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GUARDIANS OF THE ONLY APES LEFT ALIVE
Aug. 11th, 2014 10:23 pmWhere have I been? Well, to the movies, among other things ...
Guardians Of The Galaxy
The latest– and arguably unexpected – Marvel comics adaptation, and one that’s received a lot of hype, not least because of the “raccoon with a machine gun” meme. Some people have also been throwing around a lot of comparisons (Farscape! Firefly! Star Wars!). If nothing else, it’s certainly in the same vein as “spaceships, laser guns and aliens who look just like humans except for the skin color and head shape”.
Anyway. Is the hype justified? If yr a fan of the comic book, maybe. If yr me – and I’ve never read the comic – no.
The basic story – criminals band together to stop evil person from acquiring ultimate MacGuffin to destroy universe – is pretty standard, as is the CG rollercoaster action, and – to a point – the retro 70s soundtrack. It’s not bad, mind you – but it’s not especially clever, either.
What the film mainly has going for it is a sense of humor and a pretty likeable cast of characters, though it has to be said they’re more interesting as a group than they are individually. And even the humor angle, at least for me, is pretty uneven – some bits work great, others fall flat. I can’t be too hard on it, since it’s intended to be light summer entertainment, and it’s reasonably successful, but I still feel this could have been a better film than it is.
Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes
The second installment of the PotA reboot, which takes place ten years after the Simian Flu virus unleashed at the end of the first film has decimated humanity. Caesar and his band of genetically modified apes have set up a village in the woods and assume all the humans are dead and gone – until they encounter a team of humans trying to access a nearby dam in the hope of restoring electric power to San Francisco, where human survivors of the plague have holed up.
Things get off to a bad start when one of the humans shoots an ape in panic, and both Caesar – who still doesn't hate humans per se – and human leader Malcolm try to get past mutual mistrust and avoid a war between both sides.
The story that follows borrows a few riffs from Battle For The Planet Of The Apes, but is otherwise a strikingly well crafted exercise in paralleling the human and simian societies – at least when it comes to love, hate, fear, greed and the inevitability of war. The film is not exactly subtle, but it has a point to make and it makes it reasonably well – so much so that in many respects, it’s a vast improvement over the first film.
On the downside, the dialogue hasn’t gotten any better, and the family angle on the human side doesn’t have as much impact thanks to Malcolm’s wife and son being underwritten to the point that they might as well not exist. Also while the story may be well structured, it’s also pretty predictable. On the other hand, the fact that director Matt Reeves can still keep the tension simmering for most of the film is a remarkable achievement in itself. Overall, despite some flaws, it's a pretty good film. If we have to have a PotA reboot, DotPotA is a welcome upgrade to the franchise.
Only Lovers Left Alive
Jim Jarmusch’s take on the vampire genre, and while I knew full well going into this that (1) it was a romance drama and (2) Jarmusch would avoid the usual cinematic clichés (i.e. Twilight sappiness, True Blood horniness and horror-movie gorefests), I have to say it’s a very slow film that takes forever to go anywhere, and when it does, it doesn't go very far.
The story focuses on two very old vampires who are also lovers – Adam, currently a reclusive underground rock musician living in Detroit, and Eve, who is hanging out in Tangier with fellow vampire Christopher Marlowe. Separated for unexplained reasons, they get back together in Detroit after Adam starts having suicidal tendencies, and they have a good time until Eve’s trainwreck sister Ava shows up to ruin everything.
That’s really it. Along the way there’s a lot of discussions about love, art, music, science and the general decay of humanity – some good, some underdeveloped. And while it’s not strictly necessary for this kind of film to stick to any given vampire canon, the ending doesn’t really make much sense.
What the film really has going for it is Tom Hiddleston and Tilda Swinton, who really nail both their respective characters and their relationship as lovers. There’s also an awful lot of guitar/home studio porn, which is great for people like me. It’s not a bad film; I just came away feeling Jarmusch could have done more with the premise (and without trying to do a “proper” vampire film).
