Skyscraper

Skyscraper is written and directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber, and stars Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as Will Sawyer, a former soldier turned security tech expert, who is tasked with managing the security of Hong Kong’s new skyscraper, the Pearl. When a group of terrorists looking for a macguffin come in, framing him for a fire attack on the building with, Sawyer must now go in and rescue his family before the flames consume them.

Dwayne Johnson is the modern day Arnold Schwarzenegger: he was known for his muscles, but it's entertaining. He is a fierce intimidating wall, but he's a soft teddy bear. He brings people hope, despite no public politics. He's a bad actor, but man does he try his best...oh what, you don't agree with me on that last part? Well, sorry, but that's the truth; the Rock might be a charming guy, but he isn't the main reason most people go to see his movies. Hell, people tried to argue that he saved Baywatch from Zac Efron, who while was worse, the Rock wasn't any better in that movie.

This brings us to Skyscraper, a film people are saying isn’t that impressive. But why is that? Why isn't it being complimented as a throwback to (or rip-off in this case) classic action and disaster movies like Die Hard and The Towering Inferno? Maybe it might have something to do with the fact he's doing so many movies a year, it's not only becoming tiring, they're all starting to blend together. But what I can tell you right now, this movie was nowhere near as entertaining as it thinks it is. I found myself absolutely bored and pretty aggravated sitting through this movie, and that’s saying a lot for someone with low expectations.

Like I said before, despite the Rock trying his best, I never bought him as a former seal with a fake leg, as a lot of his stunts look as though he isn’t crippled at all. They really want you to believe that a man that big, with one real leg, could jump off a super crane from that height, onto the edge of a window; granted, it’s not as preposterous as they make it look in the trailer, but compared to everything else beforehand, it just feels out of place to me. Not to mention, the fact that he’s a former soldier turned security expert, doesn’t make him as relatable as someone like John McClane in the first Die Hard, who was a barefoot average joe cop. Even when he’s doing that climbing up and jumping from the super crane, or using duct tape to keep his balance on the windows, it’s just not believable. Also, with a building, shouldn’t it be harder to breathe when the windows open?

The rest of the cast is there to be the archetypes, as always. Neve Campbell is the wife; Chin Han is the wealthy secret holder; Pablo Schreiber is the corrupt friend; bad guys are...bad guys. This film is hardly giving me stuff to work with, people!

By now, plenty would argue that it’s just trying to be a dumb fun action flick, and nothing else, and I admit to enjoying that with a movie every so often; the problem is, Skyscraper never felt fun, or unique for that matter. Looking over the last six films that the Rock has done: while he was a major part of those films’ stories, he was accompanied by either someone like Kevin Hart or Vin Diesel, someone to work off of easily. I mean, his last film featured him fighting alongside a giant gorilla, against a giant flying wolf and dinosaur crocodile; the absurdity has reached a very high level. Not only that, but compare this to the recently released Mission Impossible: Fallout, where the main draw has become what crazy stunt Tom Cruise is going to attempt, but he at least he’s able to make it look and feel authentic, because it’s actually happening; hell, he did most of the insane crazy stuff that the Rock does in this movie, like scaling on the side of a building, back with MI: Ghost Protocol.

As for the part that tries to appeal to the DUMB side of dumb action movies, this one gets dumb to the point of being offensive, especially with how they fix the building’s security system. Even if I was enjoying the movie, that ending point would still bring me to where I am now: irritated by a cop-out ending. Again, I don’t care if it’s intentional, it’s still bad writing.

Overall, I don’t see how people could go see Skyscraper, even if you’re a big fan of the Rock; I’m just worried that studios aren’t going to learn from this, and try to give a little bit more space between releasing his movies, otherwise his popularity will burn out. Just stay home and rent Rampage instead; or better yet, wait until Christmas and watch Die Hard.

