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All my life, I've been a big fan of Pixar. And I still remember the first movie from them that I ever watched was, quite perfectly, the first one they ever made, Toy Story! I've loved this movie ever since I was little, and in fact, I still have my childhood VHS of it, and I even own some of the best pieces from Thinkway Toys' Toy Story Signature Collection. This weekend, I went to a matinee showing of it with my parents, and I can tell you that it's just as charming watching on the big screen as it is at home.

Set in a universe where toys are sentient but assume an inanimate facade in the presence of humans, the movie concerns Sheriff Woody (voiced by Tom Hanks), a good-hearted and well-meaning vintage cowboy doll, who belongs to a cheerful, toy-loving little boy named Andy Davis (John Morris). When Andy's mother (Laurie Metcalf) gives him a Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) action figure for his birthday, Woody finds his longtime position as Andy's favorite toy in jeopardy. To Woody's further chagrin, Buzz deludedly believes that he's a real Space Ranger having crash-landed on a mission to return to his home planet. When Woody and Buzz's conflict gets them separated from Andy and lands them in the hands of his next-door neighbor and polar opposite, the toy-abusing Sid Phillips (Erik von Detten), Woody and Buzz must find a way to escape his clutches and reunite with their owner before he moves to a new house with his family.

The animation, at least for the time the movie was made, is spectacular!! This was literally the first full-length animated movie ever to be 100% CGI, and that is an achievement in and of itself. Every character is fantastically designed, especially Woody and Buzz!! They both look like the kinds of toys any kid would love to play with! All the other toy characters are appealingly designed as well, and Pixar even went out of their way to animate real-life toys. And they all look amazing. The set pieces are also very appealing to look at! I mean, sure, the movements are pretty jerky and not as fluid as every Pixar movie or CGI-animated movie in general afterward, and sure, the human characters' skin looks just as plastic as the toys themselves (especially since Woody has the most complex character model in the movie), but I can excuse that, because this medium was unprecedented at the time, and the humans aren't on-screen as much as the toys. Either way, this movie looks excellent for the time it was made!

Also, the characters in this movie are tremendously likable. Woody is a very engaging, charming protagonist. His jealousy when Buzz starts to displace him as Andy's favorite toy is very relatable for anyone who's felt envious over no longer being the center of attention, and him attempting to get Buzz out of the picture to have Andy all to himself WOULD make him border on unlikable, but the movie handles it in a way that feels very understandable, along with Woody gradually coming to terms with Buzz and letting go of his envy. Buzz also goes through some excellent development, though it isn't as profound as Woody's. His realization that he's only a toy in the second half of the movie, and ensuing despondency, is addressed with such earnestness, and his gradual self-acceptance is well-executed. Andy is also a character that any kid can relate to. His love for his toys is played very realistically, as is his worry and sadness when he loses Woody and Buzz, and you really feel for him. Even Andy's other toys, Slinky Dog (Jim Varney), porcelain doll Bo Peep (Annie Potts), plastic dinosaur Rex (Wallace Shawn), Mr. Potato Head (Don Rickles) and piggy bank Hamm (John Ratzenberger) all have their charm to them. And Sid is a terrific villain. He's entertainingly sadistic about mutilating toys, without knowing (until the end) that they actually feel it.

The writing is also fantastic. The story is very warm, wholesome and charming, but also very serious and intense when it needs to be, especially at the climax. It also knows when to be very somber, especially at Buzz realizing that he isn't a real spaceman. There's also some very exciting moments too, like Woody planning to rescue Buzz, and of course, one truly iconic scene at the end (I won't give too much away). The movie is also sprinkled with clever and hilarious humor, like Woody and Buzz's first meeting, and even several of Potato Head's snarky remarks ("What are YOU lookin' at, ya hockey puck?").

The voice-acting is sublime, as well! Tom Hanks is terrific as Woody, perfectly bringing out his well-meaning nature, sarcasm, and charm. Tim Allen is fantastic as Buzz, perfectly selling his heroic, proud, but deluded nature, and gradual self-realization. It probably helps that both men recorded in the studio together. The voicing for the rest of Andy's toys is perfect as well. In regards to the humans, John Morris is spot-on as Andy. Ten years old, and ALREADY he displays such voice-acting talent. Erik von Detten is a sheer delight as Sid. But I should especially praise Sarah Freeman as his sweet little sister, Hannah. She deserved that YA award she won for this role!

And of course, let's NOT forget the music! Musical genius Randy Newman scored this movie wonderfully. His score is energetic, playful, suspenseful when it needs to be, somber at all the right moments, and especially grand and sweeping in the final act of the movie. And that's not even mentioning the three terrific songs that he wrote and sang for this movie, those being the bouncy "Strange Things", which expresses Woody's envy over Buzz getting more of Andy's attention, the sorrowful "I Will Go Sailing No More", which narrates Buzz's inner thoughts during his "despair event horizon" moment, and of course, my favorite of the three, the ever-iconic "You've Got a Friend in Me", the movie's wonderful theme song about loyalty and friendship. Newman also shares it with the brilliant Lyle Lovett in the end credits.

Everything considered, Toy Story is more than just a technologically groundbreaking achievement and turning point in animation history. It's an absolutely charming, funny, and smart movie with lovable characters, a wonderful narrative, a fantastic script, and a stellar voice cast. And it still holds up (all but visually, of course) after all these years. Highly recommended!!!!!!!!

And one more thing... "How DARE you open a spaceman's helmet on an uncharted planet?!" :)

I randomly stumbled on Field of Dreams after a clip of it showed up in my Recommended feed on YouTube about a year ago. Well, tonight, my parents decided to show it to me, because they love it. And you know what? It's beautiful.

