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Posts tagged ‘Andy Serkis’

Wild Bill (2011)

Directed by: Dexter Fletcher

4 stars

Bill, released after an eight-year stretch in prison, returns to his council flat in the east-end council estate where he finds two sons, fifteen year-old Dean, and eleven-year old Jimmy, fending for themselves, their mother having left some months before. Read more

Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes (2011)

Directed by: Rupert Wyatt

4 stars

Rebooting the series from the late 60s, Rupert Wyatt’s movie is very well done.  Scientist Will (James Franco) is seeking a cure for Alzheimer’s for his bio-tech employer, but also for his afflicted father, played by John Lithgow. Will takes home a baby chimp when its mother is destroyed after a trial of a promising viral drug seems to have gone wrong.  But the drug works, and young Caesar grows up to be smarter than his human family.  The drug seems to work on humans, too, initially giving Will’s dad more than just respite from the illness.  However, he later develops a resistance to the drug, his dementia returns, and when he gets into a fight with a neighbour whose car he has trashed, Caesar intervenes violently.  Locked away in a brutally-run simian centre, Caesar goes through fear and depression and then finally anger, and begins to organise his fellow captives. Read more