movies— and I kept avoiding it for the following years because it just didn't appeal me —frankly, I thought it was a kids movie. Then, about a year ago, I finally watched it, and I loved it which made me very excited for the sequel. I guess it's karma hitting me back for waiting so long to see the original that I got to see Incredibles 2 only now. That or the fact that I live in a shitty country. 

Anyways, the film follows the Parr family who once again has to hang up their suits as supers have been outlawed because of the collateral damage of their heroics. Mr. Incredible (voiced by Craig T. Nelson) and Elastigirl (voiced by Holly Hunter) are soon approached by tycoon Winston Deavor (voiced by Bob Odenkirk) who wants to restore superheros' image, and offers Elatigirl a job. She accepts and, when a new supervillain, Screenslaver, wreaks havoc with his mind control abilities, she has to face this new threat. Meanwhile, Mr. Incredible is left to take care of the kids.

As it was for the original film, the plot is pretty much your typical, simple, straightforward and therefore predictable superhero story. It does have a twist but it came as a half surprise to me as I was expecting that a major character would turn out to be Screenslaver, only I didn't guess which one. Despite this, Incredibles 2's is a story that keeps you engaged and entertaining throughout. 

The characters are just as lovable and charming as they were in the previous film. Some of them feel more like stereotypes than anything else —this time around, Violet and Dash are nothing more than your typical high/middle school kids who are either struggling with boys or grades— there's very little development, and the villain isn't that threatening, but they are fun and relatable, with Edna Mode being as cool and amazing as before, for no other reason than her being Edna Mode, and Jack-Jack the most notable. He is nothing short of adorable and funny —and this comes from someone who does not like babies— and absolutely steals the show. 

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Yes, giving more importance to Jack-Jack means baby jokes throughout the film, but they do work and they bring balance in the film as most jokes are more adult than kid oriented. I don't know how kids felt/would feel about this, but I found Incredibles 2's humour quite amusing.

At last, the animation is fantastic, as expected. It looks amazing in every single scene, whether it's an action sequence or Mr. Incredible reading bedtime stories to Jack-Jack; the colours are gorgeous and vibrant; the attention to details, especially in the backgrounds, is impressive as always when it comes to Pixar.

Wonder Woman (2017)

Genres

Action, Adventure, Fantasy

Director

Patty Jenkins

Country

USA

Cast

Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Robin Wright, Danny Huston, David Thewlis, Connie Nielsen, Elena Anaya, Lucy Davis, Said Taghmaoui, Ewen Bremmer, Eugene Brave Rock, Lisa Loven Kongsli

Storyline

When an American pilot crashes and tells of a conflict raging the outside world, Amazons princess and warrior Diana (Gal Gadot) leaves home to fight a war to end all wars.

Opinion

Wonder Woman was one of my most anticipated movies of the year yet I didn't have any expectation. Actually, that's not true, I expected it to be a disappointment because that's all they do at DC Comics, they disappoint. Then, earlier this week, something completely unexpected happened, critics liked this movie and, although I'm not one of those people who let others' opinions influence theirs, it made me expect a great film. And Patty Jenkins's movie is that, a great DC movie that is way more than a superhero, superheroine in this case, flick.

The truly outstanding aspect about Wonder Woman is arguably the writing. It simply blew me away! And it's hard to believe Zack Snyder was part of it. I mean, the story is simple yet very well-thought and developed, it does have a nice final twist and it will hold your attention from beginning to end as it flows smoothly. It is a fantastic origin story and I feel safe to say that it does all the justice in the world to a character with so much to say. And it's way more involving than Superman's origins in Man of Steel.

And along with the story goes the characters. Although most of the characters are pretty shallow and underdeveloped - especially the villain I didn't even bother hating because we just don't get enough of them -, this is a film about Diana Prince aka Wonder Woman and her character is great. The character buildup is amazing and it allows the character to truly emerge and Gal Gadot to give a brilliant performance.

The best part, however, is what the film has to say. As Ares says, there are no good or bad guys when it comes to war, everyone is at fault. But most important is the message of hope and love the film manages to convey.

Wonder Woman still has some problems. There's a part that lingers way too much on humour and most of the time the jokes aren't even that funny. The visual effects are good but I feel like they could have done something more. And at last but not least, the action - I always complain about this in DCEU films. While "No Man's Land" battle is beyond spectacular - and gave me chills -, the final battle is great and the fighting is well choreographed, the slow motion is overused and annoying. Also, at times it feels like the action goes too fast.

All of that being said, kudos to everyone involved in this for making such a great and powerful movie that makes such a bold statement against the dominance of men, both in the superhero universe and in the real world.

New in April: Going to 11?

Some interesting titles are making their streaming debuts on Netflix this month, along with a number of impressive standouts. Let's start with the high points, shall we?

