• Director: Lee Unkrich
• Release Date:
• Writers: Michael Arndt, John Lasseter
• Run Time: 103
• Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy, Family, Fantasy

 

 

 

Review: Star Wars. Indiana Jones. Fistful of Dollars. Bourne. These are all incredible trilogies that can, will, and should stand the test of time. Yes, I am neglecting the fourth Indiana Jones. Upon the mention of the third Toy Story, I was deathly afraid. Afraid because it has some major, major shoes to fill. The original is a masterpiece that changed animation forever, and the sequel is among the best in the history of film (I mean that). The first two Toy Story films are among the best movies of all-time and to this day entire animation studios have failed to duplicate an ounce of the magic contained in Toy Story. Could part 3 even come close to the original two? My friends, I am very happy to say, the answer is a resounding yes.

Toy Story 3 does exactly what the first two did, delivered on all cylinders, all aspects of film-making and entertainment. The humor is back, the heart is back, the delightful cast of characters is back. This time, thanks to an incredible script, theres more suspense, more drama, and many more surprises. Like any spectacular trilogy, it wraps up all loose ends. It literally is difficult to find any flaw or any slow moment in this movie, and even if there is, it will immediately be forgiven by the next major laugh or the next major revelation. The predictability factor in this movie is low, and the payoff to all the suspense is extremely high. Guys, this is the go-to movie of the summer, and makes up for any disappointment you have seen this year or last.

Just like Toy Story 2s subtle and underlying themes, Toy Story 3 revolves around the group of toys and their latest adventure, but dwells far deeper than that. On the surface, this movie is about the toys in a series of circumstances, winding up in a daycare center that isn all it seems. At the same time, Andy is heading for college, but Woody isn quite ready to let go of his owner and the memories that follow. The deeper aspects involve aging, growing up, and moving on. Michael Arndt, the Oscar winner that wrote Little Miss Sunshine, was behind the spectacular screenplay in this third trip in the world of toys. Then with the help of John Lasseter and Lee Unkrich (who serves as the director), we see plenty of references to Pixar, other movies, the previous Toy Story installments, and even we even see nods to the influences of the entire animation studio (Miyazaki).

The writing wasn the only thing that was on par with the first two Toy Story movies. The voice acting cast was once again phenomenal, with popular actors, underrated talent, and great character actors filling the bill. Come on now, just read em: Tim Allen, Tom Hanks, John Cusack, Wallace Shawn, Jody Benson, Estelle Harris, Blake Clark, John Ratzenburger, Ned Beatty, Jeff Garlin, and Michael Keaton. Unlike what Dreamworks pulls off on a yearly basis, Pixar carefully chooses their voice cast in terms of pulling off the best performances, not to generate more money. Because honestly, was there even a point to Angelina Jolie voicing the tiger in Kung Fu Panda? On the other hand, very few can pull an authentic Barbie like Jody Benson (a.k.a. Ariel in the Little Mermaid). It takes reliable and authentic acting to pull at the heartstrings, and everyone definitely was on their A-game.

Lee Unkrich directed this movie with incredible pacing and just as much heart and dedication as Lasseter, who was in charge of the first two. The truth is, Pixar directs the movie together, as they share ideas and suggestions amongst each other. This fact can be traced to the similar pacing and directing styles seen in Pixars better works like Ratatoille, Finding Nemo, and Up. They all have the similar technique of incorporating just as many tears as laughs. But unlike all the other Pixar movies (with the exception of The Incredibles), Toy Story 3 has a heave dosage of suspense and peril, which is climaxed by one of the most exciting animated sequences this side of Castle in the Sky (a Miyazaki adventure masterpiece). Other reviewers have noted this before me, but this Toy Story is quite scary in depth and in imagery at some instances, so be wary of this while watching this with the kids. With so much time invested with these toys, the drama runs a bit high.

Bottom Line: Toy Story 3 secures its place in cinema brilliance by becoming the best third installment since Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, the best sequel since Kill Bill Vol. 2, and the best movie weve seen this year. This movie is usually hilarious, sometimes thrilling, and sometimes downright tear-jerking. And yes, just like Ups opening 10 minutes, there is that one major sequence in which Pixar will play with your heartstrings like Eric Clapton playing tears of Heaven. If you enjoyed the first two Toy Stories, theres no need to worry about the third and hopefully final chapter in the quality-filled saga. How Pixar manages to deliver yet again is absolutely beyond me.

Walt Disney may not be one-hundred percent proud of his company if he were alive to see it now, but he would be absolutely delighted at seeing what beautiful art Pixar has delivered ever since 1995. Pixar has re-created Walt Disney s magical methods of storytelling and movie-making, and arguably has taken it a step even further by adding depth to the characters and depth to the overall stories presented. The direction was fantastic, the writing was Oscar-worthy, and the overall production is Best Picture caliber. This is Pixars best work since Finding Nemo, and a must see by any means necessary. Despite my cynical nature, theres no way I can grade this any less than perfect. Just no way.

