My Review of Toy Story 4 (2019)

 

Written by John Lasseter And Andrew Stanton And Josh Cooley And Valerie LaPointe And Rashida Jones And Will McCormack And Martin Hynes And Stephany Folsom

Directed by Josh Cooley

Rex: "Does this mean... Woody's a lost toy?"

Buzz: "He's not lost. Not anymore. To infinity..."

Woody: "...and beyond."

I genuinely thought with the third movie that this movie series had come to a natural ending. However this fourth movie proved there was a lot more to tell.

Remember in the first two movies that Bo Peep was more of a supporting player but then she was absent for the third one? Well, she returned for this movie and in a much bigger role that would ultimately challenge Woody's stance on being an owned toy for good.

The film opened with a flashback that had Woody unsuccessfully trying to stop Bo Peep from being sold off after Molly had grown bored of her. Nearly a decade later, it had emerged that Bo Peep and her sheep had become a lost toy and it was something that Bo Peep liked a lot. It was something that of course caused some tension with her and Woody.

What brought Bo Peep and Woody back into each others lives was of course Bonnie (Madeleine McGraw) and her parents taking a road trip and Woody trying to stop Bonnie's newly made toy Forky (Tony Hale) from wanting to be in trash. It's an amusing enough subplot with Woody confessing his whole toy history to Forky. It didn't initially help that much as Forky didn't want to be a toy.

Woody and Forky's antics did lead them to the "villain" of the piece - Gabby Gabby (Christina Hendricks) and her creepy puppet minions. Gabby Gabby was more a nuanced baddie in the sense that she never mistreated Forky, took Woody's voice box to improve her odds of getting a new kid and ultimately succeeded with the latter after making peace with everyone else. There's no proper comeuppance for her at all, except for a brief rejection by the granddaughter of an antique shop owner named Harmony (Lila Sage Bromley).

As for the rest of the movie, Buzz took on the leadership role during Woody's absence and once again, he led a rescue mission. There was some speed bumps with duck and rabbit duo named Ducky (Keegan Michael-Key) and Bunny (Jordan Peele) and motorcyclist toy Duke Caboom (Keanu Reeves) but they're fun characters to watch overall.

Now, I think the most divisive but of this movie was Woody's decision to become a lost toy. He certainly did for love with Bo Peep and there's something rather touching in handing over the reins to Jessie but I'm a bit mixed on this decision. I didn't love it, in spite of my enjoyment of the movie.

- Bo Peep's sheep were called Billy, Goat and Gruff. It was a three headed sheep. I thought Giggle McDimples (Ally Maki) was a fun supporting character for Bo Peep.

- There's voice roles for Patricia Arquette, Jay Hernandez, Bill Hader, Flea (Red Hot Chilli Peppers), June Squibb, Carol Burnett and Mel Brooks to name a few.

- Standout music: Randy Newman's I Can't Let You Throw Yourself Away.

- Chronology: Not long from the third movie but also nine years since Woody and Bo Peep last saw each other.

If Toy Story 4 happened to be the weakest of the bunch, then it's still a rather top notch movie with some great new characters added into the mix. Woody's new fate, it's a mixed bag for me, I won't lie but not enough to down vote this one.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of Toy Story 3 (2010)

 

Written by Michael Arndt And John Lasseter And Andrew Stanton And Lee Unkrich

Directed by Lee Unkrich

Woody: "So long ... partner."

Confession time. Last night was the first time I have watched this movie and after seeing it, I can actually see why the likes of Quentin Tarantino thought it was the right one to end this series on. It felt like the perfect final chapter.

The movie started off with Andy going to college. Instead of going to Molly, the plan for Woody, Buzz and company was to be put in a box and sent to the attic. It was a plan that everyone seemed somewhat on board with. Of course, plan tend to go awry.

Instead of heading to the attic, Woody, Buzz and company ended up in Sunnyside Daycare Centre where they were the playthings of sone really rambunctious children. That wasn't the worst part but it was still pretty bad.

The worst part was the villain of the piece. A stuffed bear named Lotso (Ned Beatty) had been rejected by his owner, ended up at Sunnyside and made it his mission to assert a hierarchy. This included henchmen like Ken (Michael Keaton) and Big Baby (Woody Smith). Ken getting involved with Barbie (Jodi Benson) did give him a last minute redemptive arc.

