Movie Review Gods and Generals

Gods and Generals (2003) 

Directed by Ronald F. Maxwell 

Written by Ronald F. Maxwell 

Starring Robert Duvall, Stephen Lang, Jeff Daniels, Mira Sorvino, Frankie Faison

Release Date February 21st, 2003 

Published February 20th, 2003 

The Civil War isn't quite the blockbuster story that popcorn-loving audiences seek out in search of escapist fare. So I must credit Ted Turner and the makers of Gods & Generals for attempting such a bold, non-commercial effort. That said, at well over three hours in length and with a decidedly pro-South approach, Gods & Generals is not only non-commercial, it's non-watchable.

A dramatic retelling of the Battle of Fredericksburg, Gods & Generals stars Stephen Lang as Southern Colonel Stonewall Jackson and Robert Duvall as General Robert E. Lee. On the Northern side it's Jeff Daniels reprising his role from Gettysburg as Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, though since Fredericksburg is chronologically before Gettysburg, Chamberlain has just joined the Maine contingent of the Northern army on his way to becoming a Colonel. Duvall inherited the role of Robert E. Lee from Martin Sheen who held the role in Gettysburg. 

Of course I'm getting well ahead of myself. Gods & Generals details the beginning of a three part film series that again actually began with it's middle segment, Gettysburg, in 1993. This first installment is about how Virginia was drawn into the war on the side of the South. Representatives of President Lincoln offered General Robert E. Lee the command of all Northern armies to fight the secessionist South. Feeling sympathy for the South's states rights stance Lee declined and began to organize a Virginia regiment to fight on the side of the South. A Virginia Military Institute professor, Thomas Jackson, whose students are quick to join in, also joins Lee. Jackson joins up telling friends that his priorities are God, family, Virginia and country.

Looking for a quick end to the war, President Lincoln is prepared to fight Lee's Virginia troops and the supporting armies from the South in Fredericksburg, with the feeling that without Virginia, the South would fall quickly. Sensing a moral imperative to the end of slavery and reuniting of the country, a philosophy professor from Maine named Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain joined the Northern army over the objection of his wife Fanny (Mira Sorvino, in a cameo role). Chamberlain is joined by his less idealistic brother Thomas (C. Thomas Howell), who doesn't believe in the cause as much as he believes in helping his brother.

Those are the recognizable characters, but like the classic Hollywood epics of the 1930's and 40's, there really is a cast of thousands. Thousands of actors and committed Civil War re-enactors came together under the direction of Ronald F. Maxwell, who also directed Gettysburg, to recreate The Battle of Fredericksburg with nearly flawless detail. From strategy to historic legend, right down to the costuming, Gods & Generals is as faithful as a movie could be to it's subject matter.

The accuracy and precision involved in the recreation of the battle is truly commendable. Unfortunately, all that surrounds it is snooze inducing. Speech after speech after speech drone on and on and on. When Lang, Duvall or Daniels isn't on screen, it's nearly impossible to tell the Northern and Southern armies apart, even as the recreation of the battle is extraordinarily detailed . In the awesome confusion of muskets and cannon fire, telling them apart becomes an entirely futile and exhausting effort and audiences are left out of the film until after the battle when the major characters are back upfront explaining who won the day and why.

That confusion however isn't the film’s biggest problem. The biggest problem is the script, which paints the army from Virginia as the noblest army ever to walk on to a battlefield. To watch Gods & Generals as pure history would lead one to believe that Stonewall Jackson was a combination of Superman and Ghandi. That's not to criticize Stephen Lang, who has a few very effective scenes. It would be difficult for any actor to portray Stonewall Jackson as the second coming of Christ but he does the best he can with the role. We can argue forever, and historians have, why the Civil War was fought, but in the end neither side could live up to the way they are portrayed in the script, written by the director Ronald Maxwell.

The film’s length at just under 7,200 hours is deathly. Actually it was just under 4 hours but it feels a lot longer. Though the battle scenes may hold your attention, the scenes that don't include massive explosions are tremendously dull and filled with pious speeches from characters that Maxwell seems to want to put up for sainthood. I don't mind long movies, I own the nearly five hour versions of Lord Of The Rings and Apocalypse Now Redux, but Gods & Generals has some obvious segments that even junior editors could easily clip out without hurting the film’s narrative in the least. One less interminable speech by Stonewall Jackson about God's judgment and the film would be half as long. 

What Gods and Generals needs more than anything iss an editor, a good one. An editor who could reign in the visionary director and hip him to the necessity for brevity in modern cinema. Gods and Generals would play better as a television movie, broken up over two or three days. There, the commitment to accuracy could be appreciated more while not taxing the backside of everyone watching it. 

