Projects #003 - "You really are Stinky Pete!"
The toys are back!
Project Updates 1/20-1/26/25
Welcome back! This week we have a smattering of Oscar catch-ups, new releases, and an in-depth rundown of Toy Story 2!
I don’t have much to say about the Oscar nominations except that I am very happy for Jeremy Strong. Look at him!!!!!
Film & TV
2024 Catch-Up & 2025 Films
Sectioning off the films I’m watching for awards catch-up and new releases. I watched Emilia Pérez under duress.
I’m Still Here (2024) dir. Walter Salles
Fernanda Torres is really that good; it’s not just jobless stans pushing her because they are bored. Someone told me she’s like Brazil’s Meryl Streep and Sonia Braga is their Isabelle Huppert. Makes sense to me!
A Real Pain (2024) dir. Jesse Eisenberg
I was surprised at how much I liked this considering how wretched Mr. Eisenberg’s directorial debut turned out. I went into it assuming I’d want to beat Kieran Culkin to death with a tire iron, but his character is so sad and clearly having a breakdown he was spared my wrath. Jesse’s giving a solid performance as well. Bonus points for being about Judaism without bringing Isr*el into it. No need!
Presence (2025) dir. Steven Soderbergh
In many ways the best mom movie since Beau is Afraid. Soderbergh, who owes me $20, once again challenges himself to do something cool and novel, this time occupying the POV of a ghost. The Presence floats around the house, watching Lucy Liu fawn over her son, ignore her daughter, and commit some light corporate malfeasance. I could have just watched the family drama unfold while a ghost hides in the closet, but the 85 min experiment packs a lot of fun twists into the back half. They’re asking a lot of that white boy actor though…
Flight Risk (2025) dir. Mel Gibson (oh no!)
Can you believe Satan made a bad movie? Don’t worry, we didn’t pay for it. Like a particularly demonic I Think You Should Leave sketch, Flight Risk focuses on three incompetents stuck in a plane together, with plenty of rape jokes Mel tossed into the script himself. A wretchedly paced 90 minutes. Topher Grace is somewhat fun.
Emilia Pérez (2024) dir. Jacques Audiard
The first word that comes to mind is ‘tacky’. The other words are impolite. Whenever my friends have asked me about the film I just say “It is a film set in Mexico directed by a French man. Nothing good will come from it.” I don’t feel like contributing to the discourse because I was mostly bored!
Misc. Films
Fall (2022) dir. Scott Mann
Dumdums climb a tower, get stuck. Thought my fear of heights would make me dizzy but I was okay - but I avoided it in theaters for a reason! Nice and mean, went down easy. Unlike the friend! Splat!
They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (1968) dir. Sydney Pollack
Another classic I’d never actually seen. I can’t believe that’s why the title is that!
Henry & June (1990) dir. Philip Kaufman
As the first NC-17 rated film, I wish this were better. Mostly meandering, vaguely titillating, Richard E. Grant doing an American accent so crazy he sounds like he’s being dubbed in a Giallo. I’ll say this, it did somewhat capture the energy Henry Miller is
Clifford (1994) dir. Paul Flaherty (rewatch)
Truly remarkable to experience with a room full of people who had no idea what they were getting into. There is no one like Grodin. Martin Short doing Pennywise eyes and waddling around on his knees continues to astound and amaze. “I’ve been up since five. I don’t sleep as much as one might assume.”
The Hot Spot (1990) dir. Dennis Hopper
Dennis Hopper used this neo-noir to shoot Don Johnson as sexily as possible. Not mad about it!
The Sweet East (2023) dir. Sean Price Williams (rewatch)
Showed to Corey. I go back and forth on some of the vignettes, but I do believe the film captures something of what it’s like to be alive right now. Everything is so annoying! Simon Rex makes a meal of his eloquent neo-nazi role. I’m going to love anything whose opening credits include “Puppeteers”.
