Movies: Saw The Incredibles today, and here’s the thing about it: You know how people are always saying shit like, “It’s a kids’ movie, BUT THERE’S FUNNY THINGS FOR ADULTS, TOO!!!” and the funny things for adults are those stupid pop-culture references that were really cool in Aladdin, but lame and overdone in every movie since then (and yes, Shrek, I am looking at you)? If someone says that about this movie, they’re lying, because The Incredibles is an adults’ movie that kids might enjoy as well, a la Spirited Away or Princess Mononoke, only without all the Japanese-ness. Legitimately good film, people, not in that patronizing “… for a kids’ movie” sense, but in the real, normal sense that people say movies are good. Brad Bird is apparently the last best hope for Pixar to discard its cliche-ridden formula films and make real, genuinely interesting movies.

(Now, criticisms: As in The Iron Giant, Bird is horrible with villains. His bad guys are too one-dimensional and preposterous — which is normal for a kids’ movie, but with his heroes being far more nuanced than normal kids’ movie good guys, it sticks out. In this case, it was ameliorated somewhat by the superhero theme, but still, could’ve been better.)

(Irrelevant technical detail: The water is SUPERB in this movie, and the hair pretty much is as well. The skins still look plasticky and fake, but they fortunately stylized the people enough that this wasn’t a problem.)