Update





The past couple of months have been a pretty busy period of time for me where I haven't had much time to think about the blog. Over the course of the past few weekends I've been to various different capitals, including those of England, of Scotland, of the former Viking world and of West Yorkshire. I enjoyed a geek-tastic time at Comic Con in my adopted home of Manchester. I ventured to the brilliant Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, taking in the sites and sounds of cutting-edge theatre and the high spirits of revellers and performers. I've been preparing to go on holiday to Iceland in a mere two weeks. I've started to take part in a weekly podcast, Sunday Cinematic Service (check it out on SoundCloud), where me and a couple of chums explore the strange world of religious cinema. I have also begun the preliminary planning on two novels I have in mind, which I am very, very excited about. Plus there's work, life, being healthy (ha) and other stuff. Even my regular Dungeons & Dragons sessions have been on hold until recently!

Time is a funny thing.

This has left relatively little time for making casual trips to the cinema plus the fact August's roster has been fairly uninspiring. I didn't even bother seeing the new Marvel film Ant-Man and the Wasp despite having a clean record of seeing most of them in the cinema. It just looked meh. This is mostly because my "media-time", where I have grabbed some spare moments, has been been filled by enjoying the latest releases in video-games (I've fallen in love with Octopath Traveller and Hollow Knight), catching up on TV shows (we have finished our re-watch of the monumental Deadwood and are getting caught up on Doctor Who in time for the new Jodie Whittaker series and the new season of Orange Is The New Black) and re-discovering my love of reading through authors such as Neil Gaiman, Ursula Le Guin and several others. Plus most of this stuff I can enjoy whilst travelling, which I've done a lot of recently.

This has given me some reflection time on where my blog currently stands. Moreover, I don't really know where to take it. I have been finding writing my regular reviews of the latest cinema releases slightly unsatisfying as of late and I don't know why. I'm motivated to write when I am genuinely enthusiastic about something which I have found increasingly harder to do, which maybe could be down to the fact that most of the films I have seen recently haven't been all that ... spectacular? I don't know, I can't quite put my finger on it. It started to become a little bit of a chore going to the cinema, I guess. I'd want to see films simply so I could write a review about it. I want to keep doing it to a degree because a) it's good for my writing skills and b) it improves my critical functions. However, I think my priorities need to change on how I write these things. Going forward my film reviews will be a little snappier (something I experimented with and enjoyed on the First Reformed review) and I want to start getting into writing longer form pieces on topics that genuinely interest to me. I've recently finished the latesg God of War game and I want to explore how the game reinterprets a slightly troubling series for 2018. In short there will be shorter reviews but more meaty content every month or so. It's been an interesting few years writing reviews and I've continually developed this blog to suit what is going on with me and I feel the time has come to change my approach again if I'm going to keep going with this. It should hopefully work out.

And I will continue the Ghibli Retrospective - I promise...

Incredibles 2



Its taken Pixar 14 years to realise that only one of their classic films, outside of Toy Story, actually needed a sequel. To call Pixar's previous sequel efforts (again outside of Toy Story) a bit sub-par is not entirely accurate but they do often struggle to prove their need to exist. Incredibles 2, however, more than justifies this. Picking up directly after the 2004 masterpiece, Incredibles 2 pulls no punches in pulling the viewer back into the zippy and lively world of the secretly super-powered Parr family. The film is altogether a visual treat, with returning director Brad Bird pushing the animated form to its limit.

Picking up soon after the original, the Parrs find themselves in a similar position to the last film; vilified for their powers. Despite stopping the villainous Underminer, as teased at the end of the last film, this still isn't enough for the heroes to be accepted in the wider public eye. That is until rich sibling / business partners Winston (Bob Odenkirk) and Evelyn Deavor (Catherine Keener) offer an opportunity to make supers legal once again. To do this, they must prove to the public that supers can be trusted again and their chosen candidate to do this is Helen (Holly Hunter). Spending an increased time away from the family on missions and publicity stunts to regain public trust, it falls to Bob (Craig T. Nelson) to hold the unit together with Violet (Sarah Vowell) hitting puberty hard, Dash (Huck Milner) struggling in school and the emergence of the mega-powers of baby Jack-Jack. To make matters worse, the villainous Screenslaver appears and threatens to undermine the work that Helen and co have been doing.

Incredibles 2 reunites the Parr family for a high energy sequel that works past the more standard elements of the plot



I think the film's greatest disservice was its trailers. It painted the look of a fairly run-of-the-mill sequel (now it's Helen who is spending time away from the family!) and emphasising the Bob-can't-look-after-his-kids plotline. Fortunately, the film manages to work past the slightly more standard elements of the plot into something that not only expands upon the world but remains faithful to the spirit of the original. It doesn't redefine the paradigm in the same way that, say, Toy Story's sequels did but it's just fun spending more time with the cast in a story that does a great service to them. I enjoyed the more nuanced takes on the characters, especially Violet who really comes into her own in this one, and all the actors continue to be an absolute delight (especially Holly Hunter). The dual storylines work to a degree but I do wish a bit more time was spent with the family together. This is a minor gripe because both plotlines work on their own separate levels; the mystery and intrigue of Helen investigating Screenslaver works well when intercutting with the more comedic Bob storyline.

The jump in technology is quite apparent, especially if you have viewed the original film recently in preparation for the sequel. As just some examples that spring to mind, the higher fidelity on Bob's wrinkles, the hair physics on Violet and the greatly improved cityscapes all add to an almost visual representation of the development of Pixar since 2004. Add into this the art deco design work, the jazzy soundtrack of returning composer Michael Giacchino and the bold direction of Bird and you have genuinely one of the most visually arresting action films in years. Every set-piece lands perfectly and offers chances for the heroes' power to be the stars of the scenes (something Marvel films often forget to do). Just when I thought I had seen enough "chase after the train" action sequences, Incredibles 2 somehow makes the whole concept exciting again.

While the plot is slightly less than super-powered, and I do wish more time was spent with the family together, Incredibles 2 is a fun and incredibly nostalgic ride that tows the line between fan-service moments for grown-up fans and enough visual flair, drama and comedy for pretty much the rest of the audience. I would say it doesn't quite have a patch on the original but it's certainly a valiant effort that made me smile and laugh a hell of a lot.



I normally would say it's time to close the book and I'm not a massive supporter of the Pixar sequels in general. After all, this was a studio that built itself on the foundation of creativity and offering the audience something new with each film. If they have to exist however I would rather have Incredibles sequels, as the format suits a series and as long as they find interesting ways to keep the stories interesting, of course.