RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES
(Dir. Rupert Wyatt, 2011)
Here's a movie that answers the question that I didn't know anybody had been asking - how exactly did Earth become the Planet of the Apes?
According to this prequel/reboot/whatever, it sprang from a San Francisco scientist's (James Franco) attempts to cure Alzheimer's.
Franco experiments with genetic engineering on a test subject ape named Caesar (a CGI monkeyified Andy Serkis), and before long it's check out the big brain on Caesar-time!
The movie moves fast with short scenes forming a dark and supremely suspenseful set-up. We see Franco, with a little help from his simian pal, hook up with Frieda Pinto (SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE) try to help his ailing father (John Lithgow), and, as anybody whose seen even a quick TV spot for this film knows, deal with the ginornous revolt of thousands of newly intellectually enhanced apes fixated on destroying the city.
Before we get there we've got to see that humans are the villains here, not the apes, so there's Tom Felton as a douchey facility guard who taunts Caesar (couldn't wait to see him killed), and David Oyelowo as a clichéd corporate baddie. There's also David Hewlett as Franco's complaining neighbor who gets tangled up in the origin story in a clever way I won't reveal.
There are some nice shout-outs to the original 1968 PLANET OF THE APES: Felton gets to say Charleton Heston's classic "damn dirty ape" line, and you can see Caesar playing with a Statue of Liberty toy at one point.
Serkis's Caesar dominates the movie with his powerful presence. We feel like we can fully follow his thought processes as he carries out a plan against the humans. Most folks looking for summer blockbuster fun will mainly be waiting just for the destructive finale, and it doesn't disappoint - especially the much hyped Golden Gate bridge sequence - but the thoughtful vibe and tense tone throughout should be equally enjoyed.
Although filled with action and mayhem, the last third is a bit anticlimatic as it ends just as it starts to really get going, but I know, that's the point of such a set-up for a new take on the franchise.
I'll have to wait 'til next time for complete world domination by the apes, but for now this is one Hell of a tasty appetizer.
More later...
THE CHANGE-UP (Dir. David Dobkin, 2011)
Let me just start by putting this out there – I like both of these guys.
Jason Bateman is an effective everyman who has shined in a string of lame ass comedies (this summer's HORRIBLE BOSSES isn't bad actually), and Ryan Reynolds can be obnoxious sure, but there's a good actor underneath all that smarm (see last year's BURIED if you don't believe me).
But this gross-out switcheroo puts their likability to the test. The premise of body switching was tired back in the late '80s, and smothering it in profanity and loads of disgusting pee, poop, and porn jokes does nothing to freshen it up.
In the first couple of minutes of the film there's a baby feces scene that unfortunately sets the terrible tone. I won't go into any detail, I'll just say that so much of the movie consists of things that most people would pay not to see.
So we have Bateman as a settled down family man, Reynolds a hard partying womanizer living in Atlanta (the location really doesn't matter except in skyline shots and a few minor references - it could've been set anywhere) who drunkenly one night when peeing in a fountain say in unison "I wish I had your life!"
The next morning they wake up and are in each other's bodies and have to deal with it - and so do we.
Bateman's wife doesn't believe them, and they find that the fountain has been moved so they are stuck in this filthy FACE OFF predicament for a few weeks until they find out where the Zoltar Speaks machine, sorry the fountain, was moved.
The only slightly amusing factor is Bateman and Reynold's mimicry of each other's amped up antics, otherwise this is a profoundly unfunny experience that just makes you feel sorry for everybody involved including Olivia Wilde (COWBOYS AND ALIENS) and Alan Arkin who luckily is only in a couple brief scenes.
This hasn't been the greatest summer for comedies, but this is the lowest of the low. Even if you're looking for a air conditioned reprieve from the current extreme heat, I'd opt for sweating. The stench with that is so much more bearable.
More later...
This Italian thriller that more than lives up to its tagline ("Nothing is what it seems") is now playing in Raleigh at the Colony Theater:
THE DOUBLE HOUR (Dir. Giuseppe Capotondi, 2009)
I didn’t know anything about this film going in and for that I'm grateful as I'm sure seeing a trailer or even a cursory look at a plot description would've ruined some of the suspense.
That said, I'll try my best in my summary not to spoil this film's at times confusing yet fascinating twists and turns.
Here goes: Ksenia Rappoport is a hotel maid in Turin who meets former cop turned security guard Filippo Timi at a speed dating event. Romance is in the air, but on a date at the villa he guards, armed masked men assault the couple and tie them up during the theft of tons of priceless paintings.
A scuffle ensues and Rappoport wakes up to find out Filippo was killed.
In a tramatic state she tries to go about her daily routines, but she's haunted by Filippo who she sees on a monitor at work and in the darkness of her apartment.
To say anything more than that would be a crime as THE DOUBLE HOUR (which means the time of day when the hour and minute are the same like 11:11) is full of wonderfully unpredicatable moments.
It's a keep guessing what's what experience, sensitively shot, with ace acting by the two leads, especially Rappoport whose frazzled tormented demeanor carries the film.
In his directorial debut, Capotondi, who's well experienced in the world of music videos, shows that he really knows how to create an effective engrossing mood. I was caught up in this film's aura from start to finish and was very satisfied by the ending, even if I was reminded a bit of the cold cutting conclusion of BODY HEAT.
Wait, was that a spoiler? I so tried not to do that.
More later...