Rating: D-

Eighth Grade

Growing up in the digital era in its beginnings was a really strange time, both from the perspective of somebody who wanted to be in the entertainment business and as someone who was limited with technology (didn’t own a smartphone until my 2nd semester of college). Within that time, we’ve seen people who got their fame from YouTube, ended up going on to become successful, some of which ended up becoming filmmakers that distribute their movies through Amazon or YouTube Premium. Today we’ll be talking about one’s journey all the way to Sundance, Bo Burnham and his movie, Eight Grade, something I was very lucky to catch at a one time showing here in Vegas, thanks to AMC Stubs. Eighth Grade tells of Kayla Day (Elsie Fisher), who tries to use her last week of middle school to become more confident and excited about life.

The best way I can describe this movie is it’s the Lady Bird for the pre-teens, and what I mean is that, it’s a story about life after graduation, through the eyes of a girl who feels the need to stand out before it’s over; however, this movie tackles the subject of whether or not your life in middle school really matters, especially compared to high school and after.

Elsie Fisher gives one of my favorite performances I’ve seen this year; she makes Kayla feel relatable in ways that I never expected, much in the same vein as Saoirse Ronan in Lady Bird. The anti-social behavior, the distancing between yourself online and offline, not sure what the world is truly going to bring to you, and most of your hopes and dreams dying off with you as you grow out of old habits; it’s heartbreaking, but Fisher delivers that sense of reality brilliantly. Most of the film truly relies on her, and she carries it triumphantly. I also love the chemistry she shares with her dad, played by Josh Hamilton; there’s a scene in the movie, in which she asks her dad if she makes him sad, and the scene itself brought me down to tears. The tone in his voice, while never cracks, illustrates enough that being with his daughter is all that has him going. The other character that Fisher worked well with was Emily Robinson, who plays Kayla’s friend in high school, and they truly have a natural and relatable relationship.

That’s truly the best word to describe this movie: relatable. Bo Burnham delivers easily one of the best screenplays this year, capturing how it truly feels to be going through this kind of phase, and I say this as a twenty-two year old. But with how much some people haven’t changed, and how I’ve been seeing most adults that are supposed to be sophisticated, act more like children, than most children today.

Overall, if you can find a theatre that’s playing this, don’t waste a chance to go and see it. Eighth Grade, as time settled in, ended up becoming one of my favorite movies of the year, right up there with Infinity War and Incredibles 2. This movie perfectly captures the feel of 21st century youth today, and joins The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Lady Bird, The Way Way Back, and The Spectacular Now, in that perfectly collective circle.

