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    Intelligent Apes

    Dawn of the Planet of the Apes deserves summer blockbuster status

    Alex Bentley
    Jul 11, 2014 | 12:00 am
    Dawn of the Planet of the Apes deserves summer blockbuster status
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    In a time when most action movies seem to have no heart, soul or intelligence, leave it to the one that features talking apes as its central characters to show everybody else how it’s done.

     

     Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, much like its predecessor, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, is no mere attempt to simply cash in on nostalgia for the Charlton Heston original. (We all agree that the Tim Burton remake didn’t happen.) Thanks to the advances in performance-capture technology and the consistently amazing performances of Andy Serkis, the new films are deeper, richer and more thought-provoking than you might imagine.

     

     

      Dawn of the Planet of the Apes contains plenty of heart-racing action, but for once that is in service of a compelling story.

     
     

     Dawn takes place 10 years after the events of Rise, and the vast majority of the world’s human population has been wiped out thanks to a simian flu epidemic. Meanwhile, a large contingent of apes, led by Caesar (Serkis), has developed quite the advanced society in the wilderness north of San Francisco.

     

    When humans struggling to survive in the city stumble upon the colony in their search for alternate power sources, both sides instantly become wary and distrustful of the other. And once that fuse is lit, neither side is capable of putting it out, no matter how much cooler heads try to prevail.

     

    What performance capture accomplishes that the previous iterations of Planet of the Apes couldn’t is allowing audiences to completely believe in the ability of apes to communicate on a variety of levels. And because it’s so easy to do so, that allows us to invest in their relationships, which is crucial for selling various plot points.

     

    Director Matt Reeves and the trio of writers also do well in that they don’t turn the film into an “us vs. them” scenario. They take pains to show that the two sides could co-exist peacefully were it not for a select few who ignore the common good and react irrationally, whether out of fear, anger or other negative emotions.

     

    And because neither side is all good or all bad, the action scenes offer an intriguing tension. We can see that war is inevitable, and yet rather than bloodlust, there’s only hope that the battles can be stopped before they go too far.

     

    The nuances of performance capture can make it easy to dismiss the contributions of the actors who bring the apes to life. But Serkis, Toby Kebbell, Judy Greer and others deliver performances that are just as good, if not better, as those who get to play humans.

     

    Speaking of, Jason Clarke, Keri Russell, Gary Oldman and Kodi Smit-McPhee all make for compelling human characters. It would be easy to overplay scenes in a movie like this, but they collectively keep the movie grounded emotionally.

     

     Dawn of the Planet of the Apes contains plenty of heart-racing action, but for once that is in service of a compelling story instead of covering for the lack of one. Combine that with a slew of great performances and you have a summer blockbuster that actually deserves to be one.

     

    Caesar (Andy Serkis) is the leader of the apes in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.

    Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
      
    Photo courtesy of WETA and Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
    Caesar (Andy Serkis) is the leader of the apes in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.
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    Movie Review

    Dark comedy Oh, Hi! takes relationship anxiety to the extreme

    Alex Bentley
    Jul 25, 2025 | 1:04 pm
    Logan Lerman and Molly Gordon in Oh, Hi!
    Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics
    Logan Lerman and Molly Gordon in Oh, Hi!.

    Movies that depict new or burgeoning relationships tend to focus on the romantic side of things, as the prospect of love is intoxicating whether viewers are in their own relationship or not. Less often depicted is the awkwardness and confusion that can arise when getting to know someone new, something that is done to extreme effect in the new film Oh, Hi!.

    Iris (Molly Gordon) and Isaac (Logan Lerman), who’ve been dating for a few months, decide to take a weekend getaway to the country, which for them means a small town called High Falls, New York (a broken welcome sign has Iris mistakenly call it O High Falls). Having rented a farmhouse for the weekend, the new couple get strawberries from a roadside stand, enjoy the charming nature of the countryside, and, of course, have sex.

    The discovery of some S&M gear in the house inspires Iris and Isaac to get a little kinky. But some post-coital talk turns tense when Iris gushes about how happy she is to have a great boyfriend, and Isaac, still chained to the bed, tells Iris that he doesn’t consider them to be exclusive. This revelation breaks Iris to a degree, and instead of unchaining him, she uses his vulnerable position to try to convince him that they should be together.

    Written and directed by Sophie Brooks, the film is initially an interesting twist on the anxiety that can come with new relationships. Typically manifested in things like obsessing over what to wear or when to call/text someone back, Brooks and Gordon (who came up with the story together) instead decide to go all in on a woman acting “crazy” when confronted with information that doesn’t match her reality.

    Iris’ bad decision to keep Isaac chained to bed and obliviousness to the off-the-wall way she is acting are heightened for effect, although the feelings she’s experiencing remain relatable despite her actions. The conversations Iris and Isaac have, as well as the Google deep dives Iris does to try to discover ways to get Isaac to see the error of his ways, are light and funny despite the seriousness of the situation Iris has created.

    Brooks brings more characters into the story by having Iris call her best friend Max (Geraldine Viswanathan) for help, with Max deciding to bring along her boyfriend, Kenny (John Reynolds). Although their presence adds to the humor of the situation, it also distracts from the main point and leads into some territory that gets a bit too broad. If the story had remained just Iris and Isaac, it might have been able to dig a little deeper than it actually does.

    Gordon, who might be best known for playing Claire on The Bear, does a great job of playing all sides of Iris, from sassy to manic. Although what her character does isn’t defensible, Gordon keeps her likable throughout by never going too over the top. Lerman, a rising star in the early 2010s when he played Percy Jackson, settles nicely into a more adult role, and he too never overplays the absurd situation.

    There are no real insights in Oh, Hi!, but it’s a pleasant watch that accomplishes the goal of delivering a completely different type of romantic comedy. Unless viewers have had an experience with someone who acted anywhere close to Iris, they should be able to enjoy the movie thanks to the committed performances of Gordon and Lerman.

    ---

    Oh, Hi! is now playing in theaters.

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