War – Are You Not Entertained?

You can call Caesar, in a dark Czar. Please follow the leader.

Remember back in 2011 when FOX decided they were going to reboot the Planet of The Apes franchise, and everyone still had a sour taste in their mouths from the god awful Tim Burton adaptation. Well jokes on us, because 6 years later, not only have 3 incredible new Apes movies dropped, but this could honestly be one of the best trilogies of this century. War For The Planet of The Apes is the newest installment and it didn’t disappoint. I’ve always been a massive fan of this franchise and it really has revolutionized capture motion performances. These movies are story driven, which is rare these days and Caesar is truly a unique and special character. Rise of The Planet of The Apes really did a great job kick starting this franchise, but it wasn’t until Matt Reeves came on for directing duties, that this franchise really got some serious recognition. I can’t state this enough, Matt Reeves is going to do an incredible job at directing The Batman. I can’t wait to see what him and Ben Affleck can do together; I think it has serious potential to be the best Batman movie ever made. Only time will tell, but this review is about Apes not Batman, so let’s get into it.

So this movie picks up a little after the events of Dawn of The Planet of The Apes, and Caesar is still fighting the ape resistance against the humans. The Apes have grown in size, and are getting smarter with each passing day. The human resistance is still hell bent on killing all the apes and taking back their planet. After Koba (the bad ape from Dawn) tried to take down Caesar, now more than ever, all he wants is peace. He didn’t start this war, and he just wants what’s best for him and his ape family. When they are attacked at their home and countless lives are lost, well let’s just say Caesar goes off the deep end. If you’re going into this movie thinking it’s going to be non-stop action, you’re going to be sadly disappointed. Don’t worry there is some action, but this is Caesars swan song. This movie is not an action movie, it’s a story driven drama. It deals with humanity, loss, survival and what it’s like to feel hopeless and alone. I mean that for both the humans and apes in this case. The Colonel (Woody Harrelson) yes that’s all he’s referred too, plays the main bad guy who’s leading the resistance against not only the apes, but other humans as well. You see he’s a ruthless man, who wants to eradicate all the apes, because a new form of disease as been spreading, which causes humans to turn mute, and ultimately return them to their primitive state. Again the apes are being blamed for something that isn’t their fault. The irony of all of this is the humans are responsible for the way the apes are, and now blame them for anything that is wrong in the world. Nature and evolution can be a real bitch sometimes, so the colonel is killing anyone who has a trace of this virus, and that is why another human faction wants to put an end to him. He’s even convinced other apes to fight along side with him, and turned them against their own kind. Now it takes a pretty evil man to do something like that. It was a really interesting dynamic to see apes working along side humans, while fighting other apes. Woody was great in this role, he didn’t really need to say much to be intimidating, and I thought his scenes with Caesar were just fantastic, he really knows how to play a villain, and he was a great addition to the franchise.

Again Andy Serkis is phenomenal in the lead as Caesar, and maybe this time around he could get some Oscar recognition. It’s tough because its motion capture, but then when you actually think about it, and see the final product, it truly is remarkable how this whole movie comes to be. Especially when multiple people that are in scene are doing motion capture for the apes, and at the end of the day, you think you are actually looking at either fully CGI apes, or real animals. These movies have really brought to life, just what you can accomplish with motion capture, the apes are honestly just breathtaking. Not only are the apes incredible to look at, but so is the cinematography. The picture I chose for this review is from my favorite scene in the movie, because just how beautiful it looked. It’s snowing and the apes and the setting is just remarkable, there was something about having the apes roam around in a snow like climate that just made me appreciate what I was watching even more. Like those were three actors in that photo pretending to be apes, and that was the final product, it absolutely blows my mind.

The action we do get to witness comes at you pretty fast, it’s scattered throughout the film, but like I said before, this isn’t an action movie. I was okay with this movie being a slow burn, because it was the conclusion to everything that has come before it. They needed to finish off Caesar’s story and I feel that if this movie was nothing but apes fighting humans it would have taken away from something truly unique they had built for Caesar in the last 6 years. He’s a remarkable character, and one of my favorite movie characters in the last decade. You really just don’t see trilogies like this anymore, which focus more on telling a great story, they are usually just full of action and awful story lines. This is probably the best trilogy since Nolan’s Batman, and I would rank it 2nd behind in for trilogies of the century. I think they did such incredible things, not just from telling a great story, but what these movies have done for the film industry. I’ll miss Caesar and the apes, because with Reeves jumping ship and going to direct Batman, I don’t think FOX with put this franchise in anyone else’s hands. They rap everything up so well too, something that he deserved. I waited a few days to write this review, because at first I didn’t really know what to think about the movie, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized just how special this movie is. There really haven’t been any other movies like this, and I think we have these movies to thank for Disney finally going ahead and creating live action versions of some of our favorites. Jungle Book and Lion King don’t happen if these movies hadn’t come around, but that’s just my opinion. Never forget, apes together strong!

