War for Planet of the Apes impresses audiences with the closing film in an epic trilogy

Movie Title:  War for the Planet of the Apes

Grade:  A-

Rating:  PG-13, 140 minutes

In a Nutshell:  This is a war movie with all of the violence, explosions, strategy, suffering, beatings, prison camp, and human drama that the best war movies has….except that it also happens to have apes.  

This final installment in the reboot trilogy of Planet Of The Apes has incredible visual effects and plenty of heart to end the journey and story in an epic way.

I watched the original series of Planet Of The Apes when I was a little girl and remember even attending a Movie Marathon at a theater that played them all back-to-back.  I think the original film team would have been proud of this new version…and extremely impressed.  “Apes together strong!”

Uplifting theme: 

• Mercy vs. justice
• Revenge vs. forgiveness
• Family, friendship, loyalty
• Fear vs. love

Things I liked:

• If you have forgotten exactly what happened in the first two movies, the beginning of the movie gives you a clever, quick summary of RISE and DAWN to lead you into the WAR.  There’s only one other expositional scene, which makes for a very riveting movie without long scenes that have to explain to you what’s going on and why. 
• Andy Serkis is absolutely amazing.  What an outstanding career he has had in bringing epic characters to life like Lord of the Rings’ Gollum and now Caesar. He deserves every one of the awards he has won and been nominated for.
• The cinematography is stunning.  Visually, it's a truly beautiful movie.
• The motion capture work is unbelievable.  There is a blending of humans dressed as apes and real apes and you can't often tell the difference. In fact, you forget you’re watching special effects when you see the apes move and talk.  They’re incredible.
• I love the small details, like blood vessels in the ape’s unbelievably expressive eyes, fog coming out of the apes’ mouths in the winter scenes, and ice crystals on the apes’ fur.  Speaking of the eyes, even Colonel exclaims, “Look at your eyes!  Almost human!”
• “Bad Ape” (voiced by the lovable Steve Zahn) provides most of the comic relief.  He was a scene-stealer every time. In a dark movie like this, “Bad Ape” could have been an awkward “Jar Jark Binks” figure that just didn’t work, but instead, “Bad Ape” works very well.
• I got a kick out of carefully placed words that provided some humor like “Ape-colypse Now”, and “Bedtime for Bonzo”.
• It’s truly rare that the third film in a series can measure up to the first or even the second, but this last edition in the franchise is excellent.
• Critics are referring to the script writing as a masterpiece, partly because it follows the old-fashioned model of storytelling.
• The score by Michael Giacchino was noticeably awesome.  It kept up with the meat of the story extremely well.
• The green laser sequence was super cool.
• Directed by Matt Reeves, this film immediately immerses you into the ape world from the beginning. 
• Woody Harrelson was fun to watch, as always.
• I love that this final installment in the story is so ape-centric.
• SPOILER: If you think about it, the end of the movie is a perfect set-up for the very FIRST movie in 1968.  Interesting, right?

Things I didn’t like:

• It’s a bit slow-moving.  It’s more of a thinking movie, rather than an action movie.
• A lot of dark, night scenes will make this hard to watch on your computer when it comes out on DVD and streaming.
•  The Colonel makes some dumb decisions in regards to Caesar.
• The Colonel is worried about his race dying because of the apes, but ummm....where are all the women? Doesn't the lack of female humans pretty much end the human race?  ha ha
• It always bugs me when the lines in the movie trailers are different from what's actually in the movie.

Interesting lines:

• “The irony is we created you and nature has been punishing us ever since.” –  The Colonel (Woody Harrelson)
• “There are times when it is necessary to abandon our humanity in order to save our humanity.” – The Colonel 
• "I saved myself.” – “Donkey” gorilla

“Is there anything left of you to save?” – Caesar

• “I am like Koba.  I can’t escape my hate.” – Caesar
• “I did not start this war…..I fight only to protect apes.” – Caesar
• “I may not make it back.” – Caesar

“That’s why I’m coming….to make sure you do.” - Maurice (Karin Konoval)  Interesting that he's voiced by a woman, right?

Funny lines:

• “Oh no! OK.”  - Bad Ape
• “You’re probably not much of a reader.” – Colonel to Caesar
•  

Tips for parents: 

• There are bodies of dead humans and apes throughout the entire movie.
• A lot of the monkeys use sign language, so there are a lot of subtitles kids will have to read quickly.
• There is a lot of violence, including frequent and bloody beatings.  Some images will be disturbing for young kids.

Take another look at the first two parts of the story:

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Rise Of The Planet of the Apes

@trinaboice 

Rogue One rakes in 290 million opening weekend!

Movie Title:      Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Grade:   A

Rating:  PG-13, 133 minutes

In a Nutshell:  I’ve been looking forward to this movie ever since I first knew it was "a thing" many, many months ago.  Yep, I'm a bit of a Star Wars nerd.  

