Rise of the Planet of the Apes

On August 5th, 2011 the new film "The Rise of the Planet of the Apes" will go into wide release in theatres. I find it interesting that this movie would probably not be able to be made just 10 years ago, because CGI (Computer Generated Images) had not yet evolved enough to do this. James Cameron has been quoted as saying that there is nothing a person can conceive of in their imagination that cannot be realized on the movie screen.
On the flip side: great graphics does not a great movie make. After all the "glitz" and "glamor" is finished, a good movie comes down to one main thing. The thing that is the foundation that all the rest of it is built on. A GOOD STORY.
The original "Planet of the Apes" film with Charleton Heston had some pretty hokey special effects and consisted of a bunch of guys running around in monkey suits. Pardon me. Ape suits. But the story was good and even though I was only 5 years old at the time, that story effected me then and still does to this day. We'll have to wait until August 5th to see if this latest "Ape" movie will be able to live up to the same standard as the first one.
I'm not sure if the people in Hollywood understand that. They see one movie make some money and they try to repeat the same formula. It's another case of  "monkey see; monkey do". Or perhaps "money see: money do"

Keep watching this space for updates and comments.

Inception

I meant for this blog to look at both the best and worst of everything in entertainment, but since time is very precious, I just don't seem to have the time to waste on the bad.
Which brings us to another movie that I am very impressed with: "INCEPTION".
It stars Leonardo DiCaprio and is written and directed by Christopher Nolan.
I got this movie as a DVD and by the time I was merely 15 minutes into I had one thought on my mind: "whoever wrote this story put a lot of thought and time into it".
As it turns out I was right. Again! (Yeesh. It gets so boring to be right ALL THE TIME.)
Christopher Nolan both wrote and directed this film and has been apparently writing it for years and it shows.

The story revolves around dreams , which is always a tricky topic to write about. But in this case, Nolan seems to be able to tap into the parts of our dreams that we all share, while blowing our minds with things that most of us have never thought of.
It takes place in the not to distant future where trade and personal secrets can be stolen by simply slipping into a person's unconscious mind and "tricking" them into telling them to you ... while they're asleep. Leonardo DiCaprio plays  one of these "extracters" who is desperately trying to do whatever it takes to get home to his two kids, while battling some major guilt that takes the form of some serious 'dream demons'.
I truly can tell you very little about the content of the film because anything I say would spoil some part of this film for you. It is full of twists and turns and I would suggest that the best way to watch this film is on DVD. As clear as Nolan makes this story, there are still a few times when I had to review an explanation that one of the characters makes before going forward. I would suggest you do the same. If you don't have a good basic idea of what is happening, plot wise, then go back and make sure you have all the info you need before proceeding any further with the film.
Besides 1)a great writer and director in Christopher Nolan, 2)a wonderful music score by Hans Zimmer, 3) fantastic visuals by  Director of Photography Wally Pfister (who won the oscar for this film),  this film has one of the greatest ensemble casts any movie can brag of.
Leonardo DiCaprio, Ken Watanabe, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page , Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy and the always wonderful Michael Caine.

This film is the perfect combination of a "Guy Movie", "Chick-Flick" and "Artsy-Fartsy Film." There is something here for everyone . And I challenge anyone to NOT like this film. It can't be done.
If I'm wrong, ... well, there's a first for everything. But I don't think it will be this time.

NOTE: click the title to this post and you will go to the official site of this film

Cowboys and Aliens

There is  very little in the way of new releases in theatres that gets me excited. In my 45 years of life and 40 years of actively watching what amounts to literally thousands of films, I HAVE SEEN IT ALL! And now-a-days 98% of it is CRAP.
Enter the new film , "Cowboys and Aliens" which is opening today (Friday, July 29/11) in almost every city in North America.
I've been to the website for this movie (click on the title of this post and go there) and there are not only some really cool things to look at and navigate through, but you will be drooling to get to this movie. I know I am.
Let me start by saying that I am not your average middle-aged, female movie-going. I rarely enjoy a movie if something doesn't blow-up and/or someone doesn't out-run a fire ball. But when all is said and done, there are only TWO kinds of movies: GOOD & BAD.

I have yet to see "Cowboys & Aliens" but I predict that this is definitely going to be in the good category. Did I mention I also love Sci-Fi movies? Yup, yup!

This film is about your average town in the old west which is run by the iron fisted sheriff, played by Harrison Ford. Into this town walks the "dark stranger", aka. Daniel Craig. (best known for his James Bond films). He has no memory of who he is and only a strange looking shackle on his wrist.
He's barely stepped foot into the town Saloon (these towns always have one) before he is beaten up and headed to the jail. That's when all hell breaks loose. These average town folk are about to be invaded by more than the local rowdies. The "Aliens" that reek havoc on them aren't from this neck of the woods.
Just after these nasty aliens swoop down from the sky and start taking the innocent town folk, Daniel Craig's character finds out that his "shackle" is actually a really cool weapon he can use against these aliens. Not your average Colt 45. Now he and Harrison Ford must join forces and fight the bad guys (or slimy guys in this case). And these "bad guys" make the James Gang look like a herd of new born kittens.
But there's no way that me describing this film will give you the desire to see it like watching the trailers at the website will. So you "mosey on over and see fer yerself."
Let me just make a few comments about the rest of the people involved in the making of this film.
Jon Favreau (Iron Man) directs. The one, two punch of Brian Grazer & Ron Howard are the Producers and the Executive Producer is none other than the man who made movie aliens fashionable to all of us, "The Spielberg".
Not to mention great character actors like, Sam Rockwell (always good for a thrill), Adam Beach (who hasn't he been?), Olivia Wilde (Beauty personified and eyes that look  deeper than a pool of water) and of course two other guys. Uh? What were their names? Oh. Right. Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig.
If this movie is just half-ways interesting, THIS will be the movie of the summer . And guess what. James Cameron ain't in sight!

A small foot note that I have to put in. Don't let anyone tell you that the combination of the OLD WEST and ALIENS hasn't been done before. I'm a hard core "Browncoat" and if you don't know what that is, you haven't seen the movie, "Serenity" or the TV series it's based on , "Firefly". If you need to see more of this kind of action when "Cowboys and Aliens" is over, check out both, "Serenity" & "Firefly" (created by Joss Wheadon).

And of course, there is this other "little" TV show that came out in the mid 1960's that was sold as "wagon train to the stars". You might have heard of it. It's called, "STAR TREK". You might want to check it out. But just a suggestion.

Also, I welcome anyone who has seen "Cowboys & Aliens" to come back to this blog and tell us about it in a comment. "We'd shur love ta have ya' !"