Movie Review Monte Carlo

Monte Carlo (2011) 

Directed by Thomas Bezucha 

Written by April Blair, Maria Maggenti, Thomas Maggenti 

Starring Selena Gomez, Leighton Meester, Katie Cassidy

Release Date July 1st, 2011 

Published July 2nd, 2011

With Selena Gomez on the cover of the September issue of Elle Magazine, their LatinX special, I went and found one of the few times when I have had the chance to write about Selena Gomez. In 2011, Gomez co-starred with Leighton Meester and Katie Cassidy in the forgettable but pleasant teen comedy Monte Carlo. Selena Gomez proved to be a very natural lead for a teen comedy and because of her, Monte Carlo is more enjoyable than many similar teen girl comedies.

Monte Carlo is the story of three friends who travel to Paris for one of the worst tours of all time and stumble upon one truly unexpected adventure that finds one of them impersonating a tabloid superstar, all three jetting off to Monte Carlo, and each finding love in unique ways. Is it a great adventure? No, but for what it is, it's not bad.

Selena Gomez is the star of Monte Carlo as Grace, a Texas High Schooler who has just graduated. Her plan is to head off to Paris with her best friend, Emma (Katie Cassidy) but her mom (Andie McDowell) and step-dad (Brett Cullen) have an addition to her plans. Dad will upgrade Grace and Emma's travel plans if they don't mind having his daughter Meg (Leighton Meester) join the trip.

Naturally, there is tension between Grace and Meg; they haven't exactly bonded since their parents got together. They will need to get along however as once the trio arrive in Paris they quickly find themselves abandoned by their terrifically awful tourist group. The tour scenes are quite funny with the speedy tour guide dragging the group past Paris's greatest landmarks in less time than it would take to snap a picture.

Stuck in the rain and miles from their modest hostel accommodations, the girls stop off at a luxury hotel to dry off. That's when the adventure begins. At the hotel Emma and Meg encounter Cordelia Winthrop Scott (Gomez) and find that Grace is a dead ringer for the heiress. After overhearing that Cordelia is pulling a disappearing act that will have her out of the way for a week the girls hatch an accidental plot to replace her.

The plan was just to take Cordelia's luxury suite for a night in order to get out of the rain but the following morning finds the trio ushered to a limo and on to a private jet headed to Monte Carlo. From there the plot cleverly conspires to keep the girls from escaping. Most films of this sort, modest, middle budget, niche comedies, skimp on character motivation. Monte Carlo actually takes care to make sure that the characters are moving in particular directions for particular reasons.

Grace may not want to keep up the Cordelia charade but when she finds that a children's charity will suffer without Cordelia on hand to raise funds, she changes her tune. It helps that she is immediately smitten with Theo (Pierre Boulanger) the scion of the charity founder. Meg too wants to escape this situation but when she falls for an Aussie vacationer her plans change as well.

Monte Carlo is far from brilliant comedy but within its modest ambitions it is successful at earning smiles and a few minor laughs. The young stars are sweet and best of all they perform with purpose in a movie that has a clear motivation and coheres to a specific plot. Again, I cannot express how nice it is to watch a movie, especially a teen-centric comedy, that cares why characters do the things they do.

Selena Gomez was on the track for stardom ever since she started out as a regular playmate for Barney the Dinosaur. Gomez is sweet, smart and pretty and the makers of Monte Carlo showcase her playfulness as well as her beauty. Monte Carlo gets extra credit from me for portraying Gomez's young romance with a light and comic touch. The romance is sweet and chaste and fitting of the young and playful tone of the rest of Monte Carlo. 

Leighton Meester also showed big star potential in Monte Carlo. Meester's roles prior to Monte Carlo had shown her to be a bland beauty with a mostly blank, expressionless face. In Monte Carlo however, especially in chastely romantic scenes with Aussie hunk Luke Bracey, Meester is lively and fun in an effortless yet PG friendly way. Considering that the role Meester took on just before Monte Carlo was the unwatchable supposed 'thriller' The Roommate, Monte Carlo was Casablanca by comparison. 

Monte Carlo doesn't reinvent the teen comedy wheel but in its formulaic, PG comedy way, it's a pleasant distraction and a breath of fresh air compared to a kid comedies of the same time period, 2010 and 11, like Mr. Popper's Penguins or even a rom-com like Something Borrowed, both of which looked downright amateurish compared to the effortless family friendly fun of Monte Carlo which is both kid flick and modest rom-com.'