Lotso on the other hand was somewhat harder to redeem. Being replaced by his owner did a number on him and he was quite scary in parts. Although the worst thing he actually did was have Buzz reset to his factory settings for a good portion of the movie. Buzz being returned to his usual self did make for a fun use of the Spanish language.

As for the rest of the movie, there's something quietly heartbreaking about Andy making the grown up decision to give his toys to Bonnie (Emily Hahn). It's a real changing of the guard moment between the two. On the other hand, the movie did a good job in setting Bonnie up as a new owner for Woody, Buzz and company.

- Bonnie's toys included Mr. Pricklepants (Timothy Dalton), Trixie (Kristen Schaal), Dolly (Bonnie Hunt), Buttercup (Jeff Garlin), Peas-In-A-Pods (Charlie Bright, Amber Krone and Brianna Maiwand) and Chuckles (Bud Luckey).

- Sid became a garbage collector, there's romantic tension between Buzz and Jessie and the likes of Bo Peep and Wheezy weren't present.

- Standout music: Randy Newman's We Belong Together.

- Chronology: Andy was now off to college, so it was over a decade since the previous movie.

Toy Story 3 felt like the perfect ending to this entire saga. A beautiful closing to a wonderful film. Okay, I've got two movies and a prequel to watch but this was perfect. I love it.

Rating: 9 out of 10 

My Review of Toy Story 2 (1999)

 

Written by Andrew Stanton And Rita Hsiao And Doug Chamberlin And Chris Webb And John Lasseter And Pete Docter And Ash Brannon

Directed by John Lasseter

Jessie (to Woody): "You never forget kids like Emily, or Andy, but they forget you."

My memory might be a lot more hazy because it's definitely been a long while since I've seen this movie. It practically felt like I was watching a new movie. 

Anyways, we've got Woody, Buzz and company having moved into a new home with their owner Andy, his mother, baby sister and dog, Buster. There's an infamous scene in this movie that's been meme'd to death that really packed a punch.

Yes, it's the scene where Woody's arm ripped and Andy suddenly didn't want to play with him anymore. This film was heavy in pointing out that children get older, lose interest in their toys and that even toys don't last forever. It's not subtle but it's definitely effective.

Woody's attempts to rescue a penguin toy named Wheezy (Joe Ranft) put him in the cross hairs of toy collector, Al McWhiggin (Wayne Knight). The presence of Al introduced characters such as Jessie the cowgirl doll (Joan Cusack), prospector doll Stinky Pete (Kelsey Grammer) and horse Bullseye. It turns out that Woody was rather famous and these new characters made up his Roundup gang.

In some ways, this movie had a reverse dynamic between Woody and Buzz. The latter mobilised everyone into trying to find Woody. There's a subplot involving another Buzz toy and the villain, Evil Emperor Zurg (Andrew Stanton) that's a little undercooked but amusing.

Getting back to Woody - I really loved his dynamic with Jessie, Stinky Pete and Bullseye. Jessie in particular was a fun foil for Woody and Stinky Pete turned out to be a better villain than Al if I'm being honest. Stinky Pete also got a rather fitting comeuppance while Jessie and Bullseye got a new home.

- Heimlich (Joe Ranft) and Flik (Dave Foley) from A Bug's Life both appeared during the credits.

- We met Mrs. Potato Head, some aliens and Tour Guide Barbie in this movie.

- Standout music: Sarah McLachlan's When She Loved Me.

- Chronology: A few months from the first movie, despite the four year release gaps between them.

Toy Story 2 turned out to be a very good sequel. I liked learning more about Woody's past and this was a great debut for Jessie as a character. Woody and Buzz's friendship was another strong point of the movie.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of Toy Story (1995)

Written by Joss Whedon And Andrew Stanton And Joel Cohen And Alec Sokolow And John Lasseter And Pete Docter And Joe Ranft

Directed by John Lassiter

Buzz: "Excuse me, I think the word you're searching for is "Space Ranger"."

Woody: "The word I'm searching for - I can't say, because there's preschool toys present."

