TOY STORY 4 Review

Toy Story 4 is necessary. Know that first and foremost, that not only is Toy Story 4 a necessary addition to the franchise that launched Pixar, but a meaningful one as well. One wouldn't be at fault for thinking the animation studio has been somewhat off its game over the past few years as it turned into a sequel factory of sorts and churned out entertaining enough diversions to more creatively satisfying original films as that's kind of the fact of the matter save for the occasional Inside Out or Coco. Since Toy Story 3 in 2010 Disney and Pixar have released ten films counting this latest Toy sequel and of those ten films six have been prequels or sequels. These have all been of a certain quality, mind you-as even the third Cars film allowed Pixar's most underwhelming franchise to go out on more of a high note than not-and yet, Toy Story 4 feels like the true return to form the studio needed and that audiences were waiting on. With original creative mastermind John Lasseter only credited as a story contributor among a barrage of other contributors it was up to screenwriters Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo, WALL-E) and Stephany Folsom to crack the story as Inside Out screenwriter and frequent Pixar voice actor Josh Cooley was tasked with his feature directorial debut being the fourth installment in this consistently excellent series. No easy task, but to circle back to the beginning of this review is to reiterate that the most difficult obstacle to overcome with a fourth Toy Story film would be that of justifying its existence. Toy Story 3 ended in such a way that it not only wrapped up the story of these toys and the child they'd belonged to for as long as either of them could remember, but it gave closure to those who'd grown up with the first two films and were now transitioning into adulthood themselves. Almost another decade later and the characters of this world are as endearing as ever with Stanton and Folsom's narrative zeroing in on Woody (voice of Tom Hanks) as he learns that being in charge doesn't always mean being in control. While there were seeds of doubt as to whether or not Cooley and the gang (ah thank you) could find what more there was to be said with these characters and this world, what transpires in Toy Story 4 ultimately provides the necessary comfort to the truth spoken by Toy Story 3; if that previous film eased the transition from adolescence to adulthood then this latest (and presumably final?) film discusses how one adapts to their new role in a mature and positive way.

Official Trailer for Disney & Pixar's TOY STORY 4

First and foremost, while I'm sure Toy Story 4 will feature plenty of new characters that can be sold as toys and plenty of new incarnations of old characters that can be re-packaged for sale in support of this fourth film, there is a strange kind of respect for making your new, seemingly co-lead character a spork with googly eyes and pipe cleaner arms that parents of pre-schoolers can bring home on the daily. Disney, Pixar, and the Toy Story brand are each worth more money than I can comprehend and it would seem that to reach such heights would only garner more greed and more ways to try and increase said wealth and stability, but then they go and make what feels like a purely financial move in green-lighting a fourth Toy Story movie after the third film rounded the trilogy out so perfectly all the more pure by placing at the center of it a toy any young boy or girl regardless of economical status can make for themselves. It's surely a calculated corporate move in some regard, I have no doubts, but it's also kind of *nice*. Still, it's easy to admit that when that final reel of 2010's Toy Story 3 finished rolling it seemed there was no better or more poignant way to complete this trilogy that had begun some fifteen years earlier, spanned my childhood, and revolutionized animation as we knew it. Over the nearly twenty-five years now that Pixar has been in power they have become increasingly more reliant on sequels to the films that originally made them that powerhouse. No matter how much I wished for Pixar to keep that book closed though, it was always something of an inevitability that we'd get another chapter in the Woody and Buzz saga. In this fourth chapter a new toy called "Forky" joins Woody and the gang on a road trip that reveals how big the world can really be for a toy. Pixar vet Josh Cooley makes his feature directorial debut from a screenplay by Stephany Folsom and Will McCormack (Celeste & Jesse Forever). Toy Story 4 features the voices of Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Jordan Peele, Keegan-Michael Key, Keanu Reeves, Patricia Arquette, Joan Cusack, Annie Potts, Wallace Shawn, Laurie Metcalf, Timothy Dalton, Kristen Schaal, Bonnie Hunt, Jodie Benson, John Ratzenberger, Tony Hale, Blake Clark, and opens on June 21st, 2019.