Movie Review: The Last Castle

The Last Castle (2001) 

Directed by Rod Lurie 

Written by David Scarpa, Graham Yost 

Starring Robert Redford, James Gandolfini, Mark Ruffalo, Delroy Lindo 

Release Date October 19th, 2001 

Published October 18th, 2001 

The Last Castle is yet another film that falls into the category of could have been great. All the elements are there including a strong cast, headed up by Robert Redford and James Gandolfini, and a good director in former film critic Rod Lurie who directed The Contender, one of the best films of 2000. Unfortunately The Last Castle is too predictable and hampered by lead performance by Mr. Redford which lacks investment.

The Last Castle is the story of General Eugene Irwin (Redford) who, we are told, is a legend from Vietnam to the Gulf War to Bosnia. Now, Irwin is a prisoner following court martial and is sentenced to 10 years in prison for reasons left unsaid for a reason. Irwin serves his time in the military prison known as 'The Castle.' It's called the castle because it looks like a castle but also because it is ruled by a tyrannical wannabe King. 

James Gandolfini plays the malevolent warden, Commandant Edward Winter, who rules his prison with fear and treatment many might consider cruel. General Irwin wants nothing more than to just serve his time but after witnessing abuse of prisoners, and outright murder, Irwin decides to lead a revolt. Using a prison informant, CPL Sam Yates (Mark Ruffalo), as a double agent, Irwin sets in motion a plan to cause an uprising that will be witnessed by Winter's superior, General Wheeler (Delroy Lindo). That should be enough to get Winter removed from command. 

The story of The Last Castle is entertainingly told with some moments of genius including a scene early in the revolt involving the kidnapping of another General played by Delroy Lindo. However Lindo's character seems curiously out sync, he seems to show up just to setup other scenes and acts as more of a plot device than a character. What completely undoes The Last Castle however is Redford. It goes without saying that Robert Redford is a brilliant actor, a true legend, but he is on auto-pilot in The Last Castle and his lack of interest in the plot and his own character is palpable. 

Redford's previous film to The Last Castle was the sleep inducing lead role in The Horse Whisperer and he brought the same sleepy disinterest in performing to General Irwin who seems to have no passion for what he's doing.  Redford's Irwin seems more inconvenienced by having to lead an uprising than he appears to care about the men he's seen being abused. I understand it's best to remain calm and collected in the circumstances of a plot like but there is calm and then there is a sense of complete apathy.

Gandolfini on the other hand is passionate, energetic and thin-skinned. His war with Irwin begins with a minor verbal slight from the General. Gandolfini evokes MASH's Frank Burns on steroids, mad with power and envy. If only Redford had a little Hawkeye Pierce in his General Irwin the sparring between these two characters would have least had some good one liners and Hawkeye was if anything passionate.

It's sad that The Last Castle represented one of Gandolfini's best performances and he's let down by a legendary co-star who couldn't be bothered to try and match his co-stars effort. Gandolfini is almost so good in The Last Castle that I would recommend it just for him, Sadly, the film drags whenever Redford's laconic General is in the lead and that's most of The Last Castle. 

Movie Review Spy Game

Spy Game (2001)

Directed by Tony Scott 

Written by David Arata, Michael Frost Beckner 

Starring Robert Redford, Brad Pitt, Catherine McCormack, Stephen Dillane 

Release Date November 21, 2001 

Published November 25th, 2001 

Director Tony Scott is not known for substance. The famed director of Crimson Tide, Top Gun and Enemy Of the State is more identified a with stylish slickness that has almost become a genre all it's own, an offshoot of the traditional action genre but cleaner. I would like to say that with Spy Game things changed for Tony Scott and he took on a more serious and substantial version of the action genre, something fitting the massive star-power at his disposal. But no, Spy Game is as slick and substance free as any other Tony Scott vehicle. 

Fortunately it worked for Spy Game. Scott's slick style combined with electric performances by Brad Pitt and Robert Redford make Spy Game very entertaining ever as it is a fully mindless action spectacle directed like a music video. Spy Game is the story of CIA agent Nathan Muir (Redford) who, on what was to be the day of his career as a spy, must find a way to save the life of his former protégé Tom Bishop (Pitt).

Bishop was captured during a daring rescue attempt in a Chinese prison. Now, on the eve of Chinese trade talks, the CIA and the executive branch are deciding how best to keep a lid on this possible scandal. The option favored by most, including the President of the United States, is to let the Chinese execute Bishop. The movie unfolds  that story while also layering in the backstory of how Muir's legendary spy met and trained Bishop as the next generation of American spy. 

