William Eubank, USA, 2011

Love was part of a special event put on by the band Angels and Airwaves. The film is produced by the band, who also did the score. Although it was paired with music videos and a live concert, the film stands alone as a single work. This review will comment only on the film and not the surrounding event.

I do admire the film, because the film-makers obviously made something that meant a lot to them. The problem is that they did not take into account how the audience would interpret what they were shown. The story, about an astronaut trapped alone on a space station, is very straight forward. But the film veers in and out of surrealism and fantastic science fiction, and offers up unclear interpretations of the events that unfold.

The main performance by Gunner Wright is strong, and the design is great. They really stretched the $500,000 budget to great effect, but a lot of the film is derivative of other science fiction films and stories. And the ending is heavy-handed. This is one of those films that I really wanted to like, and one that I do respect, but not one that I would consider very good.

This film wins the award “Most Obviously Influenced by 2001: A Space Odyssey“, due to its similar themes, atmosphere, technology and even shot design.

Another great show from Exhumed Films! All five original features. In 35mm Scope! Lots of trailers, lots of bananas, and some very good vegan banana ice cream. You all know the drill by now, so on to the films:

Planet of the Apes Franklin J. Schaffner, 1968

A smart, exciting apocalyptic sci-fi film. It truly deserves its status as a classic of the genre. Not only that, but essentially its a screed against intelligent design. And it was made before evolution became such a hot-button issue in more recent years.

The message aside, it is a damn-fine adventure film with some great scenes. From Heston getting hosed down and screaming at the insanity of the situation, to Heston getting captured in a net and yelling at the ape who grabs him. But the message is strong, and it really comes through in the famous final shot. Heston, realizing what has happened to the world, yelling at those who destroyed mankind. Yelling at us.

Beneath the Planet of the Apes Ted Post, 1970

This one gets rid of the mythology set up in the first film, thereby ripping out the guts of it. Taken by itself, when you don’t compare it to the first one, it contains some interesting sc-fi ideas. Namely the underground telekinetic mutants worshiping an atomic bomb. The ending is good. Heston literally destroys the Earth, effectively ending the story of the planet of the apes. Until….

Escape From the Planet of the Apes Don Taylor, 1971 -

After the Earth is destroyed and all the characters are dead, where do you take the series? Well, I think they had the right idea. They just decided to make a completely different movie. Two apes from the original films somehow take a spaceship back in time to the 70s, before the Earth blows up.

This one is more a fish-out-of-water comedy for most of its running time. And an entertaining one due to its utter strangeness. The apes become celebrities, but quickly things take a turn for the worse when it is found they might be the cause of the coming apocalypse. The kooky 70s comedy becomes very dark, with only the gleaming smile of Ricardo Montalban to keep us happy until the next film.

Conquest of the Planet of the Apes J. Lee Thompson, 1972

Drifting even further away from the mythology of the first film, this one shows us a version of how the apes came into power. The apes, now used as slaves, are lead in a revolution by Cesar, the son of the two apes from the previous film. The idea behind this film was great. The story works and leads to quite a climax.

The problem is that the scenes are choppy. Something is off in the pacing and the editing. But there is enough here to make a good film, and Ricardo Montalban is back so that pushes it to almost great.

Battle for the Planet of the Apes J. Lee Thompson, 1978 -

Was four apes films too little? Did they need a fifth one? Well, it’s here and I got to watch it. This time the conflict is between the chimps, the humans and the gorillas. Cesar is still in charge, and he has made a nice little community. But unfortunately there are some issues. The friendly humans feel subjugated, the radioactive humans are bored, and the gorillas are in need of some combat.

So, the audience is treated to a battle for the planet of the apes. There isn’t much else here, besides the chance to see Paul Williams and John Huston is ape costumes. Which I guess was a fitting end to this up and down series.

Terrence Malick, USA, 2011, 139 min.

This film obviously means a lot to Malick. But the emotions he evokes are so very human that they aren’t just for him. The film is a scatter-shot of images and sequences and feelings. Some stick, some don’t, but how much you get out of it depends on who you are.

That is not to say that only the pretentious will appreciate the film. What I’m trying to say is that those who can relate to the images on the screen will get something out of it. But That is the nature of a personal film. Each viewer will see it differently.

A good way to view Tree of Life is to relax and let the film flow over you. Don’t think about the symbolism. Academically you could say the symbolism is both heavy-handed and vague, but why talk about movies academically? They are an art form and art is something that means different things to different people. Tree of Life is just that.

This film wins the award “Best Use of Dinosaurs” for a oddly fitting sequence that attempts to answer an age old question.

Steven Spielberg, USA, 1977, 132 min.

Spielberg definitely had a vision when making Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The idea of life from other planets has a deep meaning for him. You can see that he has been flirting with aliens throughout his career. (Now that’s a weird sentence.) And this film is filled with his opinions of how an encounter might occur.

The film is large and sprawling, and some of the scenes are fantastic. Richard Dreyfuss’s freak-out when he realizes that he has to build the mountain in his living room. Young Cary Guffey’s house being psychically/telepathically assaulted by an unknown force. The astronomers tearing the globe out when they realize what the numbers they have been receiving mean.

Each scene is constructed well and usually visually-striking. The problem is that everything that happens in the film feels very abritrary. Each scene can be extracted and replaced with any other scene the Speilberg might have made up. It’s an easy way to include good scenes, but the scenes are not earned. This makes the film more an exercise in craftsmanship rather than the emotional journey it intends to be.

This film wins the award “Least Erotic Kiss” for the scene where Teri Garr kisses the half-sunburned Richard Dreyfuss while all he really wants to do is just watch the skies.

Iain Softley, USA, 1995, 107 min.

Hackers has become a joke amongst film fans. It is usually brought up in the same sentence as Show Girls and Kazaam as an example of bad 90′s films. But most if not all of the criticism of this film has to do with its very inaccurate portrayal of hacking and computers in general.

Is that an important criticism? I don’t think so. Hackers plays like a near-future sci-fi film. It’s slick and angry, with some good casting and wonderfully detailed production design. The story is straightforward and effective. The villain (Fisher Stevens) and his scheme are solid. It has a nice set-up and builds logically to an exciting climax.

The cast is great. The two main leads, Jonny Lee Miller and Angelina Jolie, have the right look and the perfect tone as the young edgy protagonists. Their wardrobe is perfect and adds to the world of the film. This works exceptionally well for Angeline Jolie, who has a unique look that brings much to her character.

Why such hatred for Hackers? It really is a good-looking, exciting film. I especially liked the quick montage editing that shows the character’s immediate desires. Is the accuracy of the technology that important? Not to this viewer. I enjoyed the film for everything else that it had going for it.

This film wins the award “Best Dream Sequences” for Dade’s and Kate’s strange and funny dreams of each other.