Review: Toy Story 4

The Toy Story franchise is special for so many people, including me.

The 1995 original was the first film I ever saw at a cinema. Even at the age of 7, I could tell this was something totally new and it ended up being a landmark film, not just within the animation genre.

Since then, its sequels have surprised me and moved me in many ways. Toy Story 3 especially. The 9 year gap between their second and third installments had me and so many others fearing that a third chapter could tarnish the franchise. It ended up being one of the best films of all-time and a wonderful closing chapter for a particular era of our main characters.

A further nine years, and now we have a part 4 and those feelings I had in 2010 are now starting to return. Despite me knowing that Pixar are a reliable source for strong films, it's only natural to feel worried.

It starts off pretty well with some nice moments of nostalgia to cleanse the pallet before we set off for some new adventures. Already in the first act, I was seeing hints of where this story could be taking us. With the addition of a few new characters, the story and my enjoyment never detracted. Their introduction felt very smooth, and their addition felt valuable and never unnecessary.
As we were heading towards the final act, I had already experienced a few tense moments with also some surprisingly scary scenes which caught me off guard.
For the finale, I don't think I could have predicted what I saw and what I felt. It took some brave twists, that paid off so much that I was in floods of tears, an emotion which I have not expressed at the cinema or for any film for a long time.

I honestly did not think they had more stories to tell in this franchise. But what Pixar conjured up was probably one that actually did the most in portraying life as a toy. It covers the many possible lives a toy could have and even goes fairly deep into the reasoning for a toy and why they are so important to people. So in a word, this is the most Toy Story a Toy Story film has ever been.

Outside of the story, everything you would expect to excel in a Toy Story film, never failed. The animation continues to be as gloriously created as ever. The cinematography was pretty adventurous at times whenever it got tense or exciting. There is one clever use of camerawork in the opening credits sequence which was very cool to see.
The music by Randy Newman had a great mix of new pieces and incorporated previous ones from older films.

The voice work by all maintained the quality of the other Toy Story films. All the usual's such as Tom Hanks, Woody Allen, Annie Potts, Joan Cusack all did great as expected. The new characters voiced Tony Hale, Keegan-Michael Key, Jordan Peele, Keanu Reeves and Ally Maki all did great. Particularly Reeves, who I never would have expected to succeed in a Toy Story film.
There was also a nice touch of how they used Don Rickles as Mr. Potato Head. Despite sadly passing away, using archive footage of his voicework made it a nice homage of hearing him during this film.

The only part of the film I felt could have been improved, was maybe the human part of the story towards the end involving a couple of characters.

But I feel the strength of the story and my emotions felt during it certainly over-powered that one quibble I had with what is one of the best films I have seen for some time.
So much so in fact, that this is a candidate for my top 100 films of all-time, which I have not had anew entry since 2013.
Once again, Pixar shows everyone how important Toy Story is to them and they realise how precious it is to so many people. They obviously found the right story and it came through in such a way that it has made this franchise one of the best that has ever been made.

It explored themes that I never thought the studio would be brave enough to cover and make it entertaining for a mass audience at the same time. But they actually did it in ways that I could never have imagined. It is very funny, whilst also being tense, scary, exciting, heart-warming and so sad. To do all of that in 100 minutes to such a quality makes a near-perfect film.

I am nervous to say that I wouldn't say no to a fifth. But we'll wait and see if another 9-year gap is what is required for fifth chapter.

I must also mention that in the first half of the credits, there are some additional scenes that are pretty cool to watch.

Rating: 9/10

Review: Booksmart

Coming-of-age films when done right are generation defining, especially when they're set in high school.

The 80's had The Breakfast Club, Stand By Me, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Pretty In Pink and Sixteen Candles. The 90's had Dazed And Confused, Clueless and 10 Things I Hate About You. Even the 2000's had success with Mean Girls, Almost Famous, Juno, Napoleon Dynamite and Superbad.

As for this decade, we have seen Boyhood, The Perks Of Being A Wallflower, The Edge Of Seventeen, The Way Way Back and a few others.

The more I hear of a new one being released, the more I feel I'm going to lose touch with this sub-genre as I now enter my 30's. However, I still remained hopeful that create further classics that I can still relate to.

To say I was blown out of the water would be an understatement. Like with any story, all you need is strongly developed characters and you can get invested in anything and this has to be another sure-fire classic for the coming-of-age genre.

The laughs were pretty constant from start to finish, I noticed they were introducing plenty of characters that all had their own little characteristics that were well developed and while all of that was happening, there were these two fantastic leading actors that carried the main plot through so well.

