Weekend Movie Forecast: <em>The Rise of the Planet of the Apes</em> Vs. <em>The Change-Up</em>
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<p>After the absolute fiasco known as Tim Burton's <em>Planet of the Apes</em>, word of another film in the <em>Ape</em> franchise made most of us cringe. Once we found out Franco was involved, we were just confused. After months of speculation, <em>Rise of the Planet of the Apes</em> is finally hitting screens, and what's really scary is that it actually looks good. The film is a prequel that shows how through genetic engineering, scientists in San Francocisco were able to create hyper intelligent apes that would go on to battle humans for dominance. All we really needed to see, though, was the gorilla jumping at a helicopter from off the Golden Gate bridge. Nice. <em></em>Reviews have actually been really good, with Nick Pinkerton from <a href="http://www.villagevoice.com/2011-08-03/film/rise-of-the-planet-of-the-apes-james-franco-rupert-wyatt/">The Village Voice</a> saying: "The latest descendant of the half-century old de-evolution concept that began with Pierre Boulle's novel, <em>Rise of the Planet of the Apes</em> is an origin story. Predicting an ape-supremacist future, Rupert Wyatt's film is set in a contemporary America so preoccupied with the Chinese and the coming Singularity that it's hardly prepared for a rear-guard attack by evolutionary also-rans.<br/><br/>"Some fantastic images follow: A tree-lined suburban street showered with leaves as an invisible army swings through the canopy; a zoo breakout, with apes repurposing wrought-iron fence spikes as spears; the age-old rivalry between gorilla and helicopter. The final shot denotes the ambitions of the apes and 20th Century Fox, respectively: Empire, and franchise." </p>
<p>Now this we haven't seen in a long time: Following in the footsteps of such '80s classics as <em>Freaky Friday</em>, <em>Vice Versa</em> and a handful of other change-of-body films comes <em>The Change-Up</em>. The film is basically the same, except it's dude-centric and probably chock full of T & A and dick jokes. The problem with this type of story is that they usually try to explain how the switch happened with some half-assed voodoo or Eastern mysticism subplot. This time around, the two characters just get drunk and don't really remember anything other than public urination and a bolt of lightning, so it's either a step forward or a step backward, depending on your sensibilities. Both Ryan Reynolds and Jason Bateman are capable comedy actors, but their choice of roles is uneven at best. We can only imagine how this will turn out.<br/><br/>Reviews have been mixed (no kidding), with Karina Longworth at <a href="http://www.villagevoice.com/2011-08-03/film/pissing-their-lives-away-in-the-change-up/">The Voice</a> saying: "A uniquely Freudian entry in the body-switching comedy canon, <em>The Change-Up</em> stars Jason Bateman as standard-issue anal-retentive lawyer/family man Dave and Ryan Reynolds as Dave's classically anal-expulsive stoner/playboy childhood friend Mitch. When sober, Dave begrudgingly tolerates Mitch's wild-animal routine.<br/><br/>"Once Dave and Mitch work out all their shit (metaphorically speaking) and some kind of order is restored, the only thing left to do is confront their latent longing for one another. The film's final dialogue exchange reveals <em>The Change-Up</em> to be one long setup to a bromantic joke that, in a roundabout way, maybe comes closer than any previous film to fulfilling that woebegone subgenre's implicit homoerotic endgame." </p>
<p>Sometimes films just have no marketing behind them. For whatever reason, studios don't give these (often decent) films a fair shot. Probably out of fear that they won't recoup the expenses, these movies usually end up going straight to video, where they rely entirely on word of mouth. Released today, <em>Bellflower</em>, seems to be one of these films. Despite getting the best reviews of the weekend, it's being thrown into art house theaters with almost no studio support behind it. The film follows two friends who are obsessed with building Mad Max-type weapons in preparation for the upcoming apocalypse when one of them falls for a girl. They end up falling in with a new crowd of friends who push them to the limit in every possible way. If this movie is as good as it has the potential to be then we hope the word of mouth starts while it's still in theaters.<br/><br/>Reviews have been very good, with Manohla Dargis from <a href="http://movies.nytimes.com/2011/08/05/movies/bellflower-directed-by-evan-glodell-review.html?ref=movies">The Times</a> saying: "That American pastime of chopping cars is just one of the many true details that distinguish the seductive, grubby-beautiful, low-budget movie <em>Bellflower</em> from the usual indie chaff.<br/><br/>"The basic story sounds as dire as a quick read through a Sundance Film Festival catalog: Sensitive boy meets sexy girl. Happy and sad follow amid tears and beer, mumbled dialogue and openhearted sincerity, except that here they add up to an authentic slice of life, though one hopped up with an exuberant visual style and lurid excesses. Blood flows, fire belches, a devil car roars into the frame, and a couple meet cute over mouthfuls of live crickets." </p>
