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Weekend Movie Forecast: <em>The Rise of the Planet of the Apes</em> Vs. <em>The Change-Up</em>

After the absolute fiasco known as Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes, word of another film in the Ape franchise made most of us cringe. Once we found out Franco was involved, we were just confused. After months of speculation, Rise of the Planet of the Apes 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. Reviews have actually been really good, with Nick Pinkerton from The Village Voice saying: "The latest descendant of the half-century old de-evolution concept that began with Pierre Boulle's novel, Rise of the Planet of the Apes 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."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." — Gothamist

Published Aug 5, 2011

Modified Aug 5, 2011

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Click on the film stills for details and reviews on this week's new releases and repertory screenings, which include: The Rise of the Planet of the Apes, The Change-Up, Bellflower, Talking Head, Magic Trip, Mysteries of Lisbon, Cold Fish, The Whistleblower, The Perfect Age of Rock 'N' Roll, The Rural Route Film Festival sponsored by Brooklyn Grange and Rooftop Farms, and Quadrophenia.