Review: "Toy Story 2" is the Best Film of 1999

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 11 (of 2001) by Leroy Douresseaux

Toy Story 2 (1999) – computer animated
Running time: 92 minutes (1 hour, 32 minutes)
DIRECTORS: John Lasseter with Ash Brannon & Lee Unkrich
WRITERS: Rita Hsaio, Doug Chamberlain, Andrew Stanton, and Chris Webb, from a story by Peter Docter, Ash Brannon, Andrew Stanton, and John Lasseter
PRODUCERS: Karen Robert Jackson, Sarah McArthur, and Helene Plotkin
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Sharon Calahan (director of photography)
EDITOR: Edie Bleiman, David Ian Salter, and Lee Unkrich
COMPOSER: Randy Newman
Academy Award nominee

ANIMATION/ADVENTURE/FAMILY

Starring: (voices) Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Kelsey Grammer, Don Rickles, Jim Varney, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, Annie Potts, Wayne Knight, John Morris, Laurie Metcalf, Estelle Harris, and R. Lee Emery

When Al McWhiggin (Wayne Knight), a nefarious toy dealer, steals Sheriff Woody (Tom Hanks), it’s up to Buzz Lightyear of Star Command (Tim Allen) to rescue him. While in captivity, Woody discovers his Howdy Doody-like previous life and his old compadres: Jessie the Yodeling Cowgirl (Joan Cusack), Stinky Pete the Prospector (Kelsey Grammer). But time is running out to rescue Woody. Buzz meets an updated version of himself, Buzz Lightyear II ( Tim Allen), who is mistakenly taken in by the other rescuers. Meanwhile Emperor Zurg (Andrew Stanton), Buzz’s enemy pursues him as he races to rejoin his friends.

With the thrill of an old fashioned serial, fine voice acting talent, and the artistry of Pixar, Toy Story 2 is thrilling tale that can be enjoyed by all ages. The scriptwriters designed a story that is a virtual thrill machine that rivals many more hardcore action movies. However, they didn’t forget the children. There’s plenty of comedy, both low and high, and the guest appearances of many toys, both old and new will keep the kids’ interests.

Toy Story 2 also has many good ideas behind it, issues of growth, responsibility, loyalty, and friendship. In the hands of the talented Pixar crew, they take these ideas and weave a thoughtful and entertaining story. With a cast of excellent dramatic actors, comediennes, and character actors, the story becomes one of the best movies in recent memory. John Ratzenberger as Hamm is as funny as he ever was on “Cheers” as “Cliff” Clavin, Jr. Wallace Shawn’s Rex the dinosaur is a good thing, and in his last role, Jim Varney as Slinky Dog leaves us with one more good time. Don Rickles also entertains as Mr. Potato Head.

There’s magic in this movie – something for young and old. Only narrow minds that perceive any animated movie as being for tykes could ignore the charm and quality of this film. Perhaps the finest computer animated movie of ever, it joins the ranks of the great, animated films.

10 of 10

NOTES:
2000 Academy Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Music, Original Song” (Randy Newman for the song "When She Loved Me")

2000 Golden Globes: 1win “Best Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical;” 1 nomination: “Best Original Song - Motion Picture” (Randy Newman for the song "When She Loved Me")

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Pixar: How They Do It

Want a peak at how the people at Pixar make one of their movies?  Go to this Wired.com article about the making of Toy Story 3.

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Review: "Fast & Furious" Faster and More Furious

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 44 (of 2010) by Leroy Douresseaux

Fast & Furious (2009)
Running time: 107 minutes (1 hour, 47 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, some sexual content, language and drug references
DIRECTOR: Justin Lin
WRITER: Chris Morgan (based upon characters created by Gary Scott Thompson)
PRODUCERS: Vin Diesel, Michael Fottrell, and Neal H. Moritz
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Amir Mokri (director of photography)
EDITORS: Fred Raskin and Christian Wagner

ACTION/CRIME

Starring: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, Michelle Rodriguez, John Ortiz, Laz Alonso, Gal Gadot, John Conley, Shea Whigham, Liza Lapira, Tego Calderon, Don Omar, Greg Cipes, Brandon T. Jackson, and Sung Kang

Fast & Furious is the fourth film in The Fast and the Furious franchise, but it is set before the events of the third film, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. The plot of Fast & Furious connects with the original 2001 film and actors Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, and Michelle Rodriguez reprise their roles from the first movie. Having them return makes it feel as if this franchise got its mojo back.

