#2,060: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Sorcerer - ★★★☆☆
For me, this was the good kind of puzzling at the outset. Like The Exorcist, the bits you've heard about don't start falling into place for about an hour. I liked the abruptness, the way the film gets out on the out line of a scene and not a moment later. Scenes that didn't have a line to end on though, I think a few of them could have stood to be trimmed down a bit. Fun to watch with a crowd of folks being made to worry.

Runaway Train - ★½☆☆☆
Wow. Multiple Oscar nods? Wow. I would have labeled Eric Roberts' character as either a disaster on the page or a disaster in the edit. Maybe both. It's like a poor man's Emperor of the North.

Under the Skin - ★★☆☆☆
This is a video that my friend Russell would like.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes - ★★★★☆
With a constant tension that 24 can only dream about, this didn't feel much like a summer movie to me at all. Pros: Good score, has subtext in the vein of classic sci-fi, some amazing/horrifying imagery, and lots of apes. Cons: No one actually named Dawn.

Underground Comedy is Go!

For years, I've been tangentially involved in a documentary about the improv comedy scene in Los Angeles. In January we made a trailer for it, and now we're about to make the whole darn thing. We've got hundreds of hours of footage, and we want to bring you an interesting 90 minute feature film about what goes on in the black box theaters that are forging (a) tomorrow's big name comics and (b) tomorrow's accountants and waiters who did a fun thing in their 20s. Most people don't know about it, most people will never know about it, and even the folks that do might never get to see it because improv evaporates as soon as it's done, never to be seen again. Unless of course, someone is standing around with a camera crew documenting the whole thing.

Check out the trailer for Underground Comedy here and if you want to get a DVD in a couple years after we're done producing the movie and walking it around to festivals, or maybe a nice co-producer credit for your IMDB page, go have a look at the film's Kickstarter*, which is running for a mere 3 more weeks.

* Once upon a time, folks in film production probably compared notes on how they don't actually work so much with film anymore these days and isn't it a shame, why, I only ever worked on two projects in my life that shot on honest-to-goodness celluloid. Well that conversation is done, and everything's digital from here on out. The craft services table chit chat of the future is reminiscing about the days when films had investors. This is maybe my 5th crowdfunded movie.

#2,053: Edge of Tomorrow

Godzilla (2014) - ★★★☆☆
I think this was probably a good example of a classic Godzilla movie, but I don't know how many times I've actually enjoyed a classic Godzilla movie. Certainly, I liked this more than Monsters, but I think it was a misstep to swap out the charismatic lead for a kind of bland sap-faced dude.

Non-Stop - ★★★½☆
I watched this on a crummy hotel TV, and it was perfect. Solid 90s flavored action with more plot than the trailer gives up. Kind of a preachy speech from one of the bad guys, but he's duly punished for it. Recommended, even if you have to watch it on a high quality screen of some sort.

Duck Soup - ★★☆☆☆
It played much better the first time I saw it, in a packed theater, than it did in my living room. Either way, it's not one of my favorite Marx Brothers movies. Too much a melange.

Edge of Tomorrow - ★★★★☆
I totally expected some kind of twisty turny part after an hour or so, based on what the trailers gave us, but it's not that kind of movie. It's the movie the trailers tell us it's going to be, and it does a great job of being that. Comedic parts, action parts, and the best representation of the meta-nature of being a video game hero, just like everyone says.

Movie Monday: Days of Future Past

The Hot Rock - ★★★★☆
Last time I said, "Now this was a great caper. In fact, it's a bunch of great capers, since if everything went right it wouldn't be much of a movie. The museum sequence is genuinely suspenseful and clever and terrific."

I mostly agree with me. The museum is still great, and the other sections have great bits, but maybe they're more surprise than suspense, since they didn't hit me as hard this time around.

Snowpiercer - ★★★½☆
It's one of my favorite things in a movie lately when I don't know what's going on, exactly. The plot is easy to describe, but the details and questions raised along the way make it interesting.

I worried this would stomp all over a train-related idea I started writing a while back, but then I found out this is based on a comic from 1982 and there are no new ideas. Finding out that comic book was French does make this Korean movie make a little more sense to me though.

Can't wait to see the American version where everyone lives!

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 - ★½☆☆☆
This is the opposite of Captain America 2. I have nothing but complaints, with just a few saving graces barely sneaking in. If it were trimmed down to just the scenes with the Giamatti, it could have been a good animated short to include on the DVD of a better movie.

I would have never guessed there'd be a time when I was not excited about the prospect of a Spider-Man movie.

X-Men: Days of Future Past - ★★★★☆
I wasn't excited for this one; I don't like most of the X-Men movies, and the director of the old ones coming back seemed like a bad omen. But now, I'm pretty sure this one is my favorite of the bunch!

I think this movie's strength is the choice to not be penned in to exactly where the previous films left off. For like, a decade, I've told anyone who will listen how Spider-Man should be like the 007 franchise - change creative teams now and then, but just keep moving forward. Make references when appropriate or when feeling indulgent, but try to tell a new story each go 'round. You know, like a comic book?

I've read some absolutely idiotic articles this week by people who assume the X-Men have never had an adventure we didn't see on the screen, and they must be the reason why every time someone wants to tell us a new superhero story they feel obliged to serve up a new take on the origin first.

What this movie gets right is figuring that you either know who these characters are, or will be able to figure it out by watching the movie, and then telling a story about them. (What it gets wrong? Yet another comic book movie where we fly around in DNA in the intro. Yet another comic book movie with a plot point hinging on lost powers, even if it was a good take on it this time.)