Daily Archives: January 21, 2019

Jan 21 2019

Incredibles 2 (2018)

Director: Brad Bird

Writer: Brad Bird (Screenplay)

Starring: (Voice Talents) Craig T Nelson, Holly Hunter, Sarah Vowell, Huck Milner, Catherine Keener, Eli Fucile, Bob Odenkirk, Samuel L Jackson

 

Plot: The Incredibles hero family takes on a new mission, which involves a change in family roles: Bob Parr (Mr Incredible) must manage the house while his wife Helen (Elastigirl) goes out to save the world.


Tagline – Back to work.

Runtime: 1 Hour 58 Minutes

 

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

 

Verdict: Pixar Sequel Fun

 

Story: Incredibles 2 starts as the Incredibles are still trying to fight crime even if it is against the law, the latest mission sees them caught and needing to close down the program they are using. Winston Denvor and his sister Evelyn offer a chance to bring the superheroes back into the positive light, with Elastigirl being front and centre, leaving Mr Incredible to raise the children this time around.

As Elastigirl continues to fight crime and take on the mysterious supervillain known as the Screenslaver, Mr Incredible must learn how to deal with Jack-Jack’s new powers, which he is struggling to control.

 

Thoughts on Incredibles 2

 

Characters – Helen gets a chance to become Elastigirl in a hope to bring the legalisation of superheroes back for the public, she must leave her family to achieve this and relishes being in this role. Bob is Mr Incredible, but this time he must be the stay at home parent, which he learns to struggle with everyday problems that come with parenting and dealing with Jack-Jack’s powers. Violet and Dash must continue to learn their responsibilities as superheroes and not risk their lives like their parents do. Evelyn and Winston are the people that want to bring the superheroes back into the world, they are giving them a new PR make over which will the world accept superheroes again. Jack-Jack is the baby with new powers which will make him more powerful than the rest of the family combined.

Story – The story here feels almost like a reverse of the previous film, with Elastigirl getting the chance to go back into the field only to come up against a supervillain with their own motivation to not want superheroes in the world anymore. We have a side to the story with Mr Incredible needing to stay home to look after the children which eventually tries to play into the idea that a husband and father couldn’t cope with the job a mother does with children, which does seem insulting. The biggest pot holes come from just not knowing the time between what happened last time and this film, the fact everyone has forgotten about Jack-Jack’s powers and all the random superheroes that are like the basic Suicide Squad side. If we are honest the story is easy to follow, it feels safe and wants to play into the different sides of the modern world.

Action/Adventure/Comedy/Family – The action involved in the film is good and gets to hit levels the live action superhero movies can’t do. The adventure takes our heroes on a new adventure against a new villain, simple and effective. The comedy is good with the Jack-Jack scenes being the highlight of the film.

Settings – The film shows us the two different locations superheroes must operate in. one with normal life and the other where they are in the spotlight for the world to judge their actions.

Animation – Pixar are always on top of their game when it comes to animation, nothing looks bad on a visual side of things which is all we ask from them.


Scene of the Movie – Jack-Jack costume suit.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – Not remember Jack-Jack has powers after the end of the first film.

Final Thoughts –This is a simple and enjoyable Pixar movie, it will get laughs, it has a good story asking if we need superheroes, while being a nice follow on to the previous film.

 

Overall: Pixar sequel that hits well.

Rating

 

 

Jan 21 2019

ABC Film Challenge – Best of 2018 – U – Unfriended: Dark Web (2018)

Director: Stephen Susco

Writer: Stephen Susco (Screenplay)

Starring: Colin Woodell, Stephanie Nogueras, Betty Gabriel, Rebecca Rittenhouse, Andrew Lees, Connor Del Rio

 

Plot: A teen comes into possession of a new laptop and soon discovers that the previous owner is not only watching him, but will also do anything to get it back.


Tagline – Some secrets are killer!

Runtime: 1 Hour 32 Minutes

 

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

 

Verdict: Huge Improvement on the Original

 

Story: Unfriended: Dark Web starts when Matias (Woodell) comes into possession of a new laptop, he has been producing an app which help him communicate with his deaf girlfriend Amaya (Nogueras) through Skype. Having a normal night on Skype with his friends Nari (Gabriel), Serena (Rittenhouse), Damon (Lees), AJ (Del Rio) and Lexx (Windyani).

Over the night Matias learns the owner of the computer wants it back and they are involved in the dark web of snuff films, Matias gets caught up in the middle of a blackmailing ring as the people involved want their secret kept.

 

Thoughts on Unfriended: Dark Web

 

Characters – Matias is the computer programming that has been developing an app to help communicate with his girlfriend who is deaf. He has a new laptop one he picked up in a coffee shop, this holds a secret which has put his and his friends lives at risk. Amaya is the deaf girlfriend who is mostly just a pawn in the killer’s game, she is important to what is going on, though she doesn’t need to do much. Nari and Serena are a couple that are part of the conversation, Nari is the one that doesn’t believe anything going on. We have the normal supporting characters, the cocky one the smart etc. we also see the characters that are trying to get the laptop back and keep their secrets.

Performances – The performances in the film are fine through the film, nobody stands out and most of the performances work well interacting with each other, we believe they are friends which is all we need them to do.

Story – The story here heads in a different direction after the first film being a ghost seeking revenge on the bullies that caused her death, which is based on creating horrific death scenes and not much else about it. This story dives into an innocent group of young adults that have accidently got themselves mixed up with a criminal snuff group who operate on the dark web. This adds more dimensions to the story because we get to see how this operates and can see how big the organisation will be. It would be fair this could be a stand-alone movie because it doesn’t have any connection to the original and doesn’t involve unfriending anyone of facebook, meaning it could have just been called ‘Dark Web’. The world building involved in the film is a highlight for me as we can continue with more films in the future.

Horror – For the horror side of the film, it would be fair to say things have changed and nothing feels quite as scary anymore. We focus mainly on what we see within the Dark Web with snuff videos.

Settings – The film keeps our characters in their apartments which is fine because our characters feel safe until they get to learn who they are dealing with.

Special Effects – The effects are good because whenever the figures appear it becomes distorted as they know how to hide their identities.


Scene of the Movie – The River.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – If you were a fan of the original this is very different and could annoy you.

Final Thoughts – This is a big improvement from the original and builds a world I want to see the next chapter off, the Dark Web is the perfect place for horror.

 

Overall: Big Steps in the right direction.

Rating