THE 15:17 TO PARIS Review

The 15:17 to Paris is not a good movie and likely never should have been a movie in the first place. Prior to Gone Girl coming out in 2014 there was an interview with director David Fincher where he stated in regards to the adaptation process that, "The book is many things. You have to choose which aspect you want to make a movie from." This is likely what writer Dorothy Blyskal should have done were she to stand the chance of making a compelling picture out of the lives of the three young men that saved a passenger train full of people from being killed by a terrorist in 2015. There is no disputing what these guys did was heroic and that, if their story was going to be turned into a feature film, that it deserved to be a compelling one, but The 15:17 to Paris is not that movie. No, The 15:17 to Paris isn't really much of a movie at all despite the fact it could be looked at as one of great risk and ambition. Directed by Clint Eastwood, Blyskal's script decides to tell the broad story of the friendship between our three protagonists whom Eastwood decided to cast with the real heroes themselves rather than having actors portray them. Unfortunately, Blyskal not choosing an aspect of these guy's lives to zero in on and make a movie out of essentially separates the picture into two distinct halves: one being the military recruitment ad the first half functions as while the second forty-five minutes may as well be a European travelogue with the event we're all in the theater to see being tacked on in the last twenty or so minutes. This final sequence is the only part of the film that holds any real tension, any real drama, or hint of any real style that resembles that of a film produced by a major studio and made by an Academy Award winning director and actor. Of course, just as The 15:17 to Paris probably never should have been a feature film it was never going to be a feature film in the traditional fashion, but more one that solidified Eastwood is now making statements with his efforts rather than simply pondering and contemplating with his art. For Eastwood, The 15:17 to Paris is the definition of heroism; no qualms, no frills, no debate about it. That's fine and I can appreciate the choice, but defining a certain quality doesn't automatically make that representation of the same quality. Spencer Stone, Anthony Sadler, and Alek Skarlatos are heroes, no doubt, but their movie is (unfortunately) pretty terrible.    

First Trailer for Clint Eastwood's THE 15:17 TO PARIS

The first trailer for director Clint Eastwood's latest, The 15:17 to Paris (what an awkward title), has landed online via Warner Bros. and to call this an experiment of sorts in skirting the lines between fiction and non-fiction storytelling feels like something of an understatement. Most of the time, while films "inspired by" or "based on" true stories are considered to be works of non-fiction there is this understanding that the film and what happens in it is "still a painting and not a photograph" as writer/director Aaron Sorkin explains it. You use the parts you need to tell a story and you don't use the parts you don't need. Life doesn't play itself out in a series of scenes that form a perfect narrative and people don't speak in dialogue-these are movie things-Sorkin continues and he's right. There is not way to capture all of the factors that contribute even to a single instance of our existence to where an audience watching it on screen would understand or experience this moment in the same way the actual person who experienced it in real time. That said, Eastwood's latest is based on the story of real heroes Anthony Sadler, Oregon National Guardsman Alek Skarlatos, and U.S. Air Force Airman First Class Spencer Stone, who stopped a terrorist attack on a train on August 21, 2015. Sounds about right you say? Sounds right up Eastwood's alley you think? Especially considering his last movie extended the crashing of a plane on the Hudson river into an hour and a half drama that exposed some of the not so public aspects of Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger's heroism. Well, I hope you're right as The 15:17 to Paris will seemingly cover the full life stories of the heroes and the events that led up to the attack. All of that taken into consideration, this initial trailer is certainly intriguing and I'm anxious to see how these non-actors, but real-life heroes adapt to re-enacting this definitive moment in their lives as well as how Eastwood intercuts the flashback moments that have real and experienced actors working in them. Hopefully, the juxtaposition won't be too jarring. The 15:17 to Paris also stars Jenna Fischer, Judy Greer, Ray Corasani, PJ Byrne, Tony Hale, Thomas Lennon, and opens on February 9, 2018.

TRANSFORMERS: THE LAST KNIGHT Review

Twenty minutes into the fifth Michael Bay directed Transformers film, this one subtitled The Last Knight, Optimus Prime comes face to face with a robot God named Quintessa (as voiced by Gemma Chan) if that gives one any indication as to how insane these movies have truly become. No? Not good enough? How about the fact Anthony Hopkins' character (or the fact Anthony Hopkins is in a Transformers movie) has a Transformer butler that the film acknowledges is more or less a rip-off of C-3PO? Not far enough? Let's go ahead and make the robot butler a sociopath of sorts, shall we? Point being, there is no seeming cohesion between any parts of the many layers that make up The Last Knight as well as most of its predecessors. Personally, I walk into a new Transformers film with the expectation of being bombarded by sound, image, and story and am more or less pleased if I can walk away saying I understood the main point of the plot and was, at the very least, entertained. Of course, without such expectations one could view these things as complete messes, as mind-numbing fun, or fall somewhere in between where it's easy to recognize the idiocy of the picture, but acknowledge the merit in big, colorful, summer blockbuster filmmaking. Many will make jokes, but Bay is one of the more unique directors working today by virtue of the fact he consistently operates on such a scale that it's almost inconceivable he could craft something that wasn't inherently bloated; every aspect of his process and his product has to be big and this latest endeavor is no different. While Age of Extinction felt like something of a breaking point in terms of the director going so far into his wheelhouse that he couldn't possibly possess any more tricks we are still here three years later and Bay, along with returning cast members Mark Wahlberg, Josh Duhamel, John Turturro, and Stanley Tucci, have somehow managed to at least match if not best their previous Bayhem effort. The Last Knight is scattered, plot-heavy, overly complicated, and generally non-sensical to the point of genuine hilarity, but there is still a craft to it all and the fact Bay can somehow orchestrate these massive characters, set-pieces, and story into something resembling a movie while at the same time maintaining a visual aesthetic that is bar none one of the best you'll see on the big screen today is truly impressive and deserves at least a little bit of credit.

