Toy Story 3

Movie Review: Toy Story 3

Director: Lee Unkrich

Reviewed: 29 June 2010

jamesintexas rating: ***1/2

Toy Story was the first completely computer-animated film ever when I saw it in 1995. Now, there are more films out there, and the Pixar Renaissance has hit an amazing peak with Wall*E, Finding Nemo, and Up. Years later, Toy Story 3 picks up with the main character Andy going off to college. Woody (Tom Hanks) and Buzz (Tim Allen) rally the familiar cast of toys together as they deal with the emotions of not being played with anymore, not being needed by a boy heading off to a different part of his life. Most of the toys end up in Sunnyside Day Care which on the surface appears to be the solution to their problems. At Sunnyside, they will be constantly played with, constantly loved because the children cycle in and out. However, Lotso, the pink bear who lords over the center, rules with an iron fist. Toys are kept in cages at night, there is no possibility of escape, and the wildest, youngest kids obliterate the newest toys, breaking them and not playing with them in an age-appropriate way. A prison break must occur, and afterwards, the question remains: What will Andy do with his toys as he leaves for college?

This film is endlessly inventive and very funny. A highlight is Ken (Michael Keaton) and Barbie's relationship, with Ken recast as a metrosexual in need of someone to appreciate his love of clothes and his Dream House. The escape sequences from Sunnyside pay off in a major way, with intricate plans and subterfuge, as well as a hilarious/creepy set of minor guard characters who aid Lotso in his plan.

The most poignant, tear-jerking moment occurs at the end when Andy passes the torch of the toys to another child. That's when I lost it. Passing on beloved toys to another kid packed an emotional punch for me. The subtext in the film involves the nature of play. To play with toys is to involve yourself in a world of your own creating.

The thing I have always loved in the Toy Story universe is the collision of the toys--Woody the cowboy with Buzz the spaceman, all friends with Mr. Potatohead. In my basement and backyard, the Star Wars characters conspired with the G.I. Joe characters, forming alliances with He-Man and Go-Bots. The world of that creation is a unique and personal thing, sometimes alone in your own head, or sometimes with a treasured friend of family member.

Andy's sister seems to be the quiet symbol of the future in this movie. Her toys and Barbies are thrown out without reflection, and she worships the implied iPod with her earbuds on all the time, even in conversation. The directors draw the contrast but don't underline it. What are kids losing through those devices? Do kids lose the desire and opportunities to play at a much younger age now with the rise of the omnipresent media and technology. Would I have played as much as a kid if I had had the internet, Playstation, cable TV, and access to every movie or TV show? The answer has to be no.

And, as wonderful as an iPod is, will it ever symbolize or mean as much as a piece of plastic, worn-down Boba Fett or Skeletor or Destro? There's something about playing with (loving?) a toy that makes these films so fantastic. The filmmakers get it, and this is entertainment of the highest order.

RocknRolla

Movie Review: RocknRolla

Director: Guy Ritchie

Reviewed: 29 June 2010

jamesintexas rating: **1/2

I'm working my way backwards through Guy Ritchie's canon, and first with Sherlock Holmes and now with RocknRolla, I'm starting to get a handle on his aesthetic. Films filled with many creatively-named characters. Some hyperkinetic editing and action scenes. Loads of drinking and drug use. Quick thinking lead characters with quick dialogue. And, some torture, some terrible, terrible deaths. And fun music. To be clear, I liked, did not love Ritchie's RocknRolla, though there are many fun moments and a winning performance from Gerard Butler.

Butler stars as One-Two, a lower-level hood in London with buddy Mumbles (Idris Elba from The Wire), works small muscle jobs in the city under the thumb of local kingpin Lennie Cole (the always great Tom Wilkinson, chewing the scenery and loving his lines) and occasional work from accountant Stella (Thandie Newton). Mark Strong narrates as Archy, Cole's right hand man, providing the colorful backstories and a reliable anchor in the film.

A convoluted caper goes wrong, and a Russian billionaire Uri is out some money he needs to make a land deal go down with Cole. One-Two and Mumbles steal that money with the assistance of Stella, and use that money to pay Cole. A lucky painting is exchanged and goes missing. Money is owed and needed by various characters. Chaos ensues.

