As the Summer blockbuster season drew to a close it dawned on my that it had been largely underwhelming. It all kicked off with Pirates of the Caribbean 4 which was average, had sprinkles of mediocre with Cars 2 and The Green Lantern, and a large dollop of boredom with Transformers 3.
It’s no surprise then that I didn’t walk into Rise of the Planet of the Apes with high hopes, and yet I walked out pleasantly surprised by it.
The movie is obviously a prequel to the movie: Planet of the Apes, I don’t think it matters if it’s Burton’s version or Schaffner’s. It starts off with a scientist called Will Rodman, played by James Franco, who is working on medication that will treat, and possibly cure Alzheimer’s. His father has the illness and so this motivates him to carry on his work.
Well the Oscars are done, dusted and polished for another year and it was certainly one to remember for the British contingent. Unfortunately for us Brits though, many couldn’t watch it as it happened because it was on Sky Movies. So we had to make do with the highlights a day later on the newly named Sky Living. Not sure what this channel is about yet; it’s replaced Living, or Dead as I call it, after Sky purchased the group sometime last year.
When the BAFTAs were shown on the BBC, there was an hour delay for some unknown reason, which was problematic as it could be ruined somehow by winners getting revealed to you before Auntie Beeb showed you. This problem was solved simply by a mobile phone, Facebook and Twitter blackout. The Oscars wouldn’t be as simple.
Danny Boyle is back with a new movie for 2011 and this one, in my humble opinion, is one of his better ones. It goes by the name of 127 Hours and tells the true story of Aron Ralston, a particularly obsessed climber and canyoner who on an excursion unfortunately finds himself trapped between a rock and a hard place, also known as a very large rock and a smaller yet still immovable rock.
Incidentally the name of the book in which this movie bases itself on is named ‘Between a rock and a hard place’ by Mr Ralston himself. I haven’t read the book but after watching the movie version of the tale I am definitely more inclined to do so now.
