#26. Toy Story 4, Ranking Pixar, and Buffet Rules
Listen to this episode ↗on Substack, where the show lives now
Toy Story 4 draws the full spread of verdicts. JVL comes out swinging: he hated it, hates the entire franchise, and has "grown to hate Pixar," which he now reads as pure manipulation — the lost little girl at the carnival is "a computer algorithm designed to make anybody who's a parent cry," and Woody is insufferable, a character with all the neuroticism of a Woody Allen and the grandiosity of somebody far more important than a cheap piece of plastic. Sonny is the moderate, liking these movies fine without loving any of them; he calls Toy Story 2 overrated, prefers Toy Story 3 (which he still thinks should have cut to black at the incinerator), and notes this installment is really Woody's story, with Buzz regressed and shoved into a buffoonish side plot. Vic gives it an A, singling out the Shining sting when Gabby Gabby is wheeled around in her pram, the Key & Peele carnies escalating their schemes into absurdity, and Duke Caboom — Keanu Reeves getting to say "whoa" while a flashback crams in every available Canadian reference — with his only real gripe being an ending that refuses to end. JVL's favorite bit is Wallace Shawn's T-rex marveling at how long Forky's arms are, "a joke not based on reference." He then ranks the Pixar franchises (Cars at the bottom, then Toy Story, Monsters, Nemo, Incredibles on top), and Sonny counters with a bottom five that is simply the five lowest-grossing Pixar films, "obviously the worst since the fewest number of people saw them." The real centerpiece, though, is the opening half hour: Vic's written-out lecture, delivered to a party of eight kids before an all-you-can-eat Sunday hunt breakfast in Connecticut — recce the spread before you pile your plate, always take a clean plate, whatever you touch you must take, and always beat the house. Also: Spider-Man: Far From Home clearing $185 million over the holiday frame, Sonny adjusting to working from home with a thousand Amazon-delivered packets of Equal, and JVL's son Flash reporting that a 23-year-old minor-league catcher has much bigger arms than his dad.
From the show notes
#cdata-section -------------- In this latest episode, sponsored by ExpressVPN and Blinds.com , we review Toy Sto...
Full transcript
Mike00:00:00Everyone Bonnie made a friend in class. Oh, she's already making friends. No, no, she literally made a new friend I want you to meet Forky He's a sport, yes, yeah, I know Forky is the most important toy to Bonnie right now. We all have to make sure nothing happens to him
Vic00:00:23Woody we have a situation. I Am NOT a toy I was paper soup salad, maybe chili and then the trash Hello and welcome to another edition of the sub beacon sponsored by Express VPN and blinds.com I'm Victorino Matus along with Sonny Bunch and Jonathan V Last. I'd like to remind you the sub beacon is available on iTunes And Google Play just look at our podcast and search for sub beacon. You'll easily find us Please subscribe tell your friends and leave a review Gentlemen, how are we Sonny Bunch? What are you doing here?
Sonny00:01:09Working from home is weird working from home is weird. It's it's fine, but it's a little bit weird and Yet you I've never done it before
Vic00:01:17No, no, I really were even when you weren't here. Yeah, you should work at the we work on the street
Sonny00:01:22I'd rather die than get my work. We work looks awesome But we works of the future in the future everyone is either gonna work at a we work or at a giant campus
JVL00:01:33If you are not a big enough corporation to own a campus, you will simply tell your people to buy their own we works
Sonny00:01:38Yeah
Vic00:01:39Once we get there we'll cross that bridge when we come to it and yet you've arrived here still in your sartorial splendor I thought you'd come in in a t-shirt tank top and shorts if you're gonna work from home. You have to have certain standards Oh, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Do you just like this at home when you're working?
Sonny00:01:55100% I Cuz it's really hot in here, but the the The I you know, I get dressed up. I take I take a shower every morning. I brush my teeth. I comb my hair You know, I got to get the kids ready to stand daycare
Vic00:02:14If you don't have standards, you'll start slipping. Yeah, it's not like bathrobe slippers work. No, not yet I assume that's like a month from now
Sonny00:02:22No, I finally I finally completed my office when the Thousand packets of equal showed up at my at my doorstep via Amazon So now I'm right. I'm ready to go I got I make a pot of coffee every morning and I got a I got some some milk And some well, you're ready to roll ready to roll. Is it weird?
Vic00:02:42Like the silence Do you find you know when I'm at home for a stretch of time if nobody's at the house for like, you know If Kate's up with the kids or something, it's just me after I mean like the the first day is great and after that you start Talking to yourself. I don't know. I start talking out loud
Sonny00:02:57I don't know. Yeah, that sounds like Vic. That sounds a lot not not you not sunny Just the fact the fact that you know, you don't have anybody there to you know to win votes from right
JVL00:03:07Do you monologue or do you dialogue? Are you actually talking both halves of the conversation?
Vic00:03:16Definitely definitely die like I know it was such a great sense. Thank you. I do that sometimes I do that sometimes
Sonny00:03:22But I did that sometimes in the office already like cuz you know I was basically working from home anyway already because I would always have my door closed and nobody would come in and talk to me So well, I've been preparing for this for the last 14 years. Have you already moved somebody into his old office?
