THE INCREDIBLES 2

               The Incredibles 2: A Triumphant return for Disney's Superhero family.
Everyone's favorite family of superheroes is back in "Incredibles 2"--but this time Helen (voice of Holly Hunter) is in the spotlight, leaving Bob (voice of Craig T. Nelson) at home with Violet (voice of Sarah Vowell) and Dash (voice of Huck Milner) to navigate the day-to-day heroics of "normal" life. It's a tough transistion for everyone, made tougher by the fact that the family is still unaware of baby Jack-Jack's emerging superpowers. When a new villain hatches a brilliant and dangerous plot, the family and Frozone (voice of Samuel L. Jackson) must find a way to work together again--which is easier said than done, even when they're all Incredible.
  We had waited for so long for the sequel of this movie and when it finally came, boy did it hit us with brilliance. The strong points of this movie is that it has the strengths of the original prequel and has done some improvements. The movie stayed true to the original animation concepts, the character design remain practically the same save for some few CGI upgrades. It is a noticeable improvement as the characters moved well, the fight sequences were smooth and conversation/ dialogue simulations were smooth and In sync.

Perhaps the only fault we have with the movie is the strength of the conflict, the lack of plot depth and the simplicity of the storyline.we must still mention thag even though The story was lacking in depth, the storytelling was amazing,  the back stories of each character made for a compelling watch. The message behind the story, pushing out the female lead sent a subtle message that the feminists out there would definitely appreciate; and while we are not overly impressed with the choice of the message, we can at least relate with the humour and the humour seeing the stronger sex struggle with coping with family duties. Returning to the conflict, the villain seemed a little too obvious from immediately the Hero legalisation campaign was offered to the family. We knew it had to be one of the two either Winston or Evelyn Deavor, and we were spot on in our prediction. We also noticed the fact that the heroes never returned to the case of the Underminer. It felt a little off that the villain who cost them their lives will be let off the hook throughout the duration of the movie. It didn't go well.
   Baby Jack-Jack had to be the secret weapon of the movie. The big reveal of his power or powers so to say had to be the peak of the movie. His conflict scene with the raccoon was epic, was hilarious and it was overall entertaining. So whereas the Big Villain reveal was anti-climactic, the super power reveal of baby Jack-Jack had go be the climax of all climax.
The conflict was weak, and the conflict resolution was weak as well. The villain was the crux of all problems. The villain's weakness transferred itself to the movie and made the movie weak. The characters were definitely stronger than the villain  and thus it weakened the conflict element. The fight against the villain was boring. In fact the movie deserved a better villain and conflict than it got. The movie was just a message to the world nothing more than that. 

The movie may have been an epic fail had it not been for the few incredible fight scenes and the great amount of humour imbued into this. It kept us interested, it kept us wanting more and it left us smiling and laughing. It's the stuff dreams are made of, and it would have perhaps been in the running for animated movie of the year had it not been for the anti-climactic ending to the movie.
   A good movie, superb humour, great action / fight scenes, not too great conversation, weak plot, weak conflict and zero character development( we are not complaining, as this is a sequel).  It is a family movie, and I will recommend it to every one, both young and adults. The adults will love this for the message while the young will enjoy it for its humour and fight scenes.
  Starring Holly Hunter, Craig T Nelson, Sarah Vowell, Huck Milner and Samuel L Jackson.
Produced by Nicolas Paradine Grindle and John Walker.
Directed by Brad Bird
Production Companies Walt Disney and Pixar Production company.
With a Budget of 200million USD and a box office mojo of 1.240billion USD, the movie has done more than enough to currently rank as the 4th Highest grossing movie of 2018, and the 2nd highest grossing animated movie of 2018, and the 15th highest grossing movie of all time. These are incredible numbers for an animated movie and we are deeply pleased with the job done by the company and the production team. We must mention that it's successes at the Box Office is down largely to the massive success of the prequel and the anticipation the company created by waiting for near over 6 years before releasing a sequel.  The movie itself is not as great as we would have hoped. But all in all, it's a great watch and a Hollywood success story.
 We at FCA will give this one a solid  FCA AppR of 8/10 for humour, content, action sequence and overall character design improvement.