The film overflows with characters and story lines, and I think that is one of its weaknesses. There's a thread with a rock star who is possibly dead, possibly hiding, and it weaves in and out of the plot. The action sequences are fun, especially one that involves a low-speed chase between Butler and a titanic Russian heavy. There's some funny back and forth among One-Two and his mates, particularly with one buddy who has one request before going to prison. Wilkinson has a lot of fun, and Ritchie seems overly enthusiastic to showcase all of the layers of the criminal strata in London. At times, this film does seem like a travelogue, but it is fun.

If you're into this kind of film, see it, but don't have any expectations. And for the record, I'd like to see Gerard Butler in this kind of film opposed to flighty romantic-comedies. And seeing Idris Elba aka Stringer Bell with his English accent, looking calm and having fun is refreshing after the intensity of his years on The Wire.

American Graffiti

Movie Review: American Graffiti

Director: George Lucas

Reviewed: June 28th, 2010

jamesintexas rating--**** (Highest Rating)

My neighbor Jim Pitrak (a freshman at Kansas U) loaned me his car during my senior year in high school for a semester. The car was a red Nissan half-back Sentra, we called it the ****box, and I loved driving to school with that car, picking up friends with the car, going out on dates with my first girlfriend with that car. I was not someone who drove a great deal in high school. I was on my bike mostly or driven by Jim in that halfback (once in the trunk on a particularly crowded trip to Dunkin' Donuts). I could tell you, though, what most guys on the Cross Country team drove, how they drove, who was the wild man that you didn't want to be in a car with on a Saturday morning Sunday trip to Newton Park. Driving defines a person during their teenage years, and American Graffiti, George Lucas' self-admittedly anthropological study of cruising the strip in 1962 in a small California town, captures the high school and post-high school feeling perfectly. It has a truth to it that is powerful and timeless. In a car, you can search out what you're looking for, even when you're not sure what it is.

The film is a sonic delight. From what I understand, Lucas's use of wall-to-wall music from this time period (pre-British Invasion) was landmark and much-imitated after this film. It seems like every song I grew up hearing on Friday Night Fifties on WJMK with DJ Dick Biondi is in this film. Growing up in a house that always had the radio on, I get the central conceit of having hilarious DJ Wolfman Jack tie the film together. Every teen cruising has his or her radio tuned to the Wolfman who provides comic relief through bits with callers and cues up the greatest hits of the day.

Curt (Richard Dreyfuss) and Steve (Ronnie Howard) are two high school graduates engaging in rituals familiar in July-August in many American cities: the last night before the departure for college, perhaps out of city or out of state; the passing off of a beloved car to an underclassman, in this case, Terry the Toad (Charles Martin Smith); the decision of whether to stay or go; the question of continuing or ending a high school relationship. John (Paul LeMat) circles around their evening in his souped up car, a guy who has an auto shop in town, is a bit older, and seems resentful that the two are getting out of town. Laurie (Cindy Williams) is Curt's sister, dating Steve, and unsure of what the future holds for her, especially since she faces the dilemma that she is starting her senior year while her boyfriend is leaving. The performances are all fine with Dreyfuss being the central figure on his quest to figure out himself.

Lucas follows each character throughout memorable moments in the evening, getting into trouble, rumors of a guy in a bitchin' car trying to take down John in a race, gang members who threaten violence, sock hops, late night diner conversations with girls that coulda been the one, trying to buy alcohol, a car getting stolen, throwing up, and a wonderful scene in the radio station as Curt tries to find Wolfman Jack to get a message to a woman in a white T-Bird that is haunting his evening, always eluding him.

I loved this film. I'm not sure why it had eluded me, but I want to talk to my parents and friends about it. I'm saddened (in a way) that George Lucas has hidden since the Star Wars films because he seems so sure of himself behind the camera here, the screenplay so well-constructed, the music so well-chosen.

The connections and references to American Graffiti are omnipresent: Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Star Wars, Dazed and Confused, Superbad, Stand By Me, etc... Lucas's camera takes us into the lives of these kids and captures these moments. There's an innocence to the times that is slightly shading darker as the film ends: hints of the Vietnam War and the futures of the main characters.

At one point in the evening, three of the main characters ponder a question that haunts the film. It is something to the effect of, "Why do you have to leave great friends behind to make new great friends?", something akin to "Why do things have to change?" The struggle of defining yourself amidst the change and deciding when to hold on to something and when to leave is the crux of this film.

It is the crux of our lives too.