Love My Way: The Best in Film of 2017

2017 was kind of a bad year for humanity, and it really wasn’t an especially good one on a personal level either (to put it mildly). So more than ever, the movies became an escape. I wouldn’t just watch anything that I came across, I looked for things that would either make me feel good, end at the very leadt on hopeful note, or somehow enrich me.

I found all this, even in the most unlikely places. Mudbound was not so something that I would have anticipated this particular year, but went ahead and watched it because it was a Dee Rees film. It was not an easy sit, but by the end, although it obviously didn’t change me, I felt like I had a new valuable experience in my life. I even found value in something like Home Again. I can see the problems that people who dislike it have with it, but my viewing experience during a particularly bad day was so much fun that I couldn’t help but fall for it.

Review: Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Rise of the Planet of the Apes | Rupert Wyatt, 2011

I’ve written before that the lack of originality in Hollywood movies, particularly blockbusters, is alarming. So, when I heard a couple of years ago that a prequel to The Planet of the Apes was being made, I was not happy. This wasn’t because I’m a fan of the original (I like it but it’s not great or anything, and I haven’t seen any of the others), but because I bet that there are many original ideas out there that could be made with what they would spend on this movie. First, the title went from an interesting one like Caesar: Rise of the Apes to the current, awkward one for the sake of brand recognition. The trailers certainly didn’t help its cause, as they pretty much advertised it as being just about the visual effects and monkey mayhem (I know apes are not monkeys, but still). And then FOX didn’t let critics screen it until the week of release, and the reviews were supposed to be embargoed until the day of release. But then something funny happened: critics actually liked it. Some even hailed it as the best movie of the year so far. And it actually is. So what was the studio afraid of? Were they afraid that it would be deemed too original even though it’s part of a franchise? Were they afraid that people would not want to see if if critics called it “thought provoking?” Or did they know that they had a good movie in their hands and they just wanted to surprise everyone? Either way, Rise of the Planet of the Apes is the best live-action blockbuster in years (oddly, since King Kong), as well as one of the most original.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes is a prequel to the original movie that starred Charlton Hesston, and also works really well as a reboot like Batman Begins. It stars James Franco as a scientist named Will Rodman that is working on a cure for Alzheimer’s disease. He is particularly invested in this because his father (John Lithgow) is affected by the disease. One day, they have a breakthrough, but during the presentation to the investors, something goes wrong, and the project is shot down, and they order that all the chimps that were tested be put down. But a baby chimp survived, and he is taken in by Will . As Caesar, as they call him grows (and is played by the great Andy Serkis through motion capture), we realize that he is smarter than other chimps because the effects of the drugs that were given to its mother were passed down to him. So, he is raised as a human child. But as the years pass, and he begins to question his identity and purpose in life, and some tragic events pass, he leads a revolution that would change the world.