Vic00:03:37There I think we have candidates. We'll have to we'll have to go through several Are you gonna have them do kumite to get whatever it takes? Yes, I'm gonna take a stick and break it in two, but there's actually
Sonny00:03:49Three of them. No, you should make it quick. Make it make it quick. You should do it like the like the group house auditions Remember when when you would first move to the city? Oh, you would live in a group house I'll sit there and then screen them and then like the the current roommates would sit there and talk to the new person and say What do you what what are your interests? Do you also like sports and politics? I was reading it was funny There was a piece maybe in the Washington that sounds like the worst thing in the world
JVL00:04:16It is it's why I spent all of my money to have a tiny studio apartment by myself
Sonny00:04:20Yeah into the city. I I did one of those when I moved to the city, but then I found a basement apartment that was like right at the top end of my price range I was like that's I need that I need that right now And it was it was perfect. No, but there was one there was there was one friend was recounting a story on Twitter That was like, you know, I had to do one of these and the first question they asked was what was your favorite episode of the West Wing this guy hates the West Wing is just like I know I knew at that moment That I would never be able to I would never be able to live with these people. So really it's a useful process
JVL00:04:50The one where Sam and Toby made the conservatives look stupid
Vic00:04:55Oh, wait, which season was that all of them the no, you know, Kate lived in a house and actually she lived with Molly Anyway, and they would have to screen people as well But but I would say it's more sometimes they there would be like a guy And Kate would say like, you know, like it every other way very nice and he can clearly he could pay But she remembers one of the things was Nudist he was like he would walk he said one of the things is he likes to walk Around nude. So so they took him in. No, I'm just kidding. That was that man was Victorino Mattis
JVL00:05:30That was a Seinfeld episode to her Kramer, right? He he moves in With Julia Louis-Dreyfus's Roommate starts dating her and they become nudists and in Julia Louis-Dreyfus's apartment
Sonny00:05:44I thought no, I thought there was like a nudist who was living across the street and then yes, it was the it was that's right
Vic00:05:50That's right. It was the contest and then and then Kramer up. No, that also but there's also a
JVL00:05:55Moment where we're in line has a roommate who Kramer starts and he and anyway, that's good. Also Jerry's girlfriend JVL, how are you? I'm fine. How was your fourth line? Fourth was fine. I had I had a neat I didn't Flash had a very neat experience This past weekend. He he was with his travel team at a workout at their workout facility on Sunday morning as is never the case But we're getting ready for a big tournament got to go to the tournament. Ah Anyway, one of the players from the local minor league baseball team was there working out Just in the batting cages working on stuff and and flash recognized him and towards the end of their practice He went over and said hi to him and then said hey Jackson would you mind coming over and like maybe saying some some stuff to our team and this this guy who is? Paid to play baseball Put his stick down said yeah, no problem, man Came right over gave the kids a pep talk. How old is the player 23? Yeah, and But the reason he was able to so perfectly engage with these kids This is so great is because his little brother is flash's age 11 Oh, and in fact his little brother and his dad came to work out with him It's like he's there with it's like the most it's the coolest like family thing. It's oh he's like signing balls for these kids and like So this was Reggie Jackson, which you know, this is this is Jackson Reitz who is a third-round pick pretty high-level pick
Sonny00:07:34Excellent pretty good prospect. He'll be he'll be playing in Fredericksburg next year
JVL00:07:38Possibly either there may be some complications with the stadium deal But the the first thing flash said to me when he came home because I was not there for this was Boy dad this guy was swole his arms are so much Bigger than yours. Well, he he is only 23 years old and he is paid to play baseball for a living Thank you for a mining literally a professional
Sonny00:08:06Did you ask him if if Jackson has ever caught a comma splice this is Wow, okay
JVL00:08:11His arms are I see it catcher. Yeah, very. Yeah, he's got guns and flash goes. I mean he won't even flexing
Vic00:08:19Okay, I bet you have better knees. I bet you have better knees, you know those catches it. That's true to be Down there. He's not gonna he's not gonna be down up. Oh, yeah years when he's my age. He'll barely be able to walk I bet he's bent like that. That's normal for him in that photo Victorino, how was your July 4th? It was lovely. We actually went up on the morning of the 4th by train We took the Amtrak the Northeast Regional It left like at 6:10 in the morning from Union Station
JVL00:08:48Wow, the regional takes a long time to get as we got to old Sabre. Oh past old
Vic00:08:54Past New Haven's the stop after New Haven, which did you go broke? Did you go? It's only 13 stops Did you go to Ogdenville? It's on the map that's right, that's right we So we got there if you left at like 6:10. We got to old say Brooke around 12:20
JVL00:09:12Yeah, six hours. Why did you choose to train it? I didn't want to drive
Vic00:09:15I hate driving up and driving on the fourth driving on the fourth plus thousand dollars once you get a train back and forth No, no, no, no, no, no, not bad. Not bad It was a one-way because we came back just the two of us We left the kids behind. Oh, yes That's why I was five minutes late to the studio this morning. Yes
Sonny00:09:37So the four of you went up yes, yes, we went up and we had a lovely time that and then two of you came back
Vic00:09:43Yes, four people entered two well two two men leave just like two people leave. Yes, right. Are we Or are the kids still up there? They're up there in Connecticut and then why are you here then then Kate is Damn podcast and then and then Kate's going to go back up to get the kids and bring them to Jersey She'll drive. Yes, and then another week in New Jersey. So what yeah, it's like summer camp That's our version since we don't really have summer camp here. So that's their summer camp and it's he's like my son spending all day fishing It's great. We did a 5k a family 5k family 5k organized by my sister-in-law Aaron Dwyer and I came in second behind captain bill that's You didn't all run together. Well, we all started together. But then after that every man for himself, I
JVL00:10:32Left the kids in the dust. Why would you run together? That's that's right. That's that's why because you have young kids
Vic00:10:40This is a good point because they never run like more than a mile. This is a very good point JVL So on my map my run, I would hit pause to just you know, check up on them Make sure they haven't died, you know or collapse from asthma or something And then continued on and then after I finished then I doubled back to see where they were and then Arlie Ermey style like at the Marine Corps Marathon, you know, come on Actually, yeah bill did that and it was run like old people Mark that one down the that's right. That's an actual line actual line. It's a great line So the the first two miles it was like a little over ten minutes and then I tried to keep up with Bill And I think he slowed down for me and that third mile was 8:49. So that was exhausting for me Yeah, I'm sure he was slowing down for me too, which is crazy. But after that the highlight I think was on like a couple days later Kate and I took the whole family and my Bill and his wife were gone, but their kids were still there We took everybody to a big brunch at the Grizzled Inn the Sunday hunt breakfast which is an all-you-can-eat buffet and But I wanted to make sure that my nephew And niece knew all the rules of the buffet, so I sat all the kids down I sat all the kids down. You had a heart-to-heart. I had a heart-to-heart with everybody just to go through because no melon No melon. There's gonna be cantaloupe and honeydew up there. Don't eat it. Don't eat the melon and The other thing is, you know, I mean her family was not a big buffet family because they eat like birds You know what I mean? My family, you know at the end my mother's putting stuff in the purse. So Let's okay. So the rule number one is she bring a ziploc bag for the rolls for the rolls for the rolls for later Which will never get to But it's the principle number one. I told them look around did you wait wait wait, you're reading off a piece of paper I am did you actually wrote down there?