Fast & Furious opens with Dominic “Dom” Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his new crew, which includes Letty Ortiz (Michelle Rodriguez), hijacking fuel tankers in the Dominican Republic. A shocking murder brings the fugitive ex-con Dom back to Los Angeles looking for payback against a mysterious drug lord named Arturo Braga. Meanwhile, Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker), the FBI agent who 5 years earlier infiltrated L.A.’s illegal street racing underground, of which Dom was part, is also after Braga. Although he is still feuding with Brian, Dom will have to forge a new trust with the lawman if they are to have a hope of outmaneuvering the wily Braga. As they cross international lines to foil Braga, Dom and Brian are also forced to do what they do best – push the limits of what is possible behind the wheel of an American muscle car.

Even with its explosive beginning and shocking turn of events, Fast & Furious starts off slow. The character drama and set up of the plot are clunky, but the stars rise to the occasion. Fast & Furious, for the most part, is exactly that – fast and furious, so viewers will get what they expect from this franchise, but not exactly. The car chases and races are so fast and crazy that computer generated images obviously played a part in making them. The story is, overall, darker and edgier than ever before. However, Fast & Furious doesn’t seem derivative, even as part of a franchise, and in spite of some occasionally uninspired character moments, it is just plain fun to watch.

I thought I knew how much I missed Vin Diesel and Paul Walker, but I really had no idea. When they’re blazing, these two stars show us why Fast & Furious had to be and why there will be more.

6 of 10
B

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

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Houston, San Antonio Among Cities Winning "Grease: Sing-a-Long" Showings

Press release:

HOUSTON, ORLANDO, PHOENIX, SAN ANTONIO AND DETROIT “DEMAND” PARAMOUNT’S GREASE: SING-A-LONG

CITIES TO BEGIN SPECIAL LIMITED ENGAGEMENTS ON JULY 15, 2010

Fans across the country have “demanded” GREASE: SING-A-LONG come to their hometowns. As a result, the digitally re-mastered film will expand to the following 5 additional cities: Houston, TX; Orlando, FL; Phoenix, AZ; San Antonio, TX; and Detroit, MI. These top 5 Demand it! ® cities will begin an exclusive run of the film on Thursday, July 15th.

GREASE: SING-A-LONG will begin playing on Thursday, July 8th in the first run of exclusive showings in 12 markets across the country. Tickets for these first cities are quickly selling out, including New York, NY (AMC Village); Los Angeles, CA (AMC Century City); Chicago, IL (AMC River East); San Francisco, CA (AMC Metreon); Boston, MA (AMC Boston Commons); Dallas, TX (AMC Northpark); Atlanta, GA (Regal Atlantic Station); Seattle, WA (AMC Pacific Place); Ft. Lauderdale/Miami, FL (Sunrise Gateway); San Diego, CA (AMC Fashion Valley); Austin, TX (Alamo Lamar); and Ocala, FL (Regal Hollywood).

The top 5 cities were selected based on the results of an online poll sponsored by Paramount Picture’s Insurge, with fans across the country “demanding” the musical open in their city. Tickets are available online at http://www.GreaseMovie.com

Is GREASE: SING-A-LONG not playing in your town? Demand it! ® at http://www.Eventful.com/Grease and help spread the word by tweeting #Grease on Twitter.

Demand it! ® to play in your city: http://www.Eventful.com/Grease
Official site: http://www.greasemovie.com/
Facebook Fan Page: http://www.facebook.com/GoGrease
Twitter Page: http://www.Twitter.com/GoGrease (#Grease)

Review: "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift" is Extra Special Fast and Furious

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 132 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006)
Running time: 104 minutes (1 hour, 44 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for reckless and illegal behavior involving teens, violence, language, and sexual content
DIRECTOR: Justin Lin
WRITERS: Alfredo Botello, Chris Morgan, and Kario Salem; from a story by Chris Morgan
PRODUCER: Neal H. Moritz
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Stephen F. Windon
EDITORS: Dallas Puett and Fred Raskin

ACTION/CRIME/SPORTS

Starring: Lucas Black, Shad “Bow Wow” Gregory Moss, Nathalie Kelley, Brian Tee, Sung Kang, Brian Goodman, Lynda Boyd, and JJ Sonny Chiba

Sean Boswell (Lucas Black) is an Alabama-born teenager who defines himself as the hotheaded outsider – basically a loner at his suburban high school. He’s also a hotshot street racer, and it’s car racing that lands him in trouble with the law… again. To avoid going to jail, Sean’s mother (Lynda Boyd) sends him to Japan to live with his estranged father, Major Boswell (Brian Goodman), a gruff, career Navy officer living in Tokyo. Here, Sean’s also an outsider, a gaijin, but he eventually makes a new friend, Twinkie (Bow Wow), a fellow military brat who hustles American goods such as sneakers and electronics to local youths anxious to have hot American items. Twinkie introduces Sean to the underground world of drift racing. In Tokyo, the drag racing Sean loves is replaced by the rubber-burning, automotive art of balancing speed and gliding through a heart-racing course of hairpin turns and switchbacks – drifting.