It's rather fitting when you think about it, Robert Redford essentially passing the movie star torch to Brad Pitt. That would likely have made more sense in the 90s before Pitt became one of the biggest stars in the world and needed a rub from someone like Redford, but regardless, these two are a perfect pair to provide generational counterpoint to one another. They also both formerly known as the sexiest man alive which makes them the perfect surfaces to be reflected by Scott's style over substance brand. 

There is plenty of backstory in Spy Game and much of it plays off of CIA history. Redford's Muir recruiting and training Pitt's Bishop in flashbacks set in the 1980s when the CIA was all over Lebanon and the Middle East trying to use traditional spycraft to get a handle on Middle Eastern relations. My favorite parts of Spy Game are the stories of the CIA in Lebanon in the 80's, scenes that are shocking yet very believable given Lebanon's colorful history. 

To be completely honest Spy Game may not have a brain in it's head but neither did The Fast and the Furious and that went on to be one of the best brainless movie franchises in history. What makes Spy Game so good is Redford who plays a brilliant game of mental chess with the audience and with everyone else in the movie. Redford is always one step ahead of everyone and yet takes time to wink at the audience and let us in time to get the joke. It's a great performance and it elevates Spy Game to more than just another slick, fast-paced, action flick. 

Movie Review: 'Mindhunters'

Mindhunters (2005) 

Directed by Renny Harlin 

Written by Wayne Kramer, Kevin Brobdin, Ehren Kruger

Starring Val Kilmer, LL Cool J, Jonny Lee Miller, Kathryn Morris

Release Date May 13th, 2005 

Published May 12th, 2005 

Mindhunters was a strange affair. The film was completed in 2002 but did not get released by the late Dimension Films until 2005. Why? Who knows, they probably realized the the stinker they had on their hands. After finally blowing the dust off this crusty little thriller with LL Cool J, Val Kilmer and Christian Slater, the newly, non-Weinstein regime at Dimension films finally dumped the film into theaters. Why they bothered with theaters instead of directing it to the video stores of 2005 where it belonged must have been some kind of contractual obligation. There is no other explanation for why garbage like Mindhunters ever made it to such a wide release.

LL Cool J is the star of Mindhunters-- he must have drawn the short straw-- as a shady cop invited to join a group of rookie FBI profilers on a training mission on a deserted island military base. Val Kilmer is the leader of this little band but his role is little more than a cameo.  And, yes, that is Christian Slater as one of the profilers of whose fate the trailer and commercials spoiled mightily and for no good reason whatsoever.

Joining Cool J at the head of the cast is Johnny Lee Miller as Lucas and Kathryn Morris from TV's Cold Case as Sara. They are joined by a group of other semi-recognizable early 2000s character actors including Eion Bailey then of TV's ER, Patricia Velasquez and Clifton Collins Jr. each of whom line up to be victims of the films serial killer as if they were camp counselors having sex at Crystal Lake. Canon fodder is a kind description of the roles played by Bailey, Velasquez and Collins. 

Essentially this little group is on the island to profile a fictional serial killer who is obsessed with time. The military base is set up as a small town with dummies standing in for real people. The profilers must locate the crime scenes, examine the fake dead bodies and assemble the clues that could lead them to the fictional killer. However, as they quickly find out from the death of one of their own, this serial killer is very real.

A search of the island shows the young profilers are either alone on the island, or not entirely thorough, thus leading to the obvious conclusion that one of them is in fact the killer. As the Rube Goldbergian murder devices unfold and remove one obvious victim after another, it is not hard to decipher which characters are going to survive and which is the killer. Morris, Miller and L.L Cool J all have main character powers so it's a safe bet that they are among the top suspects. 

This mess of horror film aesthetic and  thriller clichés attempts to fool audiences but not with clever plot twists and good character work.  No, director Renny Harlin's weapon of choice is utterly incomprehensible stupidity. The film was edited by Neil Farrell and Paul Martin Smith both of whom are wishing the Editors union accepted synonyms like the Directors union's well known Allen Smithee. Mindhunters seems as if it were assembled from different versions of the script each featuring different killers, victims, and survivors. This owes more to Harlin's baffling direction and Wayne Kramer's script than anything these poor and likely tortured editors did.

The mess extends to the acting and dialogue as well, as the confused cast bounds from one ridiculous setup to the next seemingly unaware of which version of the script they are acting from. LL Cool J, Johnny Lee Miller and the rest of the cast wander about looking at each other and seeming to say "No, I'm the killer!" "No I'm the killer!" "Are not!" "Am too!" and on and on throughout most of the final 30 minutes of the film. And somehow the killer still turns out to be easily predictable.

Mindhunters is a real shame because this is a very talented cast. Catherine Morris appeared to be a legit star on her TV show Cold Case in 2005. On that clever CBS crime procedural, her steely demeanor perfectly evoked her tough but vulnerable FBI Agent. In Mindhunters, however, Morris is thoroughly done in by a confused and disorienting script that may or may not have had her as both killer and victim at different points during filming.