Sonny00:12:31Did you prepare a speech mentally mentally write this down and read it to them? Did you have a PowerPoint? Did you sit them down? Did you sit them down on the couch in a row about a power plug your computer in your television?
Vic00:12:45That would include the mouse rule number one rule number one. I said look around don't just start like you walk it Oh, I'm gonna start piling my plate with the first thing I see because next thing you know, you got like bagel and muffin. Okay, that's what they want you to do Oh have the bagel and muffin and now you're stuffed. Okay, so don't pile the plate Look around see what's there and then come back. The buffet is not closing recce. Always take a recce. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, exactly Okay, number two reconnaissance. That's right reconnaissance for the for the non mil spec Community very good. Don't pile your plate Okay, don't be an animal and this is not a pizza hut used to do this pizza hut used to have A salad bar and it was as much as you could fill on the plate, but you can only go once So people would make the most it's you know what I mean? So you'd pile up on your like you're allowed to go to the salad bar, but you can't get more salad You can only go to the salad bar one time. This was the Pizza Hut in Tom's River 1985
Sonny00:13:38Yeah, that doesn't sound like the Pizza Hut I went to growing up what I went to growing up was like Here's a bunch of pizzas you pigs Get up get as much in your gullet as many times as you want even any free pizza
Vic00:13:50It was just like a salad salad bar. This was like The 80s so I said that's not the case Put on your plate what you think you can finish on your plate I hate seeing people leave all these plates on the table with all this food like oh, I can't finish it And here's like, you know, two giant slices of roast beef. That's terrible. Okay, and that's just wasteful
Sonny00:14:10Think it's wasteful think of those starving kids in Ethiopia. That's right. It's the same Eritrea where it was it's true
Vic00:14:17So don't do that. Okay, and then number three, you know again, you can always get more. All right, but get a clean Plate do not bring the dirty plate. That's actually the law in Virginia
Sonny00:14:27I think it's actually technically By the time you get back, what if the server has not cleared your you gotta start stacking in time. That's a stack in the plates
Vic00:14:38That's a situation in the plate. Yeah, and then you know what happens after that you put the plates on another table
Sonny00:14:43Well, I mean if you stack them just saying if you stack them, you don't need to do that save your silverware save your silverware Yeah, you gotta save your silverware. Okay, so you explain that and when you leave the table with an empty Plate this is a maybe an addendum to your your list of please please when you leave the table And there's an empty plate make sure to put your silverware on your napkin Yes, when you leave absolutely you don't want the server touching your silverware with their dirty hand. We had a great
Vic00:15:06Waitress and she actually gave us here's an extra napkin so you could put your silverware. Oh Big tip for her big tip at I did okay, and finally if there are utensils use them tongs spoons Whatever use them if you need to use your hands for whatever it is if by any chance in the In the food like oh, I'll take a roll. I don't know. I'm just saying hypothetically hypothetically. You don't know Whatever you touch you must take that's all I'm gonna say you touch something you take it and I've seen adults I've seen adults left like oh this bread isn't good and they put it back
Sonny00:15:37You should not you should not take anything out of a receptacle that does not have tongs I think would be a better. You know I JV a question about this, okay?
JVL00:15:47Because on the one hand you think oh the tongues are so sanitary Everyone's touching so your your question is you have like a row of muffins And you could just like take the muffin you want with your hands at which point your hands are only touching the food that you're gonna put in your mouth or You could touch the tongs that everybody else has used to take the muffin and then use that Dirty hand which has touched these filthy tongs which are filled with everybody's yeah the problem
Sonny00:16:17I understand your muffin. I understand what you're saying. I get this that's actually a fair point, but one thing You can do is leave the wrapper on the muffin while you eat it That's the thing you can guess another thing another thing though Is there's simply there's simply too much risk of contamination if you stick your hand in there You could bump into other people's muffins with the back of your fingers and nope you know I that's just it's just not that's right
Vic00:16:39Not well another another way to solve this JVL is the Sunday hunt breakfast open at 11:00 a.m. Is it a big hunt? It's Mike's
Sonny00:16:52Dupont Circle big famous on famous bar big hunt
Vic00:16:56Yes, it opened at 11:00 a.m. And we got there at 11:00. We had a reservation for 11:00 a.m So we're the first people all over that stuff
JVL00:17:04So if it's a virgin buffet with nobody else having said good nights, then at that point screw the time
Sonny00:17:10I'm just going right in there
JVL00:17:11Did you give them a list of like your priority targets like you want to go for the meats?
Vic00:17:16No, no, no, I leave this that that is that's a matter of choice But I also had a secret rule, but I didn't tell anybody which was almost Oh, you didn't tell them because the rest of my fam party of eight. Sorry. I'm the first one in there Everyone else is like what they have to wait for it. What are you getting your omelet? I Often like to say I and then I in a perfect world something else Oh, I have a Western omelet, but not everybody knows what goes into the Western omelet. So sometimes I just say Okay, not tomatoes because they make it wet everything. No, no, put it all in there. No, no, no spinach You can make a Florentine omelet, but that's very specific or something But feta or mozzarella, that's very specific. So I go for the basics. Okay, go ham and Red and green peppers onions mushrooms and some cheddar cheese on top. What about shrimp? You ever get the shrimp in there? Oh That sounds like no and I'll get ham than bacon I guess but then I take I go to the regular buffet with my omelet on the plate and then I pile on the bacon
JVL00:18:15On the side, so it's a separate thing. I the strips of bacon now you these kids were newcomers to the full-on Buffet, yes a full not a continental. Did you introduce them to the idea of getting your money's worth and beating the house?
