Month July 2017

War for the Planet of the Apes

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Summary:

War for the Planet of the Apes is the third installment of this phenomenal movie franchise. Humans have banded together and their forces are strong again, but it seems the Simian virus has mutated and is now affecting humans in a different way. Caesar and his troop have made the decision to move farther away from the humans and this decision has dire consequences. Along the way, they meet several different characters and the end is sad and satisfying.

My take:

I just can’t get over how detailed the CG was! It is shocking at just how real these apes look! There is a particular scene where Maurice (the orangutan) is trying to communicate with a human and the close up is amazing! For lack of a better word, the CG is beautiful. Overall the story line was okay. The title is a bit misleading – I would have considered Dawn of the Planet of the Apes more worthy of “war” in the title than this one. War of the Planet of the Apes was more of “Escape” of the Planet of the Apes.  The movie does explain more about the devolution of the humans and has hints of a continuation with the introduction of Nova.  There are several humorous scenes that my younger children enjoyed. The movie is not graphically gory, but a lot of apes are killed.  There is a lot of gunfire, arrows shooting and explosions. There are no flagrant bad words in the movie. The movie is moving and Caesar the suffering leader continues to suffer. Andy Serkins, who plays Caesar, does an incredible job as an animated actor. The scenes where Caesar is in emotional pain deserve recognition.

Recommendations:

If you haven’t seen the first two movies I would recommend that you see them first before watching this movie. If you liked the first two movies, you will also like this one. I personally liked the 2nd one more, but all my children preferred this one more. My two 8 year olds were entertained throughout the movie, my older boys (12, 14, 19) loved it! I don’t think tween girls would really like this type of movie, mine (11 years old) didn’t care much for it.

Going Deeper:

Throughout the movie I had an underlying thought about what if this was real, how would I react to these apes? More and more science is crossing over into areas like human DNA manipulation, cloning, IVF, gene manufacturing, and other areas quicker than I can form opinions. Then encompassing all this, our country is becoming less religious and more opinionated. Everyone has something to say about what is right and wrong and most have no moral standard except for their own thoughts and opinions. My hope though is when I come upon something scientifically new, that I may test it and hold on to the good and detest was is evil (Romans 12:9)

 

The Woman in Black – Book Review

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I don’t ever want to see a movie first and then read the book. Ever!

This book is about a young attorney who has to travel to a marshy castle to put in order some legal paperwork from a recent death. There, he encounters some very spooky and frightening sounds and sights.  And also some very sad news about the deceased and its other “residents”. The ending is different from the movie and I just can’t believe the movie strayed so far away from the book!

The book is beautifully written and dark, but not in a gory way, but more in a sad way. The moments of brightness or light-hardheartedness are enveloped by the overall sadness of Mr. Kipp. When I finished the book, I closed it and almost cried. Not because of the last scene, but more because of the abrupt ending of the book. But it was perfect. The author was able to pull me into Kipp’s world and it took me a while to come back to my happy cheery self. I love it when books can do that. When words draw out emotions and thoughts. Like I always tell my children, “Words are very important”.

Susan Hill is an extraordinary author. I was surprised that the book was written in 1983. She does an excellent job in capturing the feel of the late 1800’s early 1900’s. It is only about 140 pages and can be read in one sitting.

I recommend this book to Gothic romance readers. If you like the Bronte sisters, you will love this book. The book is not sensual, but there are some adult themes like children being born out of wedlock and the consequences of that. The book is also scary and chilling, and because of this I would only let my teenagers read it. This would be a great read for high school English class and I do hope it becomes a classic if it isn’t already.

Warning: If you have seen the movie, you will be annoyed at how they butchered the book.