I have been meaning to review this particular movie series but first, a confession. I've only seen the first two movies and that was a long time. Not only do I need to refresh my memory on them but I've got three other film and a prequel movie to watch. What fun.

I do have good memories of seeing this one when I was younger. It's such a simple idea. There's a boy named Andy Davis (John Morris). He's just turned six and he's got a lot of toys. His favourite being a cowboy named Woody (Tom Hanks). This was something both Woody and the other toys were aware of.

The other toys being Bo Peep (Annie Potts), Mr. Potato Head (Don Rickles), Slinky Dog (Jim Varney), piggy bank Hamm (John Ratzenberger), binoculars Lenny (Joe Ranft) and Rex (Wallace Shawn) to name a few. You can tell there's some slight resentment towards Woody being the favourite. Then there's Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen). His arrival changed everything.

The arrival of Buzz put Woody in second place as Andy suddenly had a new favourite toy. Woody couldn't get his head around the idea of being replaced and had Buzz thrown out the window. Woody would end up having the same done to him. That's where things got interesting.

Both Woody and Buzz clashed a lot in a bid to get back to Andy but for a good portion of the movie, both of them were at the mercy of the toy destroying Sid Phillips (Erik von Detten). I forgot how much of an evil terror Sid was as a character and there's something rather horrifying in seeing the creations he made out of his own toys. He did get a much deserved comeuppance though.

As for Woody and Buzz, both of them came to some big realisations and both knew they needed to work together in order to reunite with both Andy and their fellow toys. They very nearly didn't and when they did, it certainly felt earned.

- Buzz's implied "replacement" at the end of the film was of course a puppy.

- This movie had a hint of romance between Woody and Bo Peep but the arrival of a certain character from the next film onwards put a stop to that.

- Standout music: Randy Newman's You've Got A Friend In Me.

- Chronology: Set during Andy's sixth birthday, a family move (Laurie Metcalf voiced Andy's mother) and Christmas.

I really do love Toy Story. It's such a delight film with a simple story, an unlikely friendship and a genuinely heartfelt bunch of moments as well as a few slightly uncomfortable ones. To the sequels (and prequel) and beyond.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of Lizzie Borden Took An Ax (2014)

 

Written by Stephen Kay

Directed by Nick Gomez

Lizzie: "My father has so many enemies. I think someone might try to hurt him."

A few weeks ago, I watched the Chloe Sevigny take on this infamous killer and going backwards, it was time to see Christina Ricci's take on Lizzie Borden. Well, her and Lifetime. The results were something else.

Eschewing the seriousness, queerness and even scares, this definitely felt like a camp amateur version of events. Lizzie's father, Andrew (Stephen McHattie) was disapproving of his daughter's unconventional attitude to life and her stepmother Abby (Sara Botsford) assumed the worst of her.

Lizzie seemed to have a better relationship with her sister, Emma (Clea DuVall) and a friendship of sorts with actress Nance O'Neil (Andria Wilson). Any hint of anything deeper between Lizzie and Nance wasn't present and the same between Lizzie and maid, Bridget Sullivan (Hannah Anderson). The latter being more of a disappointment here.

Anyways, Lizzie killed both Abby and Andrew while Bridget was scrubbing the windows and she was almost careful enough about the deed. Except for the bit of blood that got on her nice blue dress. That was enough for the Marshall Hilliard (Shawn Doyle) to have her tried for murder and for doubt to emerge in regards to Lizzie's innocence.

I know she did it and a large part of the community suspected she killed her parents too. Emma seemed to alternate between wanting to believe that Lizzie didn't kill their parents to having to face the horrible truth about her sister.

The whole affair lacked the weight it needed because Lifetime wanted to camp the shit out of this. More annoyingly, the use of music might be some of the most intrusive I've seen in a movie. It ruined a lot of the big moments if I'm being honest.

- This movie did well for Lifetime to commission a miniseries titled The Lizzie Borden Chronicles, which was released in 2015.

- There was no John Morse in this version and there was some hints of an incest undertones between Lizzie and Andrew.

- Standout music: The only bit that worked was the use of that nursery rhyme.

- Chronology: 1892, Fall River in Massachusetts.

