Film Shapes

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes picks up about 10 years after the end of Rise of the Planet of the Apes . Incidentally, I'd have thought a dawn would be before a rise , but there you go. There's quite a bit going on here. It opens with Caeser and his ape tribe (face paint and all) and stays with them for a good while before any pesky humans start stinking up the place. These pesky humans (Gary Oldman, Jason Clarke, etc) don't compare very well to the apes, as far as holding the interest goes. They do compare in other ways, though, chiefly the fact that the human group mirrors the dynamics within the ape group. Without getting to technical, there's a liberal and a hawk on each 'team', and therein lies the drama. The performance capture technology is top drawer once again, but whereas in Rise it was gob-smackingly advanced, here in Dawn it might be taken for granted. In fairness, it's probably a little better and Andy Serkis d...

A reasonably packed house for this screening at Mint Kobe OS Cinemas. I had been pretty excited about seeing this for a few months and I wasn't disappointed. I'd watch it again tomorrow and I can't say that about too many other films. The human actors are all fine (perhaps with the exception of James Franco - he's OK, just miscast, I reckon) but the strength of the film lies with the apes. It actually seems like a breakthrough in motion capture performing, it's certainly the most realistic I've seen to date. Andy Serkis as Caeser gives a more nuanced, heartfelt performance than anything Tom Cruise, for example, has ever tried. There's a scene where assorted apes walk past Caeser and he looks into their eyes to check 'something' (I don't want to step into spoiler territory) and it's just a brilliantly realised moment. In fact, this film is full of really exciting, satisfying set pieces. Without giving too much away, I'm thinking o...