Going Ape

I've had a fairly stressful week at work, which means my movie-seeing ratio is up and I'm being far less discerning. Which explains how I was convinced to see Rise of Planet of the Apes. I'm generally not into unnecessary sequels, let alone unnecessary prequels. So with my expectations set reasonably low, my friend and I grabbed tickets and had the theatre to ourselves, save for two weirdos in the back.

The film that played was entertaining, surprisingly touching, and quite simply...good. 

I KNOW! I'm surprised too. But seriously, it's a solid film thorugh and through. It revolves around a young scientist (Franco) testing apes to cure Alzheimer's. He saves/adopts a baby chimpanzee whom he names Caesar. Caesar's genetic code contains the smart-drug Franco was working on and so the ape has advanced intellect. But raising a really smart chimpanzee has it's issues. This gave the writer two choices - slapstick comedy a la Space Chimps or go more hard-hitting and dramatic.

Now having seen it, I can guess that good writing initially attracted Franco and Serkis to the film. Also, Andy Serkis has a copyright on all monkey roles. From there, Rupert Wyatt and the cast do wonderfully understated jobs at allowing the film to unfold through the characters. The post-production work is spectacular, just downright amazing. Mo-cap has seriously come leaps and bounds in the last few years.

In fact, let's just talk about the role of Caesar for a moment and the work that went into creating him. So not only does Andy Serkis portray him, but you've got so many people working to make this character multi-dimensional, likable, and realistic. If even a handful screwup it's a lot of time and money and then it looks like shit on screen. But what a great job! I don't want to give too much away, but Caeser's humanity is not just about intelligence, it's portrayed in an emotional aspect as well - you watch his growth as a person, made possible by Serkis and the FX teams. 

Serkis doesn't overshadow anybody though. James Franco gives a solid performance and John Lithgow captures the heartbreaking state of Alzheimer's patients perfectly. The movie also references the Heston original in passing at a few locations. Keep your ears open for a "Bright Eyes" a "Cornealia" and that one super famous line. 

The film has a few weakspots and could've perhaps shaved 15 or 20 minutes off the runtime, but it's moving and entertaining with solid monkey action and it sets up the original film nicely (which any real prequel should). However, don't be surprised if some kind of "War for Planet of the Apes" or equally horribly titled se-pre-quel comes out because there's definitely room to do it.

7.5/10

September 2011 Film You Should Know But Probably Don't

Barry Lyndon

Yes, the secret is out. I'm a Stanley Kubrick fan. And fuck everyone who says Ryan O'Neil's accent sucks in this. There is so much more to enjoy about this movie! 

The main thing you should incredibly impressed by is how freakin' gorgeous the cinematography is. The entire film looks like a damn oil painting. This was achieved through the use of natural light and ONLY natural light. Kubrick had to design/steal from NASA/request a special camera lens just in order to pull off shooting with such low light (candles don't exactly stand up to your 10k lamps). There are a lot of fun Hollywood rumors and theories as to where the lens came from and how he got it. As best I understand it, there was a bit of construction by Kubrick himself using NASA lenses. But my favourite is my old cinematography teacher's theory:

"NASA gave Kubrick the lens in exchange for shooting the moon landing."

I absolutely love the idea behind that but let's all face reality. The moon landing footage would look so much better if Kubrick had made it. It was probably Roger Corman. 

Back to the film. For those of you who don't know, Barry Lyndon is the assumed name of a drunk Irish asshole who keeps getting himself into duels and other types of trouble. He's forced out of his Irish village in the beginning and slowly makes his way to France where he tries to squeeze every penny out of anybody he can.

There's a rather fantastic use of narration - the narrator gives away everything before it happens. Kubrick played with narration similarly in his earlier film The Killing (featuring Sterling Hayden). It's that kind of self-awareness and utter command of the film medium that lifts this film from being merely good and nice looking to truly great and utterly stunning. 

Some people knock the acting. I say they probably have an extra chromosome. Ryan O'Neil is fantastic and I won't believe otherwise. Also, a very young Leon Vitali pulls off an extraordinary performance as the slighted step-son. Vitali would go on to become Kubrick's personal assistant through the rest of his film career and play the Red Cape in Eyes Wide Shut.

Remember to keep a sharp eye out for some of Kubrick's favourite players who tend to appear in his films time and time again such as Steven Berkoff and Patrick Magee. Make sure you aren't watching it on some 2-inch screen off your iPhone - it's probably best if you have the lights off as well, really get that full effect. Right. Enjoy.

Why My Labour Day Was Better Than Yours

And here's a hint: it's not because I spell labour correctly. Though you're getting warm. I spent my labour day night in an IMAX theatre watching the latest Harry Potter in 3D. I know it came out in July, and that this review is therefore two months late, but whatever, it was awesome and I feel the need to share this.

Enjoy that picture. I had written a fairly lengthy review talking about how awesome the cast was, the director, the DP and the movie in general as well as the significance of the scene in white at the end and the deaths of certain semi-major characters. But then my save failed and erased it all and I'm too annoyed to rewrite the whole thing.

10/10

For a treat, check out David Yate's first few films, among them The Girl in the Cafe and Sex Traffic.