Toy Story 4 - 4/5

This movie is a solid addition to the franchise. Pixar is back in true form to deliver a fun, meaningful film to warm audience hearts around the world. It’s less tear-jerking than previous entries, but it still weaves the Pixar signature great, meaningful narrative that bucks storytelling standard. There are some small but significant character deviations for Buzz and Bo Peep, and not always in a good way. But apart from some mostly harmless missteps it is the sequel fans hoped they could make and feared they wouldn’t be able to pull off. Most people probably knew they were going to watch it before reading this, but if you were on the fence, definitely go see it.

Closest comparison: It’s like a fresh Toy Story 3 with some of the logistical problems of Finding Dory and a touch of sequelitis.

Setting: Family Fantasy
Plot: Adventure
Tone: Family Adventure

The Predator (2018) - 3/5

To begin with this could have been a 4/5. It has a solid setup and a few interesting turns initially, but it quickly turns into just another action movie. It has better effects than some of the other installments in this franchise but used to less effect; it’s gorier but not more interesting. It adds a little to the Predator mythos and it’s always fun to see military guys running around trying to fight a powerful alien. The humor is ultimately what carries it this high, with well-paced jokes to keep the audience interested. Unless you’re already a fan of the other movies there’s no reason to watch this over any number of other summer popcorn action flicks.

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