Joey’s Home Movies For the Week of June 1st – ‘Hoppers’ is Here to Delight Pixar Fans

Welcome back to my Home Movies! This week, we have a return to form for Pixar in Hoppers hitting shelves and leading the charge. Today also features a 4K SteelBook edition of Best Picture winner One Battle After Another, as well as a pair of new Criterion Collection releases to consider, since they’re both classics in Charade and Five Easy Pieces. What else is coming out? Read on to find out…

Joey’s Top Pick

Hoppers

When Pixar is at their best, no one does animation quite like them. While Hoppers is not quite an instant classic, it certainly is a return to form for what the animation giant used to put out on the regular. This is a charming, funny, and even weird flick that adults and kids alike will be delighted by. I had a blast with it. Zany fun from Pixar? Yes please. My highly positive review here on the site began like so:

Pixar built its legacy on original animated fare that delighted both children and adults in equal measure. At a certain point, sequels to their most popular hits (both critically acclaimed, like the Toy Story franchise, and just profitable, like Cars) became a surprising focus. Eventually, that started to dim their creative juices a tad. They were still putting out films that worked and were enjoyable, sure, but what made Pixar special seemed to be in shorter supply. Well, Hoppers is here to suggest an earlier, simpler time. This movie is creative, fun, and rather deranged, making for an original triumph for the animation giant. They haven’t been this purely enjoyable in some time. I went in with no expectations and left having had a blast.

Hoppers is an old-school original return to form for Pixar. Mixing adventure, comedy, and earned emotions, the craziness of the story works well with the feels you end up having. There’s a soft touch to the heavier stuff that pairs with the rather zany nature of the premise, as well as the sillier details. In lesser hands, it could have felt like tonal overload, leading to a messy feeling. Instead, it harkens back to what the animation house used to do so well. The flick wins you over early and never really lets you go.

Also Available This Week

10 Cloverfield Lane (4K)

The Boys in the Band (4K)

Bubba Ho-Tep (4K)

Covert Affairs: The Complete Series (TV)

Doctor Who: Season Two (TV)

Escape from L.A. (4K)

The Flintstones (4K)

Homestead: The Series: Season 1 (TV)

One Battle After Another (4K)

Protector

The Wizard of Oz (4K)

Criterion Corner

Charade

From The Criterion Collection: “In this comedic thriller, a trio of crooks relentlessly pursue a young American, played by Audrey Hepburn in gorgeous Givenchy, through Paris in an attempt to recover the fortune her dead husband stole from them. The only person she can trust is Cary Grant’s suave, mysterious stranger. Director Stanley Donen goes deliciously dark for Charade, a glittering emblem of 1960s style and macabre wit.”

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Five Easy Pieces

From The Criterion Collection: “Following Jack Nicholson’s breakout supporting turn in Easy Rider, director Bob Rafelson devised a powerful leading role for the new star in the searing character study Five Easy Pieces. Nicholson plays the now iconic cad Bobby Dupea, a shiftless thirtysomething oil rigger and former piano prodigy immune to any sense of responsibility, who returns to his upper-middle-class childhood home, blue-collar girlfriend (Karen Black, in an Oscar-nominated role) in tow, to see his estranged, ailing father. Moving in its simplicity and gritty in its textures, Five Easy Pieces is a lasting example of early-1970s American alienation.”

Stay tuned for more next week…