Best Visual Effects

Here are the 15 finalists in contention for Best Visual Effects at this years Oscars.  For the first time, there will be 5 nominees, instead of 3.  Here are the big guns:

• Captain America: The First Avenger
• Cowboys & Aliens
• Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
• Hugo
• Mission: Impossible- The Ghost Protocol
• Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
• Real Steel
• Rise of the Planet of the Apes
• Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
• Sucker Punch
• Super 8
• Thor
• Transformers: Dark of the Moon
• The Tree of Life
• X-Men: First Class

What's the odd fit here?  Obviously the esoteric origins of the universe (complete with dinosaurs) Tree of Life feels lost in the shuffle of noisy blockbusters and franchise stuff.  The victory, I'm suspecting, will likely be Rise of the Planet of the Apes in a nod at recognizing Andy Serkis.  Thoughts?

Apes and Help Rule Late Summer Returns

The summer movie is pretty much over...really there's precious little to look forward to in the next couple of weeks (Conan the Barbarian, Spy Kids 4-D-- what does that even mean?), but what tops the box office charts this past weekend was a welcome sigh that while the season of mindless popcorn thrills is behind us, two late season surprises should hold out pretty well for a while.  Those surprises being-- Rise of the Planet of the Apes (nearly impossibly good) and The Help (soggy but graciously performed)-- both are well worth (or nearly at the very least) the outrageous price of a movie ticket these days.

1. Rise of the Planet of the Apes- Decreased 49% in its second weekend of the release, a not terrible drop actually for a big summer movie, indicating that people might actually like the silly but potent apes in revolt reboot.  It's made $105 million so far, and should hold up fairly well in the coming weeks; that Caesar sure is a charmer.
2. The Help- Following the late-summer best-selling chick flicks of the past few years (Julie & Julia, Eat Pray Love), The Help performed beautifully in it's first weekend.  Grossing $26 million (the film opened last Wednesday and has so far made $35 million), the film should continue to be a solid hit as it's a grown up movie, and that audience doesn't always rush out opening weekend.  The big question is: How will The Help perform as awards season approaches-- there was lots of sniffling at the screening I attended...
3. Final Destination 5- The first Final Destination was a modest, grade-B schlocker that opened in spring 2000; it wasn't even terrible, but eleven years later and four more sequels-- isn't everyone dead by now?  The 3-D film opened to $18 million.
4. The Smurfs- In it's third weekend, the blue things have earned $101 million-- how does everyone feel about that?  I suppose family driven entertainment will succeed no matter what (also see: Alvin & the Chipmunks, Hop, etc.)
5. 30 Minutes or Less- Director Ruben Fleisher's follow-up to his surprise 2009 hit Zombieland starring Jesse Eisenberg (in a less than idyllic post-Oscar nom choice) attracted very few, making $13 million opening weekend.  The bright side-- it's $28 million production cost should be taken care of.
6. Cowboys & Aliens- The sci-fi western that was supposed to be the lone cool original blockbuster of the summer has all but been forgotten in three weeks with only $81 million in the bank, against a $160 million production cost.
7. Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows: Part 2- At $357 million so far, it's the highest grossing film domestically in 2010, but now that Harry is apart of the elusive global billion dollar club, it's all just icing on the cake.  I'm sure eager and greedy studio execs are, as we speak, accosting J.K. Rowling into more follow-ups, or how about remaking the whole franchise with different actors?
8. Captain America: The First Avenger- $156 million in four weeks isn't too bad, but does anyone really care about this, the last advertisement for next May's The Avengers?
9. Crazy, Stupid, Love- In its third weekend (a likely taking a bit hit due to The Help) the romantic ensemble love fest dropped 41% for a cum of $55 million in three weeks.
10. The Change-Up- In two weeks, the body swapping bromance between Jason Bateman and Ryan Reynolds has earned $25 million.  Rough summer for Reynolds, but he was great in last years underrated Buried...
11. Glee: The 3-D Concert Movie- Made $5.9 million in it's opening weekend.  I'll reserve comment, for now.

Other box office news:

• Horrible Bosses crossed the $100 million mark domestically.
• Midnight in Paris is slowly starting to finish out its beautiful run (it opened in May) and well cross the $50 million barrier any day now.  That may sound like not much, but this would mark Woody Allen's highest grosser (unadjusted for inflation) ever.
• The Tree of Life has earned $12.4 million so far as it too starts to finish its run; not a terrible number for such an esoteric movie (it's earned nearly $40 million worldwide.)
• Senna, a Sundance favorite documentary about a Formula One rivalry made an impression on two screens in N. America, earning $73,000 for a per-screen average of 36,700.
• The Future, Miranda July's latest oddity has earned $234,000 on 20 screens in it's third weekend.
• Tabloid, the best movie so far in 2011, has earned $539,000 in five weeks-- come on people, demand to see this movie!

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Either by fluke, mere happenstance, a blessed and unusual bit of mainstream franchise artistry, or a bar set very low by the middling Tim Burton remake that bombarded movie screens a decade ago, the prequel, reboot franchise starter Rise of the Planet of the Apes is a refreshing, and fun piece of pop filmmaking.  Whatever the reasoning the film is a hoot to watch-- fast and to the point.  Rupert Wyatt, a novice to blockbuster filmmaking, directs the ape soap opera with a spark and fluidity that dusts off the cobwebs of the venerable 43-year-old franchise, that it hardly matters if one's a devoted and lustful fanboy of the series or not.  With a clear eye for the exposition that's required for more installments (that more often than not is more than tedious to watch in many summertime movies with similar missions), and also of the nuts and bolts of action and visual effects that summer audiences need, Wyatt, already on scope and pace seems primed to one day join the ranks of the Camerons and Nolans of the modern cinema world.  That may seem like absurd praise, but the film looks grand and flows spectacularly well.  The only weakness, one senses, comes directly from the script-- the story is mapped out well before anything really happens, and while silly sometimes, refreshingly there is kind of one to begin with. But it's not the selling point-- it's the visual spectacle, the joyously constructed action sequences, and the rare and unique charms of an ape named Caesar.

