Tag Archives: Joan Cusack

Toy Story 5 – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A perfectly adequate addition to the series with the odd tender moment, and a lot of coincidence, so much coincidence.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a mid- and post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film.

Lillypad.

Toy Story 5 Review Introduction

Look, I am just going to make it clear from the get-go that I walked into this film with the strong belief that it was not only unnecessary but profoundly detrimental to the franchise. Toy Story 3 is one of my Top 10 Animated Films of All Time and is the perfect ending to the series. I sort of worked my way through Toy Story 4, which, when you think of it, is more of an epilogue than a standalone film. I didn’t feel there was enough left in the tank to justify a fifth entry, and I think I was right.

So, to set the scene, Bonnie (Scarlett Spears) has been growing up fast, but still loves playing with her toys every day. But Jessie (Joan Cusack) and the gang have been trying to get her out of her shell so she can make some new friends. What Jessie does not know is that there is a storm brewing, and that storm is tech. Across the neighbourhood, toys are being abandoned as kids turn to tech to entertain themselves. But what was a neighbourhood problem is now in their house as a new Lilypad (Greta Lee) device has arrived, and it does not play fair.

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Movie Review – Instant Family

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TL;DR – There are some moments of real humour and it can be really heartfelt, but it has also be smashed into a rigid three-act structure to the point that you can see the plot beats coming a mile away.    

Score – 3 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

Instant Family. Image Credit: Paramount Pictures.

Review –

Adoption and foster care are two very important issues in society today. There are not enough foster parents for all the kids in the system, meaning that they get bounced around from house to house, or left in a worst state than when they came in. Which is a tragedy because these are some of the most vulnerable members of society and we need to be protecting them. Today we look at a film that explores this issue by looking at what happens when you go from having no kids to having three.

So to set the scene, Pete (Mark Wahlberg) and Ellie (Rose Byrne) are a couple going through life that seemingly has it all. They run a successful renovation business where they buy down and out houses and then do them up to flip them for a profit. This helps gives their lives purpose, until one day Ellie’s sister mentions that they are never going to have kids and a look ensues. This leads to them having a look at adoption websites and being overcome by the need. So they attend training run by Karen (Octavia Spencer) and Sharon (Tig Notaro) and on a lunch playdate/get to know all the kids/totally weird event, they come across Lizzy (Isabela Moner) who everyone else is ignoring because they don’t want teenagers. They really like Lizzy but there is one catch, she comes with two siblings Juan (Gustavo Quiroz) and Lita (Julianna Gamiz) and all of a sudden they become a family of five.

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Movie Review – Snatched

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TL;DR – It honestly feels like this movie was a waste of everyone’s time, including mine

Score – 1.5 out of 5 stars

Snatched. Image Credit: 20th Century Fox.

Review –

Sigh, what a disappointment, this movie had an interesting premise, the cast all had such potential, but what we got was a confused mess that does not know what kind of film it wanted to be. Now of course this first sentence probably would not fill you with confidence, and you’d be right, but when you have Goldie Hawn someone who can light up the screen no matter what film she is in and in her first movie since 2002 and you can’t make it work, well you have problems. So in today’s review we are going to break down the film and talk about what things did work and what didn’t, and one of those sections is probably going to be bigger than the other.

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