Nov 10
The more Rupert Wyatt’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes pushes the line into absurdity, the more fun it becomes as a popcorn blockbuster. The 2011 picture is a reboot of the Planet of the Apes series, sort of a Batman Begins for the Apes mythology complete with an origin story and an open-ended conclusion that leaves the door wide open for a number of sequels and other possibilities.
J. J. Abrams is quickly establishing himself as a big name director and filmmaker. His Super 8, produced by Steven Spielberg, has all the right touches of storytelling and grandeur that make American movies so interesting and expansive. It is a well-woven tale of youthful excitement, drawing memories of some of Spielberg’s finest moments while establishing something fresh and new.
Overwhelming in its senselessness, Transformers: Dark of the Moon continues the unwieldy and garish Michael Bay franchise that began back in 2007. Bay’s utter lack of concern for plot, character development, suspense, and other general components associated with decent movies is in full effect, as is his “aggressive” style of making films that continues to rake in heavy dough at the box office.
Battle: Los Angeles is a military procedural movie and little else, serving as a piece of propaganda that supplants an earthly villain with aliens. The film uses a lot of video game cinematography, showing its lack of invention while making no attempts to hide its true intention of sexualizing and glamourizing warfare against anyone and anything.
When I think of some of the worst movies I’ve ever seen, like The Ugly Truth or The Back-up Plan, I always come back to Plan 9 from Outer Space. This 1959 sci-fi horror from Ed Wood is largely included in discussions of the worst movies ever made, but there’s something unflappably fun about the whole experience – even if it was originally intended to be taken seriously. That’s more than I can say for a lot of today’s tripe.
