NOTHING SHORT OF INCREDIBLES
The super-powered Parr family is back, and we want to know what took them so long?
MOVIES
Big releases (June 15): Incredibles 2; Tag
Big picture: Fourteen years after the original delivered a family of family-friendly superheroes, the Incredibles have returned. Unlike Roseanne Barr, let’s hope Helen, Bob and their superhero clan don’t suffer from late-night Twitter meltdowns — or their comeback may be short. Holly Hunter and Craig T. Nelson return to voice the parents as the clan battles the day-to-day challenges of “normal life” — just like you do, minus the ability to stretch or turn invisible (which is what I TRY to do every time my toddler has a meltdown).
Their baby’s power is one mystery that needs to be solved and a new villain — of course — needs to emerge to shake up their mundane routine. The film is called Incredibles and not Normals for a reason, folks. Meanwhile, Tag is a comedy based on the true story of an eccentric group of competitive friends who reunite annually for a month-long, epic game of tag. Ed Helms, Jeremy Renner and Jon Hamm play three of the man-children, but we get to see the colourful group at different ages through flashbacks. Forecast: Incredibles 2 is super summer fun. Tag will hit the bull’s-eye on laughs and inspire follow-ups like Red Rover, Kissing Tag, and Snakes and Ladders (with real snakes and ladders, of course).
TV
Big events: The Affair (June 17, CraveTV,); 24 Hours to Hell and Back (June 13, Fox)
Big picture: The Affair is back for a fourth season of infidelity, dirty dancing, crying games, crimes and misdemeanours, and twists and turns. If the beaches of Montauk could talk, they’d have potty mouths.
The new season finds new characters, new love interests, new trysts and old flames still smouldering.
Noah and Alison’s romp — the titular affair from Season 1 — seems like sweet, innocent child’s play given the three-season soap opera that followed.
Meanwhile, Gordon Ramsay has always had fuel to burn, and takes his hot head on the road to help struggling restaurants around America with his mobile kitchen and legendary intensity. Forecast: Chef Ramsay has too many cooking spinoff reality shows. I want to see him out of his comfort zone. I predict Gordon Ramsay: Hell’s Daycare.
MUSIC
Big releases on June 15: Christina Aguilera (Liberation); Ben Caplan (Old Stock); Buddy Guy (The Blues is Alive and Well)
Big picture: We’ve seen mega pop star Christina Aguilera as a Genie in a Bottle, Stripped, Dirrty, as Lady Marmalade, and as part of a Shark Tale. We are all curious to see what she sounds and looks like after some “liberation.”
Smokey-voiced Ben Caplan is one of Canadian indie rock’s finest — this time with a concept album based on his popular theatre production of the same name.
Meanwhile, the legendary Buddy Guy offers a reminder I hope most of us don’t need. Forecast: There is only one true incredible this week and his name is Buddy — not Bob.