So big props to Beanie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever, who not only fully expressed their talent, they also showed experience beyond their years. You could see great maturity in their performances, particularly from Dever.
Their chemistry felt believable, authentic, very engaging and relatable for me to remember my own school days.
As mentioned before, the supporting cast all did a great job and made the most of their screen-time to make them as memorable as their respective leads. So I give big praise to Billie Lourd, Diane Silvers, Skyler Gisondo, Noah Galvin, Austin Crute, Victoria Ruesga and even more the well known actors Jason Sudeikis and Lisa Kudrow.
A film that has made so many of their characters instantly engaging with enough of a backstory or development throughout the film to invest with can never make this a boring experience.

Outside of the acting, the sharp writing was particularly enjoyable. The gags were not only very funny, but expertly executed and the pacing of the script was spot on. It was frenetic when it needed to be and slowed things down when it needed to cover the more heartfelt portions of the films message and themes.
You can also thank the editing team in relation to the pacing. When a film moves a long at the right pace, you can feel every other aspect fall into place and become a complete film.

I was certainly not expecting to like this as much as I did. The performances were very strong from the mainly young cast and it gives you many memorable characters. The story may play out like any coming-of-age film. But it's the strength the acting, writing and even editing that makes this a stand-out and be a welcomed addition to the other classics.

You can somewhat agree that this is a female version of Superbad. But I feel unlike said film, Booksmart I felt had more heart and emotion to it, especially in the final act which could well be one of the satisfying endings of the year.
This is super enjoyable and you instantly want to see it again. Don't be surprised if this ends up in my top 10 of the year list.

Rating: 8/10

Godzilla: King Of The Monsters

I'm always up for a monster film, especially a Godzilla one.

I remember hearing about Godzilla as a kid. Then I remember the BBC doing a week of programme celebrating an anniversary of the character and managed to see a couple of the Japanese productions.

My others are the American versions, which include the guilty pleasure 1998 version and the enjoyable 2014 version.

Now with the addition of Kong: Skull Island, I feel this franchise is doing ok, but still brewing nicely.

I must say right off the bat, that for pure nostalgia, it was great to see so many iconic monster characters back on the big screen. The story setting them up was good and they were designed so well to look both beautiful and frightening at the same time.
Then when it came to the action it was pretty good. Much like the 2014 version, they saved the best use of each monsters powers to the action-packed finale.

But to make a great Godzilla film, the best of the past ones had a well structured human story moving parallel with the plot involving the monsters.
The human aspect I felt was a valiant attempt. They gave a lot of screen-time towards it. But the longer it went, the more it felt pretty ordinary, which was not helped by the uninspiring script.
Thankfully, the performances was not a reason for it not succeeding. I felt Kyle Chandler, Millie Bobby Brown, Ziyi Zhang and Charles Dance. That also includes another bad-ass showing by Ken Watanabe.
I couldn't say the same for Vera Farmiga, who couldn't really save a very messy story arch for her character and Sally Hawkins, who was totally a waste of casting for being given a very small contribution.

Despite not achieving that part of the story, this is still a pretty entertaining watch. The monster-on-monster action is great to watch and the execution of some old favourites returning to the big screen could not have been better. The look of them more than surpassed my expectations.
The story may not do enough to help the story move along to not detract my score for the film. But the visual effects are top notch and the score by Michael Giacchino was pretty good on the whole, but became great for the composition he gave to the original theme which was a feast for the ears.

It's interesting to hear the divided opinion of this film between the general audience and the critics. I would happily watch this again and I'm still up for more within this franchise.

Also, a bit of info before you check this out. There are some clues as to where the next film is heading in the first half of the credits, and there is also a post-credits scene which will certainly get the big Godzilla fans predicting the possible outcomes for the next installment. I certainly have mine.

Rating: 7/10

Review: Long Shot

The crux of the marketing surrounding this film was that Seth Rogen and Charlize Theron signed up for this to revitalise the middle budget rom-coms with strong writing that we just do not see anymore.

To take us back to the days of When Harry Met Sally, Pretty Woman, Jerry Maguire, Sleepless In Seattle, You've Got Mail, Working Girl and many others during that time period would be nice to see. Rom-com is probably my least successful genre to find films I like. But rom-coms like the ones I've mentioned all have a charm to them that you want to re-visit.

That aim that Rogen, Theron and the rest of the crew had for this film was enough for me to check this out.

