Movie: 3D Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes

This is a great movie, easily the best I've seen this year so far.

I wasn't much of a fan of the previous Ape movie. I can't put my finger on the exact reason why, I just didn't connect with that movie. I'm glad to say that was not the case with this latest installment.

This is almost a perfect movie. The story line is really strong and engaging, and because I couldn't tell the difference between the CGI apes and a man in a costume (we're there any?), I was totally absorbed in it. It was so compelling that even the 3D didn't draw attention to itself. It felt all very natural.

I found the cast to be very likeable. Jason Clarke, who I discovered later is an Australian, is the good guy human hero. The always good Gary Oldman plays the leader of the human colony, who wants to wipe out the apes, and who almost succeeds in doing just that. I did have a small amount of sympathy for his character. After all, he was trying to protect the future of the human race by doing what, in his own mind, was absolutely neccessary. Andy Serkis does a great job with Caesar, but my favourite ape character was Maurice, who plays a breed of ape that I haven't identified as yet (I'll google it). The bad guy ape was also well done, being played by an English actor called Toby Kebbell, who's actually going to play Doctor Doom in the next Fantastic Four movie.

I just want to add that I am a big fan of the original four ape movies. Roddy McDowall will always be my ideal Caesar. I'm probably one of the few people on the planet who actually considers Battle For The Planet Of The Apes as one of their favourite movies. I also quite liked the TV series as well, although it was a long time ago and I can barely remember it.

In summary, this is an outstanding movie, brilliantly executed. To me, it's 99% of the way to being a perfect movie ( there was just a few seconds where the wind blowing through the hair of an ape didn't look quite right!). I very much look forward to the DVD and the "Making Of" DVD extra (I hope there is one, and a Director's commentary as well).

Movie: 3D Captain America - The Winter Soldier

Watch out! There be spoilers ahead (potentially)!

I may be getting jaded, but these superhero movies, especially the Marvel ones, are all starting to look the same. There's a superhero, a really evil bad guy, the world is about to end, superhero pummels bad guy in the last scene, world lives to see another day. Really, the superhero is interchangeable with these story lines. This could be a Thor movie, or an Iron Man movie.

That's not to say this isn't a good movie. I liked it very much. Chris Evans is a very likeable hero. It's just that there were no surprises in this movie. It really is a by-the-book superhero movie. If it was up to me, every superhero movie would be under the control of Joss Whedon, but unfortunately we don't live in a perfect world. I can't wait for the next Avengers movie.

If you are a watcher of the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. TV show (and if not, why not? It's excellent), then the plot of this movie will be familiar. It's pretty much the same as this movie. Bad guys Hydra take over S.H.I.E.L.D., and Captain America has to save it. That's what I meant earlier when I said there were no surprises in this movie.

The highlight of this movie for me was the performance of Sebastian Stan as the bad guy. This guy is really charismatic, and I've got no doubt we'll see him in more movies. It was really great to see Robert Redford as the chief bad guy as well. He adds a certain gravitas to this movie. I also thought the Captain America uniform was superbly designed, even the one at the end that he took out of the museum.

The ending of the movie sets up the next Captain America movie, and because of the box office popularity of this current Captain America, there's no doubt it will becoming in a couple of years time.

My summary, Winter Soldier is an ok movie, I liked it, but it's not the best movie I've seen so far this year. It's certainly not as good as the Avengers, but who's going to compete with the sharp mind of Joss Whedon?