Crisp Criticism - "Incredibles 2", "Ocean's 8", "Hereditary"

by

Julien Faddoul

Incredibles 2 ***

Elastigirl springs into action to save the day, while Mr. Incredible faces his greatest challenge yet – taking care of his three children.

Brad Bird tropes are in full force: Superb actions sequences that make sublime use of the animation art, reliance on physical humour, obsessions with high-technology as both wish fulfilment and dangerous vice, and a liberal political agenda, with the female characters taking centre stage. There is very little modulation here; it’s high-adrenaline constantly, with a thousand things happening at once. In the first film, the point was an observation on how life contains both the mundane and the fantastic in concurrent servings. Here, those two points are made again but in separate stories, which is a bit disillusioning. It also can’t quite combat plot hurdles when countered against inconsequentiality, in an age when superhero fatigue is at a high. But as an action-thriller, it could scarcely be better.

wd – Brad Bird

ph – Erik Smitt, Mahyar Abousaeedi

pd – Ralph Eggleston

m – Michael Giacchino

ed – Stephen Schaffer

p – John Walker, Nicole Paradis Grindle

Cast: Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Sarah Vowell, Samuel L. Jackson, Brad Bird, Huck Milner, John Ratzenberger, Bob Odenkirk, Jonathan Banks, Isabella Rossellini, Catherine Keener, Sophia Bush, Phil LaMarr

Ocean’s 8

A criminal mastermind, gathers a crew of seven other female thieves to pull off the heist of the century at New York’s annual Met Gala.

Sloppy excuse for actresses to show off, with each of them playing barely comprehensible characters. The heist element of the film isn’t really dexterous either, without any real danger or stakes.

d – Gary Ross

w – Gary Ross, Olivia Milch   (Based on the Characters Created by George Clayton Johnson, Jack Golden Russell)

ph – Eigil Bryld

pd – Alex DiGerlando

m – Daniel Pemberton

ed – Juliette Welfling

cos – Sarah Edwards

p – Susan Ekins, Steven Soderbergh

Cast: Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway, Mindy Kaling, Sarah Paulson, Awkwafina, Rihanna, Helena Bonham Carter, Richard Armitage, James Corden, Dakota Fanning, Elliott Gould, Shaobo Qin, Marlo Thomas, Dana Ivey, Mary Louise Wilson, Elizabeth Ashley

Hereditary **

After their reclusive grandmother passes away, the Graham family tries to escape the dark fate they’ve inherited.

Artfully made Polanskiesque horror film/family drama that alternates between chilly excavations on the psychological damage parents can have on their children and vague, clumsy notions on the supernatural world that exist solely as an agitating striptease for the audience. Like many modern scarefests, it relies far too heavily on non-diegetic music/noises to elicit a response. It is, however, anchored by a raw, astonishing performance from Collette as a woman suffering from mental illness.

wd – Ari Aster

ph – Pawel Pogorzelski

pd – Grace Yun

m – Colin Stetson

ed – Lucian Johnston, Jennifer Lame

cos – Olga Mill

p – Kevin Scott Frakes, Lars Knudsen

Cast: Toni Collette, Alex Wolff, Ann Dowd, Gabriel Byrne, Milly Shapiro, Mallory Bechtel