Toy Story 3

My initial thoughts when I first heard that Pixar would be making Toy Story 3 was of excitement, but reality eventually sunk in... Could Pixar possibly get lucky a third time and create a film that surpasses its predecessors like Toy Story 2 surpassed the original? After watching this film, I decided I shall never again doubt the wonders of ‘Animation Studio Heroes’ Pixar. It’s not luck that their films are constantly challenging the art of animation while being original, creative, fun and emotional – it’s pure gold talent.
It’s been just over a decade since we last saw our favourite toys, a lot has changed in our world as well as theirs. Toy owner; Andy, is now about to begin college, having to pack up his life and move away from his family and his almost forgotten toys. So the question arises; what will the future entail for lovable Woody, Buzz, Jessie and the other selected few toys that made it through Andy’s teenager years. Through a couple of mistaken events, the toys end up being donated to the local day care centre, a place where the gang believe they can be loved by children once more. Of course the day care centre isn’t as ‘groovy’ as the gang would like, and the true intentions of the ‘day care toy leader’ is revealed. (Moral: Do not trust strawberry scented teddy bears.) Naturally an escape is planned in true Toy Story style, leading to an epic crisis that looks similar to the fiery depths of Mordor, played against a track that reminds us of the finale to Terminator 2.
The film is one epic crisis after the other, and the audience can easily sit there thinking that nothing is working for the gang and maybe toys are truly nothing but disposable rubbish. At one certain point the audience, along with the toys, all believe that there can be no happy ending. But Pixar knows that the story has to be truly epic for it to compete against the genius of the first two films, and so Toy Story 3 has to take it to the next level and has to create higher risks that the toys have never seen before... This leads to a very rewarding film with an extremely beautiful ending that is sure to get the tear ducts working.
We could sit here debating which of the three films is the best, but instead I think we should be grateful for the humour and moral lessons that we gather from each separate film and value them as a great trilogy masterpiece.
And so we say goodbye to Andy’s toys, a trilogy that has been celebrated by generations alike. And now we sit and wait, quietly hoping that they make a new trilogy based on Bonnie’s Toys. We shall have to wait and see...

Animal Kingdom

Animal Kingdom, an Australian film written and directed by recent newcomer David Michôd is a thrilling journey into the makeup of a Melbourne criminal family. The film is seen through the eyes of the youngest family member; 17 year old ‘J’ played amazingly by James Frecheville, as he is propelled into the web of deceit, hate and murder which surrounds his estranged family. So begins a tense and thrilling two hours.
Faces that you will recognise include Guy Pearce, Joel Edgerton and Ben Mendelsohn. Mendelshon’s performance was naturally amazing as always, his depiction of an unravelling criminal leader left an everlasting creepy impression. But the scariest character was without a doubt the mother of the crim’ family, Janine ‘Smurf’ played chillingly by Jacki Weaver. I can think of only two words to describe her. Devil. Woman.
The standout performance was by the young lead who perfectly created an emotionally withdrawn teenager unsure of pretty much everything in his life, especially where he belonged. For less than half a minute we were witness to his only emotional breakdown in the film which later reinforced the decisions surrounding the film’s final outcome.
The cinematography was another thing to love about this film, the composition of every frame was basically perfect and overall the cinematography greatly assisted in telling the story, instead of being just artful filmmaking.
Everything seemed to work for Animal Kingdom; the script was amazing, the performances were extraordinary, the cinematography was to be marvelled and finally the music beautifully captured the sense of the film.
This has to be one of the best Australian films I have seen and is definitely, from what I have seen so far, the BEST film of 2010. From the opening scene you will be left guessing the outcomes of the thrilling story. A must see.

(500) Days of Summer

I watched this film on DVD last night, after having seen it in cinemas last year, and I have to say that it is possibly my favourite film of 2009. It is a refreshing look at the romantic comedy genre. It follows the love trials of Tom played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt while he searches for the girl of his dreams; then enters Summer, played by the beautiful Zooey Deschanel who Tom instantly realises as being the one. It was a film marketed as “not a love story” but a “story about love.” From the very beginning of the film, a narrator tells us that Tom and Summer will not end up together, but as we watch it, we can’t help but hope that they do live happily ever after.
This film is nothing without the brilliant script, which tells the story with a nonlinear narrative, crossing through time, pin pointing important days in the period of 500, in no particular order. The script really is the heart of this film, there is plenty of laughs, heartfelt moments and anguish present, along with inventive ways of filmmaking, not often presented in film; an example of this is when the screen is spilt in two, the left showing Tom’s expectations and the right showing the actual reality of this certain party scene. The performances by Gordon-Levitt and Deschanel are amazingly realistic as they beautifully bring the script to life. I can’t wait to see the future projects that they are involved in – specifically Gordon-Levitt’s upcoming film, Inception, also starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Ellen Page.
This easily gives When Harry Met Sally a race for its money for my favourite Romantic Comedy, (500) Days of Summer possibly takes the lead...
A must see for all film lovers.