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Her killer curves and sexy style have made her an international star.

But it looks like Kim Kardashian's photoshoot with renowned U.S. photographer Terry Richardson may be her raunchiest ever.

The Keeping Up With The Kardashians star released some of the pictures on her official blog.

Feline: Kim Kardashian maximises her curvy figure in a leopard-print dress for the famous American photographer Terry Richardson

Two of the pictures are studio shots, and the other two are of her and Richardson.

In one of the photos, Kim poses in a skin tight leopard-print dress that emphasises every curve of her voluptuous figure.

In the second, the 29-year-old is draped across a blue chair, wearing a very low-cut lace dress that she pulls up around her thighs.

 

Sultry: Kim's photoshoot took place at the hotel Chateau Marmont in Hollywood

And it looks like she was perfectly comfortable with Richardson, playfully posing for pictures with him behind the scenes.

Kim posted all the pictures of her website and said, 'I did a fab photo shoot with the amazing Terry Richardson at Chateau Marmont in LA.

'What do you think of these pics? I’m loving the leopard print and lace!'

Playful pals: Kim and Terry pose together behind the scenes at the photoshoot

Kim recently announced that she wants to become a serious actress rather than just a reality star.

'I would love to go into acting properly,' she revealed.

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'I'd especially like to do an action film or a romantic comedy, I think that would be really fun.'

 

A job well done: Kim and Terry look like best friends as they pose together

But the brunette bombshell is in no hurry, preferring to wait for the perfect role.

She says: 'I had small roles before but I’ve had offers for leading roles and I’m looking at scripts at the moment.

'I don't have any regrets, even if you do something which at the time isn't the smartest decision then it's happening to teach you a lesson and make you become a better person.'

Richardson was the centre of controversy this year after several allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct were levelled against him.

But Richardson believes he empowers women.

He told the Observer newspaper in 2004: 'A lot of it starts with me saying to a girl, "Do you want to do nudes?'" And they're like, "I don't want to be naked".

'So I say, "I'll be naked and you take the pictures. You can have the camera. You can have the phallus."'

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Every week, WoW Insider brings you Arcane Brilliance for arcane, fire and frost mages. This week, we're discussing stats and gemming. As you all know, the most important stat for mages (once you've hit the whine cap) is pew-pew -- which you'll want to stack at all costs -- but as far as secondary stats go, you should be reforging everything into QQ.
In our ongoing coverage of all the crazy crap you need to worry about after patch 4.0.1 dropped a crazy crap-bomb on our class (and, to be fair, every other class also), we've discussed talent builds, spell rotations, glyphs, and of course, the fact that most of the glyphs currently in the game are wrong. But one thing we haven't yet covered is all those numbers next to your character sheet. You know the ones I'm talking about: defense, dodge, expertise, and the most important of all, RBIs. Which one is the most important to get? And which is best for warlock-slaying?
I'm joking, of course. Employing comedy to deflect your attention from the fact that I'm not wearing any pants, and also from the fact that I don't really know what the hell I'm talking about. But good news! Nobody else does, either. When it comes to stat weights in this uncertain, pre-Cataclysm world, we're all still figuring it out on the fly, really. It's actually kind of fun to go to the official forums and see violent disagreements between people who are equally ignorant of their subject matter. It's like watching any Fox News panel of "experts" argue about the evils of video gaming.

Mass Effect is hardcore cyber-porn!

Medal of Honor trains terrorists!
Plants vs. Zombies encourages plant-on-zombie violence!

