Movie Review: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014)

by Tony Dayoub

Things were looking up for Caesar (Andy Serkis) when last we left him at the close of Rise of the Planet of the Apes. He had just shepherded his followers through a fierce battle on the Golden Gate that, though not without its fair share of deaths, didn't claim as many casualties as the revolt did in Rise's 1972 iteration, Conquest. If you stayed for Rise's closing credits, you'd have seen that the story's worst news was saved for a quick stinger depicting the spread of a genetically engineered virus that would soon wipe out most of humanity. In Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, director Matt Reeves (notable for somehow improving the noteworthy Swedish vampire film Let the Right One In with its American remake, Let Me In) picks up from there, quickly explaining the state of civilization in a world purged by plague. Humans have all but disappeared. And the super-intelligent apes led by the regal Caesar (Andy Serkis) are thriving peacefully in a forest outside of San Francisco.

Movie Reviews: Austenland and Riddick

by Tony Dayoub

Summer blockbuster season is over. Film festival season has begun. But Oscar contenders (and this year there are many) haven't exactly started to filter out of the festivals and into general release just yet. In the meantime, studios are padding out their schedule with their second-tier product. Two films opening today in Atlanta fall into this middle ground. Not quite potential cash cows or destined for critical acclaim, each is a niche movie designed to appeal either to males or females but probably not both. Austenland is about an obsessive Jane Austen fangirl who has the opportunity to visit the immersive Austen getaway whose name gives the film its title. Riddick is the third entry in the Vin Diesel science fiction franchise created by writer-director David Twohy. One is a fairly original story with potential for unique greatness. The other is built on a hackneyed plot offering few surprises. Which do you think is the more successful of the two? Read on... it's probably not the one you'd expect.

FIRST LOOK - Movie Review: Extraordinary Measures (2010)

by Tony Dayoub

It looks like after the typical onslaught of award-worthy films make their debut in December we can expect January to be the start of another cinematic lull in the year. Movies reserved for release in this period tend to be safe bets, and Extraordinary Measures, which launches the new CBS Films division, is just as predictable as you would guess.


Based on Geeta Anand's The Cure, the medical drama is a two-hander that follows John Crowley (Brendan Fraser) as he recruits Dr. Robert Stonehill (Harrison Ford) in an effort to develop a cure for the rare genetic disorder that afflicts Crowley's children, Pompe disease. There are some interesting plot details in the early part of the film, as Crowley leaves his lucrative job with Bristol-Meyers Squibb to co-found a biotech start-up with the idiosyncratic Stonehill. And Measures is at its most fascinating when it explores how Fraser's Crowley deals with the intricacies of the business compromises necessary to fund a search for the cure.

Fraser (The Mummy) is a surprise. Pretty solid dramatically, he deftly switches gears between concerned parent and pragmatic businessman. The most intriguin section of the film depicts the ins and outs of acquiring funding for Stonehill's research. Gambling that his start-up will survive just long enough to develop something of interest to a larger corporation, Crowley's desperation for a cure soon overcomes him as time starts running out for his children. And Fraser modulates his emotional responses effectively, avoiding any histrionics one would expect from an actor who has never quite displayed such a range in previous performances.

However when director Tom Vaughan takes Measures ouside the realm of medical procedural for too long it gets bogged down in syrupy sentimentality. Keri Russell (Felicity) is completely wasted as wife Aileen Crowley. A scene in the film's first act showing the Crowleys trying to steal a moment for physical intimacy during their kids' nurses' shift-change window displays some promise that the day to day inconveniences of caring for a loved one full time would be explored through the character of Aileen. Instead, the script relegates Russell to being a mere sounding board for Fraser, a cipher who cries on cue whenever the chips are down, and just about the kind of heroine you'd see in any old Lifetime cable movie-of-the-week.

Ford executive produces the feature, a bit of shepherding you typically see when an actor wishes to save a notable character part for himself. But if there is anything distinctive in the stereotypically kooky character of Stonehill—a doctor who, big surprise, loves to ignore others as he focuses on his research while the rock music blasts loudly out of his office—it's exorcised by his one-note performance of crankiness. Perhaps a strange one-scene cameo by Dee Wallace (E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial) which hints at a flirtation indicates that some scenes between her and Ford were cut; as does a later scene, when a silhouette of a woman lying next to the (thus far sexually inactive) doctor distracts from the midnight phone call he receives. Ford and Wallace would have made for an interesting couple and a nice way of fleshing him out.