Vic00:18:30Or is that an advance? I'd say no. No, no. No, I think you're gonna wait for the next I gave them that Sort of advice mid midway through right? I wanted. How did you explain it to them? I just said you're doing a great job. Keep on going. This is no worry. It's not over yet You know, there's no rush. How much did you get and I saw how much you know, my nephew had piled on his plate I said, that's a good sign Don't worry, you're doing great. You ready, you know kids was like $12 for kids I said you already got more than $12 worth mission accomplished. That's what I told them. Well, so the only
Sonny00:19:04Reason that you know beating the house would come into play is if there is an option between a la carte and buffet Was there is there the option between all right? No, I guess no. No we If you're going there and it's just a buffet it doesn't matter the cost of sunk but if you have to Choose between like well do I want like the three pancake three eggs or whatever here?
JVL00:19:27You never want to it does not matter if it's the buffet only the buffet plus a la carte You always want to well, no, you always want to walk away from any buffet Whatever the options are a healthy way to saying or I beat the house
Vic00:19:45Always always beat the house. Okay, but how do you even calculate that?
Sonny00:19:49Do you calculate it again? Like you're never going to eat you We're never going to eat more food than the food cost on the buffet. That's just like I can do that I don't not try to do that. I don't think she's not true
Vic00:20:00I got to use the bathroom to make them back. Do you have any idea what the markups are? I'm still eating crazy. Okay crazy. You know what else is good elastic waistband? I didn't want to get into those things the maternity jeans. Those things are great
JVL00:20:12Those things are amazing speaking of amazing over the long weekend spider-man far from home climbed its way to the top spot at the box
Vic00:20:19office with a hundred eighty-five million dollars that's for the long weekend the actual regular weekend is 93 million dollars followed by Toy Story 4 with 34 million and in third place yesterday with 10 million. I almost I also want to say thanks to listeners Who shared their love of Lily James with me? So I'm glad I am NOT the only Lily James fan and for all of you
Sonny00:20:44Please check out sharing the love of Lily James an erotic adventure. Thank you Mattis. Check out check out the exception
Vic00:20:52That's all I'm gonna say box-office thoughts
Sonny00:20:56Sonny Sequel itis is not a thing. Maybe at least when it comes to Disney branded movies, right? This is a this is Richard Rushfeld has been kind of mocking the idea of sequel itis in his newsletter for the last last couple couple weeks here Because look you have Toy Story which has now grossed Let's see Toy Story has now grossed over 300 million domestic and 650 million worldwide. So it's it's a well And it's on its way to doing big numbers You know, the spider-man movie is gross dollar. I think 600 million worldwide already. It's headed toward a billion. I I mean like the Sequel itis is a thing in the sense that I think people are done going to we've discussed this before in the show I think people are done going to bad movies In franchises, they don't really care about That that are not really continuing a story. They're interested in So for example Godzilla king of the monsters, nobody was nobody's really begging for a continuation of these, you know the the Godzilla slash Kong Skull Island universe and their national men of black international
JVL00:22:06You know that if I had a nickel for every time somebody has told me man
Sonny00:22:10I wish there was another men in black movie. I but this time so many nickels Europe so you know the the The the the issue here Is that people people don't want to see stories that they don't want to see I think that's good. That's a good thing, right? That means maybe we'll get more original stuff. I think mostly it means we'll just get fewer movies but I don't know anyway spider-man far from home did huge numbers the the Projections kept creeping up all weekend. You know originally the sixth day was looking at something like 150 million by the end It was up to 180 million It's it's it's doing huge numbers. So
Vic00:22:51JVL your thoughts. I saw a thing on elevator news on the elevator news elevator news that Avengers is Almost there, but it's that last bit that it'll never make the last 15 million short. Oh, it's only like 12 million short
JVL00:23:05Is it it's they can pump it there. They could they could let it play all summer long Yeah, they got a lot of 50 theaters or something
Sonny00:23:13They'll end up throwing it on a bunch of a bunch of drive-in screens at the the end of the summer and you know Like once a year we get some Pew report
JVL00:23:21Which says, you know, you know breaking news 37% of Millennials get their news from The Daily Show or yes 50% of Americans get their Facebook as their primary news source When do we get to a point where it's like, you know, 10% of Americans get their news primarily through the elevator
Sonny00:23:41We're already there right there. And that's like I don't even I don't even read the news What I mean, I just go right to the elevator and frankly, I I don't think Vic actually reads the free beacon any You know, he actually works in a news gathering operation and he hasn't looked at the the homepage for from when he wants to know
JVL00:23:57What's going on? He just goes to the elevator
Sonny00:24:01I'll be right back. He just has to write it up and because if you write it like two or three times
Vic00:24:05You'll get the whole cycle. I came in this morning. I said, did you did you hear the British ambassador resign?