BLACKKKLANSMAN

                  BlackKklansman: A Contender for Movie of The Year?!    
In the early 1970s, Ron Stallworth is hired as the first black officer in the Colorado Springs, Colorado police department. Stallworth is initially assigned to work in the records room, where he faces racial slurs from his coworkers. Stallworth requests a transfer to go undercover, and is assigned to infiltrate  the local Chapter of the Ku Klux Klan.
  BlackKklansman is a Biographical Comedy drama telling the incredible true story of Ron Stallworth, his trials and tribulations as the first black man employed as a cop in Colorado Springs Department, as well as his meteoric rise to hero status
 The brilliance of this movie lay in the story, the message and the timely presentation of the message, with the movie enjoying theatrical release on 10th August 2018, coinciding with the one-year anniversary of the white supremacist Unite the Right rally. The movie has received wide acclaim and we are very much inclined to agree with critics on this one. The acting performance of John David Washington and Adam Driver is of particular note. Both delivered top notch acting and exceptional on screen performance from a male character in the calender year.

    Mention must also be had of the creativity employed in passing the message the movie sought to convey. The plot theme and the storyline are just brilliant. The conflict element is complex and created in the most elegant fashion conceivable. Fans loved the fact that the story wasn't made one told from the perspective of the black populace. The creative acumen of the producer saw through the need to tell a strong story against racism rather than telling a strong Black story, and we are very much taken with the work. Telling a strong story with a message against racism meant that the two sides of the divide had to be ably represented in the argument, and this the movie really captured in aces. Telling a true black story would have meant weakening the racist divide of the movie, and that would have weakened the plot, we surmise. However choosing to represent the white populace in the fight against supremacist tendencies meant that the story being told was one with a united stand against supremacist preachings.
The conflict element in the movie being diversified also meant it kept viewers engrossed and hanging to every word and every dialogue in the movie. What we really liked was the decision to tell the story of an average black man and the dangers he faced with racist elements, without necessarily telling an all black Vs white story. It took creativity, great storytelling and an amazing direction to achieve this. At the beginning of the movie, the conflict element presented sedmed a little obvious, with a white Vs white divide, plus the black lives matter campaign, and we could easily throw our weights behind the Blacks and hate the whites at the wrong side. But with the introduction of the Supremacists, and the revelation of moderation on the side of the whites, it meant that we and our protagonists were faced with an enemy they could unite against and one common enemy that must be taken down for the unity of the Nation.

Being a true event, the way the conflict was sought to be resolved cannot be credited wholly to the creative team or the writer, however we must still state the obvious; that the way the conflict was resolved was brilliant, it was stupendous and the efforts of the actors( Driver and Washington) must be commended. The decision to create drama effect meant that a lot of things had to change and some few changes were added. For instance the events depicted occurred in 1972 rather than 1979. Whereas also mention must be made of the fact that the KKK bombing never happened, as same was only added by Lee for Dramatic effects.
 If you were going into this one expecting a lot of violence, you will be disappointed as the conflict mainly revolved around principles, convictions, beliefs and what people will do to protect or promote them. Having said that, the presentation of the characters as passionate about their beliefs meant there were a lot of relatable characters and that even made the movie more compelling to watch.

   On the whole, this is a brilliant movie with excellent acting on the part of the cast. The production team have definitely scored an ace here with casting as the cast has brilliantly executed a masterpiece of a story. The work put into making this movie what it is is more easily discernible from the quality of conversations, the mastery of dialogue and conversational responses, the messages imbued in every series of sentences. This is a thought provoking movie capable of making even the most nonchalant viewer, engrossed. How Spike Lee has been able to use history to once again address present day topics is masterful and crafty. Some critics may feel the need to point out the fact that the movie is overtly political, but we submit it is not, it is intended to send a message to unite in the fight against racism, and to point at one very distinct truth, that not all white men are racists. We utterly agree with the conclusion, and add that as a matter of fact, being white doesn't make you racist, but being racist necessarily makes you white. This we feel is given backing by the superb and effortless performance of Adam Driver, whose effortless transition from diligent cop to white supremacist.
    The costumiers and the make up team have also done very good job here too. The moderation of cultural iterations of the time has to be one of the best I have seen from Hollywood in a very long time. It did make them cute too we must say.
   This is a movie we will most definitely recommend to connoisseurs of good dialogue, A list acting and award winning performances. The acting of Washington was of the highest quality, and we are very glad that he has stepped up his performances a notch from his exemplary showing in Ballers.

