Day: November 15, 2017

Director: Don Taylor

Writer: Paul Dehn (Screenplay) Pierre Boulle (Characters)

Starring: Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, Bradford Dillman, Natalie Trundy, Eric Braeden, William Windom

 

Plot: The world is shocked by the appearance of three talking chimpanzees, who arrived mysteriously in a U.S. spacecraft. They become the toast of society; but one man believes them to be a threat to the human race.

 

There may be spoilers the rest of the review

 

Verdict: Reverse Planet of the Apes

 

Story: Escape from the Planet of the Apes starts as Zira (Hunter), Cornelius (McDowall) and Mile (Mineo) arrive back in the present time Earth, the three a quarantined in a local zoo where scientist’s Dr Dixon (Dillman), Dr Branton (Trundy) who put Zira and Cornelius through the same struggle to discover why they are not the dominate species on the planet like back home.

When the President (Windom) brings the news to the world, the whole world becomes curious as the world treats them like major celebrities. Dr Hasslein (Braeden) becomes curious about the truth becoming the only man who believes that Zira and Cornelius could be the start of the uprising of the apes taking over the planet. Can the apes live a normal life or will they be the downfall of man?

 

Thoughts on Escape from the Planet of the Apes

 

Characters/Performance – Zira continues her search for answers as she along with Cornelius travels back to where George original came from, present day Earth. She enjoys the new test to prove herself to humans but soon learns what it is like to be the other side of the cage. Cornelius is the supportive husband that is surprised to see how the humans have passed the idea of all believing in one God like figure. Dr Dixon is one of the doctors that supports the apes but Dr Hasslein is the paranoid version of one man seeing them as a threat.

Performance wise, Kim Hunter and Roddy McDowall both are excellent in this film building on what was created from previous films. Bradford is good as is the rest of the cast through the film.

Story – The story is very interesting, it does reverse the idea of Planet of the Apes by having the apes the strangers in the human world, I think this works well even if it does at times feel just like any sort of friendly alien movie. This does help tell the story of the origin of the rise which in places does help us learn more about what happens in later films.

Action/Sci-Fi – The action is mostly a few chase scenes, there isn’t much going on though on this front, the sci-fi works too as it looks to continue the story on for our future run by apes.

Settings – Having the film back in human time and locations all works because the change in culture comes off perfectly for how the film wants to go.

Special Effects – The effects are good when needed but this film doesn’t have too much need for them.

Final Thoughts – Another good addition to the franchise that twists the whole original idea on its head.

 

Overall: Enjoyable prequel but sequel.

Rating

 

 

Director: Leonard Nimoy

Writer: Harve Bennett (Screenplay) Gene Roddenberry (Characters)

Starring: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, George Takei, Walter Koenig, Christopher Lloyd

 

Plot: Admiral Kirk and his bridge crew risk their careers stealing the decommissioned Enterprise to return to the restricted Genesis planet to recover Spock’s body.

 

There may be spoilers the rest of the review

 

Verdict: Start of the Downhill Slope

 

Story: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock starts where the last film ended, Kirk (Shatner) is struggling with the loss of his friend but when he returns to Star fleet his team is decommissioned but when Kirk learns McCoy (Kelley) has mind moulded with Spock (Nimoy) and two need to be reunited to give Spock a proper resting place.

The crew decide ignore orders risking their careers in a hope to find Spock’s body to give him the chance to reach the next level of Vulcan pass, but Klingon Kruge (Lloyd) also wants something from the planet but what the discover is a surprise they could never imagine.

 

Thoughts on Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

 

Characters – Kirk still struggling with the loss of Spock learns he didn’t carry out the right funeral process for the Vulcan and must risk his career to recover the body and return him to Vulcan. Spock has been reborn on Genesis but his mind is inside Bones as the two need to be reunited before it is too late. Kruge is the Klingon commander that wants the power of Genesis for himself and will travel the galaxy to get it.

Performance – The performance from the crew are good with Shatner starting to go into the campy level he can get mocked for, Nimoy isn’t the only person playing Spock with his growing through the film so judging his performance comes both on camera and behind it. Christopher Lloyd is the highlight from the performances in this film.

Story – The story continuing from the last film is a good thing and easily the best part of the film, it shows us just how the crew will work together even if it goes against his authority figures. This is the only thing that becomes as the rest of the story feels downhill as we follow the effects of Genesis before it was fully tested but the battle between a random enemy is a huge step back after the last battle and the aging planet just doesn’t connect enough.

Adventure/Mystery/Sci-Fi – The adventure side of the film comes from the idea that we are going to see the crew go rogue against star fleet. The mystery is around what is happening on the planet with the sci-fi being what we know from the star Trek franchise.

Settings – The settings do feel underused here with the moments on the ships being fine but the planet feels like a missed opportunity.

Special Effects – The effects also start to take a step back now too almost feeling like the budget is less to make them believable.

Scene of the Movie – Fight on the planet.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – This just feels like we are adding what could have been 30 minutes to Khan in an extra-long story.

Final Thoughts – This isn’t the best so far in fact it is the weakest to date offering us nothing overly interesting going on.

 

Overall: Disappointing sequel

Rating

 

 

Director: Matt Tory

Writer: Matt Tory (Screenplay)

Starring: Jordan Hopewell, Matt Tory, Zack Slort, Valerie Tory, Matt Silver, Jonathan Holmes

 

Plot: A young man with a mental disability dreams of one day going to the moon.

Runtime: 11 Minutes

 

There may be spoilers the rest of the review

 

Verdict: Wonderfully Enlightening

 

Story: To the Moon follows two brothers, Brett (Tory) and his mentally handicapped brother Cooper (Hopewell) who dreams of going to the moon. Brett supports his brothers dreams while others just look down on him, but can he follow his dream against the odds.

 

Thoughts on To the Moon

 

Thoughts – When it comes to short films you don’t want to give everything away correct? Well with this film we get 11 minutes to tackle mental illness, how to support, how people are negative towards people with them and letting the people believe in their dreams however hard they could be to become true. We saw this team working together on ‘We Make Movies’ and this shows the team can handle a different subject matter on a serious toned film over the light hearted previous. If you want to see a story that will make you think about the small parts of lives, this one will open your eyes to them.

 

Overall: Brings a smile to your face.

Rating

Check it out yourself below

 

 

 

The Simpsons Challenge

Season 4

Episode 13 – Selma’s Choice

Couch Gag – This time the family get caught in a net waiting by the sofa.

Plot Synopsis – Selma starts to feel broody, but after taking Bart and Lisa to Duff Gardens, she changes her mind.

What is going on really – We starts by seeing the family getting ready to go to Buff Gardens but family tragedy means the family can’t go, with the kids accepting not being able to go but Homer still wants to go, this also includes Patty and Selma joining them on the road trip.

In her will Aunt Gladys tells Selma & Patty to have a family, which Selma decides she wants a baby, trying new ideas to find a man. Selma decides to will get artificial insemination but when Homer gets sick, Selma takes the kids to Duff Gardens she learns she isn’t ready for children.

Star Character

Selma

Final Thoughts – This film shows how middle aged women can struggle with knowing what they want when it comes to family and also shows how hard parenting can be, it also shows how difficult Lisa and Bart can be together.

Rating 4/5