the incredibles [A]

moviemcpeake snippet: Pixar Rules! Brad Bird, the director/writer brought an incredible family oriented, comic book animated adventure to the audience. Pixar has the uncanny ability of pulling off an adult/child fun fest complete with humor, suspense, romance, and the ultimate overlooked villain. From Toy Story to Monsters Inc, from Finding Nemo to The Incredibles, Pixar keeps the stories fresh, the animation top notch, and the audiences in delight.

This full animation feature, running about two hours, was a fly by the seat of your pants adventure film. The action heroes were original in their powers, and their features and voices fitting. The two lead heros, Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl, marry and have three children. They are forced to live “normal” lives and like the other heroes, keep their special powers a secret. They hide who they are and no longer use their powers for good because the public deemed all people with powers as unsafe and unwanted. This hiding leaves Mr. Incredible searching for meaning in his life without realizing his search is causing him to neglect his family and miss the wonderful sibling fights complete with shields and electric zaps.

As the story unfolds we find a villain who wants what he can’t have, a hero in trouble, and his family (including his best man Frozone) to save him. Along the way are a few goofy and crazy characters that light up the screen, including Mrs. Hogenson, the fashion designer of the action heroes that had me rolling in stitches. I wanted to adopt the son, hug the daughter, and be the parents of this special family or at least a cousin. The only character flaw I noticed was one of the special powers that a character possessed. It wasn’t fitting and could have been more fun. But overall, the solid storyline that set itself up for future adventures captured my mind and my inner child.

Like all great family classics, there is a moral to the story. The soul of the film if you like. The soul of The Incredibles was just that, incredible. It is a story of how unhappiness plagues you when you are not true to yourself. The Incredible family learned that it is better to be you then to hide your true self. If you wear who you are proudly, people we begin to see that you are no different. I was happy to see such a powerful message being taught at a theater near you.

recommendation: hello! you already better own it.

in america [A-]

moviemcpeake snippet: What a pleasant little film! The story begins as Irish immigrant family adjusts to life in the States. As they settle into a large but run down New York apartment with their two little girls, they find themselves next to a screaming man and plenty of life’s struggles. I really enjoyed how the beginning details are omitted from the story and how the film just focuses on a little snippet of the family’s life. The story is just good and heartwarming as it focuses on trust, love, family, strangers, and simple things. The most poignant part of the film is when the father and mother take their two daughters to the carnival. A scene occurs when the father is trying to win a stuffed toy for his daughter. The amount of trust and understand that the family towards eachother at that moment is astounding, amazing, and beautiful. This film is a treat and a must own classic.

recommendation: see it.

imagine me and you [B+]

moviemcpeake snippet: Quite honestly for a romantic comedy it deserves an A, but overall I think romantic comedies suffer from the cheesy factor which can sometimes take you out of the moment and other times make you feel warm and fuzzy. Who am I kidding, I loved the cheese and the warm fuzzies. This is a great watch again film. A romantic comedy for today's relationships.




recommendation: own and watch with your significant other, whom ever that may be.

empathy [B+]

moviemcpeake snippet: Empathy in short is part fictional - part documentary about psychoanalyst. The film is about getting to the root of therapist thoughts and intertwining it within a character story. I really enjoyed this independent flick. It brought together the psychoanalyst’s process of joining the internal with the external and making the distinction vague and blurred. The main theme of this film was to make the audience unsure of what was real and what was true, what was a projection of thoughts and what was reality. It twisted theory of architecture, psychoanalysis, and the life of a struggling actor into one. I found it extremely entertaining and interesting.

The director, Amie Seigel, probed the psychoanalyst with questions you have always wanted to ask but unsure if you wanted to know the answers. Her filmed almost seemed more like a collection of intimate moments and thoughts, then someone actually saying and thinking these things out loud and for a camera. She plays on vulnerability, which made the audience a bit uncomfortable and surprised by the scene.

The film was a bit lengthy and at times was trying to be too vague/creative/artful with its scenes. There were a few scenes that did not remove your attention from the film but were reaching for something that was not ever going to be there, therefore creating a wasteful transition from one scene to the next. The story itself was intellectual and insightful. It masterfully combined architectural and psychoanalyst theory with a character desperate to break out of her voice over life. The film allowed the audience to “imaginatively step into another’s perspective and consider how things look from over there, as if one were an insider while one is not one in fact.” [Google] In other words the filmed allowed the audience to experience empathy.

recommendation: check it out if you have access to this small but worthy film.

about schmidt [B-]

moviemcpeake snippet: One thing is for sure, my disappointments did not come from the acting. Well, at least Jack Nicholson and Kathy Bates. My disappointment came from my boredom in this slow, boring, comedic drama. Now, I know that was the point. Warren Schmidt hadn't lived life. He was slow and boring. I got it. I got the fact he spent his whole life calculating the probability of when people will die based on their geographics and therefore himself never lived. I got the message, but I was still bored.

From time to time I laughed. I kept waiting on the edge of my seat for Kathy Bates to appear on the big silver screen and when she did, I found myself awake again. But she didn't steal the screen long enough and then the movie was over. Schmidt, who was a very pathetic man, is unfortunately how many Americans end up. Retired and nothing to show for (minus the material items). His daughter, which I felt was poorly acted, snubbed him, just as life had - or did he snub life and now wanted it back? Either way it didn't matter to me when I left.

Of course many critics are disagreeing with me. But I really felt it was close to something but in the end it was just a boring film about a boring man. Nicholson and Bates could only carry the movie so far. There was a man's story to tell and lessons to be learned. I guess I would rather learn them from someone else.

recommendation: take it off any list or be a baby boomer to get it.