<p>Starting yesterday at <a href="http://anthologyfilmarchives.org/film_screenings/series/37703">The Anthology Film Archives</a> is the series <em>Talking Head</em>, which is exactly what it sounds likeâa series of films with talking heads. The term has a more or less negative connotation these days, between the pundits on television and the overuse of it in documentaries, but as some of the movies in this series demonstrate, it has the power to reveal things about people that no narrative film can ever do. Films like <em>Blind Spot: Hitler's Secretary</em> and <em>The Confessions of Winifred Wagner</em>, which both involve people close with Hitler, allow these characters to unveil things about themselves that they probably never realized were there. Sometimes simply paying attention to their speech patterns and body language is enough to make you feel creepy. </p>
<p>For those Beat fans and hippies out there (and we know there are a few of you), get psyched, because tonight sees the release of the documentary <em>Magic Trip</em>, which features the never-before-seen 16mm footage that Kesey, Cassady and the rest of the Pranksters took while driving cross country on their LSD fueled Magic Bus. They originally had it in their heads to make a documentary about their trip. But as we all know, you have big ideas when the drugs take hold, but executing them can be a logistical nightmare. Firmly embedded in popular culture by Tom Wolfe's <em>The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test</em>, this notorious journey bridged the gap between the Beat generation and the flower children that would come to follow. This should be a great illumination of one of the defining moments in American counter-culture.<br/><br/>Reviews have been alright, with Keith Uhlich from <a href="http://newyork.timeout.com/arts-culture/film/1751621/review-magic-trip">Time Out New York</a> saying: "Time to get on the bus. Alison Ellwood and Alex Gibneyâs spryly superficial documentary tells the tale of the 1964 cross-country road trip taken by writer Ken Kesey and his 'Merry Band of Pranksters' on a psychedelically modified school bus nicknamed 'Further.'<br/><br/>"At best, the film makes us feel like weâre fellow participants in this hallucinogenic odyssey (motormouth Cassady often seems to be addressing his stream-of-consciousness monologues directly to us). But the directors rarely go beyond the experiential to provide larger, lasting insight into the journeyâs generational and historical importance. As such, the comedown from this <em>Trip</em> is a real bitch." </p>
<p>Period pieces are hard enough to pull off, never mind one that takes place over the course of three decades and spans four countries. Nevertheless <em>Mysteries of Lisbon</em> is attempting exactly that, and might have actually pulled it off. The film follows Joao, who is the child of an ill-fated romance between two members of the aristocracy who are forbidden to wed, and his quest to discover the truth of his parentage. Considering the time and distance covered, we imagine a lot more goes on. The movie sounds epic in the Dickensian, Victor Hugo, Tolstoy sense, or like a BBC miniseries.<br/><br/>Reviews have been great, with Noel Murray from <a href="http://www.avclub.com/articles/mysteries-of-lisbon,59933/">The A.V. Club</a> saying: "<em>Mysteries Of Lisbon</em> is an odd kind of epic: Itâs digressive and even trifling at times, and though a large cast wanders through the frame, the individual scenes tend to be focused on just two or three people, having winding conversations about political intrigue and affairs of the heart.<br/><br/>"Ruiz and cinematographer André Szankowski construct each individual segment of <em>Mysteries Of Lisbon</em> like a film unto itself, using hazy natural light, split diopter shots, smeared lenses, forced angles, actors pulled on dolly-tracks, <em>trompe lâoeils</em>, puppetry⦠anything to make a scene visually pleasurable. (Their neatest recurring trick involves pivoting the camera to reveal a surprise character in the corner of a room.)" </p>
<p>For those of you who love films like <em>Old Boy</em> and <em>Audition</em>, you might want to head out tonight to see the newest Eastern horror headtrip <em>Cold Fish</em>. Mild-mannered Shamoto's teenage daughter gets caught shoplifting at a local store. A seemingly nice couple who own a fish store offer to give her a job at their store so she can repay her debt. Things seem fine until Shamoto uncovers the bloody truth behind this couple and unknowingly gets caught up in their rituals. Judging from the summary, it sounds like Shamoto has a <em>Straw Dogs</em> breakdown and things get bloody. What better way to beat the heat?! <br/><br/>Reviews have been good, with an absolutely glowing review coming from Jeannette Catsoulis at <a href="http://movies.nytimes.com/2011/08/05/movies/cold-fish-gleeful-horror-from-sion-sono-review.html?ref=movies">The New York Times</a> who says: "A deliciously warped wallow in misogyny, depravity and dead-eyed manipulation, <em>Cold Fish</em> charts the twisted alliance of two tropical-fish salesmen with baleful glee.<br/><br/>"Directed by the Japanese provocateur Sion Sono, <em>Cold Fish</em> gradually evolves from a small domestic drama into a symphony of mauled breasts, marital rape and mutilated corpses. Propelled by slaughterhouse levels of gore and wickedly absurdist humor, the film mitigates its brutality with committed acting and a script that smartly plumbs the relationship between the cramped Japanese home â the lack of windows, the shrunken appliances â and familial violence." </p>