Set in Dyersville, Iowa, the movie centers on farmer Ray Kinsella (played by Kevin Costner), a devoted baseball fan who has been haunted most of his life by his strained relationship with his late father, John, and fears growing old without ever having done anything to achieve his dreams. One evening, Ray hears a mysterious voice in his cornfield whispering, "If you build it, he will come", and feels the need to take action. Though everyone taunts and dismisses his accounts as lunacy, Ray builds a baseball field complete with stadium lights in the middle of his land, with the support of his wife, Annie (Amy Madigan). Soon, the spirits of great baseball players emerge from the crops to play ball, led by "Shoeless" Joe Jackson (Ray Liotta). However, Ray gradually learns that the purpose of this field of dreams extends far beyond simply bringing the greatest baseball players of all time out to play again.

The acting in this movie is absolutely perfect. Kevin Costner is excellent as Ray. Ray Liotta (may he rest in peace) is spot-on as Joe. Amy Madigan is very believable as Annie. Even Gaby Hoffman is wonderful as Ray's daughter, Karin. She was only 7 at the time, and already she had talent! But if you were to ask me, the best performance in this entire movie comes from James Earl Jones (we lost a legend this past September) as controversial author Terence Mann. Not for nothing is this considered one of his most iconic roles, alongside Mufasa and Darth Vader! In particular, he should've at least received an Oscar nomination for the baseball monologue ALONE. This past spring, I actually used that monologue for one of my assignments in a "Voice for the Actor" college course I took. Everybody else is flawless in their roles as well.

The writing is also very captivating. Despite its incredibly strange and unusual premise, beneath that is a very smart message about redemption and faith. And the movie handles it in such a shrewd and mature way. The movie also knows when to be humorous when it needs to, especially with Ray's first encounter with Terence.

And I MUST mention the visuals. Field of Dreams is gorgeously filmed. In fact, director Phil Alden Robinson actually had the field built on two totally different properties, and even shot several late twilight scenes over the course of several days to preserve the lighting and accommodate unhindered sunset shots. And the results are absolutely beautiful and amazing.

And last but not least, we have the music. The brilliant James Horner, may he rest in peace, scored this movie perfectly. His score is very enchanting, mystical, and haunting in all the right places. The movie even makes pretty good use of songs.

All things considered, Field of Dreams is a very beautiful and well-crafted movie, and is rightfully considered one of the best baseball movies of all time. Highly recommended!!!!!!

Earlier this week, my dad and I went to a local movie theater to see the finale to the original Star Wars trilogy, Return of the Jedi. And honestly, while it's the least fantastic of the original three Star Wars films, it's a great finale!

The movie picks up just a year after The Empire Strikes Back, during the ongoing battle with the villainous Galactic Empire. After rescuing Han Solo (played by Harrison Ford) from the vile Jabba the Hutt, the Rebel Alliance sets out to destroy the new Death Star before it's fully built, with the help of a tribe of Ewoks. Meanwhile, having learned that Darth Vader (David Prowse, voiced by James Earl Jones) is his father, Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) is certain that there is still good in him, and struggles to redeem Vader from the Dark Side of the Force, as well as defeat his master, the Emperor of the Galactic Empire (Ian McDiarmid).

Once again, the story is engaging and exhilarating, filled with powerful and exciting action. It's also still quite wholesome when it needs to be, and even sad when necessary. Of course, much like The Empire Strikes Back, there isn't quite enough humor to balance things, though thanks to R2-D2 (Kenny Baker) and C-3PO (Anthony Daniels), it's certainly still there. But then, the way that this movie expands the universe doesn't feel quite right. In particular, it's revealed that Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) is actually Luke's estranged twin sister, which in hindsight, makes the love triangle thing between Luke, Leia and Han in the previous movies border on incest. YEESH. Also, setting up the Emperor as the primary villain this time around, and actually the one who turned Vader evil, honestly makes Darth Vader feel like a MUCH smaller and more inconsequential threat than he was in the first two movies by comparison.

But with that much being said, the acting, while also somewhat inferior to the previous movies, is still excellent. Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher (may she rest in peace), Harrison Ford, Anthony Daniels and almost everybody else from the previous movies, returns to their roles and still do amazing jobs. David Prowse (may he rest in peace) still performs the physicality of Darth Vader fantastically, and he's still magnificently voiced by the legendary James Earl Jones (sadly taken from us this past September, may he rest in peace). In fact, in his very final lines with his mask still on, I began to hear tiny glimmers of what would become Mufasa in The Lion King just a decade later! And joining the cast is Ian McDiarmid, who is fantastically menacing and sinister as the Emperor.

And as you would expect from a Star Wars movie, Return of the Jedi is a visual triumph. It's filmed and edited with such precision and skill, and the set design is an absolute marvel. And even though George Lucas amped up and enhanced them since the original release, just as he did with the first two movies, the special effects are once again glorious and still hold up great for a movie released in 1983, particularly with the lightsabers, Han being freed from the carbonite, the flying shuttles, and of course, Luke talking to the ghost of Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness).

And then, lastly, the music! The great John Williams returned to score this movie again, and as usual, he did an amazing job. He brought back the iconic Star Wars theme, and composed a bunch of new leitmotifs for this movie, and it remains every bit as majestic, epic and timeless as the previous movies!

Everything considered, Return of the Jedi is a fantastic finale to such a fantastic trilogy as the original Star Wars trilogy. Of course, it's the least fantastic of the original trilogy, but it's nonetheless excellent, and will enrapture anyone who's a hardcore Star Wars fan!!!!!