Set in modern day San Francisco, we first meet a young scientist named Will (James Franco) whose trying to save the world and everyone's brain with a formula that could hopefully cure most fatal diseases.  It's really an act of desperation, as his father (John Lithgow) is losing his to Alzheimer's.  His constant testing on chimps and stop and go successes leave him in the arms of a newborn ape that he begrudgingly takes into his care.  But this ape is special-- he's smart and quick and has the process to learn faster than most humans, thanks to the scientific something something lodged into his body from birth.  Over time (a very short period of time), the young chimp, now named Caesar and Will form a bond and chemistry more like father and son, than scientist and lab rat, and for a time in the beginning of the Rise of the Planet of the Apes, there's a feeling of sci\fi monster yarn meets Project Nim-like commentary on child rearing going on, but as the movie goes on, it becomes more and more clear that Will's plight is of little consequence and when the film finally decides to nearly focus on it's most interesting and compelling aspect-- the monkey of course-- it only gets better.

The humans in the story are all pretty much non-sequiturs, from Franco to his father to his feather-deep relationship to a supporting vet (played by Frieda Pinto.)  All the other human characters represents the species at their very worst-- greedy, manipulative, cowardly, violent and in the case of Tom Felton (he played Draco Malfoy for the past decade in the Harry Potter movies), who plays a guard with a penchant for tasers for a gorilla confine, outright sociopathic.  For Caesar is the heart and soul and spark of the Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and a small saving grace in a summer movie season seemingly bereft of grand characters.  Graceful, poised, agile, and surprisingly humane-- the ape that would go one to several more adventures later in the series is given a great service.  born in captivity, and raised by humans, only later to be shafted when his innate, instinctual primate genes kick in.  Sent to a chimp facility that's more like a prison than anything else, Caesar's feelings of abandonment, anger, rage and sadness grow until finally it bellows into a rousing apes in revolt, "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore," action ballet.  That Caesar is such an expressive and engrossing character relates to the wizards at the Weta Workshop, the same team that rendered both Middle Earth and Pandora to such pristine and much awarded perfection, deserve a great deal of credit for the wonderful effects, as does the great motion capture performance delivered by the team's reigning star, Andy Serkis, he of Gollum and Kong fame.

For through Serkis' performance, one that's hard to label but easy to admire, we get every stage of Caesar's young life, and the bravura, symbiotic pleasures of watching the cuddly young ape turned brave and stolid warrior feels almost Dickensian.  For if anything of depth of substance is in the Rise of the Planet of the Apes (and possibly there isn't; there's doesn't have to be) comes from the primate's corner, and the power of watching a superbly intelligent and extremely dangerous leader rise in what would lead to feels achingly apt.  For pure popcorn thrills the best moment comes near the end of the feature with a great, lengthy and thoroughly amusing battle royale atop the Golden Gate Bridge and one would be hard-pressed not to root for those stinkin' apes.  Perhaps that's the oddball joy of the film in that a villain becomes a hero, and the ultimate rooting source-- we the audience want the Planet of the Apes, not the planet of the greedy silly humans.

Whatever chunkiness of the script never fully distorts the great grade-B pleasures and the epic ape revolt.  Embrace the silly, forget the science and rise to one of the best surprises of the year thus far.  B

Opening This Week

The big movie of the week is Rise of the Planet of the Apes, the what, like three-hundredth take on the apes-rule-the-Earth franchise.  A prequel\reboot\potential franchise re-starter (gosh, Hollywood filmmaking is so difficult to label nowadays) stars James Franco and Frieda Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire) and Andy Serkis, continuing his great motion-capture essay on acting like everyone except people, he was the guy behind Gollum in The Lord of the Rings and Kong in King Kong.  The shocking and startling thing is that the film, which for a while seemed almost invisible in marketing and general interest, in actually getting really good buzz, and strong reviews.  Perhaps a nod to the low expectations and general shrugs greeted by the movies arrival, or a tribute to effects branch behind (its effects come from Weta, the same effects company behind Lord of the Rings, King Kong and Avatar), maybe, just maybe a successful, bonafide good popcorn movie will come out on top this summer.  Then again, nearly ten years ago to the weekend, Tim Burton came out his dull interpretation to the ape legend that still leaves a cinematic grudge on the franchise.

Also opening this weekend:

• The Change-Up- Ryan Reynolds and Jason Bateman switch bodies after urinating.
• Bellflower- Sundance hit being described as an apocalyptic revenge fantasy (in limited release.)
• The Future- Writer\director\actor Miranda July returns with her latest oddity (in limited release.)
• The Perfect Age of Rock 'n' Roll- Pretty boys Jason Ritter and Kevin Zegers star is this grungy music road movie.

Opening Wednesday:

• The Help- Based on the best selling novel about a young Southern woman who writes a book from the perspective of the African American maids in her community during the 1960s.  The performances of the sprawling ensemble cast-- Emma Stone, Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer, Bryce Dallas Howard, Jessica Chastian, Cicely Tyson, Allison Janney and Sissy Spacek-- are already garnering awards buzz.