LL Cool J, Christian Slater and Val Kilmer are shells of the actors who have flirted with stardom in the past. Kilmer we forget was once Batman, but he is far from even that flawed blockbuster in Mindhunters where apparently he owed the producers a favor. How else can you explain why he accepted this minor and entirely forgettable role. Mindhunters was sadly par for the course at the time for Slater who was coming off of his asleep-at-the-wheel lead role in Alone In The Dark. Mindhunters came at a time well before Mr Robot came around and brought Slater back to the respectable world of working actors. 

LL Cool J is at least an enjoyable star to head up and ham up Mindhunters and his is the only thing remarkable about the film. LL Cool , even in this terrible movie, had the charisma of an A-list celebrity and that helped him to outshine some of this deeply confusing script that I'm sure featured him as killer and victim and survivor and savior at different points during the production.

Johnny Lee Miller, Eion Bailey and Clifton Collins Jr. were terrific young actors in 2005 who had succeeded in the past with strong character work. Miller was once quite the rising star after leading man after starring with his then wife Angelina Jolie in Hackers and then gave a strong turn in the cult hit Trainspotting. Bailey made a good impression with a small role in Fight Club and a memorable performance in the HBO mini-series Band of Brothers. And as for Collins, his best work was in front of him as he once earned genuine Oscar buzz for his supporting role in Capote opposite Phillip Seymour Hoffman.

Watching this terrific cast suffer at the hands of director Renny Harlin is quite painful. All of this talent and  Harlin can do nothing with it but line them up on a formula horror thriller assembly line and eliminate them one by one until he's done picking names out of a hat to decide who lives and who is the killer. To call Renny Harlin a hack is far too simple. After once looking like a star director in the action genre, Harlin regressed as a filmmaker so much that he went from blockbusters to making movies that no longer see a theatrical release. Harlin hasn't seen one of his movies reach theaters in wide release since he made he vomited Exorcist The Beginning into theaters in 2004 to widespread derision and empty box office coffers. 

Movie Review Angels and Demons

Angels and Demons (2009) 

Directed by Ron Howard

Written by David Koepp, Akiva Goldsman

Starring Tom Hanks, Ewan McGregor, Ayelet Zurer, Stellan Skarsgard 

Release Date May 15th, 2009 

Published May 14th, 2009 

Dan Brown is the Stephanie Meyer of the conspiracy set. He may not have vampire teens but, he has an equally easy reading, mass appeal quality. Where Meyers adds faux Shakespearean dreariness to Vampire tropes, Brown takes the well worn ideas of the tinfoil hat set and adds suspense and complicated dialogue to create a worldwide phenomenon that millions love because the implied complexity of puzzles makes you feel smart.

Angels & Demons is, curiously, a sequel to 2005's worldwide blockbuster The Da Vinci Code. Curious because Angels & Demons was actually released before The Da Vinci Code which was its sequel. It doesn't really matter; if you check your Summer blockbuster for continuity or a modicum of good sense, summer movies likely aren't for you.

Tom Hanks returns in the role of Harvard Symbology Professor Robert Langdon. As if to show you how awesomely convoluted his stories are, Brown invented an entire field of study. Symbology is a thing but it's more commonly known as Semiotics, Symbology is just easier for audiences to understand, the root, symbol, very simple. When last we left Dr. Langdon he had discovered Da Vinci's secret about the Virgin Mary's burial plot.

Now, he's been called to Vatican City where the death of a pope has some wondering if murder were afoot. There is a whole lot of nonsense about the Hadron Collider, a scientist and his daughter, Dr Vittoria Vetra (Ayelet Zurer), Hanks' obligatory sidekick, and the College of Cardinals, but none of it really matters. The crux of Angels & Demons comes down to Tom Hanks running about while various murders are committed at locations only a Symbologist could discover.

Ewan McGregor co-stars as Father Patrick McKenna who could be Langdon's ally or he could be the number one suspect. He could also be a red herring from the casting department. Trust me, once McGregor pulls a devastatingly convoluted bit of skydiving you will not care, either you will have given in to the goofball fun of Brown's low watt conspiring or you will be mid-nap. Stellan Skarsgard also appears in Angels & Demons as the head of Vatican Security and it becomes a red herring contest between he and McGregor. 

I was modestly entertained by how silly and beach read-y Angels & Demons is. Ron Howard is far too talented a director for things to get too far out of whack. Howard, at the very least, keeps the energy level high. As for Tom Hanks, his good guy act is top notch. Hanks can't help but elevate this material as his innate likability can't be dimmed even by the most convoluted and nonsensical of plots. Hanks holds sway over an audience like few other actors are capable of. 