Sonny00:24:10I just learned about an elevator news. So it's a it's a really handy mix of like interesting International news and learning about what scotches are for. Yeah, absolutely. I
JVL00:24:21I'd love to work for elevator news the channel one for like office drone. That's right. That's right. It's amazing. So
Vic00:24:29You would talk about Toy Story 4 the decline was pretty modest was about 43 percent
Sonny00:24:33Yeah, it's I mean if it holds like a family movie, it'll do 350 400 between 350 400 million dollars, which is a very good number. That's a very good number, you know, Toy Story It's not it's not going to do The Incredibles 2 numbers, but that movie grows 600 million dollars domestic somehow I don't I like I'm still shocked by that me to nobody nobody seems to be surprised enough by this I find it all very shocking
JVL00:24:56It is likely to be the third highest grossing Pixar movie ever Toy Story 4 credible Toy Story 4
Sonny00:25:03Yeah, okay
Vic00:25:03So it's gonna make a lot of money and you want do you want since we did spider-man last week? Would you like to give us a little review of Toy Story 4? Sure, since we missed it sure we're talking about Toy Story 4 this week Toy Story 4
Sonny00:25:17Toy Story 4 continues the adventures of Buzz and Woody and their group of friends they they now live with Bonnie a I don't know what a four-year-old you're already wrong
JVL00:25:29Buzz Lightyear is barely in this movie. Well, we're gonna we're gonna get to that
Sonny00:25:35You hate all these dumb movies anyway, what do you care about whether or not whether or not somebody's in it
JVL00:25:43Please you gonna interrupt me again or you're gonna let me
Vic00:25:46Ask me a question. You're gonna let me just ask me a question was rhetorical
JVL00:25:51God
Sonny00:25:54Toy Story 4 is about The awful metaphysical condition of these toys Why oh, so can we can we just game this out for a second? The reason that Forky who is the new character in this film is played by Joe or not Job I'm Tony Tony Hale played by Buster Buster He comes to life because he's a sport has been wrapped with a little Pipe cleaners and stuff and has has Bonnie's name put on his feet, which brings him to life Which raises a very weird question, which is that is anything that a child played? That a child plays with imbued with intelligence by some extra terrestrial force So like let's say a little kid goes and like Picks up picks up a hammer and it's like mr. Mr Hammer sounds like he's in he's like dancing around with mr. Hammer. Does That hammer have a sentience for the rest of its existence until it's tossed in the trash
Vic00:26:55Also, I don't think it necessarily had he comes to life. They say because she she put her name on
Sonny00:27:01Yeah, but not all those toys have their names on but they're alive too. All those all those army men from the first three movies They did not have names they but they're all alive. They're all sent. I don't think I put my name on any of my toys
Vic00:27:13So anyway, Toy Story 4 is about they didn't come to life is about the horrifying
Sonny00:27:19Nature of existence And also about fatherhood. It is basically about what do you do with your life? Once your kid has grown up? This is this is the whole this is the whole point of the film. Oh my god
JVL00:27:30I'm sorry JVL. Do you have do you have do you have thoughts here? You have thoughts you want it?
Sonny00:27:35You want to chime in so JVL has a lot of points here. So go ahead Jonathan
JVL00:27:40We can talk about that afterwards. I just never even understood. It was operating at two levels I thought it was just a story about the toys. Mm-hmm That must make sense It'll work of genius go ahead
Sonny00:27:54Do you have an ad read you want to do or something? I don't know I'm I'm done so good good going JVL
JVL00:28:00Good going if you believe that you're not being snooped on or that nobody cares about your online data Well, then I'm sorry to disappoint you but you're wrong because you listen to my show You're clearly smart enough to understand that your privacy is under attack Hackers governments ad companies and ISPs are gobbling up Your data like all of it That's why I recommend getting the software that I trust to protect my online activity Express VPN their apps use powerful encryption to secure your data Express VPN runs in the background of your computer or phone and then you use the internet just like you normally would you? Download the app you click to connect and voila you're protected I never go online without Express VPN and you shouldn't either Express VPN is the fastest VPN I've tried cost less than $7 per month and comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee Express VPN uses new cutting-edge technology called trusted server to make sure there's no logs of what you do online Victorino it's time to stop hackers Big Brother and internet companies from grabbing all your data Take back your online privacy like I did with Express VPN Protect your online activity today and find out how you can get three months free at Express VPN dot-com slash WFB that's e x p r e s s VPN dot-com slash WFB for three months free with a one-year package visit Express VPN dot-com slash WFB to learn more
Vic00:29:38Thank You JVL that reminds me if you don't have time to watch the entire movie the the exception, but I don't know five minutes You know, just make sure you have a secure network. Just watch the gif on a secure Network, that's all I'm gonna say. That's it What did you think of? Are you uh, you like Disney Pixar movies in general JVL, would you say? No, oh Okay Great, uh, do you yeah? I do we'll get to that at the end because I know you want to do a ranking and and and I have thoughts because I Did this thing as you requested? What did you think of Toy Story 4 have you been following it or did? You just jump right in because I think I think if you haven't even followed the first three, it's you could just jump in
JVL00:30:26Yeah, yeah, just jump right now. I hated it. I Hated this movie. I hate this entire franchise I hate the Toy Story movies and I have grown to hate Pixar what I didn't used to I used to be a pretty sizable Pixar fan, but I have become jaded because all of the stuff that I had thought was their attempt to touch at genuine human emotions was actually just manipulation and It's just cloying all everything. They do is cloying the the little lost girl at the carnival is Is is a computer algorithm designed to make anybody who's a parent cry? And I just I resented it for it. I did you you know? Yes
Vic00:31:14Yes, I did. I did not I resent them. I was kind of annoyed that it was dragging out too long, but go ahead
JVL00:31:19No, I you know I These toys have lives of their own they come to life whenever people aren't looking that's amazing I can't believe John Lasseter came up with that It's so amazing and they feel the loss of purpose as children grow up just like parents do and oh my god The toys are actually the stand-ins for parents but the parents in the movie are just these like stupid props or accessories when we are the Actual people the actual creations of God who bring these children into the world and then give up Our lives to raise them. It's us. It's not it's not the cheap plastic crap from China. Which does it it's it's the three of us We're the ones who are doing the actual Raising of the chill. I hate metaphors. How do they work? I hate it on go on No, the Toy Story thing is just it's wildly overrated franchise people treat it as if it is this Holy Grail of animation and I every even the camera Woody is an unbelievably unlikable character He has like all the neuroticism of a Woody Allen with all the grandiosity of an uptight character. I Grabbed yourself. I find it impossible to root for him. At least buzz like kind of has a thing going on and
Sonny00:32:38I don't know. Do you guys actually like these movies? I like them, but I don't love them I did I I don't know that I would are you bothered by the cult of Toy Story?
