Back in 2015, Disney and Pixar introduced us to 11-year-old Riley and the squabbling emotions inside her prepubescent head. To make a long story short, Joy (Amy Poehler) tried to retain dominance over the girl, but Sadness (Phyllis Smith) kept creeping her way in. The struggle led to both emotions getting kicked out of Riley’s conscience. Following an adventure through the girl’s psyche, both emotions made their way back and Joy realized that she had to share Riley with other emotions, even unpleasant ones, in order for her to get the most out of life. In this new movie, Riley’s five core emotions want to retain dominance over the girl, but new emotions creep their way in. This leads to a struggle where the old emotions get kicked out of Riley’s conscience. They’ll have to go on an adventure through the girl’s psyche to make their way back and hopefully obliterate the new emotions. Or maybe they’ll learn to share and the message will be exactly the same as in the first movie.

For the record, I wasn’t a big fan of the first movie. Don’t get me wrong, I thought it was okay, and it kept the streak of at-least-passable Pixar alive until “Lightyear” two years ago. But setting up this elaborate world of personified emotions led to countless questions that the movie wasn’t prepared to answer, and without answering those questions, it didn’t make sense. Sometimes the nonsense played to its adventage, like a deus ex machina toward the end involving stackable crushes. Other times it hurt the movie, like leaving me wondering if these characters even had lives that were at stake, and what might happen to Riley if those lives were lost. The new movie raises more new questions than it answers, but this time I’m a little more comfortable knowing that the movie is prepared to answer some questions and not others.

For the new movie, Riley (Kensington Tallman) is going to hockey camp with her best friends Grace (Grace Lu) and Bree (Sumayyah Nuriddin-Green). Joy is looking forward to guiding her, along with core emotions Sadness, Anger (Lewis Black), Disgust (Liza Lapira), and Fear (Tony Hale). But Riley hits puberty the night before the camp, ushering in new emotions Anxiety (Maya Hawke), Envy (Ayo Edebiri), Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser), and Ennui (Adele Exarchopoulos). Anxiety proves useful in a few social situations, but clashes with Joy when the latter wants Riley to stay loyal to her old friends, as opposed to endearing herself to the more popular Val (Lilimar). The new emotions banish the old emotions to the back of Riley’s mind until she can be completely reworked.

My problem with the movie, other than that the story progression is pretty much the same as the first movie, is once again at the literal level. I can understand a kid with conflicting emotions, but what happens when a kid is missing five of them, as is the case here? If Riley is being controlled by the four new emotions, what’s making her competent at hockey? And why do the filmmakers think that Anxiety doesn’t manifest until puberty? What are young kids famous for saying on car trips? “Arewethereyet? Arewethereyet?” That’s Anxiety, guys.

Of course, just as the “Inside Out” movies teach audiences to take the bad with the good, I must remember to take the good with the bad. And there is a lot of good here. The animation is as colorful and delightful as ever, the emotional moments had me feeling for the characters, and the humor consistently hits. My favorite gags involve cartoon characters stuck in the back of Riley’s mind. Video game character Lance (Yong Yea) is another helpful crush of Riley’s, Pouchy (James Austin Johnson) is a little too happy to provide explosives, and Bloofy (Ron Funches) is a fourth-wall breaker with no fourth wall to break (you can practically hear the Disney writers saying, “Take that, Nickelodeon!”). These characters, more than the emotions, were the highlight of this passable Pixar affair.

Grade: B-

“Inside Out 2” is rated PG for some thematic elements. Its running time is 96 minutes.

Contact Bob Garver at rrg251@nyu.edu.

“Very few friends travel through a lifetime with you”

Fourth film by Kathy Meng, following “Elite Match”, “Willow and Wu” is a film shot in NYC, which has won the award for Best Screenplay at 27th Brooklyn Film Festival.

The film begins with a rather intense scene, where Waley seems to be breaking up with a girl through a video call. The girl’s cries following the call cements the fact, while the next scene has her, Willow, in an obviously depressed state receiving a call from Mrs Wu, her boss, insisting that she comes to her house right away. It turns out that although she is her assistant, Willow has to help her husband this time. Mr Wu wants to be filmed on a script his wife wrote and wants Willow to handle the recording. With her not having prior experience and being quite anxious, things do not go exactly smoothly.

Moreover, the video seems to focus on the passing of his friend Bao and soon asks her to read the script, before he decides to shoot the whole thing outside, even asking her to put some make up on him. It turns out that he is also anxious, which is why he appears so demanding. Eventually, loss brings the two closer.

If you like Willow and Wu, check also this review

Text to speech audio articles made possible by the Quest Grant at Yavapai College. Tuition free industry recognized certificates for your career.

Hit Man is a fairly standard script. It doesn’t waste your time. It gets straight to the point. And it is a hell of a lot of fun.

Release Date: 05/24/2024 Runtime: 115 minutes Director: Richard Linklater Rotten Tomatoes: 97% iMBD: 7.1/10 Where to Watch: Netflix

Mild-mannered professor of psychology and philosophy Gary Johnson (Glen Powell) lives at home with his plants, his birdfeeders, and his two cats Id and Ego

This sets up his character right away and tells the audience everything they need to know. He works part-time doing tech support for the local police, assisting on undercover ops to bust criminals trying to hire hitmen. But one day, the assigned agent is put on suspension at the last minute and Gary is chosen to take his place. Nervous, intellectual, science-obsessed Gary… their best option.

Whether he succeeds or fails will depend on if his anxiety gets the better of him. Walking into a diner to confront the criminal, everyone is on edge. But by the end, it’s clear that Gary is a natural.

The police department starts assigning him more jobs. As he gets into the act of convincing the targets that he is a lifelong criminal, he starts to take a liking to it—his psychology background and solo lifestyle affording him the flexibility to become anyone he needs to be to get them to let their guard down and make incriminating statements.

Then, one day, he meets a woman (Adria Arjona) attempting to escape from a dangerous husband

The lines between his real self and his undercover persona blur as he develops genuine feelings for her while also playing into her desires. This leads to a web of lies, confused identities, and criminal actions that stand apart from the usual tropes of the romantic comedy genre.

As expected, the truth does eventually come out, and in this one it does comes out in perhaps the most hilarious way possible. Discussing the specifics would spoil the story, but needless to say, the pressure builds over the course of the movie until an eventual release that circumvents the standards of the trope in a way that is absolutely delightful.

Despite its dark themes, this movie approaches its subject matter in a light-hearted way that will leave the most morally-upright audience member smiling by the end

Ultimately, it’s a story about identity, the flexible nature of reality, and who we are when personality can be constructed. “Seize the identity you want for yourself” is the quote the movie ends on, and it couldn’t have found a better, more absurd narrative to build that statement on.

About our Admit One Author

Isaac Frankel is a freelance writer and content creator specializing in reviews and analysis of cinema, interactive media, and mythological storytelling. He was raised in Prescott, AZ, wrote his first non-fiction book in 2013 after graduating from Tribeca Flashpoint College with a degree in Game & Interactive Media Design, and currently produces content for the YouTube channel: Off Screen.

More of his work and current projects can be found at www.isaacafrankel.com.

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