[kscherer]

Bring it on! I love Pixar, and I love the whole Toy Story franchise, and am okay if they dabble around a bit.

[psmith2.0]

Will Woody get a western, I wonder?

[kscherer]

I hope so! If Lightyear does well (and it will) he'll get two.

[psmith2.0]

Poltergeist!

Haven't seen this in probably 25 years. It still holds up.

That scene where the mom pushes the six kitchen table chairs in, goes to the sink and then turns back around to see them all stacked is still one of the best on-screen gags/thrills ever. First time I saw this, in the theater in 1982, I nearly bounced out of my seat!

I've always wondered how they did this because there are no cuts (camera follows mom to the sink and then pans back around to the dining area, in under six seconds).

Spielberg came up with the story and co-wrote the screenplay, but his directing style is all over it. I know Tobe Hooper is the director, but I think Steven was sitting in that chair on some days.

I love this movie. I need to add it to my yearly October/Halloween rotation.

[Frank777]

Originally Posted by turtle Lightyear featuring Captain America Well, Chris Evans anyway. I am sure he doesn't want to stay pidgin-holed into that CA role. The trailer doesn't show much. I didn't even know the movie was coming until today. I'm sure it will be loaded with great political correctness though.

Wait, I just paid attention to this development. I wish I hadn't.

So Disney is releasing an origin story for an alien-battling astronaut who then became so famous that his image was made into a toy?

And all this takes place inside a fictional cartoon universe where up to now - four movies in - there has been no hint that Andy's world has aliens?

And then they cancelled Tim Allen and substituted Chris Evans, so the astronaut's voice doesn't match the toy?

Who exactly asked for this?

[psmith2.0]

Was Allen cancelled (why?), or did they just think they should go with a younger actor to voice the younger version of the character?

I don’t know the in-universe explanation of everything. May not be one. This may sit on its own, apart from the Toy Story/Andy movies? Maybe someone just thought it would be cool to imagine BL as a “real” astronaut who had Flash Gordon/Buck Rogers type adventures in his younger days.

[Frank777]

I don't know. My head hurts just thinking about it.

I mean, this has to be a sign that Disney has so much money and IP, that they literally don't know what to do with it all.

[drewprops]

I think it's GENIUS from a marketing perspective.

BETTER YET.

Why couldn't this take part in the STAR WARS universe?

They OWN IT.

Stick with me people, I'm a pro.




...

[psmith2.0]

I was typing that last night (but then I saw Poltergeist starting and got my mind right/lunged for the popcorn instead.

“This shit can wait…a real movie is coming in!”

But yeah…with all this stuff now under the Disney roof, you can probably expect a ‘nudge-nudge, wink-wink’ Star Wars reference/gag, big or small, at some point. Wouldn’t surprise me one bit!

[Ryan]

Wasn't Buzz supposed to be a TV character? Been a while since I watched the movies but I thought the toy was based on an in-universe TV character.

Is Disney just retconning that or are they doing a show-within-a-show thing?

[Ryan]

Originally Posted by psmith2.0 I was typing that last night (but then I saw Poltergeist starting and got my mind right/lunged for the popcorn instead. “This shit can wait…a real movie is coming in!” But yeah…with all this stuff now under the Disney roof, you can probably expect a ‘nudge-nudge, wink-wink’ Star Wars reference/gag, big or small, at some point. Wouldn’t surprise me one bit!

In a cameo on Parks and Rec, Patton Oswalt filibusters a city council meeting by explaining his extremely detailed theory on how Disney will combine the Marvel and Star Wars universes. There's an extended cut of the scene on Youtube. You definitely get the sense that Oswalt has actually put a ton of thought into this.

https://youtu.be/5BBhNkywMJY?t=31

[kscherer]

With Lightyear, Disney has a few angles they can take:

1) Buzz Lightyear has a backstory. There's a television commercial in Toy Story that dives into it just a bit. Toy Story 2 takes it further with a video game and when the Buzz and Emperor Zurg toys bang heads and we learn that Zurg is actually Buzz's father (for those of you pining for the Star Wars angle, it's already been played! "I am your father!" "Noooooooooo …" ).

2) The movie's intent is to show us the programming that went into Buzz's toy-brain.

3) A complete spin-off into a new Disney universe.