JVL00:32:49I don't think there is really a cult of Toy Story. Absolutely. People who are animation nerds you Toy Story and Toy Story - I mean Greatest Toy Story animated movies ever made. It's an important movie. Toy Story is 100% an important movie and
Sonny00:33:04Was groundbreaking at the time. I I think it's fine. I like it. I have always thought Toy Story 2 is overrated I think Toy Story 3 is actually better than Toy Story 2 though I think I still think they should have cut Toy Story 3 right as the kid as the toy Toys are going into the incinerator just like cut to black And have that be the end of the story which I feels like it feels like the real actual end of the vast majority Of toys. That's what happens. I feel like that would have been more honest But honesty is is not always what they're going for here. I think I like these movies fine I don't I don't love any of them and Toy Story 4 is a weird one insofar as it is very much Woody's story. It is not the story of all of the toys. I like as You were as you as you mentioned Buzz gets relegated Totally to a side plot like he is like turned More buffoonish I feel like then then even in some of the previous Incarnations and It's weird. I think it more or less works for what they're doing here which again is like a story about Woody Woody like moving on with his life, but Yeah, I like them fine. I don't love them. It was not my favorite toy story
Vic00:34:19I Really like Toy Story 3 a lot, but I thought it was fine. I gave it an A Just fine. Just fine. I gave it an A. Okay. There's stuff in it that worked for you. Yes I Threw there were three points that I thought were very funny one was the shining reference when you Christina Hendricks character Gabby Gabby She's being pushed around in that pram. I mean, it's creepy and then as soon as you were here and you hear the music
Sonny00:34:45Yeah, yeah, I I literally barked laughter Theater when that happened and like nobody else nobody nobody else laughs the kids aren't gonna get that but I thought My kids will get it. I like references. I like things I recognize exactly. I saw this I heard this thing I recognize I was like I recognize this that's funny. Okay, that's one thing
Vic00:35:05The key and peel characters. I thought they were very funny and they're going through different scenarios about how to get the key Work for me. I was laughing they pushed it to the point of absurdity and then in the end they do that again But the second time about the old lady and she's having A bath and she's having she's having a glass of wine. That's funny. I like that And I love Duke Caboom. I think that Keanu basically making fun of himself twice He gets to say whoa I mean and the flashback to Canada and region and his PTSD because of being rejected and they pack in so much in terms of Canadian references into that one little bit I I thought I thought it was gold what I didn't like I was really it could have been it's only an hour 40 but it felt longer It felt like I mean they could have cut the ending significantly the whole wait. We're in there. No wait, not yet Oh, everybody's not in a wait. Not yet. Oh, we got to get somebody. It's just going on - let's just get everybody on the bus. Let me go you on the RV. They could have stopped the movie after
JVL00:36:08about 45 seconds if Woody had just jumped into the box with Bo Peep to move on with his life. Yeah, because that's how that's how it ended Anyway, you literally don't need anything after that. The story does not change right after that It's literally I did like Duke Caboom quite a lot and in the Keanu Reeves is so good He's very good. The key and peel characters to me only actually got by on their own chemistry together as Much as the writing. Yeah, they're chemistry together is so good The writing itself was kind of a little except for the the sequence you described which was genius. Yes
Vic00:36:48The you brought this up at the onset Sonny the metaphysical weirdly metaphysical thing There's two things going on there. The one is that how is how is a forky created and what gives it sentience and in the very end during the stinger You know the other Utensil comes to life and asks about how is this possible and he says I don't know, you know, it just really okay
Sonny00:37:15Well, we don't know but I also I did I did like his Session with being trash. I thought that was funny except who you are just accepted
Vic00:37:24Chili salad chili, maybe he says but the other thing was of course the whole thing about the conscience and that was way So he's like, you know buzz is asking. How is this, you know possible and and and what the inner voice? But he doesn't understand the inner voice and I was that buzzed by at this point was smarter than that So as this is what I'm saying
Sonny00:37:41He is like they definitely regress him a bit in this in this movie to like closer to Toy Story 1 I think it happens in terms of like his understanding of the world in which they live which I think is a Again, I it's a choice. I'm not sure that I that I like it. I don't hate it But it's it's definitely this it's it Emphasizes the point that this is very much Woody's movie and I guess in the end it is Woody series This is like sure a series about Woody. Yes, and he is the least likable So there's all of the the character. So there's a there's a there's so I was watching I showed my Almost four-year-old the first toy story a couple weekends ago, and she loved it She she like anytime she sees buzzer Woody now She's like silly buzz silly Woody because we were like buzz is so silly puzzle, you know, Woody is so silly So she anyway, she loved it. She loved the first one. She was a little bored by the second one She she really liked the third one But one of the extra features on the first one is like the original cinematics that they put together to like show what the movie was gonna be about and It's a disaster. It's like it's like a famous Pixar disaster like the studio almost folded before they even got going because this was such a bad meeting but like the the the the woody the woody character is like a hundred times more unlikable in the cinematic even then then he is in the rest of the how so I mean just like he he's just like a He's like meaner and more bossy and like more demanding of the other toys. He's like a real nightmare and a terror So they had to like they went like back to the drawing board and like like redesigned his whole look So he would be like more appealing and and and they rewrote the character
Vic00:39:28So he'd be less of a less of a dick. So I would say two other weird things one is There is you know, the random toys at the playground that go running around Although it is funny because there's this fairy that you wind up in it go and he becomes everyone. That's a real toy and my daughter had that It was given to her as a gift and she was really excited But it's hard plastic her skirt wings are hard plastic blades and it cut her face and like attacked her So the fairy it I said stay away that she was very angry upset about the fairy the fairy attacked her but again, I thought they were also pushing the envelope with the Interactions with humans because before it's like any time there's a human present. They're completely dead now They're doing the voices behind the GPS and they're pushing the pedal behind the RV for the gas or whatever the brake whatever it is and Really? I don't know