STANDING TALL
The Big Lebowski (1998) - What else is there to say, but..."The Dude abides"?
Bound (1996) - A steamy neo-noir from the directors of The Matrix, back when they still knew how to put together a taut, well-constructed entertainment
Natural Born Killers (1994) - Oliver Stone's nasty, tasty slice of '90s nihilism, with Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis making Bonnie and Clyde look like Hepburn & Tracy, from a script by Quentin Tarantino
Three Kings (1999) - David O. Russell, better known today for Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle, cooked up this dark Gulf War comedy that's one part Treasure of the Sierra Madre, one part Catch 22
This Is Spinal Tap (1984) - Even though I own two different DVD editions of this film (one of which is long out of print), I'm very happy to see this seminal rockumentary now online�a comedy that truly goes to 11

There are also a batch of notable titles showing up later in the month, including the much-anticipated first season of Netflix's Daredevil, the off-its-rocker Crank (2006), the latest mind puzzle from Jean-Luc Godard, Goodbye to Language (2014), and a couple of highly regarded new horror films, The Babadook and A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night. I'm looking forward to all of these (except maybe the Godard, which I saw in a theater�in 3D�and which might be tough to watch again, especially in 2D). Premiere dates listed at the bottom of the page.

Read more �

January Expiration Watch: Not So Bad (if you don't count the BBC)

For a lot of you, this month's expiration story boils down to only one headline: All Those BBC Titles�Gone!

But wrenching as that is, it's become something of an old story already, and now that many of us have had time to work our way through shock, denial, and into acceptance (sort of), there's another story being told this month�one that's peculiar and a bit less devastating. It's the tale of 52 notable, non-BBC titles leaving the service by the 1st of February, a full 31 of which arrived within the last three months�suggesting a chronic case of premature (ahem) expiration on the part of Netflix.

But here's the good news: the bulk of those recent additions aren't exactly what you'd call masterpieces, while the rest seem to pop off and on Instant with the regularity of blinking neon in an old film noir. Here's what we're looking at, broken down by month:

Arrived in November

Batman Returns (1992)
Babes in Toyland (1961)
Breakheart Pass (1975)
The 'Burbs (1989)
The Crimson Cult (1968)
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988)
Hiding Out (1987)
Kingpin (1996)
Live Nude Girls (1995)
Phase IV (1974) - Reviewed
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)
Trading Mom (1994)

Read more �

New in November: Tough to Choose

A lot of good stuff this month. A lot. Which is why it's taken me longer than usual to sort through it all and decide which titles to write about. Let's start with something easy:

TV

It's hard not to be happy at new seasons of Portlandia, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and (hooray) Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries (a series I reviewed earlier this year). Also The Bletchley Circle, which I hear good things about but haven't seen. Making its Netflix debut (on the 10th) is the first season of the sci-fi thriller Helix, which was executive produced by Battlestar Galactica's Ronald D. Moore and should be worth a look or two. If you're more in the mood for science than science fiction, there's the debut of the three-part Your Inner Fish (2014), an entertaining and�to some�provocative look into what we were before we became the sophisticated movie-watching bipeds of today.

Classics

A fairly idiosyncratic mix of pre-1980 movies are on hand, starting with 1962's Hell Is for Heroes, an acclaimed WWII actioner directed by scrappy Don Siegel and starring Steve McQueen and James Coburn. If those two stars aren't steely-eyed enough for you, check out Charles Bronson in Breakheart Pass (1975), a rough-and-tumble western that also features tough guys Ben Johnson and Richard Crenna.

O'Toole, Hepburn

Distinctly less action-heavy is Cleopatra (1963), which, if never exactly considered a good movie, its notoriety makes it a genuine curiosity for a) Dick and Liz fans, b) Joe Mankiewicz fans (he did All About Eve and A Letter to Three Wives), c) fans of historical epics, and d) those who are physically capable of sitting in front of their screens for 4 hours.

But no need to torture yourself�not when you can treat yourself to something bubbly like 1966's How to Steal a Million, a romantic heist comedy directed by William Wyler (Roman Holiday) that features Peter O'Toole and Audrey Hepburn alternately wooing and outwitting each other. Or maybe you're still feeling Halloweeny, in which case you might try laughing yourself scared with The Crimson Cult, a 1968 B-horror movie by way of Brit stalwarts Boris Karloff, Christopher Lee, and Barbara Steele in green (or is it blue?) body paint. And then there's something that tries just a bit harder...

Read more �

More New June Titles (2013)

A few more noteworthy titles that showed up on Instant this month:

Chasing Ice (2012)

A sobering, provocative documentary that follows nature photographer James Balog's on-camera quest to document how unnervingly fast the world's glaciers are melting and what this implies for the planet's future. Not simply an environmentalist polemic trumpeting the latest global-warming theories to mollify the already converted, Chasing Ice is an adventure story and travelogue about one man challenged by the elements, his own hardheaded determination, and the breakdown of his increasingly fragile body while seeking empirical evidence for what many of us already suspected but which until now had never been witnessed. The time-lapse images of enormous glaciers receding and shrinking into muddy splotches are horrifying and heartbreaking, but also beautiful and miraculous, especially once you've seen the struggle it took to achieve them. Balog's art and sacrifice may have worn him down physically�like one of his own compromised ice floes�but with any luck enough people will see his amazing work and be inspired to act. Or at the very least question their views. The evidence is here. All you have to do is look.

Read more �