Check ya later.

Nate’s Movie Tour Reviews – War For The Planet of The Apes = 91/100

Style for miles. – That’s the best Harry Styles pun I could think of.

Over time, I believe that Dunkirk will be remembered more for what’s missing, rather than what we witness on screen. It’s tense, it’s loud, and it makes you feel like you are standing on that beach with 400,000 other soldiers. I felt like I was part of the war, and Christopher Nolan really encompasses what I imagine it would literally be like to be stranded on that beach, waiting for a way home. It’s visually beautiful, in terms of filmmaking, its damn near perfect. With all that being said, I walked away from Dunkirk a little confused. For the first time in a very long time, I couldn’t remember any characters, not a single name. That’s not because there aren’t any characters, there is ZERO characterization within Dunkirk, and I’m not sure if that was done on purpose or not. It’s a war movie, so you usually find yourself rooting for certain characters or certainly getting attached to a few, but it was difficult to do so within the realm of Dunkirk. It just felt weird that even our greatest heroes within the movie, don’t receive any kind of backstory or personality that really bummed me out. That is Dunkirk’s biggest problem, there’s just a serious lack of substance to it, but that doesn’t take away from the actual movie. It’s just kind of something you have to deal with, and either you’re going to hate that aspect of Dunkirk, or you won’t mind at all.

The opening is so hauntingly beautiful, for me it was the best part of the movie, and it was a mere two minutes long. I won’t go into it, because I want this to be a spoiler free review, but it was really the only moment of the entire movie, that felt stress free. Any real moment where you weren’t worried about these poor helpless men. It’s a peaceful moment, right before we get 106 minutes of sheer action, suspense, chaos and death. Christopher Nolan once again delivers, I’ll say this isn’t his best movie overall, but the man really knows how to make a movie! He’s been on such an incredible streak, that it’s hard not to justify that he is the best filmmaker working today. I expect a best director nomination at next years Oscars, and he’s probably the front-runner right now to win the award. This movie screams Oscars. I’m going to say best supporting actor, best director, best picture, sound editing, sound mixing, best cinematography, and best costumes are pretty much all locks for Oscar noms. I’m looking forward to coming back and seeing if I’m right or not. That’s the thing about Dunkirk; it’s just so well made, but has other serious flaws, that for me weigh it down.

The cast is unique, because well the lead of the movie (Fionn Whitehead) might have 10 lines of dialogue throughout the whole movie. Which suited his character, but again it was tough to get behind a guy, who doesn’t speak and we know little to nothing about him. Tom Hardy plays a badass jet fighter, and in classic Nolan form, covers up his entire face. Also what’s with Tom Hardy and not being able to understand ONE word he says? I swear he puts peanut butter inside his mouth before he speaks. So that was frustrating, but he does pull a serious Kramer on his jet’s gas tank, that thing just kept going! Mark Rylance will get the supporting actor nod, I just couldn’t see this movie without him, and they needed his character, as he added the much-needed humanity and hope aspect. I’m shocked guys, Harry Styles is a good actor people. Like he works really well in this. Nolan making him a pretty boy d-bag is a masterstroke of genius. He’s part of some of the best scenes in the movie and is involved in arguably the tensest moment of the film.

With a run time of only 106 minutes, this is go go go from the start. You really don’t have a chance to breathe, after the opening few minutes. I found that ironic, in the sense that about every 10 minutes we find soldiers fighting for their lives in water trying not to drown themselves. For myself, watching people drown in movies is insanely stressful and there’s a ton of it in Dunkirk. There’s music going on throughout the film, which adds to the suspense, and builds on tense moments, the use of sound is extraordinary. When planes are flying over the heads of shoulders, it’s so loud and so effective, you almost have the urge to look up yourself. That’s how you make a movie, that’s how you get the most out of the audience experience.

One thing I wanted more of was some historical context. I wanted to know more about why the British and the French were in this situation. They really didn’t dive deep on that, and maybe they were expecting everyone to already know the backstory, but I think it could have been really effective if they were to touch on it a bit more throughout the movie. This was a really huge event in human history; I felt they should have maybe touched on that just a little bit more. This was about 400,000 men trapped on a bench, with nowhere to go, planes flying overhead dropping bombs. They were helpless, they were hopeless, and you felt that, but for me, it just needed a little more gravity to it.

A spectacle is the best way to describe Dunkirk, you have to see it in IMAX, and it’s something that everyone should see. It’s why movies are made, and it’s the definition of movie making. It also can be described as an art house war movie because it’s just so different from anything that has come before it. It’s extremely powerful, and you feel the pressure, you feel the tension. I felt for every single man on that beach and you understand and realize pretty quickly just how bad they wanted off. I just wonder if our main hero ever got the chance to take his number two.

Check ya later.

Nate’s Movie Tour Reviews – Dunkirk = 90/100

Tag: War

‘War For The Planet of The Apes’ Review

‘Dunkirk’ Review