Detroit Rock City,
This is dF
Guardians Of The Galaxy
The latest– and arguably unexpected – Marvel comics adaptation, and one that’s received a lot of hype, not least because of the “raccoon with a machine gun” meme. Some people have also been throwing around a lot of comparisons (Farscape! Firefly! Star Wars!). If nothing else, it’s certainly in the same vein as “spaceships, laser guns and aliens who look just like humans except for the skin color and head shape”.
Anyway. Is the hype justified? If yr a fan of the comic book, maybe. If yr me – and I’ve never read the comic – no.
The basic story – criminals band together to stop evil person from acquiring ultimate MacGuffin to destroy universe – is pretty standard, as is the CG rollercoaster action, and – to a point – the retro 70s soundtrack. It’s not bad, mind you – but it’s not especially clever, either.
What the film mainly has going for it is a sense of humor and a pretty likeable cast of characters, though it has to be said they’re more interesting as a group than they are individually. And even the humor angle, at least for me, is pretty uneven – some bits work great, others fall flat. I can’t be too hard on it, since it’s intended to be light summer entertainment, and it’s reasonably successful, but I still feel this could have been a better film than it is.
Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes
The second installment of the PotA reboot, which takes place ten years after the Simian Flu virus unleashed at the end of the first film has decimated humanity. Caesar and his band of genetically modified apes have set up a village in the woods and assume all the humans are dead and gone – until they encounter a team of humans trying to access a nearby dam in the hope of restoring electric power to San Francisco, where human survivors of the plague have holed up.
Things get off to a bad start when one of the humans shoots an ape in panic, and both Caesar – who still doesn't hate humans per se – and human leader Malcolm try to get past mutual mistrust and avoid a war between both sides.
The story that follows borrows a few riffs from Battle For The Planet Of The Apes, but is otherwise a strikingly well crafted exercise in paralleling the human and simian societies – at least when it comes to love, hate, fear, greed and the inevitability of war. The film is not exactly subtle, but it has a point to make and it makes it reasonably well – so much so that in many respects, it’s a vast improvement over the first film.
On the downside, the dialogue hasn’t gotten any better, and the family angle on the human side doesn’t have as much impact thanks to Malcolm’s wife and son being underwritten to the point that they might as well not exist. Also while the story may be well structured, it’s also pretty predictable. On the other hand, the fact that director Matt Reeves can still keep the tension simmering for most of the film is a remarkable achievement in itself. Overall, despite some flaws, it's a pretty good film. If we have to have a PotA reboot, DotPotA is a welcome upgrade to the franchise.
Only Lovers Left Alive
Jim Jarmusch’s take on the vampire genre, and while I knew full well going into this that (1) it was a romance drama and (2) Jarmusch would avoid the usual cinematic clichés (i.e. Twilight sappiness, True Blood horniness and horror-movie gorefests), I have to say it’s a very slow film that takes forever to go anywhere, and when it does, it doesn't go very far.
The story focuses on two very old vampires who are also lovers – Adam, currently a reclusive underground rock musician living in Detroit, and Eve, who is hanging out in Tangier with fellow vampire Christopher Marlowe. Separated for unexplained reasons, they get back together in Detroit after Adam starts having suicidal tendencies, and they have a good time until Eve’s trainwreck sister Ava shows up to ruin everything.
That’s really it. Along the way there’s a lot of discussions about love, art, music, science and the general decay of humanity – some good, some underdeveloped. And while it’s not strictly necessary for this kind of film to stick to any given vampire canon, the ending doesn’t really make much sense.
What the film really has going for it is Tom Hiddleston and Tilda Swinton, who really nail both their respective characters and their relationship as lovers. There’s also an awful lot of guitar/home studio porn, which is great for people like me. It’s not a bad film; I just came away feeling Jarmusch could have done more with the premise (and without trying to do a “proper” vampire film).
Detroit Rock City,
This is dF