Sonny00:40:26yeah, no, I the the they pushed I would say the Coherence of the again the metaphysical universe in which they are dealing is very limited it doesn't it is it is They are they are abandoning some of the rules that they came up with at the beginning. Yeah
JVL00:40:48single best gag in the movie is when Forky comes home and meets the other toys and it is Wallace Shawn's t-rex character who says
Sonny00:40:56My god, look how long his arms are. All right, because he's a t-rex like that is a see that
JVL00:41:01That's great. Is a is a joke not based on reference. Mm-hmm. It's an actual joke I like movie does not do a lot of actual jokes This movie does a lot of slapstick humor and a lot of reference humor. I like that when Keanu Reeves said whoa
Vic00:41:15Also, I don't you know I was for I'm fortunate I have a sister who's three years older than me who was not interested in Barbies at the time But like, you know action figures and guns and things like that. So we had evil Knievel you had the evil Knievel evil Knievel on so the the on and on the thing and On the motorcycle and so the the the tires are actual rubber treads and you had to rev it up I couldn't do this. My sister could do it where you can get him to do the popper wheelie, you know the cross But of course, there's no way it's doing what you know It's funny because the idea like in a commercial that'll jump through the ring of fire Even if it's only you know, two inches above the ground. There's no way I could any you know kid can pull that You know, it's just impossible. So I thought that was very amusing. I also had the bionic man The stretchy bionic. No, no, he was no, that's that's a stretch Armstrong. That's right stretch right the Lee Majors
JVL00:42:12It's like a 12-inch bionic man doll with like what open up his arm. That's right. You can roll
Vic00:42:17Back a rubber sleeve and he had a robotic arm and one of the eyes was like, oh, yes Yeah, because he was a sidebar pretty good loved that guy I don't know why by the end he was missing all his clothes, but that happens with kids. Okay You had a you had you had a ranking thought JVL tell us about it
JVL00:42:38Well, I had two rankings I compiled I compiled a worst five Pixar movies and a I ranked the Pixar franchises
Vic00:42:47Okay, which which interests you more? I only did a bottom but if well, then I'll just rank them
JVL00:42:54We'll all do something different. Okay, go ahead I ranked the franchises because that's what Pixar does now There was a time in which Pixar was the golden house of animation because look they know that you don't have to make sequels to Make movies you can just make great original content that people love since 2010 Pixar has made 11 films seven of them have been sequels and of the four original ones they did only One of them has been any good. Mm-hmm. All right So the Pixar franchises number five cars number four Toy Story number three monsters number two Nemo number one Incredibles No one denies this incredible is great right
Sonny00:43:35Yeah, yeah. Yeah, and Nemo is great. I have to say I'm not a huge fan of the original Incredibles I know a lot of people especially a lot of people in our world the world at the time to netty really really I is mad a huge Incredibles fan Jillian incredible and I like I Like the Incredibles I admire it more than I like it I think I like a lot of the the like design Elements and I like the look of it and I like how the animation works I we discussed this when the Incredibles 2 came out and I like the way In the Incredibles 2 in particular some of those action scenes feel almost like math equations like trying to figure out how the the Physics of Elastigirl would actually work. I like all of that Intellectually and conceptually and the movies just leave me cold. They just leave me totally cold Which is not what I want from a Pixar movie. I want to be made to cry I want to be manipulated to the way you can cry are coming down my only way you're capable of crying Very specific algorithm funny 100% the only way that I can feel human emotion anymore is watching Emotions given to other things so like if I always have emotions great if cars have emotions fantastic Give monsters emotions. That's right. Give emotions emotions, and I am there which Pixar movie hits you the hardest In the old tear ducts. Oh boy. I would say in recent in recent years Well, I mean the the up montage the the like the up montage is like opening the nay plus ultra of like a tear jerking Here is five minutes of a silent movie that just shows you the life Of this guy that it is I tell you in that month
Vic00:45:20But what's the the part that gets me in that montage of all the things? Is when she's in the hospital and it's clear the doctors telling her she can't have a baby. Oh, yeah
Sonny00:45:33that is
Vic00:45:35That is because you see the picture. It's clearly an ob/gyn and you know what's going on. It's like no it's just oh
Sonny00:45:42Okay, what was the other one there? There is one that? That hits me harder, and I'm trying to look up what the character is because I want to I want to get this right
JVL00:45:54No, it's in just finding Dory just wrecks me really finding Nemo finding Dory Dory It's about special needs kids and it oh my god. Oh
Sonny00:46:05Oh, okay here. It is the it's an inside-out actually Inside-out the moment where bing-bong sacrifices himself yes, and like Fades into nothingness just like it just tears down the face, right? I have the end of childhood. It's like I was gonna say it's the most like explicit and like succinct a depiction of like the the the death of the The moment your childhood like finally dies and you like move into like adolescence
Vic00:46:38I was gonna say so I haven't seen inside-out, but my understanding is that's the part where You stop being able to make believe you can't I mean like Actively enjoy - you could pretend to do make-believe if you have kids, but you that's when you stop That's the end of bing-bong. Is that it when you kind of Mm-hmm. I remember that ended for me with channel 31 on the cable box
Sonny00:47:00Sorry, I assume that's like the scrambled Playboy channel is mostly static if you mostly static every once in a while
Vic00:47:08Everyone the pictures would come together for
JVL00:47:11There were two dials. Yes
Vic00:47:14Then I'm using both hands what's the point? Okay, so this is really really inappropriate. I'm sorry. I'm sorry From bing-bong Sorry, how are we doing on time? Is that it? We're winding up now. Are we?