Angels & Demons is mostly harmless popcorn entertainment. At over 2 hours, with multiple twist endings, it definitely overstays its welcome but if you are a fan of Dan Brown, Ron Howard or Tom Hanks you may just be forgiving enough to like Angels & Demons. There is nothing terrifically wrong with the occasional insipid bit of plot nonsense when you have Tom Hanks leading you past the silliness. 

Movie Review Toy Story 3

Toy Story 3 (2010) 

Directed by Lee Unkrich 

Written by Michael Arndt 

Starring Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Don Rickles, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger

Release Date June 18th, 2010 

Published June 17th, 2010 

With the release of “Toy Story 3” Pixar authored a third masterpiece in the film series that began the company's unmatched winning streak. Toy Story 3 is as bright, imaginative, compassionate and thoughtful as the first two entries in the series. And yet, the series doesn't simply fall back on qualities that it has become known for. Much like how a child learns about the world, the Toy Story franchises grows, learns to embrace change, and gets better for the lessons learned and commented upon. 

We rejoin our friends Buzz (Tom Hanks) and Woody (Tim Allen) and their family of toys as they make a vain attempt to get their kid Andy's attention. Andy is now 18 years old and preparing to leave for college. It's been several years since Andy has played with his toys but they hold out hope that one day he might pick them up again. If not, there is always the attic where they can wait for Andy to start a family and pass them on to his kids.

Things go awry however when Andy's mom mistakes the toys, sans Woody who Andy decides to take with him to college, stuffed into a garbage bag intended by Andy for the attic, for trash. This begins one terrifically suspenseful action scene as Woody risks everything to get to the curb and save his friends while Buzz attempts to save the day from inside the bag.

Thinking that Andy had abandoned them, the toys duck into a box of toys to be donated to a local day care center. Woody joins them, attempting to get them to go back to Andy. The day care meanwhile seems like a dream, a retirement home for toys where they can get played with by new kids for years to come.

There is a sinister undercurrent to all of the good natured fun of this kid friendly aesthetic. That sinister undercurrent emanates from a suspiciously too friendly stuffed bear named Lotso (Ned Beatty) who steps forward as a leader of the daycare toys and appears to have a place for the new arrivals. However, instead of taking care of Woody and his pals, Lotso dooms them to the Butterfly room where kids too young to properly care for toys end up playing with them in the most painstaking fashion.

Juxtaposed with this story is Woody's journey to get back to Andy and his very real internal conflict between his loyalty to Andy and his loyalty to his family of toys. It's remarkable the ways in which director Lee Unkrich along with Toy Story creators John Lasseter and Andrew Stanton cause us to invest so deeply, emotionally in these toy characters. We feel for these characters as deeply as any human character we've ever seen on screen.

Just as remarkable is how this deep emotional connection is forged with joy and laughter. Toy Story 3 racks up big laughs through out its feature length even at the most dramatic and heart rending moments. Unkrich, Lasseter and Stanton know that the best way to deliver a hard lesson is to follow it with a big laugh and no scene demonstrates this quite as well as the landfill conveyor scene, a scene filled with danger, sadness and eventually a big laugh.

This is some of the finest writing and voice acting we've seen in any Pixar feature and some of the most eye popping, remarkable animation as well. Pixar has advanced this art form to such lengths that it's hard to find superlatives that haven't already been overly ascribed to the artists at Pixar.

”Toy Story 3” is a masterpiece. It is a remarkably emotional, action packed, breathtakingly beautiful movie. The characters that we came to know from Pixar's early days have only grown even more warmhearted, funny and vulnerable over the years and our emotional investment in them has only deepened with each ensuing adventure. What a remarkable feeling it is to be moved so deeply by non-human characters. Moved and yet also gleefully, joyfully entertained.

Movie Review: Toy Story 4

Toy Story 4 (2019) 

Directed by Josh Cooley 

Written by Andrew Stanton, Stephany Folsom 

Starring Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Annie Potts, Christina Hendricks, Jordan Peele, Keegan Michael Key, Keanu Reeves, Tony Hale 

Release Date June 21st, 2019

Published June 20th, 2019

I keep imagining that at some point the team at Pixar is going to slow down, that the quality will begin to slip and that the high standard they’ve held for more than 25 years has to decline at some point. And yet, quite wonderfully, they never fail. Pixar’s unfailing quality is an even greater testament to the company’s standard of excellence. For the fourth time, Pixar has made a Toy Story movie that manages to transcend expectations.