Reading
Books finished
Bong Joon Ho: Dissident Cinema by Karen Han
Lovely overview of Director Bong’s work. Happy to add to my pile of director based coffee table books. Mickey 17 is so soon!
Manga
Undead Unluck has come to an end - one of the better ‘B/B-’ manga in Shonen Jump in the past few years. They need more series that can last… no one is running over 300 chapters anymore!
Videos Game
Here are the final Joker unlocks I need before I have them all:
Discover every Planet card
In one hand, earn at least 100,000,000 chips
Have $400 or more
Any tips are appreciated.
Theater
Did not go to the theater this week, unfortunately. Just adding this to the overall master list of Projects Projects! I want to see Audra in Gypsy so bad!
Apartment Amenities
It’s been so dry lately that I finally invested in a humidifier. Can’t tell if it’s doing anything yet, as I did get a bloody nose for the first time in years… I’ll keep trying!
My whisk attachment on my stand mixer broke! New ones cost like $40! Unless anyone has the hookup for cheap KitchenAid replacements?
Pixar Project #003 - TOY STORY 2 (1999) dir. John Lasseter
Good movie alert! I saw this for my 7th birthday and afterwards threw up my ice cream birthday cake! I was barfing in the car after a lot of movies for a while, some kind of stupid child motion sickness, but I decided I liked movies too much to puke all the time and stopped. I’m sure my parents were grateful!
Before we get into the minutia of how Toy Story 2 succeeds, let’s talk about a pseudo urban legend. Most people by now have heard that once upon a time, the animation data for Toy Story 2 was corrupted and accidentally deleted, leaving the film at risk of being scrapped entirely. The film’s savior was Supervising Technical Director Gayln Susman, on maternity leave with a backup of the film on her computer. She brought the files back to Pixar and the sequel was saved! Kind of! I do not want to take away from Susman’s hero moment, but soon after these backups were restored, the entire film was scrapped and everyone was forced to entirely remake Toy Story 2 in nine months. Too much on the line to delay the thing! Pixar employees experienced crunch time you normally only see for every single video game. So Susman’s efforts, along with literally everyone else’s, were for naught. And then she was laid off after Lightyear flopped. Sorry Gayln!
For Pixar’s first sequel, we return to the world of living toys with a bigger budget, wider scope, and more creeping threat of oblivion around every corner. The technological leap is once again astounding. They are REALLY showing off with the Buzz video game intro (great graphics for the SNES!), blasting the audience through space before taking us back to Andy’s room. Things are going great: Buzz has calmed down and accepted that he’s a toy, Mr. Potato Head got his Mrs. Potato Head (Estelle Harris), and Woody isn’t being a giant asshole, just an anxious one as he’s preparing to go to cowboy camp with Andy. Though he’s due in the minivan any minute, Andy can’t help but get one last round of playtime in. After panning over some gorgeous shadow effects on the army of Professor Porkchop, the camera brings us up to the boy (humans in this film still aren’t amazing but you can mostly look at them without being scared) as he lifts Woody and Buzz in triumph.
RIPPPPPPPPP!!!!!
Oh fuck!!! Andy accidentally ripped Woody’s arm! Collective gasps ring out in packed theaters everywhere. While the original film tracked more in metaphor, the sequel dials into the specific existential horror of being a living toy. What DOES happen when a toy breaks? While Buzz’s arm came clean off before, Woody’s injury leaves him with a dead limp, flopping at his side out of his control. At least it doesn’t seem to hurt - perhaps toys have a pain override if they suffer grievous harm as a biological instinct? We’re talking about magical things that are brought to life by a child’s love (explicitly confirmed in 4, though it does not seem to be the only manner of life-giving, as we will discuss later), which is inherently ridiculous, but the films WANT us to ask these questions. Woody’s asking them too! We’re all on this dusty shelf with him!