Rating: A+

Teen Titans GO! To The Movies

Teen Titans Go to the Movies! is the newest movie from Warner Bros. Animation, and not only the first theatrical movie based on a Cartoon Network show, since The Powerpuff Girls Movie in 2002, but also the first widely released theatrical film based on a Warner Bros show currently on, since Batman: Mask of the Phantasm...it features our heroes, the Teen Titans (Robin, Starfire, Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Raven), realizing they’re not as big a deal as other superheroes to get a movie based on them. They believe they need an arch nemesis to get a movie, so they do that by going after Slade, who plans on hypnotizing all the supers to do his bidding. If you know me personally, you’d know that I’m not the most knowledgeable when it comes comic books, but I still got a major kick at out of the DC animated shows, ever since Batman: The Animated Series. However, one that I remember being the most dedicated to during my youth, and still feel very nostalgic for, was the Teen Titans animated series by Glen Murakami, which ran during the mid-2000’s. My enjoyment for the show is similar to my love for the anime, One Piece; it does have very cartoonish moments to lighten the tone, but it also helps ease the audience in to adapt to some of the more darker moments as the show goes on. Teen Titans Go! is the more kid friendly spin-off, and I do get both sides that either love or hate it; personally, I’m not a fan, but that’s more of a problem on Cartoon Network constantly shoving it in your face, like what Nickelodeon did in 2013 with SpongeBob and The Fairly OddParents (less said about the latter right now, the better). When they announced that Warner Bros was developing a Teen Titans Go! movie, you could imagine the animation community was not pleased with this, but DC fans have showcased optimism with it, and even critics were giving it good praise, so I attended a pre-screening a week in advance, so what are my thoughts? Unfortunately, while the movie wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be, it’s still pretty bad. If the plot for the movie I told you sounds the least bit familiar, especially the villain’s plan, you’d figure out this is the same plot as done in Incredibles 2; but it also shares a similar plot to another Warner Bros. animated movie, Cats Don’t Dance, which is another story about a schmuck looking to make it big as a movie star, that way he can be taken seriously. It’s one thing to be unoriginal, but it’s another thing when you’re lazy and unoriginal. I bring this up, because sure, kids can enjoy it fine at the moment, but think about where we got to at this point. Teen Titans was a show that while had its silly moments, they never spent more than a minute on them, because that wasn’t the point of the show; the stories they told, subtly handled heavy topics like treasuring the time left with friends and even suffering from PTSD. Teen Titans Go! has episodes either ranging from something as simple as “a character says waffles, and that’s it”, or it’ll have episodes that mock people for wanting the show to actually be challenging and tell better stories. You might say I’m being unfair with this movie, comparing it to the original show, but it’s not my fault, because the movie has an orchestral recreation of the original Teen Titans theme song by Puffy AmiYumi; the people behind this movie and the current show know what they have is crap, and they’re mocking their critics on purpose. Since this is technically a comedy, I will admit I did have two or three laughs in the movie; there was actually a surprisingly funny gag that poked fun at the “Martha” scene in Batman v Superman. However, most of the time, their jokes resort to that of Family Guy style jokes, where the reference is the joke and that’s it; or they’ll spend five minutes repeating the same joke over and over again, like someone pooping in a prop toilet. They even resort to making jokes about plot holes in the movie, which I hate because it doesn’t fix the problem, only draws more attention to it. And whenever they’re not dragging out the bad jokes, they’re showing wasted opportunities for jokes that would have been perfect for satire. I mean, they casted Nicholas Cage as Superman, and the most they do with him is trick him with a Gene Hackman reference? Come on, tell him a giant spider is attacking the city or something! Not to mention, they casted Jimmy Kimmel as Batman, but he only has only two lines in the whole movie; he had more dialogue in the tv spots than this! While we’re on the topic of music, the movie also technically a musical, as it wastes its time on songs that don’t go anywhere, add anything, or they’ll be a ten minute sequence, telling us that Back to the Future exists, then going back and forth between killing, un-killing, and then re-killing the heroes and their family, after they had a scene of running somebody over...this was meant for children, right? I have no problem with the voice acting, because it is decent. I will give this movie credit for letting the voice actors from the show reprise their roles in the film; Scott Menville (Robin), Khary Payton (Cyborg), Tara Strong (Raven), Greg Cipes (Beast Boy), and Hyden Walch (Starfire), have all been playing these characters since 2003, so getting a chance to play them at any time is always a treat in it of itself. However, my problem, again, stems from how the characters are written, and one of the reasons I’m not a fan of TTG: the characters are written too similarly; they all at times, end up being a bunch of loud, obnoxious, trouble makers that do and say the same thing half the time. It’d be fine if it was only Beast Boy and maybe Starfire, because I can understand them to that extent, but not Raven. At that point, the only thing keeping them distinguishable from each other is how they look, and that’s not a good sign. The jokes about Slade and Deadpool looking similar, they’re just not funny; it’d be funny, if they made any mention to his name in the comics, Deathstroke, but they don’t. And Will Arnett’s voicing of the character just sounds like Bojack Horseman in between paychecks. Overall, even if you’re a fan of Teen Titans Go!, nothing about the movie justifies it being in theatres. It’s just a two parter episode of the show, just stretched out to just under the 90 minute mark. You’re better off just waiting for this thing to come out on tv, where it properly belongs. It’s films like these, and The Emoji Movie which came out at this time last year, where I have to reinstate that it doesn’t matter if your movie is for kids, because that doesn’t excuse sitting through something that feels this lazy. Do yourself a favor, just take your kids to go see Hotel Transylvania 3 or Incredibles 2 again. Rating: D+

Ant-Man and the Wasp

Ant-Man & the Wasp is the follow up to Ant-Man and Captain America: Civil War, featuring the titular hero, Scott Lang, held under house arrest and kept from Hank Pym or Hope van Dyne. When the said father-daughter gain access to the quantum realm, it gains the attraction of a new villain called “Ghost,” who wants their tech in order to fix herself, and now Lang must redawn the guise of Ant-Man, along with Hope dawning her mother’s former mantle of The Wasp, in order to tackle this new foe.