His first night at a drifting event, Sean catches the eye of his classmate, Neela (Nathalie Kelley), but Neela has a boyfriend, a local self-styled crime kingpin, Takashi, better known as “DK” (Brian Tee) or Drift King. Sean’s attraction to Neela brings he and DK into immediate conflict. DK challenges Sean to a drift race, and Han (Sung Kang), a criminal associate of DK’s, loans his car to Sean. The race finishes in a disaster for Sean who has never drifted before. However, Han takes Sean under his wings, teaching Sean to drift while Sean pays Han back for the wrecked car by working as his driver and pickup man. However, things don’t cool off between DK and Sean, and DK also has a falling out with Han. Soon, matters escalate into violence, and DK’s uncle (Sonny Chiba), an authentic Yakuza boss gets involved. To settle the dispute, Sean challenges DK to a race in which resolution will be reached man-to-man and car-to-car in the ultimate drift.

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift is just as much fun to watch as the previous two films in the franchise. Although it isn’t quite as good as the original, The Fast and the Furious, it may be a technically better made film than 2002’s 2 Fast 2 Furious. Director Justin Lin (Better Luck Tomorrow, Annapolis) loves filming racing scenes way more than he concerns himself with developing characters and narrative. I lost count of the character moments in which half or all of a scene was out of focus. Still, Lin provides enough male bonding, teen romance, youth melodrama, and family dysfunction to make us at least somewhat interested in the character scenes that are just filler between racing sequences.

And that’s what this flick is – a racing movie. The Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift exists to give us the vicarious thrill of living through underground, illegal, street racing – sexy cars and dangerous, mind-numbing, brain-freezing speed. This is one of those “ultimate summer movies,” made for all the young male demographics from nine (despite the rating) to 35. If you’re older than that and know how not to take every movie seriously, Tokyo Drift will make you feel young again and want to be with all those hot Asian chicks in the film.

Best thing about this movie is that none of the racing scenes are CGI; no computers were harmed in the making of these furious races through the night streets. Lin uses professional drift racers to deliver all the races, high-speed chases, and crashes you could want, and then throws in more. He also gives Tokyo’s night life: underground clubs, backroom parlors, and smoky dens of iniquity where criminals hide a glossy, candy coating that would be right at a home on MTV. Yes, indeed, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift is pure summer fun: fast cars, fast girls, fast life, and dangerous hoods. It’s the high art of junk culture, and too bad there isn’t a special Oscar for movies like this.

7 of 10
B+

Sunday, June 18, 2006

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"Grease: Sing-a-Long" Winners to Be Announced Soon

Paramount Pictures is re-releasing the 1978 musical, Grease (a smash hit back then), as "Grease: Sing-a-Long."  The film is digitally remastered and the song lyrics will appear at the bottom of the screen.  The release apparently will be limited - thus this contest to be among the cities showing the film:

Press release:

FANS ACROSS THE U.S. “DEMAND” GREASE: SING-A-LONG

The Top 5 Demand it! ® Cities Will Be Announced By Noon on Monday, June 14th

WHO: Fans across the country are “demanding” GREASE: SING-A-LONG come to their hometowns.

WHAT: Paramount’s Insurge Pictures will expand the digitally re-mastered film to 5 additional cities across the country beginning Thursday, July 15th for an exclusive engagement. In addition, Paramount will simultaneously launch Demand it!® Canada.

WHEN: The studio will announce the cities with the highest “demand” by noon PST on Monday, June 14th.

WHY: The announcement comes on the heels of Ocala, FL, John Travolta’s hometown, “demanding” to be among the first select cities to open the digitally re-mastered, sing-a-long version of “Grease.” Paramount selected Ocala solely based on the results of an online poll in which fans across the country could “demand” the musical open in their city. Out of more than 1,700 cities lobbying for the film, Ocala, a town of only 53,000, hit No. 1 on the poll in record time.

Said Rob Moore, Vice Chairman of Paramount Pictures: “As we saw with “Paranormal Activity,” with the right amount of fan fever, even the smallest towns can win the right to have the film plan in their town via the Demand it! ® Program. We are excited to see which 5 cities top the poll next week.”

WHERE: GREASE: SING-A-LONG will begin playing on Thursday, July 8th in exclusive showings in 12 markets across the country. Tickets for these first cities are quickly selling out, including New York, NY (AMC Village); Los Angeles, CA (AMC Century City); Chicago, IL (AMC River East); San Francisco, CA (AMC Metreon); Boston, MA (AMC Boston Commons); Dallas, TX (AMC Northpark); Atlanta, GA (Regal Atlantic Station); Seattle, WA (AMC Pacific Place); Ft. Lauderdale/Miami, FL (Sunrise Gateway); San Diego, CA (AMC Fashion Valley); Austin, TX (Alamo Lamar); and Ocala, FL (Regal Hollywood).