  Starring John David Washington, Adam Driver, Laura Harrier, Topher Grace, Jasper Paakonen, Ryan Eggold, Paul Walter Hauser.
Produced by Jason Blum and spike Lee, Shaun Redick and Raymond Mansfield
Directed by Spike Lee
 With a budget of 15Million USD, it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and already won the Grand Prix. It has already performed more than it was expected to at the box office with an 87.1 Million USD gross.
 We will give this one an FCA AppR of 8.7/10

ANT-MAN AND THE WASP

           Ant-Man and The Wasp: A Weak Conflict for a Weak Villain!

  

Two years after Scott Lang was placed on house arrest because of his role in skirmishes between the Avengers in violation of the Sokovia Accords, Hank Pym and his daughter Hope van Dyne briefly manage to open a tunnel to the quantum realm, where they believe Pym's wife Janet van Dyne might be trapped after shrinking to sub-atomic levels in 1987. Because he also visited the quantum realm, Lang is now quantumly entangled with Janet and receives an apparent message from her. 

   A sequel to the 2015 Marvel movie, Ant man, the second instalment started off with the after effects of Scott's participation in the events of Germany and the apparent breach of the  Sokovia Accords, after which he was put under a 2 year house arrest. The concept was to present a hero under house arrest and trying to run a company as well as get by with everyday duties as a father, and the opening scenes were brilliantly brought to life.
The plot was good, not something excellent, but just good enough to thrill fans and viewers alike. Not a lot was put into telling the story or developing the concept, as the production team didn't really want to thinker a lot with the general concept, but rather chose to go little on creativity and hit more on Originality of concept.

 Where the movie failed in most parts was creating a compelling conflict, which in turn could have provided for a rivetting narrative. The creators forgot the first rule of telling a super hero tale, creating a strong and easily relatable villain. The production unit totally failed at presenting a villain the viewers could relate with or love to hate. Sonny Burch and Ava Starr(Ghost) just didn't feel like the villainous bunch that could keep the Hero engaged or even keep viewers glued.
   Plus mention must be had of the fact that the character of Ghost was pushed out too quickly, came off as emotionally unstable and she was a villain we knew was totally half and half, not someone who could go the distance. We did however love her combat scenes, her moves were natural and seemed to have really worked with a combat instructor. Scott Lang and Hope Van Dyne on the other hand were totally in sync. Though it's to be expected, having done it once before, but their screen performances were brilliant.  Hank Pym once again delivered some brilliant tech. Even though we felt that some of the tech on display were rushed to the screens, regardless of the fact that there has been a 3 year break, it still felt rushed.  Janet Van Dyne finally got screen time. Her introduction towards the concluding scenes was refreshing and brilliantly timed. We did however feel that her final contributions to the movie was a hack. We didn't like it and it's overall effect on the movie.

  The special Effects and CGI had to be the strong point of the movie. It was nothing over done neither was it underutilised. It was just perfectly employed.  It was amusing the way everything in the movie could shrink.
   Perhaps now that we have gotten this arc out of the way, the Ant man can finally become a real super hero rather than a small time Robin Hood. The two instalments of the Ant man franchise has had him fighting on the lower scales of the Hero verse. It's time to write Ant man a story truly befitting of a Marvel great.
  All In all, a good movie with a somewhat slow start, but a strong finish.  Not rich with relatable characters, but the characters we have were colourful, they were enigmatic and they were brilliant at what they did. Ghost for one did deliver some really good piece of combat scenes. It's a great movie for both the young audience and the old folks, perhaps the quantum realm aspects may not be too relatable, but the battle on Earth was spectacular.
 Starring Paul Rudd, Michael Pena, Evangeline Lilly, Walton Goggins, Judy Greer, Tip Harris.
Directed by Peyton Reed.
Produced by Kevin Feige.
Written by Chris Mckenna
 FCA'S AppR 7.8/10