First Trailer for Rise of the Planet of the Apes

With remakes and reboots clogging up the majority of what’s in production in Hollywood these days its no surprise that 20th Century Fox would go to the well once again with a new Planet of the Apes movie. This one, titled Rise of the Planet of the Apes is a new variation of the 4th entry in the original classic series Conquest, and it stars the worst host of the Oscars ever – James Franco. While it’s hard to pass judgment on this first footage (I’m not jumping up and down just yet) I know I’ll be on line opening weekend because I find the concept fascinating; although its unlikely that anyone could truly recapture what made the originals so appealing.

I think what made the first film in the series that starred Charlton Heston in 1968 so great was that Director Franklin J. Schaffner (Patton) clearly was a great storyteller and had tremendous patience in his filmmaking, something clearly lacking in many of today’s movie makers.

Actually, after recently re-watching all five films in the original series, I found myself hooked once again. This is as good as it gets when you’re talking science fiction. It’s really interesting how the writers were able to interconnect each installment and keep the series thought-provoking throughout. Although Battle for the Planet of the Apes is by far the weakest in the series, I’m still amazed how bleak the second installment, Beneath the Planet of the Apes. You rarely ever see both main stars killed off in any mainstream films; one of my all time favorite movie endings.

As for Tim Burton’s remake of the origianal, I never thought he would be a good fit for this genre and he clearly was not. While the film has its bright spots, including the terrific performance by Tim Roth as General Thade, overall it was a huge letdown compared to the classic 1968 original. I hated the fact that Burton decided to film most of it on soundstages instead of on location which would have given the movie a more authentic feel. Considering how many ideas, scripts and talent (Oliver Stone, Philip Noyce, James Cameron, Peter Jackson and Arnold Schwarzenegger (who was slated to star at one time) that had been attached to the project before Burton stepped in, it’s hard to believe that this re-boot of the famed franchise crashed and burned in reviews. Despite being a financial winner, in retrospect Burton never should have taken on this project. It was like mixing oil and water.

Rise of the Palnet of the Apes swings into theaters August 5th 2011. Take a look at the trailer:

PINEAPPLE EXPRESS scores some laughs but NOT enough to sustain its paper thin premise

It’s getting a little harder to get excited about a comedy with the JUDD APATOW name attached as it seems he’s involved with a new film just about every other week. The latest from his comedy factor is Pineapple Expres, a strange mix of stoner comedy, chase movie and hard core violent action film. The result is a sometimes funny but ultimately disappointing effort. The plot is pretty simple. Seth Rogen plays Dale, a 25-year-old process server who lives to get high. One day, while attempting to serve a drug king pin (Gary Cole), he witnesses a messy murder that sets the film’s storyline in motion. James Franco (in a solid performance) plays Saul, his lovable, lonely and totally messed up drug dealer. He gets heavily involved in the melee when the joint Dale was smoking, an exclusive brand of marijuana called Pineapple Express, is found at the scene of the crime, causing some really bad people to come looking for them. From there the film features some very long and uninspired dialogue scenes between Rogen and Franco, a somewhat amusing but predictable car chase, and the violent and totally miscalculated third act which feels like a bad Lethal Weapon movie.

The F-Bombs and bullets to the stomach gags only go so far and, since there’s no real story to move things along, the whole proceedings start to wear really thin. The biggest laughs for me came from the subplot involving Dale’s 18-year-old high school girlfriend Angie, well played by Amber Heard. The opening scene where Dale has a confrontation with her school administrator is very funny and a later scene when he meets her parents, played by Ed Begley Jr. and Nora Dunn, is the movies very best sequence. Also worth noting is the performance of Danny McBride (Drill Bit Taylor) as Saul’s pot supplier, Red. He gets a lot of mileage out of his material and, for my money, steals the film away from both Rogen and Franco. Overall, Pineapple Express is stuck in OK-Ville. It’s not really bad but it’s just not really good either. To me this is a case of a good concept lacking the really good script that sustains a feature length movie. It’s a decent watch with a handful of inspired moments but nothing to get excited about. 2.5 Zombies out of 5.