Toy Story 4 (2019)

  I'll be the first to admit that I didn't think this movie needed to be made.  Toy Story 3 was perfect and I really didn't see any other stories that needed to be told.  But I was wrong.  Toy Story 4 is a vital coda to Woody's narrative arc.

Woody (Tom Hanks) loves living at Bonnie's (Madeleine McGraw) but is struggling to accept no longer being a child's first choice.  He sneaks into her backpack for kindergarten orientation, believing that she needs a friendly face to adjust to a new environment, but is stunned when she creates a new toy, Forky (Tony Hale), out of craft supplies and a thrown-away spork.  Forky is not thrilled about achieving sentience so Woody appoints himself Forky's guardian until he stops trying to throw himself into every passing trash can.  Forky successfully escapes during a road trip, necessitating Woody's ill-advised rescue attempt and subsequent encounter with Gabby Gabby (Christina Hendricks), a vintage doll with a broken voice box and an army of ventriloquist dummies.

Kids will enjoy this movie, for sure.  My two godchildren did.  But this is the first Pixar sequel that truly feels more aimed at adults than kids.  Woody consistently put Andy's happiness over his own but struggles to connect with Bonnie.  He fears growing more and more irrelevant as she grows more independent from him.  He sublimates his own identity crisis in reinforcing Forky's position as Toy, not Trash, clinging to the familiar even as he reconnects with his former love interest, Bo Peep (Annie Potts), a "lost toy" completely comfortable with her new identity.  All I can say is thank Christ I didn't see these as a kid or I would have been distraught at the thought of my toys having Empty Nest Syndrome like Woody.  Or an existential crisis like Forky.  Or abandonment issues that lead to crippling insecurity like Duke Caboom (Keanu Reeves).  WHY DID I EVER THINK THESE WERE FOR CHILDREN??  WTF PIXAR?!

Toy Story 2 (1999)

  Jesus, this movie came out 20 years ago.  I'm not usually one to get caught up in the age of a thing relative to my own but this came as a shock.

While attempting to rescue a toy from a yard sale, Woody (Tom Hanks) is stolen by a local salesman (Wayne Knight) to be sold as part of a complete collection of toys from Woody's Roundup, a short-lived cowboy TV show, to a toy museum in Tokyo.  Woody only wants to go home but is convinced to stay by Cowgirl Jessie (Joan Cusack) whose child grew up and left her behind, and Prospector Pete (Kelsey Grammer) desperate not to go back into long-term storage.  Meanwhile, Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) leads some of the toys on a rescue attempt through Big Al's Toy Barn.

It is truly a testament to how great Pixar is that this movie stands up as well as it does.  Two decades later and the story is still timeless, the animation crisp, and the characters fully fleshed out.  This was supposed to be a direct-to-video throwaway sequel and instead became the launching point of a multi-generational franchise.

Mary Poppins (1964)

  I had two of my godchildren up for the weekend so you're getting all family-friendly stuff the rest of this post cycle.

The Banks family is in disarray after Katie Nanna (Elsa Lancaster) is the latest in a long string of nannies to abandon her post.  Mr. Banks (David Tomlinson) wants a nanny with a firm hand while children Jane (Karen Dotrice) and Michael (Matthew Garber) just want someone to love and pay attention to them.  Mrs. Banks (Glynnis Johns) wants votes for women.  Everyone gets what they want in Mary Poppins (Julie Andrews), the practically perfect magical nanny who takes the children on fabulous adventures and also makes them clean their rooms.

I wasn't sure this would hold up in today's CGI-dominated world but the kids seemed just as engaged with it as I remember being.  Charlie asked a lot of questions about the special effects and I tried to explain blue-screens and optical effects combined with editing.  I think it was more confusing than helpful but at least I tried.

This is a classic film for very good reason and should be a staple of childhoods everywhere.

Bad Times at the El Royale (2019)

  I'm really surprised this movie didn't get a lot of buzz.  It's got an A-list cast, slick production, and is written by the guy behind Cabin in the Woods.  But it came and went with barely a flicker.

Four strangers check in to the El Royale hotel, a once luxurious getaway with the curious gimmick of being half in California and half in Nevada.  None of them are what they appear to be and over the course of the night, secrets are revealed, blood is spilled, and all of their lives are profoundly changed.

