Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014)
DIRECTOR: Matt Reeves
CAST: Andy Serkis, Jason Clarke, Gary Oldman, Keri Russell, Toby Kebbell, Kirk Avecedo, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Nick Thurston
REVIEW:
WARNING: THIS REVIEW WILL REVEAL ASPECTS OF THE FILM’S PLOT
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, a follow-up to 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes and the second installment in a prequel/reboot series inching things closer to the 1968 original film, surpasses its predecessor by such a wide margin that it reduces it to an extended prologue and set-up. Few sequels surpass the originals; even fewer do it this far. Rise had various fascinating moments but was less than the sum of its parts. Dawn takes things introduced in Rise and goes much farther and deeper with them, and is an all-around stronger motion picture.
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X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)
DIRECTOR: Bryan Singer
CAST: Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Nicholas Hoult, Peter Dinklage, Halle Berry, Ellen Page, Shawn Ashmore
REVIEW:
Like some of the best comic book superhero movies (Nolan’s Batman trilogy, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and its own predecessor X-Men: First Class), X-Men: Days of Future Past, taking its name and some plot elements from a well-known X-Men comic storyline, mixes things up and takes the genre in unconventional directions. The result is perhaps the strongest installment the X-Men film series has churned out yet, equaling or surpassing First Class. Taking back his seat in the director’s chair from the likes of Gavin Hood and Matthew Vaughn, Bryan Singer has kept the fresh life First Class breathed into the floundering series going and taken it even further. Days of Future Past, as its quirky title suggests, does something very different with the familiar characters, but as with its aforementioned cinematic cousins, different’s not a bad thing, especially when more generic comic book films are churning out left and right these days. Continue reading