It gets pretty redundant to review Pixar movies. They have the best track record of any studio in Hollywood, so it comes down to less of “Is it a good movie?” to “How does it stand next to Pixar’s other movies?” Toy Story 3 stands near the top in my humblest of opinions.

Toy Story was released in 1995, capturing the attention of an entire generation. It put Pixar on the map as an animation super power and that train hasn’t slowed down in 15 years. Toy Story 2 was a tremendous creative and box office success, so there’s a lot of pressure for the last film to close out the trilogy (I honestly hope they keep it at 3). Fear not, the heart and soul is in the script and comes out on screen as we go on another adventure with the gang of toys.

This time Andy is getting ready for college, his childhood coming to close and it looks like the relationship with his childhood toys is as well. Through a mix up, most of the toys (Rex, Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head, Slinky, Buzz) get packed up and sent to a daycare center. Woody springs into action to get his friends back to their home.

What follows is one of the most touching stories I’ve seen in awhile, animated or not. There’s something to it when you feel for an animated Mr. Potato Head. The themes of growing up, friends, family and even death are present. It feels a bit like a life journey in an hour and twenty minutes. But, it treads that careful line of not being preachy or condescending. It’s surprisingly adult though, it gets pretty dark until the happy ending. Who knew a strawberry scented teddy bear could be made into such a villain?

Toy Story 3 has it all, drama, suspense, comedy, thrilling action sequences, great characters that you know and love and a message about life that sticks with you long after the credits roll.

Inception is a breath of fresh air for movies!

Things have been a bit lukewarm at ye old picture house this year. Aside from a select few real great movies (Toy Story 3 comes to mind most recently) people seem to be pretty bored with what Hollywood has served up in the first half of 2010. Enter director: Chris Nolan.

He’s really one of the best filmmakers working today, you just need to look up his name and see his resume. He unleashes something every 2 years or so, slowly baking new ideas with his crew and serving them up when they’re good and ready. Inception is his latest and greatest and judging by other reviews and the box office results, he’s made some very happy viewers.

Inception is a complicated movie. At it’s core, it’s about working in peoples dreams. There’s a way in, you can manipulate the environment, the dreamer, steal ideas and get out. That’s called “Extraction”. “Inception” is the act of planting an idea in someones head. Inception is the difficult task given to Mr. Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his team.

That’s the gist of it. You won’t get everything in just one viewing, there’s a lot of wild concepts, terminology and just general mind bending stuff at play here. The visuals are incredible, the direction clean and precise, the soundtrack fittingly epic and the cast is just fantastic. Inception is a mix of The Matrix (in terms of sci-fi) and your favorite Jason Bourne/Italian Job type heist movie. I absolutely love the concept of it and the execution of it is just of the highest caliber, we don’t see these kinds of movies out of Hollywood that often. Inception grabbed me hook, line and sinker. I look forward to seeing it again to connect more of the dots.

I think the less you know the better it will be for you. Just know that it’s easily the best movie of the year and enjoy the ride.