Toy Story at 25 Thoughts

The leading type of animated film now these days are computer generated imagery, or CGI. Back in the 90s, it was more traditional, hand drawn animation. It's very easy to forget how ambitious Toy Story was when it released around Thanksgiving 1995. Let's just say that people expected it to flop. Nobody took it seriously as a contender. Low and behold, highest grossing film of 95, huge critical acclaim, the rise of Pixar, and a very strong franchise.

It has a very simple plot and moves by at a very fast pace. A group of toys, led by cowboy doll Woody. In comes the flashy new one, Buzz Lightyear. Things get out of hand, and the two have to get back to their child owner. There's more to it, but basic. No filler, no side plots. Plenty of visual stuff, quotable lines, tons of humorous moments. What also works that even though it's a Disney film, it doesn't follow the tropes associated with them. No romance as your big plot line, no singing, no sappy stuff. A film that can be enjoyed by both kids and adults.

As I said, it was ambitious. At 30 million, it was cheaper than what The Lion King's budget was the year prior. They did get some big names, but it wasn't all top of the line names outside of Woody and Buzz. They found ones they knew could create the film into a memorable one. It holds up in many ways and the score is still fantastic to hear. This is still my favorite of the Disney CGI films. It paved for more Pixar films, competitors in Dreamworks and Blue Sky (though Blue Sky is Disney owned now due to buying Fox), and the decline of traditional animation in film.

The appeal for Toy Story knows no bounds. You want a franchise with lots of respect and memorable, this is one of the few that has that. Give each one a watch. There is tons of enjoyment you'll get out of them and for different reasons. 

Toy Story 4 Review

I have been a huge fan of the Toy Story series since 1995/96. I view the first as the best of Pixar's work and the sequels to be fantastic. Was it necessary to have a fourth movie? No, but if done right, it can still hang with the best for greatest franchises, and it does. They hit all the right spots and it's more original without relying on a ton of repeated gags.

Woody and the gang belong to little Bonnie Anderson, following what happened at the end of 3. She now attends school and the cowboy toy secretly helps her with creating a new toy, Forky. The Andersons go on vacation and the spork jumps out the window of the family's RV. So now, it's a race to get Forky back to Bonnie or else things won't be the same when heading back to school. As always, it's becomes an adventure and encountering all sorts of other toys in the process.

This is mainly a Woody movie. You don't see too much of Buzz Lightyear and a lot of the other toys, though Buzz does get his share of screentime. The other toys, they have a few moments, especially towards the end. You will be laughing hard at a few scenes. Returning for the first time since the second film, we get to see Bo Peep and her sheep. She has a lot of scenes for this film and it's not purely a romantic angle. They turned her into an adventurous toy that does things her way and can handle a lot of stuff. One thing they do address is her absence in 3 and what happened to her. Honestly, she was one of the highlights for the movie.

Regarding new toys, there is Duke Caboom. This is the summer of Keanu Reeves, and despite the small amount of scenes, this was a great and funny toy. Even funnier are Ducky and Bunny, played by Key and Peele, Keegan Michael-Key and Jordan Peele. Though their humor is a bit more adult oriented, to entertain kids with these characters is a surprise and its effective. They actually provide some of the adult type humor that sneaks up in Pixar films. Then there is Gabby Gabby, who is kind of a villain, but not in the way of like a Sid or Lotso or even Stinky Pete.

That's the thing, really. There's nothing really evil in the movie. It's not a bad thing and it's refreshing for a kids film. Not much anger, either. Maybe one or two scary parts, but not to the level of 3. As far as CGI goes, it's amazing the improvements that has been made since 1995 with the original. Little details make it very noticeable and more real every year. And the cast, as usual, is phenomenal.

They do reuse quite a bit of Randy Newman's scores from the trilogy. Normally, it's a bad thing, but it's not overused, and they use it in the right spots. The only thing I'll without spoiling is that the ending will surprise you. Whether or not it will make you cry, I don't know. But what I can tell you is that this is a movie you should be seeing in the theater. This is a franchise that has stood the test of time, and this fourth one will for a very long time. Probably the best movie of 2019.

Score: 10 out of 10

Burnt Out June 2019

I look at the last few weeks as not holding high on people's expectations. This month in particular has not been kind, though that will change with Toy Story 4 this weekend (I hope).

I can't express my view on these movies so far since I haven't seen them, but  maybe the concept of The Secret Life of Pets worked well enough for just one film. It's not like Despicable Me where you can do enough original stuff for a trilogy of films and keep people interested. And Dark Phoenix doesn't have much going for it. X-Men without familiar faces just doesn't work.