After a nightmare sequence reminiscent of The Brave Little Toaster (which I may need to cover at some point), Woody discovers his old pal Wheezy (Joe Ranft), a penguin with a broken speaker. Wheezy’s been too weak to shout for help, resigned to his fate. His luck gets even worse when Mom comes in looking for junk. Honestly great move on her part to wait for Andy to be out of the house. He’ll hold onto anything.
Here we face the next, but certainly not the last, terrifying threat to toy safety: the yard sale. Woody rides Buster the dog down to the yard sale, determined to save Wheezy to prove to himself that his dead arm won’t hold him back. As is common for any toy that goes out on a limb, Woody suffers for being noble and is stolen by nasty collector Al McWhiggin (Wayne Knight, obviously), proprietor of Al’s Toy Barn. The toys watch in horror as Al’s car disappears, determined to find their leader. Buzz takes charge, establishing a rescue crew with none of the girl toys. The narrative can only handle one girl toy at a time, apparently, and we’re about to meet Jessie (Joan Cusack).
Woody, now captive in Al’s bachelor pad, is about to learn about a whole new side of himself. Turns out Sheriff Woody was the lead marionette in a 1950s tv show called Woody’s Roundup, of which Al is the world’s foremost expert and collector. The whole roundup gang is thrilled Woody has finally been found. Jessie the yodeling cowgirl, Bullseye the horse, and Stinky Pete the prospector (Kelsey Grammer in one of his finest roles), have been waiting for Woody to complete the set so Al can sell the entire collection to a museum in Japan. Clearly Woody did not awaken with delusions of cowboy-dom like Buzz, as he is thrilled to see himself represented as a coin bank and bubble blower.
Now many have raised the question: why would Woody be the rarest if he was the lead? Like all questions about the Toy Story universe, I have considered this deeply and have determined the answer is likely horrifying. The answer is simple. Well, there are a few factors here. First of all, the show was cancelled unceremoniously. Most of the mass marketed toys probably ended up in a landfill. We mourn their losses. Any remaining Woodys are likely held by similarly off-putting collectors like Al, or with kids like Andy who likely inherited them from his father (whoever he is - he is not a character because Pixar could not animate another adult in the original, but who cares). Al also specifically calls out that Woody is in great condition besides the arm, so he might have an unseen box of fucked-up Woodys rotting in a storage unit somewhere. It’s better we don’t get into it.
Next threat to toy existence: any street. Buzz and the toys crossing the road under orange safety cones is a hilarious sequence, as is any time toys unwittingly cause massive collateral damage to humankind. Twenty car pile up, gigantic concrete pipe rolling down the freeway, potential loss of life, all hilarious. Watching toys walk around a toy store reveals another key aspect of the toy life cycle. While some toys, like the Barbies, have fun and play in their open playsets on some of the shelves, most toys remain unconscious in their boxes, waiting for a child to choose them. When the delusional display Buzz captures our Buzz, he mentions that all space cadets are meant to remain in hypersleep until purchase. Is there a mechanism within the toy psyche allowing them to shut down their consciousness when not experiencing playtime, or is this a Buzz Lightyear specific command? Are some of the toys not yet alive? This feels more likely, but these questions remain. Anyway, the toys have no luck, but learn about Al’s place across the street and head over with the new Buzz. The evil emperor Zurg is also freed from his box, but this is more of a gag than anything plot relevant. Not a complaint! But we will return to Zurg when we hit Lightyear.
Woody has doubts about his return to Andy (his defense of his ripped arm being an accident does sound like he’s defending his domestic abuse) after learning Jessie’s history. It was the Sarah McLachlan song heard around the world: “When She Loved Me”. This is the worst fear of all toys, and the most inevitable: playtime doesn’t last forever. Jessie, abandoned by her owner Emily who did nothing but grow up, cannot bear to experience that hurt again and decides that a museum is a better fate. Though Woody at first tells his friends he can’t go back to Andy, he changes his mind and tells Jessie and Bullseye to come with him. Playtime trumps all. Stinky Pete reveals himself to not be mint condition after all, leaving his box and threatening to tear Woody apart if he doesn’t come to this damn museum. Al grabs the Roundup Gang and heads to the airport with our toys in hot pursuit.
