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Still friends

No one would blame you for thinking Toy Story 3 was a definitive end to the story of Woody the Cowboy (Tom Hanks), Buzz Lightyear the Space Ranger (Tim Allen) and company. That movie was, in a word, perfect in the way it tied up the story of Andy and his lifelong toy companions.

I count myself among those who thought Toy Story 3 should’ve been the final chapter in the franchise. I now count myself among those who are fine with one more chapter in the totally satisfying Toy Story 4, a movie I never thought I would see and wasn’t wishing for.

Pixar and director Josh Cooley—making his directorial debut with their most precious franchise— have chosen to mess with perfection and extend the story of Woody and friends. The results are less than perfect, but still very worthy of Toy Story lore, and a welcomed breath of fresh air in a summer movie season that has been laying a series of big franchise stink bombs (Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Men in Black: International, Dark Phoenix).

After a recap in which Andy does indeed appear, the action goes to the home of Bonnie, the little girl Andy handed his toys over to at the end of Toy Story 3. Bonnie is gearing up for kindergarten and is a little freaked out, so Woody jumps into her backpack as moral support.

Woody witnesses Bonnie creating a fantastic new character for the franchise, Forky (Tony Hale), crafted out of a plastic spork, pipe cleaners and Play-Doh. Woody immediately sees the importance of this new toy friend and has himself a new mission—make sure Forky accepts his new role as a toy instead of trash, and help Bonnie adjust to the rigors of kindergarten.

Bonnie’s day at kindergarten was only an orientation, so her parents decide to take her on that ever-familiar movie trope, the road trip. A road trip in the family RV, no less. Thankfully, the road trip trope is more of a MacGuffin, because the family gets diverted, with the toys winding up getting themselves into trouble at an antique shop inhabited by the dreaded old toy overlord, Gabby Gabby the deceptively adorable talking doll (Christina Hendricks).

Gabby, of course, seems friendly at first—just like Ned Beatty’s purple bear in Toy Story 3—but she has evil intentions regarding a part of Woody’s anatomy, and she has an army of ventriloquist dummies to carry out her plans. Toy Story 4 ends up being as scary as it is funny when the action involves the dummy army. Damn, they are creepy.

Along with Forky and Gabby Gabby, newcomers include Ducky and Bunny (Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele) and, most spectacularly, stunt motorcycle rider Duke Caboom, voiced by cinematic darling Keanu Reeves. Caboom, obviously modeled after Evel Knievel, is having his own existential crisis, a low self-esteem due to his prior child owner not being impressed with his jumping abilities.

Woody’s sweetheart, Bo Peep (Annie Potts), gets a prominent role in the new adventure. Sadly, the budding romance between Jessie (Joan Cusack) and Buzz that we saw in Toy Story 3 is not further explored. In fact, Jessie and Buzz are mostly relegated to background duty.

It’s not surprising that Toy Story 4 is the most visually impressive of the lot. The folks at Pixar have had nearly a decade to hone their skills since the last chapter, so the likes of Woody, Buzz and Jessie take on a new refined beauty.

The ending of Toy Story 4 will, once again, have fans and critics alike proclaiming that this must be the end for the franchise. It certainly feels like a closing chapter, but we all said that about the last movie. The premise is still ripe for spinoffs (Duke Caboom movie!), prequels, whatever. Heck, maybe Disney will do a live-action remake of the original. Seems to be the trend. Ω

“You’ll be my friend forever! Because you’ll never organically decompose in a landfill.”

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2Aladdin Will Smith’s strange, big, blue Genie turns out to be the surprising highlight of the fair-to-middling Aladdin, the live-action remake of the Disney animated classic that was big for Robin Williams. Smith does just fine in the role Williams voiced in 1992, and the character gets fleshed out in a manner that is genuinely moving at times, even if his blueness is perhaps a bit creepy from some angles. Director Guy Ritchie goes the full musical route, and while he has a reasonably talented cast on hand, the whole enterprise feels a bit on the unnecessary side. It’s overlong, and one cast member in particular ultimately pulls the picture into the unfortunate zone. Mena Massoud makes for a halfway decent Aladdin, while Naomi Scott provides a luminous Jasmine. Both do good jobs singing the famous songs, and they most certainly look the parts. Their magic carpet ride while belting “A Whole New World” is charming, and they make for a cute couple. It’s a shame that it’s all in the service of something that, no matter how much money is being thrown at the screen, feels hollow.