If you're familiar with my recent rankings of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, you'd know I wasn't really the biggest fan of Ant-Man. A lot of my disdain was due to Edgar Wright being kicked off the movie, despite spending a decade in development of it, and what we ended up with was a pretty mediocre film, even if it wasn't a follow up to Age of Ultron. Granted, the effects and cinematography were unique, the cast does a good job with what they have, but for a comedy that was originated from one of the best filmmakers today and it turned out like this, is just disappointing.

When it came time to do the sequel, however, my expectations were a lot different. Since Wright didn’t have any involvement, my expectations were low, and the trailers managed to get me hyped to actually see another adventure with Scott Lang in the lead. Plus, considering the events of Infinity War, this was going to be our answer as to what he’s been up to since Civil War. I’m happy to inform that this managed to meet my expectations, as was a fun time. It may not be among my personal favorites, but Ant-Man & the Wasp manages to be a solid, entertaining, funny, and sometimes intense throughout its runtime. Peyton Reed is back as director, and at times, you can tell that now that Marvel’s starting to become more flexible, he’s got a little bit more range to work with. The action scenes, in which you have both shrinking and growing almost everything around these characters, you always feel unexpected as to what’s going to make a major pop next.

A major thing I also loved is the chemistry between our titular heroes. While I may not have found the comedy that great in the first film, Paul Rudd truly stepped up his game as both star and co-writer, with jokes landing almost every scene and even some characters who DIDN’T get to shine their comedic talents, get a chance here this time. Hell, the scene in the school had me laughing my ass off, just because of how silly it was. I especially love the scenes with him and his daughter, showing them have fun while he’s under house arrest, but never lose that sense of bonding time. That’s of course, not to discredit his action scenes as well. Evangeline Lilly as the Wasp is still just as feisty as before, but once again, she’s got a lot better humor to work with; her action scenes are also twice as exciting, being a real pro with the shrinking gear. For the first actress to play a Marvel heroine in her titular movie since Elektra, Lilly claims the title of being the best automatically by comparison.

Michael Douglas reprises his role of Hank Pym, the original Ant-Man, and while he is as expositiony as before, he makes it all the more hilarious with his more vicious remarks at Scott. He also gets a moment to suit up for a mission, so that was nice to finally get a glimpse of that. Michelle Pfiefer as the original Wasp, what can I say? To see her make a return to a comic book movie since Batman Returns, it felt all too fitting to have her here; plus, with her as the first official superhero mom in the Marvel Universe, the chemistry that she has with Douglas and Lilly feels very soothing. Michael Pena also makes a return, even with a bit of a smaller role, but he still makes it worth every second; hell, compared to the first film, I actually thought he was funny this time around. Other cast members like Walton Goggins as a trade dealer, Laurence Fishburne (oh, that must hurt DC) as Hank’s former partner, Hannah John-Kamen as the Ghost was a pretty imaginative character to work with, especially in action; hell, if Peyton Reed can make a ghost fight look this good, I’ll trust him with a Danny Phantom movie if that’s possible.

The biggest downside is that the pacing hardly takes a moment to breathe, especially in the third act, when they have so much going on at once. There’s a chase through the quantum realm, a chase through the city to get one thing, another chase to go cover up something, and it just becomes exhausting all the way through. That, and with the extra dosage of comedy thrown in, it does make it hard to take seriously when it’s trying to be.

In the end, Ant-Man & the Wasp is a major step up from the previous film, and definitely does these characters better justice. Is one of the MCU’s best? No, but that wasn’t the goal; it was to make a fun heist and chase movie, and that’s what it accomplished. And do stay for the end credits, because it does tell you where Scott’s been during Infinity War.