Also, Chris Hemsworth is nearly naked for the majority of his scenes.  That's not really germane to the plot but might be of interest to some of you readers.

I think this is going to end up being one of those cult classics that people trot out in ten years as proof of their cinephile bonafides.  It has that neon-drenched Pulp Fiction kind of vibe but with more nuance.

The Wolverine (2013)

  I remember the hype when this movie came out and I had intended to watch it then but well, things happened and I never got around to it until this weekend.

Logan (Hugh Jackman) has isolated himself deep in the woods of Alaska or Canada (some place cold) in order to grieve over the death of Jean Grey (Famke Janssen).  Remember X3:  The Last Stand?  Yeah, no one else does either.  Anyway, Logan is drawn into a bar fight after having to put down a bear that had been shot with a poison arrow (FORESHADOWING!) and he meets Yukio (Rila Fukushima), a Japanese mutant sent to find him on behalf of her employer, Mr. Yashida (Haruhiko Yamanouchi).  Logan saved Yashida from the nuclear blast in Nagasaki and, on his deathbed, Yashida invites Logan to his compound in order to say good-bye.  Once in Japan, however, Logan is embroiled in all the creepy machinations of the Yashida clan, including a plot to kill the hot granddaughter, Mariko (Tao Okamoto).

This movie is... okay.  It probably would have been great in 2013 but in a post-Logan world, it just can't measure up.  Eventually, I'm going to do a full series re-watch of all the pre-Disney X-Men films and we can do more analysis then when it's all in context.  For now, there are some excellent fight scenes, especially the bullet train sequence, but the love story feels very cliché and the villains are a little underbaked.  James Mangold >>>> Bryan Singer, though.

Amistad (1997)

  This is a depressing ass movie.  I'm not saying it's a bad movie, but it's not a feel-good, happy-ending movie either.

Cinque (Djimon Honsou) leads a slave rebellion aboard the Cuban ship La Amistad.  They leave a couple of crew members alive to navigate but end up being boarded by an American Navy patrol off the coast of New England.  A major legal battle ensues over the rights and freedoms of the slaves, from a pair of abolitionists arguing for individual rights, the surviving Amistad crew members who claim the slaves as merchandise they paid for, the American crew claiming salvage rights, and the U.S. Secretary of State (David Paymer) arguing on behalf of the Queen of Spain (Anna Paquin).  The abolitionists' lawyer, Robert Baldwin (Matthew McConaughey), tries to prove that the slaves were obtained illegally and should be released but language barriers and a whole host of opposition force the case all the way to the Supreme Court.  Baldwin tries to lure the retired former President John Quincy Adams (Anthony Hopkins) out as a Hail Mary pass to present their case before the court.

This is a Spielberg film so expect a slow burn.  It's almost two and a half hours of courtroom drama, human suffering, and Pete Postlethwaite being a total dickbag.  Your mileage will vary, obviously, depending on how much you enjoy seeing those things.  It does feature some stellar performances from Hopkins, Honsou, and Chiwetel Ejiofor.  It's also based on a true story, so there's that.

If you are overwhelmed by the horrors of our current hellscape of institutionalized racism and headlong slide into fascism, maybe pace yourself with this movie.  Watch a little bit at a time.  Give yourself breaks.  Watch something happy afterwards.

John Wick (2014)

I know, it's another repost.  Technically, I haven't watched this since 2014, though, so it was probably time to see it again.  We had a guest over this weekend so I was not in control of the remote and I had absolutely nothing prepared.  That's my fault.  New and fresh posts will be coming this weekend.  In the meantime, let's revisit the beginning to one of the best new franchises around.  Originally posted 25 Oct 2014.    I know I'm usually earlier with my posts but I had absolutely nothing drafted.  It's been crazy busy all week and I'm trying to work my way through around 30 episodes of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report.  So I decided to get up and go see something at the theater.

I've never been a huge Keanu Reeves fan, mostly because I don't think he's all that attractive.  Sadly, that is a huge factor for me.  I know, shallow.  Whatever.  But with this movie, I am completely turned around.  This is another must-buy for me this year.

John Wick (Keanu Reeves) is struggling to go on after the death of his wife (Bridget Moynahan).  Foreseeing this, she has a dog delivered to him after her funeral as a way of forcing him to connect with the outside world.  He has this dog all of two freakin' days before the son of the Russian mafia boss (Alfie Allen) breaks into his house, steals his car, and **Not really a spoiler because it's in the trailer, but be ye warned anyway** kills his puppy.

