Rise of the Planet of the Apes Review

Rating: 3.5/5

Of all the unnecessary remakes and reboots happening these days, Rise of the Planet of the Apes actually has a good reason to exist. The original movies are dated messes of rubber masks and Charlton Heston, and Tim Burton's version has one of the worst endings I've ever seen. After seeing Rise of the Planet of the Apes, I've not only forgiven the original films (well, mostly forgiven), but I'm really excited to see where this new franchise goes. This is a reboot I can get behind.

Will (James Franco) is a corporate scientist working on the cure for alzheimer's so he can help his dad (John Lithgow). Through animal testing, Will thinks he's cracked the code with a formula that not only fixes the test apes' brains, but improves them. When Will's prize subject is put down, he brings her baby home and raises him as a friend. However, as the baby grows up, Will finds that Caesar (Andy Serkis) inherited the formula and is evolving beyond what his masters want him to be.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes is a reboot that has nothing to build off of, which is good. It's not like Spider-Man where the Raimi films are recent and the character is a permanent part of American pop culture. Planet of the Apes' premise is original enough to be revamped for the 21st century, especially because the original movies aren't that popular. ROTPOTA (rolls right off the tongue, huh) does this very well by giving us memorable and interesting characters and setting up for future installments without making a 90 minute trailer. There isn't exactly a "revolution," but I do want to see when there is.

On the technical side, there is a little more to be criticized. In the end, James Franco, while good, is hard to take seriously as a nerdy scientist when he's dating Frieda Pinto, and the lack of an ape revolution is disappointing. John Lithgow and the rest of the supporting cast is great though, and the script isn't too slow or too serious. The action scenes are also awesome, with great setpieces and cool monkey maneuvers.

Also, while starting out pretty fake looking, the CGI apes look amazing as the film progresses. This is accented by the scenes without humans, which are almost totally visual, and much more dynamic and interesting to watch. Overall, Rise of the Planet of the Apes isn't everything I wanted, it's a damn good start.

Cowboys & Aliens Review

Rating: 2/5

I think the worst kind of adaptation is the kind that just does its own thing without retaining the spirit of its source material. An appropriate example of this would be 2008's aptly-titled "The Spirit," a film that turned a classic square-jaw superhero strip into a nonsensical mess of female objectification. In comparison, 2009's "Watchmen" made big changes but got the comic book's message across very well. Sadly, Cowboy's and Aliens ends up like the former.

Jake Lonengran (Daniel Craig) wakes up in the middle of the desert with no memory and a lazer bracelet on his wrist. After beating up what appears to be Kris Kristofferson, Jake wanders into the nearest town and finds that he's a wanted man. To make things worse, Colonel Dolarhyde (Harrison Ford) wants Jake for himself. Come nightfall, the titular aliens attack and kidnap several people from the town, and the rag-tag band of cowboys take off to rescue their people as well as Jake's memory. Oh, and Olivia Wilde has a seret or something I really didn't pay that much attention.

I don't expect much from a movie called Cowboys and Aliens, but I do expect it to be at least a silly good time at the movies. It isn't. Cowboys and Aliens takes itself immensely seriously, and none of the characters ever smile or are happy about anything. Speaking of the characters, they are all complete stereotypes. I don't mean in the unique and archetypal Rango sense of things, I mean that these characters are generic, with no development or anything.

The script and direction of the film also have no sense of pacing or direction. This is evidenced when the movie randomly switches from day to night and has pointless scenes like Harrison Ford tells the Last Airbender to be a man via euthanasia of random people in the desert. It's also inconsistent, touting a line where Olivia Wilde claims that the aliens are blind in the daytime, which is confirmed by earlier scenes, and then the aliens proceed to run out and kill most of the extras. Overall, it's a pretty generic action movie despite the title.

This summer is better than last year. Last year we had very few good flicks like Inception and Scott Pilgrim, and too many Last Airbenders and Predators. This year we have fun stuff like Green Lantern, Captain America, and Horrible Bosses almost every week. Cowboys and Aliens is just a badly written, poorly acted, BORING movie that will hopefully not ruin the summer for everyone.

Captain America: The First Avenger Review

Rating: 4/5

As anyone who reads my reviews hopefully knows, I know a lot about comic books and superheroes and the like. I'm not as into them as I was about a year ago, but I still appreciate a good fun superhero flick. The last such movie was Green Lantern, which despite the inconsistencies and silliness of the plot and script, had a sense of humor about itself and was a fun ride. Luckily, Captain America doesn't make X-Men's mistake and is similarly enjoyable.

Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) is a ninety pound weakling from Brooklyn who just wants to join the army. His best buddy Bucky (Sebastian Stan) is serving in Steve's dream unit, but Steve just can't make the cut. One day, Steve gets his chance when he participates in a secret experiment and becomes Captain America. With enhanced strength, durability and agility, Steve must now fight Hitler's secret science division HYDRA, and its evil leader, Red Skull (Hugo Weaving).

Captain America has an important advantage over Green Lantern in that the acting is much better. Chris Evans does a surprisingly great job as Cap, and the supporting cast, particularly Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter and Dominic Cooper as Iron Man's dad, is really awesome. The action is also not as low-scale as Thor, which shows that director Joe Johnston was a great choice for this material. The action scenes are big, loud, and awesome to look at, as is the much better CGI and costumes.

The script for Captain America is also very good, and it makes the ingenious decision of having the first half-hour or so be about Steve Rogers before his transformation. It gives necessary character development and shows that Peggy doesn't just like Cap for his bod, but for him. This is the first superhero movie I've sat through all year that actually makes the main character a hero. Captain America is selfless and noble, no matter what the situation. He is a true super-hero.

I liked Captain America because it was a good-old fashioned romp. It accepts the fact that the main character is a guy in a flag suit and uses that mythos to delve deep into the character. It isn't as amazing as the Dark Knight, but unlike X-Men: First Class, it isn't trying to be. Captain America also isn't a full-length trailer for the Avengers, which is awesome. I recommend it.

P.S. This time, do stay after the credits.