Rating: B

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is directed by J.A. Bayona and written by Colin Trevorrow and Derek Connolly, and is the fifth installment of the Jurassic Park franchise. Continuing off of the events from the last movie, the island containing the park is set to be doomed due to an active volcano set to erupt. In order to save as many species as possible, a former colleague of Dr. Hammond’s hires Owen and Claire to lead the expedition, along with finding the raptor, Blue. However, much like other films in this franchise, some greedy business is being brewed in secret.

In the topic of films that have left a landmark on film history, one of the first that comes to mind is Jurassic Park, which to this day is one of my favorite movies and one of Steven Spielberg’s best works. It took Michael Crichton’s novel about man’s tampering with nature to bring about dinosaurs, and crafted it into a genre film that tackles action adventure, family drama, science fiction, and horror perfectly, with a cast that defines these characters perfectly. I still remember going to see this at the 3d 20th anniversary re-release, and despite not being that great a conversion, there was never a moment where I didn’t feel like a little kid, watching a dark but fun movie.

The only problem that I have with it, is that it’s another one of those movies that should have never became a franchise. Sure, the first film was once the highest grossing film of all time, but even when they pressured Michael Crichton to write another book, it just felt forced. The Lost World, while has some memorable moments, is a film that felt tacked on to try and do something else. Jurassic Park III, while people argue as the worst, did have a few meta moments that, while looking back, I kind of see was done a little more tongue-in-cheek. Had the franchise ended there, I probably would have been okay with it, as long as it meant it was over.

I didn’t really think Jurassic World was going to that big a deal when it came out, especially when there were people trying to get me hyped up for it along with Age of Ultron and The Force Awakens. While the majority did say it was fine, they did mention how it leaves most of the grounded nature and wonder the first one; however, when I did my worst films of 2015 roundup, Jurassic World ended up being one of those films, because it ended up putting me to sleep. I’m not even joking, I fell asleep at a movie that had hybrid dinosaurs and Starlord riding a motorcycle with dinosaurs...and somehow grossed over $1 billion; to say that I’m shocked, would require not being used to overwhelming stupidity.

We pretty much knew a sequel was inevitable, but I was actually kind of interested in seeing where Fallen Kingdom would go, mostly due to the director, J.A. Bayona; getting someone like him who has worked with both horror and family entertainment prior to this, would have been a pretty good fit for the job. And to his credit, this is a very well directed movie; most of the action does flow progressively with the rest of the film, the framework and lighting are gorgeous (haunting, but impressive), and even the effects look better. A major complaint about the first film was that they marketed saying they were using practical effects again, but the finished product made it look like a CG mess; here, there are a lot of close ups of the dinosaurs, and you can see the details on the puppetry and animatronics. Michael Giacchino’s score is also magnificent; if there is anybody in this day and age that’s set to be the next John Williams, it’s him.

However, that’s pretty much all of the positive feedback I can give to the movie; the rest of it falls due to the messy, disinteresting, and unoriginal this script is. The movie starts and bookends with Jeff Goldblum reprising as Ian Malcolm talking about how this is a mistake that nature is correcting for us, and much like always, he is right...however, we have to focus on characters who are against it, but it doesn’t come off as naturally. Part of the reason I gave Jurassic World slack as better than the previous two, was because I thought they were ignoring those two movies and doing something new; however, it was revealed that they ARE canon, by saying the dinosaurs on the second island were taken to the first one. Why not send them back to the other island, so they can live in peace? Because then we would have a franchise to milk, that’s why.

The movie mid-way through ends up on auto-pilot, as it ends up recycling a lot of previous plot points and sequences from the rest of the series; the plot already feels like a remake of The Lost World, but they even recycle the stupid subplot about splicing dino DNA together constantly. The unity of action, on paper, reeks of the problems that Iron Man 2, BvS, and Spiderman: Homecoming; it feels like a placeholder film that was just made, so we have build up to the next one (at least Trevorrow ADMITS to that). Also, the third act keeps throwing in all these convoluted plot points all at once, such as Hammond's former partner having a lawyer that wants to sell dinosaurs in the black market, the main villain hunter guy letting the new dino loose, and...what is going on here? Also, apparently a group of living dinosaurs goes for about $120 million...this movie was $170 million, by the way.