Then it is on.

Wick, a former hitman for Viggo (Michael Nyqvist), comes out of retirement for revenge and he doesn't care how far he has to go to get it.

Slick, stylish, and darkly comedic, John Wick is one of those awesome popcorn flicks that I personally can watch over and over.  I walked out of the theater wishing I could walk right back in and see it again.

The Man from Nowhere (2010)

Y'all sleeping on Korean John Wick here.  Get on it.  Streaming on Prime.  You have no excuse.  Originally published 03 Nov 13.    Holy shit, I have to own this movie.  This is one of those random "Netflix suggests" films I added to my queue like two and a half years ago and oh my God, it is amazing.

Did you ever watch The Professional and think, "man, I wish that guy was Asian.  And hot."  Well, the gods of Korean cinema were listening and they got your back.

Cha Tae-shik (Won Bin) is a quiet pawnshop owner.  His only human interaction is with So-mi (Kim Sae-ron), a little girl who lives next door.  When So-mi's mother (Kim Hyo-seo) rips off some heroin and hides it in Tae-shik's pawnshop, the dealers comes after everyone.  They take So-mi and her mom hostage and force Tae-shik to do a run for them.  But they do not understand precisely with whom they are fucking, as Tae-shik is a badass of the highest order.

The Haunting (1963)

  This is one of those rare horror movies that has zero body count and almost no special effects, but still manages to be really effective at maintaining tension and suspense.

Dr. Markway (Richard Johnson) has obtained permission from the owner to conduct experiments at Hill House, a secluded mansion with a dark history.  He assembles a team of like-minded assistants, except only two of them actually show up:  Theodora (Claire Bloom), a psychic, and Eleanor (Julie Harris), an emotionally-damaged woman with a history of poltergeist activity.  Accompanying them is the prospective heir to the property, Luke (Russ Tamblyn), who mostly just drinks and cheats at cards.  While at the house, strange phenomena beset them and Eleanor becomes more and more unhinged.

Like I said, this is a classic haunted house movie but modern viewers may find it a little tough to sit through.  Eleanor is one of the most annoying characters to ever be on screen and she careens through mood changes faster than a F-1 supercar.  Dr. Markway is mostly a creeper, leaning heavily into patronizing fatherly stereotypes while awkwardly hitting on Eleanor.  It was almost impossible for me not to read Theo as a closeted lesbian.  She's chummy with Eleanor until they're around dudes, then she becomes very catty.  There's also a lot of subtext about her hiding who she really is and not being comfortable, which I'm sure were meant to be about her ESP but come across now as about her sexuality.  Luke is...just kind of there.  He's not manly enough to be a love interest, and not really interesting at all.

Despite the weak characterizations, this is an absolute masterpiece of dread and I highly recommend it.

Good Omens (2019)

  Okay, I'm cheating a little bit with this one because it's a limited TV series and not a movie.  But I went on an impromptu trip to the beach yesterday and didn't post anything and I don't have anything in draft either so it's this or nothing.

Armageddon is happening.  The Antichrist (Sam Taylor Buck) has been born and the forces of Heaven and Hell are readying for the final battle.  Except things have slightly gone wrong.  Instead of being switched with the just-born child of the American ambassador (Nick Offerman), the Antichrist has been given to an unassuming couple in Tadfield, England.  And the infernal and celestial representatives on Earth, Crowley (David Tennant) and Aziraphale (Michael Sheen), respectively, maybe have their own agendas with not wanting the Earth to be destroyed in a giant pissing match.  Can these two manage to transcend their jingoistic compatriots and call off the end of the world?  Maybe!

So, this is a six-episode limited series streaming on Amazon Prime and I unequivocally loved it.  I read the book (by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaimon, two great tastes that taste great together) so many times I wore out my copy and had to buy another.  One of only three books I can say that about.  (The other two are Maskerade by Terry Pratchett and White Fang by Jack London.)  The series is a loving homage and one of the very few adaptations to truly nail it by being both true to the source and expanding on it at the same time.  I wanted to cry actual, genuine tears because I loved it so much.  And then read the book again.

It's six hours of your time.  Less than a drive from Maryland to the Outer Banks.  Do it.