For those of you who aren't, the newest installment in the Star Wars universe takes place before the 1977 Episode IV and five years after the events of “Star Wars Rebels.”

The movie brought in an impressive $290 million worldwide during the debut weekend. Wait until it opens on Jan. 6 in China!  Cha-ching!  Have you bought any Disney stock?  

Star Wars’ Episode VIII is scheduled to open one year from now.  Can't wait!!!

Uplifting theme: 

•  "Trust goes both ways." - Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones)
• Friendship, trust, loyalty, right vs. wrong, unity, respect.
• "I am one with the Force.  The Force is with me." - (Chirrut Imwe (Donnie Yen)
• When we're part of something bigger than us, our actions have meaning and purpose, even if we never live to see the fruits of our labors.

Things I liked:

• The CGI and motion capture work are unbelievably amazing.
• The new characters are great.  There are also tons of fun prop creatures.  K-2S0 is instantly likable, voiced by the delightful Alan Tudyk.
• The brief references to prior Star Wars movies are there for you to pick up on, but they’re not overpowering.
• The set pieces look so tangible and real.
• Felicity Jones is terrific in everything.  She went through special martial arts training to prepare for her action sequences and has even been praised for her excellent trigger control on the weapons.
• Director Gareth Edwards does a great job showing scale.  He did a great job at that in his last Godzilla (2014) movie too.
• Lots of great action sequences.
• James Earl Jones!  We love you!  Welcome back!  Darth Vader with his light saber…classic awesomeness.
• Girls will be happy to see another female protagonist in this one, as well as in last year's feature Star Wars: The Force Awakens
• Ok, so that’s an interesting mind-reading, lie-detecting creature.
• Incredible motion capture work creating Grand Moff Tarkin and a young Princess Lea.  It was especially fun and crucial to see Peter Cushing in this film, as his presence was linked to the Death Star.  Well done, Lucas Films!
• Why the Death Star is capable of being destroyed is addressed in this movie.  This film answers a question that has bothered fans for years.   
• Hammer-head space ship.  Wow.
• One thing I've always liked about the Star Wars movies is that the people look real, not like glamorous celebrities acting.  Fingernails are dirty, hair is greasy, clothing is grimy. 

Things I didn’t like:

• It is well known that this film had many re-shoots and you can kind of feel it.  Some of the editing is choppy.
• The first 25 minutes of the movie are spent showing you a ton of planets and characters.  Be patient.  They'll all tie together eventually.
• I would have liked to see more back story behind some of the new characters so that we care about them and feel more invested in them. 
• What’s up with Forrest Whitaker’s voice lately?  It was noticeably weird in the movie Arrival too.  Is he just trying new things or what?
• Darth Vader is only in this movie for about 4 minutes.  What????
• This is the first Star Wars film to NOT be scored by John Williams.  The new composer, Michael Giacchino, only had 4 ½ weeks to compose the music for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.  Fans of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 might recognize his style.
• Jyn Erso has a Storm Trooper doll.  Wait, what?  Um…why?
• There are a TON of things in the trailers that are NOT in the movie.  What the heck?

Funny lines:

•  “This is a rebellion, isn’t it?  I rebel.”  - Jyn Erso
• “Don’t choke on your aspirations, Director.” – Darth Vader
•  "Congratulations.  You are being rescued.  Please do not resist." - K-2So
• "Are you kidding me?  I'm blind!" - Chirrut Imwe (as they put a bag over his head so he won't see.)
• "There's a problem on the horizon.  There is no horizon!" - K-2S0

Fun Facts:

• Two of the the working titles that were considered for Rogue One were “Red Cup” and “Dark Times.”
• To fill out the hangar, cardboard wings were used on some of the space craft.
• This is the very first Star Wars movie to actually mention the name of the film in the movie itself.
• This is the first Star Wars movie to not use or show Obi Wan in any form.
• This is the first Star Wars movie to not feature an opening crawl.  Ah, sad.
• Members of the British Armed Forces were hired as Extras to give the battle scenes more authenticity.
• The fake name that was used to secretly ship the films to theaters was “The Alamo” to discourage any would-be thieves.

Easter Eggs you might have missed:

 Interesting lines:

• “What will you do when they catch you?  What will you do if they break you? Will you continue to fight?  If you keep fighting, what will you become?” – Saw Gerrera   (these lines were in the trailer, but not in the actual movie)
•  "You're confusing peace with terror." - Galen Erso (Mads Mikkelsen)
• "There is only one kind of prison.  I sense that you carry yours wherever you go." - Chirrut Imwe
• "Rebellions are built on hope." - Jyn Erso

Tips for parents:

• There are some subtitles you might need to read for your young kids.
• There is a lot of hand-to-hand fighting, shooting, and destroying of things.  You’ve seen Star Wars before, right?