Planet of the Apes

Grade: C+

Paging Tim Burton’s imagination, paging Mr. Burton’s imagination, come in please. This isn’t a truly bad movie, it’s just incredibly surprising and disappointing that a director acclaimed for his creativity and uniquely strange style has managed to take a classic sci-fi movie filled with societal commentary on prejudice and the self-destructive nature of mankind -- and turned it into a mediocre summer action flick. The music is a rip-off of the original, the planet bears a remarkable similarity to the Ewok planet in “Return of the Jedi,” and the whole think feels pretty formulaic. The screenplay is underwritten and empty, and the ending leaves one wondering what the hell it all means – it’s truly laughable how little sense it makes. Mark Wahlberg, stud muffin that he is aside, is simply too young and bland for the part. He also never takes his shirt off – not once. Charlton Heston, however, is coup casting in a one-scene cameo, and the most entertaining few minutes the movie has to offer.

More Movie Info: http://imdb.com/title/tt0133152/

Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Grade: B+

I found this one better than the original stage version in almost every way. John Cameron Mitchell and company have done a remarkable job transferring a high energy, complex yet convoluted stage concert of sorts into a moving tale of a uniquely self-destructive yet hopeful protagonist. For much of the movie, the story flows well and manages to tell a compassionate and pained story. Unfortunately, the story is also still too Harold Pinter or Tom Stoppard for its own good, often speaking over and around the audience’s head, as though the writer/creator is in on a special secret we haven’t been made privy to -- especially in the final 15 minutes which leaves us to argue exactly what the hell it all means. Too bad, because the film is also daring, often funny, and quite touching. It just isn’t linear enough to be as accessible as it could/should be.

More Movie Info: http://imdb.com/title/tt0248845/