rate the last movie you saw

[Monterey Jack]

I also have to say this -- and it won't be popular in film music circles -- but Basil Poledouris' score is also one of the film's problems. It's leaden, lifeless, recycles bits and pieces of the original score in seemingly arbitrary places, and its new material is forgettable. It comes off like a generic '60s Italian sword-and-sandal type of score whereas the first score is this epic, magnificent dramatic work that's one of the decade's finest.

Hey, it could be worse...it could be Tyler Bates.

[AndyDursin]

I also have to say this -- and it won't be popular in film music circles -- but Basil Poledouris' score is also one of the film's problems. It's leaden, lifeless, recycles bits and pieces of the original score in seemingly arbitrary places, and its new material is forgettable. It comes off like a generic '60s Italian sword-and-sandal type of score whereas the first score is this epic, magnificent dramatic work that's one of the decade's finest.

Hey, it could be worse...it could be Tyler Bates.

Oh yeah, sure, you're right. But by a major composer's standards, particularly someone like Basil, and in a decade rich with so many outstanding efforts, I do believe it's one of the weakest of its era. That's what I'm saying. It really is shockingly poor considering the composer, the film and the era the movie was produced.

Let's put it this way -- I think it's one of the worst sequel scores ever written by a composer who came back after scoring its predecessor. I actually can't think of one that's worse.

[Eric Paddon]

The Bible (1966) 9 of 10

-This has always been IMO a much underrated entry in the Biblical epic genre (and the last true one as it turned out, of the cycle that began with "Samson And Delilah" and "Quo Vadis") but seeing it in Blu-Ray was like discovering the film again for the first time. FINALLY, we have a version that manages to give us a good looking, non grainy image in the opening sequence that for years was painful viewing. I remember the first Laser Disc release having a horizontal line through the screen for much of the opening ten minutes and the grain was so intense you couldn't even make anyone out during the Garden of Eden sequence. Now, while the image isn't perfect, it FINALLY let's us make things out and gives us a solid image that for the first time manages to communicate effectively the theme of expulsion from Paradise. The difference is just incredible.

[Paul MacLean]

The Bible (1966) 9 of 10

I've had this movie for years and I still haven't sat down to watch it! I've seen bits of it on TV -- enough to know it looks amazing -- but never got around to actually giving it a look.

Based on your description Eric I will certainly have to redress that.

[AndyDursin]

The Blu-Ray transfer as Eric mentions IS absolutely spectacular. Truly one of the best catalog discs I've seen in HD.

[AndyDursin]

RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES 9/10

This is hands down the best movie I've seen this year so far -- maybe not "perfect," but I am stumbling to find a better piece of sci-fi on film in recent years...this one is unique, exciting, emotional, well animated, well acted, surprisingly well written and effective. It hit on a lot of different beats than I expected -- even the ending, surprisingly poignant, finding the perfect tone that doesn't go in the direction I thought it necessarily would have. The science provides a modern backdrop, but it's not preachy; there are references to the earlier films for fans, but they're not thrown in for purely comedic effect or as a distraction (this movie is also it's own animal -- it's not associated with any of the old movies or their timelines); James Franco is actually good in the film, but it's the articulation of Andy Serkis and the special effects artists that is so outstanding -- this never would've worked with "men in monkey suits." The photo-realism gives the apes believability, but for once the motion-capture infuses them with articulation that just works wonders here.

I'm doing a longer review for the column tomorrow, but I was thoroughly satisfied and very moved. It's also the first time in a long while I've had a total stranger who was in an earlier show literally come up to me and start exclaiming how good the movie was. "That film was INCREDIBLE. I loved the Charlton Heston movie but this one is better than all the others. I want to buy a ticket and go back in!" he said as we were waiting to go in. He wasn't wrong either.

See it.

[Eric Paddon]

What kind of references, or in this case "in-jokes" (which is more appropriate when the film isn't associated with them) to the earlier films were there?

[AndyDursin]

What kind of references, or in this case "in-jokes" (which is more appropriate when the film isn't associated with them) to the earlier films were there?

Very low key references Eric -- many character names ("Mr. Jacobs" is the bad guy), a couple of newspaper headlines and on the background on TV (referring to the spacecraft that Heston's character in), and a couple of lines of dialogue, one of which made a few folks chuckle until...well, you'll have to see the movie.

This movie, as I said before, is its own entity. It's not meant to connect to anything that came before (obviously not since it's set in the present day and doesn't exactly do what CONQUEST did), but rather lay out the foundation for its own series, which I think is best.