<p>Since a lot of us weren't around for events such as the atomic bomb falling on Hiroshima or the first man to land on the moon, we tend to remember or recall those events as rendered by cinema. Another way film shapes our recollection of historical events is through narrative films made about them. Films about war, the Holocaust, or even the day-to-day lives of people in foreign countries, they all shape how people view history and one another. Today, another "inspired by actual events" movie <em>The Whistleblower</em> comes out, starring Rachel Weisz and Vanessa Redgrave, and it'll both inform and misinform you about an actual event. This one's about an American cop who takes a job as a peacekeeper in post-war Bosnia, only to uncover a crooked world of private contractors and shady diplomats. <br/><br/>Reviews have been mixed, with Sam Adams from <a href="http://newyork.timeout.com/arts-culture/film/1751753/review-the-whistleblower">Time Out New York</a> saying: "Bringing home the issue of sexual slavery more forcefully than a thousand Ashton Kutcher tweets, Larysa Kondrackiâs first feature is set in the lawless landscape of post-Dayton Bosnia, where former Nebraska cop Kathryn Bolkovac (Weisz) is hired on to a government-contracted U.N. security force.<br/><br/>"Although Kondracki intersperses shots of a Ukranian runaway (Condurache) and her frantic mother into the muckraker-on-a-mission narrative, the filmâs narrow focus constrains a proper pullback to the larger picture; the final titles devote more space to Kathyrnâs fate than that of the girls she tried to protect. Itâs easy to gin up outrage, but understanding is a rarer, and far more precious, commodity." </p>
<p>Also coming out today is the indie-coming-of-age-musician-drama film <em>The Perfect Age of Rock 'n' Roll</em>...ahem...27...ahem. Spyder is a world famous musician who follows up his hugely successful first album with a dud. To escape the ridicule and realign his head space, he returns home, where his estranged childhood friend and old collaborator Eric is working as a middle school music teacher. The two decide to take a road trip cross country and figure out the choices they've made and where their lives are headed. We doubt any of you are headed to Fandango over that one.<br/><br/>Reviews have been bad, with Sam Adams from <a href="http://newyork.timeout.com/arts-culture/film/1751749/review-the-perfect-age-of-rock-%E2%80%99n%E2%80%99-roll">Time Out New York</a> saying: "Its title riffing on rock starsâ Winehousian penchant for snuffing it at 27, Scott Rosenbaumâs pallid grunge-messiah music pic neither burns out nor fades awayâtry sputtering like a cigarette butt in a bottle of warm Bud Light.<br/><br/>"The movie reveals its true sense of tone-deafness, however, in a scene in which the feuding friends happen upon a roadside juke joint whose ambient African-Americanism magically revives their flagging creativity. One only hopes that Ruby Dee, Michael K. Williams and the late, great Pinetop Perkins were paid well for their wasted time." </p>
<p>The<a href="http://www.movingimage.us/films/2011/08/05/detail/the-rural-route-film-festival/"> Rural Route Film Festival</a>, sponsored by Brooklyn Grange and Rooftop Farms, graces The Museum of the Moving Image this weekend. The Festival brings museum-goers features and shorts that highlight the intersection of politics, land, agriculture, and social economy, at home and abroad. The line-up kicks off with the film<a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/LiTTLEROCK/328021841863"> Littlerock </a>and comes to a close with Severine von Tscharner Fleming's <a href="http://www.thegreenhorns.net/">The Greenhorns</a>, a remarkable three-years-in-the-making documentary that takes a good look at the new guard of young sustainable farmers in North America. The documentary project is but one branch of the Greenhorns non-profit, which seeks to support young farmers through fundraising, grant-giving, and educational workshops, lectures, and teach-ins. <em>—Melanie Jane Parker</em></p>
<em>You'll be getting like them bloody beatniks before you know it. Ban the bomb and do fuck all for a living pouncing about all day. </em><br/><br/>Tonight at <a href="http://www.landmarktheatres.com/Films/films_frameset.asp?id=26351">Landmark Theater</a> Sunshine at Midnight presents, The Who's <em>Quadrophenia</em>. If you're hankering for a dose of Mod to the face, then you should probably just buy your ticket now and get on your scooter. Arguably their best rock opera (no offense to <em>Tommy</em> fans), the film is a ridiculous exploration of a young man rebelling against being a boring wanker like his parents and instead taking drugs, sleeping with women, and fighting rockers. It's ridiculous but in the best possible way. Sting and the amazing Ray Winstone star across from Phil Daniels as Jimmy. It'd probably be a really fun way to kill some time tonight or tomorrow, before going out on the town.