3The Dead Don’t Die The zombie genre gets Jarmusched with mild levels of success in The Dead Don’t Die, an often funny, sometimes scary and always amusing horror-comedy effort from director Jim Jarmusch. Jarmusch has done horror before, most notably with his atmospheric vampire flick, Only Lovers Left Alive and, some could argue, with the disturbing death meditation Dead Man. His latest effort is as strongly satirical as the director has ever been: The world is falling apart politically, socially and environmentally, and its inhabitants are too slow and dimwitted to really do anything about it. Bill Murray, Adam Driver and Chloe Sevigny play Sheriff Cliff and his deputies Ronnie and Mindy in a typical American town called Centerville. The pulse of the town is severely laidback and barely beating, with much of one’s day revolving around when to get that good coffee and donuts from their cultural hub, the local diner. Due to polar fracking, the Earth spins off its access, and the dead begin to rise. The days become longer, the electronic gadgets we rely upon go dead, and people start getting unsolicited neck bites from formerly live neighbors. Characters like those played by Murray and Driver react in a way that is so disorganized and disconnected, they practically deserve to die. This, perhaps, is a not-so-veiled statement about our current administration’s strange attitude toward global warming. Actually, there’s no doubt, Jarmusch hates Trump—and this is the first anti-Trump zombie movie.

4John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum The gun opera that is the John Wick franchise keeps on rolling and shooting with gory gusto, and some great dogs to boot. When we last saw Keanu Reeves as John Wick, he had himself a little time before getting excommunicated from the assassination club The High Table and all its perks. His killing a fellow assassin within the walls of the Continental Hotel means no more room service or dog sitting. He’s got a multimillion dollar bounty on his head and no place to kick his feet up. John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum picks up right where the last one left off, with a battle-weary Wick running in the streets, putting distance between himself and the hotel and trying to figure out his next big move. Wick basically runs from one action set piece to another, with returning director and former stunt coordinator Chad Stahelski making each of those set pieces a thing to behold. A gun battle inside a weapons museum counts as a franchise highlight, as does Wick’s gunfight atop a motorcycle. And, yes, dogs play a major role in the shenanigans, which makes this dog person very happy. 2 Men In Black: International The fourth film in the MIB franchise is the second-worst MIB film after Men in Black II. The original and Men in Black III were the only good ones. International amounts to a wasted opportunity, an admirable attempt to restart things with a mostly new cast that doesn’t quite hit all its marks. Replacing Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones—along with Josh Brolin as the young Tommy Lee Jones—are Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson, as agents H and M. H is the bold, brash, superhot dude of MIB, He and Agent High T (Liam Neeson) saved the world years ago from an evil alien force called the hive. M is the latest recruit, having found MIB’s secret headquarters after years of searching. As a child, M witnessed an alien encounter—and saw her parents getting their minds erased—starting a curiosity fire that doesn’t get put out until Agent O (Emma Thompson) gives her a chance to basically save the world as a probationary agent. Tessa Thompson is great in anything she does, and she is great here. She brings a fun energy to the role, with a slight edge of wiseass. Hemsworth is a performer who seems to like himself a little too much, but still manages to be likeable. The two make for a good pair, as they did in Thor: Ragnarok. While it’s fun to see them standing next to each other again onscreen, it’s a little baffling what the screenplay puts them through.

1Nightmare Cinema I’m a big fan of anthology horror movies and TV shows. Creepshow stands as one of my all-time favorite horror movies, so when I see another anthology horror film getting good buzz, I get excited. Word had it that this one was a blast but, as things turn out, it totally blows. Mickey Rourke plays the Projectionist, a purposeless dude screening horror films in an old, mystical theater. The premise for the multiple short films in this movie has something to do with the main characters walking into the theater, sitting down and seeing their stories. Each one of those stories, including a demon possession tale, a crazy mother, a cabin in the woods scenario, and a kid who sees dead people, is lame, lame, lame. There isn’t an original moment to be had in this thing. It should just be called Mickey Rourke Actually Gets a Job because that’s the only shocking thing about it. Standard gore effects, terrible writing, and lousy direction abound. Even Joe Dante, the man who made Gremlins, accomplishes next to nothing with his stupid short about an evil plastic surgeon. It’s as if a bunch of studios took a group of throwaway horror scripts, repurposed them as an anthology and tried to pass them off as having some sort of binding theme. It’s a disjointed, sloppy mess. (Available for rent and download during a limited theatrical release.)

3Rocketman Dexter Fletcher, the very same director who helped take a shit on Freddie Mercury’s legacy with the dumpster fire that was last year’s Bohemian Rhapsody—he finished the job after Bryan Singer was fired— fares much better with this celebration of Elton John. The movie tells John’s story through musical numbers and fantasy sequences and, as it turns out, it’s a good approach to the life of Elton John. John is played by Taron Egerton (who starred alongside John in the wonderfully weird Kingsman: The Golden Circle), and there will be no lip-synching here, thank you very much. Egerton confidently sings John’s tunes, including “Tiny Dancer,” the title track and, unfortunately, “I’m Still Standing.” Jamie Bell plays John’s writing partner, Bernie Taupin, and the movie works as a nice testament to their contributions to rock’s legacy. The results are a lot of fun, even with some slight miscasting (Bryce Dallas Howard as John’s mom!). It’s not a perfect movie, but it’s a bold and interesting approach to a rock biopic that has more in common with Across the Universe than Bohemian Rhapsody.