okelydokely2

Sitting in the theater, watching the previews for The Mask 2 and a couple of other regrettable films, it occurred to me once again just how mentally insulting most Hollywood films are. Luckily, movies like The Incredibles come along once in a while to renew one's faith in cinema. This is a really fun, smart film. A once-avid reader of comics myself, I loved the various ways in which this movie paid homage to superhero comics; my wife, who never read or collected comics, also thoroughly relished this movie. The CGI is great, but that's not enough to make a film good, let alone excellent. The story is cohesive, and doesn't feel like it's been written by committee. I didn't see any product placement. The acting is sharp. The interplay among the characters is believable. I can't think of any way in which this film could have been improved in any significant way. Even the end credits were cool - probably the best end credits I've seen (only Ferris Bueller's credits are on par with them, although in a very different way).

Which reminds me - although the end credits are visually interesting, something like 90 percent of the audience decided to leave without watching them. Now, I'll grant that end credits are often pretty boring, but when they're so lovingly rendered, it just doesn't make sense for people to ignore them.

My wife and I rarely buy dvds, but this is one we want to own. Don't miss it.

Top of the Food Chain (A.K.A. Invasion!) is a very wacky film, but I recommend it to anyone with a good sense of humor, especially if you like parodies. The humor is delivered deadpan but takes turns you'd never guess. There are all the clichéd characters you could expect in a B-grade horror movie - the religious nut, the pompous scientist, the surly policeman, various suspicious characters, and the smart and spunky love interest - but each of them deviates from the norm in their own way. This is a low-budget film but that actually is a strength for a parody of other low-budget films. This is one of the funniest films I've seen in a long time. It reminds me of Airplane, although it's more subdued and yet more daring in its humor. Rent it if you get the chance.