Any one of these is compelling. #1 tells the backstory because reasons, but still looks fun. #2 tells us what's going on inside Buzz's toy-brain, i.e. microchip, and why he's so committed to his non toy-ness. And #3 opens up a whole new universe of "real-life" backstories that bring an entirely new angle to the franchise. Next year, Woody gets his western, A Hard Woody Western; a year later Rex gets his Land of the Lust debut; a year after that and we get Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head Do Disney, etc. There are endless possibilities for story-telling and (naturally) money-making.

[Frank777]

They should give up. They will never top the toys all holding hands as they are about to fall into the fire.

[psmith2.0]

What?! That happened? When did Lars von Trier director a Toy Story movie?

[Frank777]

Toy Story 3: The world isn't messed up enough, so let's traumatize the kids.


I'm kidding, of course. The scene is well-illustrated and definitely one of the most memorable.

[kscherer]

Originally Posted by Frank777 They should give up.

Quitting is for quitters.

[psmith2.0]

Thinking about these recent Spider-Man and Flash movie trailers, it's interesting(?) how both Marvel and DC are latching onto that whole "multiple universe" thing, with time travel and different takes on different characters. Granted, the two involved movies are 11 months apart in release (Spider-Man this coming December, Flash next November. But they're both filmed (or still filming, in post-production, etc.) so they're aware of each others existence, the studios and all.

I don't want to spoil anything outright (see below if you choose), but if you know what I'm talking about, then you...know what I'm talking about.

Affleck and Keaton's(!) Batman are in the upcoming Flash movie, and then Alfred Molina's Doc Ock (and a rumored Willem Dafoe) and Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire are also appearing as Spider-Man, along with Tom Holland. I find the timing of it all interesting, as if both studios are kinda out of ideas and feel they have to reach into the past, previous actors/characters, to drum up any genuine interest. To be fair, Marvel's put out far more (and better) movies over the past decade or so than DC, so at least they have an excuse for any creative bankruptcy/wall-hitting. DC has only put out a handful of (underwhelming, morose) flicks, so it actually refects a little worse on them that they're having to go drag poor Michael Keaton into their bungled mess to try and get people to care. PS - I'm on record as thinking the upcoming Robert Pattinson take on the character will have a huge opening, but blow it all in those first four days. Not enough genuine interest outside the neckbeards on yet another take on the character. Not to mention it looks like Se7en and a comic book tried to have a baby. Yeah...no thanks. And, frankly, I think audiences get a little confused/overwhelmed. We're going to have three Batmans (Batmen? Batpersons?) on the big screen in 2022...Pattinson, Affleck and Keaton, with the latter two in the same movie! It just seems a bit "throw all we have at the wall and see if anything sticks", IMO. I do think we experienced, and have passed, the "cinematic golden age" of comic book/superhero movies, 2008-2019. And what's coming now, with maybe a few exceptions here and there, will be the C-teams, unasked-for reboots and gimmicky "hey, can we use some CG to get Christopher Reeve in this thing?" shenanigans. I've yet to read a single positive - hell, even neutral - review of Eternals, anywhere (and any praise or positivity isn't about the plot, writing, acting, etc...you know, actual movie stuff, but other, outside factors and box-checking). So I think even Marvel, despite their past successes/home runs, is looking at a tough go if this is going to be their approach.

[drewprops]

Well to be fair....

The comics did it first.





...

[psmith2.0]

Yeah, but the movies are both doing it now. I do think Marvel has said all that needs saying. DC hasn’t, but I seriously doubt their ability to do so.

The comics-to-movie crossover probably repeesents about 1/3 of the people sitting in the multiplex. Comic nerds and neckbeards don’t make these things the successes they’ve been, there just aren’t enough of them.

Mainstream audiences don’t know what’s going on in the print realm. They see “Spider-Man and Flash are both time traveling and and/or experiencing alternate universes.”

[psmith2.0]

Okay, now this looks good, and the kind of movie I enjoy.

Quite the cast, and it’s looking like Lady Gaga is holding her own with Driver, Pacino, Irons, etc. Pretty impressive; I think she’s truly talented. Great singer, solid actor. And sexy/cute (my Kryptonite) in her little snowsuit.

Her character looks to be a bit of a handful in this movie!

And that old, balding man was Jared Leto!




Yeah, I gots a bit of a crush on Ms. Germanotta. I couldn't - wouldn't - have copped to such a thing 5-10 years ago. Now? Hell, I don't care...who am I trying to impress?

