48: Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Rise of the Planet of the Apes – August 5, 2011
Starring: James Franco, Freida Pinto, John Lithgow, Andy Serkis, Tom Felton
Written by: Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver
Directed by: Rupert Wyatt

The plot: “During experiments to find a cure for Alzheimer’s disease, a genetically-enhanced chimpanzee uses its greater intelligence to lead other apes to freedom.” – IMDB

My thoughts: Admittedly, when I first saw the trailer for this, I laughed. I was in utter disbelief as to how they were going to make a prequel to an incredibly famous film and do it well.

But I’m eating my words (or rather my laughter) because I’ll be damned, the film was good! The plot was strong, the acting was good, and the visuals were excellent.

A lot of controversy (I guess that’s what you could call it) often surrounds Andy Serkis’s work as he has a tendency to portray CGI characters (Gollum/Smeagol in Lord of the Rings and King Kong), but he gave what I think was the best performance as Caesar, the leader of the highly intelligent apes. He does an incredible job of portraying a docile, child-like Caesar to a rebelling, slightly-terrifying ape-man-thing.

More than anything, I really loved the plot. This seems like just about the right time for someone to seriously mess up and cause our own destruction, leaving the planet free for monkeys and apes and chimps to take over. I like that it was also a bit of a commentary about animal testing (whether they intended it to be or not, I”m not sure) and how maybe there are some things better left to nature as opposed to our fiddling just because we can or want to.

I don’t have a lot to say about it aside from the fact that I was really pleasantly surprised. I’m not giving it a perfect score because I don’t think it’s worthy of being watching a bunch of times or talking about at parties, but I found it be a film that exceeded my expectations and kept me hooked for two hours.

Stars: 4/5

19: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (or should I say “Meh-thly Hallows”?)

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – July 15, 2011
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Alan Rickman, Ralph Fiennes, Michael Gambon, Tom Felton, Maggie Smith, every other British thespian ever
Written by: Steve Kloves
Directed by: David Yates

The plot: “Harry, Ron and Hermione search for Voldemort’s remaining Horcruxes in their effort to destroy the Dark Lord once and for all.” – IMDB

My thoughts: I was unfortunately not wholly satisfied with the final installment of the Harry Potter series. It wasn’t bad – I wouldn’t go so far as to say that. I found it to be a bit lackluster for being built up as such an emotional and extreme climax; the book certainly was!

I completely understand that the books and movies are all about Harry Potter, but over the course of 7 books and 8 movies, there are so many other characters that fans have come to know and love. For example, Fred Weasley, Remus Lupin, and Tonks all die (among others) and yet we never see their valiant efforts or their honorable defeats. We get a scene in which we see their bodies and understand that they died in battle. In all honesty, I think that the writers owed fans the chance to see characters we love fight for their cause.

And of course there was Bellatrix LeStrange’s death. Boring. I anticipated a fierce battle between Mrs. Weasley and Bellatrix and instead, we got a few quick wand swishes and poof! Bellatrix floated away in a million little pieces. Maybe we should talk about the writers completely neglecting the story about Albus and Grindelwald – a plot that I personally think explained a lot about the Deathly Hallows and how Albus became the man he was. I mentioned Grindelwald to a few people and they seemed perplexed, not even knowing who Grindelwald was as he made a momentary (quite literally) appearance in the first part.

So was there anything good? Yes. McGonagall absolutely kicked major ass in this movie. Maggie Smith is a phenomenal actress who got the beloved professor just right. Fierce, loyal, and full of heart. Better yet? Alan Rickman as Snape. The character who had perhaps one of the best “mini”-plots in the entire series, Snape went through so many emotions in this movie. I particularly loved Snape’s memories in which we saw what kind of man he really was and that there was so much more to him.

And last but definitely not least (I could go on for a while about what I liked and didn’t like), we’ve got some technical stuff. Not an especially visually stunning movie – the colors were nice (lots of neutrals, very fitting for the dreary tone of the movie), and a few shots were lovely (I especially loved the water scene after the Golden Trio jumps off the dragon’s back into the lake). And finally, the score by Alexandre Desplat was gorgeous. A track called “Courtyard Apocalypse” was my favorite and didn’t last nearly long enough.

In all honesty, I can find plenty of flaws in all of the Harry Potter movies. To me, the books are flawless and considering the fact that it’s just about impossible to get the movies just right, there will always be issues. In general, it was enjoyable. I’m hoping that the DVD release will have a trillion deleted scenes so that fans can feel truly fulfilled.

Stars: 3/5