I feel confident that they have accomplished what they were set out to do. The film introduced our characters, what they're like and we can expect when they eventually clash. The signs of the witty humor as well as the type of comedy we expect from Seth Rogen were mixing together well.
By the time the second arrived, the character development was only shown in the leads, but also the supporting cast which I was pleased to see. That gave multiple character arch that were easy to invest with and be thoroughly entertained by.
The final act gave us the emotional finale a satisfying conclusion to everyone's story with the main plot.

Creating a believable relationship between Seth Rogen and Charlize Theron will be tricky to be approved by many people. For me, they did enough for me to be convinced. But the writing being fairly strong, that aspect of the story did not matter so much to me as it did at the start as I was still being entertained nevertheless.
I enjoyed the way they used June Diane Raphael and Ravi Patel's characters, how they contributed to the main story with their sub-plot and the support they gave to the main characters.
It was a nice surprise to see O'Shea Jackson Jnr. cast in this and ended up being an ideal casting choice. His chemistry with Rogen gave us some memorable scenes, particularly in the first act.
It was also nice to see Randall Park and Aleksander Skarsgard take minor roles to up the list of an already star studded cast.
There is one final cast member that I want to mention as it took a long time before I recognised who it was. It certainly shocked me, and I hope you can locate this person when you check this film out.

Not much else to mention as this film is pretty much about the performances and the writing.

The story structure may be something you've seen before. But the quality of the writing and the performances still makes a very entertaining watch that also has solid re-watchability.
Rogen and Theron are great together, and the latter continues to remind us she is quite under-rated when it comes to comedic acting.
The depth in character development was well executed and a perfect ingredient for a film that is performance and writing based.
It might not be quite up there with some of the best of recent years, due to its lack of originality. But it is certainly one that is of high-quality and definitely worth your time.

Rating: 8/10

Review: Rocketman

While there are a lot of Elton John songs that I really like, I wouldn't call myself a fan.

For the last 50 years, John has risen to become quite an titan within the music industry and has occasionally dipped his toes into the film world. Most notably composing the songs for The Lion King and most recently having a cameo in Kingsman: The Golden Circle.

As for this biopic, I was certainly up for seeing it. I felt Taron Edgerton was a good bit of castings. Particularly for his efforts in singing 'I'm Still Standing' in the enjoyable animated film 'Sing'. Plus, his transformation in becoming Eddie The Eagle gave me confidence that he can become Sir Elton.
Also with Dexter Fletcher at the helm, I felt confident in the route this film would be going. After coming in to finish off the production of Bohemian Rhapsody with great success, I was intrigued to see what Fletcher does with a similar topic for the entire production.

From the very beginning, you can see Fletcher's intentions and how he wants to portray this story and it ended up being a strong and feel-good viewing experience. Having the added mix of fantasy sequences with the biopic aspect certainly felt fitting for a personality like Elton John. It certainly enhanced pretty much every part of Elton's story and gave us many memorable scenes.
One bit that surprised me was that despite the trailer never really suggesting this, the film was more like a musical then anything else. That certainly had me changing my approach and there were some wonderful musical set-pieces that I feel were some of the best within the genre for the last few decades.

The acting side was pretty strong. For a film like this to work, you need your titular character to a big strength and Taron Edgerton pulls it off so well. While he may not have the voice of Elton John, there was enough in his style to have enough authenticity in there. For me, Edgerton's biggest strength was the portrayal of his character at his lowest point and during his memorable 'queeny strops' that John was known for having.
While Edgerton may get all the plaudits, the rest of the cast gave performances that I feel could compete with the leading role. Jamie Bell did a great job as songwriter Bernie Taupin. The chemistry with Edgerton was constantly strong, well developed and completely engaging and believable.
There was quite a transformation from Bryce Dallas Howard, which too me a while to realise that it was actually her. The accent was very convincing and was a good support. I was certainly not prepared to see her in the cast list.
I'll give a mention to Richard Madden, who while was perfectly fine, I still feel he is a TV actor rather than a film actor. I hope he makes the transition. But for me, he hasn't quite done it yet.

With it being a film about Elton John, the costumes need to be up to scratch. They were certainly great to look at and just maintained the high level of authenticity. It would not surprise me if the costume department got an Oscar nomination.
Other technical aspects that I felt were very positive was the cinematography, the production design and the editing. The energy of the camera movement was great to see when required. It also let the acting set the scene and just have the camera take a step back at the right times.
As mentioned before, the general look of it fitted the tone perfectly and the look of the time period was on point throughout.
When it comes to the editing, it doesn't become noticeable to me. But when a film is mixing in biopic, musical and fantasy all into one, the transition between all three was only noticeable for me, but done really well and managde to merge all of those genres into one and make it a great watch.