THE ANGRY BIRDS MOVIE Review

Walking into this feature length film based on, not even a legit video game, but an app I had no idea what to expect or what type of story this thing might entail. That said, I didn't expect much from The Angry Birds Movie and so to find out that it wasn't a complete waste of time, but in fact pretty funny in certain spots and put together with a fair amount of competence and investment that it delivered lush visuals and entertaining characters was nothing short of a pleasant surprise. In reality, this is a movie that epitomizes an inconsequential piece of entertainment, as it is neither important nor significant by any stretch of the imagination. What The Angry Birds Movie does well enough though, is serve the purpose for which it was created and that is to keep the kiddos and fans of the game entertained for a brief ninety minutes on a weekend afternoon. Having never played the game I can't really speak to how well the film integrates the elements of the game or if these are done in natural, organic ways as opposed to being shoehorned in for the sake of hitting the more popular elements of the game, but as far as story is concerned the premise that is set up with our three main protagonists is more or less an excuse to have the climactic third act of the film be a more detailed version of watching the computer play a round of the game for you. This isn't really an issue-it's kind of the point after all, but in doing this the question that arose was if the characters we're introduced to are interesting enough to care about when it comes time for them to risk their lives potentially knocking down a pig city. Do we care about what is being risked, what is potentially being destroyed, or what is being sought after? For the most part, the answer is a fine enough yes. There is no reason to become emotionally invested in these proceedings and there is certainly no need to become frustrated with the expected beats this redemption story hits, but in tackling this particular kind of story the film hits the beats well enough that you're willing to go along for the ride, listen to the pop-infused soundtrack, and smile against your better judgement when pop culture references are made for no apparent reason or every time Jason Sudeikis has to spout a bad bird pun.

AMERICAN ULTRA Review

American Ultra is fine. It is somewhat ambitious and somewhat derivative, but most of the time it plays things right down the middle and offers little more than we expect. It is subtly silly, not laugh out loud hilarious though it maintains it's ridiculousness throughout given it's honest with itself and well aware of what it is. In short, the film is a trivial exercise in triviality given it makes light of typically serious subjects such as secret agents and government operations, but will never be seen as more than a tiny blip on the pop culture radar. This is no crime against humanity as those who have even a modicum of interest in something akin to this will likely give it a shot while those who don't, won't and are not really missing out on much. Sure, American Ultra has it's redeemers, but none are strong enough to qualify it for a recommendation and while I sat watching the film, both amused and bemused for much of the time strangely enough, I couldn't help but to think how inconsequential it all felt. I didn't actively dislike the film, in fact I was more than happy to sit down and watch both Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart again as I've come to really enjoy Adventureland more and more over the years, but never throughout the course of experiencing this film did I find myself invested in any aspect of what was happening. It's almost as if the film is so trivial that it's not even worth saying much about it, but that would be to diminish the solid qualities and obvious heart that has gone into creating the product and I genuinely hate to minimize that effort to less than it is. Whether it be in the inherent chemistry between our two leads, the strong supporting cast that is selling the mess out of this outlandish material or the rather deft tone of the film as a whole there are certainly selling points and things to enjoy. The problem is, that deft quality seems to be one the film owes more to it's script than to it's director and some of that intended mentality was lost in translation.

First Red-Band Trailer for AMERICAN ULTRA

Adventureland feels like one of those forgotten gems that no one ever really gave a chance because expectations set it up as something else. It was director Greg Mottolla's follow-up to Superbad and we all expected more of the same, but Adventureland was a more personal journey-slight, but precise and really is worth a re-watch. All that is to say that it's good to see Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart on screen together again, this time in something of another stoner comedy. Penned by American Werewolf in London, Animal House and Blues Brothers director John Landis's son, Max, and directed by Project X helmer Nima Nourizadeh the film is a hard-R comedy about a stoner who is set to propose to his girlfriend and play out a typical existence in their sleepy, small-town when everything goes nuts after being disrupted by a past Eisenberg's character didn't know he had in the form of a government operation that subconsciously made him a secret agent. Combining multiple, seemingly opposite genres has always been a way to generate something fresh feeling and this first red-band trailer certainly does that for this film. It seems only yesterday I considered Eisenberg the lesser of he and Michael Cera, but since The Social Network Eisenberg has continued to prove the more versatile actor of the two. While he can certainly handle dramatic material and even has a flair for the outrageous and rather confident roles that wouldn't seem to fit his personality his roots seem to have always been in comedy. Those muscles look as if they're being stretched quite nicely here and I can't wait to see this late-summer stoner comedy that should be good for plenty of laughs if not something a little more substantial. American Ultra also stars Topher Grace, Walton Goggins, Connie Britton, Bill Pullman, Tony Hale and opens on August 21st.