The Incredibles (2004)

★★★★
Established nearly ten years ago [ed: This review was written in 2004] as the pinnacle of modern animation, Pixar keeps reaffirming its lofty status with every new release, and The Incredibles is no exception. This remarkably entertaining and meaty motion picture is all eye candy and goofy entertainment for children, but underneath lies a biting denunciation on a number of contemporary topics, such as frivolous lawsuits. Writer/director Brad Bird tackled Cold War fears with his amazing The Iron Giant, and he proves here that he's a sly commentator as well as animator and storyteller.

Day of the Dead: Bloodline (2018)

zero stars
I can only speculate what motived the people behind Day of the Dead: Bloodline into making this ridiculous movie, but I suspect it has a lot to do with the success of the television series The Walking Dead. The T.V. show takes the zombie apocalypse concept and stretches it out over a long period of time with recurring characters, offering viewers a unique and often tense narrative about the end of civilization. George Romero popularized this concept in 1968. His imitators are legion. Whether they are from Italy or Bulgaria, the pretenders never run out of steam. In the case of Day of the Dead (1985), there have been two remakes, neither of which captured the Romero magic while lumbering over the material in a braindead manner. This movie has no business existing. There’s nothing about it to justify its commitment to film (or digital, whatever the case may be). It’s badly acted and plotted.