I don't really any negative to speak of. I think not being a hardcore Elton John fan is what is preventing from going any higher with my rating.
So that alone should prove how really good this was. The story was well told and portrayed. For such a unique and expressive character, the tone that was chosen was ideal. The performances all round worked really well and the execution of the songs certainly made me want to discover John's entire back catalogue.
For my expectations to be in the biopic mindset and end up being more of a musical one, the film caught me off guard, but almost instantly had me settled in for a highly enjoyable cinematic experience that I would happily re-visit when it's available to buy.
This film really works whether you are a fan of the subject matter or not. Seeing this will certainly make people think what Bohemian Rhapsody would have been if Fletcher was director for the entire production run.

Rating: 8/10

Review: John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum

The John Wick franchise has been a total breathe of fresh air for the action genre for the past five years.

With many of the head crew members being known for their stunt work in the past, it kind of makes sense that we should expect high-quality action that is not afraid to push the boundary on its level of violence.
That fine mix of brutality and artistry has not only made the action genre not just some silly over-the-top brainless watch, but it has also made Keane Reeves cool again.

I was pretty excited to see this as not only both of its predecessor were good fun, but we were left on a bit of an intriguing cliffhanger.

I loved that the film got right into the action and already gave us some pretty memorable actions set-pieces that will live long in the memory.
The story moves along nicely, a lot of our favourite characters are still being well developed in their various archs and we're being introduced to new ones that do not fall out of place with the main story.

The action is pretty non-stop. In fact, it is so non-stop that dare I say it does get a bit exhausting. With our main protagonist being so unstoppable, the stakes do get gradually lower as you just know that we won't see them tested or at their lowest. One scene does redeem that flaw to an extent. But enough to totally retract my main negative about the film.

That being said, it still captures the spirit of the John Wick films. The action remains of a high-quality with a lot of imagination in using its surroundings for various sequences. Also, the way it's shot is gorgeous as ever. I love that they just pan the camera out and let the action do the talking as they don't need to go further in and make numerous cuts to makes us believe that they can do these scenes. Reeves is well known for his love of the martial arts and you can tell that him and the rest of the cast are or have been well trained.
I really enjoyed where the story went and how are characters were developed and ended up. I'm definitely up for another one as there are very few action films around that can give us this level of hand-to-hand combat. Plus, it's fairly likely we'll get another one as there was plenty left in the open to follow-up on in a fourth installment.
If I had to rank it, I would say better slightly better than Chapter 2. But the first one is still top of my list.

Rating: 7/10

Review: The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part

I think like many, I had low expectations for the first Lego Movie. I just assumed it would be a shameless way to promote the product.

But with directors and writers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller at the helm, they once again proved me wrong with another one of their projects. The Lego Movie ended up being one of my favourite films of 2014.

Now only as writers for the sequel, I was pretty excited for the second installment. The Lego franchise has pretty good up to this point as I really enjoyed The Lego Batman Movie and The Lego Ninjago Movie was solid with a healthy amount of laughs.

While I think the novelty of the Lego concept somewhat wore off in this sequel, it was still a good time with many of its strengths that I liked in the original show up again in its follow-up.

The story moves along nicely, introduced many new characters without losing tempo and never making the viewer feel taken out by this crazy world of building. What was nice addition was a musical aspect to the story and the songs ended up being my biggest positive about the film. Much like the humor, the songs all have many self-referential lyrics and all of them I was wanting to listen to them again straight away, because they are very catchy. If you'll have seen the film, you'll that some songs are literally catchy.

Not much to mention on the voice performances as they all performed as well as they did in the first one. However, Chris Pratt was given more to do and coped with that well and showed noticeable range in his voice work.

The visual effects are still pleasing to the eye and the colour pallet is as striking as ever. I also still love the way the characters and objects move about as if it was done in stop-motion.

While I don't feel there are major negatives to speak of, there were aspects that only had me giving a good rating rather than a great one. The gags were hitting as high as before, the story did not feel as executed as well as it could've been as I think it sounds better on paper. But as said, these are just minor flaws.

On the whole, I thought this was a good fun time with enough laughs and a well developed story that felt worthy of making a sequel. I might not be wanting to re-watch as instantly as most previous Lego movies. But it is definitely a welcomed addition to the franchise.

Rating: 7/10