I appreciate camp as much as the next person, but I definitely think that Lizzie Borden Took An Ax veered into it in a way that simply didn't work. Even Christina Ricci's natural charm couldn't save this one. It's a huge mess of a television film.

Rating: 5 out of 10 

My Review of Lanterns: "Pilot"

 

Written by Chris Mundy And Damon Lindelof And Tom King

Directed by James Hawes

Hal: "There's only one question. Are you afraid?"

We've been on a journey to get a Green Lantern show and now that it's finally here, I still can't believe it's actually here. This was quite the opening episode.

It opened with a much younger John Stewart watching Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) on television where the latter talked about being a member of the Green Lantern Corps. Then there was that William Tell moment between John and his father (J. Alphonse Nicholson) and that was pretty messed up scene to watch.

Cut to twenty years later where a grown up John (Aaron Pierre) has actually joined the Corps and Hal's his mentor. Hal's methods are just as volatile and it's pretty clear that while Hal might like/respect John on some level, he's not totally keen on training up his successor either.

Anyways the main action of this episode had both Hal and John ending up in Nebraska where a murder had taken place. It was one with alien involvement and Sheriff Kerry Kane (Kelly Macdonald) wasn't totally happy with the Green Lanterns investigating on her turf.

In fact, both Hal and John kind of botched up her investigation into the unusual Waylon Sanders (Chris Coy). Hal's way of exposing Waylon as an alien was certainly reckless but it did manage to get results. It also didn't take long for both Hal and John to start getting involved in Kerry's family life.

I found it interesting Kerry's husband Billy Macon (Jason Ritter) and the latter's father, William (Garrett Dillahunt) immediately ingratiated themselves into Hal's orbit. William in particular was a bit of a fanatic, so there's definitely a future clash between him and Hal waiting in the wings.

Then there's John's involvement in the Macon family. He unwittingly slept with William's wife Zoe (Poorna Jagannathan) and William knew about it. Do William and Zoe have an open marriage or does William have a future revenge lined up for John? It was definitely one of the stranger moments from the pilot.

As for the central mystery - let's jump to a decade where a bearded John reunited with Kerry and it was revealed that Hal was dead and his ring was missing. Is Hal really dead? I'd say it's 50/50 at the moment. I'm not entirely convinced he is, at least not for now.

- Things we saw the ring being used for included bubble wrap, counterfeit money and a bottle opener. Hal got his ring from a dying Abin Sur.

- The title sequence was a pretty modest one. Nice but nothing to write home about.

- Kerry and Billy's son, Noah (Cary Christopher) also appeared briefly in the episode. John doesn't eat meat or drink.

- Does Hal really believe there's 22 Harry Potter movies? He must have been joking about that one.

- Standout music: KC And The Sunshine Band's Boogie Shoes.

- Chronology: Took in the years 1996, 2016 and 2026. Mostly in Rushville, Nebraska. Hal became a Green Lantern in 1986.

The Pilot opened the show on a good note. There's an instant and classic buddy cop chemistry between Aaron Pierre and Kyle Chandler. I can see why they were cast as their respective characters and the main mystery has promise.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of My Adventures With Superman: "The Return"

 

Written by Karen Graci

Directed by Jen Bennett 

Lois: "Marry me, Clark Kent."

Clark: "Of course, Lois Lane."

Was this another finale or a series finale? Right now and like a few DC animated shows, this has yet to be renewed for a fourth season. I do hope it gets one. This season alone turned out to be so good.

Picking up from the last episode, we've got Jonathan, Lara and Kara doing their best to stop the Eradicator. Unfortunately the latter was able to multiply himself, which did make it a lot harder for the trio to keep him down.

On the other hand, there was also Clark still being powerless. His demonstration of compassion with Bizarro was enough to get the Head Steward to show Clark a solution. Yup, you've got living sun Rao and let's just say that Superman came back in glorious form.

The last few minutes against the Eradicator had a brilliant team up of Superman, his children, Supergirl and Bizarro all working together. Once again, Superman tried compassion but the Eradicator chose death over wanting to change for the better.

As for the last few minutes, I liked the family time Superman and Lois got with Jonathan and Lara before the latter two went back to their timeline. Then there was the proposal itself. It was a cute way to cap off the season.

