Planet of the Apes (2001)

Film of 2012 #60


After watching the original Planet of the Apes and the recent release of the Rise of the Planet of the Apes which I reviewed here, I revisited the remake from Tim Burton. Starring Mark Whalberg as the lost astronaut and Helena Bonham Carter, Tim Roth, Paul Giamatti and Michael Clarke Duncan taking the roles of Apes. While this film is a remake in basic terms it is a very different film, there are some homage's to the original and the idea behind it with a human discovering the Planet ruled by Apes is the same concept but what it explores is a different idea. 

The film explores some of the ideas of the original with Humans being the weaker race but the ending is vastly different and the overall idea behind the film misses something of the original. If this film had been an original idea or at least had taken a different name I could almost accept this as a film, however it simply plays on the name of the original. As a remake it does not stick to the original idea which in itself makes a different movie but it gets lost in the comparison to the original so is not judged fairly. 

I have to say that I like what the film does with the ending with the statue at the end but overall the film annoys me specifically with the decisions that the Mark Whalberg character makes. This film is an interesting idea behind what a remake could be taking an original idea and taking it in a totally different direction rather than as a shot for shot remake, overall I cannot get behind Mark Whalberg and the decisions or the direction the story goes. This is a 2 star avoid, worth seeing if you are interested in Tim Burton's take on the Planet of the Apes but no more than that.

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)

Film of 2012 #12
Some Spoilers

The Tim Burton directed musical starring Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham-Carter as Sweeney Todd and Mrs Lovett who sing and slice their way through London killing people making pies out of the bodies. I had not heard many good things about this film but i thought that I enjoyed Tim Burton and what he does with Johnny Depp and his wife but after viewing this film and really not liking it at all I am beginning to wonder if I just do not like Tim Burton's style or if it is the fact that the Gothic look has been done by him so many times it is just boring.

The story itself is not one I was aware of but appears to be a historically fictional character that has been adapted into film and Musical previously. It involves, Johnny Depp being imprisoned wrongly by a judge that fancied his wife and when he comes out of jail believing that she is dead he decides to take his revenge on those that wronged him. Now why he then decides to kill everybody and make them into pies is strange to me and a twist at the end was so obvious even though I was not paying that much attention and the overall ending I just thought What was the point of that?

Overall I can not recommend this film at all and give it a meagre 1 star, the singing is fine and the acting is comparable but nothing stands out, even though there is a great cast with Timothy Spall and Alan Rickman filling some of the other roles, on the whole very disappointing film and not worth seeing.

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971)

The original film that is so much better than the Tim Burton remake with Johnny Depp, the original is very close to the Roald Dahl book which is awesome, you have to love Roald Dahl and his stories. So this film is from 1971 and is probably one of Gene Wilder's best known performances as the eccentric chocolatier. I would hope that everyone will have seen this film or at least read the book. It is a child's dream the idea that it portrays a world of edible chocolate and sweets.

The film itself does have some flaws it is very childish as per the story written by Dahl and the Dahl names are very descriptive and as a classic film it ticks all of the boxes, being 40 years old and it still stands up to close inspection, also the Oompa Loompas are awesome with their songs.

This is a classic film that I can re-watch all of the time so it is a 5 star film for me that I think everybody should watch at least once.