Sonny00:47:35Thank you JVL for that. Are you gonna do your worst? Oh, yeah. Okay. Okay ready Incredibles 2
Vic00:47:42Then brave. That was it. That's all I had
Sonny00:47:45Those are your
Vic00:47:46Worst, okay, I imagine if I hadn't seen cars 3 I imagine that beyond there But I just didn't have the strength to see cars 3. I haven't seen Coco or the good dinosaur People seem to like Coco. I had a good dinosaur. Maybe that would be on the list. I just like the other ones
JVL00:48:03I'm sorry, even cars - yeah, even cars - with Michael Caine. You like toy store. Yeah, of course
Sonny00:48:10Yeah, all right here. Here's my bottom five. Sorry shocking my bottom five number number five This is number five meaning number five meaning the last least worst Number five is toy story number four is cars - number three is a bug's life Number two is cars three number one is the good dinosaur Now these are I skipped it. These are also the five lowest grossing Pixar films in order They're obviously the worst since the fewest number of people saw them
JVL00:48:38Okay, no funnily enough. My my bottom five is very close to yours Except that I didn't see the good dinosaur. Neither did I'm glad nobody did it grows to
Vic00:48:46123 million dollars. It was a real disaster. Oof. Okay. Do we have any other toy story Pixar thoughts? No, okay I would just like to add in watching channel 31 You did have to make sure your blinds were down speaking of which when you need new blinds There's only one place to go blinds.com with 15 million windows covered in over 30,000 five-star customer reviews blinds.com is America's number one online retailer for affordable quality custom window coverings whether you're looking for Energy efficiency you just moved or want to refresh the look of your home Blinds.com makes the whole experience so fast and easy plus every order gets free samples free shipping a free online design Consultation just send them pictures of your house And they send back custom recommendations from a professional for what will work with your color scheme furniture and specific rooms They'll even send you free samples to make sure everything looks as good in person as it does online and every order gets free shipping and This is the best part if you accidentally mismeasure or pick the wrong color If you make a mistake blinds.com will remake your blinds for free They've really made it easy for you So there's no excuse to leave up those mangled blinds and for a limited time our listeners get $20 off At blinds.com when you use promo code sub beacon That's blinds.com promo code sub beacon for $20 off forward blinds cellular shades roller shades and more blinds.com promo code sub beacon rules and restrictions apply
JVL00:50:17Corrections additions shoutouts anything I have something please JVL. I have not contributed to this segment in months No, I'll come back. I got an email from our friend Michael R. Warren of CNN Former guest host CNN's Mike Warren who wrote in About the Rocket Man. I bet he did. I bet he did and you know what he had to say what he had to say That I was exactly correct That Elton John was better than Billy Joel and Queen and Bruce Springsteen That Elton John was clearly and easily The best of those four acts greater than Queen tied with Billy Joel less than Springsteen. I'm Simply false. Mm-hmm. Michael R. Warren who knows a lot
Vic00:51:09Who's on TV stuff and he's on TV on TV check him out. That must mean he's right. I Have a correction as well. Thanks to listener Eric karate for correcting me for mentioning Hinkle airfield. It's Hickam That's where the two pilots went after the attack on Pearl Harbor Remember they put aside their differences because they were in love with the same woman and they splashed the zeros Yes, thanks largely to the mechanic Tom Sizemore. Yeah, that's good. People forget about him
JVL00:51:35Sonny he had some problems later a little bit. I believe that was his last Performance before things spiraled out of control for him before the thing with what's-her-name
Vic00:51:45Remember because he was Heidi Fleiss. Yes. Thank you. Yeah
Sonny00:51:49entirely possible, I just want to give a shout out to a Friend of the show Travis Smith. You may remember his great book superhero ethics A lot of you guys bought it and I think he realized that you know, our audience is so powerful we can we can drive we can move product so he he sent along a CD by his wife Katie Dishon, I'm gonna spell this because I'm sure I'm pronouncing it wrong and you can go to Her website it's www.katieditschun.com And check out her music. She is a jazz artist I'll be honest is I like I I don't listen to a lot of music so I have no frame of reference As to whether or not you guys will like it or not, but I check it out and let us know. Okay, that's great
Vic00:52:40Thank you. That's all the time. We're giving to this episode questions comments complaints compliments Tweet us at Victorino Mattis at Sonny Bunch Again, be sure to subscribe to us on iTunes or Google Play. Just type in sub beacon at a podcast We're there leave a review tell your friends until next time So what else is going on anything else we're good, I don't really have anything do you have anything I have one thing Yeah, while I was in Connecticut we visited good friends of my in-laws Larry and Carolyn who live in a lovely home in Connecticut, and he is a very very generous man and Larry's agree, and he said to me hey check out the car and he had two cars and one was a Bentley Oh, and he said keys are inside. Why don't you take it for a spin? Oh look at that. How was it? I drove it with four kids packed in that car
Sonny00:53:37I don't think anybody had seatbelts in the back and I was terrified, but it's actually enormous, right?
Vic00:53:42Like yeah, you can fit all three except for the middle seat had the Fancy thing that you could put your drinks on put up or put down yeah Yeah, so it was dance everything is piled on one of the kids is in the front with me And then and then like three kids in the back And then I gunned it. It's it's over 500 horsepower And you really feel it and they love everyone loved it, but I was terrified you know I mean I just went back and forth on a stretch of road because Because well it's a Bentley and then even parking it back at the house. You know like I want to get it close But I'm tapping on the brake and you know and the thing is beeping like you're getting close But and I want to get a little bit closer But of course you have that fear that if you step too much on the gas
Sonny00:54:24Then it's just gonna get rammed right into the you just step off the brake. Just step up
Vic00:54:28It was it was a little bit on an incline so it's like I left it at that and then he said great He goes you know he I have a 1946 Ford You would you like to drive that I said great goes yeah, dude, and he's he's an ex-marine self-made millionaire very good He goes Becca you could take that for a spin you Drive stick, right?
Sonny00:54:46Did you reply? I'm sure it's fine. I
Spot something wrong in this episode? Suggest a correction →
Comments
Loading…