War For the Planet of the Apes

“Oh my God. I'm back. I'm home. All the time, it was... We finally really did it. You Maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! God damn you all to hell!”

--George Taylor (Charlton Heston) Planet of the Apes, 1968.

1968’s Planet of the Apes is one of my all time favorite movies and has one of the greatest twist endings in the history of cinema, as quoted above.

In 2011 the first prequel, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, was released and this week the third in trilogy, War for the Planet of the Apes, graced the silver screen.

To say I was excited for the release of this movie is an understatement.  This was the movie release of 2017 for me.  No other film I wanted to see more and we’re only in the middle of July.  

I considered taking the Thursday night off to see it, throw a party, make a night of it.  I talked myself out it and opted for my favorite showtime: the late night Saturday show.  The day passed slowly as the anticipation of the movie ballooned, but the show time would come.    I got off work, and grabbed a bite to eat as I waited for the showtime, and it would come.  I arrived at the theater, grabbed my oversized, low ice drink and waited for the 9:45 showtime and it still would come.  The theater lights dimmed, the trailers ran and the start of the movie came.

Two and a half hours passed like seven minutes.  I did not want this beautiful movie to end.  I loved the intense action sequences, Woody Harrelson’s villainous colonel, Andy Serkis’ heroic Caesar, the breathtaking cinematography, basically everything.  

I found the movie to have an incredible emotional arc.  During the course of the film I cheered for the heroes as they had their victories and mourned their losses at the hands of the best cinematic villain this year.  It’s rare I feel something like that in film but when I do, it’s a natural kind of high.  

I must admit I left the theater with a lump in my throat.  A major part of that was because of the events that unfolded during the story.  However, the feeling of leaving a huge part of oneself behind also contributed.  I had a lot of build up to this movie.  That build up was everything from following the production of the movie to re-watching the predecessors in the prequel trilogy.  It’s a weird feeling, when I feel that way for a movie.  Though I spend time with friends and family I am not currently dating and still live alone, spend a fair amount of time alone, and that creates a huge void.  A void that I tend to fill with watching movies.  So I get excited for my cinematic passions as if they were a child and this was one that was well worth the wait.

I tend not to see movies twice on the big screen.  After all I collect them at home for the purpose of re-watching them.  However there are rare exceptions and War for the Planet of the Apes WILL BE ONE OF THOSE RARE EXCEPTIONS!

So with that said let’s hang out, grill out, chill out, or go see a movie like War For the Planet of the Apes.

A Bit of Nostalgia

I believe that there is magic in the shared experience.  The experience could be a variety of things: catching up with a friend at the pool, grilling with friends old & new, and going to the movies.  There it is, after all this is a movie blog. 

Imagine my disappointment when I couldn’t find anyone to join me in a big screen viewing of The Sandlot.  This film was a staple of my childhood and one I hadn’t seen since puberty.  To put it mildly, I was excited about the screening.  To circle back, the crowd that trickled in did not disappoint.  A variety of pre teen, teen, middle aged, and the mature middle aged all were in attendance, including a family with three generations.  To hear the anticipation and cheers of those seeing the flick for the first time was thrilling.  

The movie is a great example of a slice of life for young pre teen boys.  With that said it opened a flood of memories from a younger version of myself.  There’s those memories of discovering the opposite sex and coming into those, then awkward feelings. Of course the character Squints handled perfectly in all the awkward glory of youth.  There’s the exaggerating of local legends, blowing them out of proportion like that of the beast!  There’s also taunting rivals, and in the heat of the moment insult “You play like a girl”, in many playfully heated exchanges.  Making friends, losing friends, little league, and much more all came to the fore front in a flood of nostalgia.  

Despite the loneliness of flying solo tonight, I enjoyed myself and revisiting an old friend in this movie.

In the spirit of shared experiences I say: To friends old & new, those I haven’t seen in a while and those I’ve seen recently, I look forward to sharing the experiences of movies and whatever other life experiences, both good & bad, life puts in are way!