Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Story Line:

Will Rodman [Played by James Franco] is working on a cure for Alzheimer's.  Rodman thinks he has finally created a cure when a presentation goes horribly wrong.  An escaped chimp causes a shutdown in the program and forces the team to put down all the experimental chimps.  It turns out the reaction the chimp had was simply because she gave birth and was protecting her new born.  Rodman ends up taking the chimp home and soon discovers his cure not only works but increases intelligence at an alarming rate.

This baby chimps name is Caesar and he will be the newest leader of an Ape Revolution.  Caesar will have to battle adversity in the monkey world to take his claim to become a modern day real life ape version of Julius Caesar.  Giving more details of this story line would force me to reveal to many spoilers.  But I can guarantee this is a great prequel to the original Planet of the Ape films.

My Opinions:

First and foremost let me stress that this is so much better than the Mark Wahlberg remake of Planet of the Apes, and in no way, shape, or form resembles this. I would recommend, if you truly want to enjoy and understand all of this movie, watch the original Planet of the Apes.  I do appreciate how Rise of the Planet of the Apes uses subtle context clues to connect the story line to the original.  I can only imagine we will be seeing a sequel in the next year or two leading up to where the original picks up.  I predict the sequel to Rise of the planet  will be even better than this one.

I don't know about you, but I couldn't help but find myself rooting for the apes.  I think I have a whole new respect for apes and certainly hope that actual primate houses don't treat their apes in such a way. I couldn't help but connect Caesars experiences in the primate shelter to that of modern American prison... (Correct me if I'm wrong ) Also I think the Circus Orangutang silently stole the show and quickly became my favorite character.

Potential Cons:
You may miss certain references if you haven't seen the original Planet of the Apes.
 Peter Jackson chose not to use real apes, robots, or costumes but instead relied on a cutting edge WETA Digital program to create the apes we see in the film (I, in fact, was thoroughly impressed by how real every ape looked in this film... but some SciFi nerds love their men in costume)
The movie spans about 8 - 9 years and the characters have clearly not aged a day (I know its not that big a deal, just smalls things like that catch my attention).
The ending will leave us expecting a sequel.. If not done right, could be a huge let down.

Overall Grade:



B+

Money Ball

Official Review of: Moneyball


Story Line:

Moneyball portrays the real life tale of Oakland A's GM Billy Beane [Played by Brad Pitt] and his quest for World Series despite the A's limited capital.  Beane needs to find a way to compete with teams paying out four times the salary allotted by the A's (Such as the NY Yankees).  This is where Peter Brand comes into play.  Brand [Played by Jonah Hill] is a recent Yale graduate with an economics degree.( What may be confusing to some is there is no such person as Peter Brand.  The actual person that Brand's character is based off of is Paul DePodesta)   Brand introduces Beane to a new system of player analysis using computers.  These computer generated scouting reports lead to a whole new way to scout players and field a team.  You'll get to see an unconventional team of misfits rewrite history.

My Thoughts:

I thoroughly enjoyed this film from start to finish.  I am completely undecided on whether baseball needs a salary cap.  It presents an interesting situation: Do you want to even the playing field for small market MLB teams or do you want to experience some of baseballs biggest stars playing together on the same team?  Never the less this movie presents a great behind the scenes look of how small market GM's have to be creative and develop a competitive advantage to keep them in the game.

Potential Cons:

• If you do not like baseball.... Chances are you won't enjoy this movie.
• Jonah Hill does not play the type of role you are used to.

Overall Score:

A -

Netflix Surprise!!!

Hot Tub Time Machine

I had vowed that I would never give John Cusak a dime of my money to watch him in a movie who's concept  seemed absolutely ridiculous to me.  However on a day off with nothing on TV except garbage day time talk shows, while browsing Netflix that is featuring a lot of movies I have seen already, I decided to give Hot Tub Time Machine a try.  And I couldn't be happier that I did.  I laughed 100 times more than I thought I would.  If you can get over the fact the plot is beyond ridiculous I can't see any reason not to watch and enjoy this movie.


Overall Grade

B

Bridesmaids

I would like to preface this review by saying it is/was completely unfair to compare this movie to the hangover movie(s).  The Hangover 1 or 2 are movies in their own category of comedy and ridiculousness.  Comparing any movie to these two is [whether purposely or not] setting a movie up to be viewed as underwhelming or sub par.....

With that being said I was thoroughly entertained by Bridesmaids.  The plot is about two women who have been best friends but live two separate lives. One of the women (Maya Rudolph) is getting married and asks her friend ( Kristen Wiig) to be her Maid of Honor.  Enter a new prettier, richer, bolder friend into the mix and all hell breaks loose in the world of women/best friends.

So follows an hour and a half of shenanigans and a slow train wreck of a psychotic break down of Wiig's character Annie.  The movie has an interesting take on a romantic comedy due to the lineup of all female comedians. I enjoyed the film and especially the antics of Melissa McCarthy's character Megan...

This is definitely a Redbox rental must.  $1 is a good deal for this one.  Also guys this is a great date movie, there's plenty of laughs to distract you from the fact it's a romantic comedy.


Overall Grade

B

A Netflix Must Watch! "Middle Men"

While perusing through Netflix a stumbled upon Middle Men.


Middle Men, which is based on a true story, chronicles an important internet business venture.
This movie chronicles the tale of two drug loving losers Wayne Beering and Buck Dolby.  These two come up with the idea to allow people to pay for porn online with their credit cards.

This movie tells the story of how interent innovation mixed with conmen, the mob, crooked lawyers, and a few cameos from the FBI shaped the world wide web of adult sites.  Not only did this change porn but internet shopping forever. 

Although I'm sure the story was embellished, this movie is incredibly interesting, entertaining, and relevant.  I recommend all you Netflix owners check this out immediately.


Overall Grade:

A

THOR

Let me begin this review by stating I was never a fan or follower of Thor.  I always thought Thor was hero with a love for 80's hair metal and blue collar worker.

What I really liked about Thor was the amount of time not spent on Earth.  I was worried that this movie would turn into  another Hercules in New York.  We all remember how great that was! 


Thor is a prince of the mighty God/King Odin .  He is an arrogant son, who believes it is his time to be king.  After a run in with some ice creatures disoeys the king and takes a battle to the ice king. 
For this Thor is banished to Earth and his power is stripped.  His father must deal with the fact his one son is banished and his other learns a powerful hidden truth about himself.  This causes so much stress on the king he passes into a coma.



While on punishment on Earth Thor's brother Loki is causing havoc and trickery while the king is in a strange sort of coma.  On Earth Thor learns a bit about respect, control, and thoughtfulness.  He Also falls for an intrigueing earth woman.  A scientist  named Jane played by Natalie Portman (Who could blame him!)


I wont spoil the end of the movie.  I will just sum up by saying if you like the the hero Thor you'll enjoy the movie, if you don't like nor follow Thor you'll still be entertained for an hour and a half as I was.


Overall Grade:


B

Top 5 Mob Movies

With the last two weeks bring a major drought for Redbox and Netflix, Id like to compare lists of top 5 Mob movies.   Here's how mine came out:

5. Casino
4. Scarface
3. Good Fellas
2. The Godfather
1. The Godfather 2

Definitely interested to see what others come up with!!

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