The more I think about it, the more I was impressed:

-No 3-D
-A clear beginning, middle and end
-Numerous moving sequences (some of them sad)
-An exciting and inspiring ending
-One of the best set-pieces I've seen executed in a film in many years (the Golden Gate climax) all done without awful shaky-cam

Sure, it could've used maybe a few more character beats among the humans, but would more Frieda Pinto really helped the story? This film is doing huge business and it's word of mouth like we haven't seen before, because I think people were really reluctant to go see it given the original premise. Instead I think it's going to end up one of the most memorable genre films of its generation.

Suffice to say...I loved it.

[Monterey Jack]

Yep...the new Apes is smashing entertainment. And I loved the For Your Eyes Only moment on the bridge. Freida Pinto was wasted (ravishing as always, though), and Draco Malfoy's sneering, one-dimensional bully was rather cliched (although Caesar finally standing up to him got an actual round of applause from the audience, something I haven't witnessed in a theater is a long, long time), but other than that, the film delivers in spades...surprisingly emotional, exciting, and with Oscar-worthy special effects (and no abuse of shakey-cam or Teal & Orange, thank God!). Patrick Doyle's score worked just fine, but if I didn't know it was Doyle, I would have pegged this as a really good John Powell or Danny Elfman score...there's little of Doyle's 90's style in it. Still, these Apes rule! 9/10

[AndyDursin]

MJ we agree again totally. I think Freida must have hit the cutting room floor -- but probably with good reason (didn't really need her character). I was glad to see Franco's fate ended up differently than what I read in the original screenplay too.

Interesting tidbit -- John Lithgow said tonight on Twitter it was one of the few films he's ever been in that he knew was going to be great midway through shooting.

And talk about praise -- read Richard Corliss' Time rave tonight...I totally agree about the integration of the effects with REAL WORLD locations. No green screen, no overly stylized visuals -- this was "real" looking and the effects' impact was only strengthened as a result.

Even if you don't buy Rise as a semiprofound social document, the utterly seductive integration of apes and men should slacken your jaw in amazement. We have reached that moment in movie history when the century-long chasm between live action and animation has been closed; Rise is a seamless blend of the two. It marks a major advance over Avatar, for it allows the motion-capture actors and the "real" ones to interact in natural locations — in the wild, so to speak — beyond Avatar's enclosed fantasyland of the planet Pandora. Technical innovation is sometimes yoked to leaden narratives, but Wyatt and his collaborators made sure to wed their visual strategies to potent themes. The result is a work of high, often thrilling popular art.


http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0 ... z1UJSejwq5

[Paul MacLean]

I'd love to see Rise of the Planet of the Apes (or any movie!) if I wasn't so busy.

[AndyDursin]

I'd love to see Rise of the Planet of the Apes (or any movie!) if I wasn't so busy.

Paul, you should definitely check it out.

[Monterey Jack]

Sucker Punch: 0/10

The most repellent, idiotic, misogynistic piece of gutter swill I have seen since Transformers 2. Good thing Zack Snyder got hired for Superman before this was released, because he will NEVER be allowed to write one of his own movies again (and good riddance).

I am literally ENRAGED by this movie.

[Paul MacLean]

Sucker Punch: 0/10

The most repellent, idiotic, misogynistic piece of gutter swill I have seen since Transformers 2. Good thing Zack Snyder got hired for Superman before this was released, because he will NEVER be allowed to write one of his own movies again (and good riddance).

I am literally ENRAGED by this movie.

Interestingly a woman friend of mine yesterday said "Do NOT see this movie!" That's two non-recommendations in 24 hours!

[AndyDursin]

Sucker Punch: 0/10

The most repellent, idiotic, misogynistic piece of gutter swill I have seen since Transformers 2. Good thing Zack Snyder got hired for Superman before this was released, because he will NEVER be allowed to write one of his own movies again (and good riddance).

I am literally ENRAGED by this movie.

I wasn't enraged by it, but I was disgusted by some of it, and just plain bored by the rest of it. I think that he was trying to make a female empowerment metaphor -- and his intent wasn't to make a film that objectified women, but rather to show how they are exploited by evil, horrible men (just like the real world!). Unfortunately those intentions are wrecked by his own exploitation of his female leads in repellent images, a confusing and pointless story, and lots of imagery geared towards 16 year old boys.

Truthfully I hated WATCHMEN, and I hated this film too. Both of them revel in disgusting, off-putting levels of violence, especially towards women, and Snyder seems to have no issue with showing things that are better off left off-screen or alluded to. Both movies made me feel disgusted, especially the rape sequence in WATCHMEN that actually made me turn the film off before I fast-forwarded through the rest of it.

Either way, I couldn't make it through either of those movies. My expectations for SUPERMAN (or, sorry, THE MAN OF STEEL since we're too cool to actually refer to it by the character's name) are nil.

Totally overrated hack some Hollywoodites confuse with being "high concept". 300 is his magnum opus, and that was simply a "cool looking" green-screen rendered graphic novel he adapted for the screen.