Sequels are never expected to improve upon the original. In general, Hollywood sequels are more often than not mercenary efforts intended solely to grab cash while taking advantage of the public appetite for something comfortingly familiar. The folks at Pixar however, are not ones to compromise on quality. Sure, few things are as comfortable and familiar as the chemistry between Woody and Buzz, but Pixar is not a company to rely only on that.

Toy Story 4 is as brilliant, emotionally complex and funny as any of the other Toy Story films. And to add to the degree of difficulty, the film is directed by a debuting director, Josh Cooley. Taking over for John Lasseter, who founded the franchise and carried it to a wonderful sequel and Lee Unkrich who pushed the concept of Toy Story to a place of remarkable poignance and humor in Toy Story 3, Cooley had a nearly impossible task in front of him. That Toy Story 4 equals the standard of the first three films is utterly remarkable.

Toy Story 4 picks up the story of our toy heroes, led by Woody (Tom Hanks) as they live life as Bonnie’s toys. Lately, Woody has fallen out of favor, often being left in the closet while the rest of the toys go to play. This however, has not dampened Woody’s dedication to Bonnie and when she is leaving for her first day of Kindergarten, Woody covertly tags along in her book bag. Woody then secretly helps Bonnie through her first day by getting her the art supplies she needs to create a new friend.

When Bonnie returns home from school, she returns with not just Woody in tow. Woody introduces the rest of the toys to Forky (Tony Hale), Bonnie’s new favorite. Bonnie made Forky out of a spork, some sticks, glue and a pipe cleaner. Forky’s existence is a crisis, not for any of the toys, but for Forky himself. Forky does not see himself as a toy but as a disposable, trash item and he seeks to fulfill his trash destiny.

Woody takes it upon himself to keep Forky with Bonnie at all cost. When Bonnie’s family decides to take a road trip, Forky makes a break for it by jumping from the moving RV in the middle of the night. Being the dedicated toy hero that he is, Woody jumps after him and the main plot of Toy Story 4 kicks in. Woody must convince Forky to accept life as a toy and make it back to the RV before it leaves the following morning from a nearby RV park.

Before Woody and Forky return, Woody gets distracted by something in an antique shop. It appears to be the lamp of Bo Peep (Annie Potts), Woody’s long ago friend from his days as Andy’s favorite toy. Bo Peep was given away years earlier and was thought lost forever. Woody decides to see if she is in the antique shop but before he can find her, Woody and Forky are waylaid by the latest brilliant villain of the Toy Story universe, Gabby Gabby (Christina Hendricks), a talking baby doll with a broken voice box.

Gabby Gabby and her dummy minions see that Woody has a voice box and they are eager to get it from him. Gabby takes Forky hostage when Woody escapes and it will be up to Woody to try and rescue his new friend while his old friends try to keep Bonnie’s family from leaving without Woody. You were probably wondering what role our old friends were playing, specifically Buzz (Tim Allen), Jesse (Joan Cusack), Slinky Dog (Blake Clark) and Ham (John Ratzenberger). They’re all back but they are mostly sidelined, used sparingly in the Bonnie’s family subplot.

Buzz does get his own story as he goes looking for Woody and explores his inner voice, which he mistakes for the literal voice that comes out when he presses the buttons on his chest. The cluelessness here feels a little off brand for Buzz who has grown in the previous three movies but Allen’s voice work sells it with wit and energy. Allen’s comfort level with the character and this universe could likely make any character trait work for Buzz Lightyear, short of becoming a serial killer.

The new cast members of Toy Story 4 are a rich group of comic possibilities. Christina Hendricks brings nuance and likability to Gabby Gabby who is not the straight ahead villain you expect. Gabby Gabby has the poignance of Ned Beatty’s Toy Story 3 teddy bear but not his tragedy. Gabby Gabby’s story has an unexpected outcome that I won’t spoil here other than saying it is quite satisfying.

In the smaller supporting roles, Keegan Michael Key, Jordan Peele and MVP of 2019, Keanu Reeves, each bring big laughs to Toy Story 4. These characters are a smart innovation for the franchise. While Woody is carrying a rather dramatic story, Key and Peele’s Ducky and Bunny and Keanu’s Duke Caboom, are purely comic inventions. I really loved the running bit that Key and Peele get that I won’t spoil here, it’s silly but it works.

Toy Story 4 is a really great movie. It’s not only because we already love these characters, it’s because the creative team at Pixar cares so deeply about giving these movies a reason to continue. Here, the story is about the growth of Woody. Tom Hanks’ voice has aged perfectly into where Woody is as a character. He’s a little hoarse, he’s a little tired but he’s still eager to please and brimming with dedication, empathy and care.