The last time we saw a Men in Black film was in 2012 with the same two guys that were in it since the first one in 1997. I don't know if people are still skeptical or if the change in different members hurt it potential. It's not a bad trio. There's Liam Neeson and Chris Hemsworth, who are superstars in themselves. Then you got Tessa Thompson, who's stock is rising. She is a good actress, and her performances in films like Creed show that. But who knows. And did we really need another Shaft? It was a modest hit in 2000. Was another one necessary?

With a legion of horror movies and action films over the next two weekends, none of them will reach number one. I do believe Toy Story 4 will be dominating theaters in its first two weekends. I don't know if it will have the same impact as the third, but it will still be a huge hit. I don't see Child's Play making any decent numbers unless it surprises many. The Conjuring and Annabelle films are huge draws, but it will be tough for them next week. But this second half of June should give the box office a huge shot in the arm it desperately needs.

Reviews: Taking them too seriously

Practically everything and anything will be reviewed. We judge mainstream stuff to see if people think there is a quality film, show, etc... or mediocre product. Sometimes, both sides will mostly agree or have different opinions and have a big number differential in the like/hate ratio. However, there are some people who take the reviews very seriously that they will be outraged about some change or how the majority felt about it.

When it comes to the movies, there will be that one reviewer that ruins it for people. That example is critic Armond White. He came to my attention back in the summer of 2010 when Toy Story 3 hit theaters. Like the first two films, it was unanimously well received and enjoyed a big run from mid-June until the end of the year. Not too long, White put up a negative review which dropped the percentage at Rotten Tomatoes from 100 to 99. Obviously it really angered people. To my understanding as time has gone on, he is one of those people who reviews bad films positively, and good films negatively. Around the same time with the new Toy Story, Jonah Hex hit theaters. White would give it a positive review as the film was panned and bombed at the box office. 

Now, I don't mind liking a film that is considered bad. Everybody has their guilty pleasures, and the films that they enjoy despite their hatred from almost everyone. White is constantly doing that gimmick for a very long time and he gets the people right where he wants them. Right now, it's the film, Get Out. It has been a huge hit in its three weeks in theaters, making over 100 million dollars. Not only that, but it's gotten critical acclaim. Like Toy Story 3, White gave it a negative review and it dropped from 100 to 99. I simply don't get it. What is he trying to accomplish? Being different for the sake of being different is not always the best decision. I think he knows what he's doing and he's going to stick with it to keep getting people to berate him. Essentially, he's an old fart troll who will keep ruining things.

Recently, there has been some buzz going around with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. So far, it has been given a lot of praise and has one of the highest scores ever on Metacritic. That number was at 98. Now it's at 97. To keep this in mind, Zelda is a Nintendo franchise, and the on the internet, it is obsessively loved. A YouTube reviewer, Jim Sterling, gave the game a 7 out of 10. That is not a bad score. Unfortunately, it has not been the case for anyone that loves it. The fact that he got DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) on his website and petitions to cause harm shows the bad side of fanboys, especially Nintendo ones.

Personally, every company has its share of psycho and extremist fanboys. As far as video games go, every developer and publisher has those. I find the worse to be Nintendo and PC fanboys. Maybe RPG fanboys as well. However, I've never seen anyone go beyond obsession of a review until the last 24 hours. I visited a website that will remain unnamed. A user was really flipping out over the score and was creating topic after topic and posting anything regarding Sterling. I've never watched the guy and probably never will, but the amount of hate that was being put, you would of thought there was money at stake. Most of the user's posts and topics have since been deleted, and has been put on probation from the site for only a few days.

If it were any other franchise, it would have been a shrug from the shoulders. The thing is, there is a deep love religiously for Zelda and Nintendo. Anything that is shrouded in negativity and the rabid fanboys will go on a full front attack and say things that don't make sense. To be fair, it happens with a lot of other companies, but I feel it is way more common with the ones interested in this Japanese company. It's just a damn review. If you can justify your score and give your exact reasons, then most people will understand. Especially if it's a score that most will definitely not agree on and go after you for. 

This age of Internet, social media, and other things have been pretty toxic. I'm guilty of saying certain things like everyone else has. However, I have never seen anything like this. All this over a review. As far as something like a movie, I think it's justified when it comes to someone like Armond White. For games, it's going to keep continuing with whatever the next universally praised game gets those same marks as Zelda. Maybe in a different generation, things will get better, but right now, it's as explosive as you can get and it's going to get more dangerous to be a reviewer.