FILM: Inside Out

review by Ryan Wigley

Pixar are back! Yes, after a two year wait, the universally-acclaimed Pixar have made a blistering return to the silver screen with their latest instalment, Inside Out. I think it’s safe to say that, whilst still enjoyable and generally positively received, Pixar’s releases of the past few years have been underwhelming by the studios phenomenally high standards. 2011’s Cars 2 was met with a mixed reception, 2012’s Brave was Pixar’s stamp at making their own Disney Princess-esque character and 2013’s Monsters University, despite being positively received, was merely a prequel to their acclaimed 2001 classic - and my personal favourite - Monsters, Inc. So yes, three films that would do any other animation studio proud, but underwhelming by the standards of Pixar - a studio renowned for its originality with fresh and exciting concepts.

Fast forward to 2015 and here we are with Inside Out. Pixar are back at their best here by crafting yet another glorious, bold and stupendously feel-good cinematic masterpiece. It’s a simple concept when you think about it; our bodies being controlled by emotions inside our head that take on the form of tiny people. We’ve all thought about it, haven’t we? With Inside Out Pixar take this concept and build on it by presenting a perfectly conceived world that we spend the 94-minute running time just getting sucked into.

The main character is an 11-year-old girl, Riley, who has been forced to move from Minnesota to San Francisco and it’s the job of the emotion manifestations - Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Anger (Lewis Black), Fear (Bill Hader) and Disgust (Mindy Kaling) - to guide her through life and specifically through this change. The emotions live inside Riley’s head, aptly nicknamed Headquarters, where they monitor and control the actions and memories of Riley through a control console and screen. Any memories she makes are then produced in the form of orbs, which are appropriately coloured to match the relevant emotion. Anger is red, for example. The most important memories - which are the core memories we all have and cherish - are stored in the hub of Headquarters and are then used to power the five islands that all reflect the personality of Riley.

To try and keep spoilers to a minimum, Joy is basically the most dominant of the five emotions, with the obvious job of trying to keep Riley as happy as possible. Anger, Fear and Disgust help where required, but Sadness is an emotion / character that the rest don’t quite understand, mainly because, at the age of 11, Riley has yet to experience it fully. After the move to San Francisco, the previously quiet Sadness starts to touch the various orbs in Headquarters, which then alters them accordingly. This is reflected in Riley’s personality, which creates a core memory of sadness, which in turn causes Headquarters to go wobbly. This is where Joy and Sadness embark on their adventure to try and recover the previously happy core memories and prevent the islands from shutting down as a result of Riley’s personality change.

As I have said, I have the intention of keeping spoilers to a minimum, so I won’t give the rest of the film away. Rest assured, the film showcases Pixar’s talents for storytelling and character work, not to mention the visuals of the film. The entire thing is stunning throughout, from the labyrinth of orbs to a very amusing sequence where Joy and Sadness find themselves taking a shortcut that turns them into abstract pieces of art, which is reflected through a few different art styles!

It’s all very fun and feel-good, but Inside Out does have quite an adult meaning to it and I am not entirely sure what kids will get out of it apart from the odd piece of slapstick and the vibrant, trippy animation. This isn’t a criticism of the film, I’m sure kids will enjoy it greatly, but I suspect very few will rank it amongst their favourite Pixar films. Adults, well teenagers and above, are likely to, however, with its more complicated storytelling that will resonate with the older audience. Personally, I think much of it is down to us associating Riley’s experiences with that of our own growing up, something that younger audiences will have yet to experience.

My only real criticism with the film is that it goes at a slightly slow pace. I think 10 or 15 minutes of it could have been cut with ease, bringing it at about 80 to 85 minutes - which isn’t unusual for Pixar, particularly their earlier films -  and nothing would be lost from the piece. That isn’t to say the film is particularly boring in places, it’s still as fun and funny as ever, but I think pacing is key and that’s where Inside Out slightly slips up for me.

Inside Out is fresh, exciting and innovative with some powerful moments and utterly gorgeous animation. All of these and brilliant performances from the cast allow it to stand proud in the acclaimed Pixar filmography. Roll on The Good Dinosaur in December, I say!

FILM: Focus

review by Ryan Wigley (Twitter)

Blimey! In my very first piece for Artron Reviews, I've been thrown in the deep end somewhat by being the first to review a film! I was very fortunate enough to attend a preview screening of the upcoming romantic comedy-drama, Focus, last night at my local Cineworld. The new Will Smith flick that is, not the 2001 Meat Loaf film!

Focus begins with us seeing character Nicky Spurgeon, well played by Smith, a seasoned conman dining at a restaurant. It isn’t long before Margot Robbie’s character, Jess Barrett, is introduced and it takes even less time for them to become romantically involved. From here, Nicky quickly introduces Jess to the various tricks and trade of the confidence scam business, and that's where the story begins to unfold.

The weekend of a major football event has arrived and it is time for Nicky, Jess and their group to grab and hustle their way around the airport, casino and stadium where fans would be attending through a variety of different tricks. Directors Glenn Fiacarra and John Requa do a great job of capturing each con effectively and allowing us, as viewers, to see how the characters have gone about obtaining watches, wallets, credit cards and the like. It is especially rewarding given that we see Nicky going to great lengths showing Jess the ropes prior to the weekend of hustling.

Without going into spoiler territory, I will say that there’s a brilliant, lengthy scene during the match involving Smith, Robbie and BD Wong as billionaire Liyuan with an insane amount of money at stake. The end result makes for a tense and intelligent pay-off that you’d expect from any decent hustle and con film.

Leaving the football final a great deal richer, Nicky has decided that Jess is getting far too close to him for comfort, so promptly breaks their relationship off, citing that she had done the job and done it well. This is where my criticisms of the film begin to creep in…

Three years later, we find Nicky reunited with Jess once again in Buenos Aires during a large scale scam involving a billionaire international race car owner. As I noted above, I believe this is where the film starts to fall down as it begins to tail downhill somewhat. Focus goes from being a hustle flick to a full-on romance film without any sort of transition. It is a bizarre change of tone and direction, with the only consistency being the comedic elements and even those are few and far between. On a brighter note, this does introduce us to the  blunt, dry-witted and, despite his loathing of the term, sarcastic Ownes, played impressively by Gerald McRaney. The way McRaney plays Ownes is reminiscent of Mike from smash hit series Breaking Bad, and is a welcome addition to the film.

Focus then undergoes yet another tone change for its final act, becoming rather serious and gritty before transforming unpredictably into a plain old comedy. As with the earlier hustle to romance transition, it comes out of the blue and just makes for an inconsistent film. Jess really comes into her own in this final act, however, and Margot Robbie is brilliant throughout. I will be the first to admit that the trailer and early parts of the film gave off the impression that Robbie just plays Naomi, her character from the excellent The Wolf of Wall Street but fortunately Robbie brings a different take to the role and the script provides Jess with a satisfying closure of the character by staging a con of her own, thus throwing Nicky off his game.

The film as a whole is smart, slick and I cannot fault it for entertainment value. Smith and Robbie are great throughout and are aided by a strong supporting cast. Focus marks the first collaboration between the two leads, but not the last; they are due to appear together in DC’s Suicide Squad sometime in 2017.

Unfortunately, Focus' shifting tone and emphasis means the film doesn't really go anywhere and comes off as a series of scenes without much of a link. The hustle and romance sections of the film are good, and the former is certainly the highlight, but I would have appreciated some consistency, rather than three distinct acts, jumping from one tone to another.

Focus is entertaining enough, but ultimately, and please do forgive the pun, suffers from a lack of focus.