As for the characters...there are none. I’m not even trying to be funny with this one, there is hardly any character development with anybody this time around. A problem I didn’t even notice with in the previous Jurassic World, was that the inclusion of a character like Owen as the lead, further ruins the charm of the first film; if you recall, Jurassic Park didn’t have any action-lead characters or any macho Stallone or Schwarzenegger type, it had nerds in the lead roles. That’s another reason people adore the first movie, because the characters were likable and relatable too. The only thing that’s really close to an action guy in the first movie was Bob Peck as Muldoon, and he got killed. Sure, Owen’s charming, but he doesn’t learn anything; he goes from being this bum building a house, to the same bum who builds his house, but with more dinosaurs. Claire might have gained a change of heart from the last film, but the film barely explores that aspect about she too is responsible. There are also two other young assistants that tag along, but they don’t add anything either.

SPOILER ALERT

Now if there is one major problem that I had with the film, it’s the little girl in this movie, who's the granddaughter of John Hammond’s old partner, who we never knew until now. She ends up released the dinosaurs into the world, instead of letting nature takes its course, because they’re clones, just like her...you heard right: the little girl in this movie, was a clone...okay, can I ask something: WHY ARE YOU FOCUSING ON BUYING DINOSAURS, WHEN YOU CAN SUCCESSFULLY CLONE A HUMAN BACK TO LIFE?!? Or even better yet, why is this subplot not explored even further?! And the movie doesn’t even treat this like a “HOLY SHIT! What a discover!”, it instead treats it as if the girl just came out as gay to her parents! Seriously, what the hell are you people smoking?!!

SPOILER ALERT

In conclusion, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom might have been more entertaining than the last, that does not excuse any of the batshit insane idiocy that’s crammed into this mess. And it sucks, because I thought this was finally going to be the first good Jurassic Park sequel; instead, we got the worst. If you guys want a Chris Pratt fix, just go watch any of his MCU movies; if you want dinosaurs, go watch the original Jurassic Park. I probably know a third Jurassic World is coming with Colin Trevorrow returning as director, but this franchise has overstayed its welcome, and it seriously needs to end.

Rating: D

Incredibles 2 (ask and you shall recieve)

If you were to ask me five years ago, which film was more deserving a sequel than any other, my first answer would automatically be The Incredibles. The 2004 Pixar film by Brad Bird, told the story of hot-shot hero, Mr. Incredible, who after a string of incidents with the public, leads to the banning of superheroes in the public eye; desperate to reclaim those glory days, he ends up working with a company secretly run by a character from his past. Not only does The Incredibles stand as one of Pixar’s most defining films, but I’d dare even call it one of the best superhero films to come out of the new millennium; in fact, it’s one of those movies that actually gets better as I grow older. As a kid, you go in for the fun superhero action, but as an adult, you really get sucked into this surprisingly dark story about a retired celebrity (or superhero in this case) and their family falling to pieces.

Even after Pixar had been bought by Disney to become a movie-a-year studio, plans for a sequel were never put into play, despite fans holding petitions and even the cast voicing their demands; the hype and pressure for any other Disney product that could even match this is Kingdom Hearts III. This had a lot of expectation riding on this, so now here’s the big question: Is it good? The answer: yes.

Picking up immediately where the last film left off, the Incredibles face off with the Underminer, only to be casted aside just like always, due to the superhero ban still being in law. In an attempt to finally do away with that law, Winston Deavor (Bob Odenkirk) and his sister, Evelyn (Cathrine Keener), telecommunications moguls and former family donors, want to recruit Elastigirl to be an advocate for superheroes, leaving Bob to take care of the family.

