At the Movies With Peter Travers: ‘Toy Story 3’ and ‘Cyrus’
It’s been a yawn-inducing summer blockbuster season stocked with duds like The A-Team and Sex and the City 2 , but Rolling Stone‘s Peter Travers reports that two must-see films are out this Friday At the Movies. The first is Toy Story 3 , the third installment of Pixar’s first and arguably best film. Tom Hanks and Tim Allen return as the voices of Woody and Buzz Lightyear, the story’s central toys, in a tale showing what happens to the cast of characters after the child who owned them grows up and goes off to college. The toys think they’ll wind up in the attic, but instead find themselves in the garbage on the curb. What follows is a story of comedy and sharp poignancy that Pixar has mastered, from Monsters Inc. to Up. As an added bonus, it’s all in stunning 3-D. Fans of the first two, moviegoers with or without kids and newbies to the trilogy are all recommended to go this weekend.
Also out this week is a film Travers calls the best comedy of the summer: Cyrus , starring John C. Reilly and Marisa Tomei in a romantic comedy that takes a dark turn when Reilly finds out that Tomei is a single mother to a needy 21-year-old son played by Jonah Hill. A hit at every film festival that screened it, Cyrus courageously and hilariously deviates into Oedipus territory without going too off the deep end, and Hill delivers a performance that overshadows his Get Him to the Greek lead just two weeks ago.
Finally, this is summer, meaning one bad film must be released weekly as a prerequisite. This time, it’s Jonah Hex , based on the DC Comics’ Civil War-era cowboy with a deformed face. The cast isn’t the problem: Hex is played by Josh Brolin, a Travers favorite, while John Malkovich is cast as the villain. The problem is everything about this movie goes wrong. The makeup, the surreal scenes, the plot, Megan Fox’s role as a hooker who doesn’t actually sleep with anyone — it’s all bad. If this movie was an MTV show, you’d be saying Johan next after three minutes. Avoid.
Read All of This Week’s Reviews:
• Toy Story 3
• Cyrus
• Jonah Hex
• The Killer Inside Me