[turtle]

I can see me watching that one on the treadmill over a couple of days. Not sure I would sit down for hours to watch it, but the cast and trailer do make it pretty appealing.

[Ryan]

Originally Posted by psmith2.0 Okay, now this looks good, and the kind of movie I enjoy. Quite the cast, and it’s looking like Lady Gaga is holding her own with Driver, Pacino, Irons, etc. Pretty impressive; I think she’s truly talented. Great singer, solid actor. And sexy/cute (my Kryptonite) in her little snowsuit. Her character looks to be a bit of a handful in this movie! And that old, balding man was Jared Leto! Yeah, I gots a bit of a crush on Ms. Germanotta. I couldn't - wouldn't - have copped to such a thing 5-10 years ago. Now? Hell, I don't care...who am I trying to impress?

I just grabbed a last-minute ticket to see her jazz/piano show in Vegas this weekend. Very excited about that.

[psmith2.0]

Yeah, she can do that stuff really well. Should be a good time.

I like quirky crime/drama stuff, with a bit of dark humor/edge to it (Knives Out, Fargo, The Wolf of Wall Street, Kill Bill, etc.), so this looks to be in that sort of vein...unlikable, rudderless people being low-rent shitheads to each other for money/ego/love reasons, with a few chuckles tossed in).

[Ryan]

Originally Posted by psmith2.0 Yeah, she can do that stuff really well. Should be a good time. I like quirky crime/drama stuff, with a bit of dark humor/edge to it (Knives Out, Fargo, The Wolf of Wall Street, Kill Bill, etc.), so this looks to be in that sort of vein...unlikable, rudderless people being low-rent shitheads to each other for money/ego/love reasons, with a few chuckles tossed in).

It's the last night of her Vegas residency and on Halloween, so my expectations are high.

[psmith2.0]

Gosh, I wonder if she'll dress up or wear something funky/crazy?

I'd keel over from shock if she didn't.

Should be quite an evening, the timing/those factors in place!

Tell her I said hello.

[psmith2.0]

WarGames is on AMC! Saw this in the theater in 1983 and loved it.* I've seen it several times over the years, but it's probably been a good 20 or so since my last viewing. One of those perfect little "out of nowhere" movies. Saw it with my Dad and my sister. I had no idea what to expect, but I loved it.

The tech and all is certainly dated/amusing, but the overall topic - people hacking in to places they shouldn't and trouble resulting - is as current as ever!

And that WOPR computer still looks awesome!

This, and not Ferris Bueller's Day Off, is Matthew Broderick's best role/performance, IMO. The other gets all the attention and quoting, but he nails it in this one.

*I never "got into computers" during my high school/teen years throughout the 80's, so everything in this movie was so "unknown" to me, which may be part of why it made such an impact/impression...I didn't know enough to recognize (or call "bullshit" on) anything computer-related. I didn't touch my first computer until late 1992, at 22ish. And it just happened to be a Mac; it never occurred to me to try/use anything else. My life could've gone a completely different way if that computer lab had been outfitted with Compaqs and HPs with WordPerfect instead of IIci and IIfx Macs with Photoshop 2.0. "Ohmigosh, this is completely natural to me...can I do this kind of stuff - art/drawing/creating on a computer - as a job?!" Why, yes, Paul...you can indeed!

[kscherer]

When War Games first came out I already had an Apple 2+, so the whole "hacking computers" thing was very interesting to me. I think I daydreamed about it for years!

FYI, I watched War Games with my daughter last year. Still awesome.

[psmith2.0]

It does indeed hold up, just because it's a good story and well-written/acted. That never fades or loses impact.

Same with Poltergeist and a few other movies from this period.

Effects, in-story tech, etc. can age/look dated, absolutely. But if the foundation it's all sitting on is solid (story, writing, acting, directing), then it will still hold together, and be enjoyable to watch, no matter how many years go by. It's the movies that take the opposite approach - putting all that important stuff second to visuals, stunt-casting, fan service and "trailer moments" - that prove to be unwatchable and forgettable.

Watching Poltergeist last week, it never occurred to, or "bothered", me that bulky CRT TVs were the center of the story, and that telephones still had coiled cords on them. It didn't matter.

[kscherer]

Yep. A good story begins with, well, a good story.

[Anonymous Coward]

How about Electric Dreams? It was one of my favorite movies. It was also my first Virginia Madsen movie, I think, before she had to undress to get parts. Apparently it is hard to find. I still listen to the soundtrack.