So I’ve been AWOL again from the blog. The Hubs has begun his intense traveling season at work so we only get to see each other on Saturday and Sunday for the foreseeable future. Since the weekends are normally my writing days, I’m going to have to figure out a better schedule. I’m not reading as much either for the same reason. But I do have some book club reads and TLC book tour reads to tell y’all about soon! What I have been doing is watching movies and getting into the idea of reinvesting in my movie collection. The Hubs is a huge movie buff and the collecting and watching is something we really bond over. It has been put on the back shelf with the craziness of work and real life. This weekend, however, we watched a ton of films and had an absolute blast.
We hit up Redbox Saturday night and rented Rise of Planet of the Apes. I was wary coming off the last ‘remake’ in this series and James Franco bothers me. My worries were for naught because this film was fantastically entertaining, emotionally smart, and a great prequel to the franchise. Franco does a superb job as an emotionally invested scientist and his relationship with his father, played by John Lithgow, was very well developed. And Caesar, the Ape lead, was superbly written and created. The film’s special effects were mostly amazing baring some obviously fake shower steam which made the Hubs and I giggle. Overall a great story, beautifully shot, and a well-crafted film all around. Plus, Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton) is back to his old evil ways!
Another thing Rise does well is play homage to the original 1968 Planet of the Apes film. The original was one of my favorite films to watch when I was home sick as a kid so I’m extremely partial to it. I think the best viewing experience of either Rise or the original Planet is to now watch them back-to-back. So many references and shout-outs tying the two films together – really just delightful. And the intense shift from humans being the developed, civilized species to the apes replacing us in the future will get you thinking and garner some great discussion/debate.
This Wednesday I’m hosting a movie night for the Litwits and we’ll be viewing the 2005 Pride and Prejudice with Keira Knightley. Obviously, I’ve seen the film a million times, but it will be interesting to discuss with others so that recap will be up sometime later in the week.
I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend and a Happy Mother’s Day!
The Blog of Litwits 