Oscars Line-Up and Trivia 2020

It’s that time of year again – the movies have been chosen, complaints have been made, and ReelTalk is going to cover them one at a time.  Joker leads the pack with 11 nominations; The Irishman, 1917, and Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood follow with 10 nominations apiece. 31% of the nominees are women (though this year’s lineup has once again mostly excluded women and nominees of color in the “major” categories), and Netflix has garnered 20 nominations, despite some claims that it is not entirely relevant cinema.

Toy Story 4: A Question of Necessity

Let’s just say what we were all thinking when Toy Story 4 was announced – no one particularly wanted it or needed it. Toy Story 3 had wrapped up the sagas of our heroes in such a satisfying way (wringing tears and laughs from us in full), that there seemed to be nothing left to say about Woody and the gang. The little vignettes you could catch as shorts, while sweet, were more about fun than storytelling, and it didn’t detract from the wonderful ending we already had. The thing with Toy Story 4, after watching it, is not that it is a bad movie – thankfully the Toy Story saga has no bad movies – but that if you have been following the story, it’s not really necessary. The choices made, the path taken at the end, it’s all part of the same lesson as Toy Story 3. It’s all about learning to move on. It’s ironic, really, considering that the audience who has grown up with the story has not been able to do that and clings to the story ending that we all loved. So, is Toy Story 4 a bad movie? No. Should you skip watching it altogether? That’s up to you. It’s really the first time that for those of use who have grown up with the characters must face the reality of our age – these movies, while part of our childhood, are not always intended for us.