127 Hours

Much was made of this movie upon it's release. Starring James Franco as Aaron Ralston, an avid outdoor enthusiast who while doing some rock climbing suffers a terrible accident. Franco who won an Oscar for his portrayal is good in the role.

Still for me the hoopla and excitement over the movie was over done. For me, frankly, this movie was not that good. Watching Ralston as he starts his day, excited about his trip, and even as the opening credits role, not being able to reach his Swiss army knife on the top shelf is a good start. This proves to be a pretty serious attempt at foreshadowing. As he explores the canyons we enjoy the scenery and his obvious joy. When he meets a couple of young ladies and helps them to his destination we are happy that he is such a nice guy.

However the scenes after he has his accident and his arm is stuck are not exciting. They are a bit tedious. The reflections on his family and friends did not move me, they just bored me. I am one who can be moved, the scenes just did not work for me. Perhaps it was because we knew what was going to happen, we knew he was going to get stuck, we knew he was going to cut his own arm off, perhaps it could not live up.

The end of the movie was better. When he finally cuts his arm off and falls to the ground, the amazement he feels is evident. He is thankful. Watching him realize he will have to rappel down the mountain, and risk injury again, is tough to watch and the scenes when he finally sees people in the distance and shouts to them for help and is rescued are well done and offer an emotional payoff.

Still for me this movie was not for me one I would recommend, it was not that good.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

My wife and I went to see this movie last night. It was a good movie. I must admit based on the commercials and my own impressions from the previous movies it was not exactly what I expected.

First it should be said that one does not need to be familiar with the Planet of the Apes franchise to appreciate or enjoy the movie. With the knowledge of previous films one might get a few of the references that come in the newest movie that nod to the previous.

In this movie we see Will Rodman played by James Franco as a scientist working on a cure for Alzheimer's disease. His drug shows promise with apes but just as a demonstration is about to be made of the progress of the apes the test case escapes and attacks humans. She and all the other monkeys that have been given the drug are put down but the lab worker charged with putting the apes down balks at doing so to a baby they were unaware of. The mother ape in giving birth had passed the effects of the drug onto the baby. When Rodman brings the baby home and raises him, naming him Caesar he realizes that with no Alzheimer's to cure the medicine passed from his Mom has given Caesar incredible cognitive abilities. What this leads to becomes the movie's main theme.

Franco is good in the role, perhaps the most interesting performance is that of John Lithgow as Will's Dad who has alzheimers.

This is a good movie, one with more story than I anticpated and might well be the launch of an all new franchise of movies.

Pineapple Express

The streak is over. I always wondered about the reviews you would see where the reviewer talked about walking out it was so poor. As I review these movies I have clearly made a practice of watching movies I was interested in.

This movie was a stinker. I like stoner movies at times. I enjoyed Superbad to some extent, loved Dazed and Confused and remember Fast Times at Ridgemont High from the eighties with a smile.

James Franco in the first 30 minutes was funny. He is a good actor. Seth Rogan had a funny premise as a process server.

Soon it became apparent however that this movie could not hold water. It was stupid beyond merit.

Consider this movie poor - walked out.