- I liked that Lex/Jimmy had an understanding with each other and that Slade even let them work together. What did Lex see out in the stars?

- Kara agreed to be friends with Jimmy. We also got Krypto and Bizarro resumed his ice cream job.

- The white, blue and gold Kryptonian armour did look good on Superman but I hope it's not a permanent look for him.

- Chronology: From where the previous episode left off.

The Return was a good ending for this season of the show. It kind of works as a series finale but I think one last season would be a nice way to cap the series off altogether.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of The Last House (2026)

 

Written by Matthew Robinson

Directed by Louis Leterrier

Jason: "What if something out there is keeping us trapped?"

Last night, I caught up with something a bit more on the sci-fi side of things. I also chose one of Netflix's most recent of releases, focusing on a family that would be trapped in their home for most of the film.

The family in question were Jason (Wagner Moura) and Anne (Greta Lee) Delgado and their kids, Graham (Noah Alexander Sosnowski) and Ruth (Riley Chung). It was an ordinary day when the rain came down and no one could leave their homes.

I mean no one could get out of and back into their homes and even trying to break out was impossible. This meant that Jason, Ann, Graham and Ruth had to try and adjust to being trapped indoors with the only essentials they had to hand. Let's just say having two DVDs presented some limitations for entertainment.

As the movie would go on, Ruth was seeing patterns and mysterious creatures that no one in her family would listen to. There's also a sad subplot involving the death of the family dog (i really didn't like that scene) and the family having to eat Graham's fish, find ways to attract other animals through a convoluted trap and using the soil under the floorboards to grow vegetables.

These were innovative ways to survive under the strangest of circumstances and enough time passed for older versions of Graham (Gabriel Chung) and Ruth (Emma Ho) to be present. It was during this part where the monsters were becoming much harder to ignore and the chance to finally get out posed it's own challenges.

For the most part I liked the use of the creatures. Their origins were vague enough, they were used sparingly onscreen and managed to be menacing enough. While the Delgados did manage to get out of their house, I don't think the ending signified a win for them as such.

- Jason was an unemployed engineer who also loved fishing. Ann was the one who grew the vegetables in the house. Arden Cho narrated as an older Ruth.

- The original title for this film was 11817.

- Standout music: The Cure's Close To Me.

- Chronology: Set in a Seattle suburb. The Delgados were trapped in their house for five years.

The Last House (2026) did go on a little bit longer than needed but I thought it was a pretty solid film nonetheless. Nice performances from the leads, some solid tension and convincing looking creatures dod help with this one.

Rating: 6 out of 10 

My Review of Big Baby (2025)

 

Written And Directed by Spider One

Kate: "It was Big Baby."

This was one of the most random of movies that I chose to watch this week. On paper, it read like a cheap knock off and on-screen, it wasn't much better.  Kind of.

The lead of the piece would be a horror screenwriter named Adam (Brandon Scott). The film started with him watching a horror podcast that was slating his latest film. Those guys, called Vampire Greg (Jordan Elsass) and Steve Strange (Radek Lord) really went to town on how much of a bad screenwriter they thought Adam was.

Adam took it personally and even confronted them publicly over their brutal review. His girlfriend Kate (Krsy Fox) tried to be supportive but it was almost lost on Adam as he tried to come up with a franchise idea, which he did.

This resulted in Big Baby (Adam Marcinowski), who honestly seemed like a thing veiled version of Jason Voorhees to me. Adam would dream about his creation, learn more about him while dealing with the real life violence of Big Baby. All of a sudden, a lot of people started to end up dead.

Adam's obsession with his own creation had him trying to finish the story as quickly as possible. Of course this led to a very violent showdown between him and Kate and only one of them could survive it. Adam's solution for ending his creation made enough sense.

- The movie ended with the horror podcasters reviewing the events of Big Baby.

- There's appearances from David Howard Thornton, Cameron Cowperthwaite and Chaz Bono to name a few.

- There was something of a backstory with one of Adam's friends that was a former writing partner of his that I wished had been explored a little deeper.

- Chronology: Present day America.

Big Baby made for a middling experience. It's got a good premise but it's a very undercooked film and the landing didn't really stick either.

Rating: 5 out of 10