One of the major aspects I was looking forward the most to were the characters, something that’s always been one of Brad Bird’s strongest elements, even back when he worked on The Simpsons during their golden days; he isn’t afraid to show you the darker parts that fill the lives of such colorful and lively characters, in extraordinary worlds as such. While most of the cast from the original returns, including Craig T. Nelson (Mr. Incredible), Holly Hunter (Elastigirl), Sarah Vowell (Violet), Samuel L. Jackson (Frozone), and obviously Brad Bird (Edna Mode), the two that couldn't return were Spencer Fox as Dash, and Bud Luckey as Agent Dicker; Fox had to be replaced by Huck Milner due to his age and voice change, and Luckey had retired, years before his sad passing back in February, so Jonathan Banks had to step in. Luckily, everyone in the cast does a fantastic job voicing everybody. Nelson and Hunter feels as though a day hasn’t gone by since they voiced the first movie, as you’ve got them in a film tackling both the themes of spouses trading places and the struggles of parenting, all while technically in a bit of a Civil Rights act for a minority group wanting acceptance back into society, which was first set during the first movie. While we don’t see much of the kids interacting outside of their family, with the exception of Violet, it does make up for it by showcasing the baby, Jack-Jack, with his new powers like they hinted at in the first movie; and trust me, this baby steals the show every time he’s onscreen.

The animation is jaw-dropping to say the least; even for Pixar standards, I was completely blown away by the fluent, yet grounded, feel that these characters had in their movements. Despite being superheroes, Brad Bird still manages to keep them all grounded and move as if he was directing a live action movie. I also love how much like the first film, it’s combines a family drama and a superhero flick, with the style and gadgets of a old school Bond film; despite it being animated, both Incredibles movies are pretty interesting period pieces on the more futuristic 1960’s. The action scenes are also spectacular, a massive improvement from the first movie; most of that attributes to Elastigirl taking the lead this time. The animation with her fights was a favorite of mine, and to see that utilized more here, you get some really kick ass sequences that bring out your inner Keanu Reeves...wow. My favorite sequence in the whole movie is a toss up between the Elasti-cycle train chase and the hunt for the Screenslaver. The inclusion of the Elasti-cycle might have looked a little gimmicky, but the way they have Elastigirl ride it, how she separates it and swings one part up a few levels, it was such a hypnotizing sequence. Speaking of which, the first fight with the Screenslaver was definitely a highlight, mostly because it points out another thing I love about Brad Bird’s movies, and that’s his use of lighting. Incredibles 2 in particular, has its lighting and shadow stand out so damn well, again capturing the look and feel of a 60’s technicolor film and Marvel Comics.

Debate between movies has been discussed, and most people do agree this movie isn’t as strong as the first, because of the villains. Syndrome in the first movie was not only a great villain, but he was a great character overall; he was made as a representation of how fandom can bring someone to insanity, if they obsess over it so much, even if it means destroying the very thing he loved so dear. In other words, Syndrome is that obsessive Star Wars fan that won’t shut up, given power. But while I do think Syndrome is the superior villain, the Screenslaver deserves a good amount of credit as well, having motivation fueled by the fact that people’s dependency for others doing things for them, and how we are becoming less interactive with the world watching screens all day, it does make for some compelling reasoning, especially when you find out the person’s identity. Not saying who it is, even if I know almost all of you have seen the movie by now, but I have a feeling Brad Bird may be looking at another Screenplay Oscar nod.

So overall, is The Incredibles 2 worth seeing? Yes, it is. This is the sequel we all wanted, and it did not disappoint. While it doesn’t have as strong a villain, it makes up for it with its characters, the dialogue, the themes of parenting and dependency, and the animation are all worth it. I know it may seem unlikely since Pixar says it was going to try and focus on more original stuff again, but I do hope they plan a third one; this deserves to be a trilogy WAY more than Cars even getting a sequel at all. Brad Bird has given us, yet again, an animated masterpiece.

