Tuesday August 9, 2011

Rise of the Planet of the Apes- This is a quality science fiction film that easily forgets the previous Tim Burton film. Outside of Andy Serkis, who is brilliant in his motion capture performance as the ape, Caesar, nobody else is fantastic but they all do their part and are effective at playing their roles. The movie shows a greater duration of its length in the perspective of Caesar, and tells more of its story as the idea of poor treatment towards animals that ought to be our equals. It's fascinating and makes you think, but audiences that would think that it's an action film will be mistaken and most likely a little disappointed. Despite its repetitive and redundant title (too many "of the"s for my taste), I would definitely recommend it.



The Change-Up- Funny but pretty bad. It's 'Freaky Friday' with dudes, and for dudes. Definitely a FDBD (think FUBU) film. There's plenty of sex, nudity, and shit jokes that make up this film. Some of it works really well... but most of it doesn't. It's a movie that gives you what you would expect. Which is kind of disappointing since you don't expect too much. Jason Bateman does a lot of complaining (even when he's supposed to be Ryan Reynolds' character in Bateman's body) and Ryan Reynolds does a lot of advising (especially when he's supposed to be Jason Bateman's character in Reynolds' body). Finally, Olivia Wilde makes her real life public image more appealing, by choosing to appeal to everything guys like this summer (in 'Cowboys and Aliens' and 'Tron: Legacy', she's appealing to nerds, and in this one, she's appealing to 'normal' or (SPIKE TV/MANswers type) dudes) while Leslie Mann ends up being the pitied wife with bowel issues. Yup, that's about it. It is watchable, but good? I think not.



- Jeff Bassin