That weird July effect is in full swing, with just one major-studio opening and everything else sort of just eyeing it warily. Shall we dive in?
Begin Again: Largely dismissed at TIFF last year when it was called Can a Song Save Your Life?, John Carney’s follow-up to Once pairs Mark Ruffalo and Keira Knightley as makers of music, singers of songs. Rad does not applaud.
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: You know how Rise of the Planet of the Apes was kind of, how you say, terrible? Matt Reeves’s follow-up ignores it almost completely, which turns out to be a pretty smart move.
Doc of the Dead: The guys who made The People Vs. George Lucas return with another disappointingly superficial look at a rich cultural phenomeon. Darn the luck.
Life Itself: Steve James’ terrific documentary about the life and death of Roger Ebert goes into wide release — and tonight’s 7pm screening at the Lightbox will be introduced by his widow, Chaz. It’s going to be a rough night.
Men of the Cloth: There’s a great documentary to be made about Italian suiting. This is not that documentary. More’s the pity.
Radio Free Albemuth: Shot in 2007, first screened in 2011 and finally arriving in theatres, John Alan Simon’s adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s posthumously published novel feels like more of a riff on the author’s ideas than a self-contained narrative — though that isn’t necessarily the worst idea. My review will be up later this afternoon.
Saw Dawn of the Planet of the Apes today…caught what seemed like a couple of well-timed bits that sounded like the discordant 2001 monolith music on the score. Great musical reference on their part if that was intentionally done.
The same Ligeti piece that Gareth Edwards uses in Godzilla, right? I’m sure that was intentional.
I heard that each movie wanted to use a different half of the original piece.
The copyright lawyer only found out at the last minute, so he declared, “I’ll get on that Ligeti-split!”
HEY-OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
LOL…groan.