Rating: A

Solo: A Star Wars Story (it's fun, calm down)

The Star Wars franchise has always been a difficult franchise to discuss with others, and I say that as someone who isn’t as big a fan. Ever since George Lucas began shoving permanent recuts of the original trilogy, which lead to the birth of the prequels and Disney buyout, thus leading to the merchandising and the new films coming out; ever since then, it’s hard to have a normal discussion about it, without someone going into some nitpicky butthurt rant, about how his or her fanfiction wasn’t in the new film, or how Lucas is tampering with history every time he goes back to Star Wars...look, after my Force Awakens review, I just wanted to refraine from talking about Star Wars for a while. I'll discuss Rogue One and The Last Jedi sometime in the future, but I think I'll wait until the drama dies down from the latter.

This leads us into the even bigger drama that surrounds this new film, mostly with the behind-the-scenes problems that went way out hand. Solo had originally been intended to be directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the duo that made Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and the 21 Jump Street movies, but they had been fired after Lawrence Kasdan and Kathleen Kennedy were unsatisfied with their progress. They had gotten carried away with letting actors improvise and going completely off script, and it even got to where Alden Ehrenreich had to get an acting coach, because he wasn’t meeting the producers standards. Hell, it was even rumored that Bradford Young and even Lawrence Kasdan had to shadow direct without them knowing in some places. some might call this karma from Warner Bros. having to deal with Justice League, where both films had to change directors with different styles and it ends up being a box office disasters (I know Solo is still in theatres, but its numbers are iffy).

The difference is, you have Zack Snyder being swapped with Joss Whedon, both of whom have styles that couldn’t be any more opposite if it tried; there's also the fact that Whedon came in after production wrapped, so the scenes where you can tell are Whedon's, you can obviously detect this was last minute. Ron Howard is a more versatile director, dabbling well with not just comedy, but drama and even action; he also came in midway during production, and was able to complete 70% of the finished project, including re-shoots. And luckily, the film manages to keep a consistant tone that never felt jaded anywhere else.

Alden Ehrenreich was a good young Han, despite the stories circulating around him. While his Han isn’t quite the same one as what we see in the beginning of A New Hope, it works because it gives him the freedom to make the character his own before going into true Ford mode. He’s smug and cocky, but he still kept a charm that hooked when he popped on screen. And the chemistry he shares with Chewbacca as they first meet, you see his main focus is survival with the nearest available help, as well as grow attached as they partners they would eventually become. Whatever problems did occur with him behind the scenes, they look to be fixed up.

Woody Harrelson and Donald Glover also stand-out nicely. Harrelson is the shady mentor that Han follows, bringing his classic charm, but also bringing some level-headedness to the circumstances at all times. At times you feel like he’s warning Han to back off, because he was like him before: arrogant and lacking strategy. Glover’s performance as Lando Calrissian, while I could tell he was doing an impression of Billy Dee Williams, he plays it off so naturally that it didn’t seem out of place. Whenever he and Ehrenreich are on screen, they make up the better parts of the movie, seeing the two butt heads every so often; not only that, but the ending scene with them had me crack up.

Lastly, it actually did something that I had been wanting from The Force Awakens: I wanted it to be a fun adventure, just like the first movie. In my review, I had expressed that the first ever Star Wars movie is my personal favorite, because it never really set out to be anything more than the start of a fairy tale fantasy film in space, much like Lucas described it back then. But with each new installment, even back then with Return of the Jedi, it felt as though it was being made to appease a specific demographic every time; either it’s made more kid friendly or politically correct, and fans then make a big stink about them doing what they asked them to do in the first place. Even with this film, the biggest complaints that I heard about the movie is that it has poor pacing and adds nothing new or takes risks the franchise. While I can understand the pacing complaint...I’m sorry, did you not hear the outcry of bs after The Last Jedi? Is it really so much to ask for a Star Wars film that’s just fun and DOESN’T cause trouble with fans? Seriously, I haven’t seen so much venom spewed out by comments since The Dark Knight Rises on Rotten Tomatoes; this kind of back and forth banter about what these movies should be to people is so infuriating to listen to.

Overall, where would I place Solo: A Star Wars Story? Well, it isn’t the worst, but I wouldn’t call it one of the best either. I’d say it’s around the same range as Return of the Jedi, if you ask me. With how things are looking, I doubt this is going to break even, sadly; however, if you’re looking for a fun space western, like I did, give this a watch.

Rating: B