The relationship between Woody and Annie Potts’ Bo Peep is a wonderful story, truly the heart of the movie. The Woody and Bo Peep story would be enough on its own to make Toy Story 4 transcendent but Pixar is, as always, an embarrassment of riches when it comes to storytelling and Toy Story and because of that, there are numerous things to enjoy about Toy Story 4, perhaps the single most durable and enjoyable movie franchise of all time.

Movie Review: Mean Dreams

Mean Dreams (2016) 

Directed by Nathan Morlando

Written by Kevin Coughlan, Ryan Grassby

Starring Bill Paxton, Josh Wiggins, Sophie Nelisse, Colm Feore

Release Date May 15th, 2016

Published May 15th, 2016

The passing of actor Bill Paxton naturally led to a great deal of praise and reflection as the universally beloved actor was remembered across the media landscape. He may not have looked like it but Paxton was 61 years old when he died of complications related to surgery. His youthfulness is something that many of his friends have talked about in tribute and his youthful energy was reflected by his work rate. At the time of his passing Paxton was working on the CBS television series “Training Day” and had one film in post-production, “The Circle,” and another that he was about to hit the promotional trail for and the reason for this writing, “Mean Dreams.”

In “Mean Dreams” Bill Paxton portrays a righteous bastard and invests him with the kind of menace that he doesn’t seem capable of from the remembrance of his friends. It's a high estimation of his talent that he was so incredible at making you afraid of him and yet he’s remembered for such incredible kindness and generosity in his everyday life.

“Mean Dreams” is the story of Jonas (Josh Wiggins) and Casey (Sophie Nelisse), teenagers who fall in love when Casey becomes Jonas’ neighbor, living just a field of weeds away. The two meet in the forest and though Casey’s father Wayne (Paxton) isn’t very welcoming, the two begin spending time together and building the kind of short term romantic intensity only teenagers can create. The romantic montage is beautifully shot by cinematographer Steve Cosens and director Nathan Morlando. The montage does its job of establishing the relationship and moving us along to the thriller plot that is the film’s center.

Jonas and Casey’s budding romance is altered forever when Jonas witnesses Casey being beaten by her father and attempts to intervene. Later, Jonas once again tries to help Casey but finds himself trapped amid Wayne pulling off a drug deal and then a multiple murder. When he escapes this situation, Jonas decides to take the ill-gotten drug money from Wayne’s truck, gathers up Casey and her dog and goes on the run to escape from Wayne and his equally corrupt cop partner played by Colm Feore.

There is a very Terence Malick like vibe to “Mean Dreams” with “Badlands” unquestionably influential in the film. The very first scene of “Mean Dreams” shows Jonas seemingly wearing the uniform of Martin Sheen’s young bad boy from “Badlands” while crossing the dewy, overgrown Midwestern weeds that Malick made so beautiful. The look is the only similarity however, as the character of Jonas is certainly nothing like Sheen’s thoughtless murderer. Josh Wiggins gives Jonas toughness and vulnerability in equal measure with his determination and caring a bittersweet counterpoint to Bill Paxton's villainous Wayne. 

Bill Paxton is terrifyingly real in “Mean Dreams.” Playing a drunken, corrupt, small town cop, Paxton is all seething menace underlined with a depth of sadness that only makes him more frighteningly unpredictable. The specter of Wayne hangs over the whole film, especially in scenes he is not in because his menace permeates the whole film and while he is frighteningly realistic it’s hard not to fear him popping up like a horror film villain. He’s portrayed as clever and resourceful on top of being a desperate bastard and Paxton infuses the character with chilling life.

In his second feature, following the 2011 Canadian crime flick “Citizen Gangster,” director Nathan Morlando acquits himself well. The look of the “Mean Dreams” is often quite lovely, with a touch of influence from “Badlands” and a little of the grayish grit of “The Road,” Morlando shows that he has a distinctive eye. If “Mean Dreams” is lacking in any way, it’s in the thin characterization of his female characters as either absent or present victims.

“Mean Dreams” is an intense sit with a quick pace and a good look. The film also ranks as one of the best performances in Bill Paxton’s long and varied career. I am not the one to offer Paxton a proper tribute as I have often taken issue with his performances, especially his most well-known turns for friend and director James Cameron. That said, I can say that his talent is well displayed in “Mean Dreams” where even as a supporting villain he carries the film with his menacing presence pushing the plot forward regardless of whether he’s onscreen or not.

This won’t go down as Paxton’s final performance but it is certainly a memorable one and one that is more than worthy of being part of a retrospective of the man’s career. Gone too soon at 61.