Is GREASE: SING-A-LONG not playing in your town? Demand it! ® at http://www.Eventful.com/Grease and help spread the word by tweeting #Grease on Twitter.

Fans around the country will get a chance to re-live all of their favorite moments. Don’t wait and miss out on the fun! Get your tickets now at our official site (http://www.greasemovie.com/).

Demand it! ® to play in your city: http://www.Eventful.com/Grease
Official site: http://www.greasemovie.com/

Facebook Fan Page: http://www.facebook.com/GoGrease
Twitter Page: http://www.Twitter.com/GoGrease (#Grease)

Review: "2 Fast 2 Furious" Not 2 Bad

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 89 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux

2 Fast 2 Furious (2003)
Running time: 107 minutes (1 hour, 47 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for street racing, violence, language and some sensuality
DIRECTOR: John Singleton
WRITERS: Michael Brandt and Derek Haas, from a story by Gary Scott Thompson, Michael Brandt and Derek Haas
PRODUCER: Neal H. Moritz
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Matthew F. Leonetti (director of photography)
EDITOR: Bruce Cannon and Dallas Puett

ACTION/CRIME/THRILLER

Starring: Paul Walker, Tyrese, Eva Mendes, Cole Hauser, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Thom Barry, James Remar, Devon Aoki, Michael Ealy, and Mark Boone Junior

When we left Brian O’Connor (Paul Walker) at the end of The Fast and the Furious, he was on his way to be stripped of his badge as an officer of the law for assisting hijacker Dominic Torreto in escaping. In 2 Fast 2 Furious, Brian has moved to Miami and plays the city’s street racing circuit for cash. However, the cops come calling again with a deal: help them infiltrate the domain of a drug lord named Carter Verone (Cole Hauser) and they will in turn clean his record.

Of course, the drug lord needs fast drivers (convenient, right), so Brian recruits Roman Pearce (Tyrese), a childhood buddy who has a grudge against Brian (which creates dramatic tension between the lead characters). Roman is also street racer, and Brian hopes Roman can help him pull off the sting better than another undercover cop could. The mission tricky with many complications, just like in TFTH. Brian is caught between anxious U.S. Custom’s officials and a jealous and violent criminal who doesn’t fear the law; neither side will let him and Roman let them down.

The first film borrowed liberally from the film Point Break changing Break’s surfer/bank robbers to street racer/hijackers. The street racing was an integral part of the film, and the original director Rob Cohen used every trick in the bag to heighten the illusion of super speed; he also had Vin Diesel.

2 Fast 2 Furious seems exactly what it is, a sequel, a by-the-book action movie that succeeds in at least being vacuous entertainment despite itself. The street racing exists solely because this film is a follow-up to a movie about fast cars. The script is lousy with action movie formulas. There’s a white guy/black guy dynamic with plenty of tension between the two. A sour incident from the past gives their partnership an extra edge and potentially endangers their assignment. Paul Walker as Brian O’Connor isn’t an energetic, kinetic action hero; he’s more stoic, so Tyrese as his partner Roman brings the comedy and raw sense of street bravado to the movie. Their chemistry is good in spite of a script intent on them not having any. Don’t forget the vaguely Latin drug lord who uses brutal methods to get his way. The cast is thoroughly mixed with sprinkles from every ethnic group, short of gypsies. The soundtrack is filled with slammin’ hip hop tracks (the first was a mixture of thrash, techno, and hip hop), and the score is surprisingly good and add fuel to the fire of the film’s best scenes.

Despite the paint-by-numbers scenario, director John Singleton manages to conjure a fairly entertaining car chase movie. While the cars were hot items in TFTF, Singleton treats them as art objects in his film. He lovingly caresses them with the camera; he suggests that they are almost as much the stars as the human actors. In fact, it’s a great move because all that attention on the hot cars distracts the viewer from some of the film’s drier moments. And don’t forget the girls; Singleton laps up the hotties when he’s not pushing up on the hot rides.

2 Fast 2 Furious isn’t bad, but it isn’t as good as its predecessor. But while TFTF was a hard-edged action flick, I will give 2 Fast credit for having a much better sense of humor. It never takes itself seriously. In fact, the filmmakers seem to insist on telling us that they know what this is – a perhaps dumber sequel to a dumb action movie, so let’s just relax and enjoy 2 Fast.

2 Fast is exciting and thrilling and hot and sexy. It’s a bad cartoon full of bullet-spitting guns, hot hoochies, fantastically speedy cars, explosions, and testosterone: in other words, a summer movie. When you go to see a thriller, you expect even the lamest concepts to give you that vicarious thrill of the jolt of danger, and sometimes I really believed that Brian and Roman might get a bullet to the head. So even if you don’t make it to the theatre to see 2 Fast 2 Furious, it will make a nice DVD rental.

5 of 10
C+

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