Extraordinary Measures ultimately falls short by residing within the limited scope of the traditional medical melodrama. The film's best moments places Fraser's character in quite the crucible, as he must weigh the practical considerations of marketing a viable treatment against the brutal odds of survival which his children face. It should have jettisoned more of the emotional baggage to explore the procedural aspects of funding medical research, fresh territory for movies of this type.

Extraordinary Measures is scheduled to open on January 22, 2010.

DVD Review: Wonder Woman

Warner Premiere continues its line of direct-to-video animated releases this week with the release of its fourth film, Wonder Woman. As usual, no shortcuts have been taken here. This is a fresh take on the Amazon Princess that still pays homage to her recent comic book run. As seems to be the case with most animated movies of this ilk, the movie lays the foundation for a future live-action property by summing up the protagonist's history for a new audience. Gone is the World War II-era canon established by the 1970s Lynda Carter TV series, and its comic book progenitor. Instead, the story relies on the 1985 George Perez relaunch, a modern retelling with underpinnings from Greek mythology. In this version it is her people's enmity with the god Ares (Alfred Molina), and their fear of the war-mongering "Man's World," that necessitates the debut of Princess Diana (Keri Russell) in America, hopefully not as an Amazon warrior but as an emissary of peace. Despite the character's popularity in pop culture, and easily identifiable persona from Cartoon Network fare such as Justice League Unlimited, her look and attitude has been subtly modified to befit her Greek heritage. This Wonder Woman is a little thicker, more full-lipped, and exotic looking, a nice counterpoint to the impossibly proportioned Barbie-doll often depicted in the past. Cowriters Gail Simone, wildly popular and masterful as a writer of female protagonists in DC Comics (including the current run of Wonder Woman), and Michael Jelenic perfectly capture the right attitude of this piece. Here's a look at a promotional video (courtesy of Warner Home Video) that gives you a taste: Simone and Jelenic subvert traditional adolescent male fantasies about the character by setting them up through Princess Diana's paramour, Steve Trevor (Nathan Fillion), and his failed attempts to seduce the avowed feminist raised outside the sphere of male-dominated sexual politics. Particularly funny is a scene in which he tries to get her drunk on tequila, and she manages to drink him under the table. Yes, this is a PG-13 cartoon. It is aimed at the same audience Warner hopes to capitalize on once they manage to get their Wonder Woman project underway after years of being stalled for one reason or another. The rating allows for some realistic violence and a darker tone that would be in keeping with the villain of the piece, the god of war. It also lures some A-list talent to contribute their voices to the project, elevating DC's direct-to-video animated fare over Marvel's. In addition to Russell, Fillion, and Molina, other actors include Virgina Madsen (Queen Hippolyta), Rosario Dawson (Artemis), David McCallum (Zeus), Oliver Platt (Hades), and Marg Helgenberger (Hera). The disc includes a first look at the next animated project they will tackle for release in July, DC's Green Lantern, which MTV recently announced is slated for a live-action debut in December 2010. From the looks of this project, fans have reason to be excited. Wonder Woman is available tomorrow on Blu-ray and Standard DVD. Still and video provided courtesy of Warner Home Entertainment.

Movie Trailer: Wonder Woman

by Tony Dayoub



Here's the trailer for another of Warner Premiere's continuing line of straight-to-DVD animated flicks, this one focusing on Wonder Woman.


The voice talent on this one is the most interesting so far with Keri Russell (Waitress) as Wonder Woman, Nathan Fillion (Desperate Housewives) as Steve Trevor, Virginia Madsen (Sideways) as Hyppolyta, Oliver Platt (Nip/Tuck) as Hades, Alfred Molina (Spider Man 2) as Ares, and Rosario Dawson (Sin City) as Artemis.

It is set for release on February 2009.

Click on the picture below for a look at the trailer.