Frankly, that last one is true. Also, I made it up. Just like a lot of people on the forums are essentially making up their stat weight and gemming strategies right now -- because to put it as simply as I know how: We just don't know yet. Nobody does. Even the evil geniuses over at Elitist Jerks are still sorting this mess out. And they're evil geniuses.
The problem, really, is that in this calm before the Cataclysm, we have two distinct sets of stat weights to sort out: level 80 stats and level 85 stats. What your mage needs right now to down the Lich King for the 25th time is significantly different from what he'll need at level 85 in full mastery gear to run Cataclysm heroic 5-mans. All the numbers we've got coming out of the beta don't really help us in this final stage of the Wrath cycle. Our stats, our talents, our spells, our basic class design philosophy -- all of those things are balanced around level 85, not 80.
Still, there are some constants that almost everybody can agree on.
Hit rating
This is still our first priority. Nothing increases your raid DPS faster than reaching the hit cap. For level 80 spellcasters like ourselves, that cap is 17 percent, which translates into 446 hit rating. You need to get 446 hit rating from somewhere, and you need to get it before you get anything else.
Having said that, once you reach the cap, every point of hit rating beyond that 446 cap is completely wasted. Unlike every other ranged caster class, mages have no talent that converts spirit to hit and no hit-increasing talents of any kind. No matter your spec, you'll need to get 446 points of hit rating from somewhere.
Luckily, hit rating is a secondary stat, meaning you can use reforging to get it. As we'll discuss later, spirit is a completely useless stat for mages now, and you likely have a bunch of it on your gear somewhere. Feel free to reforge every point you can of it into hit rating.
Another good place to obtain extra hit is from Veiled Dreadstones. Put one in every blue slot. If you end up with extra hit, reforge it into something else.
Intellect
With spellpower as a stand-alone stat all but gone, intellect becomes our pure, stackable DPS stat. It increases your mana pool, spellpower, and spell crit. Once hit is capped, it is the primary stat for mages. All of your gear should have intellect on it in large chunks, and every gem slot should be filled with something that increases it.
For red slots, that means Brilliant Cardinal Rubies. For other slots, just pick some combination of intellect and another stat you need. Veiled Dreadstones work well for blue slots, and Reckless or Potent Ametrines are great for yellow slots. Intellect is simply weighted so much higher than any other stat that it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to socket a gem that doesn't give you at least some of it.
Haste rating
Here's where it becomes a bit murky. Some mages are arguing for mastery in this slot, and while mastery is indeed attractive, I'm going to put haste and crit ahead of it. Here's why:
Mastery is going to be awesome. At level 85, it'll likely usurp haste and crit as your secondary stat of choice. But for now, the only way to get it is by reforging another stat into it. The relatively miniscule amount you'll get even from reforging every secondary stat you have simply isn't worth the effort at level 80.
Haste, on the other hand, is a known quantity, and you likely have plenty of it. It does what it says it does, makes your spell casts faster. It also reduces your global cooldown, making instant-casts slightly faster, and increases the speed with which channeled spells play out and (in very large amounts) the rate at which DoT effects tick.
The way it's looking currently, arcane and frost mages will want to prioritize haste over crit, simply because their DPS numbers aren't as reliant on crit frequency as fire's are. It's close, though, and nobody's going to fault a fire mage for wanting a bit more haste. You can get some interesting things to happen with enough haste, including squeezing in an extra tick of Living Bomb before the explosion, but the other stats you have to sacrifice to get to that point may be too much to bear.
Crit rating
This is probably the best secondary stat for fire mages, but you can make a viable argument for it even as a frost or arcane mage. We still don't have quite enough theorycrafting numbers done on these at level 80 to really make a firm call. With their high dependence upon frequent crits for so many of their talents to be effective, fire mages seem to benefit the most from high crit numbers. Haste is definitely helpful, but crit is probably the better choice.
Mastery rating
Mastery is a new stat introduced in patch 4.0.1. The effect of it changes depending on your class and spec. For fire mages, it increases the damage done by your periodic fire spells. For arcane mages, it increases the damage done by that whole mana-adept-doing-more-damage-the-more-mana-you-have-left mechanic. And for frost, it increases the damage you do against frozen targets.
Now, while all of those effects are pretty straightforward DPS increases, the fact remains that mastery is balanced around level 85 numbers, and you simply can't get enough of it at level 80 to make it a priority. My suggestion is that if you are at the hit cap and feel you already have enough haste and crit for your needs, then feel free to reforge a bit of mastery. It isn't going to hurt. But in my opinion -- and keep in mind that the numbers simply aren't complete enough to say anything for certain yet -- you're better off seeking out haste and/or crit than you are squeezing a bit of mastery rating out of your gear.
You simply can't get enough of it now to make a dent.
Spirit
We talked about this last week, but let me restate as succinctly as I can:
Spirit is a steaming pile of poo.
It's completely worthless to mages now. The sole purpose of it is to increase your out-of-combat mana regen, something you don't need at all. Get rid of as much of it as you can. Any gems you still have that carry a bit of spirit need to be replaced. Any gear you have that has spirit on it is now devalued; reforge the 40 percent you can into something useful, and look to replace said gear with something sans spirit as soon as humanly possible.
Gemming recap
We've already mentioned most of the gemming strategies in the text above, but let me put it all together in one place. For now, gemming appears to be quite simple:
Red slots Brilliant Cardinal Ruby, 20 intellect
Blue slots Veiled Dreadstone, 10 intellect/10 hit rating (reforge any extra hit from gear into haste/crit)
Yellow slots Reckless Ametrine, 10 intellect/10 haste rating or Potent Ametrine, 10 intellect/10 crit rating
And there you have it -- and remember that I said quite clearly up front that nobody really knows what they're talking about when it comes to stats yet, least of all me. I'm no theorycrafter. If you want to feel better about things, feel free to plug your mage into Rawr and do what it tells you to do. Don't be surprised to learn, though, that even that venerable program is just as confused as the rest of us right now. By the time we have everything nailed down, the expansion will hit and we'll have to start all over again. For now, just do the best you can and enjoy figuring things out with the rest of us.
I declare the arguments may begin ... now! Remember: Namecalling is frowned upon unless you're arguing with a warlock.

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Every week, Arcane Brilliance teleports you inside the wonderful world of mages and then hurls a Fireball in your face. Check out our recent look at how much I hate damage meters or what to expect for mages in patch 4.0.1. Until next week, keep the mage-train a-rollin'.

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