The airport sequence is another huge leap in Pixar technology. While the clothing remains plain and movement cycles limited, the scale of the airport and baggage claim are another sight to behold. The world is too big for a toy! Though Stinky Pete starts to rip Woody’s arm again, Buzz and the others defeat him and tie him to the backpack of a little girl. Her Barbie cheerfully displays her permanent marker stained face, and Stinky Pete comes to understand he’s going to experience the toy equivalent of being tarred and feathered. Maybe not *that* bad, but Kelsey Grammer would likely think so.
Woody’s nobility streak continues as he rescues Jessie from a moving plane, landing safely on Buzz and Bullseye. Naturally the toys steal another vehicle, driving the baggage cart all the way back to Andy’s house. Would have loved to see the helicopter footage of that thing on the loose. Where does the film leave us? Andy fixes Woody’s arm once and for all, instantly accepts Jessie and Bullseye into the family, and none are the wiser. Wheezy gives us a rousing rendition of “You’ve Got a Friend in Me”, as Buzz and Woody share the understanding that despite knowing Andy will one day grow up and leave them behind, that’s no reason to stop enjoying the present while they’re in it. Ain't that grand? Death and oblivion are inevitable, but you don’t need to freak out about it. That’s what Toy Story 3 is for.
Toy Story 2: Five out of five bouncing lamps!
Mary Fran Corner
Wow. I forgot how good this movie is. I think with time my memory of its greatness got watered down because sequels usually don’t deliver. But Toy Story 2 definitely delivered!
It begins epically with Buzz flying throughout an alien planet (which ends up being in a video game played by Rex). Pixar really used this scene to showcase how it had improved exponentially since its first film. However. Buster the dog. Not ideal. Vibes were off, didn’t seem to fully fit in with the rest of the animation.
Something I really love about Toy Story 2 is how seamlessly new characters are introduced. It’s not forced at all. Mrs. Potato Head effortlessly joins the rest of the crew in Andy’s bedroom as the perfect counterpart to Mr. Potato Head. The audience immediately roots for penguin Wheezy, who is a squeaky toy with a busted up squeaker, and thank goodness he gets fixed so that he can perform at the end of Slinky Dog Dash (pictured above). Jessie is a gem who becomes an instant legend whose backstory completely devastates anyone who learns about it while listening to “When She Loved Me.” And it’s all done in like 90 minutes.
A side character in this movie that completely made me lose my mind as a child was the old man who repairs Woody. He’s the same old man who plays chess in the Pixar short Geri’s Game! Loved that short as a kid and looooved that Geri made a cameo in a feature length film. Like why not?? How fun!!
The theme of this movie that is particularly profound is summarized at the end, when Woody was with the rest of his old pals in Andy’s bedroom. He had just reunited with them after being kidnapped by a man who was going to sell Woody to a museum. Woody had an existential crisis about Andy’s childhood being temporary and as a result became excited about the prospect of being at the museum where he could remain forever being observed by children. But after his friends rescue him and he returns to Andy’s bedroom, Buzz asks Woody if he’s worried about Andy growing up, and Woody responds by saying “nah, it will be fun while it lasts.” Time is fleeting — nothing is permanent — but might as well enjoy things while we can. What a message to teach children!
From the archives
Yeah, it’s another spoon. Great spoon. Probably lasted longer than the Bug’s Life one. But I’d like to highlight the Toy Story 2 N64 game, which is mostly Buzz exploring wide open spaces and facing weird bosses. Not saying we need to bring back licensed games, but we could stand to have some that stretch the rules of canon.
I want in on this Brave Little Toaster rewatch!! I was obsessed with that one as a kid but I don't think I've seen it since I hit double digits age.