This track from Guster’s 2006 album Ganging Up on the Sun is apparently about the G.W. Bush administration’s propaganda surrounding the war with Iraq.
That was a bad period in American politics, to be sure, but it’s hard to look back at any of the national crises pre-Trump and not think we were all completely oblivious to what a true Oval Office threat to American democracy would look like.
Continuing my countdown of every Pixar movie…
#6. Inside Out (2015)
(no change from previous ranking)
Inside Out followed a trio of mediocre Pixar films (Cars 2, Brave and Monsters University), making viewers’ first reaction relief that the studio hadn’t lost it.
Far from it. This movie is thrillingly inventive, taking the somewhat familiar idea of “people inside your head” and exploding it with visual and thematic ingenuity.
Continuing my countdown of every Pixar movie…
#7. Toy Story 4 (2019)
(no change from previous ranking)
One of the biggest shocks on this list (even to me) is the placement of Toy Story 4 above the first and second films in the series. It defies the conventional wisdom that this movie was unnecessary because the third movie tied things up so neatly.
I felt that way myself when this film was first announced. But after watching it (three times now), I strongly disagree. While Toy Story 3 offered perfect closure to the arc of the toys in Andy’s life, it left wide open the question of what was in store for Woody.
Continuing my countdown of every Pixar movie…
#8. Toy Story 2 (1999)
(down three spots from previous ranking)
I remember when Toy Story 2 was announced and everybody’s first response was to question why this inventive new animation studio was going to the sequel well so soon.
Pixar quieted those concerns quickly, delivering its first masterpiece. The movie doubled down on the ingenious plotting and wry humor of the first film, and pushed the characters into new emotional territory.
Continuing my countdown of every Pixar movie…
#10. Finding Nemo (2003)
(down two spots from previous ranking)
We’ve now reached the top ten, and every one of the films to come is excellent — a 4 1/2- or 5-star entry on Letterboxd.
Finding Nemo marked a huge advance in Pixar’s animation, with the undersea world rendered so beautifully it’s almost distracting.
Meet Me In Montauk 